Saturday, December 18, 2010
Trafficking and Slavery (via Cat)
heavy heart
What we can do about Human Trafficking
Keeping Christ's Mass in Christmas
I think it's fine to want to celebrate a Christmas that is Christ-focused. But what grabs my attention on these billboards is not what they say, but what they don't say.
Christmas is short for Christ's Mass. The Mass is a Roman Catholic liturgical celebration. So is the implication in these bulletin boards that the Catholic mass should also be kept? I'm sure the Knights of Columbus would reply to that with a resounding "Yes!" as they're one of the largest Catholic fraternal service organizations in the world. But what about all the people who echo the "Keep Christ in Christmas" phrase?
Back in 2005, Christmas fell on a Sunday. What a perfect time for Christ and Mass to collide. And yet the New York Times reported that many megachurches (which tend to be Protestant, so we're really talking about "services" rather than "masses") canceled their Sunday morning events. (Here's the NY Times article or if you can't view that, try this repost.)
What's my point? I think it's just that this is a band-wagon and people love to jump on it without thinking through what it means. Shall we celebrate the Christmas holiday (Christ's Mass Holy Day) as Catholics - with a midnight mass which we attend in reverence and probably also a sense of obligation? Or is this rather a phrase to be used as a weapon of the culture wars, more for bludgeoning others than anything else?
I'm not a big fan of religious bandwagoning. I'm all for jumping on the Doctor's bandwagon ("Bow ties are cool.") or a viral bandwagon (Chanukah with the Maccabeats) or perhaps even a technological bandwagon (Kindle vs. iPad). But God is not a bandwagon, and I don't believe the birthday of Jesus is a divinely sanctioned time to bludgeon others with words. If a non-Christian celebrates a time of Santa and evergreens and lights, what is that to me? They're not making a religious claim by that, so why should I respond with a religious polemic? On the other hand, it seems like a far more interesting and meaningful discussion to approach "Christ in Christmas" Christians and discuss the intersection of the birth of Christ with pagan rituals involving trees and garland or corporations' co-opted version of Saint Nicholas. If you're going to push the Christ back into Christ's Mass, then why celebrate with the non-religious trappings of the holiday rather than with... well, a Mass?
Friday, December 10, 2010
... because for some people, this is what it's all about.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Happy Chanukah (with a song from The Maccabeats)
Monday, November 15, 2010
A Little Church of Miracles... on Wheels
This "Little Church of Miracles on Wheels" is for sale in Stanley, Idaho. It would make a really neat little chapel. The video highlights all the detailed wood work as well as several items brought in from churches around the world that were being dismantled. What a great place for "quiet times."
Sunday, November 14, 2010
"How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Homogeneity in the Church, A Bad Thing
But what makes the gospel unique is the way in which Jesus is not like us. I don’t need someone who is just like me. I’m sinful. I need someone holy. I’m human. I need someone divine. I cannot stand under the wrath of God. I need someone who has stood there in my place. I cannot raise myself from death to life. I need someone who can raise me up because he himself has been raised.
The Incarnation is not a reason to associate only with those who are like us. It is actually a reason to associate with all those who share the life he came to bring us, because he made no such distinctions. The Paul who became all things to all people constantly spoke of the unity of the churches he founded and fought any kind of division.
A Bad Thing
From the very beginning, the gurus of the Church Growth Movement have contended that to grow a church we need to focus upon a specific demographic, and seek to make our churches reflect it.
The idea is that people will be more receptive to the gospel when it is presented to them in their own environment, within their own comfort zone. This has affected the way in which we “do church.” Church must be made to be a comfortable place, and since people are most comfortable around their own kind, their own kind should be encouraged to come (which means that other kinds will be effectively discouraged from coming).
The result has been a church-planting strategy focused upon specific groups: Baby-boomer churches, Baby-buster churches, Gen-X churches, GenNext churches, and on and on and on. And they are successful, defining success by church-growth standards.
Some would ask, “Isn’t that a good thing?” And I would answer, “No. It is not.”
I have no doubt that individuals have come to know Christ through these ministries. But that is not evidence of a correct, and by “correct” I mean a biblical, church-planting or church-growth strategy. It is evidence of the extreme graciousness of God in accomplishing his purposes even in the face of our errors. Moses was not only in error, but positively disobedient, when he struck the rock. In spite of this, God graciously provided water for his people.
