A Northwoods Life

Living Incarnationally

2012-01-27T08:57:00.002-06:00

The following excerpt came from one of my teacher's (Dr. Charles Arn) books entitled "Heartbeat".

KESWICK, UNITED KINGDOM (ANS) — Walking slowly to the podium, assisted by a cane and his research assistant, the theologian was met by a standing ovation from the overflow crowd on the warm summer evening of July 17th. Several years earlier TIME magazine had named him “One of the 100 most influential people on the planet.” What would he say in his final address to those listening in that room and around the world?

John Stott began by recalling how perplexed he had been as a younger Christian, about the answer to the question, “What is God’s purpose for His people?” In his message that night Stott described the resolution to his lifelong search:

“ I want to share with you where my mind has come to rest as I approach the end of my pilgrimage on earth. Here it is: God wants His people to become like Christ. Christ-likeness is the will of God for the people of God.”

Stott spent the rest of the evening addressing this matter of incarnational evangelism; a process, he noted, “that can turn the world upside down.” Stott’s simple definition of incarnational evangelism was: “Entering into other people’s worlds with Christ-likeness.”

Incarnational evangelism, said Stott, is the road the church must walk in the 21st century. Our evangelistic efforts often lead to failure, he observed, simply because we don’t act like the Christ we proclaim. Quoting John Poulton, Stott noted that, “The most effective preaching comes from those who embody their message. What communicates now are not words or ideas, but rather personal authenticity; that is, Christ-likeness.”

From small groups to missional communities

2012-01-26T11:39:00.004-06:00

Is the purpose of small group communities merely community? Here is a discussion that asks some essential questions about why small groups exist and if they go far enough in accomplishing the tasks that we are called to accomplish as Christ's body. The conversation talks about transitioning from small groups to missional communities. Granted, we have several small groups in our church that, functionally speaking, are missional in nature.

Notice "missional" doesn't necessarily mean "doing lots of stuff". It means that a community has a sense that they are being called to enter into God's mission for the world. They are asking, "what is God up to in the lives of those in our neighborhood, and how can we join Him"?

Check it out and you'll get the gist of what's being said.

Nurturing Societies

2011-12-12T14:44:00.003-06:00

We often speak of small groups as a late 20th century invention or programmatic method to get people "plugged in". Nothing could be further from the truth. Small Groups as they exist today should meet in the same vein as Christ did with his disciples. To corporately invest in the life of the Master and be sent out to do the Master's business together.

In the mid-1700's John Wesley influenced thousands of people into Christian discipleship through small societies we might refer to as small groups. Wesley was noted for saying, "Preaching like an apostle, without joining together those that are awakened and training them in the way of God, is only begetting children for the murderer."

Humility

2011-11-19T20:08:00.003-06:00

"Humility is not thinking less of myself. It's thinking of myself less."

-Tim Keller

The Paradox of Choice

2011-11-17T13:54:00.003-06:00

I was listening to a Tedtalk recently called the "paradox of choice". The paradox of choice goes like this.....the more options we have, the less content we actually are.

The theory can be tested through the lens of buying a pair of jeans. Back in the day, when there was only one kind of blue jean to buy in the store, I got them wore them and for the most part was content with them, because the only other alternative was, well nothing, or an uncomfortable pair of corduroys. So, compared to not having jeans at all, having a pair was great.

Fast forward 30 years.

Now I can choose literally 100s of different brands, colors, shapes and sizes of jeans all within my reach....and, while the jeans I wear today actually look and fit better than the pair I used to have when back in the day, I'm paradoxically, less content. "Why", you ask? Good question.

I'm less happy because, in a world of choice, I'm perpetually wondering what I missed out on. I'm continually ruminating over whether there might be another pair that might fit a tad bit better. And, the thought of there being something better just out of grasp haunts me, and breeds a spirit of dissatisfaction with that which I do have.

That's the paradox of choice. Logically, we assume, more choice should bring more freedom. But, in reality more options bring more consternation, frustration, dissatisfaction and self-obsession.

I see this as one of the great problems of consumeristic society. Options breed dissatisfaction. And, so it goes within the church. The answer to church dissatisfaction is not creating more options. More options don't make us happier. . .look at our culture for goodness sake!

What is necessary within the Church is that she develop a theology of less. Speaking of paradoxes, one of Jesus' great paradoxes in the gospels is that less is more. And, so we must attempt to think less like our culture and more like Jesus.

I remember those provocative words from Christ as he gently chides Martha. "Martha, Martha, you run after many things, but only one thing is necessary". Maybe, this economic crisis we are in will force us away from our smorgasbord diets, and we'll find that only one thing is necessary.

And, in finding that one necessary thing, we'll find personal contentment in those things that we do have.

Where was God on 9/11?

2011-09-08T08:16:00.004-05:00

As the ten year anniversary of 9/11 draws near, my thoughts go to my Uncle Bernie and Aunt Barbara and the rest of the Heeran clan. Growing up our family would travel up from Delaware to visit our New York relatives, and I have great memories of my cousin Charlie, who always lit up a room with his mischievous smile and Irish eyes.

Charlie's life was stolen from him on September 11.

As humans, it's hard to reconcile where God fits into our losses and pain. We don't see what God sees or know what God knows, and when evil strikes us personally, we are left with lots of unanswered questions. One of the biggies is "where were you God"?

Below is a Frontline Documentary called "Faith and Doubt: God and 9/11." Uncle Bernie and my cousin Sean are both featured, and discuss how the loss of Charlie has impacted their faith.

What I think is profound about Uncle Bernie's statements in the video is that while he doesn't claim to have all the answers, he doesn't blame God or hold God in contempt like others do in this documentary. In his own way, he basically says, God was is in the trenches that day fighting evil right alongside everyone else at ground zero.

As I reflect on Uncle Bernie's statement I think it's a pretty Biblical response.

I heard a story once that goes like this. . .A man loses his son tragically and is in terrible grief. In time, his pain turns into anger. And, in a moment of desperation he cries out to God from the bottom of his tormented soul. . . "God, where were you when my son was dying?? Then, after a long silence, a voice replies back. "The same place I was when my Son was dying."

Uncle Bernie is right. God is fighting evil right along side of us. He's not immune to suffering, death and misery. His own son, according to the Scriptures, was a casualty of the war against evil. Ground zero for Jesus Christ was Calvary.

He too suffered in the hands of terrorists. We have a God who is able to sympathize with our pain, because he has entered it on our behalf, and has been through hell too. God knows what it is like to lose a Son. And, I know that he stands alongside every grieving mother and father who lost a son 10 years ago.

But, Christ did not just passively die in the hands of evil. Through his resurrection, sacrificial love conquered evil once and for all. 9/11 reminds us that evil is real and on some days seems to win the battle. But, the resurrection shouts to us that the war has already been won. The grave is not the end. Evil cannot withstand the relentless, courageous, self-sacrificial love of our God. Evil is shattered and rendered impotent by the cross of Christ.

The God who is in the trenches fighting evil and suffering in the hands of evil, is the same God who rose victoriously and one day is returning to this world to once and for all snuff out any resemblance of evil.

Charlie, we love you and know that today you are with Christ.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

Who is this King of Glory?

2011-07-25T15:21:00.004-05:00

Psalm 24

Of David. A psalm.

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.

Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not trust in an idol
or swear by a false god.

They will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God their Savior.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, God of Jacob.

Lift up your heads, you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory.

The closing of this Psalm pictures a royal procession. It pictures the King of the Universe marching into that which is his own. The Holy One triumphantly entering, through the Gates of His walled city, Jerusalem. It's a breathtaking picture. The King of Glory entering in dignity, armed in strength and victorious over His enemy.

Of course, the gospels too speak of a royal procession into the city of the King. Except the New Testament adds to the psalmist's ancient prophecy an unexpected twist.

The gospels record that in Jesus Christ, the King did indeed enter through the gates of Jerusalem. And, upon His arrival, he was rejected by his loyal subjects and immediately led outside the ancient walls of the city He had built.

We are told that this King of Glory was crowned not with gold, but with thorns that tore into his flesh. This King was not only robbed of his glory, but of every strip of clothing as well. Naked, the king was elevated above the crowd, ironically heads were lifted up. But, not to honor him, but dishonor, smirk and jeer at him.

The Psalmist cries "who can ascend to the holy hill of God? He who has clean hands and a pure heart". Well, there were no clean hands or pure hearts that day. Only two pierced hands and one broken heart. Broken by love for a people who esteemed him not.

The King of Glory was led outside the city gates, precisely so we could be brought in. He climbed the Hill of scorn and rejection, so that we could could ascend to the hill called Holiness.

You see the New Testament twist to the psalmist story is precisely this: No one can ascend the holy hill. There is none righteous, no not one. And, in a move of divine paradox, in Jesus, the King of Glory Himself ascends a hill. But, not the hill called Zion, but the one called Calvary.

Who ascended to the hill of the LORD? None but Jesus Christ. But, graciously his courageous ascent, guarantees, by faith, ours as well.

What an amazing love.

Who is this King of Glory?

The LORD Jesus Christ--

He is the King of Glory!

Technology and Wisdom

2011-07-11T14:55:00.004-05:00

Neil Postman over the years has been very helpful to me in thinking through how technology impacts culture. Postman's article on "Five Things we need to Know on Technological Change" is worth the read. Pastor Jeremy and I had a great conversation last night about how technology is not bad. . .but, technology without wisdom can be like an "ax in the hand of a psychopath" (to quote Einstein). I encourage you to read Postman's whole article (if this topic interests you. Below are the five basic ideas. The article fleshes each of these out in insightful and thoughtful ways.

First Idea
All technological change is a trade-off. Technology giveth and technology taketh away. This means that for every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage. The disadvantage may exceed in importance the advantage, or the advantage may well be worth the cost.

Second Idea
The advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among the population. This means that every new technology benefits some and harms others.

Third Idea
Embedded in every technology there is a powerful idea, sometimes two or three powerful ideas. These ideas are often hidden from our view because they are of a somewhat abstract nature. But this should not be taken to mean that they do not have practical consequences.

Fourth Idea
Technological change is not additive; it is ecological. A new medium does not add something; it changes everything.

Fifth Idea
I come now to the fifth and final idea, which is that media tend to become mythic. The word "myth" to refer to a common tendency to think of our technological creations as if they were God-given, as if they were a part of the natural order of things".

Redefining Progress

2011-06-30T10:32:00.005-05:00

"When going back makes sense, you are going ahead."

— Wendell Berry

Jeremiah 6:16 echos this maxim. God calling Israel to move forward by looking backward. The LORD exhorts Israel to "ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is. . . and walk in it." Sometimes moving forward in life means looking backwards at the conventional, collective wisdom of our ancestors. More often than not ancient wisdom is often more potent in our lives than faddish innovation.

What the Spirit Does

2011-06-28T08:29:00.003-05:00

The Holy Spirit is sort of the enigma within the Trinity. We can wrap our minds around the Father. And, Jesus we "get". His divinity is cloaked in flesh and he looks, feels and relates like we do. We can at least begin to wrap our minds around that. But the Holy Spirit. . .or growing up Catholic, we would use the term "Holy Ghost". Now that's downright spooky, like something out of the Exorcist. After all, who or what is the Holy Spirit?

Well, despite the name it's reassuring to know that the Holy Spirit is referred to as a person in the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit is part of the God-head and is every bit as personal as the Father or Son. He is no more or no less "ghost" than the other members of the Trinity. Reassuring.

But, what does the Holy Spirit do?

This past week I was doing a Bible study with three theologians that I'm close to named Jackson, Caleb and Kate. And, we examined the role of the Holy Spirit in three important places in the Scripture: in the creation of the world, in the incarnation of Jesus Christ and in the new creation or the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. Some interesting themes emerged.

Holy Spirit in Creation.

Genesis chapter one sets the stage. Interestingly, we see that "in the beginning God creates the heavens and the earth." But Genesis goes further and says that these heavens and earth were "formless, empty and dark". Ever think about that? God makes the cosmos, but it initially has no shape, no structure, no form, no light. Sort of like raw cosmic ball of goo. I don't know what this world God created looked like, but many scholars say that it was like a blank, black canvas that was ready for the artist. I like this assessment.

Then the next line casually slips in that "the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters". Enter God's Holy Spirit. God's Spirit is present and interceding or coming between God's purpose and design and the creation itself. Of course, the rest of Genesis 1 speak of form, order and texture arising out of formlessness, fullness out of emptiness and light blazing through darkness. We can interpret from this text that the Spirit of God is active in God's creation in bringing His light and life, texture and form, color and creativity to what is otherwise dark, formless and void.

Holy Spirit in the Incarnation

Turning to the first pages of the New Testament we read about the fulfillment a prophecy. One is to come into the world who is the Messiah. This King will be no ordinary King, but will be the "son of the Most High". An angel appears to Mary and tells her that she will bear this child. I'm not sure if sex education existed in the first century, but Mary is no dummy. She informs the angel that it's going to be a tall order to get pregnant since she's a virgin and not yet married. In essence, Mary is saying my womb is formless, empty and dark. There's no capacity for life in there. And, the angel responds with the most amazing statement. He says "the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. . .and you will be with child."

Once again the Holy Spirit moves into a formless, empty and dark aspect of the creation (Mary's womb) and fulfills the divine plan of God with His super-natural creative power. I can't help but notice the similar feel of the spirit hovering over the dark waters in the creation and God's Spirit coming upon Mary and overshadowing Mary's dark womb. Both instances beget new life. They breed creative vitality and fulfillment where there was once nothing. Holy Brilliance and power at work!

Holy Spirit in New Creation

After Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven, Jesus promised that he would not leave his followers alone with the task of changing this world, but would send his promised Holy Spirit to be with them. Yet, this didn't happen immediately. There were several days between Jesus leaving and the coming of the Holy Spirit. During this time, the disciples understood the capacity of their mission, but lacked the capability to carry out that mission. We see them huddled together in Jerusalem praying and trying to make decisions. . .to muster up the wisdom what to do next. They were doing the right things, but didn't have the creative, life-giving power of God within them. There is no real form/substance, fullness or power in the church. . .yet. Then Acts 2 comes.

At Pentecost God's Spirit once again descends upon his creation filling those around, and doing what He does best. . .interceding with a super-natural, creative power that enables God's creation to come alive accomplishing the Father's purpose for the world. He brings form, fullness and light to God's people at Pentecost. First, form. After Pentecost, the church emerges with structure and a sense of order and super-natural unity. Second, fullness. God's people are filled with the mission of Jesus in a new way. They take on His passion and His boldness in a way that they could not without the Spirit's presence. Third, light. The post-Pentecost Church is not under the cloak of darkness, secretly hiding in upper rooms trying to survive on the victories of yesterday. No, the church with the Holy Spirit comes out of the shadows and into the light. Their unashamed boldness to reach the nations and be the light of the world becomes the theme of the post-Pentecost church and fills the remaining pages in the book of Acts.

So, what does the work of the Holy Spirit have to do with our lives today? Well, we see in the creation, the incarnation and in new creation that the Spirit likes to do his creative work in the formless, empty and void-ness of life. In essence, he likes to work within the barren and desolate places of life. Be it within cosmic confusion, a barren womb or a bunch frightened disciples, he delights to work within what's undone and dark to bring divine form, substance, fullness and light to God's world. Fascinating!

Soren Kierkegaard has this great quote that goes like this. "God creates everything out of nothing. And, everything which God is to use, he first reduces to nothing." Perhaps that's the heartbeat of the Holy Spirit. To work alongside the Father to make nothing into something great. If this is true, perhaps our take home point to a greater life in the Spirit is not trying to attain anything or "get" more of God's Spirit. Perhaps what God wants and His Spirit delights in is our willingness to admit our own formlessness, emptiness and darkness so that His Spirit can begin to work in us. While such an admission is an irritation to our pride, if my theology is right, it is an invitation to the Spirit to work His magic in our lives to the glory of God.

The Stories We Believe

2011-06-06T12:37:00.003-05:00

"To heal the person, we must first heal the story they imagine themselves to be in".

-James Hillman

Mission and Worship

2011-06-04T11:34:00.004-05:00

"Mission exists because worship does not."

-John Piper

I appreciated this apt quote. It takes a little thinking to even understand it.

Sometimes we forget that the entire purpose of mission and ministry is to help people see, experience, love, adore, honor and glorify God. If all creation honored their Creator and gave Him themselves, there would be no need for mission.

Consider this. There will come a time when mission work is complete. It will be no more. But, there will never be a time when worship is complete. Mission will end, worship will last forever.

Therefore, worship must be the end to which we aspire and perspire in our life. Mission is merely the means, the outworking of our worship to God. Any mission work whose intent is not ultimately the worship and glorification of God, is mission gone sadly awry.

Sometimes we think of mission as the most thing in our lives that matters to God. It is not. Mission will come to an end one day, but worship will not. Of course, to truly worship God. . .to see what God sees. . .to delight in what God delights . . .to go where God goes. . . compels and thrusts us into mission.

But, let us not mistake the means from the end.

The Gospel and its implications

2011-06-02T09:46:00.006-05:00

What is the gospel?

Social justice, community reform, personal morality should never be mistaken as the gospel itself. They are actually the IMPLICATIONS of the gospel fleshed out into our life and world. Social Justice, for instance, is a tentacle, an extension, an outworking of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A tentacle is an attachment...something that grows out of the core substance of something. Like we find on a jellyfish. . .the tentacles grow out of the core and are connected to the core, but only represent a part or an extension of the whole.

I think the same is true of the gospel. When we trace our behaviors, values, choices, thoughts back to their source, everything should be sourced in the essence of the gospel: that God is rebuilding his Kingdom precisely through His own incarnation, suffering death and resurrection on behalf of mankind.

So, feeding the poor, helping a handicapped person, saying "no" to sexual temptation, attending church, handling personal rejection, or spending money...all of these things become natural implications in our lives of coming into a right relationship with the living God through Jesus. All of these things are the implications, the tentacles, of the all-encompassing gospel of Jesus, but they are NOT in themselves the gospel. Historically, liberal Christianity has mistaken the gospel for social justice. Conservative Christianity has mistaken the gospel for personal morality. Both sides have drank different flavors of the same poison. Neither social justice, nor personal morality are the gospel. Both, however are both implications of the gospel at work, and should be tentacles in a gospel centered life. But, they are not the gospel themselves.

Our problem today, whether on the left or the right, is the need to embrace the gospel and then think through the profound implications of the the gospel. As, Keller's quote below goes on to say...a central problem in our lives stems from not thinking, perceiving, contemplating how the gospel reorients all of life. He writes:

"The main problem, then, in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not “used” the gospel in and on all parts of our life. Richard Lovelace says that most people’s problems are just a failure to be oriented to the gospel–a failure to grasp and believe it through and through. Luther says, “The truth of the Gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine. . . . Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.” The gospel is not easily comprehended. Paul says that the gospel only does its renewing work in us as we understand it in all its truth. All of us, to some degree live around the truth of the gospel but do not “get” it. So the key to continual and deeper spiritual renewal and revival is the continual re-discovery of the gospel. A stage of renewal is always the discovery of a new implication or application of the gospel–seeing more of its truth. This is true for either an individual or a church".

2011-05-17T14:08:00.001-05:00

I was asked today in a ministry preparation class (which I was on the panel), what is your biggest discouragement/challenges in your area of ministry. I replied, "Consumerism in the culture and in the church". Western societies produce fully discipled consumers. Yes, consumerism actually disciples us. A person discipled on consumerism believes that they hold a plethora of seductive chalices in their own hands . . .and the more consumed, the better our lives. In stark contrast, Jesus Christ says there is but one cup we must drink from, and he holds the cup. The concoction in the cup? Absolute allegiance to Himself and a willingness to follow His path to the cross. He offers this cup to James and John near the end of his life. Jesus tells the brothers that he must drink of this cup, and his disciples must follow suit. He asks the bold Son's of Thunder, "Can you drink the cup that I drink from?" A daunting question. The two powerful men don't realize what's in the cup Jesus offers. You see, Jesus assumes that his disciples will drink from the same cup that he drinks. Today's dilemma is that the idol of consumerism also holds out many available cups, filled to the brim with promises that satiate our personal needs and desires. So, we are in a battle. A battle of deciding who is discipling us. . .A battle of what cup we will consume. Whose cup are you drinking from? Jesus' cup or the cultures cup? Both want your allegiance, yet you cannot proclaim loyalty to both. Both are seeking to make you their apprentice . . .to drink their concoction.

Are you willing to drink His cup?

Take a minute to watch this video by Allen Hirsch. It's only about 2 1/2 minutes and is about disciple-making and consumerism. Challenging and good.

Salvation: Deliverance from what??

2011-04-04T13:39:00.006-05:00

Over the years, many have come to Christ thinking of deliverance or salvation as primarily escape from hell. Or perhaps more prominent today, salvation is deliverance from my difficult circumstances I'm currently trudging through--sort of God's way of helping me to get my life back in order. But, Christ and the New Testament writers seem to speak of the need of salvation from something far closer to home than a location in a future life or a challenging time in life. Deliverance that is granted in salvation is deliverance from the self that's infected with sin. Ephesians 2 speaks to this, as does Colossians 1. Biblically speaking, salvation is primarily about deliverance from SIN...from the old self, the dominion of evil lurking within. It is the sin within that has created the false-self and has left me estranged from my Creator. The gospel offers deliverance of the false-self enmeshed in sin. But, such a deliverance only comes to those who surrender that old self to God. And, this releasing is a death blow to be sure. Baptism is a visible sign of that blow. My emergence into the water is the burying of that false self that had to die. "If anyone wants to save his life", says Jesus "he must lose it". Many people, I find, have a difficult time seeing that sin is actually the big WHAT that we need deliverance from. Our security, satisfaction and significance holds so tightly to that false-self (the sin within) that so often we can't see that it is precisely what we need deliverance from. Surely Christ delivers us from bad situations, bad places, bad people and bad hands we've been dealt in life. . .we think this way, yet overlook the worse thing pulsing in our lives. The sin within. G.K. Chesterton the great British journalist was once asked to respond to an editorial that posed the question "What's most wrong with the world today?" Chesterton's response was simple, yet profoundly true. He wrote: "Dear Sir: Regarding your article 'What's Wrong with the World?', "I am". Yours truly, G.K. Chesterton We need deliverance from the sin within. . .daily. And, so repentance is coming to the place where we have become convinced that "I am" most what's wrong with the world. Repentance is thus the cry of a heart that needs deliverance from nothing other than one's own self. And, in a very tangible way, repentance is a bidding to die to our old self. And, lo and behold, we find that in such a death, we turn towards a God who exchanged his own life for ours. Paradoxically, as we lay down our life, we come face to face with the One who has already exchanged His life for ours. And, lo and behold, we have been delivered. In dying to the false-self, we are granted a new-self that is being renewed in the image of our Creator.

If I Stand. . .

2011-03-29T06:57:00.004-05:00

This song has given me great joy and hope over the years. I recently listened to this and it was the perfect prayer for a close friend who is in lots of pain. Whether bursts of joy or the devastation of pain, we have a God who is deeper yet. Who is in all things and who makes all things new.

enjoy. . .

The Heidelberg Catechism

2011-03-29T06:07:00.002-05:00

This is a beautiful reminder of the basis of all life and reality for the person who calls himself a Christ follower. It's the first question from the Heidelberg Catechism which simply reads as follows:

What is your only comfort in life and death? "That I, with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, wherefore by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto Him".

My Child's Soul

2011-03-29T05:34:00.003-05:00

Friend and fellow pastor, Jeremy Mavis, recently blogged about our children's spiritual development and the cultural mandate to "outsource" our kids to specialists in every conceivable area under the sun (athletics, academics, the arts, and yes even religion). Here he wonders about the impact of outsourcing the primary role given to parents by God. . .the spiritual formation of their children. In this excerpt, He quotes from another pastor,David Wakerly, who muses over the same thing.

Here's the link: http://jeremymavis.com/2011/03/28/outsourcing-our-childrens-spiritual-development/

Outsourcing Our Children’s Spiritual Development?

