A new day is dawning at the Mid-Peninsula Vineyard...

Preparing To Met An Awesome God

2010-01-13T12:10:00.000-08:00

In preparing to meet an awesome God, we pray - we Pray To Change The Atmosphere… in our case, we pray specifically that:

1- There would be No Spiritual Hindrance or Obstruction. That there would be an atmosphere of the heavens being wide open and available.

2-There would be No business as usual services. That there would be an atmosphere of Expectancy throughout our Body. That we would Come together with excitement believing for great things to happen.

3-There would be an atmosphere of the supernatural...  Our God is beyond all Gods, and beyond all we can imagine; and He's in our midst.

4-There would be No Limitations Placed On Anyone. An atmosphere of anyone can receive.

Examples:

• Rahab was a prostitute yet she is listed in Hebrews chap. 11

• Paul was vicious in his persecution of the church.

• David committed murder and adultery.

• Mary Magdalene was filled with demons.

• Gideon was a coward.

We must remember there is no limit to what God can do with a life committed to Him.

5- There would be an atmosphere of "People are important." Jesus shed blood for all people. The Gospel is to all people not just the ones we like or choose. The church is an open door to all, not a private club.

6-There would be No Spirit of Defeat. God is able to deliver anyone at anytime.  We need an atmosphere that exemplifies that victorious living is possible for everyone.

7-There would be No "Shelter In Place" Mentality here. Ask God to do the Impossible!  We need to reach our Cities. There are times of visitation for every city. Perhaps now is the time for the Peninsula.

8-There would be an atmosphere of Systemic Blessing. "We don't have the money for this... we don't have the volunteers for that..." We must stop making excuses for our disobedience in these areas and stop functioning in our dysfunction. Less than 25% of people in many churches faithfully support that church with tithes and offerings on a consistent basis. Fewer than that serves the church with their time and talents!

Read the Bible Through in 2010??

2009-12-31T13:52:00.000-08:00

Add a Bible to your PDA, Smartphone, iPhone, etc. Choose between 20+ daily reading plans. Could be a very cool investment in 2010. Check it out here.

5 Trends Help to Create "Nonprofits of the Future"

2009-12-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

I think this is some excellent food for thought as we rebuild the infrastructure at MPVCC. (Just substitute "churches" for "charities.")

The nonprofit field isn’t going to simply bounce back a few years from now to the state it was in before the recession. That’s the message behind a new report by La Piana Consulting, which explores five trends that are hastening the emergence of a new nonprofit landscape.

Those trends are:

Shifting demographics. With new generations making up a growing share of the work force, charities must learn to share leadership with younger workers, the report says.

Technological advances. Social-media technologies provide charities the opportunity to gain greater exposure, but they also require groups to be comfortable giving more people within their organization a chance to speak out.

New ways to collaborate. With the advent of new technologies, organizations can just as easily work with an individual located across the world as they can through traditional coalitions and alliances, according to the report.

Greater interest in service. Last year’s presidential election spurred interest in volunteerism, but nonprofit groups need to keep in mind that people have many different reasons for volunteering and ought to tailor their opportunities to individuals’ interests.

Blurred lines between nonprofit and for-profit. Greater emphasis on corporate social responsibility and the emergence of businesses whose primary aim is to do good are challenging the nonprofit field’s traditional identity but are also creating opportunities for new partnerships and collaboration, says the report.

The report, which was paid for by the James Irvine Foundation and the Fieldstone Alliance, examines what nonprofit groups can do to thrive in this new reality.

“Nonprofits of the future” need skilled leaders who are ready to abandon overtly hierarchical styles of management and include more people in decision making, says the report, which was based on interviews with people involved with nonprofit work and an examination of existing literature.

Donors can assist charities by providing more flexible support that encourages groups to experiment and reduces their fear of failure.

By Caroline Preston. To explore the website click here.

Looking for Holy Solace

2009-12-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

The following poetry and quotes are from the family Christmas newsletter of some friends. For me, the overarching theme seems to be finding God, beauty, and ourselves in the darker seasons of the soul. Enjoy...

Dedication
I have great faith in all things not yet spoken.
I want my deepest pious feelings freed.
What no one yet has dared to risk and warrant
will be for me a challenge I must meet.
If this presumptuous seems, God, may I be forgiven.
For what I want to say to you is this:
my efforts shall be like a driving force,
quite without anger, without timidness
as little children show their love for you.
With these outflowings, river-like, with deltas
that spread like arms to reach the open sea,
with the recurrent tides that never cease
will I acknowledge you, will I proclaim you
as no one ever has before.
And if this should be arrogance, so let me
arrogant be to justify my prayer
that stands so serious and so alone
before your forehead, circled by the clouds.
--Rainer Maria Rilke

To be able to be alone with oneself...is precisely a condition for the ability to live.
--Erich Fromm

O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all of the suffering they have inflicted upon us: instead remember the fruits we bought, thanks to this suffering – our fellowship, our loyalty to one another, our humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart that has grown from this trouble. When our persecutors come to be judged by you, let all of these fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness. Amen.
--Amazing prayer of forgiveness found on a prisoner at Ravensbruck concentration camp

I took them to the edge and they were afraid.
I took them to the very edge and they were very afraid.
I took them to the edge, and I pushed them, and they flew.
--19th century poet

No two lives are the same. We often compare our lives with those of others, trying to decide whether we are better or worse off, but such comparisons do not help us much. We have to live our life, not someone else’s. We have to hold our own cup. We have to dare to say: ‘This is my life, the life that is given to me, and it is this life that I have to live, as well as I can. My life is unique. Nobody else will ever live it. I have my own history, my own family, my own body, my own character, my own friends, my own way of thinking, speaking, and acting—yes, I have my own life to live.
No one else has the same challenge. I am alone, because I am unique. Many people can help me live my live, but after all is said and done, I have to make my own choices about how to live.
--Henri Nouwen

Overflowing heavens of squandered stars flame brilliantly above your troubles.
Instead of onto your pillows, weep up toward them.
There, at the already weeping, at the ending visage,
slowly thinning out, ravishing worldspace begins.
Who will interrupt, once you force your way there, the current?
No one.
You may panic, and fight that overwhelming course of stars that streams toward you. Breathe.
Breathe the darkness of the earth and again look up!
Again.
Lightly and facelessly depths lean toward you from above.
The serene countenance dissolved in night makes room for yours.
--Rainer Maria Rilke, Paris, April 1913

One learns the pain of others by suffering one’s own pain, by turning inside oneself, by finding one’s own soul... However painful, sorrow is good for the soul....The soul is elastic, like a balloon. It can grow larger through suffering.
--Jerry Sittser

Little minds are interested in the extraordinary; great minds in the commonplace.
–Elbert Hubbard

Mother Teresa on prayer and love

2009-12-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

This last year we have been concentrating specifically on the themes of love and prayer. I found Mother Teresa's thoughts to be explosive with practicality - and authority. (I found these quotes on a website I enjoy: Evangelicals for Social Action.)

Everything starts from prayer. Without asking God for love, we cannot possess love and still less are we able to give it to others. Just as people today are speaking so much about the poor but they do not know the poor, we too cannot talk so much about prayer and yet not know how to pray.

You may be exhausted with work, you may even kill yourself, but unless your work is interwoven with love, it is useless. To work without love is slavery.

People throughout the world may look different or have a different religion, education, or position, but they are all the same. They are the people to be loved. They are all hungry for love.

… It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your own home for this is where our love for each other must start.

Timetable for MPVCC

2009-12-07T14:30:00.000-08:00

I thought this might be a good reminder of where we've been, where we are, and where we're headed in 2010...

Timeline – Recent Past:
1. Springer Diagnostic Fall 2007
2. Caruso Coaching Contract 01/08
3. Internal Crisis 12/08
4. Intentional Interim Begins 01/09
5. Leader’s SWOT 04/09
6. Springer/Miles/Pittluck Onsite 06/09
7. Diagnostic shared with ET 08/09
8. Diagnostic shared with Leadership Community 09/09
9. Diagnostic shared at town-hall meeting 10/09

Specific Individual Next Steps:
1. Honestly consider the 3 questions…

Will you face the real issues?
Will you own up to your part of the problems?
Will you do what is necessary to change?

2. Take Recommendation 1 very seriously. Read and re-read EHC. Ask a trusted, same sex friend to tell you what they think your core issue/s are. Make a big-picture list of what you can own and share it with trusted friend/s.

3. Make a personal commitment to live out Romans 12:18: “…As far as it depends on you, live [or be] at peace with everyone” and study and practice the 30 “one another’s.” (Click here to see a list at Bible Gateway.)

4. Download and start to develop your own personal vision statement. (Click here to download.)

5. Begin to seek the Lord about the future of MPVCC – first on your own; then with your spouse and age appropriate children if you are married and/or have children, or with a trusted friend; or friends.

6. Order and read The Shepherd Leader by Jim Van Yperen (from the MPVCC web bookstore ☺). This book will help us to identify the kind of leadership polity we are seeking to affirm as a church.

7. Order and read Making Peace: A Guide to Overcoming Church Conflict by Jim Van Yperen.

8. Integrate the term missional into your vocabulary and practice by reading the blog series @ godshack.blogspot.com (search word missional). Check out the books under the missional heading on the MPVCC online bookstore.

9. Seek to attend the to-be-determined corporate intercession times (approx 1 hour of corporate worship and intercession).

Proposed Timeline – Corporate Next Steps (per the Diagnostic Report and Recommendations):

Prioritize recommendations
The ET to begin functioning immediately as a Board to initiate the process of updating church by-laws through a review of policies & procedures, biblical leadership qualifications, grievance procedures, staff performance reviews, etc.
Begin monthly in-service training/equipping with Transition Team (which includes Board and Staff).
Continue to develop strong church-wide communication systems.
Initiate a season of church-wide prayer and fasting in early 2010.
Work with a core team and aim to launch a ministry to men by March or April.
Update By-Laws by April.
Convene a Sacred Assembly by (or before) May.
Develop pastoral application packet and establish and train a Search Team no latter than May.
Aim to set in a new lead pastor by (or before) the Fall.
Get to know each other, welcome new people, and have some fun along the way ☺

Advent Devo - Prep for the Kingdom

2009-12-04T10:57:00.000-08:00

On MPVCC's blogsite we will provide the occasional devotional as we prepare our hearts to deeply celebrate the incarnation. (The following has been was adapted from Advent Devotions by Goshen College.)

Luke 3:1-6 (NRSV)
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

'The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." '

DEVO:
Prepare the way of the Lord. Do you remember the opening scene from the play Godspell? The show begins with the Voice of God declaring his supremacy: "My name is Known God and King. I am most in majesty, in whom no beginning may be and no end." The company enters and takes the role of various philosophers throughout the ages: Socrates, Thomas Aquinas, Leonardo da Vinci, Edward Gibbon, Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Luther, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Buckminster Fuller (In the revival, Gibbon, Luther, Nietzsche and Fuller were replaced by Galileo Galilei, Jonathan Edwards, Marianne Williamson, and L. Ron Hubbard). They sing fragments of their respective philosophies — first as solos and then in cacophonous counterpoint — in "Tower of Babble (Prologue)." In response to this, John the Baptist blows three notes on the shofar, to call the community to order. He then beckons them to "Prepare Ye (The Way of the Lord)," and baptizes the company. Jesus comes, also to be baptized. John responds by, instead, asking to be baptized by Jesus. Jesus explains that it is not his place to baptize; that he has come to "Save the People".

We hear this passage from Luke, and the Old Testament Scripture to which it alludes (Isaiah 40:3-5), almost exclusively during the weeks leading up to Christmas, when we celebrate Jesus' birth. Yet this chapter of Luke jumps us ahead about 30 years, to shortly before Jesus' baptism. John the Baptist is not proclaiming Jesus' birth but rather Jesus' imminent ministry. And once Jesus comes on the scene a few verses later, he too prepares for what is to come with baptism, prayer, fasting and self-imposed exile into the desert.

Preparation for the Kingdom of God seems to be a continual and repetitive process, something we do even as we attempt to live out that Kingdom.

It reminds me of the old saying that if we wait to have children until we're truly ready, we'll never actually have them. Preparing the way of the Lord doesn't end when Advent ends, but begins anew and continues - until all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

This passage also reminds us that God is concerned with all of humanity, not just the chosen few.

Luke's list of important people in verses 1-3 not only placed John and Jesus in the proper historical context, but also highlighted the fact that Old Testament prophecy would not be fulfilled through the existing power structures, neither Roman nor Jewish. Instead, it would be heralded by a relative unknown who had been wandering around in the wilderness. Moreover, Jesus' life and ministry would challenge existing traditions, beliefs and notions of religious propriety. Were the people of that time ready for the kind of salvation that didn't conform to what was culturally and socially acceptable?

What about you/us today?

Thoughts on Faith and the Existence of God

2009-12-03T09:49:00.000-08:00

I started physical therapy for my new hip the other day and began a dialogue with the PT about spirituality. One portion of out talk reminded me of one of my long-time favorite authors and articles...The late Christian author and philosopher Francis Schaeffer wrote a book entitled, He Is There and He Is Not Silent. There is an appendix in the book that addresses the issue of faith and whether or not we have the capacity to interact with God. I thought I'd pass it on...

Schaeffer would say that the Christian faith is not a blind faith at all – but an invitation to interact with a loving and compassionate God - who is alive and more available than we could ever imagine.

He says, “One must analyze the word faith and see that it can mean two completely opposite things.
Suppose we are climbing in the Alps and are very high on the bare rock, and suddenly the fog shuts down. The guide turns to us and says that the ice is forming and that there is no hope; before morning we will all freeze to death here on the shoulder of the mountain. Simply to keep warm the guide keeps us moving in the dense fog further out on the shoulder until none of us have any idea where we are. After an hour or so, someone says to the guide, ‘Suppose I dropped and hit a ledge ten feet down in the fog. What would happen then?’ The guide would say that you might make it until morning and thus live. So, with absolutely no knowledge or any reason to support his action, one of the group hangs and drops into the fog. This would be one kind of faith, a leap of faith [or what has been called “blind faith”].

Suppose however, after we have worked out on the shoulder in the midst of the fog and the growing ice on the rock, we had stopped and heard a voice which said, ‘You cannot see me, but I know exactly where you are from your voices. I am on another ridge. I have lived in these mountains, man and boy, for over sixty years and I know every foot of them. I assure you that ten feet below you there is a ledge. If you hang and drop, you can make it through the night and I will get you in the morning.’

I would not hang and drop at once, but I would ask questions to try and ascertain if the man knew what he was talking about and if he was not my enemy. In the Alps, for example, I would ask him his name. If the name he gave me was the name of a family from that part of the mountains, it would count a great deal to me. In the Swiss Alps there are certain family names that indicate mountain families of that area. In my desperate situation, even though time was running out, I would ask him what to me would be adequate and sufficient questions, and when I became convinced by his answers, then I would hang and drop.

This is faith, but obviously it has no relationship to the other use of the word. As a matter of fact, if one of these is called faith, the other should not be designated by the same word. The historic Christian faith is not a leap of faith [or blind faith] …because He is not silent, and I am invited to ask the adequate and sufficient questions, not only in regard to details, but also in regard to the existence of the universe and its complexity and in regard to the existence of man. I am invited to ask adequate questions and sufficient questions and then believe Him and bow before Him metaphysically in knowing that I exist because He made man, and bow before Him morally as needing His provision for me in the substitutionary, propitiatory death of Christ.

So, how do we hear from God? If you've been around MPVCC this year, no doubt you've heard me (and others) teach on this a lot! I've also blogged fairly regularly on the subject. Here is a link to one of those blogs - you can also type "listen" into the blog's search engine...

HappyAdvent Season!

Declining vs Thriving Churches

2009-11-19T12:42:00.000-08:00

Good food for thought...

*Declining Congregational* *Members are:*	*Thriving Congregational* *Participants are:*
Committed to the church	Committed to Christ
Managing committees	Deploying mission
Holding offices	Doing hands-on ministries
Making decisions	Making disciples
Trained for membership	On a life long development track
Serving at the church	Serving in the world
Preoccupied with raising money	Preoccupied with rescuing people
Retiring from church work	Finding personal fulfillment
Surveying internal needs	Pursuing constant personal growth
Eager to know everyone	Sensitized to community
Loyal to each other	Eager for everyone to know God
Building faith on information	Building faith on transformation
Perpetuating a heritage	Building faith on experience w/ Christ
Hanging on	Visioning a future

Acts 9: The Conversion of a Terrorist

2009-11-18T09:57:00.000-08:00

This Sunday we will be looking at Acts 9. The graphic below is a "word cloud" compilation of Acts 9. (Check out Wordle.)

Read up and I will see you Sunday.

MPVCC Values, Mission, & Vision Statements

2009-11-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

1. Core Values

A. The Theology and Practice of the Kingdom of God
“And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.” Matthew 4:23

B. Experiencing God
“…That I may know him and the power of his resurrection…” Philippians 3:10

C. Reconciling Community
“Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18

D. Compassionate Ministry
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” Colossians 3:12

E. Culturally Relevant Mission
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

“In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” 1 Peter 3:15

2. Mission Statement (the what) -- Bringing heaven to earth (Matthew 6:10)

3. Vision Statement (the how) -- Learning how to love – “So love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these." Mark 12:29 (MSG)

God
Others
Ourselves

One village of a hundred people

2009-10-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

Couldn't pass this up...

World evangelism statistics: What would our world look like?

Raw population statistics overwhelm you. Here's one way of visualizing the world and its economic, housing, health, religious and educational needs: Shrink the earth's population to one village of exactly 100 people. Apply the earth's racial, economic and other ratios to these 100 people. Here's how this village would look:

Origins:

60 would be from Asia
12 would be European in origin
15 would have come from the Western Hemisphere (9 Latin Americans, 5 North Americans, and 1 from Oceania)
13 would be from Africa

Source: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, "World Population Prospects: The 2000 Revision."

Sex / Gender:

50 would be female
50 would be male

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census International Data Base, Table 094 : Midyear Population by Age and Sex 2001.

Skin color:

80 would be non-white
20 would be white

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census International Data Base, Table 001 : Total Midyear Population 2001, assuming the populations of South America, Asia, and Africa are "non-white" and those of North America, Europe, and Oceania are "white."

Religion:

67 would be non-Christian
33 would label themselves as "Christian"

Source: Britannica Book of the Year 1999, "Religious Population of the World, 1998," reprinted at infoplease.com , using numbers from the "Christians" heading only for the Christian percentage.

Economics:

20 people would be receiving almost 90% of the village's total income

Source: The International Herald Tribune, February 5, 1999, cited in the World Income Inequality table.

Housing:

25 would live in substandard housing

Source: Habitat for Humanity International, "Why Habitat is Needed."

Literacy:

17 would not be able to read at all

Source: UNICEF, "The State of the World's Children 1999."

Nutrition:

13 would be malnourished

Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization report, cited at OBGYN.net.

Life and death:

1 would die within the year
2 would give birth within the year

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, World Vital Events Per Time Unit 2001.

Education:

2 would have a college education

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, World Education Indicators, Gross Enrollment Ratio by Sex.

Technology:

4 would own a computer

Source: UN Human Development Indicators, "Access to Information and Communications 1995."

Research by Rekha Balu, Christine Engelken, and Jennifer Grosso (http://ow.ly/xGuL).

This list is not presented to cause guilt; it is simply the picture of reality.

A Look at Church Government, or Polity

2009-10-31T10:55:00.000-07:00

MPVCC is in a place of needing to make some decisions regarding how to develop the leadership structure. I prefer to call it a chain, or architecture, of care. We have granted our board the authority to develop some initial policies with input from the Transition Team, Leadership Community, and church as a whole. Following are some basic definitions and descriptions of function...

Greek Words for Deacon, Bishop, Elder, and Pastor

1. Deacon: Gk. DIAKONOS. Used 57 times in the New Testament. Translated various times (K.J.) as serving, ministry, administrations, service, and servant. Strongs Concordance defines DIAKONOS as, "an attendant; or one who runs errands." The function of a deacon is to serve (Acts 6:2). Bishops, elders, and pastors (see below) are directive in ministry function while deacons are directed. The office of a deacon may or may not be a "stepping stone" to eldership. 1 Timothy 3:13 states, "for those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”

The next three words seem to be used interchangeably in Scripture...

