Spears into Pruning hooks

After sharing a blog with some other friends and not posting for a year, I decided that I would once again attempt this internet blog thing. Really, I think I am going to use this more as a personal discipline than anything else. The truth is that I have never been good at writing my thoughts but have always enjoyed the idea of writing them out. So without any further glorification, I present...

Pruning Spears:
The past year has proved to be an exciting time for me. Theologically, I have been formed more than any other time. My conservative Nazarene roots have been challenged in a way that make my parents scratch their heads, my college want to fine me, and my home district reject my application for a District Pastors license. Some say I have no bearing on reality while others say I need to mature. And I am OK with both assesments. I see a different reality than most of the world: one that notices a need of reconciliation while seeing the holistic redemption associated with the God of love. I also see a need to mature. If I were to assume that maturity has ended, I would assume completeness and would have successfully eluded both.

The Name and address of this blog is taken from a passage in Isaiah. It's from the second chapter and looks toward a new way in which God is continually creating. In this particular scripture, Isaiah recognizes the tension between the world and what God is doing in the World. He sees where God is going and points us to work within that goal. Verse 3 connotes God teaching his people to be like himself: follow the Lord "that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." Verse 4 then gives us a picture not only of God's Kingdom but what it looks like to be a part of it. "He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."

I feel as if I have moved from an outside observer of Christian Pacifism to one who claims Jesus' way of non-violent resistance. So far it's been pretty easy. I haven't been attacked and I am not personally involved in any wars. No one has threatened my life. Honestly, it's not hard to claim pacifism when the wars are happening elsewhere. It makes me wonder about the "what if's" of raising a family (I was just married this year) or if I would be able to forgive a man on death row who has hurt one close to my heart. The fact that I have not experienced such atrocities (for this I thank God) does not warrant a change in my theological claims. I trust that making the decision now to live within a prayerful Kingdom community will guide me into truth if such things occur. Martin Luther King, Jr. helped subdue racism through non-violent resistance, Tutu helped save a nation from apartheid with limited violence, and Dorothy Day helped revive a Christian spirit within Catholicism.

I have to work at this. I am continually "pruning my spears" to subdue the evil tendencies that arise from my humanness. This blog will hopefully be more than just dissertations on my political positions. I want it to show who I am and who I am becoming. It will be filled with stories of struggle and joy as well as love and heartache. We live with these tensions and hopefully it will be fun to see where they lead.