Leaving for Competition

Saturday is the chorus competition for Region 21 of Sweet Adelines in Phoenix. Tomorrow is the quartet competition. Tom and I are leaving in the morning and coming back early Sunday morning so we can be home in time for church. This picture was taken Monday night at our "family and friends night" - dress rehearsal. Can you spot me? I am in the middle on the third row. It kind of looks like the second row right behind the director's head. I really like our new costumes. Purple is my favorite color.

Heresy

You know I've been bragging about our new preacher Bobby Valentine. Well - he's gone too far. At our LIFE group meeting on Monday we were discussing Acts 10 vs 9-33. This is the section where Peter has the vision about the sheet from heaven which contained foods that a devout Jew would not eat. Peter was told to eat and even though the lesson is about the acceptance of the gentiles I've always assumed that meant there were no dietary restrictions anymore. We read from Leviticus Ch 11 about clean and unclean foods. Wow, there a lot of things the Jews couldn't eat - can you believe no lobster, shrimp or crab? When I questioned Bobby he referred me to Acts 15 vs 22 - 29. In these verses the apostles are saying to the gentile Christians to refrain from food sacrificed to animals (no problem here) from blood, (rare steak??) from the meat of strangled animals (how do I know how chickens are killed?) and immorality (no-brainer). Well, I told Bobby he has quit preaching and "gone to meddlin". I love medium rare to rare steak. I thought when you cut into it that it was juice coming out? Is that blood?? Do I need to give up Ruth's Chris Steak House which serves the best filet I have ever had? Is well done steak really even worth eating? These are all thought provoking questions. What do you think?

Finished Another Book

I am so excited. I just finished NT Wright's book, Simply Christian and it was so good. It was a lot easier to read than his book on Paul, but I guess it was written for a different audience - meaning not scholars. So if you haven't read it yet give it a try. I am about halfway through Leroy Garret's book, the Stone-Campbell Movement and it is interesting to see the difference in the way religious scholars of different centuries approach the same subject. I feel so different than when I first started out on this Christian journey. I was taught by my grandparents about Jesus and I will always be grateful for that. I was also taught that if we just read the Bible and "spoke where the Bible spoke and was silent where the Bible was silent" we would all come to the same conclusions and be simply Christians. Funny how it has taken me a lot of years to realize that that doesn't happen. I am grateful for my heritage in the Church of Christ and at the same time I can understand how some churches, such as Oak Hills in San Antonio where Max Lucado preaches, has chosen to drop the name because they believe it has had some negative connotations. When you read about Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone you realize that they were not trying to start a new church but wanted to see unity among Christians. I think when you try to make doctrine your "unifying method" that is when you get into trouble. This is my opinion anyway. So, am I a heretic?