2. Bishop: Gk. EPISKOPE. Used 11 times in the New Testament. The function of a bishop is thought by most scholars to be administrative in nature. The word EPISKOPE is translated in Hebrews 12:15 (K.J.) as “looking diligently.” Two additional synonyms for bishop are overseer and superintendent.

3. Elder: Gk. PRESBUTEROS. Used 70 times in the New Testament. The function of an elder is to impart counsel, unity, and doctrine as one who expresses the character of the message of reconciliation. In the Greek, PRESBUTEROS literally means older or senior.

4. Pastor: Gk. POIMEEN. Used 18 times in the New Testament and usually translated in many versions as shepherd. The Greek word POIMAINO is used 11 times; 7 times translated (K.J.) as feed and 4 times translated (K.J.) as tend. The function of a pastor, then, would primarily be to feed and to tend the flock of God (Pro. 27:23). One author states that, "The pastoral ministry is not so much an 'instructing-in-the-principles-and- precepts-of-God' ministry as it is a personal 'guiding-in-the-way' ministry. ” 43

Historical Perspectives of Church Government (or Polity)

There are basically three forms of church government, with variations on each.

1. Congregational: Congregationalism can be traced back to the Pilgrim societies of the United States in the early 1600s. Congregational polity strictly forbids pastors from ruling their local churches by themselves. Not only does the pastor serve by the approval of the congregation, but also committees further constrain the pastor from exercising power without consent by either a particular committee, or the entire congregation.

2. Presbyterian: With the emergence of John Calvin’s ministry around 1530AD, came the form of government in which elders had the authority and governed the church. The word Presbyterian is adapted from the Greek word PRESBUTEROS (see above). Each Presbyterian church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called a session or consistory.

3. Episcopal: Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local church resting in a bishop – or lead pastor. The word Episcopal is adapted from the Greek word EPISKOPE (see above).

Historic Vineyard Polity
Historically the Association of Vineyard Churches has functioned with an episcopal model of church government. The prevailing belief is that it is most in keeping with the model of the early church. The pastor of the church functions as a bishop. S/he is called of God and
functions with multiple elders, deacons, and staff. (Additionally, it is thought that Martin Luther, who is credited with initiating the Reformation around 1521AD, functioned episcopally, but the Lutheran church became far more congregational when it came to America -- which it remains.)

Upsides and Downsides
Congregational polity is not seen as a viable option, primarily because it is thought to be a reaction to the abuses of the church government in England from which pilgrims and Puritans were escaping. Congregationalism places the power into the hands of the voting members and the pastor can be reduced to functioning as an employee and spiritual leadership can be reduced to personal preferences and political pressures from various members.

Episcopalian and Presbyterian polities have opposing upsides and downsides. With Presbyterian polity there is strong accountability yet it can take a long time to get things done. This is reversed with Episcopal polity – there can be insufficient accountability for the
“bishop,” yet decisions can usually be made quickly.

As Acts 6 seems to indicate, there needs to be some form of “team,” pragmatic fluidity, those who direct, and those who are directed, prayer and the ministry of the word, and some process/es wherein the congregation can have input to signify approval. Each church should thoroughly study the Scriptures as well as seek the input of whatever network, or denomination, they are a part of.

Aiming at Sunday

2009-10-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed Ken Fish's message last weekend. I believe he spoke some very important words to us as a church. This Sunday I will attempt to connect some dots for us as a church. See also my interpretation of the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5. I see them as stepping stones - one is a kind of prerequisite for the next...

The Cycle of Revival

Outpouring/renewal/infilling (Acts 2:1-13; 4:23-31)
Fellowship/prayer (Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-37; 5:1-11)
Healing/Signs & Wonders (Acts 3:1-11; 4:31; 5:12-16
Preaching/proclamation (Acts 2:14-40; 3:11-26; 5:14, 19-25, 26-32)
Persecution (Acts 4:11-23; 5:17-18, 33-42)

Five Key Takeaways

Our greatest strengths must be cleansed/purged just like your greatest weaknesses. Submit to it. Offer it.
Don’t hold back
God is committed to having a church living in transparency and purity. He will expose hypocrisy and shouldn’t be surprised (or offended or stumbled) by this.
A pure church can be an empowered church, but an empowered church must be pure. No purity = no power.
Persecution follows power.

Here's a question to consider: What's the connection/s between The Cycle of Revival, The 5 Key Takeaways and the Beatitudes????

THE BEATITUDES: A LIFELINE TO SPIRITUAL FORMATION
As we move toward a Sacred Assembly, let’s make good use of the Beatitudes as we prepare our hearts to be honest, humble, and yielding to God’s plans. The Beatitudes (Mat. 5:3-12) describe eight qualities that characterize the life of Jesus Christ, and therefore our life in Jesus Christ. Following is an overview of how one unfolds into the next…

Blessed are the poor in spirit… To enter into God’s kingdom, we are invited to admit that we have come to the end of ourselves and are in need of God’s help and care.

Blessed are those who mourn… As we are honest about our own sinful tendencies there will be a transforming grief, or repentance, that surfaces – not only for our own lives, but also for the injustice, greed, and suffering that grips our world.

Blessed are the meek…Grieving over sin and suffering places us in a humble learning posture (disciple means learner).

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…Spiritual hunger and thirst is the desire to be empty of those things that don’t reflect God, and initiates a deep longing for wholeness in our lives.

Blessed are the merciful…As we receive God’s mercy we begin to give mercy – to ourselves and to others.

Blessed are the pure in heart… Mercy cleanses our heart and restores purity to our lives.

Blessed are the peacemakers… Purity gives way to a personal serenity and peacefulness. Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the absence of anxiety in the midst of inevitable conflict – and when others encounter it, they want it too.

Blessed are the persecuted… Living life from a kingdom of God perspective will place us in conflict with those that oppose it (often times it’s “religious” people!).

The Ministry of reTURN

2009-10-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

As has been mentioned, I (Gregg) serve on two ministry teams - PRISM Leadership Group (with Kevin & Suzanne Springer) and reTURN (a sub-ministry of CRM, with Dave Miles and a few others). A few weeks ago we met for a team meeting and came up with several "deliverables" that I wanted to pass on here. It will help MPVCC know what to expect in the next several months...

What is reTURN? reTURN creates pathways of hope and reconciliation for churches that find themselves in the middle of some kind of transition or crisis. The transition could be positive or difficult.

What can reTURN do? reTURN gives churches the opportunity to become what Christ created them to be by:

Working towards biblical community.

As we develop godly communication skills and practicing the one another commands, dealing with triangulation, gossip, and other communication issues that undermine the spiritual life of the church.
As we focus on resolving conflict within the congregation.
As we develop small group life focused on building community.
As we equip leaders by creating church wide leader development systems as needed.

RESULT: Greater sense of peace and connectedness in the church

Working towards surrender to Christ as we make him the center of church life.

By preaching gospel oriented Christ centered sermons.
By pondering Christ’s vision for the church through a planning process.
By asking, “What is the Spirit saying to this church?” and intentionally seeking to discover that.

RESULT: Sense of moving towards God’s preferred future.

Working towards spiritual, emotional, organizational, and relational wholeness.

As we address issues related to anger, fear, grief, or historical issues that keep a congregation from being what it could be.
As we introduce and practice the spiritual disciplines (silence, solitude, Daily Office, etc.) related to spiritual formation.
As we attempt to set in place important organizational systems that make for the smooth and effective operation of a church (example: financial systems, training systems, etc.).

RESULT: Sense of personal, spiritual, and corporate stability amidst the presence of God.

Working to live out the Christian life in culture via a missional life-style.

By defining what living a missional life style is for the church and creating an awareness of what that looks like in the situation a church finds itself in.
As we encourage people to activate their gifts and skills to serve each other and the community at large.
As we encourage and model what it means to live out our faith in Christ in culture among friends and relatives at work and in our neighborhoods.
By encouraging and identifying opportunities to serve the greater community; aligning the needs of the community with the strengths and assets of the church

RESULT: Service in the community and people often coming to Christ.

Working to identify and deal with the obstacles that hinder the ability to embrace all that Christ wants the church to be.

By doing diagnostic assessment that asks and answers, “What is keeping us from being what God wants us to be?”
By activities that lead towards changing its mind (repentance) about destructive sin or behaviors that keep the church from being what God wants it to be. (Examples: Sacred Assembly, public reconciliation, etc.)
By addressing negative power, conflict, relational, theological, organizational, or material obstacles.
As we identify and tear down (through repentance) the idols that fight for dominance over Christ

RESULT: Sense of spiritual and emotional wholeness

Will reTURN grow our church? People must surrender to Christ for the ministry of reTURN to work. We do not focus on church growth. We focus on Christ. Without surrender to Christ, there is nothing we can do. We cannot force people to change or grow or repent or be reconciled or become what God wants them to become. Nor can we make a church grow or increase in size. We lift up Christ and let God grow his church naturally and on his time line.

Sometimes churches that should grow don’t because they don’t care deeply about lost people. They are self-centered. Sometimes churches that grow in numbers need to grow in maturity. They are so outwardly focused they fail to mature. We seek to serve congregations so that they will become what God wants them to become.

Where does reTURN work? We have worked in urban, suburban, and rural churches around the US. We have worked in multi-ethnic and mono-ethnic churches. Each environment is different and demands its own culturally sensitive practices. reTURN team members have worked with larger churches (several thousand members) to smaller churches (under a hundred). The size of the church effects how the ministry is done. We work across denominational lines with congregations who are willing to adhere to the great truths of the Christian faith-the deity of Christ, authority of the Word, virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, and eventual return of Christ. We do not seek to undermine the doctrinal distinctives of a congregation.

How does reTURN work and what do you do? reTURN team members work as interim pastors, as consultants, as coaches, or as interim staff members in congregations in transition. We are more hands on and directly involve ourselves in the lives of the churches in which we work.

We have worked with congregations that have been severely conflicted or in deep decline. We have worked with churches that are in transition between lead pastors or churches that have lost pastors to moral failure. We have worked in environments where people struggled with the cultural changes that come their way or that have been split or lost a large number of attendees due to events surrounding their church life. We have worked with churches that have schools connected to them or who have had leaders who have abused their power. We have also worked in churches that simply needed an organizational tune up.

Hope this helps...

7 Tips If You’re Chronically Late.

2009-10-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Feeling as though you’re always running twenty minutes behind schedule is an unhappy feeling. Having to rush, forgetting things in your haste, dealing with annoyed people when you arrive…it’s no fun.

If you find yourself chronically late, what steps can you take to be more prompt? That depends on why you’re late. The first step is to identify the problem – then you can see more easily what you need to change.

There are many reasons you might be late, but some are particularly common. Are you late because…

1. You sleep too late? If you’re so exhausted in the morning that you sleep until the last possible moment, it’s time to think about going to sleep earlier. Many people don’t get enough sleep, and sleep deprivation is a real drag on your happiness and health. Try to turn off the light sooner each night.

2. You try to get one last thing done? Apparently, this is a common cause of tardiness. If you always try to answer one more email or put away one more load of laundry before you leave, here’s a way to outwit yourself: take a task that you can do when you reach your destination, and leave early. Tell yourself that you need that ten minutes on the other end to read those brochures or check those figures.

3. You underestimate the commute time? You may tell yourself it takes twenty minutes to get to work, but if it actually takes forty minutes, you’re going to be chronically late. Have you exactly identified the time by which you need to leave? That’s what worked for me for getting my kids to school on time. We have a precise time that we’re supposed to leave, so I know if we’re running late, and by how much. Before I identified that exact time, I had only a vague sense of how the morning was running, and I usually thought we had more time than we actually did. My daughter goes into near-hysterics if we're late, so that motivated me to get very clear on this issue.

4. You can’t find your keys/wallet/phone/sunglasses? Nothing is more annoying than searching for lost objects when you’re running late. Designate a place in your house for your key items, and put those things in that spot, every time. I keep everything important in my (extremely unfashionable) backpack, and fortunately a backpack is big enough that it’s always easy to find. My husband keeps his key items in the chest of drawers opposite our front door.

5. Other people in your house are disorganized? Your wife can’t find her phone, your son can’t find his Spanish book, so you’re late. As hard as it is to get yourself organized, it’s even harder to help other people get organized. Try setting up the “key things” place in your house. Prod your children to get their school stuff organized the night before—and coax the outfit-changing types to pick their outfits the night before, too. Get lunches ready. Etc.

6. You hate your destination so much you want to postpone showing up for as long as possible? If you dread going to work that much, or you hate school so deeply, or wherever your destination might be, you’re giving yourself a clear signal that you need think about making a change in your life.

7. Your co-workers won’t end meetings on time? This is an exasperating problem. You’re supposed to be someplace else, but you’re trapped in a meeting that’s going long. Sometimes, this is inevitable, but if you find it happening over and over, identify the problem. Is too little time allotted to meetings that deserve more time? Is the weekly staff meeting twenty minutes of work crammed into sixty minutes? Does one person hold things up? If you face this issue repeatedly, there’s probably an identifiable problem – and once you identify it, you can develop strategies to solve it -- e.g., sticking to an agenda; circulating information by email; not permitting discussions about contentious philosophical questions not relevant to the tasks at hand, etc. (This last problem is surprisingly widespread.)

Late or not, if you find yourself rushing around every morning, consider waking up earlier (see #1 above). Yes, it’s tough to give up those last precious moments of sleep, and it’s even tougher to go to bed earlier and cut into what, for many people, is their leisure time. But it helps.

I've started getting up at 6:00 a.m. so I have an hour to myself before I have to rassle everyone out of bed. This has made a huge improvement in our mornings. Because I’m organized and ready by 7:00 a.m., I can be focused on getting all of us out the door. (On a related note, here are more tips for keeping school mornings calm and cheery.)

What are some other strategies that work if you suffer from chronic lateness?

* A great blog, Get Rich Slowly, is about “personal finance that makes cents.” It covers a very broad range of topics related to finance, so there’s much there of interest to just about anyone.

Gretchen Rubin is a best-selling writer whose new book, The Happiness Project, is an account of the year she spent test-driving studies and theories about how to be happier. On this blog, she shares her insights to help you create your own happiness project. Thanks Earl.

The Art of Listening

2009-10-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 2:2 – “Let your ears listen to wisdom. Apply your heart to understanding.”
Proverbs 8:1 – “Listen as Wisdom calls out! Hear as understanding raises her voice!”
Proverbs 12:15 – “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others.”
Proverbs 15:31 – “If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise.”

No wonder listening is an undervalued art. Research shows that we speak at a rate of about 125 words per minute, yet we have the capacity to listen to approximately 400 words per minute. So what are we doing with that extra space in our minds when someone else is talking? Are we really listening?

Listening is essential to emotional health fulfilling relationships. If you are experiencing challenging interactions or want your connections to deepen – study and reflect on how to improve listening your skills. The benefits? Consider the following:

People will feel be more drawn to us; we will feel “safe” to others.
We will learn something new.
We will solve problems more effectively.
We will experience less loneliness and frustration.
We will feel more joyful and relaxed.

Learn to listen well, and watch you relationships begin to thrive. Here's some thoughts.

1. Pay attention
Since our brains have the capacity to process 275 more words per minute than are actually spoken, we tend to fill up the void with extraneous thoughts. Notice how when someone is speaking, you are partially listening, while simultaneously planning the rest of your day, replaying a meeting that just occurred, or deciding what you will say next. Paying attention is the foremost guideleine for good listening. Hear the words, and let their meaning in. If your mind begins to wander, simply re-focus your attention on the conversation.

2. Be receptive
If you show up with an agenda, you are not going to be available to fully hear what the other person is saying. There is no problem with having goals for an interaction, but let them go while the other person is speaking so you can hear what is being expressed. Balance your need for a given outcome with your desire to sustain a harmonious relationship.

3. Check your understanding
Make sure you can repeat what you just heard, and if you can't, ask for clarification. You might be surprised at how much you are missing. Most people are. When you think you've gotten it, you might say, “So what you are saying is....” to verify your understanding.

4. Be an explorer
Explorers are open and curious. They are inquisitive, without knowing what they will find. So what do you do with all of that excess brainpower? Focus on the speaker. Notice body language, tone of voice, and rate of speaking. Then look beneath the words to see what feelings and needs are being communicated. You never know what you might find.

5. Show interest
If you find yourself bored and distracted, reconnect with the interaction. Maintain eye contact, uncross your arms, and ask questions that take the conversation deeper. Find out what really matters to the person you are speaking with.

7. Be patient
As much as you may be tempted, don't speak over someone who is talking. When you feel the urge to step in, take a breath, let your agenda go, and continue to listen. If you need to move the conversation along, do so politely, as in, “Excuse me, I'm so sorry for interrupting, but…” Likewise, be careful not to jump to conclusions or assume you know what hasn't yet been said. These are all signs that your inner explorer has fallen asleep. Revitalize your experience by paying attention to what is happening in the moment.

8. Get out of a rut
Have you ever had the same problematic conversation with someone over and over? Bring a fresh perspective to the relationship by redoubling your efforts to listen. Let go of your need to be right or your ideas about what the other person should be saying or doing, and hear them as if for the first time. This moves you from contraction and limit to possibility and potential simply by listening.

In the end, being in right relationships is more important than being right. Effective listening develops empathy, which is the capacity for a deep understanding of another's experience. And isn't that what it takes for a relationship to thrive? It's as simple as paying attention.

The above was adapted from an article by Gail Brenner, Ph.D.

A Church Without Walls

2009-10-07T07:47:00.001-07:00

At MPVCC we've spoken a few times about not referring to our facility as a "church." The building is not the church. In a humorous way we've identified it as a "sheep shed." It is important that we understand that no physical walls can define the church (1 Peter 2:4-5; 9-12).

A church without walls is the church at all times and in all places: Imagine a community of faith that can't be pinned down to a single piece of property or to a set of buildings, but our relationship with Christ spills out into everything we do-into our homes, our communities, and into our workplaces-24/7. If God is in control, where we live, work, and play is no accident. God has placed us strategically to demonstrate his love and be his messengers. Whether it is in small groups, the workplace, over lunch or across the backyard fence, we can creatively engage and embrace our "world", individually and corporately, so that they might see a little bit of Jesus in us. A seeker's first experience of Christ may not come in our weekly celebration of worship. Rather, that first experience comes because a committed Christ-follower has reached out and has been Christ to them. Our growth reflects God's blessing and has more to do with new people starting the journey with Christ than it does with people transferring from other churches. No geographic or social walls limit involvement. (Acts 1:8)

A church without walls is a missional church: A missional church builds bridges to people that don't know Christ or see his relevance to their lives, whether it is in Burma, Brazil, or our own backyard. A missional church is committed as much to the needs of people outside our walls as those inside. We want to be a church that is known-and valued-by our neighbors. Therefore, we look for ways for our faith to be relevant to our communities without compromising our commitment to Christ. We seek to promote social justice and creation care. We will lovingly, but courageously, stand up for our faith and be willing to engage society and to take a stand for justice and compassion. No walls should exist between us as Christians (Ephesians 2:14-22).

A church without walls extends ministry into the community: God has called us into one body, one family. We believe effectiveness in engaging our world is directly related to the degree we are able to live in authentic biblical community with one another. Compassion and accountability characterize this kind of community. We recognize that we are a broken, yet redeemed people. We are a church that is learning how to love. When we get together to worship, we reflect the diversity of the communities God has placed around us. What brings us together is Christ; we don't get hung up with how much money a person makes, the color of their skin, the sin they struggle with, their age or their background. In fact, we do everything we can to tear down the walls these things have created. We believe people matter to God - and we seek to be a church where the broken have found a true home. No walls stand between God and us (John 15:5-8).

