Well, I'm in recovery... I still have the nagging feeling that there is homework out there that I forgot to do. I know that's not the case, but the feeling is real. I probably need to read some classic kid's book to hasten my transition.

So, I just had one of those all-nighter experiences, writing a paper that should have been done days ago... now I know three things about myself. 1) I do not like writing papers with a deadline. 2) I like the research process waaayyyy too much. 3) I have no idea how long anything takes. For this Fall, I'm going to try a solution: plan ahead to do an all-nighter, but do it on a Friday night, so I can sleep in. Yup. I think that's the ticket. If I can only figure out how long it takes to plan ahead.

Continuing the idea of church being a place where ANYONE can come and meet God... In his comment on yesterday’s entry, Russell brought up a good point, “If you will remember, anyone who got a glimpse of GOD in the OT never wanted a second dose. Are we really ready to come into a space before the THRONE OF THE HOLY GOD ALMIGHTY!?” My answer is, no, we’re not ready and yes we are ready. We are not ready because most of what we think we know about God will be cast out and we will be left like Isaiah, crying out and confessing the uncleanness of our lips. No we are not ready because we have indeed created God in our own image. We focus on the NT so much that we forget God is also the one who opened the ground and swallowed people whole, who sent his death angel to wipe out the first born of every household. God is NOT safe, but he is good (to quote CS Lewis).

On the other hand, yes we are ready. It is God’s presence that we long for, in all its terrifying reality and wholly otherness. I did a biblegateway search on “your presence”—just for grins—and came up with 26 entries. The list is worth a look. Bottom line seems to be that the people of God live in God’s presence. Since that seems to be the case, why are we more concerned about church growth, nifty programs, singing the right songs to bring in the crowds, blah, blah, blah?

A look over at http://www.beliefnet.com tells us that people are hungry for something bigger than they are. We’ve got it, yes?

So, this wasn’t EXACTLY a tragedy, but still… due to a power loss in their building the Starbucks by the train station was CLOSED this morning!!!! And me running on four hours of sleep… Thankfully, there is one on the other end of my morning commute, so all was not lost.

On another note, I been thinking a lot about what church should look like. Over at What Is Church, there is an article (Sacred Order of the Towel) that is doing much to shape my thinking. The current question on my mind is: What would church look like if it were a sacred space where anyone could come and meet God? (it seems to me, this is what church should be, but is not... but then, should we not strive toward it?)