tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post3350357760155526257..comments2024-03-20T10:51:02.802-05:00Comments on Postcards From Mercyland: Made Up NamesPhil Madeirahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541966641322415672noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-34448871983648286702013-04-30T08:39:43.368-05:002013-04-30T08:39:43.368-05:00I know that during your PKB days you spent some ti...I know that during your PKB days you spent some time at Love Inn. What causes you to label it a "cult?" That's a pretty harsh (some would say judgmental) term. Here's what Phil Keaggy said about the place in the 1970s: "The Love Inn Community of Freeville, New York, is a body of believers functioning primarily according to New Testament patterns, and is not just another church on the corner, or a commune. We're a family and God is teaching us more and more. There's a quality of life that's being experienced here, in a practical outworking of the Lordship of Jesus in our lives, that is surpassing anything I've come from. One of the first things that happened to me here was that I had to come under authority. It's been hard for me to let go of my independence, but I am learning that they are not trying to hold me down, or restrict me out of jealousy, or just to put their thumb on me so that I won't be happy. It means less time spent on the road sometimes but I'm experiencing a lasting closeness with other Christians. I look in my brothers' faces and see the love they have for me. I've taken on the responsibility of being part of the Love Inn staff. If I show faithfulness in this job, the Lord will entrust me with greater things." Did Phil's opinion of the place change over time? You must realize that much of what goes down in the average Episcopal church is (to be generous) extra-biblical, and some would say just downright weird. On the one hand you like to be this tolerant, worldly, profane guy who sees the grey in everything and considers vagueness to be a fruit of the Spirit; on the other hand, you have no problems throwing stones at other parts of the Body. By the way, loved, loved, LOVED "Emerging." That was a GREAT album. Scott Bachmannnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-84074439763345989882010-06-15T10:50:40.527-05:002010-06-15T10:50:40.527-05:00Thanks CC.
pax
pmThanks CC.<br />pax<br />pmPhil Madeirahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09541966641322415672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-81431110778352702622010-05-24T03:32:35.965-05:002010-05-24T03:32:35.965-05:00PM- Ah, it is all beginning to make sense now - EN...PM- Ah, it is all beginning to make sense now - ENTJ and an Enneagram 7. Yo tambien. Peace, my brother! Patrice Marie (also known as PM.)Cancer's Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05325380305681960603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-80689569787063443842010-04-25T19:46:31.292-05:002010-04-25T19:46:31.292-05:00Thanks, Jeff.
Contacting you privately with a re...Thanks, Jeff. <br />Contacting you privately with a response to your kind note.<br /><br />pax<br />pmPhil Madeirahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09541966641322415672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-8108182049190618262010-04-24T08:43:59.815-05:002010-04-24T08:43:59.815-05:00Phil, I read this post aloud to my wife over brea...Phil, I read this post aloud to my wife over breakfast this morning. I roared at your descriptions of TU, your room mate and the sense of Taylor at that time. She gloated at the distinction of TU vs Wheaton, you see she is a grad of Wheaton, Class of '76. I've tried to tell her that Wheaton is where people go when they can't get into Taylor. She never believed that and now you've confirmed that. My life will never be the same. <br /><br />But I do agree with you in so much of what you said, particularly the searching and questioning of God part. I can only add that as I have sought God, and even during those times I was running from God, God was faithful. You said it best, "If there was a single thing that my college education gave me, it was the sense that spiritual exploration was not only interesting and entertaining, but necessary in order to stave off the crippling atrophy that seemed to make invalids of so many religious people, from Jesus' time to the present." Spiritual exploration is critical to a life lived with Christ. Otherwise it is someone else's experience, not yours. <br /><br />I've said it before and I mean it more today. When you were that "kid from New England" playing the piano atin the lobby of MCW Hall, I became a big fan of yours. I'm so pleased to see that you were able to make a life doing what you so obviously love. I loved those times listening to you play. You were at home when you played. I love music but can barely play a radio. Musicians have a corner and view of the world that the rest of us cannot comprehend, and people like me are envious. <br /><br />Phil, thanks for sharing your thoughts. (I ached when I read of your divorce from E, having gone through the pain of that myself.) In retrospect, TU wasn't so bad and it has contributed, in one way or the other, to be the musician, man and father you are today. I hope and trust you will continue to search for God through Christ. I do. Blessings on you Phil and, I'll say it again, you have a place to stay in Charlotte if you ever get this way. Blessings. Jeff ArcherJeffrey M. Archernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-40986066203005789852010-04-12T18:30:40.844-05:002010-04-12T18:30:40.844-05:00Thanks Trina.
It's good to be liked.
pax
pmThanks Trina. <br />It's good to be liked.<br />pax<br />pmPhil Madeirahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09541966641322415672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-63600376795676690362010-04-12T12:24:29.421-05:002010-04-12T12:24:29.421-05:00... and that's why I always liked you.
