Catching up on the classics

Since I have copious amounts of pseudo-free time at work these days or nights I should say, I have been reading some classics that I never read when most people read those sorts of books. I read "Tale of Two Cities" first and then read "Crime and Punishment."

There are two main characters in "Crime and Punishment" a woman named Sofia and a man named Raskilnikov. Raskilnikov was a murderer. He killed an old pawn broker and her sister in order to get their money. A large part of the novel is the study of his psychological state in the aftermath of his crime. The only person he confides in is a woman named Sofia.

Sofia became a prostitute in order to help feed her younger step siblings, stepmother and father. Sofia commits her crime out of selflessness, Raskilnikov out of pure selfishness. Somehow they find each other in the midst of all the craziness and Sofia falls in love with him, for some reason. He has told her and her alone of his awful crime, and she loves him anyway. He is rude, irritable and hard for her to love, but she continues nonetheless.

The end of the novel finds Sofia following Raskilnikov to prison in Siberia. She has loved him and followed him for more than a year, when he finally breaks down and allows grace to transform his heart. He loves her and the find a way in a world that doesn't quite love murderers and prostitutes.

As I think about what our church ought to be, I think our church ought to be a place for the Sofias and Raskilnikovs of the world to find peace. We must all face up to the dark deeds of our past, and of our hearts. That is the only way we can truly accept one another and ourselves. Those people should not find solace only in one another, but in the church of Jesus Christ. This is, I believe what can set us apart from "normal" churches. We must work with one another to set aside pretense and own up to the ugliness that is inside.

Is there anything going on with anyone? Do you need us to pray for you? Have any thoughts on our small group training stuff? I am thinking that maybe after the first few weeks we can have other people lead parts. This will break it up and help everyone to have some ownership. Hope you are excited to be moving to sunny (at the moment) Denver. Oh and we are going to see Death Cab for Cutie on July 14 at the Red Rocks. You are invited. 40 bucks per ticket.