The Ziklag Almost Daily 1.23.24

Beauty, Wisdom and Grace

The First Edition of the Hebron Herald
pilfered from the fields of Rockford, but not disconnected from a vine near you

This week we are trying something new with the bulletins here at SP815 in the interests of saving paper costs. Instead of printing inserts for every bulletin, we have piles of inserts for those of you who want to take a paper copy. For the rest of you, everything printed on those green or yellow sheets will be available in the weekly office email. 

We will print as many copies as everyone would like, but we would like to stop printing the copies nobody really wants. :D

Meanwhile, since I’ve been with you at SP815, at times I’ve made use of a weekly newsletter. At other times, it didn’t appear to be the best use of my time to serve you. Now, it looks like we are coming round full circle again. 

Perhaps you’ve heard of Flocknote? It’s a service which will allow me, or other leaders at SP815, to form group messaging cohorts and stay as informed as possible together. At least, that is my hope. The software interface is not incredibly easy, and there may be some hidden fees. But it is really just a step in my goal to be a voice in your ear for the Word of God as often as possible. For a time, the daily texts were working well, and Flocknote promised to take that same idea to the next level. Now? I’m not so sure.

More so, we have a slightly more pressing matter. Really, it’s no big deal, but it is an important part of building our house here at SP815. This great big boogie man is our congregational constitution. You’ve probably heard me talk about it before, and maybe you’ve even seen a copy of our current one. For many people, constitution talk is like magic, or maybe math. For other people, it’s a great game to figure out and finagle. But what our congregational constitution really is is a document for handling our relationship with 1. each other 2. other congregations and 3. the governing authorities. 

Churches in America fall under the category of non-profit corporations. The Kingdom of Jesus Christ might not be a business, but the US Government acts like it is. (Thanks be to God that they’ve been historically pious about this. US Law encourages religious assembly and the freedom to read the Scriptures and believe what they say. ) This means that our constitution, before anything else, is a legal document. 

That means it is BORING.

That also means every single word matters. Nothing is left to chance or interpretation. Legal documents are hard to read precisely because they refuse to say anything that might accidentally be heard as wrong. 

But that does not mean that you cannot understand ours. The proposed new constitution, a result of many years of study and work by both myself and other leaders of SP815, is written to be as simple and clear as possible, with as few loopholes, twists and turns as we could make. We achieved this largely by returning to the oldest dated constitution of SP815 that we could find. From its bones, we made only the changes that seemed most prudent to our current times. 

The deepest principle at work is that “less is more.” A constitution that only a few people can read will end up with the whole group ruled only by those few people. Our goal as disciples of Jesus Christ at SP815 is not to lock you down, but to set your free to walk in Christian integrity, to do acts of intentional service, and let fear give way to joyful hope. 

Currently, only some of the Constitution is publicly viewable. You can find it at

http://sp815.wikidot.com/

Next week, we will start looking at it more carefully. Until then….

📐🦋Almost Daily Maxim

Wisdom is seen in her children.

Folly destroys her own house.

The joy of a father is the good name of his sons. cf Pr 27:11

📐🦄Almost Daily Red Letters

You shall not profit from your devotion more than the devotion itself. Only a fool would have it any other way. cf Mt 6:1

📐🦊Almost Daily Smarts

I read How to Take Smart Notes during the lockdown of 2020. At the time I was heavily into other productivity endeavors such as David Allen’s Getting Things Done and Bryan Wolfmueller’s Everbook. I also bounced around through a horde of software suites and task managers trying anything I could to get a leg up on the data overload that being a modern information worker immersed me in. I wasted oodles of dollars on subscriptions and licenses, and even more time converting my files from one system to another. Years of video editing, writing books, and playing World of Warcraft also left me with a burning case of carpal tunnel syndrome.

So when Ahrens’ explication of the Luhmann method demonstrated the deep capacity of analog information management and therefore promised that I maybe didn’t have to use all digital tools if I didn’t want to, I leapt at the opportunity to get my head above water. Little did I realize that Ahrens’ approach never really intended that I use 6x4 notecards for everything. After a second read through, it is clear that Ahrens’ work is intended for scholars to use “smart noting” to better their scholarship.

You know, to, like, writing long papers…

📐📦 Almost Daily Talk Them Into It

The only “problem” with the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is that it too good to be true. That is not his problem. That is mankind’s problem, and the solution is faith alone.

This is your religion we are talking about. You must trust that it is better than good enough. No more of this letting other people make you doubt whether you believe yourself. No more letting sweet talkers and manipulative cowards trick you into thinking the Lamp shining in the darkness is unclear. Put your hand to the plow and don’t look back.

Choose the heritage of immortality. Strap it on like a sword. Embrace the death of yourvain glories, and claim the illumination of that greater glory which is coming. Confess to yourself that your most precious identity is your adoption into the bloodline of Jesus Christ. Make it your daily morning ritual to remember that in him alone you cannot die.

📐🪽From the Wyr Eld of Watergeist

Ringo’s eyes were closed, but his nose was open.

He couldn’t seem to place the smell, but whatever the aroma was, it was heavenly, fresh and alive. Yes, just simply too much not to eat. He took a bite.

The utter ambrosia that flooded his mind gave him no greater reason to open his eyes. Why spoil the moment? Crunchy and crisp, moistly an utter delight, another bite followed another.

Oh, was it still a dream? Was he sleeping?

Wouldn’t that be nice?

But hungry munchings and tastebuds exploding at last bore sweet curiosity. What was this delicacy, and where then also could he be?

📐🌊Almost Daily Sun Tzu

What you tear down, you must rebuild at a cost. cf Sun Tzu 3.1