Nonetheless, it must be said that this emphasis on similarity is not a good thing for the church. It runs counter to the biblical ideal of what the church is to be, and also counter to the biblical example of what the church is to accomplish before a watching world.
In the New Testament, whenever a problem of cultural or racial division arose within the church, the solution to the problem was not separation into compatible social or racial groups. The solution was to foster ever-increasing union around the gospel and its implications.
The church of Christ is to be a witness to the power of the gospel to change lives and minds and hearts, as Peter’s was changed when he saw the sheet descend from heaven. The church is to be a witness to the power of the gospel to break down walls of division between races and ages and cultures, between generations and social classes.
The church is to be an earthly representative, imperfect though it is, of the heavenly glory, in which men from every tongue and tribe and nation are gathered together, worshipping the One who sits on the throne, and the Lamb.
Let there be a Big Bang...
What science says:
The reaction created temperatures a million times hotter than the centre of the Sun, which have not been reached since the first billionths of a second following the Big Bang.
This was expected to cause atomic particles such as protons and neutrons to melt, producing a “soup” of matter in a state previously unseen on Earth
What the Bible would say:
You could follow that up with, "... hotter and brighter than the sun." But the Bible (especially in the first 10 chapters of Genesis) often kept it short and sweet.
By the way, everything after that point is post Big Bang, technically. But it's often lumped into the whole shebang because it all only follows if the premise of a big bang is accepted.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
What if life began with a single cell
Friday, October 29, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
1 in 4 Americans can't think of recent positive contribution by Christians
Monday, October 25, 2010
God is not a white man
Saturday, October 23, 2010
And so, from nothing, our universe begins.
And so, from nothing, our universe begins.
In a single blinding pulse, a moment of glory much too swift and expansive for any form of words, the singularity assumes heavenly dimensions, space beyond conception. In the first lively second (a second that many cosmologists will devote careers to shaving into ever-finer wafers) is produced gravity and the other forces that govern physics. In less than a minute the universe is a million billion miles across and growing fast. There is a lot of heat now, ten billion degrees of it, enough to begin the nuclear reactions that create the lighter elements -- principally hydrogen and helium, with a dash (about one atom in a hundred million) of lithium. In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe. It is a place of the most wondrous and gratifying possibility, and beautiful, too. And it was all done in about the time it takes to make a sandwich.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Denominations and Accountability
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Worship in a Pentecostal Church
Monday, September 20, 2010
Praise vs. Despair
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
I am often amazed at the number of Christians who dwell in the land of despair and doom and gloom (especially when it comes to politics, but definitely in other areas as well). You know what, the president or prime minister is not going to be the president or prime minister forever. The war in Afghanistan will not last forever. Gay marriage and abortion, believe it or not, will not be the critical points of concern forever. Presidents come and go. Wars come and go. Issues come and go.
But we are an eternal people, who should have an eternal perspective, and should stop whining and moaning and griping about things in this world that we already know is "groaning as in the pains of childbirth" because of us and our sin! Duh! The world is a screwed up place. We should know that already. Griping about it is pointless. In fact, it's worse than pointless. It's a "spirit of despair" that shows we really don't get it. We are the people who should see that there is life that encompasses far more than our little sanctimonious selves. We are the ones who should be able to step outside of ourselves and see people as they are. We should be able to love and encourage them where they're at, not because we're good at that sort of thing, but because the one who is good at that sort of thing works through us. We should be the ones who find that which is praiseworthy and praise it!
Can you imagine how the world would be different if Christians were people who were known for being so full of praise for that which is praiseworthy that it was as if that were the very clothes we wore?!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Ex Nihilo
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Does the Old Testament apply?
Here's Michael's words that started the latest part of the discussion:
It was an issue then, and it's still an issue today when Non-Jewish Christians do NOT understand their Liberty in Christ.
It's 0dd that we got that bit so messed up.
We're on our way out the door soon, so feel free to talk amongst yourselves till I get back.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
The basic doctrine of the Bible
"A few years ago I was teaching at the Church of the Sojourners on love. I said that although Jesus taught that loving God is the first commandment, the New Testament in fact talks more about loving each other. Someone suggested I was injecting modern, secular humanism into the Bible.