A church without walls is an empowered church: Jesus Christ has torn down the wall of sin that divided us from God, and now we belong to him. We are dependent solely on God for effectiveness. Prayer is always our first course of action. Moving people toward Christ, and serving them as they become his devoted followers, is at the center of all that we seek to do. We believe that lives are changed through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Effective ministry is borne out of an ever deepening relationship with God and other people. We encourage each other to grow in Christ, and to seek after God with our whole hearts, so that God may reveal his will for us, individually and corporately -- and empower us to do it! No walls stand in the way of our personal development and service (Ephesians 4:11-13).

A church without walls is an equipping church: We seek servant-leaders who are learning how to raise-up other servant-leaders. Living on the front lines of ministry demands skill and support. We endeavor to equip people toward developing life skills (not just "church" skills), and seek to support them as they serve. We will encourage others to discover their spiritual passions, make good use of God's gifts, and discern God's call on their lives. We seek to pursue excellence in service. We seek to serve in teams. The seek an atmosphere here at MPVCC that will be charged with the excitement and zeal of the changed lives of people committed to Christ and his service.

WHAT IS BIBLICAL COMMUNITY?

2009-10-02T07:51:00.001-07:00

The God we worship is a God Who has eternally existed in community. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have dwelt in perfect unity, love and joy before and throughout time. This triune God created humanity as the focus of His creations for the display of this relationship.

In the beginning it was written, “it is not good for [humankind] to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Man was walking in the garden with God and without sin and yet such a relationship was not ideal. It was not in accordance with the purpose of the Creator for the creature.

We read in the Gospels that among Jesus’ final words before the cross was a prayer for the unity of His people, a unity expressive of the unity found within the godhead (John 17:21-22). We know from the testimony of the early – and this is at the heart of what Tom Hovsepian spoke about last Sunday at church -- that community was the natural result of the Spirit’s influence upon the Church (Acts 2:42-47).

It is apparent that community is not some peripheral Christian teaching but is central to the outworking of God’s purpose in the world. God is glorified when God is properly reflected; by dwelling in unity, we rightly image our communal Maker.

In being responsive to this calling, MPVCC urges each person to be deeply involved in the lives of others, to “do life together.” Unfortunately, we have not always done a great job of explaining exactly what this phrase means. This article will serve as a short introduction to the topic of biblical community and what it is that we mean when we commend “doing life.”

Our hope for us is not that we would simply hang out with each other, but rather, that we would engage in a battle for deep and abiding relationships within the body. We find the following characteristics to be particularly indicative of biblical community:

1. Love

Love can be a rather ambiguous term. We love our lives, our children, our dogs, Mexican food and the 49ers. Surely we do not mean the same thing in each use of the term.

Five times in letter of 1st John, the apostle writes that believers are to love one another. However, he does not leave the command ambiguous. Rather, he qualifies the command by showing that love is best represented by the sending of the Son to die for our sins and thus is inherently sacrificial (1 John 3:16-18). Let us love in truth and deed and not merely in word. Love that is not sacrificial is not really love.

2. Consistency

The early church pictured in the book of Acts met daily to encourage each other and worship together. Hebrews 10 tells us to not neglect meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, while chapter 4 tells us to exhort one another daily. A clear Scriptural admonition exists toward long lasting relationships and deeply consistent presence in the lives of others. Occasional or infrequent gatherings do not capture the spirit of the text.

3. Worship

The early church spent its time engaging in the celebration of the Lord and the remembrance of the gospel through the means of grace which were provided. We therefore find it essential for biblical community to be about the pursuit of the Lord through the Lord ’s Supper, prayer, singing and the reading and teaching of the Scriptures.

4. Authenticity

People who gather together and yet do not truly know each other cannot rightly be called a community. The Bible strongly encourages the confession of sin, struggles and praises, which is evidence of a life of transparency. This characteristic also bears with it a commitment to engage in the proper means of fighting back sin for the good of the sinner, the health of the body and the glory of the Lord. Oftentimes such a dedication to put sin to death includes the proper and godly use of the steps of discipline as outlined in Matthew 18 and elsewhere.

Given the characteristics of community, what are the practical implications? While the list could be quite extensive, a large number of the guidelines could easily be seen by doing a thorough search of the dozens of “one another” passages especially within the New Testament. Such passages tell believers to:

Love one another (John 13:34, 15:12), Outdo one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10), Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16) , Comfort and agree with one another (2 Corinthians 13:11), Serve one another (John 13:1-20; Galatians 5:13), Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32), Submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21), Be honest with one another (Colossians 3:9), Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11), Confess to one another (James 5:16), Pray for one another (James 5:16)

The emerging MPVCC wants its active participants to think theologically and live Christianly. We want to be distinct in the way in we work, speak, think, relate, rest, and play. We want to do those things, which glorify God. To properly reflect the communal nature of the Trinity and to follow God’s communal commands, we must as a people engage in fellowship which is sacrificially loving, consistent, worshipful, and authentically transparent – going below the waterline. In this way, we seek to “do life together.”

Love letter to the church:

2009-10-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

How much I must criticize you, my church and yet how much I love you! You have made me suffer more than anyone and yet I owe you more than I owe anyone. I should like to see you destroyed and yet I need your presence. You have given me much scandal and yet you alone have made me understand holiness.

Never in the world have I seen anything more obscurantist, more compromised, more false, yet never have I touched anything more pure, more generous or more beautiful. Countless times I have felt like slamming the door of my soul in your face—and yet--every night, I have prayed that I might die din your sure arms!

No, I cannot be free of you, for I am one with you, even if not completely you. Then too—where should I go? To build another church? But I cannot build another church without the same defects, for they are my own defects. And again, if I were to build another church it would be my church, not Christ’s church. No. I am old enough. I know better…

~Carlo Caretto
from I Sought and I Found after returning
to Italy from the Sahara desert after many
years as a monk among the Bedouin

A Testimony of Hearing God’s Voice in an Academic Setting

2009-09-30T12:14:00.001-07:00

This coming Sunday Kevin Springer will be teaching on Acts 3, which happens to be a chapter detailing both the healing of a lame man and another evangelistic sermon preached by Peter (can you say, “Power Evangelism”?) This testimony was written by Dr. Gary Greig, who is a friend of Kevin’s and a co-author with Kevin on another book entitled, The Kingdom and the Power. To view or download Gary’s paper on power evangelism (which contains some excellent small group questions) click here.

Gary writes... The way that I made it through my undergraduate and graduate school degree programs was through continual prayer and conscious dependence on the Lord—praying for wisdom and understanding in all my studies. I finished a B.A. degree at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1983 and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 1990. All my studies at the Hebrew University were in Modern Hebrew, which I had to learn before entering my course of study there. When I told my academic advisor, Aviva Rosen, an older Israeli woman, that I had no family in Israel and had just had a summer to study modern Hebrew before entering the classroom where all my lectures would be in Hebrew, she exclaimed in Hebrew “My God!” And I thought, “Yes Lord, only you, God, can help me do this and succeed!” I had received prophetic words before traveling to Israel that the Lord would be with me and give me success, and I leaned hard on those prophetic promises in my prayers.

In my department of the University of Chicago, doctoral course-work and dissertation research normally took doctoral students ten years to complete, but I was able to complete the necessary course-work and research in seven years between 1983 and 1990. I say this not to praise myself. I was an average-to-above-average student all my life. I say this to demonstrate how the power of prayer and conscious dependence on God’s Spirit for all knowledge and wisdom can and should transform a Christian’s study in traditional academic degree-work, including seminary and Bible college degree-work.

Countless times, I remember praying and asking the Lord for wisdom in what I was studying, and He would prompt me to look in a certain book or journal, or He would let me stumble across the exact information I needed. Once a ruthless graduate student instructor at the University of Chicago, teaching a course in Old Egyptian (the oldest and most difficult form of ancient Egyptian), gave the class an impossible assignment to translate a very difficult Old Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription without giving us the normal references to journal articles analyzing the text. We had two days to translate the text into English and our grades (and chances for university scholarships) were depending on it. Well, my knee-jerk reaction was to pray and cry out to God for mercy in the research archives (library) of the U of C’s Oriental Institute! As I was doing so the Lord seemed to point to one volume of the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology among about 100 similar volumes. The quiet prompting of the Holy Spirit was persistent, “Look at that volume!” I picked out the volume, which had perhaps 200 pages of articles, and the first page I opened to was an article analyzing and translating the very Old Egyptian hieroglyphic text that we had been assigned in the class! Needless to say, I was thanking the Lord as I shared the information with my class-mates, who were not Christians but among whom the Lord got the glory! As a result we were all ready for the next class, though our instructor had no idea how we were all so well-prepared to translate and discuss the text!

Experiences like this taught me what the Old Testament means when it says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowing the Holy One is understanding” (Prov. 9:10). The Lord already knows all there is to know. That is why Scripture calls Him the “Spirit of Truth” who will “guide you into all truth” (John 16:13; cf. John 14:17; 15:26; 1 John 4:6). We fail to honor the Lord, the Spirit of Truth, when we do not seek Him for all knowledge and understanding that we wish to acquire. The sin of the Garden was that Adam and Eve impatiently grabbed for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil without calling on or waiting for the Lord (Gen 3:6). They made it happen by themselves without consciously waiting for or depending on the Lord. And this is what happens in every classroom where Christian leaders in universities, colleges, seminaries, and Bible colleges—even with the best of intentions—try to figure it out for themselves, just them and their “gray matter,” apart from consciously depending on and asking the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth.

The Old and New Testaments present all teaching, education, and ministry preparation as a process of depending on God’s Spirit within a framework of mentoring modeled after the nuclear family.

Smile & Move

2009-09-26T08:50:00.001-07:00

Biblical Community 101

2009-09-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

I found this blog post online and thought it was an excellent overview of biblical community. This Sunday we will be taking a look at Acts 2:42-47, which is a definitive passage in the New Testament concerning the call to community for active, intentional followers of Christ.

From time to time, I’ll think a lot about biblical community. What it is in a practical sense. How I can contribute to it in my own sphere. Whether I have purposely (or inadvertinly) hampered or neglected it from time to time in my own life.

I believe that we are each wired to desire it, much like we are wired with a deep hunger for a personal relationship with God. Yet, it seems that which so many long for is seldom experienced. Why is that?

As Christians in the 21st century, we have access to more resources than ever. In the US we have more disposible time than our parents or grandparents. I don’t want to make this a treatise about the activities with which we fill our lives. That’s not my goal.

But I do want to underscore the fact that a lack of understanding, a misconception of just what biblical community is, often contributes to our lack of it. We settle for some lame program or strike off in a direction on our own in hopes of arriving at the fulfillment we so desparately desire. Real communit exists, and if we know what to look for and where to focus our energy, we can help foster it.
So I figured a brief reminder of what it means to be engaged in a healthy, biblical community would be in order. Perhaps we will be quickened to action...

What is Biblical Community?
Community is an interdependent group of people who are growing in their devotion to Christ, one another and the cause of the Gospel. Think of it this way. Imagine a triangle. At the pinnacle is Christ. At the two bottom points are One Another and The Gospel. Each of these three elements must be present if the community is to be healthy. The relationship is symbiotic. If we get out of balance in any area, we miss it. But as we grow in each one, we move toward each one’s goal and toward real community.

What are the Goals of Community?

The goal of our devotion to Jesus is intimacy with Him.

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." –John 15:4-5

The goal of our devotion to One Another is love [remember, the vision statement for MPVCC is -- learning how to love.]

"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." –John 15:12-13

The goal of our devotion to The Gospel is spiritual reproduction

"When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning." –John 15:26-27

As mentioned above, each of these must be present. Omit any one and it’s out of balance.
If we…

Omit One Another and it’s “shoot our own” and task oriented. We may become legalistic, even in our efforts to share the Gospel.
Omit The Gospel and it’s warm fuzzies and no real purpose. We might have a great time singing Kum ba ya, but our inward focus will eventually become our undoing.
Omit Christ and it’s all flesh and we’re doomed before we begin. Without Jesus, it’s heresy so we might as well pack it up and go home.

What is the Value of Community?
Community offers us as Christians much meaning and fulfillment in our walk and witness. A thriving biblical community is:

A safe place for spiritual transformation — We see others growing at different points along the way and we are both encouraged and challenged. We can take risks, learn and mess up without fear of rejection.
Our vehicle for ministry — There are no lone rangers in ministry. None of us has all the spiritual gifts. Therefore we need each other.
A greater power of witness — In John 13:35 Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. When we are part of a biblical community, we will draw others to Christ."

Well there it is. If we are to experience biblical community, I believe that we should be growing in our devotion to Christ, one another and the cause of the Gospel. I once heard discipleship defined as broken people ministering to broken people...

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

See the original post here.

Change is the New Normal

2009-09-20T05:14:00.000-07:00

As we study the book of Acts it occurs to me that when the church started everything radically changed for the disciples, as well as for every person who decided to become an active intentional follower of Christ.

The disciples were convinced that they were to become the cabinet members for the new theocracy that Jesus was going to set up on the earth. They were hoping for condos on the Mediterranean and what they got was a call to become the servants of all. Almost all of them would die martyrs deaths.

Here are some quotes on CHANGE. Think about it...

“If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” —Woodrow Wilson,
“It is not merely that changes in our world demand new responses from us. The very foundations of society have changed.” —Craig Van Gelder
“A church which pitches its tents without constantly looking out for new horizons, which does not continually strike camp, is being untrue to its calling… (we must) play down our longing for certainty, accept what is risky, and live by improvisation and experiment.” —Hans Kung
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” —Alvin Toffler  
“Uncertainty is the only thing to be sure of.”—Anthony Muh
“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” —General Eric Shinseki
“If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” —Mario Andretti
“It is generally much easier to kill an organization than change it substantially.” —Kevin Kelly

Have said the above there are (at least) three things that will never change:

God’s love never changes (see Malachi 3:6, Jeremiah 31:3, Psalm 119:159, Romans 8:38)
God’s Word will never change (see Isaiah 40:8, Psalm 119:152, Matthew 5:24)
God’s purpose for my life will never change (1 Samuel 15:29, Psalm 33:11, Proverbs 19:21, Romans 8:28, Psalm 56:11, Psalm 46:1-2)

5 Core Values of the Vineyard

2009-09-20T04:05:00.000-07:00

What defines the Vineyard as a movement?

Someone has said it's this simple phrase: "Can I pray for you right now?" These seven supernaturally natural words capture the essence of the five core values of the Vineyard movement.

Here is an overview of the five core values of the Vineyard:

1. Kingdom Theology & Practice

The Vineyard is committed to the theology and practice of the kingdom of God rooted in the vision of the Hebrew prophets and fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. The movement is distinctively rooted in a renewed understanding of the centrality of the kingdom in biblical thought. We view the kingdom of God as the overarching and integrating theme of the Bible. From the beginning, the Vineyard has been committed to proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God and to bearing witness to the "already and not yet" of the kingdom in our words and deeds through healing (physical, emotional, and social), doing justice, and delivering those held captive by evil. Since the kingdom of God is the future reign of God breaking into the present through the life and ministry of Jesus, we are a forward-leaning movement that emphasizes the ever-reforming nature of the church and engages the world in love.

2. Culturally Relevant Mission

The church exists for the sake of those who are exiled from God. We are called to bring the gospel of the kingdom to every nook and cranny of creation, faithfully translating the message of Jesus in language and forms that are relevant to diverse peoples and cultures. The Vineyard seeks to plant churches that are culturally relevant in a wide variety of settings, both locally and internationally. Each Vineyard church is encouraged to reach those in its community not already reached by existing churches. To this end, we promote a creative, entrepreneurial, and innovative approach to ministry that is faithful to Jesus and expressive of his desire to reach those who are far away from God.

3. Compassionate Ministry

We lean toward the lost, the poor, the outcast, and the outsider with the compassion of Jesus, knowing we are sinners whose standing before God is utterly dependent on his mercy. This mercy can only be truly received inasmuch as we are willing to give it away. We believe that ministry in Jesus' name should be expressed in concrete ways through the local church. The poor are to be served as though we serve Jesus himself. This is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a church expressing the love of Christ in a local community. In fact, in all forms of ministry, compassion is a hallmark of the One who was "moved with compassion" in the face of human need. This being the age of grace and "the year of the Lord's favor" compassion should constitute the leading edge of our service to God, each other, and our broken world. With humility, we seek to avoid unauthorized judgments of others, realizing that we suffer and struggle along with the rest of humanity.

4. Reconciling Community

Jesus is reconciling people to God, to each other, and to the entire creation. He breaks down divisions between Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female. Therefore, Vineyard churches are committed to being communities of healing, engaged in the work of reconciliation wherever sin and evil hold sway. We also seek to be diverse communities of hope that realize the power of the cross to reconcile what has been separated by sin. This requires that we move beyond our personal preferences and engage those whom we perceive to be unlike us. We must actively work to break down barriers of race, culture, gender, social class, and ethnicity. We are convinced that the church locally, nationally, and globally is meant to be a diverse community precisely because Jesus is Lord over every nation, tribe, and tongue. We are not satisfied with the status quo when it doesn't reflect this kingdom reality. Instead, we pray eagerly for the coming of God's kingdom here and now and hope to see the reconciliation that is evidence that kingdom in our midst.

5. Experiencing God

The triune God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is eager to be known and experienced by all. We believe that God is searching for the lost and longs to draw us into loving, intimate relationship with him. In Vineyard churches, we welcome God's personal presence, we seek to be attentive to his presence, and we value the passionate pursuit of his presence in order to respond in obedience to his initiatives.
We understand God's presence as a palpable reality. As we become increasingly sensitive and responsive to the Spirit's presence, we too can learn to "see what the Father is doing" and support his work with our lives. We value an approach to God's presence that is respectful both of God and others. We eschew hype and other efforts to manipulate either God's presence or the response of others to his presence. We distinguish between the Holy Spirit and the human response to the Holy Spirit, which shares in all the beauty and brokenness of our humanity. These, then, are the core values that draw us together as a movement. They are different aspects of the treasure buried in the field that is the Vineyard. The treasure, of course, is the kingdom of God embodied and brought forth by Jesus of Nazareth.

For more information on the Vineyard check out the VineyardUSA page here, or the international site here.

Thoughts on the Trinity

2009-09-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

This Sunday we will be taking a look at Acts 2:1-41, were the Holy Spirit rushes (“like a mighty wind”) into the lives of some bewildered disciples of the ascended Christ. This moment would forever change the course of human history. The God of the universe has become available to humankind through Jesus Christ – and now the Holy Spirit. It will be helpful for us to consider the mystery, or paradox, of the Trinity…

Neither of the words “Trinity” nor “Tri-unity” appears in the Old or New Testaments, yet the concept has its basis in an understanding of scriptural teaching. Our English word “Trinity” is derived from Latin, “Trinitas,” meaning “the number three, a triad.” This abstract noun is formed from the adjective trinus (three each, threefold, or triple), -- just as the word unitas is the abstract noun formed from unus (one). The corresponding word in Greek means “a set of three” or “the number three.”

Tertullian, a Latin theologian of North African decent, who wrote in the early third century, is credited with first using the words “Trinity,” “person,” and “substance” to explain that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are “one in essence – not one in Person.”

About a century later, in 325, the First Council of Nicaea established the doctrine of the Trinity as orthodoxy and adopted the Nicene Creed that described Christ as, “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.”

The concept of the Trinity was introduced by Jesus Christ himself, in Matthew 28:19-20:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Jesus not only defines the Trinity, but appears to indicate that there is one name that encompasses the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Timothy Keller in his remarkable book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism describes the inner workings of the Trinity as a dance into which we are invited. Imagine that – the God and Creator of the universe invites us into this dance of perfect unity and love. How could anyone resist such love? Keller says, “Christianity, alone among the world’s faiths, teaches that God is triune and the trinity means that God is, in essence, relational. That is why we were created, to be in a relationship and a community with God and that the ultimate end of creation is union in love between God and his loving creatures.” Keller goes on to say, “we were made to center our lives upon him, to make the purpose and passion of our lives knowing, serving, delighting and resembling him. This is the dance of God, and we lost the dance when we became stationary, self-centered, self-absorbed and consumed with the “endless, unsmiling concentration on our needs, wants, treatment, ego, and record.” But Christ died for us and in his dying, invited us back into the dance. And if we accept the invitation, we can put our lives on a whole new foundation, making him the center and stop trying to be our own Savior and Lord.”

