I know that Wendy posted an article about this in her blog, but I saw this today, which is a response by Brian McLaren to all of the controversy stirred up by his original comments.

Leadership Blog: Out of Ur: Brian McLaren on the Homosexual Question 4: McLaren’s Response

I didn’t spend a great deal of time with the original article, but I did read through this response, and the comments posted about it. I have to say that I thought it well written and thoughtful. It doesn’t “answer questions” so much as it clarifies intent, and promotes serious debate without debasing one side or the other.

I’m very much a liberal, and hold views on this issue consistent with that mindset. But I welcome healthy, respectful debate on the issue. I think Mr. McLaren is encouraging the same in this letter. The “early phase” of the discussion on the Harbour blog about the conflict regarding Eklektos and SBTC was not characterized by such a heathly debate, but I have hopes that it’s one its way to being more civil.

One Year Bible Blog: January 30th readings
(I’m trying out a new posting tool. We’ll see how this works)

I’ve always liked the “workers in the vineyard” story. We get such a tight focus on what’s “fair” that we forget what’s “just.” The early workers received a just wage for their efforts. By our standards (and apparently those of Jesus’ time as well) it wasn’t “fair.” No doubt today the vineyard owner would be sued for discrimination or unfair labor practices.

I actually like to focus more on those workers who were hired at the last minute. It’s easy to see the point of view of the early workers, but I think I identify more with the later ones. The assumption I think people make is that they had it easy. Just sitting around all day, doing almost no work, and then suddently get a full day’s wages. But consider their position. They almost certainly needed to work in order to feed their families. It cannot have been a pleasant experience for them to realize that they and their children would probably go hungry because nobody had hired them. It may not be hard physical labor, but it’s certainly no picnic either. Even when they were hired, I’m sure they didn’t expect much pay. And then suddenly finding themselves blessed with far more than they deserved or expected. What joy and gratitude they must have felt. I can see the landowner’s face, enjoying every minute of that response.

I think that’s why God offers the gift of Grace. That reaction of joy and gratitude for something we know we didn’t earn, and can never earn.

As an aside: I like Mike’s choice of art today. One of the pictures appears to be by one of our favorite artists, Zamy Steynovitz. We have several of his serigraphs in our home.

I’ve added a minor enhancement to BlogWatcher. It’s so minor, in fact, that most people probably won’t even notice it. It has to do with handling dates that are way out of line.

In the old version, BlogWatcher trusted the publication date for each item. In most cases, its still does. But there are three cases where it does not any more

1. The item lists a publication date in the future
2. The item lists a publication date far in the past
3. The item lists no publication date at all

In all cases, BlogWatcher will now record the date that it first “sees” such an item, and will use that, instead of one of these bogus values. If the item contains a “good” date, it will record it. Otherwise, it will use the current date and time.

I did this because one of my subscription items showed a publish date of January 4, 2007. So it always came to the top of the list. Now it will properly sink down the list as new items come up.