The Blue Church

Over the years many have pointed out that there are no instances in sacred Scripture of Jesus laughing. They are right, of course, and He was to be known as a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”

hopium (noun) 1. irrational or unfounded optimism 2. highly addictive emotional narcotic which blocks fact sensors in the brain and deadens any notion of possible disappointment. origin, hope + opium, as, “I must have been smoking hopium to think that the lock down would only last two weeks.” or, “She wants to shelter in place until there’s a vaccine. Is she on hopium?”

While God, in His wisdom, has made us uniquely individual, He also has crafted us for community. We do not exist independently either of God or people. Even He dwells in the Holy Communion of the Trinity.

COVID-19 is giving us new opportunities to choose. As we do so, we will find others making different choices. Since God has created us unique individuals, that should come as no surprise.

We’ve suggested that Creation reflects God’s genius and playfulness, both of which are displayed in the diversity and uniqueness of its creatures. I like to think the angels chuckled when they saw the first camel and gasped at the first T-Rex.

We can see the glory of God in creation, even in His playfulness, but just as glorious as creation itself is the way He creates. And, at least on Earth, that is by starting things small and growing them.

Imagine Someone who imagines imagination. Humans devise machines which have “artificial intelligence,” but no matter how sophisticated they become, their intelligence always will be artificial and soulless.

Most people alive today will not recall a well known book of popular psychology entitled, Whatever Became of Sin? The author, Karl Menninger, pointed out (in the 1970’s) that the idea of sin was being displaced in our culture by blaming addiction, crime, collective irresponsibility, family history, and what today we call “victimhood.”

Buzzwords come and go, especially in the business community. There is an endless parade of trends, authors, social theories, productivity protocol, and the consultants who exist to promote and implement them. One concept which has had a long run is “Networking.”

On this, our fiftieth day of the Blue Box Blog, we proclaim Jubilee!

When Israel entered the Promised Land, the Lord commanded them to rest one day in seven, and one year in seven, with a Jubilee Year at the end of the seventh seven. You can read about it in Leviticus 25.