Brian McLaren and the secret

Why is it that Brian McLaren gets people so worked up? I swear, every time someone mentions his name, people seem to write negative things about him. And, though I've never met him, he seems like such a very kind person.

I think I discovered the answer: I think it's because of his background in education. Specifically - English. I don't know how it was in your school, but people seemed to usually either hate the English teacher, or really like him/her. There was no middle ground. That must be it. It's the ETC (English Teacher Curse). Sorry Brian.

Today I read ch.16 in THE SECRET MESSAGE OF JESUS. Very good. He gave six metaphors we could use to describe the Kingdom of God:
- The dream of God
- The revolution of God :)
- The mission of God
- The party of God
- The network of God
- The dance of God

I like them all, but especially the dream. On. p. 141, referring to the place of evil and sin, he says, "In creating our world, God wasn't dreaming of prisons and kidnapping, child abuse and racism, greed and poverty, pollution and exploitation, conformity and chaos. God's dream was for freedom and creativity, kindness and justice, generosity and peace, diversity and harmony."

Yes... I like that. I also like the story he re-told about Tony Campolo throwing a birthday party for the prostitute under "The party of God." I wish I were more like that.

Speaking of Campolo... both he and BM have a tendency to 'ignite' people. Do you suppose it has anything to do with their passion? I think so. I wish I were more passionate about my faith. I wish I lived more 'by the seat of my pants.' But... I'm a slow thinker. I have to dwell on things. I have to let them soak in. And I'm not complaining about being like that, but sometimes it would be nice to be able to think a little faster/ be better on the spur of the moment. I admire people who are like that. But I admire contemplative people also (that's what I'll call people who are slow thinkers like me). At any rate, just for the record, I like Brian McLaren.

Rock on, my friends. Much peace. The revolution is at hand. If you haven't started... GO!