Yesterday in church, Matt Jones shared about his role as a parent in the lives of his children. Specifically, Matt was alluding to his job (along with his wife, Cara) as the chief source of spiritual development for his children. While he appreciates the role of the church (particularly its programs), he does not “outsource” his primary role to the church. In other words, he doesn’t leave how his kids are going to turn out spiritually up to the church Sunday School program and mid-week gathering time. Matt said these church programs are great collaborative efforts to subsidize (not replace) what he and Cara are doing as parents with their kids.

Kudos to Matt and Cara Jones for starting this conversation in our church community. I really appreciate it.

I came across a blog post the other day that went right along with what Matt talked about:

"I have outsourced my child’s swimming development.

You see, I’m just not an expert on the subject. I haven’t studied swim theory and I am completely unfamiliar with what it takes to learn how to become a swimmer even to the most basic of levels… which I would assume is ‘not drowning’.

So – I am comfortable with giving away control of my child’s swimming ability to a professional. In fact it seems to be working; my firstborn no longer screams when he observes large bodies of water and is slowly heading towards the aforementioned ‘not drowning’ level of swimming ability.

As parents and rightly so, we want to open up our children’s worlds as wide as possible and allow them to experience life to the full. My children will study science at school but may not become scientists; maths, but may not become mathematicians. So I am comfortable allowing many of these skills to be developed by teachers far more capable than me (especially maths ☺).

At this point in his short life, it is highly unlikely that child No.1 will become a professional swimming athlete. His parents simply don’t have it in them to generate the kind of passion for swimming that he would need to succeed in that arena. But on the off-chance that he develops a passion for and wants to pursue a career in professional sports then I’m confident my attitude will completely change and I’ll become far more involved in the training and discipline that it will take to pursue that dream.

Far above any academic or physical achievement that my children can attain is my desire for them to have an Olympic-sized faith. I desire to have kids who can stand up to the culture of this present age and live in such a way that they demand the attention of the world. I want my children to have the kind of faith that moves mountains and stands strong against any trial or tribulation that they will face; to grow up in a way that identifies them as a living, breathing ambassador of Christ on earth.

As parents, we tend to take quite a structured view of the education of our children. Emphasis is placed on testing and exams because we are led to believe that these processes indicate or lead to success. Here in Australia this culminates with the HSC (Higher School Certificate) in the last year of High School; the mental and psychological equivalent of David facing Goliath for many kids.

So where is the structure for my son’s spiritual development? Where is the passion to see my boy become an expert in his field, a champion in his arena?

This will take more than a ‘one hour a week’ soccer practice. I need to commit fully to this process because although not every child will become an athletic champion, every child can become a spiritual champion.

We may never get up at 5:30am to take our children to swimming practice in the local pool, but what is the equivalent for your child’s spiritual journey? Let that question drive you to your knees in prayer to seek God and ask His help to engage the hearts and minds of your children as you train them in the way that they should go.

Every child is different and every child’s spiritual journey requires us to listen to the Holy Spirit closely as we strive to raise children who love God and love people.

At Hillsong church most of our families do not attend every week, in fact on average they attend once a month. Can you think of any other area in life where 25% was good enough for success? They are missing out on 75% of the training and teaching that we as a church work hard to give the children we have been entrusted with.

Don’t think for one minute I am being religious about this – I am not suggesting attendance to keep up appearances. The reality is that your child will be at Church a maximum of 70 hours this year (if you attend each week), but they will attend school for maybe 1,500 hours and STILL apparently need homework to complete their learning.

Attending church every week will not guarantee your child grows up to be a spiritual champion, but it’s a pretty good start. Deuteronomy 6 places the primary spiritual responsibility for your children on you as a parent. But we as the church occupy a unique position in the life of your family – one that cannot be replaced with clubs and teams. This is the house of God, a gathering of the saints together and an absolute essential in the lifestyle of a Christian family.

So be careful not to prioritise the preparation of your children for a future that may never eventuate. Instead, give your life to establish a legacy for your children and your children’s children.

You cannot outsource your child’s spiritual development".

-David Wakerley

Shallow Small Group

2011-03-21T16:18:00.001-05:00

Ever had a day when you just felt like throwing in the towel?

This one made me laugh.

Gospel Growth

2011-03-21T10:04:00.003-05:00

I've been doing training once a month for all our group leaders. We have been talking a lot about "gospel growth". This idea of gospel growth was inspired by a workshop I recently attended called "The Trellis and Vine Workshop" by Mattias Media. Great stuff.

The Scriptures are clear that God has called us to gospel growth. Colossians 1 talks about the gospel that is ever growing inside us "since the day we received it". Paul is saying here that the gospel has a life of its own. Of course, that "life" is the very life of Jesus imparted to us through the Holy Spirit. If the goal of a congregation is gospel growth, a great question to ask is "what conditions promote gospel growth in a church and in an individual life?"

We have been focusing on the "3P's" that promote gospel growth:

1. Proclamation of the Gospel-As we proclaim the gospel with the help of the Spirit the Scriptures say that it is received or rejected by men. When received, that gospel is the power of God germinating inside a heart, and it begins to grows, grow, grow. Are we proclaiming the full truth of gospel in clear and compelling ways?

2. Personal Relationships-God's main "method" grow the gospel is person to person. Like a highly contagious virus, the gospel is transmitted through intimacy and close proximity. Programs, processes, and presentations are all good...but God's main means of growing the gospel in another is YOU! Are we building personal relationships with those whom God leads into our lives?

3. Prayer- Prayer grows the gospel in others. Look at Ephesians or Colossians...Paul is constantly bathing those congregations in prayer in his epistles. He prays for their eyes, their hearts, their ears, their lives to all be showered by God's power and love so that the gospel permeates their lives. We must pray that the kingdom of God advances in the lives of people! Are we daily in prayer for those personal relationships that God has placed in our lives?

Are you and your church gospel centered?

2011-03-02T15:06:00.005-06:00

This is a great little interview of Jeff Vanderstelt on the centrality of the gospel. A gospel-centered life is goes well beyond "getting saved". And, a gospel-centered church is much more than church with gospel preaching. Because the gospel is the power of God, it cannot be reduced into bite size peices within our lives or the life of the church. The gospel is multi-faceted and an ever expanding and growing reality within the life of a believer and the life of a church. I encourage you to keep a pen and paper handy and jot down some notes. Then, beased on your notes, assess yourself. Are you and your congregation truly gospel centered?

Justin Anderson & Jeff Vanderstelt talk Gospel Centrality from Redemption Church on Vimeo.

Glorying in the Cross

2011-02-10T11:54:00.003-06:00

The word salvation in the life of the Christian loses its luster after time. We talk about being saved in a very objective, rational sort of way. Yet, anyone saved from death would never simply discuss their deliverance in a merely factual way.

Take note of your thoughts, attitudes and words pertaining to the gospel. Does the cross still grip you? Does it stun or amaze you? Perhaps the right questions for maturing believers is not "have I been saved?", but rather am I today stunned, amazed and overwhelmed by Jesus' work on the cross? I would argue that if we are not deeply affected by glorying in what Christ accomplished for us on the cross, then our salvation is becoming way too much a past event instead of a present reality.

I don't know about you, but I need the gospel daily. And, yes, God did "save" me in the past. But, I also need deliverance each day. And, He delivers by distributing his grace freely to my area of need. The freshness of experiencing the gospel daily has been helping me stay routinely overwhelmed by the cross.

Are you currently stunned, amazed and overwhlemed by what your Lord did for you? Does your obedience to Christ arise out of sheer obligation to do the "Christian" thing, or in loving response to the grace offered you in Christ?

How do we keep our faith fresh and amazing? Never, ever cease meditating upon or glorying in the cross of Christ.

Eyes to see

2011-02-01T15:18:00.004-06:00

Josh Bell, the world renown violinist was asked to participate in an experiment with the Washington Post which asked the question, "In an ordinary setting, at an inappropriate hour, would people notice beauty?" The answer should not shock us. The worlds greatest violinist played some of the most intricate and beautiful pieces of music ever composed for almost an hour in a busy subway station in Washington DC on an ordinary Friday morning (disguised in a pair of blue jeans and baseball hat) and went virtually unnoticed.

The result of the Posts experiment (people do not see beauty when its staring them in the face) should not surprise us. The Scriptures say that our sin nature eclipses our ability to see beauty, grace, truth, God. The most shocking social experiment revealing this simple fact was the incarnation. The apostle John sadly reports "He was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, and his own received him not."

As I watch this incriminating video, it drives home the realization that God Himself walked this earth full of grace and truth (John 1:14), but because he had no worldly beauty or majesty attached to him, we despised him and esteemed not. The eyes that were fashioned to gaze upon and bring glory to their Creator, ignored their Creator. How sad.

Are we any less blind today? Do you have eyes and still fail to see? Are you like those in the Metro Station who scurry past beauty and grace, when it comes incognito, or are you like one of those who stopped, recognized and received? Not many noticed Jesus. Most ignored, but some were compelled to stop in their tracks. Disciples are those called by God to stop, recognize and receive Him.

Not many see. "But, to all who receive Him. . .He grants the rights to become children of God" (John 1:12).

Enjoy.

A Christmas Meditation

2010-12-23T21:13:00.002-06:00

Psychologist Urie Brofenbenner defines a family as "a group of persons who possess and implement an irrational commitment to each other's well-being." An interesting way of defining family. . .an irrational commitment to the well being of one another. This odd, yet perceptive definition explains perfectly what family is all about.

Today it's snowing and the roads are less than optimal, but tonight Ann, the kids and I will be packing up and driving 1200 miles eastward to visit my family in Delaware. Irrational? Some might think so. And, after 26 potty breaks, 150 oz. of caffeinated substances and 14,000's "are we there yet" echoing from the back of the mini-van, the trip begins to feel more and more irrational by the minute. But, the moment we embrace our loved ones and reunite, all else is forgotten. Why? Because it's family. Have you ever considered how irrational family love actually is? Reminds me of that old song "The things we do for Love". Love for our family moves us to do some insane things for the well-being of one another. And, to those who are outside our families, the things that we do for love can easily be construed as weird, weak, foolish, and insane.

Musing over family commitment reminds me of God's own commitment to His family. You and I have an irrational commitment to our own families. Yet, in the incarnation we see a whole new level irrationality to the well-being of family that verges on absurdity. In Christ, God did something completely senseless; he entered human history by becoming our elder brother. And, he became a brother like no other brother we will ever know. This brother's love went so deep that he was pleased to "be wounded for our transgression and crushed for our iniquities". Punishment for sin was directed towards the whole human family, no exceptions. And, just when we thought there was no hope for humanity, this elder brother stepped into the story in Jesus Christ and took the bullet, if you will, for his family. The family he came to save, ironically, nailed Him to a cross. And, the Scripture says that "He who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." Our elder brother died our death so that we might live.

I suppose we're all irrationally committed to the well-being of our loved ones. But, no one....I mean, NO ONE has shown more a more irrational commitment to His family than Jesus Christ. From the cradle to the cross Jesus' love for his brothers and sisters was absurd. His grace defied human explanation. His love is so irrational that those outside the family, cannot make sense of it. They see Christ's work as weak or foolish (I Corinthians 1). Of course to those of us in the family, the gospel is the power of God. It's everything!

Christmas always brings families together. It's a time when we are often expressing an irrational commitment to our own families. And that can be challenging, frustrating and even painful. This Christmas as you mesh your lives with your family, let's remember the member of our collective family whose insane love won everything for you and I. As, we become grateful of such love, may we go and model that same love to our friends and families.

God Bless you and Merry Christmas!

In favor of small-ness

2010-10-21T16:25:00.002-05:00

Most of us cringe over the idea of “Big Government”. We recognize that the bigger the organization, the more impersonal it becomes. Is not the same true of a church?
Do you actually believe that people who do not know the particulars of your personal life can honestly help you when you are facing a big life challenge? If so, think again.

When my wife’s mom was dying with cancer, our small group was amazing. They knew the right questions to ask, the right meals to prepare, they knew how to pray for us. They know how to love us. They could tell when Ann or I were having a bad day. They offered their presence with helping hands, open ears, tearful eyes and traveling feet. . .feet that trod all the way down to Minneapolis to comfort Ann, both before and after her mom’s death. Our small group was the Body of Christ ministering to us in day to day particulars of our lives!

During this time, the church at large offered a significant thing too. They offered their condolences and sent beautiful sympathy cards. They offered help from a distance. And, for this I am eternally grateful. But, the reality is that the church at large could never begin to know, understand or share the particulars of our personal crisis. And, the reality is that without a small group, all aspects of the personal and particular would have gone largely unmet. But, thanks to our small group, the Body of Christ at Hayward Wesleyan Church was able to find its way deeply into the specific needs of personal loss.

Big governments and big churches do some things extremely well. But, the personal and particular issues pertaining to everyday life can only be adequately met through small-ness. There’s no other way. In relational matters, smaller is always better.

Instead of fussing over big-government or mega-churches, be proactive and embrace small-ness within those larger contexts. Immerse yourself in a community and begin making a difference.

Common Grace

2010-10-10T17:53:00.003-05:00

Common Grace. The word itself sounds like an oxymoron. After all, is there anything common about grace? But, what is meant by common grace is a kind of grace that is common to us all humanity. Within the fabric of this universe grace is intricately woven. It's available and ready to all irregardless of age, sex, color or religion. All that is required is the eyes to see it.

It's purpose? Well, one purpose, I believe, is to illicit a response of grateful praise. When we see grace it moves us. It melts us.

Common Grace comes in all shapes and sizes in this universe. It's in warm smiles. Brown-eyed Susan's. Sunrises on the Atlantic. The pattering of rain on the earth. It's felt in human touch. It's heard in the cry of a newborn. It's found in the eyes of the elderly. It's so present beside a friend in a time of crisis. It appears in the colors of fall, the first shoots of spring, the crisp purity of a winter morning or a summer swim.

And, the list goes on.

Built into the DNA of this world is grace. Life is tough. It's broken, fractured, splintered, dysfunctional and dying on one level. Yet, on another deeper level this world is poetic as any Shakespearean sonnet. It's full of rhythm and meter and order and beauty. And, at times we catch a glimpse of this fiber grafted deeply into this world and the only word that surfaces. . . is grace. A Gerald Manly Hopkins aptly put it, "this world is full of the grandeur of God."

And, so it is. And, on days when the surface of my life is mired in sin. . .be it dealing with others sin, or all too frequently lying in my own quagmire of depravity, I know that deeper still is grace. Common grace. Of course, such grace cannot forgive my sins or the sin of this world. But it does point me back to the One who can.

Today we sang a beautiful song in church entitled "For the Beauty of the Earth". A song teeming with images of common grace. Embrace this song and read the words closely.

For the Beauty of the Earth
by Folliott S. Pierpoint, 1864

For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies;
For the love which from our birth,
Over and around us lies;

Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the wonder of each hour,
Of the day and of the night;
Hill and vale and tree and flow'r,
Sun and moon, and stars of light;

Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind's delight;
For the mystic harmony,
Linking sense to sound and sight;

Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child;
Friends on Earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild;

Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thy church that evermore,
Lifteth holy hands above;
Off'ring up on ev'ry shore,
Her pure sacrifice of love;

Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the martyrsÕ crown of light,
For Thy prophetsÕ eagle eye,
For Thy bold confessorsÕ might,
For the lips of infancy.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thy virginsÕ robes of snow,
For Thy maiden mother mild,
For Thyself, with hearts aglow,
Jesu, Victim undefiled.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thyself, best Gift Divine,
To the world so freely given,
For that great, great love of Thine,
Peace on earth and joy in heaven.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

Friendship. . .an end to itself. . .

2010-09-29T09:03:00.003-05:00

Maybe I'm weird. . .I dunno. But, I received this little promotional pamphlet in the mail called "Friend-o-nomics" subtitled "How Friendliness Can Make Your Church Grow" and am staring at it dumbfounded and in disbelief. It is a pamphlet written by a huge Christian publisher for Christians.

The booklet's premise is simple: "The bottom line is you can grow your church by being friendlier (pg. 3)". As I peruse the booklet I see a writer who does not see friendship as a gift of God that is an end unto itself. Rather, friendship is a means to an end....something that is useful to the business of "growing YOUR church".

Again, am I weird or do the underpinings of such a philosophy demean the great command to "love your neighbors as yourself". The goal of this little pamphlet reveals the secret techniques to love (befriend) your neighbor, in order to get something from your neighbor (their church attendence).

Hmmmm.....brings up a few questions in my mind. First, is loving another as a means to an end acceptable so long as the end is a good one (growing your church)? Love them for the purpose of getting them to come to YOUR church? Although, splattered with good intentions, the problem with this is that friendliness, in the end, is conditional, and that is simply not Biblical because we are called to offer unconditional love.

It is necessary for us to think about our underlying motives that drive our love. For Jesus, the underlying motives of his heart were always sourced in the world of His Father. Smiling, physical touch, eye contact and practicing presence (all methods of friendliness in the booklet) were not strategies for achieving some hidden goal of numeric success! For goodness sakes, how ridiculous! No, these attributes emerged out of a heart that was full of the Father's pleasure. Loving others is its own end.

You see the common graces of life, like smiling, cannot be reduced to a scientific mechanism to increase Sunday morning attendance. No, smiling is the the natural result of a heart whose heart is filled with joy and desires to connect with another human heart. In the same vein, there should be no other motive for eye contact other than the joy and grace of locking eyes with one who is made in the image of God. Christians should never reduce such sacred pleasures to mechanistic practices to get what we want.

Of course, the ramifications of conditional friendliness are obvious. What happens if I befriend you and you refuse to come to my church? Or, if spend time with you and get to know you and you choose to another church? The booklet doesn't say, but the implications are obvious: move one to someone else.

I remember having a co-worker in college who had a second job selling Amway. Let's call him John. I used to get a kick out of watching "real-John" transform himself into "Amway-John" at a moments notice. He would spot his unsuspecting victim, shine those pearly whites, compliment often and engage his entire being in the conversation. And, just when he experienced true engagement with the other, he'd launch into the latest products and talk pyramid schemes. His approach was flawless, yet his friendliness was insincere. Why? Anyone with half a brain knows why. . .his friendliness was sourced in sales, not sincerity. God forbid our friendliness as Christians are motivated by securing seats instead of simply loving the other! Perhaps someone will argue that duping someone into Church attendence is better that duping them into a pyramid scheme. Well, I'd argue that its fundamentally worse.

As believers God changes our hearts. He reorients our entire lives. Because of Jesus everything we thought and believed has been radically transformed and remade. And, one of the quintessential things that change is our motives for loving others. Paul says, "We regard no one from a wordly point of view any longer" (2 Corinthians 5:16). It's normal for wordly people to use friendliness and love for ulterior motives. The world loves to get something. But, far be it for Christians to do such an unspeakable thing! The apostle John drives this principle home by pointing out that our reason for loving has radically been altered. He writes, "we love because He first loved us." The motive for loving friendship in the kingdom? To be a loving friend. . .plain and simple. God loves because its in His nature to do so. We love because we have the divine nature inside of us. There is no hidden motive.

Please consider this point: If friendship with Jesus Christ is not enough to transform you into a friendly person , then you may fundamentally misunderstand Jesus Christ.

Church, let us not objectify friendliness into a science of well calculated smiles, gestures and proper introductions in order to fill pews, or get what we want out of others. No, let's not swim in the shallow end any longer. Love must be sincere.

Instead, let's sink our teeth into the One who befriended us when we were enemies to Him. Let's remember how he showed true friendship to us, not in carefully calculated smiles, but in carrying a cross in our place, embracing our burdens and taking blows on our behalf. Now, that's true friendship.

And, let's never forget that His motive for our friendship was not to get something from us (good greif, what do we even have to offer the living God?) No, his friendliness emerged out of the goodness of His character. God is love. He gave, not to get. He gave simply to give. And, it should always be true of us too.

When asked why we are different. . .why we are friendly. . .why we give above and beyond. . .why we sacrifice ourselves for the good of others, we need not point to some pragmatic method, a strategy for growth or a calculated science for "winning others over". No, the reply need be nothing more than one word: Jesus.

2010-09-09T16:29:00.002-05:00

“The apostle Paul exhorts the Ephesians to “be renewed in the spirit of your minds”. In my preparation for a spiritual formation class on the book of Ephesians, I was perplexed by Paul's statement. What does it mean to be renewed in the spirit of the mind? Didn't know that the mind had a spirit.

My studies led me to the conclusion that the spirit of the mind is that place in our minds that runs deeper than information processing. The spirit of the mind is that part of the mind that allows us to make sense of the world and our life. It is the place of our “worldview”. To explain this better, let me use the computer as a metaphor. In calling for the renewal in the spirit of the mind, Paul wants to encourage his readers to not just put a new program called “Gospel” onto an old operating system. Rather, he is urging the church to junk the old operating system. . .the old system of processing and making sense of information. . .and replace it with an entirely new operating system!

To many Christians today, the gospel has become one more program in an already overloaded and overwhelmed operating system. It takes its residence in the “religion” folder and might be held in higher esteem than other programs, but it is still just one more program. It’s easily added and installed with just a click of the mouse. . .and unfortunately, but all too true, often uninstalled with simply a click. The world looks on at this and wonders if there is a God why people’s lives are not radically transformed by the power of the gospel. And, the answer is simple. The gospel cannot run as merely a program.

You see, the gospel can’t be downloaded to our lives, for our personal use and enhancement. You can’t simply add the gospel to the old operating system. No the gospel is the power of God precisely because it actually is the new operating system of our lives. The gospel redefines reality and reframes all of life.

The prophet Isaiah cried out “I am undone” when the presence of God fell upon him. And, that’s what the gospel does. It un-does us. It undoes the old operating system and replaces it all at once.. Everything we thought and perceived about life and reality is no longer operable and compatible, and “all things have become new”. Not only does it render the old system inoperable, but it does a thorough scan on all the running programs of our lives and renders many of them incompatible with the new software. Those programs may not be deleted from our lives, but must be reinstalled and learn to run in an entirely different way. The gospel, praise God, erupts and disrupts our lives all at once. Everything about our old way of doing life is incompatible with the new life of God pulsing inside us. And, this is why Paul calls us to be renewed in the deepest recesses of our minds. . .the way we perceive all of life and reality must experience radical renewal in the way of Jesus. And, I give thanks to God that I am being renewed day by day in the spirit of my mind, to resemble more and more the image of my Creator”.

Of course, the words above are more than just a sample of my teaching. Some of these thoughts lie at the core of my heart regarding THE GREAT NEED TO REFRAME AND RESHAPE HOW WE PRESENT AND TRAIN PEOPLE IN THE GOSPEL IN OUR EVANGELISM AND DISCIPLESHIP TODAY. I am deeply convicted about this as I realize that many, many of my peers, both near and afar, have a fundamental misunderstanding of the implications of the gospel in their life. We need prayer and we need new ways of being as Christians that help to bring a sense of potent reality to the gospel today.

The Other Side of the Tracks

2010-08-24T13:11:00.001-05:00

My brother-in-law Tim loves Jesus as much as anyone that I've ever met. His life is full of grace and ease even though he pastors a church in one of the roughest areas of Atlanta and deals with overwhelming obstacles on a daily basis. He always challenges me to take a deeper look at poverty and racial reconciliation from a Jesus standpoint.

Whenever I'm brave enough to open my eyes to peer in the direction of such injustices, I find Jesus in that place staring back at me. He mourns and suffers along with the oppressed. It discomforts me to see Jesus on the "other side" of the proverbial "tracks". I mean after all, I am a disciple which means that I'm supposed to be with Jesus, right? So, why am I not with Him? Why the chasm between he and I? Why don't I want to follow Him into the place of injustice and suffering and oppression? Why does Jesus cross the tracks, when I refuse to leave my place of comfort?

Many American Christians think discipleship is about bringing Jesus with you wherever you go. But, that's not the call of Jesus! His call is to follow Him wherever He goes. And when I read my Bible I'm finding that Jesus goes into some pitifully painful places.

So, this week He has cleared my vision enough to see that He is staring back at me as I look into the eyes of those from the other side of the tracks. Although it shatters my plans for where I want to take Jesus, maybe I'll cross over and see where Jesus might want to take me.