Finally, in his resent book, Irresistible Revolution, Shane Claiborne states that, “community is what we are created for. We are made in the image of God who is community, a plurality of oneness. When the first human was made, things were not good until there were two, helping one another. The biblical story is the story of community” (pg 134).

For a more scholarly yet conversant treatment of the Trinity, read Jonathan Edwards’ unpublished essay on the Trinity. You can find it here.

The pic above is entitled, The Holy Trinity (The Hospitality of Abraham) and is a famous icon by the Russian artist, Andrei Rublev c. 1360-1430. Icon is a Greek word that means “image.” Throughout Christian history, especially during the time when literacy was not an opportunity for all, icons were used to teach or inspire common people telling the stories of the faith. To watch a clip of how and why icons are made click here.

Celebrating SHAVUOT (or Pentecost)

2009-09-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

This Sunday we will be studying Acts 2:1-40. Here's a bit of back ground...

There are three major festivals of Israel on the sacred calendar of to be observed as "a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." (Leviticus 23:14, 21, 41; Deuteronomy 16:16,17)

They are:

Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread
The Feast of Weeks - also called "Pentecost," a Greek translation of the Hebrew words meaning, the "fiftieth day" when the Festival was celebrated (Lev. 23:15,16).
Feast of Tabernacles

Passover marked the first spring harvest. The first fruits of a sheaf or "omer" of barley was required by the Torah to be presented before the LORD in the House of God, as a thanksgiving "wave offering." (Lev. 23:10,11)

From the next day, seven weeks or forty-nine days were counted to wheat harvest. (Lev. 23:10:11)

On the "fiftieth day" - "Pentecost" or "Shavuot" - another harvest thanksgiving service was observed in the House of God. This time, from the firstfruits of wheat harvest, "two loaves of bread baked with leaven were waved before the LORD," in the act of thanksgiving." (Lev. 23:16-20). These three festivals marked Israel's history in the process of their redemption. These festivals were also prophetic and typological of the greater redemption which would come through Jesus Christ the Messiah.

Below is a dramatic scripture reading of the Pentecost story from Acts 2 from The Message. It's almost 3 minutes...

The Ascension of Jesus

2009-09-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

The pic is The Ascension by Rembrandt (1636).

The ascension of Jesus is the final component of the 5-fold Christ Event, which also includes the virgin birth, miraculous ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The Christ Event established the kingdom of God on the earth – and the kingdom will be consummated at Christ’s second coming. You and I live in the in-between time. This is a very important theological perspective and a Vineyard core value. More Sunday…

We won’t be spending too much time on this Sunday, so I thought I’d offer this article from Theopedia…

Also known as the exaltation of Jesus, the ascension of Jesus is well attested in the New Testament. It describes Jesus' ascent upward into heaven after spending 40 days on the earth. The ascension takes place after his resurrection (John 20:17; Acts 1:3). Luke gives the best account, stating that "he left them and was taken up into heaven" (Luke 24:51). In Acts Luke adds that, "...he was taken up to heaven" (Acts 1:2) and that, "This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). When Jesus actually ascended, "he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight" (Acts 1:9).

Most references in Scripture speak of Jesus' ascended status and do not actually mention how he came to be in heaven. These passages speak more of Jesus' "exalted state", that is, his present status in heaven after the experience of his ascension. Most notably is the quotation of Psalm 110:1, “sitting at the right hand of God.” This is the most quoted OT text in the NT. Mark places the use of this Psalm in the very teachings of Jesus (Mark 12:35-37; 14:62). Furthermore, Paul gives reference to Jesus' exalted state in Philippians 2:8-11, stating in verses 9-11 that "...God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Elsewhere, Paul makes reference to Christ being "taken up in glory" (1 Timothy 3:16). Other passages attest the very same about Jesus and give suggestion to his ascension into heaven (cf. John 6:62, 13:1-3, 16:5 & 28, 20:17; Acts 2:32-33; Hebrews 4:14, 9:24; 1 Peter 3:22; Revelation 1:12-18, 3:21).

Being Intentional About Growing

2009-09-10T21:07:00.000-07:00

As summer runs its course and the school year starts here are some questions that will help each one of us to consider how to best spend our time…

What weekly commitments do I find replenishing and which do I find depleting?
What do I need to stop doing?
Whose approval means the most to me? Why?
Are my priorities honoring my life in Christ? If Jesus was living my life, would he commit himself to the same weekly things I am?
I know spiritual growth doesn't just happen- so, how am I going to intentionally invest in my spiritual growth this year?
How and when am I going to spend time with my family or closest friends each week this year?
Who will mentor me this year?
Who will I mentor this year?
Who am I going to “do life” with this year? (a community question)
How and when will I exercise in order to stay, or get, physically fit this year?
How will I grow stronger in Christ & stay closely connected to his family, this year?

Some thoughts on growing stronger in Christ this school year:

Regular time with God reading the Scriptures and continuing to learn how to listen.
A regular time with same-sex friends sharing and supporting each other.
A weekly time with my church family worshiping God together on Sundays.
A regular weekly time volunteering and serving others.

May God lead you to set your priorities and schedule your life in ways that bring glory and honor to His name!

Why Study Acts?

2009-09-09T10:39:00.001-07:00

The picture above is the Cenacle, or "Upper Room," and is the last standing portion of a Byzantine and Crusader Church ("Hagia Sion") heir to the primitive Apostolic Church (Acts 2-15). The Last Supper (Lk 22:7-38), the gathering place for the 120 (Acts 1:13), and the and Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13).

This Sunday we begin our study of the Book of Acts. There is a study-guide available for download. The intro to Acts and three studies of the first two chapters can be found on our website - click here. We will be adding to the study-guide in coming days and weeks. With the study guide I'm hoping to get as many people as possible to follow along during the series - and to make it easier for small groups to follow - and to encourage potential small group facilitators to step-up and start a group.

So, this begs the question: Why study Acts? Here's three quick reasons...

To take a fresh look at the establishment of God’s kingdom and spread of the early church. (In his book, The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church, Alan Hirsch calculates that the early church grew from 25,000 in 100AD to about 20,000,000 by 310AD!)
To examine the holy passions and their out-workings which marked that church
To consider how these might relate to our church situation today.

John Piper (pastor, author, and theologian) sums up the purpose of Acts well - he says,

"More and more I believe that this book is in the NT to prevent the church from coasting to a standstill and entering a maintenance mode with all the inner wheels working but going nowhere, out-reaching into no new people groups or seeing no new ventures or no new exploits for the kingdom. The Book of Acts is a constant indictment of mere maintenance Christianity. It's a constant goad and encouragement and stimulation to fan the flame of our part in God’s purpose - "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).

This Sunday I'd like to engage in a bit of what I call "sanctified conjecture." Are there clues to what went on during those 10 days the 120 disciples spent in the upper room? I think there are. Additionally, there's a phrase in Acts 1 (and used throughout the book) that has really lost its meaning in our English translation. These, and other thoughts, will have an impact on what Acts 2:1 actually means: "And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place."

Following are some themes that we will be paying attention to in the coming weeks:

The work of the Holy Spirit
The missional witness of the church
The expansion of the kingdom of God
Spiritual Gifts
Spiritual Formation
Church leadership
Church polity (or government)
The transition from a Jewish church to a Gentile church

Discipleship is Evangelism

2009-09-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

This is from a series of articles by S. Michael Craven, a Christian Post guest columnist. He makes some excellent points regarding the implications of the gospel of the kingdom - which we will be looking at in our study of Acts. It's time to get back to the basics - authentic kingdom must include BOTH the words and the works of Jesus...

Thus far in my series on reevangelizing the church I have addressed the problem of gospel reductionism, a condition that has reduced the gospel to nothing more than the privatized plan of salvation. In response, I have sought to recover the broader historical understanding and implications of the gospel of the kingdom and, in light of this, explain how the church should best express this gospel. I have offered a threefold approach for expressing the gospel of the kingdom that is drawn from Scripture:

I have written that the church must first manifest this good news of the kingdom by demonstrating what life looks like under the reign of God within a distinct community: the church, a community characterized by its radical love for one another (see John 13:34, 35; John 17).
Second, this unique community manifests the gospel by serving the world through acts of service, compassion, and mercy, working to reverse and/or mitigate the effects of sin (see Matt. 5:16, 22:39; Eph. 2:10; James 2:14–26).
I now turn to the third and final aspect: proclamation of the gospel. How and what do we tell others about Jesus and this kingdom that has come into the world? The modern approach to this question seems to have gravitated, almost exclusively, toward highly simplistic and formulaic expressions of the gospel story. What I mean is that we have tried to condense the gospel to the most basic “facts” about Jesus, formulate simplistic mediums or tools for the conveyance of these facts, and then send folks out among strangers in an organized and frequently impersonal fashion.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying the Lord can’t use these means to accomplish his ends. He can and often does. However, the commission that we were given by Jesus (and that which we should take as our guide) was to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19, 20, ESV). Clearly, the process of making disciples involves more than simply sharing some propositions about Jesus.

To read the whole article click here.

The Nines - An Online Leadership Conference

2009-09-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

Check it out...Leadership Network asked some of the church's best communicators: "If you had nine minutes to talk one-on-one with thousands of people, what is the one thing that you would tell them? (It's free.)

The Nines from Todd Rhoades on Vimeo.

Rendering to Caesar, Surrendering to God

2009-09-02T13:31:00.001-07:00

I’ve been rereading Resident Aliens. It’s a difficult and challenging read – tough words are spoken to the Western Church. Recently I came across this article from The Center of Christian Ethics at Baylor University (2003) by Keith Putt.

It’s a review of two books -- Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989; 175 pp.) and Christian Faith and Modern Democracy: God and Politics in a Fallen World by Robert P. Kraynak (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2001, 334 pp.)

Putt says: We cannot reduce Christian faithfulness to any political, cultural, or social program, since inevitably these fail to realize fully God’s justice, grace, and promise. How should the church maintain its prophetic, alien voice in our culture, given society’s significant commitment to liberal, capitalist democracy?

We must be wary of allying Christian faith too intimately with culture and politics. Our faithfulness should not be reduced to any particular political, cultural, or social program, since inevitably these will fail to realize fully God’s justice, grace, and promise. As Christians we perennially struggle with the tension between relevance and identity. Christ placed the church in the world and commissioned it to go forth into the world in order to disseminate the good news of salvation; consequently, the church must strive to be relevant to whatever culture it inhabits so as to gain a hearing and, thereby, fulfill Christ’s mission. Yet, in the need for relevancy, the church must never compromise its identity; it must distinguish itself as different from the world for the purpose of maintaining a prophetic or critical edge. For how can the church denounce any evil, violence, or oppression resident in society, if it is so immersed in the secular that its voice sounds like every other worldly voice? How can the church speak against sin, if it partners with those earthly principalities and powers that propagate sin?

To read the entire article click here.

Nurturing Creativity

2009-09-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love on nurturing creativity. She makes a good case for the idea that greatness comes from without and not from within - and the idea of just showing up. While I haven't read the book and don't know the details of her belief system (click here to go to an elegantly stated critique of her book), I do think we can learn from her passion and authenticity. (FYI, it's an 18 minute video.) I would like us to be to be able learn from others about the important issues of our day and always be willing to ask the questions: What is redemptive? And, How will this help me to contextualize God's good news in my current cultural context?

Finally, I'm a HUGE fan of the TED talks. It began in 1984 as a conference bringing people together from three worlds: technology, entertainment, and design. Since then its scope has become ever broader, bringing together some of the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Check it out here.

Locking Out the Poor

2009-08-31T10:14:00.000-07:00

Shane Claiborne is the author of the Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical, and part of the Simple Way - a community of faith in downtown Philly. (My daughter and her husband are part of a sister community - Circle of Hope)

Locking Out The Poor from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

The Strength Is In The Struggle

2009-08-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

I received this this morning from an old friend named Marilyn...

I love the illustration of the caterpillar and the butterfly. The lonely butterfly egg hatches. The caterpillar just begins to instinctively eat the leaf it was hatched on. When it finishes that leaf it finds another. Yet one day, by God’s design, it climbs a small branch and spins a cocoon. In that cocoon, the caterpillar melts. From that liquid, God forms the butterfly. That is why the butterfly is all wet when it comes out of the cocoon. It then has to laboriously stretch out its wings to cause the liquids to move into its veins. Then it rests. Then it stretches out again and rests. Finally when it is dry and strong, the tiny thread that secured it to the cocoon breaks and it is free to fly and drink nectar.

Have you ever asked God to remove your trial? Paul did, and the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). I like to think about grace as a box. Each side top and bottom is labeled, “My grace is sufficient.” In my struggle, I often say, “Here I am Lord, standing in my grace box.” It helps me to focus on Him and realize afresh that I am surrounded by His grace strength.

Every trial contains another essential step in God’s purpose for our life. Hebrews 10:36 says, “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” Did Abraham struggle as he waited twenty some years before God’s promise was fulfilled in his life? Romans 4:18 says, “Who, contrary to hope, in hope believed.” This needful endurance means that we can bear up under our difficult trial through hope, continually drawing our strength from the Lord.

1 Peter 5:10 says, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” Did you notice that the establishing comes after the suffering? So many things in nature bear out this truth. The crocus that emerges through the snow, the baby bird that pecks its way through an egg, the seedling that pushes through the earth, all represent how the strength is in the struggle.

1 Peter 1:7 tells how the fiery trials are necessary to purify our faith. Faith is essential. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. There is another aspect to struggling. People watch our faith. It could be that the trial you are enduring right now is a testimony to God’s grace strength in your life. I like to read true life stories of missionaries to see how God was faithful in their impossible circumstances. Their endurance fortifies and encourages me, as I read how God orchestrated their lives, interweaving people and circumstances to fulfill His divine purpose for them.

Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Be encouraged today to stand in your grace box and endure because the strength is in the struggle.

The Eastern Roots of Our Christian Faith

2009-08-28T14:18:00.001-07:00

On a couple of occasions in a church service during our Deeper Still series (a contemplative look at the Lord’s Prayer) I have made the point that we, in the western world, often forget that Christianity was birthed and is rooted in the East.

Here is my best attempt at a short history:

The westernization of Christianity began with Paul planting and writing to churches throughout the Mediterranean region. The book of Acts ends with Paul imprisoned in Rome (about 64AD). Paul, by the way, was part of the early persecution of the Church (see Acts 8). After Paul’s conversion he experienced severe persecution throughout the remainder of his life – which is said to have ended with his beheading. The first large-scale persecution of the Jerusalem Church occurred in 70AD with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. This drove Christians (and Jews) out of the region and onto the vast system of roadways built by Rome and linking what is today western Europe, Turkey, and northern Africa resulting in an era of missionality. In his book, The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church, Alan Hirsch calculates that the early church grew from 25,000 in 100AD to about 20,000,000 by 310AD! This, no doubt, influenced Emperor Constantine, who, in 313AD, made Christianity the formal religion of the Empire (see map above). (There is still debate over whether or not Constantine was an active follower of Christ. Some maintain that in making Christianity the religion of the empire his goals were more political than theological.) Nevertheless, Constantine was uniquely a product of both the east and the west and this set the stage for Christianity to strengthen its flow into what is today Europe (and into N Africa).

Beginning around the third century Christian hermits, ascetics and monks fled to the desert of Egypt. They were seeking to escape the chaos and the Diocletian (predecessor of Constantine) persecution, abandoning the cities of the secular world to live in solitude. In Egypt, refugee communities formed at the edges of population centers, far enough away to assure safety. In 313, when Christianity was made legal, many continued to live in these marginal areas. The solitude of these places attracted them because the privations of the desert were a means of learning the ways of Jesus -- fasting and seeking God. They believed that desert life would teach them to follow God's call in a more focused and deliberate way. During the 4th century, these communities continued to attract others and as the lifestyle progressed, these men and women developed a reputation for holiness and wisdom. Today they are referred to as the Desert Fathers. Many individuals who spent part of their lives in the Egyptian desert went on to become important figures in the Church and society of the 4th and 5th centuries, among them Athanasius, Anthony, John Chrysostom, and John Cassian. The spirituality of the Desert Fathers deeply affected the Western Church (including Protestantism) and the Eastern Church – their role creates the opportunity for Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant believers to enjoy some common ground. For instance Augustine, who was converted through the writings of Anthony of the Desert, continues to be revered and respected by the Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants alike. Additionally, the monastic institutions Cassian and Augustine helped spread into Europe are said to have kept learning and culture alive during the Early Middle Ages, and were often the only institutions that cared for the sick and poor. (It should be noted that while all this was going on in N Africa and S Europe, Saint Patrick was preaching the gospel and building communities of faith in Ireland – which spread south into Europe even as Cassian-Augustinian inspired communities spread north.) For this reason, the writings and spirituality of the Desert Fathers are still of interest to many people today.

When we hear the phrase “contemplative spirituality,” it is often a reference to the learning and teaching of these Desert Fathers.

“Contemplative spirituality” means the understanding that God wants to have a real relationship with us – this is not just religion – God longs to walk alongside us in our lives and speak into and guide our live. Our part in allowing this to happen is to learn the blessings of solitude, silence, and listening – this is especially helpful in our 21^st century ADD culture. It’s a way of practicing our faith that can be foreign to many Christians, especially us Evangelicals who are trained to read Scripture more for information than formation. We can engage the Text with the intention to be formed by it, to deepen our relationship with God. In this process we are making ourselves available to God, positioning ourselves before him that he might have access to our lives. Studying and learning both the western and eastern constructs of our Christian faith will strengthen us to live as balanced and faithful Christ-followers.

Here are some practices of Scripture that have a more contemplative aspect to them:

Meditation (Psalm 1:2; 4:4; 27:4; 39:3; 48:9; 63:6; 77:6, 12; 119:15, 23, 27, 48, 52, 78, 97, 99, 117, 148; 143:5; 145:5)
Silence as a form of contemplation and listening (Psalm 46:10a; Isaiah 30:15; Matthew 6:6; Matthew 11:29; 1 Peter 3:4; 1 John 3:19)
Fasting as a form of humble focus (Ps 35:13b, et al.)

J.I. Packer in his classic work, Knowing God says, meditation is a lost art today, and Christian people suffer grievously from their ignorance of the practice. Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. It is the activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God. (pgs 18-19).

A Consideration of the Focus of God's Wrath (or Anger)

2009-08-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

The painting above is John Martin's, Great Day of His Wrath. (It hangs in the Tate Gallery in London.)

A while back, in a Sunday service, I mentioned that my perspective of God's wrath is that it has more to do with God's longing than with God's anger. This perspective elicited a disagreeing comment by someone who was there. Following is my attempt to articulate my thinking in this area. I am not insisting that I am right, only passing on to you my current thinking in this area...

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient” (Eph 5:6, emphasis added).

The word orgē (Greek: ὀργή) is used approximately 36 times in the New Testament; twenty-one times in Paul’s writings, six times in Revelation, and only occasionally in the Gospels.[1] In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul uses orgē three times (2:3; 4:31; 5:6).

Biblical hermeneutics is the art and science of biblical interpretation and is perhaps summarized best by 2 Timothy 2:15,

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Biblical hermeneutics is art because it calls for nuance and craft and science because it demands technique and skill. There are accepted academic rules to follow and one of those rules states that a verse or passage must be interpreted:

Historically,
Grammatically, and
Contextually.

Historical interpretation refers to understanding the culture, background, and situation, which prompted the text. Grammatical interpretation is recognizing the rules of grammar and nuances of the Hebrew and Greek languages and applying those principles to the understanding of a passage. Contextual interpretation involves always taking the surrounding context of a verse/passage into consideration when trying to determine the meaning.

