The Shepherds Crook Doctrinal Statement

A lot of mean fundies have been pressuring me to put down our Doctrinal statement in writing. Well, here is where our conversation has guided us this far.

Shepherds Crook Doctrine

Shepherds Crook church has no official doctrine. The Shepherds Crook church recognizes that all people have an innate knowledge of what is right and wrong, and the Shepherds Crook Church celebrates this like no other religion. The basic concepts and ideals of the Jedi religion, which were introduced by the fictional Star Wars movies, best describes our faith. These concepts were quickly and readily recognized by many people throughout the world as being a religion that they could more readily ascribe to than traditional religions.

Basic concepts of Shepherds Crook faith that we at the Shepherds Crook Church would like to promote are the following:

The Basic Concepts

There is one all powerful force that binds the entire universe together. Some people call this God, Allah, Krishna, or the Force. It is "an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together". This is a concept that most religions of the world concur with. Some refer to it as their deity, some refer to it as a life force, but the one thing nearly all religions agree with, is that there exists a single unifying force.

There are 2 sides to this force,or God if you prefer; The dark side and the light side. "Beware of the dark side... The dark side leads to fear. Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering". Good versus Evil is a common element through most religions. The issues of good versus evil, right versus wrong permeate through the doctrines of all religions. Most religions attempt to state what is right and wrong, to establish their moral code. Sometimes religions make codes that don't reach a great consensus. Outsiders, and sometime insiders, begin to judge their religious code by something more powerful, something more innate, an innate ability to know what is right and wrong. This is the Shepherds Crook belief, that morality, good and evil, are all axioms of this force, and that we must listen to the force so that we will know the right thing to do.

Can good exist without evil? The Shepherds Crook believe that good and evil are only axioms of the all powerful and unifying force. The force contains all that is good and all that is bad. We all are free and sentient beings who have the capability to do good or evil. It is our choice of direction that determines if we do good or evil. The existence of good and evil is necessary for freewill.

Is the Shepherds Crook fiction? Many religions claim to be the one and only true religion, thus necessitating that all other religions are fictitious. In addition, although many religions claim to speak the word of God, but the truth is they are only the written word of prophets or followers of the religion. There is no way to prove or deny that what was written was the word of God. Several other religions openly admit that their text is not the word of God, and that it is only a prescribed behavior or a philosophy of life (e.g. Buddhism, Scientology). Most non fiction is a discussion of science and life, of things that can be observed, quantified and readily challenged for its truth and authenticity. But not religion. Any religion put to scrutiny is merely words on paper, with no ability to confirm its authenticity. The Shepherds Crook church makes no denial that its name and terminology originates from a historical past, but the concepts and ideals that are identified by Shepherds Crook followers are known for their innate truth. The sun existed before it was given a name, and it could be revered as a God, however, when the sun finally had a human name, it could be written about and communicated with others. The Shepherds Crook religion is just like the Sun, it existed before any group gave it a name, and now that it has a name, people all over the world can share their experiences of the Shepherds Crook religion, here in the Shepherds Crook Church.

I hope all you mean fundies are happy.

Our multi-ethnic, multi religious Christkuanznkkativusday Celebration

We have decided this year at the Shepherds Crook to have a multiethnic/racial/religious holiday gathering this year. We have encouraged everyone in the community to come and to take part, not only dressing in their traditional garb, but bringing a special symbol that reminds them of their special holiday celebrations that happen in December, whether they celebrate the birth of the king, a harvest celebration, or a festival of lights or even a birthday. We are excited to see what that all looks like, but we have named our celebration Christkuanznkkativusday, which includes religious and non religious holidays-even Festivus- in its name. Honestly, I cannot wait for the feats of strength right after the airing of grievences. I have a LOT of people that I need to complain about! (in the most Christ-like way of course)

What a GREAT idea!

I love this logo...and this idea!

Julie Jones puts a Mean Fundie in his place!

Another cool emergent type forum published this letter, then shut down comments. I want to hear what people have to say, so keep commenting people! And Julie,you go, girl!!!

Today Rev. Silva posted a letter set to him by Julie Jones, the wife of Tony Jones. In a wonderful letter Julie Jones stands by her man, and in doing so stands by her Lord. I am posting the letter here because I allow for comments here and I wanted to provide a forum for people to let her know they appreciate her letter.