Attractional vs. Missional Church

2010-08-23T11:28:00.001-05:00

This is a cool little video that highlights the paradigmic shifts taking place in American evangelicalism. It compares and contrasts the attractional way of doing church with a missional way of doing church. Many people wonder what is meant by this new buzz-word called "missional". Although the word is new, the idea is as old as the ministry of Jesus. Check it out.

Idols

2010-08-18T15:53:00.005-05:00

Idol worship is not merely some phenomenon of the past. It's as real and potent today as in the ancient world. But instead of idols being erected on "every high hill and every spreading tree" as in the days of Jeremiah, today they are found everywhere. Idols are in our recreation, at our work, in our relationships, in our homes and in our politics. They stand erected everywhere the human heart gazes. Only that we might have the eyes to see that we are an idol-saturated culture..

When any "good thing becomes an ultimate thing”, says Tim Keller, "it becomes an idol". What a great working definition of idolatry.

When wood or stone was carved in the ancient world, and deified, it was still considered mere wood and stone to the true Creator God. So, if the idolatry is not in the object itself, wherein lies the problem. The problem of idolatry lies never in object of the affection (the wood or stone itself), but the human heart. Idols have less to do about what's erected in the city square and a lot more to do with what's erected in the internal chambers of the human will.

The moment a good thing become an ultimate thing, it becomes our idol. Our idol might be our job, a relationship, sex, money or extreme sports. All good things created good by God for our enjoyment. But, make the good gifts of God into ultimate gifts we cannot live without and you've just erected yourself an idol.

And,keeping up with our idols is stinking labor intensive. We run and pant, ever chasing and pleading for our idol to fill us (ever see an addict on a binge?). The lie that perpetuates the racing and panting is the erroneous belief that a good thing can offer ultimate things..."It will buy me security, It will bring me significance and It will make me satisfied" we tell ourselves. The truth is that they cannot. Idols offer everything and deliver nothing. They require more and more of us, even our soul, and all the while give us nothing. Yes, idol worship is toilsome work.

Interestingly enough, when we make a good thing our god, we lose not only the replace the real God, ironically are deprived of the ‘goodness’ of that which we idolize. That good thing that we bow to, in the end becomes despicable to us because we have forced it to fill a hole that God Himself only can fill.

C.S. Lewis puts it well. "The woman who makes a dog the centre of her life loses, in the end, not only her human usefulness and dignity but even the proper pleasure of dog-keeping. And, the man who makes alcohol his chief good loses not only his job but his palate and all power of enjoying the earlier (and only pleasurable) levels of intoxication". Whether your ultimate lover is your dog, your Jack Daniels, your buff body or your 401K, your fixation on secondary things over primary things will lead to the collapse of those things you adore.

C.S. Lewis goes on and says, "Every preference of a small good to a great, or a partial good to a total good, involves the loss of the small or partial good for which the sacrifice was made. Apparently the world is made that way. If Esau really got his pottage in return for his birthright, then Esau was a lucky exception. You can’t get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first."

Hearken, all you idol worshippers! What you worship, will not only NOT give you what you want. . .but will leave you despising and detesting your object of worship.

So, what good thing have you been subtely making into an ultimate thing?

Bonhoeffer

2010-08-17T12:01:00.003-05:00

I want to take a moment to plug a new book a couple friends of mine have been reading and proclaiming "excellent". It's a new biography of German disciple and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer's writings have always landed near my own heart. Bonhoeffer's greatest legacy is not his writings, but his own life. His life was a gift to the Body of Christ. And, his life continues to challenge and encourage Christians swimming in a sea of spiritual mediocrity. I encourage you to pick up this book.

It would be a missed opportunity not to pepper you with a Bonhoeffer quote at this juncture. Here's some of his thoughts on grace that we find in his classic book The Cost of Discipleship:

"Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. . .Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price, and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God".

What Lurks Beneath

2010-08-16T16:09:00.004-05:00

Growing up I was especially fond of playful days on the Atlantic reveling in the waves, enjoying fun in the sun and waiting for the next set of waves to surf in. As I look back, I’m mindful of how naïve I was to the hidden dangers that lurked beneath my feet. The ocean is a powerful force to contend with. Even a calm day on the surface can be misleading to one of the most powerful forces of the ocean: the undertow. The pulse of the tide is one of the most underestimated forces of nature. In fact the undertow claims more lives each year than the jaws of the infamous Great White shark. Unlike Jaws, the ocean’s way is not to devour a victim in one bite, but rather draw the victim out to sea by pulling him away from safety and eventually into the clutches of the deep.

The effectiveness of the undertow lies in its subtleties. A surfer is so preoccupied by the enjoyment of the ocean(cool water, monster waves, and great rides) that she becomes unaware of that forces that lurk beneath the surface. . . . until it’s too late. The ocean claims another unassuming victim.

As I ponder the subtle dangers of the ocean, I’m reminded of sin. It too involves a subtle, yet sinister pull. . .it has a pulse, a life of its own, that little by little pull us from safety and then beneath the surface. Of course, above sea level, the pleasure of sin is as appealing as a great day at the beach. It’s glossy surface and cool waters look inviting, even refreshing. And, so we bask in its pleasure and feel satisfied.

Yet, all the while, there is another side of sin that lurks beneath, unseen to the human eye. Like a deadly undertow, it is an ever present pulse that lures us away from safety into a place where we are in way over our heads. And, we find ourselves treading rough waters alone and in a panic.

Let’s be honest. There is force to sin that no man is his own power can contend with. Evil has the power to sink ships and erode continents. So, what makes us doggie-paddlers think we can out swim its waters without being devoured?

Beneath the cresting waves, dancing gulls and a pleasant sunsets of our lives is a dark, mysterious pulsing tide loose in the world. That force exists to pull you and I away from our Creator. It wants to get you in its grip and pull you far out of reach of safety and security.

Perhaps you know that in some particular area of your life that you are over your head. You are treading in tumultuous waters…and you can feel its subtle undertow bringing you to a place you have not been before.

You may be thinking, “I think I can make it”. “I haven’t drowned yet”. And, perhaps you can swim against the tide of sin for a season. But, it is no long term solution. In the battle against the restless pulse of sin, the Scripture is clear. “If any man thinks he stands, may he take heed lest he fall". And, you will fall. . .into the bottom of a dark, lifeless place. If you are in over your head right now, do yourself a favor and cry out. . .admit you are drowning. Perhaps someone on shore will hear you.

Fortunately, the Scripture teaches that we have been graced by a great lifeguard who is constantly scanning the shoreline looking for the wayward, the loss and the drowning. He knows where we are and understands the force that lurks beneath our toes. In fact, He has swam this shoreline and conquered the tide of sin. Fortunately for us, He specializes in rescue missions.

Those that look to Him and cry for help, though they are drowning, will be saved.

No More Jellyfish, Chickens or Wimps

2010-08-11T15:41:00.004-05:00

A blog site wouldn't be complete without its own home-grown book critic. And, I can't think of a more trust-worthy critic than my good friend Jessica Heyworth. Jessica is always chewing on good thoughts and usually found with some book in her hands. If its not curriculum for one of her four home-schooled kids, she's reading something on becoming a more devout follower of Christ, a more faithful wife or enduring mother. I trust her instincts and always enjoy hearing what her mind has been musing on. So, this month (yes, Jessica I expect monthly reports :)) Jessica is reviewing a book called "Nor More Jellyfish, Chickens or Wimps". Ouch...the title already sounds convicting to me. Actually, its more geared towards parents and the ways we raise our children. Enjoy Jess' review. . .especially all you parents out there with young children. I know I'm gonna pick up a copy of this book!

No More Jellyfish, Chickens or Wimps
By Paul Coughlin

A review: By Jessica Heyworth

No More Jellyfish, Chickens or Wimps is a thought provoking book of practical advice, pointing out helpful guidelines on how to raise courageous, assertive children. At the same time, this book points out the dangers and pitfalls of over-protecting parenting. If you are interested in raising children who are strong in their character and confident in who they are in Christ, this book is for you. Don’t be surprised however, if the Holy Spirit starts working on your own heart as you read through the chapters. This book delves into an area of Christianity that is often misunderstood and neglected, meekness. If we as parents teach our children the wrong definition of meekness, (for example; teaching them to be soft, compliant and pleasant), we are on our way to “creating a nation of wimps”. The author Paul Coughlin describes meekness as… “knowing who we are, believing that what God says is true and then submitting to Him in obedience because we love Him.” As he highlight the differences between meekness and courage, he packs a hard punch when he starts talking of the timid living parents are passing down to their children by their so called “protecting”. Paul argues that by keeping our children from the inevitable hardships and challenges in life, we could stunt their emotional growth, never allowing them to recognize their true weakness and strengths. Talking largely about courage and the lack of it in our society, Paul points out the problems of our nation and how we as Christians are raising untold numbers of timid, psychologically fragile, anxiety ridden kids. He masterfully spells out what courage really looks like by saying, “courage was once reserved for the kind of behavior requiring sacrifice and suffering on behalf of a person for the common good, part of the definition of righteousness that’s found especially in the Bible.”

With profound words backed by Scripture, this book brings a bright light on some of the rarely touched subjects in the Christian realm. It dives into the “Dangers of a Nice Christian Upbringing” and gives wholesome advice in “Help for Bullies and Victims”. It teaches a controversial subject asking “Where are the courageous?” in a clear, passionate way. The author relates with parents as he walks us through areas of insecurities that we might unknowingly be passing down to our kids. Some questions we can ask ourselves as we read through the book could be…
1) Are our children able to think intuitively and stand up for themselves?
2) Are they able to courageously defend someone who is being mistreated or bullied?
3) Am I overprotecting my children by rescuing them from every hardship they might encounter?
As a parent realizing the God given responsibility to protect and train my children, the book No More Jellyfish, Chickens or Wimps, has helped me to keep my parenting balanced. It has helped me to reflect on the importance of not leaning too far on the side of over-protection. It also has encouraged me to continue to train our children to be courageous, not just to “be nice”. As we all live life and continue on this journey together, I pray that we can work to raise children that will be bold in their faith, courageous in difficult situations and confident in their God given abilities. This book has been an inspiration to me and I hope it will be for you as well.
Are you timid or way too passive in life? Are you fearful of what people might think of you if you take a stand against wrongdoing? Do you want your children or be able to take risks, connect with others and be tough enough to “wield the sword of defiance against dark forces”? If so, don’t hesitate to read this book!

In the name of Progress. . .

2010-08-09T11:33:00.003-05:00

“When going back makes sense, you are moving ahead.”

~Wendell Berry

The Church can worship many idols other than God. No doubt, since the Enlightenment, the idea of progress has been erected and has sat on the right hand of the Father in the place of Jesus Christ. And, many things over time have ironically regressed the Body in the name of progress. In light of this simple fact, I love this quote that my friend Seth Fisher shared with me. It comes from the common-sensical, yet highly-prophetic pen of Wendell Berry. So, often our moving forward might require the humility and sensibility to look backwards and see if some of the saints before us might possibly have gotten it right. Chances are they did. Good word Mr. Berry!

On Equipping and Training

2010-08-09T09:07:00.011-05:00

There is a lot of talk these days about the importance of equipping and training within Body. And, so there should be. The Scriptures give high regard to the role of equipping and training the Body for the purpose of growing up in Christ (Ephesians 4:11,13). With overloaded calendars and overwhelmed hearts, many pastors have looked more and more to the necessary role of equipping others so that the ministry load can be shared by the entire Body, not just a few people. And, once equipped, ministry can multiplied and the Church will grow in every way. No doubt, the Scriptures envision the work of ministry being done by the entire Body, and it envisions the multiplication of "works of service" so that the Body is built up. All, of this is good.

My concern for the Church today is the 'how' we do training and equipping. When the average person in a church setting hears the word 'training' he/she immediately assumes that it has something to do filling a job in the church. Learning to perform a task with competency and efficiency like leading a small group, volunteering for nursery, ushering, etc. Training is almost always used in church settings to help one become more proficient and competent in a specific ministry. Training today is almost exclusively tied to a job I perform. It's about becoming ministry proficient.

Now, there's little doubt that every church needs to have training for these areas. Nursery workers, for example, need to know where the diapers are or things will get messy real fast. Yes, ministry competence is necessary. However, those things are not what Jesus and Paul have in mind when they speak of training or equipping the Body. No, training in the Scriptures is not about ministry proficiency, but gospel proficiency. The primary purpose of training is not related to a job I do within the church, but related to the knowledge of God, of the gospel, the Church and how my life fits into that. Simply stated, training leads us not to job proficiency, but gospel proficiency.

In the Scriptures the training and equipping we are called to routinely partake in is not about mastering a competency, but perfecting our character in Christ. In fact, the goal of equipping/training in Ephesians 4 is the unification and perfection in Jesus Christ. So, what might training look like that had as its end goal to "attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ"? Well, for starters, that training would have to begin with something deeper than learning to do something in the Church. Getting "plugged in" at a church followed by four weeks of usher or greeter training sort of falls way short if you know what I mean.

Jesus offered training. He trained his disciples for three years. Many of those encounters recorded in the Scriptures were group training sessions. Other times of equipping were one-on-one. But, if we look at his training, it is almost exclusively the training through the teaching of sound doctrine (right beliefs) and the modeling of a godly lifestyle (right living). In fact, when his impatient disciples came to him about competency questions (how do we feed these 5,000 people?? how come we couldn't cast the demon out of this person? etc.), Jesus almost never gives them a direct answer. When he sent them out to do ministry these twelve evidently hadn't had any classes in healing, exorcism or homiletics. In fact Jesus' own words say it all. "I send you out as sheep among wolves." Thanks for the encouragement, Jesus! Were they ill-prepared and a bit overwhelmed by the task before them? Without a doubt! But, proficiency and ministry effeciency never was Jesus' goal.

His goal for these twelve men had always been full immersion and trust in a kingdom that could not be shaken. Jesus had bathed them in sound teaching of God's kind of life. Jesus had taught it on the hillsides. Jesus had modeled along the roadsides. And, the training they received from his heart and the modeling they witnessed from his hands prepared them for service. As they were sent out, the kingdom power and love transformed others lives. Today those ill-prepared, yet adequately trained disciples' still influence this world.

So, why don't our churches take the necessary time to train and equip others in the way of Jesus? Why are the people in church settings prepared to be trained in tasks and jobs, but not in discipleship? What's the point of mastering ministry areas when we have yet to allow the self to be mastered by the gospel?

Right now you might be thinking, yes, of course we need gospel mastery! Isn't this what Sunday services are for? My answer to that is both yes and no. Yes, the gospel should be preached in its fullness on Sunday mornings! But at the same time, no, it is not enough. It was never intended to be enough. No where in the Scriptures is training in the gospel life relegated to Sunday mornings. It's important for the Body to understand that the church (organizationally speaking) does not make disciples. Disciples make disciples according to Matthew 28.19-20. It is the role of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers within the church (lthis list is not limited to professional clergy) to train and equip the saints into the life of the kingdom. And, certainly this training was meant to take place throughout the week in a variety of shapes and forms. Perhaps often even one one one.

We know that the apostle Paul was instrumental in training Timothy. In II Timothy 3.10-17, the beloved apostle finds himself incarcerated in Rome awaiting execution. He's reminiscing over some of the most important things that he has taught Timothy over the years. As you read, notice how much of the training Paul points back to is connected with the authority of the Word and the modeling of a godly life.

"You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it".

[First, we see here that Paul's equipping is sourced in modelling a way of life to a younger believer.]

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work".

[Second, Paul's equipping of Timothy is sourced in the authoritative nature of God's Word. . .the truth of the gospel. No doubt, Paul has spent much tim teaching to Timothy from the Word. . .his two handwritten letters I & II Timothy are just two examples of that!]

So we see from the life of Jesus and Paul, equipping the Body is about taking those who are in Christ at various stages of spiritual development and helping them to grow up by become proficient in the gospel life (right belief) and modeling a godly lifestyle (right living).

As this takes place in the context of the Body, watch out! As we faithfully execute our duties to teach and train people in the gospel life, we are imparting to them a living concoction that has a power and potency all of its own. Because of the relational nature of such training, there is built-in accountability, encouragement and on-the-job training in ministry. No program has the power to do that!

Admittedly, sometimes I ask myself when the Body can afford time to do such training? Everyone seems so busy. However, when I look at the model of Jesus and Paul (both much more busy that us!), and am faced with the despairing need in the Church today, I am forced to ask how I can afford NOT to do such training. I am currently in the process of committing the best hours of my life to this kind of training. And, am encouraging mature believers in our Body to give the best of themselves to this as well. I pray that you would too.

As Dylan once wrote, "The times, they are a changin". We are rapidly facing the reality of living in a post-christendom world. There are no longer general assumptions about what Christianity is and is not. People's perception of Church has changed, and is changing. And, so it should. And, through all of this, we have an opportunity to redefine the ethos of the Church to an increasingly god-less and relationship-deficient world. I believe we need to revive a new breed of Christian discipleship in these times. And, in order to begin this task we must we must come to grips Biblically with what the training and equipping modeled and commanded in Scripture entails. Then we must find ways and means to contextualize the principles of such training in the life of the local Church.

As we do this, I believe that we will break the epidemic of spiritual infancy and spiritual adolescence in the church today. God's desire is for us to grow up in Christ. He has given the Church all it needs to accomplish this task.

The Lord himself modeled equipping and training as he walked alongside men on this earth. If the Master did this for us, how can we his followers do less for others?

A Convicted Heart

2010-08-04T09:16:00.004-05:00

How much thought have we given to the reality that we will stand before a holy God one day and give an account for the kinds of people we have. . .and have not become. Not simply our deeds, but every motive of the human heart will be revealed and exposed in front of the majesty of God. I fear that we have become so full of ourselves that we have lost sight of the majesty and holiness of our great God.

I listened to this short audio feed of the great preacher of the past, Leonard Ravenhill. How desperate the Church of America today needs to hear such words. Listen and may God's spirit both convict and penetrate to the core. . .and encourage your heart in faith.

Our Achilles Heel

2010-07-28T18:57:00.005-05:00

"Our Achilles heel is the compass of our spiritual journey. Where I am weak, there-by God's grace-I become strong. When we discover what our basic weakness or woundedness is, or our basic handicap, then we ask for God's presence and grace to enter that place. . .
A broken bone, once healed, is stronger than one which has never been broken".
-James Houston

Meaning amidst Suffering

2010-07-26T11:22:00.006-05:00

Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist, Victor Frankl, spent approximately three years in Nazi concentration camps living in the most horrid situations imaginable. Out of the depths of this experience was birthed his life work entitled "Man's Search for Meaning". In this book he investigates despair and muses over the difference between those who were lead to utter despair during their time in the death camps and those who were able to overcome insurmountable suffering and emerge with hope. What were the differences between the two? What lie between the thin line of hope and despair?

Frankl's observations are fascinating.

First, he defines despair. What really is the condition of despair? According to Frankl the word can be best defined through a simple mathematical formula: D=S-M. Despair is suffering minus meaning. Frankl observed that those who could not make any sense of their suffering turned to one of three poisons: anger, depression or denial. Each of these toxins lead to a slow death by despair. So, despite what we often think in our plush, comfortable worlds today, it is NOT suffering or difficult circumstances that rob us of hope and plunge us into dispair. It is the absence of meaning.

In fact, Frankl witnessed and personally experienced people going through the same horrendous ordeals who did not turn to despair. One the contrary, some individuals became more wonderful and more loving human beings precisely because of their adverse conditions. They became people of greater hope! Why is that? It was not that they were ransomed from their circumstances. Rather, it was that they found ways to make sense of this world within those difficulties. They were able to see a more ultimate purpose and meaning to life that others could not. And, that purpose formed their character and framed their thinking in ways that transcended their circumstances.

The apostle Paul and Victor Frankl seemingly were on to the same thing. I'd love to be in a room listening to them muse over this topic. Paul, in Romans 8, reverberates the same findings as Frankl. Read the text. In Romans 8 Paul explains that he is able to legitimize his present suffering and the creation's sufferings (groanings) because Jesus himself, the living God of the universe has entered our mess and salvaged our pain. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah infuses meaning into the madness of this present reality we call life.

According to Paul, suffering is the normal and consequential reality of a sin cursed world. But, because of Jesus, it is only seasonal. Yes, the present pain is great. Yes, it looks like the whole world is groaning. Yes, our suffering is real. But, it's not an empty pain and it's not an eternal pain. Our suffering is not random or purposeless. Because of Jesus Christ, the pain of the world is more like. . . birthpains. . .Yeah, weird metaphor coming from a guy (Paul) who is well. . .a guy.

But, catch the significance of the birthpain metaphor. Birth is always pain with a purpose. Labor has an ultimate goal. The blood and sweat and tears in the delivery room will culminate in new creation! Ever see a women in labor without hope? Of course not. Why? Because there is ultimate meaning behind her suffering. The pain is unbearable without the anticipation of new life.

For Paul and Frankl, there's hope, because there is infused within creation a something deeper and more powerful than human suffering. And, that which is deeper and rings with more potency is the gospel message itself.

Both the cross and the resurrection inject meaning and hope into human suffering. The meaning behind Good Friday is that our God has strangely entered our suffering, legitimizing and sympathizing with our pain at once. The meaning behind Easter Sunday is that he has overcome all suffering, redeeming and ransoming us from death and despair. Sundays promise is that he will make all things new. What a promise!

Because of the gospel hope is free to roam in the most unusual and unlikely places. Places like Golgotha and Nazi Concentration camps.

The backdrop to all our smaller stories and days of despairing is one grand story that provides purpose and meaning and a way to make sense of it all. And, that meaning is not found in a system or a thought or a solution, idea or philosophy. None of those things bring meaning to our suffering.

No, the meaning to human suffering is found in a person who entered it and has come out the other side vindicated and unscathed. And, now he mediates on our behalf. Jesus the King, our savior, brings hopeful meaning to our senseless suffering. His suffering and death was redeemed. Ours will be too. May His name be praised!

On a Christian Worldview

2010-07-20T15:44:00.004-05:00

The gospel is not just a truth that we look to, it is a lens that we look through.

-Tim Keller

Once the gospel gets a hold of your life, you quickly realize that it's not simply the truth of Christ and the objective source of salvation that we look towards. Yes, indeed it is that. But, it is more. The gospel itself pulls us into a larger story of Creation, fall and redemption. It has the power to ransom us from our smaller self-made stories and place us into the light of the way that things are really. Gospel people are people who have a radically different lens that they see through. And, this lens impacts the way that we see God, ourselves, others and this world.

Is your gospel simply a gospel that you look to in your time of need? Or is it a gospel that you also look through? A gospel that penetrates so deep that all of life and reality are seen through its lens.

We talk today about a Christian worldview, but the tendency in the Church today is to neatly fit God into our own eclectic, self-made worldviews. The problem is that God cannot be packaged and perceived through the lenses of our choice. He will not allow His holiness, goodness and love to be hijacked and used for our own purposes. His gospel can only truly save us when we allow His world, His story, His reality to penetrate us. Anything less than that reduces the gospel and cheapens the cross.

If you have the time, I highly recommend listening to Tim Keller's teaching on "Writing from a Christian Worldview". You don't have to be a writer to take this stuff in. It's HIGLY applicable and necessary for everyone who calls themselves a Christian.

http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/writing-christian-worldview

Writing with the Other Hand

2010-07-19T12:03:00.006-05:00

The process of Christlikeness is counter-intuitive.

It goes against the grain of natural self and the ego. Usually, for a new Christian who is set on following Jesus, things get real messy and much more difficult before they get easier.

Imagine a right-handed person penning his own autobiography. In the middle of the story a doctor diagnoses the writer with severe arthritics in the right hand. His condition is so debilitating it will create permanent paralysis if the writing continues. The only sensible solution is to stop using that hand. "But", the eager author pleads to the doctor, "I'm in the middle of penning my own life story. I can't quit now. I was born to write."

Now, imagine if you will, the doctor contacting the writer and stating that the author could continue his masterpiece, but must learn to write with his left hand.

After much thought the decision is made to surrender to the doctors orders. He dies to the use of his right-hand forever, and for the first time in his life places the pen in the other hand and begins penning his first sentence.

As the pen touches the paper, it feels quite awkward. His hand shakes. It's uncomfortable and the tendency is to default back to the old way of doing things. It requires much concentration and intention and effort and energy and patience to even get through one paragraph. As he continues, the preceding pages look real messy. Hardly legible.