Trina... and that's why I always liked you.<br /><br />TrinaGaptooth Biz Buzzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01426185954872415021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-71777948983452263282010-04-09T14:33:36.888-05:002010-04-09T14:33:36.888-05:00sdk, thanks for chiming in. I think most of us def...sdk, thanks for chiming in. I think most of us define "god" by the synthesis of our responses and reactions to a number of random (or predestined ? ;) stimuli. In your case, Calvinism trumps Dispensationalism... yet your heart/mnd trumps logic.<br /><br />Sounds like the artist's way.<br /><br />*<br /><br />Andy, I didn't know you went to TU. <br /><br />I probably sound terribly unappreciative of Taylor U, but there was a lot of good, moreso than not. There were some big-hearted Christian people there whom I will never forget.<br /><br />*<br /><br />Karen, thank you for reading.<br /><br />Mom is a New Englander, through and through, born in Providence and having lived in New England for nearly 90 years. On the other hand, if you read my first chapter "Southern By The Grace of God", you'll have some appreciation of why I high-tailed it to Dixieland a long time ago.<br /><br />Think of your "quest" as a form of praise.<br /><br />I try to continue in openess, yet, like my SBW, I can't escape Jesus and (as CS Lewis says) "the one true myth" of redemption. I haven't thrown at the Bible, but I try to read it in a way that searches for the heart of Love. Thus a scripture like John 3:17 embodies what I believe God is all about, whereas the conquests of God's followers are often antithetical to Love's character.<br /><br />I believe that God is honored by an honest quest.<br /><br />Thanks, Karen.<br />pax<br />pmPhil Madeirahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09541966641322415672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-59935544513618357822010-04-09T09:51:56.994-05:002010-04-09T09:51:56.994-05:00Phil, was your Mom from the South? Being new to y...Phil, was your Mom from the South? Being new to your blog, I"m not familiar with your roots, except the Rhode Island part. <br /><br />This post really resonated with me, a gratefully recovering Southern Baptist turned Calvinist (also recovering) who is on a spiritual journey that is constantly evolving. Still, the depth of the imprint of my religious upbringing makes it hard for me to not feel guilty about my continued quest.Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02500524924418470154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-24951804997843876542010-04-06T13:55:00.211-05:002010-04-06T13:55:00.211-05:00I'm not sure if I ever realized you also atten...I'm not sure if I ever realized you also attended Taylor U. Surely this has come up at some point, but I don't remember it. Regardless, it was with great interest and empathy I read this post. I too experienced the world's largest cornfield youth group from 91-95, and have conflicting feelings about my time there as a result. I also know that I brought that baggage with me to Nashville which resulted in a period of both enlightenment and disillusionment as it relates to my own faith... stories for another time over brews perhaps. Anyway - just wanted to say hi and let you know that I enjoyed this post in particular. And note that not long after your departure Taylor 'erected' a large 40-foot high phallic sculpture behind the dining commons that was surely meant as a counterbalance to the 'tit' - the good evangelicals wanting to be sure everyone knew who was still in charge.Andy Petersonhttp://www.twitter.com/andy_petersonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-17805053191010091872010-04-06T12:17:32.565-05:002010-04-06T12:17:32.565-05:00of all the theologies, i was drawn most to calvin’...of all the theologies, i was drawn most to calvin’s covenant hermeneutic by the sheer beauty of its logic. cold, perhaps. cruel, predictably so. but brilliantly consistent in its execution. it challenged the dispensational framework that i had known all my life growing up in appalachia, utterly destroying it. <br /><br />god knows i needed that. but eventually, reformed theology, too, would leave me empty. <br /><br />through the course of my spiritual journey, i have come to realize that i best serve a god who i have fashioned from all the myths and rituals that resonate with both my mind and my heart. a god of contradictions. a god of chaos. a god who embraces and defies the boxes that i put her in. <br /><br />northern, southern, eastern or western, i take comfort these days in the words of erasmus, popularized by c.g. jung: “vocatus atque non vocatus, deus aderit.” <br /><br />no matter what labels i choose (or don’t choose, for that matter) it would appear that god, quite simply, is. everything else is just a matter of how i choose to frame it. in the end, be it bullshit or brilliance, those frames say more about me than they do about god.<br /><br />thanks for the thought food.<br /><br />tikkun olamsdknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-20195122834321200132010-04-04T20:59:47.451-05:002010-04-04T20:59:47.451-05:00Paula,
I just read your journal entry on the Wad...Paula, <br /><br />I just read your journal entry on the Wade Collection and the statement you were asked to sign. Very interesting. Well written, too. I love the Wade collection, and it was fun taking our kids to see the Wardrobe a long time ago.<br /><br />Thanks for the link- I've posted it on my Facebook page, and certainly encourage readers here to partake as well.<br />pmPhil Madeirahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09541966641322415672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-17143739754795442172010-04-04T15:44:09.864-05:002010-04-04T15:44:09.864-05:00Phil, Phil, Phil...when you are in the Twin Cities...Phil, Phil, Phil...when you are in the Twin Cities, let me know. Can't remember whether I've ever told you about my experience teaching at Wheaton the first year Paul was in seminary. But I've written about it too: http://ordinarytime.livejournal.com/6934.html.Paulahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07577797319727253320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-77024160443798105612010-04-03T11:48:55.473-05:002010-04-03T11:48:55.473-05:00Thank you, kind readers. Todd, the "cult&quo...Thank you, kind readers. Todd, the "cult"story is on the list of entries, and is called "Love Inn"...<br /><br />pmPhil Madeirahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09541966641322415672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-9331394161051529162010-04-03T10:26:06.490-05:002010-04-03T10:26:06.490-05:00Thank you for the gospel truth Philip! You and you...Thank you for the gospel truth Philip! You and your SBW mirror my kind of faith!<br /><br />Jonijonihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03794317926078389223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8465368768809741489.post-73422963548052923072010-04-03T08:14:36.197-05:002010-04-03T08:14:36.197-05:00Fond memories of St. Paul, and good times... Thi...Fond memories of St. Paul, and good times... This made me laugh out loud: "Three years later, this assumption or prophecy or wild guess, call it what you will, came true when I made the trek to Upstate New York and joined his band and the cult which he was a member of. But that is another story." Cult stories are the best!<br />\<br />Cheers,<br /><br />Toddtoddrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03258978675431057133noreply@blogger.com