"I denied it, but I promised to study the question. So the next week I used my handy Online Bible computer program to call up all the uses of the various Greek words related to love. Then for the next month I neurotically classified each verse. Was it a commend to love God or a command to love fellow human beings? My research took many, many hours, but I learned I was right--hands down.
"I also learned that I had missed the point. And had been missing it for fifty years.
"The point isn't that I'm supposed to love God. Nor is it that I'm supposed to love others. The point is that God loves me. That's the basic doctrine of the New Testament. And of the Old Testament.
"Which is a whole different story than I was telling. A much better one. A story of grace."
Moving towards being a family
Accountable to the Gospel
I suspect I know what John meant by holding each other "accountable to the Gospel" but I'd be interested in hearing what you think when you hear that phrase.
I'm also intrigued by the fact that he prefaced the "hold each other accountable" part with "learn to love each other." How often do we presume that we have no obligation to love another congregation solely because they're different than we are?
Rob ran into an example of that last Sunday after the worship service. He spoke with a man who looks down on an entire denomination of churches simply because they don't agree with him theologically. But he's never even taken the time to attend an event in one of these churches (which, I would think, is one of the first steps to learning to love another congregation). Even within the denomination that our congregation is affiliated with, I see very little love between the varying churches in our presbytery. If anything there's antipathy and sometimes even acrimony. Shame on us! When we can't even love one another within our own denomination, what hope do we have of showing God's love to the rest of the world?!!!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Narinay - The Places of Jesus
Narinay lives in the Holy Land. The idea of the series is that a young girl (She's about the twins' age.) who lives in the Holy Land today introduces you to places where Jesus walked 2000 years ago. She sees it both as it is now and tries to imagine it as it was then. So you get a sense of the reality of place -- Jesus actually walked here. You also see a lot of holy sites that are, by tradition, the site of an event in Jesus life on earth. So you end up getting a sense of the time and tradition between then and now as well.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Taking the Name of the Lord in Vain
War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles
Rating: | |
Category: | Books |
Genre: | Religion & Spirituality |
Author: | Paul David Tripp |
Let me first address my biggest pet peeve with this book before I get on to acknowledging several of the excellent things he said. The book is titled the War of Words because the goal is to teach Christians, in particular, how to speak in a way that reflects the loving, forgiving, gracious character of God. So obviously, Tripp's focus was on what people say to one another. But he repeatedly said things such as:
"Like all wars, this war is for control. It is a war for our hearts." (p. 39)
"...a life of godly communication is rooted in a personal recognition of the sovereignty of God." (p. 69)
"The war of words is, at bottom, a war for sovereignty." - page 69
In other words, the heart of the matter isn't our words at all, but the heart (or attitude) that our words spring up out of. I feel like Tripp is pointing me in one direction ("focus on the conversation" - "the words are the issue") and then he keeps redirecting me toward the "heart of the matter" which is our attitudes and beliefs. I suppose an analogy would be if a doctor wrote a book on the "War of the Cough" and then repeatedly said throughout the book that the cough wasn't the essential core of the problem but the cold that caused it. If that's the case, then why not focus on the cold throughout the book and address the cough as needed within that discussion? Why title the book and spend the entire first section of the book focusing on the symptom only to undermine both of those by focusing on the underlying heart of the matter for the entire rest of the book? Why not get the focus straight from the get-go and deal with the symptoms throughout as well... as symptoms, not as the central, but not primary, problem? I found this continued bifurcation of focus to be distracting as I read.
And yet, I think Tripp has some excellent things to say as well. I do agree that the root of relational problems often has far more to do with our attitudes, our need to be right, and the sense that we are in control of our lives than what words we use or how we couch them. In disagreements we often approach the other person as the enemy, rather than seeing the disunity or anger as the enemy and both our self and our supposed opponent as the victims. Christians in particular are keen to use the Bible as a weapon against our own spiritual family rather than applying it as a balm to heal the wounds that divide.
Right relationships come about when we also have a right understanding of ourselves. If we think that we know more, know better, and act better than those around us, it's quite likely that we'll have a fair bit of disunity (within our family, our workplace, our congregation, etc.). But if we are willing to take an honest look at ourselves, acknowledge our own faults, accept the help others are willing to give to change our attitudes or our behaviors, then we can grow, and change, and heal. It boils down to recognizing that we are not divine. We are not God. We don't know it all. And even when we're right about an issue, lording that rightness over another does more harm than good. It's not just our knowledge or beliefs that must be accurate, but our attitudes as well. If we cannot speak the truth in love, then we'd best just shut up until we can.