Page after page he endures. Daily the temptation to go back to the old hand, the old way of doing things. Sure, he intellectually knows that that hand no longer serves him well, and continued use will lead to paralysis. But despite that knowledge, the old way is so. . .so comfortable, so normal.

As time continues the grip becomes more natural. The left hand stronger. The writing more clear. The counter-intuitive nature begins defining itself as the "new normal". Confidence is gained, and with it a the pathway of liberation.

The gospel is like learning to write with the other hand. Let me explain.

When we come to Christ we are called to lay down the normal ways that we had always done things. Jesus beckons us to forsake the usual way we have gotten on in life, and follow His way. Which sounds good on paper. . .and then life happens and we find that the way of Jesus, the way of the gospel is so counter-intuitive. His is a kingdom where everything we are called to think, believe and do runs so backward, so upside-down to the way we had always lived. Yes, following Jesus is like having to learn how to write with a brand new hand. Living the gospel is an uncomfortable to our default life. It both disrupts and transforms the story we're penning all at once.

If the implications of the gospel you believe in doesn't feel abnormal, uncomfortable or counter-intuitive to your natural leanings, then you may not be fully embracing the gospel according to Jesus. The gospel changes everything. And, we feel how against the grain it really is when we start living like Jesus did.

In what ways are you finding the gospel counter-intuitive? In what ways is Jesus teaching you to write with the other hand?

. How does your congregation help folks learn write with the other hand?

Individualism and the Church Part I

2010-07-14T09:51:00.008-05:00

I was musing over St. John's words yesterday in my devotions. He was the only recorded disciple who actually witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus. The disciple whom Jesus loved gazed helplessly as his rabbi and friend hung helplessly upon a cross. He saw him suffer in silence and finally groan as he gasped his final breath. Oh, how the image of a self-sacrificing savior must have been cemented deep into John's consciousness.

As an older man, John still had etched into the recesses of his mind, the sweat, the dust and the blood of Golgotha. In his first epistle he writes, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers" (I Jn. 3:16). John connects Jesus' ruthless love for us with the kind of loving community that should exist within the Church. Christ stepped in front of a moving bus for us, so shouldn't be willing to do the same for each other? The answer is a resounding, yes.

Yet, is Christian community today made up of the stuff of Golgotha? Does it look like blood, sweat, tears or grime for the sake of loving relationship? Too often our love is safe, sanitized and benign. Is it true grit love? Or simply sanctuary sentimentality? Too often I fear it is the later.

We have discovered ways to co-exist at arms length, separated and insulated from one another. We shake hands on Sunday and smile, yet the rest of the week are free to pursue our own self-directed goals, dreams, and ambitions without much thought or concern for our brothers and sisters in Christ. How can this be? How has the portrait of self-sacrificial love that was burned into John's consciousness gotten so far removed? How can we be ready to lay our lives down for one another if we do not even know one another? if we are unwilling to commit to a small group community?

Communal life is not an optional appendage for the Church. It is central to the mission of the gospel and to Christ's vision for His Church. We must reclaim a deeper understanding of Christian community and find ways to subvert the individualistic culture of the day with the communal nature of the gospel. We have the power and love at our disposal to model before the world an entirely different way of being human! Individualism and Church cannot co-exist. It was not an option for John, and it's not an option today.

So, how do we combat the idol of individualism within the Church? How do we begin to recognize it in our lives? What are the ways in which we can grow into the kinds of people that would lay our lives down for our brothers? Chime in on this one. I would like to hear your heart.

Old Heresies, New Hosts

2010-07-12T15:39:00.007-05:00

Last Sunday we tackled Ephesians 3:14-21 which is one of Paul’s two prayer for the Ephesians in the epistle. Paul seamlessly moves from words to the Ephesians to prayers for the Ephesians in this text. As we looked at the apostle Paul as a man of prayer this morning, we discussed two heretical threats to a vibrant prayer life. Both threats, interestingly enough, de-personalize God in their own way leading to a God who we cannot come to know and embrace.

Threat #1-Deism
Remember that song Bette Midler used to sing called "From a Distance"? "God is watching us, God is watching us, from a distance". Good tune. Poor theology. The first sectarian threat is Deism. Deism depersonalizes God and serves as a serious threat to a life of prayer. Deists believe that God is the Creator and sustainer of this universe, but is distant from His creation.

Like a grand clock maker, He designed and wound up this universe, but now it's sort of left it alone to tick on its own. His involvement in the day to day affairs of men is limited to let's say "emergency life and death sorts of situations". Overall, he lets this earth alone and is somewhat aloof from our personal lives. Is this your understanding or view of God? Distant, somewhat too aloof to take notice or be involved in the stuff of your life? If so, you are not alone. Recent research done by Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith indicates that a group of people dubbed by Smith as "moralistic, therapeutic deists" comprise the largest segment of young adults in America. (Check out http://johnortberg.com/?p=56 for more information).

Deism, or some abridged version of it, is alive and well in America. And, one sign and symptom of deism is a feeble prayer life. And, that makes sense. After all, if we transform God into a remote being out there who has little to nothing to do with our personal lives, the logical conclusion is that prayer is an exercise in futility. Of course, the God of Deism is not the God of the apostle Paul in Ephesians whose prayers glorify the love and power of a God who is at work in us. Paul's God is Emmanuel. A word meaning "God with us". Is your God Emmanuel? Or is He distant, aloof, removed sort of God?

Threat #2 Gnosticism
Secondly, prayer is threatened by Gnosticism. Gnosticism is an ancient heresy that has re-emerged throughout church history and is alive and well today. Philip Lee, a scholar who has studied gnosticism in depth, discusses five primary elements of this ancient heresy. I've summarized some of Lee's thoughts below.

• Gnosticism embraces a deep chasm between body and spirit. Essentially Gnosticism is dualism. It believes that the spirit-world, the invisible is inherently GOOD. And the creation, the visible, created of the flesh world is inherently BAD.

• Gnosticism believes there is a secret lore, a special knowledge (gnosis) that can save us from this hopeless condition of the body/flesh. However, it requires a certain pathway/method to discover.

• Gnosticism always leads to escapism. It urges us to remove ourselves (mentally, spiritually) from this world and get in touch with the true world of the Spirit. Often results in privatized, over-preoccupation with self. Each person must be his/her own guide.

• Gnosticism holds that this secret knowledge is known only to the “elite” who attain this inner knowledge and the methods of tapping into this knowledge.

• Gnosticism believes that enlightenment is the private pursuit of each individual. Each adherent to its teachings are free to discover truth as he/she sees fit and is not subject to the accountability of a community or the guidelines of an authoritative text.

As you notice above, gnosticism's goal becmes the personal pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment, instead of the pursuit of a personal God. The ultimate blessing of gnosticism is not someone, but a something. God is that impersonal, mysterious force that we can "tap" into that unlocks the right doors and opens the right corridors to enlightenment. Another way of saying it? God is the means to an end. Not the end itself.

Do we not see this kind of heresy alive and well around us today? God becomes a means to our own private, personal pursuit of self-actualization. We see this in many forms both inside and outside of Christian circles. Gnostic prayers are not true prayers because all true prayer must be sourced in the personal and the relational.

We see this in Paul in Ephesians. He clings to a relational God and lifts up his prayers in a deeply relational way both to God and on behalf of his brothers and sisters in Christ. Christian prayer must always be marinated in the personal. . .in the relational. If not, we will miss God entirely. Stated a different way, Christian prayer must always be informed by the incarnation. That is to say, that our prayers always mouthed towards a God who entered our mundane and small messes through Jesus Christ. He is a God who does not reveal himself to only a select few who now hold the secret instructions to "tap" into Him. No. The Christian God is a God who enters into human history in the most personal of all ways...as a person Himself! Our God's deepest desire is to get personal with us. . .his creation. And so, He became a living, breathing, human to show us how up-close and personal He really is. He is a God "which we have heard with our ears, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have touched with our hands" (I Jn. 1:1,2). Gnostic's know such God. In search for rapturous, mysterious someTHING they overlook the personal someONE.

Deist? Gnostic? Christian? Take a close inventory and assess where you find yourself. Our prayer life does indeed reflect the kind of God we worship.

What Are You Relying On?

2010-07-07T16:48:00.003-05:00

Are you placing your dependency these days on the tangible things in front of you or are you trusting the Spirit of God inside of you? We speak of faith, we speak of the "gifts" of the Spirit that are used by the Spirit in our lives. But, if you are like me there's a temptation to place more security in my props than in God. Props are any tangible thing that I have come to depend upon other than the Lord. My plans. My personality. My personal power or persona. All these things have their place...but when I begin to trust in these props more than God, I've got a big problem. Truthfully, I’ve seen God’s hand in my life more powerfully displayed when the props are removed and the stage is cleared. In those moments I’m forced to see what is unseen and trust in God in a more real way. Jesus commanded his disciples to go out and “take nothing for the journey” (Mark 6.8). No programs or agendas. No porta-pews or papyrus tracts. His reason? Props get in the way of sincere devout faith. Much which we assume to be helpful in the spiritual life can be detrimental.

Here's a link to a great blog post that epitomizes removing the props we have come to depend upon and beginning to see that which is unseen. Enjoy the clip. . .and the post.

http://john8.com/christian-living/a-portrait-of-faith-in-jesus/

Stop Trying to Change the World

2010-07-06T14:47:00.005-05:00

So, you want to change the world, huh? I confess that I've dreamed of myself as a mover and shaker on a global scale. And, why not? After all, there are so many needed changes out there. Shouldn't we all want to change the world? Not necessarily.

A recent post by John Ortberg (http://johnortberg.com/?p=64 ) reminded me that changing the world is not in my primary job description as a disciple. And, good thing for the world too, because I'd probably do a lousy job at global transformation. Truthfully, all worldwide moving and shaking is God-sized stuff, and probably best left His hands, not ours. That's not to say that we have no part in world change. But our primary task is not to change the world.

Ortberg highly recommends a new book by James Hunter entitled "To Change the World". In it, Hunter argues, that the primary role of God's people throughout history has never been to change the world. . .that's always been God's job. . Our role? According to Hunter, to be a faithful presence within culture God has placed us. Often, in our Christian past, our agendas and ambitions to change the world has led to "Christian conquest" in the name of Jesus, without the marks of Jesus like humility, grace and love.

Not a world-mover. Not a conquering king. Simply a faithful presence. A Faithful Presence? I know what you are thinking. That's so. . .so boring. So wimpy. So passive. Yes, so it appears. That is until we flesh out what being a faithful presence actually looks like. As we jump into the skin of a life that embodies a "faithful presence" kind of life, we find anything but boring, wimpy, passive lives. We find Daniel in Babylon. What was this young man if not a faithful presence? How about Joseph? Hard to change the world in the slammer. Fortunately, God had not called him to change the world, but to simply be a faithful presence of God under years of lock and key. We see through the lens of faithful presence Noah, Esther, Job, Ruth, Simeon and Mary. We find the DNA of faithful presence in the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles. . .all called by God to be a faithful presence of simple obedience, often in cultures that despised, ignored and rejected the call of God.

When we set our sights on changing the world our heart might be in the right place, but our focus is in the wrong direction. Being a faithful presence means that our target, our focus, our primary aim is being who God has called us to be and doing what He has called us to do. And, that is enough for God. Because, the lives of the saints ensure us that God will use our faithful presence as a catalyst for His kingdom, so that He can receive the glory for changing our world.

Haven't read Hunter's book yet, but the excerpts I've read about his book look fantastic. Has anyone out there picked up the book? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Excavating Ephesians

2010-07-01T10:50:00.003-05:00

I'm studying Ephesians right now and loving it. Studying the Scriptures is like digging for buried treasure. There's some work to be done for sure, but the labor is never in vain. In in the middle of your labor you discover this chest of wealth that existed just beneath your feet all the time. All you had to do was a little digging. My time in prayer and preparation for this study has been like that. What begins as labor-intensive and perplexing (what in the world does Paul mean here???), begins with prayer and meditation to expose itself little by little. And, then it happens. Instead of pulling up one more handful of sand, you begin to excavate from the unknown depths jewels and gems and find cloth and all sorts of unique, priceless relics. And, you discover at once that you are more full, more wealthy, more secure, more loved than you had ever realized. And, you're brought to your knees in humble recognition that Christ Himself is that treasure. That's what I'm excavating in Ephesians.

Lessons on Shutting Up

2010-06-30T10:04:00.003-05:00

One of my great pet peeves is sitting next to "movie motor mouths". You know those types? I remember one time watching the movie Gladiator with a handful of college students. We were in the middle of the greatest part of the movie where we knew something big was about to happen. We were all on the edge of our seats, totally engaged in the storyline. You could have heard a pin drop until two students who arrived an hour late into the movie marched theatre and began with their verbal barrage. First, came 101 questions that somehow had nothing to do with anything important in the movie. Then our patience was severely tested by one of the student's play by play analysis of the film who had seen this movie before. This was particularly annoying. I wanted to lean over and say "Shut up!" Of course that would have been rude, so I just offered this individual my bucket of pop-corn which had a way of keeping his mouth pre-occupied for a while.

It's amazing how an intruding word at the wrong time can disrupt the most compelling drama. When our hearts and souls are engaged into a story, I mean really engaged, untimely words can not only break our connection with that story, but trivialize it as well. If this is true with a good storyline in a movie, how much more with the story of our lives.

Recently, God has been teaching me that the words I speak have as much power to break trust as they do to build intimacy. They have the ability to trivialize the soul as much as speak truth to the soul. Our culture inundates us with the idea that more is better. Better too much of something than too little, right? Better a small group where everybody "shares" and talks a lot than a group that's silent. Certainly it's better to give a word of unsolicited advice than to remain silence. Not necessarily!

If you remember Job's friends you'll recall that as Job went through the "living hell" that he experienced his friends "sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him because of how great his suffering was" (Job 2:13). Helpless and struck by their own ability to "fix" Job's dilemma, his friends suffer with him in silence. Seven days! When was the last time you sat silent for seven hours at the feet of someone whose soul was in anguish? Can you imagine seven days?
Those of us who have sat next to a loved one who's in the slow agonizing process of death can relate. There's nothing that we can say to help them. Only thing we can do is to be "present"....to "be there for them". It would do us well to remember that the sum of friendship isn't the amount of advice that he/she can muster up in a given situation. My experience has shown that often when we give unsolicited advice or offer quick fixes without truly listening to one another, we force the soul into hiding. Most of us resent it when after sharing a deep struggle we are facing we are "sized up" in ten minutes and given a piece of token advice. If a medical doctor casually glossed over a patient and offered a token diagnosis without truly listening to and examining his symptoms we'd be suing for malpractice! And yet, so often we offer fixes for the inner man without first listening and giving reverence to the mysteries and complexities of the human condition.

Practical suggestion: Work on truly listening to those whom God has placed in your life. Resist the urge to fix. When someone shares, afford yourself a time of silence and prayer where you can begin to swallow what has been said. This silence will allow the person who shared the space for the inner teacher, the Holy Spirit, to speak his own truth into that person's life. It will also provide you the space to think about how you might navigate the rest of the conversation.

I’m guessing that Jesus was one fantastic listener. I know this because he was so present…so available…so aware of the other. People who like to listen to themselves speak are never those things. If you live in the Hayward area and are interested in learning more effective ways to listen to another soul, my friends Steve and Susie Burns will be offering a small retreat on Christian listening. They have told me that it has transformed how they minister and counsel others. The dates are July 30-31 at Crosswoods Camp. The cost is $30. It is not an overnight retreat. But it is essential to attend both Friday evening and Saturday. Email me or contact the church office (634-4613) for more details!

He was naked too. . .

2010-06-29T11:26:00.007-05:00

The two sisters stood side by side. Their bodies sickly and decimated from lack of food and sleep. They stood waiting and shivering in the morning chill. Another roll call at Ravensbruck concentration camp where Corrie and Betsy Ten Boom awaited morning medical inspection by their inhumane captors .

The Ten Booms were Dutch Christians that harbored Jews in their home during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Corrie and Betsy had reached out their hand in love to a hurting people group, the Jews. And, now the only hands reaching out to them were the brutal paws of guards pointing and ordering these two feeble bodied women with hunger-gloated stomachs to strip down naked for "inspection". Corrie and Betsy both knew there was no reason for all the clothing to be stripped. Surely it was not necessary to take every piece of cloth. They recognized this order was more about humiliation and shredding human decency than about a random medical check. The kind of men who would take subtle pleasure in seeing malnourished women with stick-figure frames naked, Betsy and Corrie would never understand. Standing there vulnerable in full view to these grinning guards was just one more dimension of humiliation exemplified in this hellish place called Ravensbruck.

Standing there in plain view of her oppressors, the thought came to Corrie. Like an epiphany, a Biblical revelation landed deep in her spirit. "They took his clothes too", she mouthed under her breath. And, then a single tear would follow. Until this moment, Corrie had never fully understood or really known the depth of humiliation that Christ endured at the cross. She reflected on the exact words of the gospel "And they stripped him of his clothes". Jesus had hung naked on the cross for the sins of the world. There was no decency or respect shown to Him. The Son of God hung naked and exposed before a stream of gawking onlookers who hurled insults at him. They took his clothes too.

In that moment Corrie, amidst the pain and horror, found hope and courage in her God. He had suffered her fate. Experienced what she experienced. Felt what she felt. And, in that Corrie found hope.

As I muse over Corrie's story from her autobiography called the "Hiding Place" (a must read), I am wondering what principles we might glean from her Ravensbruck experience. How might her story infrom our own stories in our places of suffering?

Principle #1
It seems to me that there is no possible place of suffering where we find ourselves that Christ himself has not already entered. Our God understands the degradation of being stripped bare for all the world to see. He knows suffering. He knows humiliation. He knows Ravensbruck. Yes, he knows Ravensbruck inside and out. . .and every other hellish place in the world like it. And, we can find solace in the fact that he's been where we are and understands the horror we are presently experiencing. Only in Christianity do we discover a God who has suffered our humiliation and who is able to sympathize with our weakness. Where we are, He has been. Where we are, He is. What a God!

Principle #2
Jesus has not only been where we've been, but has gone through it and come out on the other side victorious. Resurrection points us to the eventual collapse and ultimate defeat of every Ravensbruck on this planet. The resurrection of Chirst offers us hope because although Jesus was naked, he has been clothed again by the Father. Although he suffered humiliation, today He is honored. Although He died, he lives.

Ravensbruck's days are numbered. Today we might find ourselves cold, vulnerable and naked with enemies pointing fingers and defacing our character. But a day will come...and with Jesus Christ has already come...where we will be clothed by the Father. A day is coming says the Lord when justice will reign, God will appear, the worlds Ravensbrucks will disintegrate and those who have placed their hope in Him "will not be found naked" (2 Corinthians 5:3).

God of Wasteful Abundance

2010-06-28T09:46:00.009-05:00

His comment caught me off guard. As my friend Nathan and I were enjoying a hike in the deep woods of northern Minnesota we ran into a jackpot of fresh wild berries that were perfect for feasting on. "Boy", Nathan commented as he dined on another handful of juicy blackberries, "God is a God of wasteful abundance." Wasteful Abundance? I had considered over the years how God seemingly wastes nothing. I have always considered God as the perfect steward. One who works with what he has and never spoils or wastes one thing in this world of His. And, of course this is true in many contexts. But, a God of wasteful His abundance? Now, that's a thought I'd never considered before.

As I stood there, berry juice running down the rough whiskers of my unshaven face, I smiled and thought, "Yes, wasteful abundance." I scanned all the berries in this one spot of the forest floor. There were so many ripened berries, perfect for the plucking, in my line of sight alone that I couldn't possibly eat what was visible. Then I considered the millions of acres in this raw wilderness where these berries run wild and flourish. Millions upon millions of berries that would ripen, fall to the ground and spoil without any animal or human enjoying their sweetness.

Yes, wasteful abundance. The thought made me happy for God. God is so decadent in His blessings. He is so exuberant with his goodness that most of what He has to offer is wasted simply because there's too much to take in at one time.

God is so wasteful. He is guilty of polluting this world. Polluting His created cosmos with goodness and abundance and grace and beauty. He floods this world with more abundance than we can possibly take in in one lifetime.

We see abundance in scrumptious berries that no tongue will ever touch. We see it in the billions of brilliant stars that no eye will ever gaze upon. Or, in each unique snowflake, a work of art in its own right, that will sparkle with brilliance then melt and evaporate apart from any admiring onlooker. Perhaps most poignantly, God's wasteful abundance is seen in the blood of Christ spilled for men that will never desire, want, nor embrace His love. Yes, there is much that God seemingly wastes. . .especially on us.

But, is not that the nature of our great God? His giving is wasteful. Is not love and grace the stuff of wasteful abundance? God's goodness has a way of coming in bulk. He floods His way into our lives. Even if much of what He offers us goes to waste. He gives so liberally. So generously. So lavishly.

Application? Instead of looking at a world in terms of how meager things are, turn your gaze towards God's wasteful abundance. He offers us "immeasurably more than we ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3. 20-21). Instead of clenching your fists in frustration over a wasted opportunity today, open up your hands and begin to receive the wasteful bounty that God is presently offering. Don't let his goodness spoil! Take and feast on the Father's excess today.

On the Gifts

2010-06-23T08:18:00.008-05:00

When I first came to Hayward Wesleyan and began helping new Christians and those seeking membership to discover their spiritual gifts I began using a spiritual gifts test. It seemed simple enough. Break out a number 2 sharpie, answer 50 questions or so, and presto! After ten minutes of thought and shading in some boxes you have discovered your unique role and fit into the local Body.

But, I confess that after doing this for a while, I began feeling less settled about the whole process. It seemed stagnant. Lifeless. Too contrived and individualistic.

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good" (I Corinthians 12:7).

The manifest ion of the Spirit....
The Scripture teaches that it is the Holy Spirit who gives or bestows the gifts, not a test. There is a strong argument here that as we keep in step with the Spirit the Spirit Himself will bestow these gifts to us. One might find it humorous to think of Peter sailing the sea of Galilee while jotting down answers to a test in order to find out how he would "plug into" and adequately minister to the Church. No, we all recognize that the gifts of the early church fathers and mothers emerged out of listening to the pull of God's Spirit and by being in deep relationship to others with whom they worshipped with.

Is not the same true for us? We no longer live a life led by "mute idols" (1 Cor. 12:2), but live by the Spirit who speaks, who leads, who brings clarity to us. God is not concealing your spiritual gift and there is no systematic process that Scripture outlines for us to discover our gift other than keeping in step with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit wants to bestow gifts to that will build up the Body of Christ and ultimately bring glory to the Father. He is working in your life and distributing gifts to us for the common good. The question is are you listening? Are you keeping your ear to the ground and eyes to the Lord to discern the giftings that His Spirit longs to give to you?

. . .To each person for the common good.
The gifts are ultimately for the common good of the Church. This is yet another point where it seems that a spiritual gift assessment falls short. A spiritual gift test simply asks questions about YOU. Your personality, your preferences, your likes and dislikes. . .essentially what you are good at. But, the goal of the gifts is not primarily about discovering a place where you can flourish. Rather, the gifts are primarily about building up the Body of Christ and bringing glory to God in the process. Spiritual gifts are the Spirit's gift to us not for our own good, but for the common good.

As team player in sports, this makes perfect sense. I may be a great striker in soccer. But, if the team already has a couple strikers (a striker is an offensive player), and the coach places me as a defensive back, and lo and behold, I flourish in that role, then that's where I need to be because it serves the common good. It doesn't serve the team well to demand that I play striker simply because I appear to be better at this position on paper. What matters is what the team needs of me on the field.

In the same way, God wants us to minister to the Church, not based on how we appear on pen and paper, but on the playing field of life in community. When we are immersed in love for one another, connected to the common good of one another, the Spirit of God has a way of affirming us directing us within that community to the exact place and setting where we can most effectively minister.

Most of us were raised on the model of discovering our gifts first, and then putting them into practice in community. But,I might suggest a reverse model. We first discover our community. Fall deeply in love with the brothers and sisters that God has set before you. Discover the needs of the Body and give yourself over to the welfare and health of that community. And, in so doing, I believe your spiritual giftings will begin to emerge with clarity and focus all by themselves as God's Spirit guides and illuminates.