In Paul’s letter (epistle) to the Ephesians he was probably writing primarily to Christ-following Gentiles, or Greeks -- and not Jews. (Ephesus was ranked with Rome, Corinth, Antioch, and Alexandria as the foremost urban centers of the Roman Empire.) In writing to Gentiles, Paul, as a well educated rabbi and also a citizen of Rome was, no doubt, aware that in the Rhetoric,[2] Aristotle defined wrath (orgē) as, “a longing, accompanied by pain…”[3] Aristotle additionally ascribed value to wrath (or anger) that has arisen from perceived injustice because it is useful for preventing injustice.[4]

Misconceptions of the wrath of God have led to a false picture of God. One such is reading into the phrase “wrath of God” the idea of a “wrathful” or “angry” God. Here God is often seen as stern and cruel, a mean Judge who loves to revenge and punish humankind whenever there is an opportunity to do so, and at times even does so arbitrarily. Such a picture of God, however, is a grave distortion of God’s character and often leads to unhealthy fear or reward-motivated obedience -- disconnected from love.

The Old Testament certainly states that opposition to God's will results in God's anger. In reference to anger, the Jewish Encyclopedia[5] states: God is not an intellectual abstraction, nor is He conceived as a being indifferent to the doings of man; and His pure and lofty nature resents most energetically anything wrong and impure in the moral world. Christ-followers also subscribe to the perspective of God's holiness and anger welling up in the sight of evil and this anger is not inconsistent with God's love. We also believe that the wrath of God comes upon those who reject Jesus.

Yet, could this wrath (or anger) of God be focused more on the effects of sin than on the sinner? In Romans 1:18 Paul states, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Could this be speaking of the longing and pain that God has for people to repent of their godlessness and wickedness?

The totality of Scripture makes it very clear that the wrath of God is not the last horizon. God is love (1 John 4:16). God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but is pleased when they turn from their sinful ways and live (Ezekiel 18:23). God wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the saving truth (1 Tim. 2:4-6). Reconciliation has its starting point in Christ. God wants the world to be reconciled with him, both in and through him (2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 5:8-11). God does not desire revengeful punishment. Within the context of biblical judgment, divine wrath is not an expression of a despotic deity, but a just and legitimate reaction against the effects (or, sinfulness) of sin. God’s wrath is aroused against sin, because sin is a rebellion against God's nature and character. But even in God’s wrath mercy is remembered (Is. 54:7, 8).

The ultimate test of biblical scholarship is whether it serves effectively to equip God’s people for discipleship. The essentials of the Christian faith include:

The authority of Scripture
The existence of a Triune God
Humankind is a physical and spiritual being who is created in God's image
Jesus Christ is by God's grace, was born of a virgin, is fully God and fully man, died for our sins, physically rose from the dead, will one day return to judge the world and fully deliver his people, and was sent to save us from our bondage to sin
Faith in Christ is the only means by which humankind can escape eternal judgment
The church as God's ordained institution headed by Christ, composed of all believers, and organized for the furtherance of the kingdom of God.

In the essentials of the Christian faith, we must have unity (Eph. 4:4-6); in the non-essentials of the faith, we embrace diversity (Rom. 14:1-6); in all matters of faith, we seek to have charity (1 Cor. 13:1-3).[6]

The focus of God’s wrath, or anger, is not – by my understanding – an essential of the Christian faith. Respectful, honest dialogue will help us to refine our faith…

What are your thoughts??

[1] Brown, Dictionary of NT Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1967), p. 110

[2] Rhetoric is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion, dating from the fourth century BC.

[3] 1378a

[4] According to Aristotle: "The person who is angry at the right things and toward the right people, and also in the right way, at the right time and for the right length of time is morally praiseworthy." cf. Paul M. Hughes, Anger, Encyclopedia of Ethics, Vol I, Second Edition, Rutledge Press

[5] http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/search_results.jsp?searchType=1&pageNum=1&search=anger&x=0&y=0&searchOpt=0

[6] The History of the Christian Church, by Philip Schaff. In Volume VII, Modern Christianity, The German Reformation, Schaff writes: “This famous motto of Christian Irenics, which I have slightly modified in the text, is often falsely attributed to St. Augustin (whose creed would not allow it, though his heart might have approved of it), but is of much later origin. It appears for the first time in Germany, a.d. 1627 and 1628, among peaceful divines of the Lutheran and German Reformed churches, and found a hearty welcome among moderate divines in England…The authorship has recently been traced to Rupertus Meldenius, an otherwise unknown divine, and author of a remarkable tract in which the sentence first occurs. He gave classical expression to the irenic sentiments of such divines as Calixtus of Helmstädt, David Pareus of Heidelberg, Crocius of Marburg, John Valentin Andrew of Wuerttemberg, John Arnd of Zelle, Georg Frank of Francfort-on-the Oder, the brothers Bergius in Brandenburg, and of the indefatigable traveling evangelist of Christian union, John Dury, and Richard Baxter.”

Don't Lower the Bar, Lower the Barriers - Becoming Missional

2009-08-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Before Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the state in the year 313, Christianity was a subversive, counter-cultural movement that existed at the margins of society – not at the center. The subsequent move to the center of society had advantages as well as dis-advantages.:

The advantage was that there was a common (Biblical) language and reference point for public moral discourse with which society could discuss what was “good” or “moral,” or “right.”
The disadvantage was that (legislated) Christian morality without the Holy Spirit and gospel-changed hearts often led to cruelty, hypocrisy, and the abuse of power and authority.

There is an often-told story of Thomas Aquinas (13th century) when he visited Pope Innocent IV and found him counting a large sum of money. “Ah, Thomas," said the Pope, "the church can no longer say, ‘silver and gold have I none.’” That is true, Your Holiness," said Aquinas, "but then, neither can it now say, ‘Arise and walk’" (Ref Acts 3:6).

One of the downsides of Christendom is that we’ve placed way too much emphasis on the WORDS of Christ and not enough emphasis on the WORKS of Christ. We’ve been a voice without sufficient action. Again, in Christendom nations -- and people groups -- have been “Christianized” without becoming whole-heartedly converted.

Since about the mid-19th century the church in Europe and North America has been losing its privileged place in the center of society and as the authority of public morality. The decline of Christendom has accelerated greatly since the end of WWII, when science and reason ultimately failed to fix all our problems and concerns (i.e., the decline of modernity).

We are now living at a time that many would consider “POST-Christian.” (Or, if you’re an optimist, “Pre-Christian.”) Once again the church is finding itself at the margins of culture and society – we are losing our place of moral authority. This will force us, as the church, to engage the culture around us in a whole new way. (That is what it means to be “missional.”)

Studies indicate that unchurched people do not have a problem with God, or even Jesus -- they have a problem with the church. Our current context in North America is more like the early NT context – the church has been pushed to the margins and is no longer at the center of society.

The people who make-up a missional church see themselves as missionaries to the dominant post-Christian culture that surrounds them – as well as the various sub-cultures. As missionaries to a “post-Christian” culture it would be wrong to assume the people we encounter have any basic background regarding the availability of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ – or that they have read the Bible. And the ones who have grown-up in churches may, very well, have an extremely negative view of the church.

As missionaries we are invited by God to seek new ways to tell the “Jesus story” to the surrounding culture. It takes understanding the culture (contextualizing the gospel for the culture we are investing in) and looking for redemptive ways to share the Jesus story.

What other parts of our current cultural context are redemptive? One de-churched person asked how a church can sing (the hymn), “This is My Father’s World” on Sunday and rape the environment on Monday? Justice issues? Affordable housing? Oppressed poor? Aids? Care/treatment for the homeless?

A missional church is seeking to engage the surrounding “dominant” culture with redemptive relationships – and move people toward reconciliation – with one another and with God. We don’t want to lower the bar; we want to lower the barriers.

Characteristics of a Missional Church (Pt 5)

2009-08-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

Tim Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, NY. He is also the author of the Reason for God and Prodigal God. He is also the founder of a churchplanting movement that has planted over 100 hundred churches. In 2008, Keller spoke at Google as part of their "Authors @ Google" program. You can find that talk here.

Marks of Missionality

2009-08-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

How do we know if, or when, we are diving into missionality?

Missionality goes beyond any ministry or program - even evangelism. For instance, a 'missional' small group is not necessarily one which is doing some kind of specific 'evangelism' program (though that is to be recommended). Rather...

If its members love and talk positively about the city/neighborhood,
If they speak in language that is not filled with pious tribal or technical terms and phrases, nor disdainful and embattled, or embittered, language,
If in their Bible study they apply the gospel to the core concerns and stories of the people of the culture,
If they are obviously interested in and engaged with the literature and art and thought of the surrounding culture and can discuss it both appreciatively and yet critically,
If they exhibit deep concern for the poor
If they show generosity with their money
If they show purity and respect with regard to opposite sex
If they show humility toward people of other races and cultures
If they do not bash other Christians and churches.

Then seekers and non-believing people from the city...

Will be invited and
Will come and will stay as they explore spiritual issues.

If these marks are not there it will only be able to include believers or traditional, "Christianized" people.

The Elements of a Missional Church (Pt 3)

2009-08-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

The above graphic is an overview of the process of a missional perspective.

Keller identifies 5 elements of a missional church. Today we'll look at the first two...

1. Discourse in the vernacular.

In 'Christendom' there is little difference between the language inside and outside of the church. Documents of the early U.S. Congress, for example, are riddled with allusions to and references from the Bible. Biblical technical terms are well-known inside and outside. In a missional church, however, terms must be explained.
The missional church avoids 'tribal' language, stylized prayer language, unnecessary evangelical pious 'jargon', and archaic language that seeks to set a 'spiritual tone.'
The missional church avoids 'we-them' language, disdainful jokes that mock people of different politics and beliefs, and dismissive, disrespectful comments about those who differ with us. [Sound like the health-care debates??]
The missional church avoids sentimental, pompous, 'inspirational' talk. Instead we engage the culture with gentle, self-deprecating but joyful irony the gospel creates. Humility + joy = gospel irony and realism.
The missional church avoids ever talking as if non-believing people are not present. If you speak and discourse as if your whole neighborhood is present (not just scattered Christians), eventually more and more of your neighborhood will find their way in or be invited.
Unless all of the above is the outflow of a truly humble-bold gospel-changed heart, it is all just 'marketing' and 'spin.'

2. Enter and re-tell the culture's stories with the gospel

In "Christendom" it is possible to simply exhort Christianized people to "do what they know they should." There is little or no real engagement, listening, or persuasion. It is more a matter of exhortation (and often, heavy reliance on guilt.) In a missional church preaching and communication should always assume the presence of skeptical people, and should engage their stories, not simply talk about "old times."
To "enter" means to show sympathy toward and deep acquaintance with the literature, music, theater, etc. of the existing culture's hopes, dreams, 'heroic' narratives, fears.
The older culture's story was--to be a good person, a good father/mother, son/daughter, to live a decent, merciful, good life.
Now the culture's story is-- a) to be free and self-created and authentic (theme of freedom from oppression), and b) to make the world safe for everyone else to be the same (theme of inclusion of the 'other'; justice).
To "re-tell" means to show how only in Christ can we have freedom without slavery and embracing of the 'other' without injustice.

The Need for a 'Missional' Church (Pt 2)

2009-08-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

This is from an article by Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NY, NY. He gives an excellent overview of the "why" and "how" of the missional church...

In the West for nearly 1,000 years, the relationship of (Anglo-European) Christian churches to the broader culture was a relationship known as "Christendom." The institutions of society "Christianized" people, and stigmatized non-Christian belief and behavior. Though people were "Christianized" by the culture, they were not regenerated or converted with the Gospel. The church's job was then to challenge persons into a vital, living relation with Christ.

There were great advantages and yet great disadvantages to 'Christendom.' The advantage was that there was a common language for public moral discourse with which society could discuss what was 'the good.'

The disadvantage was that Christian morality without gospel-changed hearts often led to cruelty and hypocrisy. Think of how the small town in "Christendom" treated the unwed mother or the gay person.

Also, under "Christendom" the church often was silent against abuses of power of the ruling classes over the weak. For these reasons and others, the church in Europe and North America has been losing its privileged place as the arbiter of public morality since at least the mid 19th century. The decline of Christendom has accelerated greatly since the end of WWII.

The British missionary Lesslie Newbigin went to India around 1950. There he was involved with a church living 'in mission' in a very non-Christian culture. When he returned to England some 30 years later, he discovered that now the Western church too existed in a non-Christian society, but it had not adapted to its new situation. Though public institutions and popular culture of Europe and North America no longer 'Christianized' people, the church still ran its ministries assuming that a stream of 'Christianized', traditional/moral people would simply show up in services. Some churches certainly did 'evangelism' as one ministry among many. But the church in the West had not become completely 'missional'--adapting and reformulating absolutely everything it did in worship, discipleship, community, and service--so as to be engaged with the non-Christian society around it. It had not developed a 'missiology of western culture' the way it had done so for other non-believing cultures.

One of the reasons much of the American evangelical church has not experienced the same precipitous decline as the Protestant churches of Europe and Canada is because in the U.S. there is still a 'heartland' with the remnants of the old 'Christendom' society. There the informal public culture (though not the formal public institutions) still stigmatizes non-Christian beliefs and behavior. "There is a fundamental schism in American cultural, political, and economic life. There's the quicker-growing, economically vibrant...morally relativist, urban-oriented, culturally adventuresome, sexually polymorphous, and ethnically diverse nation...and there's the small town, nuclear-family, religiously-oriented, white-centric other America, [with]...its diminishing cultural and economic force....[T]wo nations..." (Michael Wolff, New York, Feb 26 2001, p. 19).

In conservative regions, it is still possible to see people profess faith and the church grow without becoming 'missional.' Most traditional evangelical churches still can only win people to Christ who are temperamentally traditional and conservative. But, as Wolff notes, this is a 'shrinking market.' And eventually evangelical churches ensconced in the declining, remaining enclaves of "Christendom" will have to learn how to become 'missional'. If it does not do that it will decline or die.

We don't simply need evangelistic churches, but rather 'missional' churches.

More tomorrow...

Becoming MISSIONAL

2009-08-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

There is a major shift occurring in the Church today. Some would call it a SEAM in history. Approximately every 500 years, the Church goes through a sweeping change in its attempt to live in the tension of adjusting to the times (i.e., contextualization) while remaining theologically orthodox. Here's an overview of the 4 major shifts: Constantine in the late 4th century, early 5th; the Great Schism of the 11th century; the Reformation in the 16th century; and now the Postmodern era in the 21st century have all been points of reference for these changes. A significant part of this current transition is a shift from what has been called an "attractional model" to a "missional model" of church...

Missional means being willing to adapt and reformulate everything we do in worship, discipleship, community, and service so as to be engaged with the non-churched culture around us (adapted from a definition by Tim Keller; download his article here).

With this blog I will begin a blog series about this dramatic transition in the Church...

10 THINGS ANYONE WHO JOINS IN A TWENTY-FIRST CENTRUY MISSIONAL CHURCH SHOULD NOT EXPECT:

Should not expect to regularly come to church for just one hour, get what you need for your own personal growth and development, and your kid’s needs, and then leave til next Sunday. Expect mission to change your life. Expect however a richer life than you could have ever imagined.
Should not expect that Jesus will fit in with every consumerist capitalist assumption, lifestyle, schedule, or accoutrement you may have adopted. Expect to be freed from a lot of crap you will find out you never needed.
Should not expect to be anonymous, unknown, or be able to disappear in this church Body. Expect to be known, loved, and supported in a glorious journey.
Should not expect production style excellence all the time at Sunday worship gatherings. Expect organic, simple, and authentic beauty.
Should not expect a raucous "light out" youth program that entertains the teenagers, puts on a show that gets the kids "pumped up," all without parental involvement. Instead as the years go by, with our children as part of our life, worship, and mission expect our youth to have an authentic relationship with God thru Christ that carries them through a lifetime of journey with God.
Should not expect to always "feel good," or ecstatic on Sunday mornings. Expect that there will ALSO be times of confusion, confession, lament, self-examination, and just plain silence.
Should not expect a lot of sermons that promise you God will prosper you with "the life you've always wanted" if you’ll just believe him and step out on faith and give some more money for a bigger sanctuary. Expect sustenance for the journey.
Should not expect rapid growth whereby we grow this church from 10 to a thousand in three years. Expect slower organic inefficient growth that engages people’s lives where they are at and sees troubled people who would have nothing to do with the gospel marvelously saved.
Should not expect all the meetings to happen in a church building. Expect a lot of the gatherings will be in homes, or sites of mission.
Should not expect arguments over style of music, color of carpet, or even doctrinal outlier issues like dispensationalism. Expect mission to drive the conversation.

O AND BY THE WAY … Should not expect that community comes to you…true community in Christ will take some "effort" and a reshuffling of our priorities. We must learn that the answer to all those things is to enter into the practices of "being the Body" in Christ including -- eating, sharing, praying, and playing together.

As C. S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory: "We are far too easily pleased. We have become satisfied with mere church, mere religious exertion, mere numbers and buildings—the things we can do. There is nothing wrong with these things, but they are no more than foam left by the surf on the ocean of God's glory and goodness.”

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

2009-08-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

We often confuse the fruit for the goals…

Instead of trying to be good, it’s better to focus our energy on aiming to be surrendered to God (that’s why it’s a fruit of the Spirit!)
Unity is not a goal, but a fruit…
Church is not a goal, but a fruit…

"And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people." Matthew 4:23

Additionally, when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we ask for God’s kingdom to come and for his will to be done (Matt 6:10)

Today we'll review what it means for God’s kingdom to come…

Consider some additional kingdom verses…

"’The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’" (Mk 1:15)
"He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables” (Mk 4:11).
“He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Act 1:3)
“For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:30-31)

Apprehending a biblical view of the present reality of the kingdom of God will enhance our faith and expectation for God to move in love and power upon those we minister to. With the coming of Jesus the Messiah, there was a gushing forth of the mercies of God. In the coming of Jesus, the kingdom of God was established with great power to confront and overcome sickness, sin, death, and the devil.

World-View
Most of us have a western, rational, highly materialistic worldview which acts as a lens through which we view our world. The worldview of most westerners does not readily acknowledge the supernatural: healing, release from demonization, spiritual giftings, etc. The result is that most westerners do not expect God to break into day-to-day situations with supernatural power. Without a growing expectation of God's desire to move in love and power we are relegated to life on a purely natural level: reasoning with people, persuading them with arguments, comforting them when they are sick, etc. (2 Timothy 3:5 - having a form of godliness but denying its power).

Wimber used to say, “Expectation releases the power of God.”

To make a conscious decision to expand our worldview is sometimes referred to as a paradigm shift – like getting a new pair of glasses.

An approach to the New Testament
The Old Testament describes God's dealings with Israel in the context of an ever-increasing prophetic hope that a day will come when God, as King, will personally establish a Kingdom upon the earth. This would mark the beginning of a new Age, or life. The basic framework of the two Ages begins to emerge in the Bible - this Present Age and the Age to Come. It is important to know the basic dualistic frame¬work of the Bible (this Age and the Future Age) to have an appropriate understanding of what it is saying. With a rise of the concept of God's Kingdom ushering in a new Age, there was also the rise of an awareness of the devil and his evil deeds; the cataclysmic clash between light and darkness. The Christ-event interrupted history with a victory over Satan and his hordes.

We can now define the Kingdom of God as the dynamic rule and reign of God, the assertion of God's authority over the evil one and his deeds. In the New Testament the dualistic framework of "this present evil age" (Gal. 1:4) and the "age to come" (Eph. 1:21) is established, but in a new way. The New Testament teaches that in the coming of Jesus Christ the Future Age has come into the present. The Kingdom of God has been fulfilled, but not yet consum¬mated; thus it is both present and future. We are living in the "already" and the "not yet." The New Testament teaches both now and future. This is sometimes referred to as paradox (seeming contridiction).

We live in a divine tension

Salvation - we are saved, yet being saved (posi¬tional vs. experien¬tial truth)
Holy Spirit - we are filled, yet being filled
Faith vs. works - not one or the other, but both.

Our western rational (modernistic) mind-set encourages us to choose one or the other because we're not comfortable living in tension.

