Mark Goodyear › Comments

"Great post. Great video. Laity Lodge and TheHighCalling.org have done some limited work with Mark Greene. He's a great guy. My favorite thing about Bezalel is his willingness to accept a limited role. He is the artisan--but Moses himself assembles the tabernacle. I love that Bezalel contributes important work, then passes that work to others, and acknowledges that he is not holy enough to engage the final product. Once the holy objects go into the tabernacle, only the high priest can interact with them. I love the idea that our work can become too holy for us if/when God gets involved." - Mark Goodyear

"Thanks, Bonnie. My blog is a playground where I can test things without messing up entire sites. If I break it here, nobody has to buy it." - Mark Goodyear

"Don't get me wrong. I struggle with that all the time, Sam. My ego is bigger than the state of Texas." - Mark Goodyear

"Glad you enjoyed the poem, nAncy. As for humanizing editors, audra, I was just sharing my own humanity. I sure wish everyone would do that more. I guess it does presume that we all know how to do it--or that we're always capable." - Mark Goodyear

"Glad you enjoyed the poem, nAncy. As for humanizing editors, audra, I was just sharing my own humanity. I sure wish everyone would do that more. I guess it does presume that we all know how to do it--or that we're always capable." - Mark Goodyear

"Sometimes. It depends on the preacher/pastor. I shared this one with the preacher and the children's minister. Usually, folks just don't know what to do with a poem that was written for them. But I figure their puzzlement shouldn't stop me from writing them. Sometimes, it stops me from sharing. I don't want these to be about me." - Mark Goodyear

"Sam, Diigo is super cool. I use it all day long every day. It is an incredible research tool. Marcus" - Mark Goodyear

Had a good day with my friend, Chris. Ended with this: - Mark Goodyear from Blip.fm

"Good question, charity. And GREAT to hear from you again. I'd say we rarely see the glory in other people. I get so used to the wonders of the world that they start to seem mundane pretty quickly. A good cup of coffee is just something I expect. A little boy (and my little girl, too!) singing in the choir on Sunday is easy to take for granted. I can miss the glory of who they are and who God is in them. We are made in God's image. We are made for better things. We are made to work in the world and tend the garden of the world. If we can't recognize the excellence that is all around us already, how can we ever dream of adding more excellence to the world? If we can't recognize glory where it already exists, how can we ever hope to live in a way that glorifies God?" - Mark Goodyear

"Thanks, nAncY. As are you and your arts. I need to order some of your art, by the way..." - Mark Goodyear

"Laity Lodge is an incredible place. If all goes according to plan, we'll see you there soon. Zombies is right. I have a particular affinity for zombies that I can't quite explain. At this point, book publishing is a waiting game for me. But I'll be sure to let you know details as I learn them." - Mark Goodyear

"The book is coming well. I'm shopping it around with an agent right now." - Mark Goodyear

"Thanks for the kind words everyone." - Mark Goodyear

"Of course. Sorry we didn't reconnect last night. I got to the airport and things were difficult. We sorted it all out, but I needed all of my mental capacity." - Mark Goodyear

"Ted, the idea of restoration vs. consummation comes from my friend, Sam Van Eman. He says God is not just restoring the world to some Eden like state--because Eden would still contain possibility for another fall. Instead, God is going to consummate creation so that there is a new creation. I don't know what I think of Sam's idea, but I played around with it here. For me, Communion and the other sacraments/activities of our faith is something that too easily becomes routine. Poetry is a way for me to rethink it, challenge it, hopefully without falling into heresy!" - Mark Goodyear

"A slick poem about communion could be dangerous..." - Mark Goodyear

"Ann, it is SO good to hear from you. Thanks for commenting on this one." - Mark Goodyear

"Yup. Be faithful in the small stuff... because it is all small stuff." - Mark Goodyear

""Christ gives freely and business makes money. They don’t mix well." Ouch. I'm not sure I buy that. What about the parable of the talents? What about the shrewd manager? Sure, Jesus turned over tables in the temple, but he didn't condemn shop owners for running good businesses. On the other hand, I agree completely with the statements about success. Business success, musical success, or any kind of success is more about whether we are showing a "long obedience in the same direction." Maybe success is obedience, and the rest is details?" - Mark Goodyear

"It definitely stands on its own, Ted. It's very simple and very powerful. I definitely recommend it." - Mark Goodyear

"It's really good. Seriously. And you know how I feel about nonfiction, so it's saying a lot if I finished the book." - Mark Goodyear

"Thanks, Ted. I appreciate that." - Mark Goodyear

"Dude L., I think you've identified the heart of our problem. We debate personal holiness because we are so very competitive. It's not enough just to run the race, we have to outrun the others. Though really, even Paul's metaphor implies some kind of competition. Run as if to get the crown. Of course, Paul isn't really talking about holiness in that passage. Like you said. Only God is holy. And yet. And yet. I want to be godly. I want to be a living sacrifice. I want to not think more highly of myself than I ought to think (constant battle). And pursuing these things--running after them--doesn't seem too far away from pursuing personal holiness." - Mark Goodyear

"I agree completely. Another thing I miss online is shared silence. Our church has lots of shared silence and that is a rare thing in the world. I'm not even quite sure what it would look like online." - Mark Goodyear

"Good point about sometimes getting more spirit from those who aren't with us in body." - Mark Goodyear

"Kelly, I agree completely, but since I started working for Howard Butt, I've grown more accustomed to thinking institutionally in the positive sense. The church is Christ's body as a metaphor and a reality. But the practical reality of the church as Christ's body has institutional implications. There needs to be some kind of organizational structure, some key vision alignment, someone to decide where we meet and when and how we're going to pay for the space and who is in charge of keeping the windows clean and who is going to make sure Aunt Betty receives visitors in the hospital and who is going to help people stay encouraged throughout the week when their jobs get them down. Even that sounds a bit limiting, but I don't know how else people organize around a vision except through some form of organization with regular meetings and structures and more or less defined roles. Thanks for visiting from L. L.'s site!" - Mark Goodyear

"What did you go and do that for?" - Mark Goodyear

"Glynn, you said, "What we learned about each other in that time was both spoken and unspoken." Isn't that the real limitation of net based relationships? For now at least, there is no way to share silence together. To be online is to speak or respond in some way. (For example, my responding to this comment is the way I show my presence here although I read the comment on Friday evening. There was no community built exactly until I responded--either publicly or privately in an email.)" - Mark Goodyear

"Interesting, L.L. So you had an almost physical experience of eating food prepared (in recipe form at least) by your friend Teacher Eric. That makes the relationship real like Charles says. But I'm still wondering if that kind of relationship replaces the more traditional neighbors next door, friends in the same church, etc. Are the body and the spirit fully separate? Or do we need the body?" - Mark Goodyear

"I'm reposting this comment for Susan: "I would be a different me." Yes, I agree, Marcus. And that goes for loss of relationships as well. When I was married I was one "me" and after a painful divorce I was a different "me". Whether one was better or worse remains to be determined, but they certainly are different people. Interesting read as I drink coffee and look forward to the meeting of our local body this morning. I would miss my online friends were they not around. I think I might die without my local ones! Certainly life would not be as full and rich as it is! (life with no Cravers - not to be imagined!)" - Mark Goodyear

"This is hilarious. The world needs more Christians who give thanks for Zombies." - Mark Goodyear