How about you? How did you discover your spiritual gifts? What played the most essential role in you being affirmed and encouraged to minister and give towards the common good? I'm interested in your feedback.

On you Marks. . .

2010-06-15T07:47:00.005-05:00

The Race from Heath Davis on Vimeo.

My family and I are enjoying a family vacation in our favorite spot. . .Cape Hatteras, NC. When I say family vacation I'm not exaggerating. . .I think at last count there are over 40 of us down here who are kin of some sort. I cooked about sixty hot dogs last night on the grill for dinner. Like feeding a small army. After dinner we went to the beach for a devotional prepared by Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Larry.

Grandpa Larry spoke to the kids on finishing well using the metaphor of a race. "It's not about who finishes first", he shared "it's about how you run the race, and finishing well". Grandpa asked the kids how Jesus would run a race. Would he just shove others out of the way to get to the front, or would he help the hurting and help out the slow? The kids all agreed that Jesus would show concern not to win, but to help others finish strong.

Like a good teacher, Grandpa let his little students put into practice what they had learned. He asked all the grandkids to line up on a starting line he prepared. . .there were about 15 of them ranging from 12 to 4. "Remember", he said, "It's not about winning, or who comes in first. . . it's about being like Jesus." Of course, us parents stood by wondering how our kids would apply Grandpa's words of wisdom into the context of this race on the sand.

"On your marks". . .my eyes went to my 4 year old nephew Caidron who would certainly need help as he had no clear chance at winning.

"Get set". . .Jackson glances over towards Caidron, perhaps I think, he's going to sacrifice his place in the race to help his little cousin. . .And, oh, here comes Kiera! She has moved in next to Caidron. She's the oldest. Certainly she gets Grandpa's point and has jockeyed into a new position help the 4-year old underdog.

These kids are getting it, I muse. They have successfully caught a lesson about life and love. Life isn't just about winning an losing. It's about finishing well. A hopeless idealist, I'm picturing all fourteen grand kids urging little Caidron on and letting him win the race, even carrying him on their shoulders after he crosses the finish line. . .there are shouts of victory, tears in the kids eyes, and proud Grandparents viewing the entire scene with satisfaction and approval.

"Go!". . .At Grandpa's command the race is on. And, what we saw in that moment left all the adults speechless. Fourteen blood thirsty, glory hungry hoodlums kicking, scratching and shoving their way to the front. Total depravity in all its glory! Of course, standing at the starting line stunned, wiping sand from his eyes from quite literally being left in the dust, was Caidron. Well, so much for getting the point.

We all, including Grandpa, had to laugh at such a scene. We were reminded that solid interpretation doesn't necessarily lead to sincere application. How many of us have heard our share of Jesus' words, lined up to run the race with good intentions and left Him in the dust as we scratch, kick and shove our way to the front.

If Grandpa's words about Jesus are right, then I guess there were no "winners" yesterday. And, maybe that's the point. We just don't get it. . .(big kids included :) ). His way is not our way. He ran a different sort of race and found victory in a way that we would rather not. And, so often we just don't it. Maybe the point is not getting it, as much as getting Him.

I think every kid and adult walked away a little more victorious yesterday. . .precisely because there were no "winners". I'm reminded that we are all losers, who just don't get it. But, thanks be to God, who has sent a winner on our behalf, one who won the race that we failed to run.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great day yesterday!!

Uprooting

2010-06-10T15:56:00.002-05:00

People are like trees. The exist to grow, flourish and point to God. Our hearts are like the roots of the tree. They are forever seeking to be firmly established in a life-giving source.

The unformed soul is like a sapling without soil. It knows intuitively that it will dry up, shrivel and die unless its roots find a home. Roots operate like desperate hands forever grasping for some life-giving source in which it can cling to.

This insatiable desire for the human heart to be rooted in something larger than ourselves is universal and explains why everyone is rooted in something. The problem is the where we have planted ourselves. As this picture depicts, a tree can be rooted almost anywhere. This small Maple tree has found its home in a 2x10 rough sawn oak bench. In it's vulnerable state and desperate quest for life a tree will lay down roots into anything that has the slightest resemblance of earth. Sadly, it has become dislocated and despite it's natural inclination to live, it will die.

In the same way, each person in the world has a heart that's been rooted. The problem is where that heart has been planted. Too often we settle for so much less than the rich soil of God's kingdom. Like the sapling, we too will die unless we uproot and are transplanted.

But, ah, herein lies the problem. Roots are attachments. Their job is to establish a firm and safe home. For the small Maple tree, being yanked out of it's established dwelling (as bizarre as a place that it's been planted) must feel like a kind of death is taking place.

The great writer A.W. Tozer puts it well. He writes, "The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution."

Following Jesus ALWAYS involves uprooting. This means there is a process of detachment, and de-establishment from our old established home. This is why Jesus says that if you truly want to live, you must first die.

While the rough-sawn oak cannot sustain life, if it's all we ever knew, and where we have established our source of life, the goodbyes can be painful. It can feel like death. The good news is that although it feels like death, we will ultimately live.

Our sapling lives can be re-established in the right source. We can be transplanted and grow as we never previously knew.

If we want to understand how people have been formed, we must look at where their roots have been established. We must never water-down or minimize this "uprooting" process in discipleship. Rather, we have to give them a wider and deeper vision of where we were meant to be established and live.

Prayer for a Pair

2010-06-10T15:45:00.003-05:00

My friends Caleb and Ashley Yoder had twins a few weeks ago. The boys were premature and miraculously hung on to life although they each weighed less than 2 lbs. Ashley has done a great job of recording this difficult and challenging journey (click on title link above to read their journey and view pictures of the pre-me's). For many during this ordeal Caleb and Ashley have been unable to be near their two boys for fear of over-stimulating them. It's got to be so difficult to deal with this. I just thought my readers would find strength in their struggle and it would be a reminder to say a prayer for little Luke and Max. . .and for mom and dad.

Haggart Street

2010-06-09T16:28:00.006-05:00

Haggart Street is in a rough neighborhood in the Kensington area of Philadelphia. It’s undergone all types of demographical changes over the past 50 years creating a melting pot of Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican, African American and Asian residents. Beyond the racial and ethnic divides on this street are literally dozens of diverse opinions, tastes, styles and worldviews. Almost all the residents would be defined as “working poor”, on this street with the exception of a couple “crack homes” that house the addicts and homeless. Beyond the place in which the residents dwell, these people have almost nothing else in common.
Our mission team was in Philly participating in a short-term mission project that included helping out in a homeless shelter and leading a Vacation Bible School for neighborhood kids. Our team had come with the intention of bringing this street together . . .or so we thought.

It was the 4th of July and we were located smack dab in the middle of the city of “brotherly love" (or brotherly shove depending upon rush hour traffic) where the Declaration of Independence was signed. The pride of the city resonated strong within its residents on this day.

As missionaries for the week on Haggart Street, we led, connected, played, prayed and blessed. Things you would expect of a missionary team. But, later that day, something strange happened that short-term missionaries don’t expect. We were targeted, reached-out to and given an invitation. We were invited be special guests at a Independence Day block part on Haggart Street that stretched the couple blocks between Frankfort Ave. and Emerald St. We, who had come to give, invite and bless, found ourselves a grateful recipiants to special invitation where we would be blessed in a unique way. We, came dispensing the goodwill of the gospel...and found ourselves recepients of goodwill. God works in mysterious ways.

By 9 a.m. two strategically parked cars on each end of the blocks created the necessary road block and simply shut down all through traffic for the day. By 10 a.m. residents were scurrying around like ants dragging out their barbeque grills, sweeping their front stoops and wishing neighbors a happy 4th in preparation for a day of festivity, communion and celebration.
Although there were at least four different generations represented on the block and no less than five complexions of skin shades seen in the streets. . .all gathered together as one on their street. Old and young, black and white, man and woman joined together in sharing their grilling recipes in between plays of a great and rowdy game of “street football”.

One neighbor went house to house collecting every person’s favorite music CD's and proceeded to play the entire block's “favorite hits” on his stereo throughout the day. Music ranging from Puff Daddy to Frank Sinatra to Conway Twitty served as an audible reminder that we can co-exist and yes, even celebrate our personal differences. Although the street hummed different tunes that day, they all really sang the same song. It was the song of unity and harmony. And, this song was powerful and tangibly noticed in people’s smiles, embraces and generousity. For hours that afternoon and evening, the Haggart St. gang laughed together, danced together, shared stories together.

The unity and harmony I felt that day amidst so many stranges was, well. . .almost otherwordly. This was not some contrived unity where we all get along because we are all suburban soccer moms. Nor, was it a unity emerging from corporate perfection marked by the absence of brokenness and bruises. No, these folks were none of that. What I saw happening that day was a taste of unity that arose in spite of diversity….harmony despite imperfection.

As I walked up and down the street talking with the elderly, playing hacky-sack with smiling kids and bantering with men about how the Packers would take down the Eagles next season, what I felt was a kind peace that arises out of collective brokenness. Sort of like these Philly residents were saying, “yea, we got problems, and we’re not okay. . .but it’s okay. . .cause today we are Philadelphians and we choose to celebrate what unites us.”

As I mused on this amazing evening later, I began to think of Haggart St. as a metaphor of the Church. The Church must be a people who are collectively broken before one another…and before God. Like Haggart Street, the church is about a people in a specific locale brought together by a celebrative event (Christ’s ransom on our behalf), who share what they have in common and choose to focus on those things which unify (Christ) instead of that which divides (self-interest).

What a picture of the body of Christ I had discovered in Kensington Philadelphia. This living picture of a great block-party still resonates with me today. It continually challenges me. If a handful of people without Christ can put aside differences and become one for a moment in time. . .how much more those of us in the Body of Christ!

Haggart Street beckons me to ask what a Church without walls might look like. A place of true belonging where we are part of something larger than our own individual identities. A place where each is free to admit our mutual brokenness without fear of judgment.

How much does your church community look like Haggart Street? I'm convinced that Haggart Street can exist whenever we are willing to put aside our personal preferences for the prefences of Christ. His body was torn apart to bring us together.

What are you doing to create Haggart Street experiences within those places God has called us?

The Irresistable voice of praise

2010-06-08T13:41:00.007-05:00

One thing that I'm learning is that praise is a spontaneous eruption that emits from a heart that is full of the fullness of God. True praise is not the stuff of forced smiles and plastered grins. I've met those who strive for praise and practice the discipline of praise. And, there is a time and place for that. But, if we want to get a proper understanding of what true praise looks like, we must look to someone firmly rooted in the reality of God's goodness.

When I think of praise, I think of a roller coaster ride. Often amusement parks set aside a hidden camera on that one specific spot on the track where, after having been twisted, jolted and dropped three stories, a mug shot is taken of each rider. Usually, these mug shots can be viewed on camera, and purchased if desired, after the ride is over. I enjoy seeing what the camera captured. Typically, in every photo the expression is similar. A strange brew of "I'm gonnnnna die" mixed with "Bring it oooon". Death and delight...what an exhilarating concoction!

Now, usually when we pose for a camera we are in control and can monitor our facial expressions. We dictate the image we desire to give the world. What's so fun about these roller coaster pictures is there is an inability to control any of ones facial faculties. The force of the experience is so great, your face just erupts in delight and terror all at once. One time after riding the same roller coaster ten times, and getting ten similar facial expressions, I decided to ride one more time to purposely attempt to keep a stoic, face...an expressionless face of boredom amidst the crazy ten-story drop where my insides felt like silly puddy. And, Guess what? I couldn't do it.

The sheer power and thrill going on inside my stomach took over and controlled my outward expressions. Despite all my efforts to override it, my inner delight with this ride simply erupted in an outer manifestation of sheer delight. I was powerless to conceal my pearly whites. All smile. All delight.

Some things in life are simply too powerful to contain or conceal. Inner realities always have a way of manifesting themselves outwardly. I think true praise is this way. Real praise to God is never forced or concocted. Rather, praise in an outward expression, an outward eruption if you will, of an inner world who finds delight and fullness in God.

C.S. Lewis speaks to the irresistible nature of praise. He writes:

I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise. .The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses [Romeo praising Juliet and vice versa], readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. . . . Except where intolerably adverse circumstances interfere,praise almost seems to be inner health made audible. . . . I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: 'Isn't she lovely? Wasn't it glorious? Don't you think that magnificent?' The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about.

Hmmm...Praise. Inner health made audible. Boy, that rings true to me. We do this everyday. We are content with and brag about the size of that fish we caught. We speak to ourselves as the sun beams upon our face in saying "what a lovely day." We look into the eyes of our spouse after a pleasant evening and whisper, "I love you" or "thank you". When the human heart is full it is like a shooting geyser. It erupts in praise spontaneously and powerfully. And, praise drenches, soaks and fills all within its reach. And, the world is a better place as a result.

So, the questions I've been asking myself are obvious ones:

First, is praise an irresistible eruption that constantly gushes forth in my life? If not, what is the status of my inner world?

Second, am I having to try real hard to praise God? is it forced today? If so, what does that reflect about the "track" (thinking of the roller coaster metaphor) I'm on with God right now?

Lastly, if praise is "inner health made audible" then what IS audible in my life to those listening to my voice? Is my life is more audibly characterized by groans, aches, frowns, frustration, negativity or sarcasm then by praise?

Today I pray that praise would be the most audible voice of my life. That though my life might have different voices at different times, I would be remembered by those who loved me as one whose voice praised God in the good, bad and ordinary days of life.

Raising up Disciples

2010-06-05T08:30:00.003-05:00

If there ever was a kindred spirit who put into words (better than I) what I have been trying to express and teach our congregation regarding relational discipleship. . .Dave Patty is the guy. Patty and his Josiah Venture team have been building disciples in eastern Europe since the fall of communism in 1989. Since that time, some great stuff is going on there to further the gospel. A must read article for anyone serious about the task and challenge of raising up disciples.

Enjoy.

3 Misconceptions about Transformation

2010-06-03T09:55:00.009-05:00

Misconception #3 “Trying real hard will produce spiritual transformation."

Now at first glance this seems like a good idea. Trying is essential to success in any venture in life. So, it is a positive first step. But, trying alone won’t lead us into spiritual transformation any more than trying to bench press three-hundred pounds will lead to a transformed, chiseled physique. Often it leads to just the opposite. Failure, defeat, frustration, and exhaustion...not to mention a hernia. Why? Because we can move mountains on will-power alone. The will alone was never meant to transform the self. Trying alone was never intended as God's means of crafting a new you. Transformation is not primarily about "trying harder" It's about training smarter. Spiritual training is the key.

In fact the Bible speaks about training as a normal part of the Christian life. Paul compares the Christian life to a race and says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training” (I Corinthians. 9:25). He later urges Timothy, “Train yourself in godliness” (I Timothy 4:7). Jesus says that “every disciple when fully trained will become like his master” (Luke 6:40). Most of us have been taught to try real hard in the Christian life. But have we been taught to train stategically?

Let’s answer two basic questions surrounding this idea of training. First, why is training so valuable to maturing as a Christian? And second, what does training look like in everyday circumstances?

Training is important to success in every area of life. In my neck of the woods, Hayward, Wisconsin, we host the American Birkebeiner North America's largest cross-country ski race. It boasts 51 grueling kilometers of challenging ski trails. I've done it a handful of times and assure you that it's no walk in the park. Think about it, how many people would be able to ski the Birkie on race day simply on will power alone? Perhaps a few could. However, for the vast majority of people (even athletic ones!) will power alone won’t cut it. You'd poop out half way or injure a body part along the way . . .or if you're not from northen Wisconsin, you'd just freeze your spandex off. In order to cross the infamous Lake Hayward and join a cheering crowd of witnesses urging you on as you ski up Main St. towards the finish, training would be essential. The reason? Because training allows us to become what we cannot become by will-power alone.

The same is true in the Christian experience. Without training our hearts, minds and bodies to routinely orient themselves towards the ways of Jesus we’re sure to fail. We see this so clearly at Gethsemane. It’s Jesus’ final hour. If ever he needed prayer partners it was now. His three closest amigos Peter, James and John are with him to support him, keep watch and pray for him. Here this trio find themselves in the middle of another essential garden where God in Jesus is groaning in agony and mustering the strength to bear the cross for all humanity. An in this epic, climatic point in human history . . .and what are Jesus' disciples doing? Sleeping! James is drooling. John is snooring. Peter dreaming...probably about fish. Jesus approaches them in their groggy state and whispers, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”. Now I’m sure these three disciples were trying to stay awake. Their spirits were willing; however they obviously had not trained their flesh in such a way as to experience victory. Will-power alone could not make these three do what they wanted to do. They had not trained for this.

How many areas of our lives that are marked by habitual sins, bad habits or immoral choices of which we internally scream, “the spirit is willing, but my flesh is so weak!” We all want to experience victory and reach maturity in all areas of our life. However, many never reach maturity in the Christian life. And often it is not because of lack of trying. It is the absense of training. Jesus, the apostles, and the early church fathers embraced the importance of training in the Christian life. It’s not until recent times that we’ve fallen captive to the notion that quick-fixes combined with a dash of will-power can replace adequate soul training. But quick-fixes and spurts of effort cannot rebuild our lives. Our problems go too deep for that. We need something more comprehensive. Something that encompasses the depth of our brokenness and offers a way to be healed. Or, maybe better than something.... a someone. And, I'd argue that that someone is Jesus Christ. He came not only to suffer death on our behalf, but also to model life. He lived his life fully oriented, fully abandoned to the Father. And, in his life, we see that he too implemented training regimens. Like a good trainer, he modeled for us the things we should do, and the spirit by which we should do them. Our training is essentially about following our trainer. We are transformed by practicing what Jesus practiced in the manner he practiced it.

Those things Jesus practiced in his own life historically have been called spiritual disciplines. I like to call them spiritual practices. Whatever word you use, these practices basically are things that we do (in conjunction with God's Spirit) to help orient our hearts, minds and bodies towards the love of Jesus and the goodness of God.

The specific training regimen is based on our personal needs and struggles. Spiritual practices are diverse and flexible and diverse, but always intentional. It might look like prayer for integrity on the way to work . . . or, cracking open the book of Philippians to learn how to embrace joy during times of trial . . .it might consist of withdrawing from others and our "need" to be known and praised by others and taking an hour or two of solitude with God so that we are sourcing our strength and energy from Him, not people. . . Training might look like fasting from something that I normally indulge myself in for a season...could be food, sex, drink, shopping, facebook, or TV, to teach me that I don't feed off of this pleasure/experience alone, but on God. Another way of training might be serving a neighbor in need when I’d rather serve myself . . .

All of these practices (and there are 1000's of expressions of training) become ways of training my self to posture my life towards Jesus. Like physical exercise, no one spiritual exercise does the same thing. In the same way, each spiritual practice helps develop a different parts of the self in different sort of way. But all are bent on accomplishing in us the same goal. Ultimately, it about the transformation of our entire selves into a Jesus kind of person.

The good athlete trains in light of the contest that he will be facing. He recognizes that there will be a test ahead and much training will be necessary in order to experience victory. Trying really hard on game day alone will not suffice. Our lives are quite similar. There are tests ahead that will challenge our honesty, integrity, courage, self-control, patience, fidelity and faith. In life we can assume that these challenges lie before us. The question is how we are preparing for the day when we are tested. As a teacher of mine used to say, “Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail”. There’s much truth here. May our lives be characterized by preparation for the tests through a consistent process of training.
________________________________________________________________

In summary of the posts on 3 misconceptions about transformation, let me recommend to you a book written by James Bryan Smith. It is called "The Good and Beautiful God" and is a highly practical book dedicated to how transformation takes place in our everyday lives. It incorporates the role of experential learning, pain and the spiritual disciplines (the three topics I've discussed the last three days) in our transformation. I highly recommend that you pick it up.

3 Misconceptions about Transformation

2010-06-02T09:35:00.004-05:00

Misconception #2 “Positive, ‘feel good’ experiences will transform my life and make me more like Christ.

Oh how I wish! A large American church recently did a poll that contained the following question. “Think about an era in your life when you felt like you were growing most spiritually. What factor most contributed to that growth?” In this simple survey the number one answer was overwhelmingly, “Pain!”

While we all enjoy “feel good” moments in life, the hardships and difficulties we experience are often the highest contributors to our transformation. Thus, the old adage “No pain, no gain” really is true. Because of the influence of our culture, many have bought into the fallacy that God’s primary function in this world is to produce as little discomfort in our life as possible. God is our God as long as things are going swell, yet when we hit some painful bumps along the journey we wonder why God has abandoned us. This type of thinking is simply not Biblical. The Bible teaches that while God is not the author of pain, He does allow us to experience pain. And, he uses the difficulties in life to help to chisel us into the kind of person that He desires us to become.

So, what is it specifically about the nature of pain that helps us to grow spiritually? Pain helps us to grow because it reminds us of two very important things in becoming like Christ. First, pain reminds us that we are vulnerable. Pain has a way of exposing the feeble, frail and finite side of life. Where there is little or no discomfort in life we can subtly begin thinking that we are invulnerable and in complete control in this world. I remember when my son Caleb was one and a half and learning to climb stairs. I still remember the little guy with pacifier in hand smiling and swaggering from the top step as if the forces of gravity had no control over him. Because he had no prior context of pain associated with falling, he actually thought he was invincible near the edge of those steps. The reality was that he was flirting with disaster. So, despite our constant warnings, our little blond-haired, blue-eyed Humpty Dumpty had his great fall. Fortunately for him, it was only from the third step, not the thirteenth! Of course, this painful incident reminded him that he’s only human after all. The painful bruises and bumps of life remind us that we are not ultimately in control. The pain that we experience in life helps us to grow in ways we never would without it. C.S. Lewis once penned that “God whispers in our pleasure and screams in our pain.”

Second, pain reminds us that we need outside assistance in order to become whole again. From the irritating toothache, to the crumbling marriage, painful experiences create within us a desire to seek outside help like nothing else. We've all heard the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Well, that proverb is has overly simplistic view of life. The reality is that much of life is broken, but we choose to live in denial of this reality. However, pain is like a slap in the face that wakes us up to the fact that all is not well. Pain is a reminder that we are broken and need of divine intervention to be made whole again.

As I write I think of my good friend Tim Young who suffers from chronic back problems that include constant surges of shooting pain that explode through his lower back down into his legs resulting in agonizing days and restless nights. The doctors prognosis is that little can be done to alleviate his discomfort. He recently shared with me that it is precisely his pain that has taught him to seek harder after God and to be sustained by Him on a moment by moment basis. Tim’s pain and discomfort in his life force Him to rely on God in ways he never would have dreamed before his accident. Tim reminds me of another man who was very familiar with pain: the apostle Paul. Paul talks openly about a “thorn in his flesh” that he struggled with in life (II Corinthians 12). In II Corinthians 12:10 Paul comes to the conclusion that “when I am weak, then I am strong”. In other words, through the weakness of our painful predicament we are reminded that we have the outside assistance of a God that’s promised to grant us what we need in our time of trouble and the grace to weather whatever difficulty life may throw at us.

Like it or not, pain has a big part to play in our spiritual transformation. St. Peter concurs. “Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God is not on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner” (I Peter 4:12-13 The Message). The pain you are experiencing today could very well be God's loving wake-up call for you to rouse you from your independence and wake you from your spiritual slumber, and ultimately to refine you into the person He has intended you to be.

3 Misconceptions about Transformation

2010-06-01T14:53:00.009-05:00

I posted this on a spiritual formation blog a while back. In the next few days, we'll talk about something I believe highly relevant and highly troubling to most people. Authentic life change. How in God's name does it happen? Well, we must first realize that apart from God's name, and apart from his grace and power, it ain't never gonna happen. We desperately need His Spirit at work in us if any authentic change is to take place within the core of our being.

But, I've found that even those who do love God and desire His life to permeate our own lives. . . change is still difficult. We are creatures of habit and have settled into ways of being in the world and patterns of thinking that keep us stagnant.

Paul's names this stuff "the flesh". At whatever else the flesh does, it kills us. Our flesh wars with God's Spirit who wants to breed and reproduce new life, transformation in us.