Tripp says that "our words should bring God the glory he deserves. And second, our words should bring redemptive good into the lives of the people God has placed around us." In other words, we should love the Lord our God with all our heart and love our neighbor as our self. As Christians, we should be ambassadors for God who help to bring about God's redemptive purposes, rather than ambassadors who act as agents of wrath - wrath that wells up our of our own selfishness. God is not a tool in our lives that we can wield to get our own way. In fact, entirely the opposite is true. Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." We're not known to be Jesus' disciples because we're right, or our opinions are shown to be better, or we act more godly than other people. We're known to be disciples because we are people who, even in difficult relationships -- like with our enemies -- operate with an attitude of love.
So in the end I think I'd recommend this book. But if you're going to skim at any point, I'd suggest skimming the first three chapters. This book challenges some of the standards attitudes and opinions within the church (at least the church in America) and in that regard I think it makes a good book for discussion. The evangelical American church is rather known for being arrogant, self-righteous, and unforgiving. As Tripp says, "It is never okay to communicate in ways that contradict [God's] message, methods, and character." (Which sounds very much like what Os Guiness said as well.) And yet Christians frequently do exactly that. Until we get to the heart of the matter, I think Christians will continue to be arrogant and bitter ambassadors for a God who is neither.
"Winning the war of words means living with eyes open, aware not only of our own struggle, but of other pilgrims struggling on the journey with us."
"Paul says, 'Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently....' Let's be sure we understand these words. Notice first that Paul does not say, 'If you catch someone in a sin...' He is not talking about sneaking up on someone to catch him in the act! Rather, he is talking about how we as sinners get 'caught' -- that is, entrapped and ensnared in sin."
"Self-indulgent, sin-indulgent talk contradicts our identity as the children of grace."
"Gentleness doesn't mean compromising the truth. Rather, it means keeping the truth from being compromised by harshness and insensitivity."
"When we are wronged, the thing of highest importance is not that we feel satisfied or avenged, but that we respond according to God's plan and for his glory."
"We seem to forget that, really, there is only one enemy -- and it is not the person being confronted! The purpose of confrontation is not to stand against the person, but to stand alongside him, pointing out the things God wants him to see, confess, and forsake."
"The lack of forgiveness causes us to fight God rather than submit to him and causes us to stand against rather than with one another."
"Truth is the casualty when I love myself more than I love you."
Unwholesome Talk
Friday, August 27, 2010
Oil in Israel, Idiots in the U.S.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Introverted Church: A Matter of Motivation Redux
Adam McHugh (author of Introverts in the Church) just reposted this. Here's a quick quote:
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Would You Like Fries With That Theory? Part Three | The BioLogos Forum
I discovered the BioLogos Forum this morning as I read through an article that my mom had sent me: Bruce Waltke headed to Knox Theological Seminary? (His move from the Reformed Theological Seminary to Knox was precipitated by some statements he apparently made in a BioLogos video (which I still need to dig up and watch).)
I particularly liked one statement in this article. Not only do I agree with it wholeheartedly, but I think a similar statement can also be made.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Culture Shock - Life in the Christian Ghetto
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Talking honestly about a full range of issues
Monday, July 12, 2010
Emailing Together
But what struck me today as I wrote out a lengthy email to one of the congregation's recent college graduates who's currently overseas and who hasn't been physically present with the congregation in the four years she's been to school (excepting holiday times), is that in today's day and age, a congregation can talk together, or share photos together, or what have you, via the internet. Granted, that's still pretty different than sitting down at a table next to someone and showing them the photos of a recent trip. But it enables a congregation to continue "togethering" even when a part of that congregation is thousands of miles away. That's kinda cool.
If, as John has suggested, the health of a congregation can in part be determined by how frequently the members eat together, then perhaps another touchstone of health could be in how frequently members keep in contact with each other online, even when they might be in another state or country.
What do you think? How often do you interact with the members of your congregation online?
