Reflection: Week 8 [Wednesday]

The theme of justice has been on my mind for most of the quarter. Each new contextual theological theory reminds me of social injustice within the world we live. Christian faith and the gay community are seemingly incompatible concepts, with the religious right fomenting bigotry and spreading fear, using the Bible and the pulpit as weapons to marginalize gays and lesbians. In For the Bible Tells Me So, filmmaker Daniel Karslake examines this faith-based issue both though the personal stories of five Christian families, all of whom struggled to reconcile their faith with loving their gay children, and the observations of well-respected religious figures about how biblical scripture is interpreted and misinterpreted.


Justice within the context of today lecture on deconstruction, the principle of hospitality moves to the forefront. Is the church welcoming the uninvited? Most people believe what many other gay people believe — that conservative Christians are hating, bigoted people. But in reality, they have very simply been misled by their own leaders — their ministers and their priests. When push came to shove, you need to open up the Bible to read it for yourself, then transformation can occur and you can realize that what it all comes down to is love. Gay, Lesbian and Transgender individuals are people too, created as beautiful loving creatures.

Reflection: Week 8 [Monday]

Looking at the popular cultural artistic images can create both instant denotative meaning as well as underlying connotative meaning of a mythic quality.

The photographic images that we viewed today observing cultural myths reminded me of the TED presentation by artist Alison Jackson. We watched the clip in Barry Taylor's Theology, Pop Culture, and the Emerging Church class and it was a surprising look at her provocative explorations of celebrity culture and did not disappoint. She creates obscured photos and films of celebrity look-alikes in surprising, shocking or strange situations, portraying them, as she has described it, "depicting our suspicions."


Personally, I think the popular celebrity culture magazines like US Weekly should be reserved for time spent on the loo. But my wife thinks differently, and thus our family is not just readers, but subscribers.

Response: Chris' Blog [Week 7]

Oh, it's on, Chris! Now you've gone and started a conversation. Oh, wait, that's probably the goal of this whole internets exercise. Okay, then touche, Bolger. Touche.

Of course, I agree that the Great Commission without a solid foundation in faith is not an ideal situation. The Great Commission should be paired with the Great Commandment in ever step of ones spiritual journey. The great commandment is loving God with everything that belongs to us-the heart, soul, and mind. Furthermore, the great commandment of loving God with your heart, soul, and mind therefore reduces to the great commission term, "go". The obedience of the command "go" depends on the love you have for God; just as Jesus said written, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15).

Along the same lines, we must be sure to prepare ourselves for mission in prayer. Whatever mission we are called to or find ourselves in, from working hard at our job to flying to Africa to help kids, prayer can aid our efforts. Like a spiritual tag team, the Holy Spirit is ready to tag in into the match. And now, like me, you'll picture the Spirit as Mr. T to my Hulk Hogan.