The good news is that transformation is possible and more than a pipe-dream. But, there are a few misconceptions that I have noticed that keep people from experiencing all that God wants for their lives. And, over the next few days I'd like to address three specific misconceptions that people have about transformation in the way of Jesus.

Misconception #1 “The right knowledge and information will transform my life and make me more like Christ”.

While Bible knowledge is pertinent to us actually knowing who God is and understanding who we are, knowledge alone cannot transform. We have often confused knowing more about Jesus with becoming like Jesus. When I was working with college students, each year we’d tackle a ropes course. Now, before beginning the course each student would receive adequate knowledge about how to traverse the course and assured that course was safe and equipped with certified technicians and working equipment to ensure safety and success. Despite all of this solid information from experienced and trustworthy guides, and despite having being dunned in all the right climbing equipment. . . all this assuring information flew out the window as the students, paralyzed in fear, left the safety of hugging a tree on a sturdy platform and took that first step onto a two inch wire tight-rope swaying 50 feet in the air. You see, the knowledge and information informed their heads, could not transform their terrified hearts. The cerebral part of the self was whispering “this is safe, you'll be fine”, while the terrified heart screamed “Get me off of this thing! This is insane!”

Information has the power to inform, but is powerless to transform. The only way to achieve success on a ropes course is through the experience of actually traversing the course. In many ways experience itself is the primary teacher. You'll not learn a think about a ropes course unless you take that first step.

In the same way, there’s always an experiential element to God’s shaping us into His image. He calls us not only to know, but to trust, to risk, to routinely act upon that which we know in our heads to be true. One area that we are continually building into our lives here at Hayward Wesleyan is the experiential element. As teachers we’re no longer only asking, “what do I want people to know”? But also, we’re asking “how can we provide experiences that help people apply what they have just learned to everyday life experiences? How can we encourage people to take that risky first step?" Rick Warren probably summed it up most vividly. He says, “Information without application is abortion.”

As the life-giving seeds of God's Word is sown into our hearts and minds, we are responsibilt to God to cultivate these seeds of knowledge by putting them into practice in our everyday life. Failure to do so results in an aborted mission. Of course, life-change in Christ sounds real good as we "theorize" about it on Sunday mornings. But, when Monday arrives and we're back dangling 40 feet over our heads in fear and anxiety, it's a different story. The powerful words of Jesus that we gave mental assent to yesterday, seem far more dangerous and risky to listen to when we are being asked to step out in faith and apply them today.

Perhaps it's at these junctures in life where Jesus lovingly smiles and whispers "O ye of little faith." You see, if we do believe in Christ and we intend to become like Him, we must go where he bids us to go. And, like being on the starting platform of an insanely scary ropes course, there are really only two directions to head in. We either back down and retreat to where we once were (and most of us know that there's no future in that), or we step out in our knowledge of Him and take that first step He's calling us to take today.

Instead of making a life out of hovering on platforms and hugging trees for one another day, week, month, year or decade. . .may we remind ourselves that the only knowledge leads to transformation is knowledge that is applied in real-time and real-life. So, just do it. Quit thinking it's going to get easier or less fearful to take that first step. It never will. We must embrace the elements of fear and risk as part of the Jesus journey.

May we each, in some quiet unexpected moment, step into fear and out in faith and take that first step. And, at that moment, may we discover the joy of being one step closer to becoming our truest selves. . . .one step closer to becoming what God has intended us to become.

On Memorial Day

2010-05-30T12:26:00.005-05:00

Each Memorial Day I think of Grandpa LeBright. Aside from being my grandfather, much of what marked his life was his service to his country. He was a Hellcat, a tank Sergent in the 12th Armored Division. Wounded in battle in Dillingen, Germany, grandpa was just an ordinary World War II veteran whose extraordinary acts of courage and bravery were often left unspoken and shrugged off as just doing his duty. He simply did his job and like thousands of other WWII veterans came back, choosing to put the horror of war aside to build a life for his family.

I like this picture of he and mom. It's behind their small (I mean small) bungalow on New Street in Milford, DE. Here stands a man I respect so much because although he had much to cry over, chose to smile. And, though he had seen much hate and encountered much brokenness, choose to laugh and love instead.

The daily effort to put the horror of war aside must have been tremendous for grandpa. I'm sure a bottle of Scotch at time helped to anesthetize some of his inner agony. And, who could blame Him? But, my memories of Grandpa are neither of an angry, war-torn man or of a man in a drunken stupor escaping his pain.

No, my memories of Grandpa are memories of loving kindness and generosity. They are the stuff of shuffling slippers across the floor of his house at the crack of dawn on nights that I slept over and preparing a special serving of hot tea with heaping spoonfuls of sugar and a fantastic breakfast. As a casualty of war, he could of given up on life, yet he found joy in the small things in life. . .like serving his grandson. Some of the most special moments we shared took place before the birds began their mornings calls and people were roused out of bed. Those moments with just Grandpa and I are so special to me.

I also have memories of playing catch in the yard. Grandpa was a good teacher and knew much about the game of baseball. He taught my Uncle Danny, who played professionally. And, Uncle Dan attributed his success to grandpa's teaching and loving encouragement. Perhaps grandpa picked up his good instructional skills by giving orders in the war. In any event, I feel so blessed that he always took time for me as a youngster..."even though you are a south paw", he'd say with a wink.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I am so lucky that grandpa was who he was. I sit here writing on the eve of Memorial Day in tearful gratitude for a grandpa like no other. He helped shape my understanding of what it means to be a man. He experienced death and pain and loss in the war... but purposefully choose to keep smiling.

Sure, grandpa was victorious in Europe. But, perhaps Grandpa's greatest victory is seen in this picture. Head kicked-back and laughing from the gut. The pain and grief he suffered from war I will never understand or know. I think much of it went with him to his grave. What we get in Grandpa is a man choosing to meet a new day with a smile while pouring out his generous embrace to those he loved most. Yes, victory indeed.

We all love and miss you Grandpa!

Organic Multiplication

2010-05-26T11:57:00.006-05:00

My good friend and children's pastor here at Hayward Wesleyan, Pastor Jeremy, introduced me to a movement of God going on today in Eastern Europe called Global Youth Initiative. Dave Patty, one of the leaders of this movement has penned an excellent, thought-provoking article entitled "Organic Multiplication" that I suggest is a must read (click the title above).

Churches today talk extensively about multiplication. But, too often behind the language of multiplication is a highly engineered and programmatic effort that seems to require the administrative skills of an accountant and the leadership skills of a CEO to produce. Deep down it feels like a lot of human engineering, rather than an organic act of God.

But, Patty offers a different kind of church multiplication called "organic multiplication" or "organic reproduction". And, it does not have the smell of synthetic systems and programs to reproduce life. No, it has all the smell of real life. Perhaps organic multiplication is a post-modern way of saying "revival" which interestingly, has connotations to fresh life as well. He speaks of a movement of God in people's lives that naturally and organically reproduces life in others. This sort of movement is dependent upon the power and life of God so infused in his people, that that life reproduces itself in others.

I've learned that we cannot control or create such movements. All we can do is prepare ourselves by removing obstacles that keep the life of God from pulsing in and through us. May we live to see the kingdom organically multiplied in powerful ways here in America in our own lifetime. And, may our faithfulness to organic multiplication be seen in the ways that the life of God in us is constantly breathing fresh and new life upon all who we encounter. Only living things have the power to impart life to others. Things cannot reproduce life. Only God and people can. Reproduce His life this week in someone else. And, read this article!

The Indispensible role of Teaching

2010-05-25T13:52:00.004-05:00

We all need teaching in order to become who we currently are not. My son Caleb is a perfect example. A few years back, my two sons and I were at a public pool. Suddenly, amidst our wet and wild water fight Caleb immediately got this urgent look on his face and did that all too familiar squirm that all parents immediately recognize. “DADDY, I GOTTA GO POTTY” he blurted out. I knew right away that the situation was marked URGENT, so I quickly reached up and picked him out of the pool and set him next to the lifeguard stand. As he danced around, I took a moment to locate my other to my other son and briefly explained to him that Caleb and I need to make a quick pit-stop at the rest room and that we’d be back soon. Within that short moment, this squirmy three year old decided not to wait for dad, but to take matters into his own hands. And, quite literally, he did. Before I could get out of the pool, he already had dropped his drawers and relieved himself about two inches from the lifeguard's right foot. It was embarrassing and funny at the same time. Oh, to be three again.

As I reflected later on this rather funny experience, I was reminded of how much learning/teaching is required in growing up. Be it talking, walking, tying our shoes, blowing our nose, reading, writing, brushing our teeth, or knowing where to go potty. . . all most all things that we do naturally (and appropriately now) were taught to us. Each of us were dependent on teachers who instructed us in various ways and taught us "how grow up". Unfortunately, Caleb’s main instructor that day was his brimming bladder. Obviously, he still needed some more instruction from dad that day. Like how to apologize to a lifeguard after peeing on his flip-flop.

The New Testament refers to those new in their walk with Christ as "newborn babes". Like babies in diapers, those young in their faith need ample instruction in life and in God in order to grow up in Christ. Think about it. Jesus came to help re-posture people’s hearts, minds, wills, emotions and bodies in a Godward way. In his attempt to do this he could have come as a great military general, or a charismatic politician, or even a conquering king. But, the most transformative and influential person in human history chose none of these grand roles to bring about global transformation. He chose to become a teacher! Yes, Jesus is the savior of the world. But, at the same time He is also the teacher of the world. As such, may we be followers who are intentional about teaching what he taught.

Like Caleb, we all make messes along the way. But, many of the mistakes of life can be avoided when we have loving and wise guides who are intentional about teaching in the way of Jesus.

Lay down the ax, Take up the cross

2010-05-24T10:45:00.006-05:00

Sometimes those of us who are deeply committed to the body of Christ can also become the church's harshest critics. In my own journey I've found myself wanting more for the Church. That longing for more has often led to frustration and sometimes cynicism.

A while back I wrote an e-mail to a friend, confessing to him that I'm way too harsh on my indictment of the Church. Perhaps you've struggled with being too harsh on Jesus' body too. If so, I hope this challenge nourishes you today:

"I've been guilty recently of being too harsh and cynical of the church. Sometimes, I wonder if it hurts Jesus when I am so frustrated and sick of his Church. It is HIS body after all. And he still loves her...with all her quirks, failures, imperfections and ugliness. It's easy to be critical of the church and its problems, until I realize that one of her problems is . . . me!

I want to look at broad brush strokes and sweeping trends in the culture of the American church and criticize her accordingly. But rarely want to do put my own life through such a candid analysis! As I look in the mirror I am mindful of how little I spend time in prayer and fasting and weeping on behalf of Christ's body, and am floored at the realization that this is precisely what I condemn the universal church for not doing.

One of the verses of Scripture that has provoked me deeply is Paul's mysterious words in Colossians 1:24. He writes, 'Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which is the church'.

Instead of throwing rocks through at a glass church that is feeble and frail and such an easy target of criticism, Paul realizes that his own life is no way divorced from the life of the church. So instead of analyzing the gaps in the church as a whole, he looks at his own life. He concludes that his own blood, sweat and tears are somehow helping to fill in the gaps of what's still lacking in this suffering, struggling gatherings of people that God has named 'the body of Christ'. Instead of dishing out blows towards the church, he is willing to receive blows on her behalf, realizing that the weight of his own suffering is in some mysterious way being used by God to make the church stronger and more whole.

Perhaps God is calling me to lay down the ax I have to grind and pick up the cross I'm called to bear. In this text, Paul seems to be responsible for Paul. The responsibility of the Church at large. . .well, Paul leaves that in the hands of Jesus.

So, throughout my day today, I'll continue to wrestle with a church flooded with American consumerism, entertainment-based faith and individualistic Christianity. I'll deal with people with deep pockets but shallow hearts, believers who are apathetic towards things that break Christ's heart and saints who are lost in their cynicism. Yes, this is the American church at her worst...and perhaps in some cases at her best. But, I don't want my life's legacy to be a cranky critic who played a good game of arm-chair theology about all that's wrong with the church today.

Rather, I aspire to be like Paul. A man able to respond to a church still lacking, by believing that IF I give my all, Jesus will use my life towards the greater good of his Church...even if tangible results are not seen in my own lifetime".

Jesus gave His body for our lives. May we give the best of our lives for His Body."

A Summer's Resolution

2010-05-20T17:47:00.006-05:00

Several years ago I remember taking Jackson, who was about 3 at the time, down to Minneapolis. Destination: Camp Snoopy in the Mall of America.

We arrived Friday night at my in-laws house in Minneapolis around twilight. During the last hour of daylight Jackson and I decided to explore a small playground down the road from the house. As we made castles in the sand, discovered ant hills together and played on an old swing I couldn't help but think how much more fun tomorrow would hold at the amusement park. As we headed in for the evening, hand in hand, I remember thinking, "If you thought this night was fun buddy, just wait till tomorrow. You'll be in heaven."

Hell might have been a closer metaphor. All those rides. All that junk food. All those people. And to top it all off a three-story statue of snoopy. None of it seemed to satisfy my son that day. Over-stimulation. Over-saturation. Over-kill. And he was overcome. So was I!

As I carried my tear-filled, snotty-nosed, fatigued son through the mall towards the car that day I thought about the simplicity of the playground the night prior. How much more fun we had playing in the sand than conquering lego-land. On the drive home, I thought a lot about MORE and LESS and how they relate to our contentment as people.

Then it occurred to me. It's simplicity, not saturation that's the gateway to gratitude.

Whether kids or adults, we get duped into this lie that the more we have the more content and more grateful we will be. Actually, just the opposite is true. It's in simplicity that we become more grateful. Often when we have less, we learn to appreciate and to be content with the Father's gifts. Simplicity, not saturation is the gateway to gratitude.

During this summer season, I encourage you to be done with the saturated life of MORE. Stop attempting to quench your thirst by drinking out of a fire hydrant! Look for fresh splashes of the clean and refreshing water of God's gifts. And, those droplets of living water are usually organic and ordinary, appear in the mundane aspects of everyday life and come to us free of admission. They might look like a deep soul-talk with a friend, enjoying the juicy taste of a fresh cantelope, sharing a belly laugh with family member or enjoying God as he paints a sunset at the end your tiresome day.

One author expressed a key truth when he confessed, "Contentment is not having all you want. Contentment is wanting all that you have." As we move from saturation back to simplicity, we'll discover that we already have all we need and find deeper contentment and abundance in our lives. For many the thought of living more simply equates to living with less. And, in one sense, that's true. Sure, simplicity means less stuff jammed into your life. But within simplicity we also discover a great Biblical paradox that less is more.

Lord, in these next few months of summer let me release saturation and embrace the simplicity of a child. In that simplicity, allow me to see your world afresh by loving deeper and living richer. Help me to truly want those precious gifts that you have already given to me. Teach me to lean into all that I have at my disposal. And, guard my heart from the lie that I need more to be content. As I inhale the practice of simplicity this summer, may I exhale a heart of abundant gratitude. Amen.

Why safe isn't enough

2010-05-19T08:35:00.004-05:00

On my way into work this morning I was listening to a local Christian radio station. Within a five minute period I heard two advertisement for the station. In both of these short marketing jingles, the primary word used to describe the distinctive element of this particular station was "safe". Safe? Songs invoking our great God to act and fulfill His will with His people and remake this world over. . .Safe? I think not.

Okay. Okay. Of course, on one level, I understand that for marketing purposes words like "safe" and "kid friendly" are very appealing in light of the overall decadence of our culture today. And, I'm sure that Christian radio is trying to attract new listeners, and people today are looking for safe, kid friendly, family-oriented things to listen to. That makes sense and is practical. I get all that.

But, let's think about this on another level. Maybe using the word "safe" when referring to Christian worship is actually very, very dangerous. Dangerous because people begin to equate songs that invoke worship of the God as primarily safe, tame, nice, kid-friendly stuff. If we dare to take time to meditate upon the God whom we serve and the name we invoke when we casually sing tunes about our holy God on our way home from work. . .well, there is nothing safe about this God or our worship of this God. "Let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:28-29).

Christian songs that invoke worship are not merely safe alternatives to bad music. Songs written about God are not great because no curse words or sexual inuendos appear in the lyrics. No. God-music is great because the One to whom we sing is great. It is never safe, because the One we give homage to cannot be tamed, managed or ever safe. Consider a loyal subject approaching the royal chamber of a king. As he approaches the throne, he may feel many things as he bows before His Lord. Reverence. Honor. Loyalty. Joy. Fear. Respect. But, safe? What would a King be like whose greatest adjective is "safe". Not much of one I suppose.

After the second jingle this morning, promoting the safeness of the station, the DJ ironically played Chris Tomlin's thought-provoking song aptly title "Indescribable". The lyrics go like this:

Indescribable, uncontainable,

You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.

You are amazing God

All powerful, untameable,

Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim

You are amazing God

Certainly no safe God is presented here. Oh, that our hearts would connect with a God that is indescribable and untamable and powerful! Not simply a God whose essentially a nice alternative to sex, drugs and rock n' roll. No, there's nothing tame or safe about our God or our worship of Him.

I'll end this muse with one of Annie Dillard's famous quotes dealing with how we have tamed God and over-sentamentalized His church.

"Why do people in church seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute? … Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us to where we can never return.”

—Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters (New York: Harper & Row, 1982), pp. 40-41.

Jesus' World

2010-05-18T12:30:00.003-05:00

“Jesus’ good news about the kingdom can be an effective guide for our lives only if we share his view of the world in which we live. To his eyes this is a God-bathed and God-permeated world. It is a world filled with a glorious reality, where every component is within the range of God’s direct knowledge and control—though he obviously permits some of it, for good reason, to be for a while otherwise than as he wishes. It is a world that is inconceivably beautiful and good because of God and because God is always in it. It is a world in which God is continually at play and over which he constantly rejoices. Until our thoughts of God have found every visible thing and event glorious with his presence, the word of Jesus has not fully seized us.” (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy).

Our apprenticeship to Jesus goes deeper than simply mimicking Jesus’ actions. WWJD (what would Jesus do) is incomplete. You see, discipleship goes deeper than behaviors. Discipleship is sharing Jesus’ worldview. It is all about altering our sin drenched reality and embracing the reality that “in Him we live and move and have our being”. Jesus view of life and reality is counter-cultural simply because where God is juxtaposed. To Jesus, the Father lies at the center of all things. However, we are not prone to putting God in the center. He often lies within our reality, albeit at the outskirts of our self-saturated worlds. But to Jesus, the good and glorious presence of the Father lie at the core of all reality. Jesus’ world was a world where the Father was central to all going on in this big universe. . .and central to Jesu's own life. The Father is at the source, all else lies in the periphery.

As I reflect on this, I’m thinking that worship must have exuded out of Jesus’ heart and his mind continually. His life must have been wave upon wave of joy, peace, goodness and gratitude towards the Father each and every moment of his existence. What an uplifting person Jesus must have been to be around. To have talked to Jesus and spent the day with him must have left people with a feeling of unspeakable pleasure and delight. Oh, to have spent the day with Jesus. . .it would have been like spending the day with the Father himself.

Today the world is in need for that God-bathed presence that Jesus brought to the world. And, we are called to be that Jesus for the world. As his apprentices we were dubbed “Christians” in the book of Acts . . .a term that simply means “little Christs”. Oh, that when people spend time with you and I they walk away as though they have immersed themselves in a different sort of reality. . .a reality saturated by the very presence of the living Trinitarian community! Bathed in the presence of the Father, Son and Spirit. These thoughts convict me, because sometimes my mind and heart are so disjointed from “my Father’s world” and His reality.

His presence is within His creation. And, his presence is within us through the great gift of His son. Yes, indeed, God’s redemptive activity and loving presence is all over this world defaced by sin. He is everywhere. If only we are able to see what Jesus saw and embrace the God Jesus embraced. I’ve been praying to see the world through fresh lenses. .through the eyes of Jesus.

I’m guessing that Jesus himself whispered in His own way and to his own tune the lyrics of Maltbie Babcock’s glorious hymn “This is my Father’s World”. It would do us well, as we walk the dark realities of a seemingly godless world, to remember what Jesus continually knew and mouth these lyrics as we go on our way:

“This is my Father’s world, O let me ne’er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: The battle is not done;
Jesus who died shall be satisfied, And earth and heav’n be one!”

Discipleship at Turtle Pace

2010-05-17T11:53:00.002-05:00

As the pastor of discipleship at Hayward Wesleyan, I am mindful at how painfully slow people's pilgrimages to the cross are! It seems that we are a people who are perpetually in a hurry. Yet the one destination that cannot be rushed, manipulated or short-cutted is the cross. People must take up their own cross in their own time. There are no programs, curriculum, sermon series, or other well-intended ideas that can do it for people. Perhaps the fact that there are no quick-fixes to become like Christ is what makes the journey so undesirable to so many. Whatever the case, I know one thing. . . what we have been given from God, we MUST offer to others! As disciplers we cannot force anyone to become like Jesus. But, you can take up your own cross and encourage those in your sphere of influence to take up theirs too. You can call people to the journey, and offer them pathways towards transformation. You can let your light shine, and invite others to let their lights shine too. Yes, discipleship is a painfully slow process, and often pretty messy too. It was no different for Jesus as he invested in the twelve. Yet, it's out of this slow, messy process that sons and daughter of God are born and real transformation in Christlikeness becomes possible. So, I invite you to reevaluate the progression of discipleship in terms of decades instead of days. Decades? Yes, decades. Think about a person whom you have invested in, prayed for and wished God's best for. Where are they today compared to ten years ago? Sometimes looking at a soul's long haul provides proof that transformation IS indeed happening. But, it is a process...and we are impatient people. The simple reality is that discipleship is a painfully slow process. Eugene Peterson dubbs discipleship "a long obedience in the same direction". It's all about putting one step in front of another one mundane and ordinary day at a time.

Often transformation is subtle and seemingly invisible. It's like a turtle's pace. Is that discouraging? For me it often is. But, I'm reminded that there is no other way to do it than Jesus way. Believe me, I've tried short-cuts. They don't work. We'll have to trust that the path He laid out, albiet slow, is the only one worth walking. In the event of discouragement remember the tortoise and the hare. Moral of the story? The slow and steady pace wins the race.

Upcoming Class

2010-05-13T13:02:00.004-05:00

I will be jumping into a conversation on the book of Ephesians on the 23rd of May during our Sunday spiritual formation class at 9.40a.m. So, there's my plug Hayward folks.

My recent research on Paul's visit to Ephesus reminds me of the direction that the gospel desires to take us as we journey through life.

Ephesus was one of the top three cities in the Roman empire. And, presence of the gospel in this city can be attributed to a few humble, yet gutsy men who didn't side-skirt the city and stay on the safe peripheral edges frequenting tame religious gatherings and sipping tea with church basement ladies. Rather, Paul and his entourage, who were not ashamed of the gospel went straight for city-center. Acts 19 gives us a virtual tour of Paul's travels in Ephesus. We might think of it as a Spirit-guided GPS. Let's see where he is led.

The text says Paul took the "interior road" that went directly into this great city. Notice, he doesn't take the exterior road, skirting the outside of this city of close to a half million inhabitants. He takes the interior road and goes straight for the juggler. He enters the mess. And, I don't even like driving on Main St. in Hayward (population 2,028 .5 in the summer!)

Once he hits the city, he moves straight to the synagogue. Which is the equivalent to walking bare-backed into a angry hornets nest. And, Paul knew this since one of his former past-time kicks was to tracking down Christians and throwing rocks at them.

After getting booted from there, Paul ends up in the public square conversing about Jesus for two years in "the lecture hall of Tyrannus". The lecture hall of Tyrannus would have been like the Greenwich Village of Ephesus. An eclectic marketplace of art, philosophy, ideas and religion. They had it all when it came to art, eduction, philosophy and culture. And, Paul brings the gospel here. He discussed and devoted himself to the message of the cross. And, in so doing reminds us that the gospel of Jesus is not preserved by being packed away in a sacred container we call "church". Rather, is to be preserved by his Church (a people, not a place) who daily take Jesus with us into the marketplace of ideas as we discuss and devote ourselves to the message of the cross.

