Glen Baumgartner's Blog (14)

   This is the weekend of the Phoenix Comicon. Last night I went to the Will Wheaton Panel. Mister Wheaton you may recall in "Stand Bye Me", "Star Trek the Next Generation" and other movie and television shows. What brings Wheaton to the forefront is his definition of geek. What makes you a geek is how hard you love what you love. 

    To give your heart wholly, fearlessly, recklessly and without apology. I wonder why these geeks invest so much of themselves in these things. It became…

    This last Sunday a representative from Jews for Jesus shared the imagery, the symbolism of the Seder meal. There are four cups of wine. The third cup is used with the breaking of the bread. The breaking of the bread that Jesus performed back when. This third cup of wine is called the cup of redemption. It occurred to me that this is the the same cup Jesus passed to his disciples, yet refused to partake of. 

    Since childhood Jesus celebrated the Passover. Two years he…

   I was  slowly awakening one Saturday by a question remembered. A question made by my brother Steve, several years earlier among our band of brothers. A question formed out of observations of life and scripture.

  "I'm not sure why, but faith is important to God"? It is interesting that scripture doesn't answer this why question,

  As the dawn of the new day forced the retreating dream state of my mind, I remembered Eves story in Genesis. Much has been written…

As we continue asking the question what does it look like to treat men like men?

There is this notion out there, that God is some kind of ego maniac. That this creation is for the sole purpose of God saying look at what I can do and you best know it and demands we worship Him.

As I read scripture, pray and meditate on it, an…

There is a confusion about justice in the church. Our use of the word has been flavored by our current language, our experiences, our perspectives and our culture. As a result of the world creeping into the church we have become blind to how we misrepresent God to the world with this word.…

Continuing with the question, What does it look like to treat men like men?

Trust.

About 2005 Promise Keepers was promoting accountability. In men,s groups across the country somewhere or some time the words were spoken. The plea was voiced. What is said here, stays here. In relieve men nodded agreement.

As I tried to tickle this apart to express the notion that we are called to trust because in doing so, we reflect the image we…

To continue with the question of what does it looks like to treat men like men.

We are called upon to pray for the will of God. Yet the only prayer option that is being called for concerning Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is his deliverance from his circumstances. Even to the point of demanding from our government they some how expedite his release.…

Continuing with the question What does it look like to treat men like men.

I was on another Christian website when the last presidential election was in full swing. A host of new names showed up with the intent to marshal the church to the causes of the religious right. I say this because the democrats have never attacked themselves as a strategy to win an…

My last blog Man raised the question of treating people like adults. It is a part of the question of what is it like to treat a man like a man?

So what does it look like to treat a man like a man?

It was a Sat. morning about seven years ago. It was to be a sad morning. Five men were disappointed that no other men showed for the men's breakfast. The talk soon…

This morning as our BOB gathered for our Wild Rock Cafe, I shared how tightly I got wrapped around the axle Friday. After being released from the hospital I was given a prescription just in case. I never took it, I never needed it. Last Mon. my cardiologist prescribed a new drug. Later I got a call from the pharmacist stating that these two drugs in combination could be fatal. OK, I don't take the one, or ever had. Now knowing this I'll be sure not to risk the…

One of my favorite Christmas Hymn is "I heard The Bells On Christmas Morn". Every so often I am drawn to revisit the origins of this Hymn. A time to allow the story; of what Longfellow went through, touch  me once more. Allow the testimony of his faith in scripting "Christmas Bells" inspire me again. To meditate on the declaration of God, that He is not at war with His creation. Even if there are those that would war with God.…

There is an equation that falsely equates the if your not this you must be that. Holiness too often has come to be equated as doing the opposite of the world. Instead of doing some things as the world for Holy reasons. The world becomes an odd standard as opposed to God being the standard.

There seems to be a false humility that has crept into the faith. It looks like the struggle against…

For about a year now; in my times of meditation and prayer, I found myself entering worship with an unusual song. In the sixties Donovan's “Catch the Wind” made it to the radio charts.

I have often written that without fear, courage can not be expressed or that without doubt, faith can not be expressed. I suppose this is why this song resonates in my heart. We so often think that doubt is…

What are we fighting for?

It was our last night in Uganda June 2008. We at WildernessRock Ministries had just finish our last session. I was looking forward to enjoying the fellowship of a kind of decompression. I could visit without being on or so I thought. I was speaking with three men. Men who were excited to discover they were not nuts. They did bare the heart of a warrior. That God is a…