Oscar Cullman in his book Christ and Time writes about WW II:

D-Day - June 6, 1944 (the bloody but successful invasion broke the back of Hitler’s army and was the beginning of the end of the war; likened to the establishment - or inbreaking - of the Kingdom of God in and through Jesus Christ)
VE-Day - May 7/8, 1945 (when the Allied troops marched on Berlin; likened to the second coming of Jesus to receive His own).
Some of the fiercest fighting of World War II took place between D-Day and VE-Day; (likened to this present Church Age - we are in a war!)

George Ladd in The Gospel of the Kingdom defines the Kingdom of God as the "rule and reign of God." Another description, or definition would be the words and works of Jesus. There were WORDS designed to tell us how to enter the Kingdom (Matt. 5:20; 7:21), and WORKS that demonstrated the Kingdom had come (Matt. 12:28). (A heart-breaking biblical pattern: We have continually traded the presence of God for the knowledge of God.)

The parables teach the mysteries of the Kingdom of God (Matt. 13:11); his prayers taught the disciples to desire the coming (in-breaking) of the Kingdom (Matt. 6:10). The Christ-event raises us up to be instruments of the Kingdom, while his second coming promises the consummation of the Kingdom (Matt. 25:31,34). The New Testament was written from this point of view: the overlapping of the two Ages. God's Kingdom had interrupted human history and was now spreading like leaven and growing like a seed – it is seen with the eyes of faith. This approach helps us to have an under¬standing of the prospect of supernatural activity in the New Testament, i.e. spir¬itual gifts and healing must be interpreted in the light of the Kingdom of God.

Since the presence of the Kingdom is so central to the New Testament, we must allow it to shape our world view. The Kingdom of God involves the rule and reign of God breaking into Satan's world and releasing people from Satan's grip. The Christ-event empowers us to become the instruments of the Kingdom of God. We are not living in a time of promise, but of fulfillment. The full reign of God and His resources are available to us today. Jesus has given us:

His power over sin (Mk. 10:45)
His power over disease (Lk. 13:10-17)
His power over demons (Mk. 1:21)
His power over nature (Mk. 4:35-41)
His power over death (Lk. 7:11-17)

Our conversion to Christ marks the transition from Satan's kingdom into the Kingdom of God; from this present Evil Age into the Age to Come.

Seven Layers of the Emergent Conversation

2009-08-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

I can't remember where I got this from but it turned up on a recent search of "kingdom" on my computer and I thought I'd pass it along...

Based on a description of 7 Layers of the Emergent Conversation by Brian McLaren, the author of this pseudo-parody (get it?) outlined the seven layers below.

Somebody has said...Islam has its five pillars. Buddhism has its eight-fold path. Evangelicalism has its four spiritual laws. And now the Emerging Church has its seven layers of conversation.

[The author] added [his] own titles and used the imaginary “Seeker Community Church” to illustrate each point....

Layer 1: Style -  Seeker Community Church realizes they’re ineffective at reaching the coveted 18-32 year old demographic. They send a few staff members to a conference and they come back with goatees and candles.

Layer 2: Evangelism -  After trying every facial hair permutation, Seeker Community Church discovers that to actually communicate the gospel to a younger generation they’ve got to learn to speak their language. They hire a former youth pastor to start an evening worship service with an “x” in its name.

Layer 3: Culture -  It gradually dawns upon Seeker Community Church that the new challenges they are encountering are not limited to the younger generation. The entire culture is shifting away from the modern presuppositions their church was built upon. Some of the language and practices of the “x” service trickle into the rest of the church.

Layer 4: Mission -  The emergence of Postmodernism causes Seeker Community Church to reevaluate the effectiveness of their mission strategy. Altar calls and gospel tracks are left behind in favor of community groups and relationships. Conversion is accepted as a journey and not merely a point of decision.

Layer 5: Church -  Seeker Community Church begins to wonder if a multi million-dollar building housing a theatrical production every weekend is the only way to do church. Drawing from new and ancient forms of church, they launch alternative communities—one meets in a bar on Sunday night, and the other is a liturgical gathering. The church also partners with an inner city monastic group to reach street kids.

Layer 6: Gospel  - The leadership of Seeker Community Church is stunned when the senior pastor confesses, “I’m not sure I’ve really understood the gospel.” He begins to wonder why Jesus never said God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life? And why Paul never asked anyone to invite Jesus into your heart? He starts to realize that the Good News is much more than he’d ever imagined.

Layer 7: World  - Maybe the mission of the church isn’t simply to become a bigger church? Maybe, like Jesus, the church is to engage the larger world to reveal that the kingdom of God has drawn near? To their amazement, Seeker Community Church discovers significant swaths of the Bible (such as the Pentateuch, prophets, gospels, and epistles) talk about justice, poverty, and compassion. The church begins to speak about social issues and participates in efforts to combat poverty, AIDS, and global injustice.
So, how emergent are you?

HOW TO VIEW AND APPRECIATE ART

2009-08-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

The photograph to the left was taken recently inside Notre Dame de Paris (which means, Our Lady of Paris) by my brother. The architect and builders knew something about the Bible that we more modern Christians apparently don't. We Christians build and decorate church structures that are often boring and lifeless. This reveals how far we have strayed from the place beauty and art are meant to have in our lives. As the late Francis Schaeffer notes in his book, Art and the Bible, we evangelicals tend to relegate art to the fringes of life. Despite our talk about the lordship of God in every aspect of life, we have narrowed its scope to a very small part of reality. The arts are also supposed to reflect the wonder, majesty, and beauty of God. 2 Chronicles 3:6 (NKJ) tells us that when Solomon began to build the temple he added precious stones "for beauty." Does God value beauty simply for beauty’s sake? It seems He does. Following is a list that will help us to view and appreciate art…

Respect the art.
Take your time. One artwork viewed well beats dozens seen in a state of hurry &/or frustration.
That said, see as much art as you can. The more art you see the richer your responses will be to new art images.
What is the piece of art saying to you? Is it telling a story? Is it evoking a memory? Is the piece of art affecting you emotionally? Does it make you happy? Sad? Any other emotion?
What is affecting you the most, the imagery? The color?
When looking at art, before answering the question 'What do I think?' try 'What did I notice?' No opinions without observations.
If you're troubled by an apparent lack — not enough color, not enough imagery — try turning the doubt into a question. What would an artist have to gain by losing those things? What is s/he inviting you to notice? You may feel previously unnoticed aspects of a painting emerging with new sharpness.
Try to imagine your way into the life of the art.
If a work doesn't feel as though it's for you, try imagining the person it is for. Try stepping outside the circle of your accustomed tastes. You might even find yourself enjoying it.
If an artwork's giving you nothing, there's no shame in turning your back. Remember, though, that if you don't wade through art's lows, you’ll not be qualified to register the highs.
Trust your own impressions. Children often have piercingly accurate things to say about paintings because they haven't yet been taught to distrust their first impressions and spontaneous associations. Tease out the significance of what you're already seeing, rather than fretting about unseen meanings.
Talk to the artist if you can. See if what you are observing from the piece of art is what the artist intended. Often you will find you have a different, but equally valid, observation/reaction from the piece of art. Artists love feedback!

Wimber on the Kingdom

2009-08-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

Bible Passages Pertaining to the Kingdom of God

2009-08-04T08:01:00.000-07:00

Matthew 3:2 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Matthew 4:23 And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:19-20 "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20"For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 6:10
'Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 8:11-12 "And I say to you, that many shall come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; 12but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Matthew 9:35 And Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

Matthew 10:7 "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

Matthew 11:11-12
"Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.

Matthew 12:25-26 And knowing their thoughts He said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand. 26"And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?

Matthew 12:28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Matthew 13:11 And He answered and said to them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

Matthew 13:19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.

Matthew 13:24 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

Matthew 13:31 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;

Matthew 13:33 He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened."

Matthew 13:38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;

Matthew 13:41 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,

Matthew 13:43-45 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. 44"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. 45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,

Matthew 13:47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind;

Matthew 13:52 And He said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old."

Matthew 16:19 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Matthew 16:28 "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

Matthew 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

Matthew 18:3-4 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:23 "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.

Matthew 19:12 "For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it."

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Matthew 19:23-24 And Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24"And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Matthew 20:1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

Matthew 20:21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left."

Matthew 21:31 "Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The latter." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that the tax-gatherers and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you.

Matthew 21:43
"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.

Matthew 22:2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king, who gave a wedding feast for his son.

Matthew 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.

Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.

Matthew 25:1 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Matthew 25:34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Matthew 26:29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

Mark 1:15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

Mark 3:24 "And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

Mark 4:11 And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God; but those who are outside get everything in parables,

Mark 4:26 And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;

Mark 4:30 And He said, "How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?

Mark 6:23 And he swore to her, "Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to half of my kingdom."

Mark 9:1 And He was saying to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power."

Mark 9:47 "And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell,

Mark 10:14-15 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15"Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all."

Mark 10:23-25 And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" 24And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Mark 11:10
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!"

Mark 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.

Mark 13:8 "For nation will arise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

Mark 14:25 "Truly I say to you, I shall never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

Mark 15:43 Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.

Luke 1:33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end."

Luke 4:43 But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose."

Luke 6:20 And turning His gaze on His disciples, He began to say, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Luke 7:28
"I say to you, among those born of women, there is no one greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."

Luke 8:1 And it came about soon afterwards, that He began going about from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God; and the twelve were with Him,

Luke 8:10 And He said, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, in order that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND.

Luke 9:2 And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God, and to perform healing.

Luke 9:11 But the multitudes were aware of this and followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing.

Luke 9:27 "But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God."

Luke 9:60 But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God."

Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

Luke 10:9 and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

Luke 10:11 'Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.'

Luke 11:2 And He said to them, "When you pray, say:

'Father, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.

Luke 11:17-18 But He knew their thoughts, and said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls. 18"And if Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

Luke 11:20 "But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Luke 12:31-32 "But seek for His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. 32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.

Luke 13:18 Therefore He was saying, "What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it?

Luke 13:20 And again He said, "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

Luke 13:28-29 "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out. 29"And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.

Luke 14:15 And when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, "Blessed is everyone who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"

Luke 16:16 "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

Luke 17:20-21 Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; 21nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst."

Luke 18:16-17 But Jesus called for them, saying, "Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17"Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all."

Luke 18:24-25 And Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! 25"For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Luke 18:29 And He said to them, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,

Luke 19:11 And while they were listening to these things, He went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.

Luke 21:10 Then He continued by saying to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,

Luke 21:31 "Even so you, too, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near.

Luke 22:16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."

Luke 22:18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes."

Luke 22:29-30 and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you 30that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Luke 23:42 And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!"

Luke 23:51 (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God;

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

John 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm."

Acts 1:3 To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Acts 1:6 And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

Acts 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."

Acts 19:8 And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

Acts 20:25 "And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will see my face no more.

Acts 28:23 And when they had set a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.

Acts 28:31 preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.

Romans 14:17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

1 Cor. 4:20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power.

1 Cor. 6:9-10 Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Cor. 15:24 then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

1 Cor. 15:50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Galatians 5:21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephes. 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Ephes. 5:5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Col. 1:12-13 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

Col. 4:11 and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision; and they have proved to be an encouragement to me.

1 Thes. 2:12 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

2 Thes. 1:5 This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.

2 Tim. 4:1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:

2 Tim. 4:18 The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 1:8
But of the Son He says,

"THY THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER,
AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.

Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;

James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

2 Peter 1:11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

Rev. 1:6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Rev. 1:9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

Rev. 5:10
"And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth."

Rev. 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying,"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever."

Rev. 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,"Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.

Rev. 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain,

Rev. 17:12 "And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.

Lead Us Not Into Temptation...

2009-08-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

Consider the opening words of John Piper in his book, Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” Piper goes on to assert that, “worship is…the fuel of missions…[because] you can’t commend what you don’t cherish.”

The goal of our “Deeper Still” series is not to do more, be more loving, or joyful, or obedient – or even to try and be good. The goal of the Christian life is Jesus Christ Himself – to grow an intimate, passionate, dynamic relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Contemplative prayer is first and foremost learning how to listen -- to quiet our anxious, ADD hearts and listen for God’s word, which is alive (Hebrews 4:12) and capable of ushering us into the very presence of Trinitarian love in order to comfort, encourage, and confront us.

The Lord’s Prayer is a collection of short phrases perfectly suited to contemplation. If we pray the Lord’s Prayer in its entirety and at a moderate pace, it takes about 30 seconds to recite -- yet it takes a lifetime to plumb its contemplative depths.

“Lead us not into temptation…” -- one of the most problematic passages in the gospels. The first 3 petitions deal with the wonder of God:

God’s Name,
God’s Kingdom
God’s Will.

The second 3 petitions speak to our humanity needs:

Provision: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Pardon: “Forgive us our debts as forgive our debtors.”
Protection: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

We can also breakdown the Lord’s Prayer by considering the verbs: be hallowed, come, give, forgive, and lead.

“Be hallowed” has a different quality from the other verbs. It has the gesture of creating a still space.
“Give” and “forgive” are closely related as words in our English language. Although the (original) Greek words are not related, there is still a complementary gesture: offering and releasing.
“Come” and “lead” both imply gestures of movement. They are also complementary—the former draws near; the latter moves on, bringing us with it.

As the 6th and final petition is examined, it is important to remember that:

Temptation is not sin. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was: "tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15)
God does not tempt anyone. The book of James tells us: “Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, ‘God is trying to trip me up.’ God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer” (James 1:13, MSG).

So, what then, is temptation? The Greek word for temptation is πειρασμός (peirasmos). The root word peira means, “experience” and the ending asmos describes a “process.” Temptation literally means: a process of experience -- one we may or may not learn from.

What does, “deliver us” mean? The Greek verb, ῥύομαι (rhoumai) can be translated “rescue or deliver.” The meaning of the word is “to draw to oneself.” In essence when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are asking, Our Father who is in heaven... to draw us close (or, lead us) so that we are protected from the Evil One—Satan, our adversary, the Devil, the one who is our accuser and slanderer.

William Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas offer an important perspective on this petition, “When you pray to be…delivered…you are acknowledging that you are not in control of your fate…and that you answer to some greater power than that which the world bows before.” (From: Lord Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and Christian Life by William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Nashville: Abingdon, 1996.)

When we pray, “deliver us from evil,” we confess that evil is real and temptations trouble our souls. We admit that we are vulnerable and weak. And so the only appropriate cry is for us to pray, Rescue me. Deliver me! Or, O God, “lead me!”

Take a look at 4 other verses that speak to this issue of temptation:

“Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.” (Mat 6:6, MSG)
“Temptations are inevitable” (Matt 18:7, NLT; also Lk 17:1)
“Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.” (Lk 8:13, NASB)
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Cor 10:13, NIV)

What Are Tools To Defeat Temptation? (The first 2 are individual, the next 3 are corporate.)

Holy Conviction (as opposed to condemnation), we are to aim at wanting to be free. “The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.” (1 Tim 1:5, NLT)
We know have a choice: “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16, NASB)
The Body of Christ - loving, honest, accountable relationships
The Bible - God's Word
Gifts of the Holy Spirit

12 Foundational Tenets of Emotionlly Healthy Spirituality

2009-07-31T22:31:00.000-07:00

Adapted from Pete Scazzero...

These are further reflections on some theological underpinnings for what it means to integrate emotionally healthy spirituality into our lives.

Theology- We must root our lives and churches in the living Jesus who is God Almighty as revealed in Scripture by the Holy Spirit. We take seriously the model of the early church fathers (e.g. Ignatius of Antioch, Athanasius, Cyril of Alexandria, Basil, Gregory the Great, Augustine, Iraneus and others) who were leaders of local churches or bishops, theologians who studied Scripture seriously as they engaged culture, and monastics who prayed their theology. They sought to live in communion with the Trinity. We are not CEO’s, psychologists, social workers or orators. Rather we seek to be men and women who lead our lives from deep, experiential knowledge of God’s Word.
A Humble Spirit to Learn from the Whole Church – We affirm our evangelical roots and, at the same time, learn from the larger, global Church. We are part of a church family that goes back to Pentecost and the early church, anchoring ourselves in the Nicene Creed of 325 AD that reminds us, that we are part of “one, holy, catholic (i.e. universal) and apostolic church.” God calls us to advance His kingdom and be generous towards those streams in the church that are different from ours –- Mainline Protestant, Pentecostal et al.
A Sense of Global Church History– EHS requires a basic understanding of church history. This includes the early heresies out of which our faith was forged (e.g. gnosticism), splits through church history (East and West in 1054 AD, the Reformation, Anglican, Protestantism), and the many hard lessons learned through history.
Contemplative, Monastic Spirituality – The worldliness that dominates the church today parallels that of the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th century. Following the example of Moses, Elijah, John the Baptism and Jesus, the desert fathers fled to the desert to seek God, we too must find our deserts in the midst of our business. We can learn a great deal from the contemplative, monastic tradition as we seek to remain firmly rooted as we engage the world with the gospel. In our day, we need to develop rhythms and a deep spirituality from which we can hear God clearly and identify the idols both around and in us.
Integrity in Our Leadership – Church transformation and growth begins with our own integrity. As go the leaders, so goes the church. We must help one another, and our ministries to be truth tellers – to ourselves and others. It means a refusal to lie, exaggerate or use the ministry to bolster a false sense of self. We must also call one another to summon the courage to actually lead our people to maturity and fruitfulness regardless of the personal cost to us.
Emotionally Healthy Practices – Leading a healthy community requires mastering new practices out of which people can now relate, in Christ, in a way different than their family of origin. Clean fighting, clarifying expectations, learning to speak clearly, directly, honestly and respectfully, listening fully like Christ, exploring beneath our icebergs, for example, are new skills we bring to our board, staff teams, small groups, and communities.
The Marriage Covenant– Focusing on marriage as central to our spiritual formation is rarely talked about at seminaries or pastoral leadership conferences. This tragedy is unbiblical (1 Tim. 3:6-7) and an “elephant in the room” of our churches. If we as leaders cannot work out the power of the gospel in our own homes first, we will not be able to bring that power to our churches. For leaders who are married, this is our first priority after Christ. We receive this limit as God’s gift to us who are married. For this reason, a strong marriage and family ministry is a natural outgrowth for emotionally healthy churches.
Sexuality – Discipleship in our sexuality is central to our following of Christ. Sexuality is no longer a side issue. Learning to commune and connect with our spouses, distinguishing sensuality and sexuality, and understanding sexuality as a pointer to our marriage with Christ that will culminate in union and oneness, are all examples of the kind of gifts we now bring into our homes and churches.
Calling, Life and Work –A biblical theology eliminates the sacred/secular divide in our lives. Every Christian is called (not simply pastors and missionaries). That calling extends to every part of our lives, be it home, work, church, neighborhood, or our prayer life. Part of emotionally healthy spirituality leads to equipping our people in a theology of work. We equip and commission our people to create and shape for Christ in their workplace, push back the chaotic forces of the evil one, and build community in those places.
Preaching and Teaching – The most important element for pastors/leaders to become better preachers is to continue working on our own spiritual formation. Our preaching now flows out of a contemplative life. We pray deeply over the Word we teach, now taking the time to allow truth to gestate and be birthed through us. This is a new way of leading the church, requiring study, time, reflection and, most importantly, a life of communion with God.
Bringing Christ to Culture (Contextualization) — We are deeply committed to lead people to a deep, personal relationship with Jesus. Our challenge today is to adapt our structures and ways of doing church to best communicate Him in our rapidly changing culture. In a world of twitter, blogs, and YouTube, along with increased globalization, what will it mean for us to preach Jesus effectively in our generation? How can we be rooted in our rich, ancient past, while at the same time, break new ground in contextualizing the gospel in our cultures?
Bridging Racial, Cultural, Economic and Gender Barriers – A critical issue for the church in the 21st century is the development of leadership and churches that can bridge racial, cultural and economic barriers. We seek to apply the power of the gospel, as seen in the book of Acts and Ephesians, to break down the dividing walls that continue to keep the 21st century church segregated by race, culture and class.