Later in the chapter we find Paul at a public bon-fire held in the name of Jesus where converts were burning their idolatrous paraphernalia and sacred scrolls...which, by the way, doesn't' help Paul make any new friends in a city whose economy was based on the sale and purchasing of religious relics to false gods.

By the end of the chapter we get this amazing finale'. We find that the presence of Paul and his friends at a riot in the theatre of Ephesus...the riot was based on the fact that Paul had "led astray large numbers of people" which had disrupted the economy of the temple cult to the great goddess Artemis, known by the Romans as the goddess Diana, whose temple was one of the seven great wonders of the ancient world!

Image it. A few homeless guys walk into this city with no power, no money, no prestige...nothing. Knowing nothing as Paul puts it, "but Christ crucified". And, by the end of three years, arguably the most religious and most powerful city in the Roman Empire is up in arms over a Jewish rabbi named Jesus whom they had never even heard tell of three years prior! That's power of the gospel. And, the courage to be a conduit of that power by moving into the place that sometimes we fear the most.

Yes, Paul left his mark. The Spirit-guided GPS does not lead Paul outside the metropolis. No, that's not Jesus' style. The way of Jesus is to penetrate deep into the middle of godless confusion. And, the truth of Jesus is to bring His message to places that deem it irrelevant, uncool and unfashionable. And, the life of Jesus is a life that is unmistakably seen. It is a life that has the power to transform and turn entire cities inside out.

The Grandeur of God

2010-05-13T08:50:00.002-05:00

In light of yesterday's post, this old poem came to my mind. One of my favorites because in this small prose is the big story of creation, fall, redemption and renewal. Despite all the toxins, pollutants and sewage in our world today, He still is remaking this world. God will not be mocked. What God accomplished on the cross is coming to fruition. It is that deep down reality that He is active within this world, making all things new. That might seem like a long-shot to the faithless, but to we lovers of God it is a present reality. He who has eyes to see, let him see.
Enjoy.

“God’s Grandeur” (1877)
Gerald Manley Hopkins

The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed.

Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent; There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs— Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

And We Groan

2010-05-12T14:00:00.006-05:00

One of the inescapable realities of being sons of Adam and daughters of Eve is that we perpetually pollute this world that God created and called "good". We point fingers at one another and shake our heads in disgust at the ways and means that others pollute this beautiful planet...and all the while justify the ways in which we bring our own trash into this world. All have sinned. Which is a theological way of saying that we all pollute. We all bring garbage into this world, albeit, in different ways. Yes, we trash this world daily. It is just a matter of what poison we choose to pollute this earth with. Choose your poison. We may dispense our poison through power, money, sex, security, materialism, self-ambition, apathy towards others or indifference towards the created world. And, don't think for a second that your contamination is just "personal" as if you are only trashing your life. Nothing in this world is merely "personal". Personal pollutants have universal implications. The poison of our lives has a way of emerging beyond valves of our hearts and moving outwards, bringing untold damage to people and things we could have never foreseen. . .even those we love.

Human life alienated from the life of God is a life that will continue to regurgitate toxins of its own making creating disaster on ourselves and one another and the world we live in even when we, ironically, have good intentions. As a result, the apostle Paul reminds us that both we humans and the creation itself, as we see in the picture above, groan. We groan over a world full of toxins called sin...recognizing at the same time, that these toxins are not only contaminating the world, but us as well. The Romans text reads, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. No only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." All of God's creatures and creation knows intuitively that all is not right. And, we live unified by this truth. Beneath the surface, we are all together on this...this world is not at all is not the way it is supposed to be.

Lord willing, BP and the gang will find a solution to the gulf oil crisis. And, hopefully, their patch-up efforts will prove effective in the end. And, in these situations, Christians, I believe, should reach out with good-will towards those impacted (the people, creatures and environment) by this tragedy because we should seek to honor and protect "Our Father's world".

Yet, situations like this also give us ample time to reflect that outside a relationship with our Creator God, we are a people of pollutants. And, no simplistic patch-up job (be it technology, more education, world peace, etc.) will clean up the mess we are in. Our mess goes much deeper than that. Like a disastrous oil leak deep down, humanity will keep spewing and erupting hazardous waste until we latch on to a remedy that goes deep enough. We are in need of One whose rescue-mission that is powerful enough to rescue us from our contamination without being contaminated in the process. That one is Jesus Christ.

The Biblical text tells us that our Creator incarnated Himself in the person of Jesus Christ and sought to rescue us from ourselves and to turn these toxic souls into life-giving fruits that feed the stomachs and quench the thirst of a world groaning and grasping for life. This clean-up mission is accomplished not by our power or efforts, but by the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel message is clear: We are more polluted than we ever dared to believe. And, simultaneously more loved and cherished than we ever dared to hope or dream.

I actually believe that today. I believe it with all my heart. He has been the only relief worker that has ever gone deep enough into my polluted world to save me from this world...and from myself.

For Thy Pleasure

2010-05-10T10:50:00.008-05:00

In eighth grade my class took a field trip to the Baltimore Aquarium. Growing up near the shore, I thought that I had a pretty good idea of the plethora of aquatic life that pulsed upon the ocean floor. But, I had no idea. As I walked from one aquarium to the next on eye level with these beautiful and sometimes bizarre looking creatures, I found myself captivated by a submersed symphony of sea-creatures who seemingly were putting on a show just for me.

I specifically remember this one part of the aquarium that was completely in the dark. I was told that some oceanic creatures live at such depths that they have never seen the light of day. In fact, exposure to any amount of light would do them harm. So, as I entered into their dark domain, I felt as though I was walking into a dark room in a photography class. Not an ounce of light anywhere. I wondered momentarily how we would see whatever was in this room. And, then they came alive. One of the most fantastic displays of movement, color and creativity that my eyes have ever gazed upon. These small fish began illuminating like light-bulbs as they swam. The vast array of iridescent colors darting around, lighting up at will, made any 4th of July grand finale' pale in comparison. The scene was nothing less than brilliant.

I sat mesmerized, subconsciously praising God for the privilege of seeing something so spectacular. Then, I stopped mid-thought. I wondered, why would God create something so beautiful and set it loose in a dark and lonely abyss? Why place such a rich concoction of color and creativity so far down and so far removed from human human enjoyment? As I left the aquarium that day,these thoughts went with me.

Many years later I sit here having grown in my understanding of God. I used to think that God created good things entirely for our pleasure. That is, He created the world simply for us to enjoy it and to explore it. But, I've gradually have come to recognize that God has not created primarily for MY good pleasure, but for HIS good pleasure. Revelation 4:11 states this. It says, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

I was so confused on why a Creator would create amazing fish that no eye could enjoy, and all the while failed to realize that these fish never escape the eyes of our God. He has been enjoying them since the day He created them! These little flickering pixels of blue and green neon that glow in the dark bring great delight to the One who created them. They dance and flutter for His delight.

Dallas Willard, contemplating on the created world writes some insightful words from his own experience of being "overcome" on a breath-taking beach in South Africa. "Gradually there crept into my mind the realization that God sees this [His creation] all the time. He sees it, experiences it, knows it from every possible point of view, this and billions of other scenes like and unlike it, in this and billions of other worlds. Great tidal waves of joy must constantly wash through His being. It is strange to say, but suddenly I was extremely happy for God and thought I had some sense of that an infinitely joyous [life that He leads] and of what it might have meant for Him to look at His creation and find it 'very good.' We pay a lot of money to get a tank with a few tropical fish in it and never tire of looking at their brilliant iridescence and marvelous forms and movements. But God has seas full of them, which He constantly enjoys" (Divine Conspiracy, 63).

"Undoubtedly, [God] is the most joyous being in the universe. The abundance of His love and generosity is inseparable from His infinite joy. All of the good and beautiful things from which we occasionally drink tiny droplets of soul-exhilarating joy, God continuously experiences in all their breadth and depth and richness" ( Divine Conspiracy, 62).

In Honor of Mom

2010-05-09T12:05:00.005-05:00

Most who know me, know that I'm rarely at a loss for words. I find ways to articulate the deepest things inside of me...and it usually comes to me without effort...and flows like a waterfall...or a leaky faucet. Either way, words and I go together fairly well.

But, when it comes to finding the right thing to say about my own mother, I'm speechless. Very few things in my life have made such a profound impact that I'm at a loss for words. But, with mom, the right word never seems to do her justice. And, those of you who know and love my mom, simply know that to be the case.
The only word that comes to me this moment is. . .blessed. I'm blessed to be her son. I'm blessed to have been nurtured and love by such a wonderful person.

Some things transcend words. Most of those things are divine. . .one is entirely human. That one is my Mother. Thanks mom for all that you are to me. I love you!

Aleah's poem

2010-05-07T14:19:00.005-05:00

Hanging out with my friends the Heyworths today. Aleah (11),Josh and Jessica's oldest daugther is going to post a poem she wrote about God. Thanks Aleah!

KING OF ALL CREATURES

The snake is the king of the deserts and sand,
Where mice and rat meals are always at hand.
He slithers around saying “I’m the king here,”
“Feel the sting of my poison if you come too near”

The elephant's the king of the grasslands and fields,
He eats vegetarian for all of his meals.
By lifting his trunk up high in the air,
He’s telling the animals “you'd better beware.”

The lion's the king of the jungle green,
He’ll always lick the platter clean.
His mighty roar gives it away…
It is never time to play.

So the bee might be king of the flowers,
The ant the king of the hill.
But God is king of all creatures
And he loves us still.

Redefining Sin

2010-05-06T10:14:00.005-05:00

Growing up there was a phrase thrown around "Don't drink, smoke or chew, or go with girls who do." A moralistic view of sin believes sin is simply bad things that we choose to do with our lives. This view is fundamentally flawed. One of the reasons it is flawed is because "badness" is usually erected and defined by our specific culture. For the conservative, fundamentalist badness is smoking and taking on an Aerosmith concert. For the liberal it might be littering that cigarette and judging rockbands by their cover. Both sides religiously have erected standards that categorize and thereby minimize a true nature of sin. Neither conservative or liberal definitions and categories of sin go deep enough to actually get at what is wrong with the world.

Sin in the Scripture is not simply an arbitrary list of things rendered "bad" by God or anyone else. In the Scripture sin is defined as anything that seeks to decoy itself and/or substitute itself for the Creator God. Pastor Tim Keller puts it like this. . ."Sin isn't only doing bad things. it is more fundamentally making good things into ultimate things. Sin is building your life and meaning on anything, even a very good thing, more than on God. Whatever we build our life on will drive us and enslave us. Sin is primarily idolatry" (excerpt from "Talking about Idolatry in a Postmodern Age" ).

If we want to find out where sin is in our lives, we have to look at our idols. An idol is anythingthat we seek to find ultimate security, satisfaction or significance in other than God. We tend to think of Baal or Aphrodite when we think of an idol. But, with this working definition of idolatry, an idol can be really bad things like Meth, illicit sex or greed...or very, very good things like the United States, a Mocha, a spouse or even ministry!

If we desire to grow in our spiritual lives, we begin to dismantle our personal idols and in so doing, will uncover the fact that our sin is not primarily about breaking rules. It is about broken relationship. In toppling our idols we will recognize how these idols held out the promise of security, significance and satisfaction apart from our loving and gracious Creator. And, often we will discover that the "sins" that emerge from beneath the idols of our heart were actually really good things that subtly became ultimate things.

But, keep in mind that the fruit from the tree in the garden was also a creation of God rendered "good". God himself declared it so. But, that goodness was never meant to replace the Creator Himself. And, that's precisely what happened in the garden that day. A simple act led to a monstrous substitution and the created world has never been the same. Adam and Eve are a lot like you and I. They tried to get something ultimate out of something good, and in the process led the human race in a place it was never intended to go.

Your sin and my sin...probably isn't sinister and evil. Truthfully, most of my sins are lathered in good intentions. But, good things are not ultimate things. Means never replace the End. The created order was never intended to replace the Creator. Any attempt to do so. . .whether intentionally or unintentionally. . .whether for good or for evil. . .is ultimately sin.

Chewing with our Hearts Open

2010-05-03T10:52:00.005-05:00

"And, on His Law he meditates day and night."

Meditation gets a bad rap in contemporary Christian culture. We have been so thorough in our repudiation of any word, concept or idea that might be confused with another religion, that we have done great harm to the commandments of God in the Scriptures. I have read Christian authors who are so phobic of being "new age" that they have killed every Biblical practice that incidentally uses the same verbiage.

We must keep in mind that much that is written about meditation is not new age, but old age. It dates back three thousand years to a man name David who wrote much about the importance of setting the mind on the LORD and his Word. As Christians, we may need to re-define and refine terms we use so as to be thoroughly Biblical and not be confused with the practices of other religions. However, to repudiate these terms simply because they have been borrowed by other religious traditions is ridiculous.

In my reading of the Psalms the word meditate pops off the page often. The Hebrew word for meditate has connotations of "ruminating" or "chewing on" God's law. The word picture here might be one of letting God's Word sink inside the mouth of the mind and not simply taking a quick taste, but chewing on it. Sucking the flavor, the significance, the meaning and the personal application out of it. And, keeping that God-food in our mouths long enough for it to begin to digest deep down inside our person bringing life, wholeness and direction into our lives. If we are feasting on the Word in this way, I believe we've begun to learn how to meditate.

In a fast food culture where our own tasting, chewing and eating habits leave something to be desired, I assume that our meditative habits need some reformation to.

How do you meditate? When do you meditate? Do you see this as a counter-cultural practice in an "eat and run" society? I'm interested to hear your reply.

Disbelief, Doubt and Mystery

2010-04-28T13:05:00.007-05:00

I'd like for you to chime in on some musings I've been pondering.

What's the relationship between disbelief and doubt? Are they one and the same? Or are they separate entities?

What kind of doubt is appropriate/part of the human condition and what is not? For instance, if I am doubting God's goodness or his love, is that the same as not doubting that he will give me the new car that I have prayed to him for? Is one kind of doubt worse than the other?

Is simply the acceptance of the way things are (i.e. I have cancer and am dying)a faithless act and a form of doubt? Some believe so. I know of a family whose mother died of cancer and there was a consensus amongst some friends and family members that even attending her funeral was a form of doubting. They had faith that she would be resurrected. So, why attend the funeral? Needless to say, her resurrection has yet to come. Although we have hope that in the last day it will.

Then there is mystery. Sometimes people want to exercise faith by naming it and claiming it (whatever the "it" may be....could be faith in a healing, a new car, a better job or the healing of a relationship). Of course, God wants us to come to Him in faith for our concerns. But, he wants us to come to Him like children. No pretence. No pride. Without a desire to control or coerce His goodness. But, faith saturated with unfiltered naming and claiming seems. . .well, it seems like a really spiritual way of controlling God to get what you want. Sort of like using faith as a crow-bar that we use to pry and gain leverage over God. What ever happened to the mystery of God? If God is simply a cosmic candy dispenser that gives ME what I put in (assuming that what I put in is the the right thing)?

We may ask then, where does His sovereign will fit into my faithful prayers? I would argue that they do fit. But, any human attempt to figure out how this fits is futile. The bottom line is that we must trust God. We have faith. We pray, but ultimately God ways are still a mystery to man.

Sometimes it seems that people lose faith when they claim that they do not see nor understand God and are frustrated because they cannot nail him down. Yet, should not a large part of our faith assume that I will not see or understand the ways of the Creator? Shouldn't faith remind us that even in such confusing moments where there is no trace of Him, that He still is. That he still loves. And, He still is working to renew all things. . .including my present reality. Is our faith big enough to live within the mystery that is God?

As Friedrich Buechner put it, "To say that god is a mystery is to say that you can never nail him down. Even on Christ the nails proved ultimately ineffective".

If God cannot be nailed down either physically or spiritually, perhaps our faith should not be as much about mastery over Him, as humbly embracing the divine mystery that is Him.

Lost: A Tale of Two Sons

2010-04-26T11:50:00.004-05:00

About a year ago I picked up Tim Keller's book entitled "Prodigal God" and haven't been able to put it down. I'm three weeks into a four week sermon entitled "Lost" which is a series highlighting the two kinds of lost-ness that we see in the elder and younger brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son. And, I'm highly thankful for Keller's contributions and exegesis of this text. Keller pulled some of his material together with the help of middle-eastern and Biblical scholar Ken Bailey. Bailey's book "The Cross and the Prodigal" is both powerful and enlightening.

Some people suggest that Biblical scholarship is the stuff of ivory towers and college auditoriums. But, I continually find that good Biblical scholarship helps me to unpack in a deeper and more real sense who Jesus is. So, I'm thankful for the ways these two texts combined with dozens of readings of the parable itself have opened my eyes up to Jesus' radical message within this parable that challenges me daily.

Check out either of these two books. Both are well worth the read.

Your Smiling Face

2010-04-22T14:14:00.002-05:00

There's this amazing four year old in my life who can melt my heart with her smile. After posting yesterday about my boys, I was reminded while exercising last night how this song below just makes me think of Kate and smile. A true smiling face is ultimately birthed in love.

And, no matter how challenging my day is, Kate's smile does something to my world to turn my frown upsidedown. This song reminds me that sacred music is not simply religious music. Here's an irreligious tune that serves as an instant pipeline into the sacred. A sacred glance that only can exist between a Father and his daughter. This song, like Kate's smile puts me in a grateful mood.

Think of a loved one whose soul makes you smile as you listen. . .and praise God for the wondrous gift of family and friends.

Parenthood and the Ticking Clock

2010-04-21T13:48:00.004-05:00

(I jotted these thoughts down a while back. But they are as true today as when I penned them.)

It’s 9:17p.m.

I just got home from a meeting and have to get my boys down, return a phone call, look over some mail and hopefully catch a few minutes of TV to unwind from a hectic day.

Already 17 minutes past the boys bed time and I haven’t even begun reading yet. As they recognize my familiar footsteps nearing their bedroom, I hear the all too familiar mantra: “Daddy, Daddy, read to us!” Tonight, reading is the last thing I want to do, and I’m racing against time. I’ve got more stuff to do tonight, so I better get right down to business.

As I enter their room I’m greeted with simultaneous bear hugs. Instead of returning the hugs and meeting them eye to eye, my gaze is fixed elsewhere. The bookshelf. “Hmm, what’s the shortest book in here” I wonder. “If I pull this off right”, I think to myself, “I can have the lights out in 13 minutes”. Within seconds I’ve yanked the skinniest book in sight off the shelf and have begun reading. To meet my goal I realize that I’ve got to pick up the pace of the reading and give them an edited version (which of course, they never fall for). As I continue my speed reading, I throw in a monotone voice hoping that if the confusion doesn’t get them more tired, the sheer boredom will certainly cause them to doze off to sleep. “With some luck, maybe I’ll be out of here before 9:30”, I internally scheme.

The clock is still ticking, and I’m reading like a man possessed. “As I flip to page 12”, I think to myself. “Only 24 pages more to go. Haven’t we read Go Dogs Go about 786 times anyway?” The boys interest begins to wane and their eager eyes turn to blank stares. My strategy is working. “Maybe if I skip a few pages, the boys won’t notice.” With each page I become more and more emotionally detached from their little souls and am seemingly unaware of the fact that I am missing a golden opportunity to be their dad tonight.

As, I reach the final stretch, the boys too have become uninterested in the story, and truth be told, uninterested in their dad as well. Needless to say, I'm secretly glad when they doze off before our prayer time because it leaves more time for me to unwind tonight. I turn off the lights and quickly scurry out of their room without a hug or a kiss (after all, why risk waking them, right?) Mission accomplished. And all of this before 9:30. Well, I got want I wanted tonight. I beat the clock. . .and loss something sacred in the process.

I’ve found in my own life that saturated-living often robs me of sacred-living. Saturated-living is a life driven by the stuff of life, overcrowded schedules, random events and the thousand miscellaneous things to get done.
These days I must often remind myself, that my kids are not just another "thing" to get done...they are little, unformed beings created in the very image of God. My highest calling is to love them, nurture them in Christ, and to simply be present with them in and through the ordinary events of everyday life. This is sacred-living.

The clock is ticking. And, soon the day will be gone when I have this wonderful opportunity to lie alongside my boys in bed (do you realize this is a sacred privilege?), read to them about the Lord and pray for them as they cuddle with their dad. Today my oldest son Jackson, if he reaches with his tip-toes, can almost touch the foot-board of his bed from where he lies at night. It seems as though just yesterday he could barely climb into that big bed. God has entrusted parents with an appointed amount of time to pour into their little lives. The grow up too fast.
Very soon our kids will be lying in their children’s beds reading stories to their own boys and girls. And, they will have become a certain kind of person because of us. Their life will either resemble a saturated-lifestyle marked by its tendency of being filled and flooded with stuff, or a sacred-lifestyle characterized by intentional investments in deep relationship with God and others.

Time is fleeting. So, I am attempting to become more and more the kind of person who embraces the sacred life by intentionally nurturing my kids hearts in the way of Jesus. For me, this begins in the bedroom at night where I have the opportunity to look into bright eyes and open hearts and to tell ancient and modern stories about good and evil. . .to kid around and to laugh. . to share my day with them. . .and to whisper strength into their open, attentive hearts.
This is the stuff of parenthood and of embracing sacred-living. So, my encouragement as a fellow parent and a pastor is to be committed to becoming this kind of person to your kids. It’s a big responsibility, but is fleshed out in small ways like simply reading and praying with your children. And, the time to begin is tonight. After all, the clock is ticking.

A Must Read Article

2010-04-20T12:05:00.003-05:00

Last night in our Embracing the Story class, Mark Jalovick read a stirring article that convicted me deeply. It's a quick, yet powerful read serves as an wake-up call for our American, over-consumerized faith and allure us back into the reality of the person and work of God Almighty within "the cruel edges of the world".

The Rabbi in the Room

2010-04-20T11:50:00.004-05:00

"We are all members of one another, and one of us is Jesus Christ."

-Austin Farrer

There is one who attends your group. He sits and listens and makes himself available each week in your small group community. His name is Jesus Christ. He wants to take your small group some where. He's always led communities. And, he wants to lead your community too.

Too often leaders mistakenly think THEY must take the people of God some place. So as leaders we panic or fret over issues, needs or the direction of the group. We convince ourselves that unless we "run things" correctly things may fall apart. I remember one small group gathering several years ago that could only be described in one word: grueling. It was one of those nights where I would have just as soon stayed home at watched a PBS documentary on scrap metal than have gone to group. Driving home from group, I looked over at Ann and bluntly said, referring to the night, "What was that???" Annoyed by the shallow responses, the lifeless stares, and the luke-warm coffee, I felt frustrated and alone. Where is the sense of God's presence? Where is discipleship? Isn't this supposed to be the community of God's redeemed? I remember crying out to God, "Lord, if I don't hold this community together, who else is going to?" In the moments of silence that followed over the next few days I gently recall the Lord reminding me, "I will hold it together. I will."

It is Jesus who holds the community of God together. Jesus teaches that where two or three are gathered together in his name, he is there, right in their midst. Ultimately, our small group leadership is really about follower-ship. We must remind ourselves that the Rabbi is in the room. He is always in communion with the Father, and he desires communion with us. He wants to lead our groups into a deeper, more spiritually minded, unified awareness of the Father. But, in order for this to happen, we must follow His prompting.

Leaders must learn to follow before they can truly lead. Learning to follow Him can come in many forms. However, for those of you who are leading this week, I suggest this simple prayer to prepare yourself for your small group:

Jesus, remind me that you are a member of our group.
You want us to follow you and to experience all that you experienced with the Father.
Help our group to follow where you want to take us.
Protect my heart from anxiety, frustration, agendas and expectations.
Prepare my heart for your leading
And open my eyes that I might see You in our midst tonight.

Amen

The Peace of Wild Things

2010-04-19T18:56:00.003-05:00

"When despair grows in me and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with fore thought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting for their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free".

~Wendell Berry~

Wendell Berry has been significant source of encouragement for me in recent years. He's a poet, a prophet and a philosopher. Most of all, I find in him in a kindred spirit. The stress of last week brought to mind this simple poem. It's reminiscent of Jesus' teachings on the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. I was reminded that there is a "grace of the world" crafted in creation. If only we have eyes to see and the hunger to embrace it.