To Whom it May Concern:

In the spirit of Christmas, I ask you to do the righteous thing and post this. Please post at once or don’t you all want anyone of your readers to think Tony Jones might be a regular nice Christian guy. You don’t have a place for people to comment on your web page. You do have a place to donate. How come? I think if you are going to slander my husband as a devil worshiper it would be prudent to provide an avenue for others to paint with a broader stroke.

Tony Jones, my husband of ten years, loves the Lord Jesus Christ Almighty. I am sorry that may be a bitter pill for your group to swallow but it is true. Our family aims to be the hands and feet of Jesus and strive daily to bring up our three children as disciples of Christ and we didn’t even have to “spank them hard” to do it as Dr. Dobson suggests. In fact, that is called child abuse.

Above our threshold before we leave the house is our family verse, “Be the light of the world.”

We both can love Jesus in different expressions and both work for good and to fulfill his kingdom here on earth. It can look very different and yet how dare you say you have the corner market on my Lord and Savior…No, we share Him. I can go to Ashtanga yoga, which I love and enjoy the benefits of the practice and at the same time can faithfully follow Jesus. I can walk a prayer labyrinth and have in my mind over and over, “Be still and know that I am.”

The sheer effrontery makes you look pretty ignorant, if you don’t mind me saying.

I usually don’t respond to such nonsense but this is the father of my children who I fell in love with as he was living amongst the poorest of the poor on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Tony so authentically lived and worked among them that they gave him the highest honor of an Indian name: “He who takes others into his heart.”

Have you ever even met Tony? Come to our house in Minneapolis and sit in our kitchen and let us agree to follow Christ perhaps differently with differing outward expressions but no less faithfully following and hopefully maturing to love all humankind more and more.

Groups like this just reek of fear. That must not be not at all liberating to be in such a tight box. Don’t you think our Lord is bigger than that? He loves gays; you bet he does! He wants a gifted woman up front or in our church in the middle and delivering the Good News. Humans have limited God to what she can and cannot do. Emergent tries to re imagine the essence of following Christ in its purest form. Free from all the trappings of human fear.

May the Lord Jesus Christ touch you mightily today.

Come on, be different than just one of the many Emergent opponents that never takes me up on the invitation for dinner and a shared love of Christ and never posts my posts and never has a function for comments.

Merry Christmas because I am sure I won’t hear from you but if I do…good for you.

Julie McMahon Jones

Emergent Conversation Points

I am working on my Christian conversation series, and I need some people involved in Christianity and Emergent to give me their points of view about these questions:

1. Why did Jesus come to this planet?
2. If everyone gets into the kingdom of God, why did Jesus have to die?
3. Is the kingdom of God the same as heaven? Is there a place called heaven?
4. Is there a place of punishment called Hell? Is hell a place, or a state we find ourselves in on earth?
5. Is there one source of truth regarding God, or can we find truth in all traditions regarding God?
6. Is the Bible the only relevant source of faith and doctrine in Christianity?

Please answer these in order. Thank you for your help.

Chronic during Communal Gathering

We were having a conversation during our Friday night gathering. As usual, we had incense burning and people pretty much chilling out all around our basement sanctuary. But I smelled something that I hadn't smelled for a long time: Mary-jane, the Chronic.

I have a real hard time being judgmental, but there is a law about smoking inside, and I assumed that also meant the Chronic. So I asked the young man to put the dutchee out. He freaked out, calling me a fascist, and explained to me that this is how he worships through mind expansion.

What should I do? I mean, he has a point. Should we be emerging from this society that places these rules on us that tell us how we must live? As christians, shouldn't we be non-judgmental and allow freedom to worship in the way that we please? How can one who likes weed be expected to engage in true conversation without it. After all, the holy books including the Bible don't prohibit marijuana, do they?

Tatoos in a gathering

As I stated on my previous post, when we gather in community to have a conversation, people all worship in different ways. Well, we were sharing a story of communion, contemplating going back to the ancient tradition of worshipping the host and practicing transubstantiation, our friend Z-man was over in the corner doing his interpretation of this conversation in art. Isn't this cool?