Christian Meditation

2009-07-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

As a community of faith we have a vision of learning how to love. An essential part of the journey includes quieting our anxious hearts before God and learning how to listen for the voice of God. As I have shared several times, we are learning how to listen for the voice of God calling us his beloved (from Henri Nouwen). Once we grow accustomed to hearing God's affirming words and infused grace, we begin to call forth the belovedness in other people. So, contemplative spirituality is an important key. Christian meditation is closely associated to contemplative spirituality. This makes many conservative Christians nervous because it's thought to engage the mindless repetition of words (or one word) that Jesus spoke against in Matthew 6:7. I see Christian meditation launching point into the presence of God. The Lord's prayer happens to be divided up into separate phases that are perfect to meditate on. Also, consider these passages from the book of Psalms that speak to the need/benefits of Christian meditation: Psalm 1:2; 4:4; 27:4; 39:3; 48:9; 63:6; 77:6, 12; 119:15, 23, 27, 48, 52, 78, 97, 99, 117, 148; 143:5; 145:5. (Click here to go to a Bible Gateway list.)

Recently I went back and re-read one of the first books that came my way as a newbie Christ-follower in 1974. The book has become a Christian classic -- Knowing God by J.I. Packer. Packer's theology is reformed (i.e., conservative) and yet he talks easily about the need for Christian meditation. Take a look at the following excerpts:

How can we turn our knowledge about God into knowledge of God?

The rule for doing this is demanding, but simple. It is that we turn each truth that we learn about God into a matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God.

Meditation is a lost art today, a Christian people suffer grievously from their ignorance of the practice. Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. It is the activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God. Its purpose is to clear one’s mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let His truth make its full and proper impact on ones mind and heart. It is a matter of talking to oneself about God, and oneself; it is indeed, often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God’s power and grace. Its effect is ever to humble us, as we contemplate God’s greatness and glory, and our own littleness and sinfulness, and to encourage and reassure us -- ‘comfort’ us, in the old, strong, Bible sense of the word -- as we contemplate the unsearchable riches of divine mercy displayed in the Lord Jesus Christ. These were the points stressed by Spurgeon in the passage which we quoted in the beginning, and they are true. And it is as we enter more and more deeply into this experience of being humbled and exalted that our knowledge of God increases, and with it our peace, our strength, and our joy. God help us, them to put our knowledge about God to this use, that we all may in truth ‘know the Lord.’ (pgs 18-19).

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Combining Emotional Health & Contemplative Spirituality

2009-05-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

Peter Scazzero in his book Emotional Healthy Spirituality suggests that emotional health and spirituality must be integrated. He says that it is impossible to be spiritually mature while being emotionally imature. I agree more than ever. I'm wondering why the two ever got a divorce...

It is possible to have been an active, intentional follower of Christ for many years and still be emotionally unhealthy. The Church has done an excellent job at discipling our minds - but not so good at discipling people's emotions.

Scazzero suggests a type of discipleship that includes growth in emotional health and contemplative spirituality. I find his description of emotional health and contemplative spirituality to be an inspiring vision for my faith journey and my understanding of discipleship.

Emotional Health
Is concerned with such things as: naming, recognizing, and managing our own feelings; identifying with and having active compassion for others;  initiating and maintaining close and meaningful relationships;  breaking free from self-destructive patterns;  being aware of how our past impacts our present;  developing the capacity to express our thoughts and feelings clearly, both verbally and non-verbally;  respecting and loving others without having to change them;  asking for what we need, want, or prefer clearly, directly, and respectfully;  accurately self-assessing our strengths, limits, and weaknesses and freely sharing them with others;  learning the capacity to resolve conflict maturely and negotiate solutions that consider the perspectives of others;  distinguishing and appropriately expressing our sexuality and sensuality; and  grieving our losses well.

Contemplative spirituality
Focuses on classic practices and concerns such as;  awakening and surrendering to God's love in any and every situation;  positioning ourselves to hear God and remember his presence in all do;  communing with God, allowing him to fully indwell the depth of our being;  practicing silence, solitude, and a life of moving toward unceasing interactive prayer;  resting attentively in the presences of God;  understanding our earthly life as a journey of transformation toward ever-increasing union with God;  finding the true essence of who we are in God;  loving others out of a life of love for God;  developing a balanced, harmonious rhythm of life that enables us to be aware of the sacred in all of life;  adapting historic practices of spirituality that are applicable today;  allowing our Christian lives to be shaped by the rhythms of the Christian calendar more than the culture; and  living in the context of a committed community that passionately loves Jesus above all else (EHS, p.45-46).

Becoming Spiritual Mother’s and Fathers

2009-05-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Gen 1:26-27; Romans 1:1; Galatians 4:1-20; 1John 2:12-14

Here’s my presupposition: I believe the highest calling in the body of Christ for a woman is to become a mother in the faith and the highest calling for a man is to become a father in the faith. We all have equal access to those callings.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make [humankind] in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created [humankind] in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:26-27, NIV)

Two points:

All people (males and females) are made in the image of God. As such, there is a confluence of majesty and depravity in every human soul. (I believe in total depravity.) This confluence creates a mystery that philosophers and theologians have been debating about for thousands of years…
The second point is a bit of a side-point, but certainly relevant on Mother’s Day: Notice the order of creation… In the opening verses of Gen 1 we find…The basic elements created first – the sky, land, and sea. Then the sun, moon, and stars are created. This is followed by living creatures: First are fish and birds, and then land animals. Then God creates the next level: Adam – Here’s the question: Is God working in order of sophistication and complexity? If that is true then the woman is the crowning achievement of God’s sophisticated creation in Genesis – and the female is the apex of God’s creative process!!

As we build our case for the high calling of spiritual mother and father-hood, consider...

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God…” (Rom 1:1, NIV)

This verse identifies 3 distinctive callings that Paul speaks to:

A general calling – “a [bond] servant of Christ Jesus.” We ALL share that calling…
A special calling – Paul was “called to be an apostle.”
A specific calling – “set apart for the gospel [good news] of God.”

2 main points answering the question: What is a spiritual mother or spiritual father?

Someone who allows Jesus to rewrite the story of his or her life. (Age and education don’t matter.)
Someone who helps others rewrite the story of their lives. (This often begins through listening…)

This IS the process of discipleship…The apostle Paul, for example, was literally knocked off his horse and converted in an instant. Before that his life had a very different trajectory – In Phil 3:5-6 Paul announces his pedigree:

“Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”

He was well-bred, well educated, well-connected, he was zealous, and he was committed...

Acts 9 – Paul’s conversion – he was knocked to the ground he asked a very important question (v.6)...

“Who are you Lord?”

He was no longer his own…
2 very two very important questions…

Are you allowing Jesus to rewrite the story of your life?
Do you want to help others rewrite the story of their lives?

What does it mean to allow Jesus to rewrite the story of your life?

1. Understand that you are created in the image of God – we are that mixture of majesty and depravity. (The Psalms tells us that God’s glory rests on every human being.) At birth, and through our early years, we were all handed a life script – or story -- for our lives. For some of us that script included significant pain, abuse, and dysfunction.

2. Step in to unknown territory and invite Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to rewrite the script of our lives. (This can be terrifying!) At some point we come to realize that our life script has been stained with sin – we can turn our lives over to a God who is alive and available for an intimate relationship with us -- as individuals and as a community of believers. Many of us have false, internalized beliefs – that, for the most part, come out of our families of origin… We’ve believe and internalized statements like:

I don’t have a right to assert God-infused majestic power
I’m defective
I was a mistake
I am a burden
I am unlovable
I don’t belong
I can’t make mistakes
I don’t have a right to feel
I’m a sex object
We are performance oriented – we have to behave a certain way in order to gain any measure of approval in our lives

Researchers have said that there is the equivalent of millions of miles of film footage about who we are - by the time you we’re 15 years old! We got handed a script in life and, deep inside, we may still believe it. Jesus seeks to rewrite the stories of our lives – and the Bible gives us a new script. Discipleship is allowing God to rewrite the story, or script, of our lives. The 6 principles in the Emotionally Healthy Church are VERY helpful for rewriting the script of our lives

Looking beneath the surface – What is going on in our interior that is blocking healthy change and growth?
Breaking the power of the past – Our past affects our present
Living in brokenness and vulnerability – Owning our own issues and becoming appropriately self-disclosing...
Receiving the gift of limits – Rejoicing in our limits requires faith in God’s goodness.
Embracing grief and loss – EHC says this is the only way to effectively develop godly compassion. Grief and joy are connected - if we will grieve our losses, joy will be more accessible.
Making incarnation our model for living well – to learn to love well is to follow the 3 dynamics of Jesus: enter another’s world, hold on to ourselves, and then live in the tension of the 2 worlds.

3. Look for opportunities to serve and to help other people rewrite the scripts, or stories, of their lives.

This is where we look at our next passage of scripture in Gal 4:19 -

“My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you…”

Paul uses a matriarchal mothering image here to convey his commitment to love and serve people – to come alongside and help them rewrite the script of their lives…

Here's a question and answer it with one final passage. What is the distinguishing characteristic of a spiritual mother or father?

In 1 John 2:12-14 John identifies 3 basic stages to development: children, young men (or women), and fathers (and mothers) in the faith:

12I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.
13I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
14I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

The distinguishing characteristic of a mother or a father in the faith is that they know Him (Jesus Christ) – who has been from the beginning.

Our society is in desperate need of spiritual mothers and fathers to mentor and nurture others in an authentic Christian spiritually in order to serve the purpose of God in this generation and to do the works of Jesus wherever they work and live.

5 QUALITIES OF MOTHERING THAT ARE ALSO CHARACTER QUALITIES OF GOD

2009-05-07T22:25:00.000-07:00

1. Security

(God says) "Like babies you will be nursed and held in my arms. You will be bounced on my knees. I will comfort you as a mother comforts her child." Isaiah 66:12c,13b (NCV)
The door slams as the kids get home from school and what's the first thing that you hear? "Mom? Mom? Are you here?" Now the kids wouldn't say, "I need to know that your here for my security," but that's what's going on. Moms mean security.

Look at how God is wanting to provide security for those who will come to Christ:

(Jesus says) "But some will come to me - those the Father has given me - and I will never, never reject them. For I have come here from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to have my own way." Jn. 6:37,38 (TLB)

2. Healing
(Paul says) "But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children." 1 Thess 2:7 (NAS)

In Matt. chap. 15 we see a gentile woman bring her sick daughter to Jesus to be healed...she showed great resolve and determination...
"'Woman,' Jesus told her, 'your faith is large (or great), and your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed right then." Mat. 15:28 (TLB)
One way or another, mothers bring healing to the family. One of my favorite images of Linda through the years is the way she is so often hugging our children and wiping the tears away after some disappointment or a lost battle with the pavement. There's nothing like a mom wrapping her arms around you and telling you that everything's going to get better.
Mother not only bring security and healing to the family, but they also bring...

3. Sacrifice

Mothers almost always have the middle name of sacrifice. I remember catching a few minutes of a TV special last year that was paying homage to mothers. There were short takes of celebrities honoring their moms. Arsenio Hall told of the many times his mother prepared him dinner and told him that she wasn't hungry. He said that it wasn't until later in life that he realized that his mother had given him the only food they had. It seems that mothers are always giving; pouring their lives into their children.
"And [Hannah] made this vow: 'O Lord of heaven, if you look down upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you, and he'll be yours for his entire lifetime..." 1 Sam. 1:11 (TLB)
"For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jn. 3:16 (TLB)

4. Training

The 4th character quality of mothers that are also found in God is training. Mothers patiently train their children. I'm amazed to watch Linda helping the kids with multiplication tables, fractions, grammar, cooking, or cleaning - she is so patient, so even in her love and training.
"Can't you hear the voice of wisdom? She is standing at the city gates and at every fork in the road, and at the door of every house. Listen to what she says!" Pro. 8:1-4 (TLB
(God is) "like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its (wings or) pinions." Deut. 32:11 (NIV
The 5th and final quality of mothering that is also a character quality of God is...

5. Faith (a seemingly unwavering faith in the child)

One writer has said, "The mother love is like God's love; He loves us not because we are lovable, but because it is His nature to love, and because we are His children."
(Jesus says) "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings..." Matthew 23:37 (NIV)
Mothers seem to carry an unwavering faith in their children. I have a book in my library by a man who dedicates the book to his mother and this is what he said: To Mother who, through the hard years, smiled and stood fast while others smiled and turned away. Mothers almost always believe the best, no matter what.
"Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Cor. 13

These are motherly qualities women have because they were created in the image of God. You can be a biological mother without Jesus; but you cannot be a channel of the highest blessings of this world without Jesus. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOMS!!!

Our Father in Heaven – Matthew 6:9b

2009-05-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

With the Lord’s Prayer, in Mat 6 and Luke 11, Jesus teaches a universal declaration that a new community of hope and reconciliation is forming. This prayer is curiously relevant to all people in every culture throughout history – in all circumstances and in every season of life. It is a work of both literary and sacred genius.

It would be a betrayal to pray “My Father,” for the prayer of Jesus is not only a declaration of a heavenly parent, but initiates a new perspective of family intent on forsaking the land of “ME” and entering a promised land of “WE.” In this land of promise the God of the universes has reached down to us with an invitation to know and be known.

Prologue -- Matthew 6:5-8

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

1. Pray Sincerely: (v.5) Don’t be as the hypocrites who desired to only appear sincere (they were posers).

2. Pray Secretly

(v.6) Find a quiet, alone place to regularly connect with God.
(v.7) Don’t fall into the trap of meaningless repetition. This is where we build the quiet center…and learn how to be quiet before God, cultivating the ear of our hearts where we learn how to hear the voice of God calling us his beloved.
(v.8) God knows our needs before we ask. God’s ready to give us good gifts, God just enjoys – and seeks those moments of closeness.
Brennan Manning, author of the The Ragamuffin Gospel, says that prayer is “holy loitering.”
Contemplative spirituality is learning how to linger in the text of Scripture for the purpose of transformation and not just information. Asking how does this text comfort, encourage, &/or challenge me?
Thomas Aquinas said that contemplation is the simple enjoyment of the truth.
Christian meditation: The act of turning our knowledge about God into knowledge of God? (JI Packer)
One author said that prayer is disrobing our souls before God – this is who I really am…

3. Pray Specifically - The Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13)

Vs 9-10 are prayer for the establishment of God’s purposes on a cosmic scale
Vs. 11-15 are prayer for the personal (corporate) needs of current and future disciples.

9"This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven" (“in heaven” does not signify a zip code, but a vantage point.)

The Father Wound
1. Many of us have less than perfect relationships with our earthly fathers and many people have great difficulty transitioning to viewing God as a good and loving father.
2. Regardless of parental devotion, no parent can fulfill all of the child's wants, needs, or desires.
3. While these wounds can be inflicted with intent, many are unintentional yet still affect the child throughout life.
4. Children's first impressions about men come from their early experiences with their father – or the lack thereof.

5. The Father/Daughter -- The Father-Daughter relationship forms the daughter's opinions of what men are -- or should be, how they should act, especially towards her, and how she should be with them. The father's behavior towards women shapes the way she learns to relate to men. If the father withdrew his affection at the time she entered puberty, the wound only goes deeper. Did your father model how to give and receive affection and tenderness while demonstrating the proper use of strength and power? Part of the father's responsibility is to lovingly prepare his daughter for the major shifts that take place as she moves from child to adolescent to young woman and beyond. Unfortunately, many father's, themselves, had trouble adjusting and many others just weren't available to teach her to venture out from the protected realm of the home to deal with each new phase and its physical and social adjustments.

3. The Father/Son -- This relationship forms the son's opinions of how he is supposed to act and how he should treat women. Too often, however, the father wasn't around to present a healthy model for his son. Today, men have had to face the confusing challenge of learning to balance power with sensitivity, strength with feeling, and mind with heart all on their own.

Andrew Comiskey, in his book on sexual and relational healing entitled Strength in Weakness writes, “Though the Father intended for us to be roused and sharpened by our fathers, we find more often than not that our fathers were silent and distant, more shadow than substance in our lives.” This kind of a “shadow” presence is not what our heavenly Father intended for our relationships with our earthly fathers.

Jack Balswick, in his book Men at the Crossroads writes, “Tragically, many young men are growing up without a father who will affirm their leap into manhood…Often the voices they do hear are distortions of true manhood.” Because so many boys do not have a father affirming their “leap into manhood,” that transition is often filled with feelings of fear, anger and frustration, instead of confidence and security. Lonely and discouraged, boys become isolated and alienated men. In this isolated state, men continue to desire closeness and connection, but they often have no concept of how to achieve it. It is because of this quandary that many men seek out sexual fantasy in an attempt to find some sense of intimacy. Many men feel a void in their lives, often created by the wounds of the past, and some men attempt to fill that void with illicit sexuality. Men’s desire for intimacy and connection is real, powerful, and appropriate. But when men try to satisfy that desire in the form of sexual fantasies and acts, they find merely approximations or shadows of true relationship and connection.

Luke 15:11-31 - The Parable of the Prodigal Sons confronts our false assumptions about what pleases God.

Healing the Father Wound
1. Surrender to the Father’s initiating love.

The father moves toward both sons… in order to express his love and bring them in.
It’s not repentance that causes the father’s love – but the reverse. It’s surrendering to the father’s love that brings about repentance.

2. Refuse to be emotionally passive. (This was primarily the sin of the older brother, but the traveling prodigal was willing to resign himself to this.)

Emotional Passivity -- Repressed, self-imposed oppression of emotions based on an unmet longing for acceptance – usually from our fathers. This repression, or self-imposed oppression, generates anger that if allowed to turn inward will eventually express itself as either chronic depression, or passive-aggressive behavior.
Awakening the passive soul begins with confessing the sin of deadening our soul and making conscious choices to (go ahead and) feel the sadness, the grief, the sorrow -- and ultimately the joy. (We have learned some of the principles of healthy grief and loss from EHC)

Sadness opens the heart to what was meant to be and is not.
Grief opens the heart to what was not meant to be and is.
Sorrow breaks the heart as it exposes the damage we've done to others as a result of our unwillingness to wildly pursue God’s grace and truth.

3. Refuse to mistrust.

Reengages the God given desire to be concerned about the temporal and eternal destiny of those who have harmed us. This transfers trust to God and releases us to care, to be kind, and to authentically comfort others.
It is not being gullible or stupid - "be wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Mat. 10:16).
To care is to use all that we are for the good of others while not walling off the deep parts of our soul.
The process towards deep caring begins with admitting there is sadness.
Grief admits there are scars that can be removed only in heaven.
Godly sorrow begins to develop when we begin to see that our demand for God to prove He cares is a mockery of the Cross (which sufficient proof of His trustworthiness).

4. Refuse to deny passion.

Passion can be defined as the deep response of the soul to life: the freedom to rejoice and the freedom to weep.
A refusal to deny, or despise, passion embraces both pain and pleasure.
A fear of passion makes it nearly impossible to be fully present with other people.
It's refusing to flee back into the numbing - whatever that is
It is admitting that while I may be a mess, I AM ALIVE!

What Is Denial?

2009-04-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

Denial has been defined as “a false system of beliefs that are not based on reality” and “a self-protecting behavior that keeps us from honestly facing the truth.”

As kids we all learned various coping skills. They came in handy when we didn’t get the attention we wanted from our parents and others or to block our pain and our fears. For a time these coping systems worked. But as the years progressed they can confuse and cloud our view of the truth of our lives. If we retained our childish methods of coping, our perceptions of reality became increasingly more unrealistic and distorted. Our coping skills could have grown into denial, and many of our relationships may have ended up broken or less fulfilling than they could have been.

Did you ever deny that your parents had problems? Did you ever deny that you had problems? The truth is, most of us can all answer "yes" to these questions. For some of us, that denial turned to shame and guilt.

Denial is the “Pink Elephant” sitting in the middle of the living room. They are the things no one in the family talks about or acknowledges. Do any of the following comments sound familiar to you?