What Solitude Accomplishes 3

2010-04-14T11:03:00.002-05:00

Solitude teaches me to listen to my body.

Great athletes listen to their bodies. They know when to work the body and when to let it recover. They realize that over-usage often leads to under-performance. In the same way, solitude allows us to flip our “on” switch to “off” for a while so that we can learn to sit and listen to what we really need. In I Kings 19 Elijah is so juiced up that he believes he needs a coffin. “I have had enough LORD, let me die.” But, in solitude God reminded him of what he really needed. A nap and supper. Often I have no idea what ails me until I permit myself to do nothing and waste time with the Lord.

Are you panting uncontrollably? What are you it need of? Rest? Laughter? Friendship? Silence? Hearing God’s voice? Without solitude you might never know.

What Solitude Accomplishes-2

2010-04-12T12:35:00.004-05:00

Solitude helps me maintain a proper perspective on life.

The faster we move the blurrier life becomes. Remember those rides at the state fair that were essentially merry-go-rounds on steroids? Round and round faster and faster. In such moments reality quickly becomes blurred and we lose perspective of where we are and what’s going on around us. All you can do is simply hold on and pray for the ride to end! For many of us life is just spinning way too fast. We think we have perspective, but in reality do not. Recently, after a few long days of non-stop activity I was hit by what I thought was a tidal wave situation. The following day I spent some time alone in prayer and got a full night of sleep that evening. Much to my surprise, the next day that tidal wave situation became a mere ripple. The situation had not changed, but my perspective had. Solitude benefits our lives by placing our body in a posture of stillness and refreshment long enough to get a clearer, healthier perspective on life.

What solitude accomplishes

2010-04-11T06:27:00.002-05:00

We've been discussing the great need in our world today to combat busyness and hurry through the spiritual discipline of solitude. So, what does solitude accomplish? While this is by no means exhaustive, when I go into solitude with the Spirit leading me here's what it has taught me:

I am NOT the sum of my relationships or achievements.

Henri Noewen writes, “We remove our scaffolding in solitude”. That is, I no longer allow the things of this world to “prop” me up giving me a distorted view of who I really am. In solitude, I let everything down. I go into a quiet place with nothing other than, well, . . .ME. And, in doing so, I am reminded I am God’s child, not by way of merit, popularity or charm, but because I am his created work. Because Jesus accepts even me. I learn as I still my soul, to differentiate myself from my achievements. I am liberated from the notion that we are the sum of my to-do lists and the sum of my relationships. I embrace the ME that Jesus has already embraced. And, on most days, that's not easy. But it is freeing. And, solitude will impress this kind of freedom upon you.

The "Driven" Life

2010-04-09T06:00:00.001-05:00

A few years back we went through a series called “The Purpose Driven Life”. And, while the focus of the series was all about discovering our purpose, I couldn't help but notice the word “driven”. . According to Webster, the word driven means to “keep in perpetual motion” or to “forcibly move onward”. The word driven is language of the modern era. It speaks to us of mechanization. Of rapid velocity and high octane performance.

Fortunately, people are not machines. But, the era in which we live breathes the oxygen of movement, performance and velocity. And, the technology that promised to make life easier, leaving more time for relationships, has strangely and paradoxically made us less human and more mechanized than ever before in human history. Think about it. If we are nothing else today, at least we are in motion, right? When we ask someone how they are, the typical answer. . . "I'm Busy." Busy has become synonymous with importance, competence and efficiency in our time. And, we value busyness. Perhaps we should actually sit back and assess to what end in all this busyness and drivenness is leading us?

Is the abundant life that Jesus speaks of compatible with the busy life that we give so much homage to? It does not seem so. Too often, a body charged with driven-ness and busyness is a body that is continually fighting stress, fatigue and dissatisfaction with life. Certainly, a driven body is one who resists God’s commandments of Sabbath; rest and be still. Moreover, there are a plethora of emotional and physical symptoms that serve as reminders that our body's have become too driven-oriented. Richard A. Swenson M.D., author of “Margin”, points out that the psyche is the point of entry for the insidious stress virus. A few of the symptoms include: depression, withdrawal, mental fatigue, anxiety, negative thinking, paranoia, impatience, apathy, confusion and anger and hostility. And, they told me H1-N1 was bad...

Well, if two or more of these symptoms are characteristic of your life, chances are you got the virus! And, the pain you are experiencing are God's internal indicators that something is off kilter. Listen to what you body.

Solitude, ample time spent alone doing “nothing”, is a great remedy for the driven-virus. Now, right away us driven folks will utter, “I’d love to get away alone, but I have so many things to do!” If you find yourself nodding your head right now and completely agreeing with this statement. . . you got the bug. It's pulsing through your veins.

Remember, Jesus found ample time to be alone. Solitude was his immunity to hurry-sickness. And, remember his mission and task was exponentially greater and more stressful than yours. So, there’s no good reason you can give for not getting time away. It can be done. The important key to remember is that solitude teaches a hyped-up, driven body lessons that it cannot learn elsewhere. We all need down-time. It is a gift from God to our body and our soul.

In tomorrow post we'll muse over three things we learn in solitude that cannot be learned elsewhere.

Down Time

2010-04-08T13:37:00.004-05:00

Several years ago I purchased my first hunting dog. She was a bird dog. An English Setter, sired by Havelock Blacksmith a national champion pointer out of North Dakota. I named her Maggie, but called her a lots of other things in the three years we had her (things I better not put into writing here). She could have been the poster canine for a magazine entitled “Gun- Dogs Gone Wild”.

I quickly realized that pointers as a breed, and particularly English Setters, are unique dogs. Their insatiable desire to find birds combined with their unending desire to please their owners create a powerful hunting concoction that often results in great days of hunting, yet at the same time, can be disastrous to the animal. Believe it or not, in some cases, these dogs are so driven they will literally run themselves to death in hot weather.

Consequently, many a gun dog owner set limits on their dogs and build in ample “down time” during the hunt because these animals strangely seem unable to set a healthy, sustainable pace. Can you imagine being so “on”, so hyped up, and so driven that you lead to your own demise?

I can. I have a feeling that English Setters aren’t the only breed that struggles with exhausted bodies that are left gasping for breath at the end of the day. I can say with certainty that the need to achieve in my own life and has left me panting and licking my wounds on multiple occasions.

I encourage those of you who are out in the field of life running and panting far more than you should to build in some much needed “down time” in your life. Most likely your body, conditioned for activity, may initially resist and even detest the stillness of solitude. You might feel the way Maggie felt when I locked her in the kennel for her own good. That’s okay. Lots of good remedies taste bad going down the pipe, but given time and patience, do their work well.

Take my advice. Practice solitude. Just do it. Find time to get away. Bring with you no projects, no to-do lists, no i-pods, Cd's or Sudoku puzzles. Most of all, bring no agenda for what you are supposed to "get" out of this time. Simply go with God. Alone. Still. Together. As your life slowly ceases from activity, you soul will begging to uncover itself to you.

My next few posts will focus on why solitude is God's primary means of grace, ever at our disposal, to restore health and sanity back into our lives.

Have you experienced the power and potency of being alone with God? If so, I would love to hear what you have personally learned in solitude.

Cash on Resurrection

2010-04-04T10:26:00.001-05:00

I like what, my Pastor, Mark Wilson posted today. If you like Johnny Cash and follow Christ, you're in for a treat. Enjoy.

http://revitalizeyourchurch.blogspot.com/2010/04/aint-no.html

A Good Friday Meditation

2010-04-02T21:14:00.003-05:00

I was pondering today Jesus’ second to last words. “It is finished.” Jesus went all the way to completion. These words convicted me of when I would have called it quits.

Tonight at our Good Friday service, I asked our congregation to meditate on this prayer that I wrote as I thought of my failures and his completion. Picture yourself in Jesus’ situation and be reminded that what Christ accomplished and went through went he uttered these words..

Lord, you were sold and betrayed by your close friend, and deserted by all your disciples in your hour of need. You were cut to the core by those closest to you. I would have given up. But, in solitude you pressed on

Because all was not yet finished.

Lord, you were given a mock trial where injustice ruled the hearts of treacherous men in the night. I would have screamed “unfair” and lost heart. But you did not utter a word to your accusers

Because all was not yet finished.

Lord, soldiers took you and had their way with you. They whipped you, slapped you and spat upon you. Worse yet, they mocked your royalty by dressing you in a crown of thorns that they violently pressed upon your bleeding brow.

I would have sought revenge in that moment to crush them and render them impotent. But, you. You willingly received their torment. Instead of retaliating you endured the pain of rejected love

Because all was not yet finished.

Lord, they placed a heavy wooden beam on your bruised back. They herded you, like an animal, to the place they had assigned for you. The insults and murmurings of the crowds. The soldiers insults…roughly goading you onwards. You stumbled and fell and rose again.

I would have given in. I would have given up. But you, You got back up and pressed on to the place of the skull

Because all was not yet finished.

Lord, they stripped you naked. You were stripped of your dignity, stripped of your honor, stipped of your diety…They stripped you too of your clothing. Any act of decency and humanity gone. Must they take everything? You layed bear before the world.

Had they taken everything from me. I would have given them something in return. I would have offered insults at all the on-lookers, I would have cursed and screamed damnation on them. But, you, you forgave your oppressors further leaving yourself vulnerable to those who would strip the King of Kings

Because all was not yet finished.

I would not have made it to where you did Lord. I would have said “It is finished” long before you. I would have said it in defeat, in disguist, in disappointment, in despondency. But you O Lord, went all the way to the end. In that last sacred moment, when all had been given Lord and nothing more could be expended as you gave your life you uttered

It is finished.

You are Jesus the Christ. You God’s servant.
You are the one who accomplishes what I could not and can not
You complete what is lacking in me…you complete what is lacking in us.
You have finished what we started.
And, brought resolution to our calamity.
We praise you Christ!

Because of you our faith begins not with a big DO, but a big DONE.

You have done what we could not do for ourselves. You became sin for us. Once and for all our sins are atoned for and we are reminded today that it is not what we do Lord, but what you have done and what you accomplished on our behalf when you cried the words,“It is finished”.

Amen.

Why? The Question of the Passion

2010-04-01T14:23:00.002-05:00

The first time I heard this song was at Eastern University as a freshman college student. I had myself always pondered the many "why" questions related to the inhumane treatment of Christ. Michael Card's song doesn't unravel all the mysteries related to the atonement...that's not his intention. What he does do in this song is help us understand that the mystery of Christ's passion makes sense only within the context of a larger mystery called LOVE.

Meditate and associate yourself with His sufferings as you take in this song.

The Small and Local

2010-03-31T09:50:00.005-05:00

If we desire to make wide sweeping change in the world, I think we must begin in the small and local. In today's global society we have become so enamored with the elephant-size agendas and global-change that we foolishly dismiss change at the local level as unimportant and insignificant. Nothing could be further from the truth!

If you look at the Scripture you'll quickly recognize that the seeds of God's global work almost exclusively begins in the small and local.

The world redeemer was born in a manger and raised in an unimpressive villiage called Nazareth. Conceived in the small and local.

A handful of men from the same local fishing village called Galilee, called by Jesus, would spear-head a movement that eventually changed the world. Conceived in the small and local.

A small group of men in England (the Wesleys and Whitefield) who met regularly for personal change were used by God to usher in sweeping change over the landscape of 18th century England through arguably the worlds most significant revival movement. Conceived in the small and local.

Our world today is bored and utterly unimpressed with the small and the local. But, God's ways indeed are conceived in the small and local.

The pulse of the gospel beats (I'd argue most powerfully) in the ordinary, the small and the local. When Jesus forged for us God's greatest desire for humanity, he did not call us to far-reaching global change, he commanded that we love our neighbor as ourself. Of course, within this "small and localish" sort of statement, rests Jesus' brilliant philosophy of global change. All global change, according to Jesus, must begin with personal love in the locality of my own small world. Want to think globally? Then act locally. It can be no other way.

Maybe God has called you to change the world. Maybe he has not. Either way, one thing is certain. All global change and subsequent transformation must start within the sphere of your own little life. Within your own heart. In your own home. With your neighbor. If change is to happen at all, it will begin in small and the local.

Everyday we have an opportunity to "embody the gospel" in these small and local ways.

Want to kill injustice? Love the neighbor who is taking advantage of you, melt his/her heart and gain their trust.

Want to see world hatred come to an end? Practice intentional acts of kindness directed towards those people who God has placed on your heart.

Want to put to death rampant individualism and the lonliness epidemic in American society? Take a young person going through a difficult time out for a coke, listen to their heart and model loving presence to them.

It really is simple. You see, if the kingdom of God is to flourish anywhere in your life it will, according to Jesus, not look like the cedars of Lebanon, but more like a small mustard seed.

Sort of takes the pressure off....the realization that I don't have to change the world, just do my part in being Jesus in the small and local. May you set your sights on those small and local opportunities that face you today. Act in the way of Jesus with those matters and let God take care of the sweeping-global changes.

Tjhe Absurdity of it All

2010-03-30T11:57:00.003-05:00

Each year around this time we reflect and re-remind ourselves that Christian orthodoxy has at its core the belief that our God's greatest victory was bound up in His demise. His greatest act of heroism was His humiliation. How absurd.So absurd that the Romans of the 1st century could hardly take such a teaching serious. This crude depiction of a crucifix is historically the first known representation of Christ on the cross. It dates back to the late first century and comes in the form of anti-Christian graffiti. Etched into the Palatine, the chief of Rome’s seven hills, the caption reads, “Alexamenos worships his God”. The artist reveals the absurdity of this so-called
"God" named Jesus by giving him the head of an ass. You see, the Easter story really is absurd, even ridiculous. After all, what kind of king would suffer death on a cross? What sort of transcendent being would allow Himself to be beaten and spat upon and slapped and scorned by mere mortals? The way of the world screams in unison, “absurd”! Only a fool. . . only a jack-ass would willingly suffer such a fate.

But, we are called not to rely on human wisdom, but a deeper, mysterious wisdom sourced in the loving way of God himself. Drink in the rich insight of Paul's words. “For the message of Jesus is foolish to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ."For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the absurdity of what was preached to save those who believe. . ."For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the impotence of God is stronger than man’s strength. . .”

(I Corinthians 1:18, 21, 25).

This Easter let’s embrace the absurd humiliation that Jesus experienced because of love.
His love is so amazingly absurd! And He beckons me to live more a life marked with the same loving absurdity.

Poise

2010-03-29T13:26:00.003-05:00

It's March madness time. NCAA Men's Basketball tournament is in full swing. And, judging by my last glance at Sports Center a lot of games this last week have won or lost on poise. The most successful basketball coach in NCAA history, John Wooden, listed poise among the top virtues in his famous "Pyramid of Success".

Poise. It's a weird word and definitely underrated. Don't hear many folks speak of it these days. So what is poise anyway?

Poise is the ability to keep one’s head when all those around are losing theirs. It is the ability to keep a larger, stabilizing perspective in mind when our little worlds seem to be collapsing . Men of Scripture often acted with poise. Daniel defied an empire and spent the night with lions with poise at his side. David’s steady hand carefully selected five smooth stones with poise written all over them. Jesus’ eye to eye showdown with Pontius Pilate…”You would have nothing if the Father had not given it to you” was done with the calm authority of a man who exuded great poise.

Poise. We live in anxious times. We live in a nerve-racked, unsettled culture with a media that offers a thousand new flurries of fears daily. We can let these nerve-racking flurries settle deep inside us, creating an anxiety avalanche in our soul. Or, we can choose to live with poise. We can choose to live guided by the confidence that God is with us, "to whom shall I be afraid?"

As you see a nervous player at the free-throw line this week sweating bullets under a load of stress, be reminded of how often life puts us in the same situation. And, before you shoot aimlessly take a breathe deeply, relax and remember God's in control.

The Compelling Vision

2010-03-28T09:01:00.005-05:00

Our staff has been thinking about our vision statement for Hayward Wesleyan Church. In pondering our specific statement, I spent some time musing over God's vision. What is God's greatest vision for this world? What is his primary dream for His universe? While the mind of God is ultimately unsearchable and any desire to place our fingers on the totality of God's vision is an exercise in futility. . .I do think from Scripture we get at least some insight in the vision of God. I think Dallas Willard sums up that vision in a holistic and imaginative way. Read this basic vision slowly and meditatively three or four times. Think, ponder, imagine and envision this statement as a reality. And, in doing so, God will unveil himself to you in a deeper more tangible way.

“ The aim of God in human history is the creation of an inclusive community of loving persons, with himself included as its primary sustainer and most glorious inhabitant.”

On My Blog

2010-03-28T08:40:00.001-05:00

I need to clarify something. Many of the thoughts and ponderings that will appear in this blog emerged over the course of the last year and a half. I'm a journaler by nature. I find solace and often sanity through the practice of writing. The confusing maze of life, oddly enough, makes most sense to me with pen in hand.

My journaling is intensely personal and was not written with some impersonal "blog site" in mind. However, due to some prodding of a couple faithful friends, I have decided to wade through these entries and share those thoughts, insights and ponderings that I feel might be helpful to others.

So, the postings I offer may not be the thoughts of today. They might be the scratchings of a journal entry last year, last month or last week. I had to laugh. I met with a friend on Thusday who, after meeting with me, went home and read my last blog which discussed in detail this strange funk I was going through and the rotten day I had. Of course, her thoughts were "Well, thanks a lot Heath. Glad I made your day." After laughing about it, I explained how I'm penning this blog, and reassured her that my funk actually took place months prior to our meeting and that my day on Thursday went quite well!

Small Group Leadership-Jesus style

2010-03-25T14:20:00.001-05:00

Jesus started a small group. For three years his group rode the tumultuous ride of life together. The twelve he chose were marked often by confusion and failure. There is this scene in Mark where Jesus shakes his head and asks, “Do you still not understand? Do you have eyes but not see? Do you have ears, but do not hear?” Sound familiar? Of course, any of us who have sought whole-heartedly to see others grow in discipleship share the same frustration. People commit, yet do not follow through. They put on the yoke of discipleship and instead of finding it easy and light, believe that they have been shackled with a load too difficult to carry. People are given to failure. How many times have we muttered under our breath, “think I’m just wasting my time with _________” (you fill in the blank).

We discover as we look into the eyes of our Master that his way with others is unusually patient. His discipleship of the 12 is marked with more failure than success, yet he never gives up on them. At times they are indifferent, confused, terrified, slow to see, and show little faith. But, perhaps the greatest failure of all was that when it was all on the line “they all forsook him and fled.” Not long after this scene, Christ’s own body would collapse on the Dia Valorosa taking up the cross that he bid his disciples to carry. They refused; so the incarnate Son of God took hold of the beam and forged the way.

Perhaps that’s the role of a mentor, a discipler. To model with our own life, at our own expense, in both times of success and times of failure, the way to God. It seems that Jesus’ example is more transformative than his words. "I am with you as one who sacrifices on your behalf. So, love one another". "I am one among you who washes your feet like a slave. Go, serve one another". Jesus asked His disciples to follow nothing but His own example.

So often I want my leadership of others to be based on my keen insight, unique giftings, and personal potency. However, Jesus’ leadership of the 12 is framed through the lens of follower-ship. The secret to Jesus’ leadership is his unswerving desire to follow. His followership, not his leadership, transformed his small community. This too will transform our communities.

Your investment in lives of people might seem like its yielding little to no results. Perhaps the people God has placed in your life are slow to see and they just can’t get on board with you. If so, take heart. Remember your Master. He drove his way into your life by means of the nails that pierced his own.

Successful discipleship for Jesus didn’t come fast or easy. It was slow and agonizing for him. Why should it be any different for you? Bear patiently the cross you have been called to bear, praising God all the while. "Do not grow weary in well doing, but remember you will reap much if you do not give up". Do not be consumed with the mantra “lead them”. Rather, listen to what the Master commands. “Follow Me.” Follow Him and you will lead others to Him in the process.

One of those Funky Days

2010-03-25T13:56:00.003-05:00

We all have those kinds of days where we are just in a funk. I had one of those days today. One can’t rightly reckon why or how these sorts of day occur. In fact, it’s hard to actually describe what’s wrong…maybe it’s a lack of sleep, or a crook in the neck, or whiney kids, or just an itch to be ornery. I swear, sometimes we just seem to get out of bed with a notion to prove to the world that natural depravity does indeed exist. For the life of me I can’t figure out why these funks occur or how to avoid them.

And, don’t go quoting Scripture to me at this point and preaching to me that the righteous don’t have funks, or those who read their Bible’s and pray everyday don’t have “off” days. I’ve lived long enough to know that whether I’ve done my devotions or prayed or taught a theology class, these funks still come over a body. And, I think any attempt to figure out precisely why we get into these funks is an exercise in futility. We human beings are simply too whole, too integrated, too terribly complex to pin down what specifically ails us.

I’ve found that I can’t always find a good reason for what ails me. Why I don’t know the cause, I do know the cure. Today I went out for a 45 minute snowshoe hike in the woods. I brought my funk with me into the woods. I shared my frustration and today’s failures with God. I didn’t hear a direct answer, but encountered a beautiful gulley tucked away in the woods that I hadn’t noticed before. I followed a fresh blanket of new snow into an inviting pasture. I listened to my breath quicken as a marched up a ridge. At the top, I stopped and rested hearing nothing more than the rustling of a gentle breeze through a nearby pine. I sat in silence and in reverence of the beauty around me and was reminded that there is One who sustains and fills voids with beauty, even in the cold, lifeless seasons of existence.

Sitting there, I came to the realization that all the world is in its own strange funk. Even creation itself groans and awaits the day that it can be released from its own bondage. A cursed creation and sinful mankind form a perfect concoction for one gigantic ailment. Given this simple truth, I’m surprised we’re all not in funks more often!

Perhaps we should realize that being in a funk isn’t all bad. Maybe being in a funk every now and again is God’s way of reminding us that all is not yet well. That this world is not alright. And, maybe this realization brings us towards a hope of One who is at work sorting out all this mess. One who presently at work amidst my pain, setting all things right and making all things new.

The Gravy Cup...Summer 2009

2009-10-08T18:51:00.002-05:00

The Gravy Cup. . . Summer 2009

This year's Hayward United Soccer Camp shows that some things that cost very little to us...are to others....absolutely priceless. Ed and I scavaged the local Thrift store and were able to put together a make-shift trophy for the "player of the day" award. Here is Ali, the player of the day lifting high a $1.24 carefully concocted peice of scrap medal. To us it was some extra change...to a young impressionable athlete...simply priceless. Take time to go the extra mile. Very little output with the right motives behind them, make for some really valuable input in someone's life!

Biking with Jackson

2008-05-22T16:12:00.002-05:00

Life in Hayward is good. Today Jackson and I pumped up our tires and hit the bike path that begins close to our home. We soaked in some rays, waved to some friends along our trek and two miles later arrived safely at Hayward Primary School. Some of my fondest childhood memories were riding my bike to school with my friend Donnie. I hope that these rides become moments that Jackson and I can both tuck away in our minds and reminisce over together some day. I've never made a memory with my child behind the wheel of my car. All I ever made in a car was good time. Today I didn't make good time (we were 10 minutes late for school...oops!), but we had a good time.

The Paradox of Life

2007-03-01T14:49:00.002-06:00

"Life is the destiny you are bound to refuse until you have consented to die."

-W.H. Auden, "For the Time Being"

This is a quote I found in one of Richard Rohr's great books entitled "Adam's Return: Five promises of Male Initiation. What really hit me in this quote is how much it echoes Jesus' paradoxical call. Jesus taught us that if we really want to embrace life, we must lose our life. Life is the destiny that we so often refuse. . .Do we truly recognize that we refuse to embrace our God given destiny when we hold dearly to our life as we know it? Are we willing to believe that letting go, releasing, surrendering, offering up our life is the pathway to life?

I'm not sure that 21st Century American Christianity has embraced the paradox that Jesus and Auden teach us. We stake claims in Jesus, but refuse to carry the load of the cross. We convince ourselves that we live the "good life", yet refuse to undergo death.

The difficulty with paradox is not that they are confusing. They are more than that. They are contradictory, counter-intuitive and even absurd. So, our God calls us to follow the absurd? Absolutely. Jesus followers embrace paradox because it was what He embraced.