A couple of weeks ago Stacy found out that Rob Bell, author of Velvet Elvis and Sex God, was going to be in Portland on the 10th. I was excited to know, but didn't think I'd actually get a chance to go. I told Madre about him coming, since we read Velvet Elvis together, but she was in California that weekend. So, I forgot about it... Until my brother Ryan sent an email about going and said he could get tickets! So I rethought my weekend, asked Stacy if she'd be interested, and bought the tickets. I am SO glad I did!
Saturday night Stacy and I met Ryan at Starbucks. That in iteslf was great as I got to see my brother and it's been a while. (clarification: brother in Christ...) We were also near my old church so I showed Stacy that. Thankfuly we carpooled to the Roseland theater in down town Portland, as I would have gotten lost if we hadn't. We had standing room only tickets but were able to find an isle to sit in.
Rob Bell came out on stage where he had this huge altar in the middle. He started talking about a cave woman and her plant and how she depends on this plant for food for her family and how she's noticed that if there's too much of the big yellow ball in the sky, or too much of the water that falls from the sky, the plant dies. Her husband also goes out to hunt for food and he depends on the "spirit" of the animal. Sometimes a good spirit is there and the hunt is short and good. Other times it's not there and after a long time he comes home empty handed.
Bell talked about how these people eventually come to put a name to these "spirits" and the idea of the altar starts to develop. Bell gave examples of all these different gods that have developed over the ages and what they stood for and what kind of sacrifices they required. He talked about the essential built in flaw that altars have. If the god is un happy you give, if it's happy you give, if you're unsure, you give more. You never know where you stand with these gods and so sacrifices get more and more important and you give more and more to them, in some cases it's even your child or your own life.
All this he connected to Abraham. Abraham grew up in this environment with these beliefs all around him. One day a god, THE GOD, spoke to him and told him to leave his father's household, and he did. Later we know of the story where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son on the altar. For most of us, in sunday school or elsewhere, we've heard this as an example of Abraham's faithfulness. Rob Bell pointed out that yes, he was faithful, but even more, Abraham was following through with something that he grew up learning about and experienceing. This was a big deal, but it wasn't a foreign concept to him. Bell suggested that maybe the story is more about a God who profides than about a man who's faithful.
His talk was about all sorts of stuff like that. Stretching and envigorating. I loved it!
Saturday night Stacy and I met Ryan at Starbucks. That in iteslf was great as I got to see my brother and it's been a while. (clarification: brother in Christ...) We were also near my old church so I showed Stacy that. Thankfuly we carpooled to the Roseland theater in down town Portland, as I would have gotten lost if we hadn't. We had standing room only tickets but were able to find an isle to sit in.
Rob Bell came out on stage where he had this huge altar in the middle. He started talking about a cave woman and her plant and how she depends on this plant for food for her family and how she's noticed that if there's too much of the big yellow ball in the sky, or too much of the water that falls from the sky, the plant dies. Her husband also goes out to hunt for food and he depends on the "spirit" of the animal. Sometimes a good spirit is there and the hunt is short and good. Other times it's not there and after a long time he comes home empty handed.
Bell talked about how these people eventually come to put a name to these "spirits" and the idea of the altar starts to develop. Bell gave examples of all these different gods that have developed over the ages and what they stood for and what kind of sacrifices they required. He talked about the essential built in flaw that altars have. If the god is un happy you give, if it's happy you give, if you're unsure, you give more. You never know where you stand with these gods and so sacrifices get more and more important and you give more and more to them, in some cases it's even your child or your own life.
All this he connected to Abraham. Abraham grew up in this environment with these beliefs all around him. One day a god, THE GOD, spoke to him and told him to leave his father's household, and he did. Later we know of the story where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son on the altar. For most of us, in sunday school or elsewhere, we've heard this as an example of Abraham's faithfulness. Rob Bell pointed out that yes, he was faithful, but even more, Abraham was following through with something that he grew up learning about and experienceing. This was a big deal, but it wasn't a foreign concept to him. Bell suggested that maybe the story is more about a God who profides than about a man who's faithful.
His talk was about all sorts of stuff like that. Stretching and envigorating. I loved it!
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