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Eating Together
Our church has monthly potlucks in which we all stay after the Sunday morning service and eat together. We often have at least one BBQ a month in the summer. And the pastor's family often invites people over to their house for a meal. I suspect that if we tried to get together any more than that, it wouldn't work. People in our little congregation tend to be too busy for much more than that. (We do have meetings that don't involve food. So it's not like we only see each other on Sundays. I'm just saying that adding in yet another gathering time probably isn't realistic at this point.)
John spends a fair bit of time in his book talking about where people spend their time -- how much of it is spent being a church vs. other activities. I think time spent together is a problem that our church is struggling with these days. When we first joined the congregation almost 9 years ago, it seemed that people traveled less and gathered together more. I don't think anyone in the congregation would be opposed to the idea of getting together more often. But practically speaking, I'm not sure how it could come about right now without it being forced.
I think that taking a specific, eating together, and using that as a measuring stick of sorts regarding the health of a church is an interesting idea. What do you think? How often does your church eat together (either in small groups or as an entire body)? Do you feel that the time spent together helps to grow and build the church?
It strikes me that some churches measure how well they're doing based on how many people attend the Sunday morning services. I wonder how well those same churches would fare if the criteria was how often they eat together rather than how many people are sitting in the pews?
Unity
Friday, July 2, 2010
How being a church is like playing baseball
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Convenience
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The Damage You Do
I'm not saying that I don't have blind spots, too.
I just want to express
(to cry out before it devours you)
that I see one of yours.
And I wouldn't bring it up,
I wouldn't mention it
except I see what it does to you
and what it's doing to others.
And it makes me so incredibly sad
so mortified that this has come to pass
that I want to come at you
screaming
and railing
and pounding you
...until you see.
But screaming, railing & pounding
only make the turtle
disappear behind his armor.
So I know I must become gentle
and patient,
an apt teacher.
I need to mirror you to yourself
in such a way
that you will see with your own eyes
the damage you do.
And I need to plead before God
that he will unshutter your eyes
and melt your heart
and teach you once again
of the depth and form of his forgiveness,
enabling you to forgive.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Truth or Lies - Where do our words come from?
Monday, June 14, 2010
Achieving the Full Stature of Christ
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Are we playing the wrong game?
No doubt the illustration will prompt all kinds of supposedly entertaining remarks about the Cubs, but when the people of God forget what they're about, it's not at all entertaining. Dropping the ball is one thing. We all do that. I certainly do. And the most casual reading of 1 Corinthians or of Revelation 2-3 prepares us for churches to drop the ball. Often and badly. But it does not prepare us for churches playing the wrong game. Playing the wrong game is very odd. And very troubling.
In fact, it may be the most troubling thing I know--this gap between today's churches and the NT. But what's troubling isn't that churches fail. That's very NT. I don't expect Christians to leap tall buildings at a single bound. To catch every ball. To die rather than let Jews be taken to concentration camps. That is great when it happens, but the NT gives us little reason to expect heroics of ourselves or other Christians. Peter seems to have failed with some regularity. Besides I'm a pastor myself and have learned not to be too stunned by the sin and failure of the folks I pastor: after all, my own record isn't so great. It's God's grace that is great.
So, for example, I don't expect us to live up to the ethics of the kingdom as found in the Sermon on the Mount, but I do expect us to fail in such a way that those watching will know what we were reaching for, what we're failing at. I don't expect us to love each other as we love ourselves, but I do expect us to live in such a way that outsiders will be able to tell that loving each other is what we're about.
So the problem isn't that we fail. Nor that we do church badly. It's that we're doing something else. We seem to be playing the wrong game against the wrong team at the wrong time. Not always, but pretty often. Maybe especially on Sunday mornings.
-- taken from John Alexander's manuscript version of the book that was, at the time, entitled Stop Going to Church and Become the Church (I think John talked about changing the title, but I don't remember what he wanted to change it to except that the focus was Love.)
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Memorial Day - What's the point?
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer
"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
First plant the sapling
Introverts in the Church: Finding our place in an extroverted culture
http://barefootmeg.multiply.com/reviews/item/39
I debated about which site to put this review on. Since my cache of reviews is on the barefootmeg site, I decided to place it there and just throw a link up here for anyone that doesn't visit both sites.
Click on the link above to get to the review.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Why can't we all just get along?
Friday, April 2, 2010
More Guinness: The Case for Civility
Os Guinness Part 1 from CPX on Vimeo.