• “Can’t we stop talking about it? Talking only makes it worse.”
• “If we don’t talk about it, maybe it will go away.”
• “Let’s pretend that it didn’t really happen.”
• “If I tell her that it hurts me when she says that, I’m afraid she will leave me.”
• “He really doesn’t drink that much.”
• “It really doesn’t hurt when he does that; I’m fine!”
• “She drinks more than I do.”
• “He's been married three times; I’ve only been married twice.”
• “I eat because you make me so mad!”
• “If you didn’t nag me all the time, I wouldn’t ...”
• “Look honey, I have a tough job; I work hard. I need a few drinks to relax. It doesn’t mean that I have a problem.”

These are phases of DENIAL.
To grow and mature we must first face and admit our denial.

“You can’t heal a wound by saying it’s not there!” (Jeremiah 6:14, TLB)

Effects of Denial

Disables our feelings
Energy lost
Negates growth
Isolates us from God
Alienates us from our relationships
Lengthens the pain

The D in denial stands for DISABLES our feelings.
Hiding our feelings, living in denial, freezes our emotions and binds us. Understanding and feeling our feelings is where we find freedom.
tells us:

“They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of destructive habits—for a man is a slave of anything that has conquered him.” (2 Peter 2:19, GNB)

The basic test of freedom is not what we're free to do, it’s what we're free not to do! We find freedom to feel our true feelings when we find Jesus and step out of denial.

The E stands for ENERGY lost.
A major side-effect of denial is anxiety. Anxiety causes us to waste precious energy dealing with past hurts and failures and the fear of the future. It is only in the present that positive change can occur. Worrying about the past and dreading the future makes us unable to live and enjoy God’s plans for us in the present.
We let our fears and our worries paralyze us, but the only lasting way we can be free from them is by giving them to God.

“He frees the prisoners,... he lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads.” (Psalm 146:7, TLB)

If we will transfer the energy required to maintain our denial into learning God’s truth, a healthy love for others and ourselves will occur. As we depend more and more on Jesus Christ we will see the light of truth and reality.

The N stands for NEGATES growth.
We are as sick as our secrets and we cannot grow until we are ready to step out of our denial into the truth. God is waiting to take our hand and bring us out.

“They cried to the Lord in their troubles, and he rescued them! He led them from the darkness and shadow of death and snapped their chains” (Psalm 107:13–14, TLB).

Eventually we come to understand that God never wastes a hurt; God will never waste our darkness. But God can’t use it unless we step out of denial into the light of His truth.

The I stands for ISOLATES us from God.
Adam and Eve are a great example of how secrets and denial separate us from true fellowship with God. After they sinned, their secret separated them from God. Genesis 3:7 tells us that Adam and Eve hid from God because they felt naked and ashamed. Adam tried to rationalize. He said to God,

“The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree” (Genesis 3:12).

First he tried to blame God, saying, “The woman you put here with me ...” Then he tried to blame it on Eve: “She gave me some fruit.” God’s light shines on the truth. Our denial keeps us in the dark.

“God is light, in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:5–7)

The A stands for ALIENATES us from our relationships.
Denial tells us we are getting away with it. We think no one knows, but they do. But while denial may shield us from the hurt, it also keeps us from helping ourselves or the people we love the most. We don’t dare reveal our true selves to others for fear of what they will think or say if they knew the real us. We must protect ourselves—our secrets—at any cost. So we isolate ourselves and thereby minimize the risk of exposure and possible rejection from others. But at what price? The eventual loss of all our important relationships.

What’s the answer?

“Stop lying to each other; tell the truth, for we are parts of each other and when we lie to each other we are hurting ourselves.” (Ephesians 4:25, LB)

It is always better to tell the ugly truth rather than a beautiful lie.

Finally, the L stands for LENGTHENS the pain. We have the false belief that denial protects us from our pain. In reality, denial allows our pain to fester and grow and to turn into shame and guilt. Denial extends our hurt and multiplies our problems.

Truth, like surgery, may hurt for a while -- but it cures.

“I will give you back your health again and heal your wounds.” (Jeremiah 30:17, TLB)

Addiction - A Problem for All People

2009-04-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

I came across this on my computer and thought it was excellent...

All people are addicted to something, maintains author Gerald May. "All of us suffer from addiction," May writes in his book Addiction and Grace. "The psychological, neurological and spiritual dynamics of full-fledged addiction are actively at work within every human being," he continues. "We are all addicts in every sense of the word.

Moreover, our addictions are our own worst enemies. They enslave us with chains of our own making." While many people do not have a problem with alcohol, drugs, tobacco or gambling, they may have problems with anger, coffee, computers, or golf -- and the list goes on, May insists. And while some addictions are more physically and emotionally destructive than others, all addictions are spiritually destructive, he says.

That is because all addictions are spiritual in nature, May notes. "I am convinced that all human beings have an inborn desire for God," writes May, director for Research and Program Development at the Shalem Institute in Washington. "Whether we are consciously religious or not, this desire is our deepest longing and our most precious treasure. It gives us meaning. ...

The yearning is the essence of the human spirit; it is the origin of our highest hopes and most noble dreams." Unfortunately, that inborn desire can never be filled in this life, and that places humans at dis-ease.

Many people respond by repressing or misidentifying the longing, May says, but the greatest danger is addiction - when something other than God becomes the focus of attention, energy and desire.

"(Addictions) become preoccupations and obsessions; they come to rule our lives ... ," May says. "(That is) why addiction is the most powerful psychic enemy of humanity's desire for God."
The Bible calls it idolatry, May says.

"Addiction makes idolaters of us all, because it forces us to worship these objects of attachment, thereby preventing us from truly, freely loving God and one another."

"Addiction is when you have no choice," May said in an interview. "You feel compelled. It doesn't
matter what we're talking about when it's a matter of compulsion rather than freedom.

"And the spiritual importance of that is that we're meant to be free. ... So anything that hinders that freedom is a problem." It is spirituality gone awry.

"Saint Augustine once said that God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them," May writes. "If our hands are full, they are full of things to which we are addicted. And not only our hands, but also our hearts, minds and attention are clogged with addiction.

"Our addictions fill up spaces within us, spaces where grace might flow."

May acknowledges that most people would rather see addiction as a disease or affliction that other people have. But he is adamant in his view that addiction is something no one escapes. Indeed, humans are faced with the prospect of struggling with addictions throughout their lives, May says.

There is only one answer - the grace of God, May says.

"Grace is the most powerful force in the universe," May writes. "It can transcend ... addiction and every other internal or external power that seeks to oppress the freedom of the human heart. Grace is where our hope lies."

Some people see dealing with addictions simply as a matter of willpower, May says. Unfortunately, many of these simply fall into the trap of trading a more destructive addiction for a less destructive one. They are reforming behavior, rather than transforming their desires, May says. May calls such transformation "deliverance," which, he says, does not remove one's addiction but enables a person to make a change in behavior. May does not deny deliverance has a miraculous quality. "(But) the real miracle was that avoidance became possible; the person could actually do it. Deliverance does not remove a person's responsibility; it does empower the person to exercise responsibility simply, gently and effectively." How deliverance comes is a matter of mystery, May says. People cannot create such a moment of grace and enabling - but they can pray and be open and ready to respond to God.

They can choose to live openly before God, to admit weaknesses and present themselves to God just as they are, May says. They can choose to live responsibly and to seek and follow God's guidance. Enabled by God, they can choose to stop their addictive behavior, he says - to say "no" and keep saying "no" to temptation. One joins his or her will with divine will and allows God's grace to enable a change. "Here, finally, is the proper place of willpower in the spiritual life," May notes. "We bring our intention, our effort, our strength and all else that we can muster to the cause of love."

People can expect to fail and give in to temptation from time to time, but grace is always present, May says. Some people shy away from that idea, May notes. They look for a God who will come in and deliver them once and for all from addictions and the hardships of life. It does not work that way, May insists. Instead, the call of God is to focus on God as the source of true security and to risk that God is trustworthy. Answering that call takes honesty, May points out. "We have unconsciously been saying no to God in countless areas of our lives all along.

Honesty simply asks if we are willing to acknowledge some of this.

Can we stop hiding our secret desires and start claiming them openly before God, who already knows about them anyway? ...

"Honesty before God requires the most fundamental risk of faith we can take: the risk that God is good, that God does love us unconditionally. It is in taking this risk that we rediscover our dignity. To bring the truth of ourselves, just as we are, to God, just as God is, is the most dignified thing we can do in this life."

HOW TO HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD (IS 30:1-26)

2009-04-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

Focus: v. 21 “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’"

3 PARTS: How NOT to Hear; How TO Hear; and the Benefits of Those Who CAN Hear

1. How NOT to hear (Is 30:1-14):

Woe to the Obstinate Nation
1 "Woe to the obstinate children," declares the LORD, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin;
2 who go down to Egypt [place of bondage -- and where we tend to return to medicate] without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh's protection, to Egypt's shade for refuge.
3 But Pharaoh's protection will be to your shame, Egypt's shade will bring you disgrace.
9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction.
10 They say to the seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.

2. How TO Hear:

v15: For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said,
‘In repentance and rest you will be saved,
In quietness and trust is your strength.’
But you were not willing,

• It seems to say that salvation is the result of repentance and rest and that inner strength, or maturity, comes from quietness and trust / confidence.
• Following is an attempt to unpack those 4 words: repentance, rest, quietness, and confidence.

A. Repentance -- Shuwbah (shü·bä') – Literally means to return. The metaphorical meaning is conversion.

Repentance is not only a turning away from sin, but also a turning to God.
In his book The Wounded Heart, Dr. Dan Allender records some penetrating yet refreshing definitions:
Repentance is an about-face movement from denial and rebellion to truth and surrender.
Repentance involves the response of humble hunger, bold movement, and wild celebration when faced with the reality of our fallen state and the grace of God.
It is a shift in perspective as to where life is found.
It is melting into the warm arms of God, received when it would be so understandable to be spurned."

B. Rest – Nachath (nakh'·ath) – Literally: a letting down, or letting go. It is a Hebraic reference to death.

Job 17:16 “resting together in the dust.”
The invitation to become an active, intentional follower of Christ is to engage an ongoing cycle of death and resurrection.
That cycle of death and resurrection continues after our initial salvation
Too understand this is an important key that unlocks growth in Christ.
Any hope we have of living a life of integrity, wholeness, and health is dependent on dying and rising with Jesus Christ.
The more we are willing to die to our tenacious control of life, the more God is able to resurrect his life in us.
When we surrender our moral failures, our sinful choices to him, he will raise out of their ashes a brand-new start.
When we cry out for help in our problems, he will give us insight and direction we wouldn't have even dreamed possible.
And when we have challenges that are beyond us, it is Christ’s resurrection power that gives us strength and wisdom.
And finally, the more we give over our worry about the future---the what-ifs, the worst-case scenarios---the clearer his guidance will become for us. The secret of fullness of life is dying to our arrogant, willful self and allowing the risen Christ to express his life through us.

C. Quietness – Shaqat (shä·kat') – This word speaks to the building, or development, of an ongoing rhythm of rest. It also speaks to the absence of fear. (It is the quiet center that we will be examining in the days ahead in our Deeper Still series.)

Heb 4:9-10 – “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.”
It is also about growing a quiet center in our hearts -- where we enjoy communion with God.
What does communion with God mean? It means that we are creating space in our lives to be with Christ…what does that mean?

(Nouwen) says, “To pray is to listen…” To encounter Christ is to learn how to listen. The work of prayer – or growing intimacy with Christ -- is to create that space and to learn how to listen.
What are we listening for? To pray is to listen to (or for) the One who calls you, my beloved… -- This is what Jesus heard from his Father when he came up out of the water at his baptism.
To pray is to let that voice speak to the center of your being, to your guts, and let that voice resound in your whole being. Who am I? I am the beloved. That's the voice Jesus that Jesus heard throughout his life and his ministry.
As a people, a community of Christ-followers, we are called to operate out of the understanding that we are beloved.
The definition of obedience… (The church has made “obedience” a “religious” word, not a spiritual word.) The primary action of Christian obedience is for us to make room in our lives to hear God call us beloved.

D. Trust / Confidence – Bitchah (bit·khä') – Confidence

In the early stages of the building of the Golden Gate Bridge 23 people fell to their deaths. The contractor spent $100,000.00 on a net that was stretched underneath the structure. During the remaining construction time only 10 people fell into the net; and productivity rose by 25%. Why? Because the workers had greater confidence!

OLD TESTAMENT USAGE -- The basic idea has to do with firmness or solidi¬ty. The word expresses that sense of well-being and security which result from having some¬thing or someone in whom to place confi¬dence.
NEW TESTAMENT USAGE -- The Greek word and its derivative are used a total of 40 times and most often describe a joyful, con¬tented expectation as well as bold and effective speaking.

WHAT PRODUCES CONFIDENCE?

Proverbs 14:26 - "In the fear of the Lord (seeing Him as He really is) there is strong confidence." Developing a holy respect and reverence for the Lord will produce confidence in our lives.
Acts 4:13 - "Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” Intimacy with Jesus will produce confidence in our lives.
1 Timothy 3:13 - "Those who serve . . . obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus." By serving we obtain confidence.
1 John 2:28 - "Little children, abide in Him, so when He appears, we may have confidence." The Greek definition for the word abide means to stay in a given place, state, relationship, or expectancy. I would expand on that by adding that to abide is to acknowledge our life source. Abiding in Jesus produces confidence.

Isaiah 30:18 – “Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.”

3. The BLESSINGS accorded to those who can hear:

22And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, "Be gone!"

23Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture.

24Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.

25On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

26The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun [reflective], and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.

Developing Practical Skills to Love Well

2009-04-21T05:39:00.000-07:00

Learning how to love (well) is our vision statement, or theme, for this year. This post will outline some of the practical skills in our quest for an authentic Christian spirituality...

Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them." Matt 22:37-40 (MSG)

“Love reveals the beauty of another person to themselves” --Jean Vanier, friend and mentor of Henri Nouwen

Loving well is the essence of true spirituality – and the culmination of our focus on emotional health from a biblical perspective.
Loving well involves authentic interaction (or communication) with God, with ourselves, and with other people.
Jesus epitomized – and modeled spiritual and emotional health for us.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were not able to make the same connection with people as Jesus did. They were competent, diligent, zealous, they were absolutely committed to having God as the Lord of their lives…they memorized entire books of the OT, they prayed five times a day, they faithfully tithed off all their increase -- plus gave money to the poor, and they evangelized – yet there is little evidence that they delighted in people.

INCARNATIONAL LOVE

“The WORD became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes.” John 1:14, MSG

The word incarnate come from a Latin word that means: in-flesh. The infinite Creator and Sustainer of the universe limited himself to the confines of human history and a human body.
Today the incarnated presence of God is intended to be the Church – identified in the Bible as the Body of Christ –you and me.

3 Dynamics of Incarnational Love…

1. Enter another’s world. James 1:19; Philippians 2:5-8

Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every [person] be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry. James 1:19 (AMP)

What does it mean to enter “another’s” world? It means to be fully present with another person.

To care means, first of all, to be present for each other. --Henri Nouwen

Put your own agenda on hold
Look people in the eye
Practice reflective listening: Allow the other person to speak until their thought is completed and then try and restate their thoughts in your own words
Don’t try to fix people.
Be cognizant of body-language (only 10% of communication is verbal)
Validate people’s feelings. We can validate without being in agreement. (Feelings are neither right, nor wrong, they just are.)
Try not to become defensive…

2. Hold on to your world. Ephesians 2:10; John 15:15

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created we anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for we long ago. Eph 2:10, (NLT)

In EHC Pete Scazzero states that this dynamic (holding on to our world) is the most difficult and challenging principle to apply. He asserts...

“It is the key to conflict resolution. It is the key to responding in a mature loving way when other people push and challenge your desires, values, and goals inside or outside the church. It is the key to serving as a leader, in any capacity…Without this ability to hold on to yourself, it is not possible to be an imaginative, creative leader who breaks from the status quo and leads people to new places.” (p. 185)

What does it mean to “hold on to your world”?

Recognize that we almost always have a choice. (The choice often involves choosing between “peacekeeper” or “peacemaker.”) Peacemakers create false peace.
Holding on to your world: Determine and set clear boundaries...
Identify and be clear about your limits. Don’t allow people to make demands of you. Allow people to make requests, but not demands. If you hear a request that makes you uncomfortable, your discomfort may be a signal that this is an attempt to invade your boundaries.
Learn to say The Graceful “NO.”
“Good boundaries attract good friends.”

3. Live in the tension of both. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7; Matthew 22:37-40

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Cor 13:4-7

Living in the tension of another’s world and your own world happens when we are willing to authentically connect with people across our differences. Civil, or respectful, dialogue
The space between ourselves and another person is to be considered sacred space.
When authentic, incarnational Christian love, or spirituality, is released in a relationship God’s presence is manifest.
When we ignore conflict we create a false peace. Jesus was murdered because He disrupted the false peace all around him. True peacemaking disrupts the false peace.
We cannot have true peace in the Church, or society, with pretense and façade.

A Paraphrase the Lord’s Prayer from Dante's Purgatorio

2009-04-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

As we move into our Deeper Still series we are seeking to examine the Lord's Prayer from a contemplative perspective. Following is the prayer of the “proud” in Dante’s Purgatorio from The Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia).

Dante was a Florentine poet of the Middle Ages. His central work is the Divine Comedy which is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature. (Dante is also called the "Father of the Italian language" because TDC was written in a new language he called "Italian," based on the regional dialect of Tuscany, with some elements of Latin and of the other regional dialects. By creating a poem of epic structure and philosophic purpose, he established that Italian was more than suitable for the highest sort of expression.)

The Divine Comedy describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso), guided first by the Roman poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, the subject of his love (and of another of his works).

It should be noted that Purgatorio can be appreciated without necessitating a belief in Purgatory -- which Catholicism (as well as Methodism and Judaism) sees as a series of after-death purification processes. We can see it as simply grappling with our own tendency toward pride and arrogance...

Purgatorio Canto XI:1-36 -- The Proud Paraphrase the Lord’s Prayer

“Our Father, You who dwell within the heavens—
but are not circumscribed by them—out of
Your greater love for Your first works above,
Praised be Your name and Your omnipotence,
By every creature, just as it is seemly,
To offer thanks to Your sweet effluence.
Your kingdom’s peace come unto us, for if
It does not come, then though we summon all
Our force, we cannot reach it of our selves.
Just as Your angels, as they sing Hosanna,
Offer their wills to You as sacrifice,
So may men offer up their wills to You.
Give unto us this day the daily manna
Without which he who labors most to move
Ahead through this harsh wilderness falls back.
Even as we forgive all who have done us
Injury, may You, benevolent,
Forgive, and do not judge us by our worth.
Try not our strength, so easily subdued,
Against the ancient foe, but set it free
From him who goads it to perversity.
This last request we now address to You,
Dear Lord, not for ourselves—who have no need—
But for the ones whom we have left behind.”

Can the Church Become Post-Racial?

2009-04-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

First of all, let my apologize for dropping the ball on a consistent blog during the last few weeks. I'd also like to say, "Way to go..." to those at the Mid-Peninsula Vineyard who fasted during the Lent season. If you have any good stories or testimonies about how God met you, or insights you received -- please let me know. And thanks to Bruce for hanging our "sin-cross" in the sanctuary. I'd like for us to have the opportunity to view it for the next several weeks -- and remember that, "Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ" (Rom 6:5, MSG).

Today I'm posting an interview between Efrem Smith and Spencer Burke dialoguing about the possibilities of a post-racial church. I think it will be helpful to jump-start our conversation about the possibilities. You can download questions for personal reflection or small group dialogue here.

Speaking the Truth in Love

2009-03-23T20:42:00.000-07:00

Following is the outline of the message from a week ago on conflict resolution - which was entitled "Speaking the Truth in Love."

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. (Mat 5:9)
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. (1 Tim 4:14-14, emphasis added)

Getting emotionally and spiritually healthy will create conflict in our relationships…

A. Models of some basic and overlapping dysfunctions:

1. Addictive Behavior – There are, at least, 2 types of addictive behavior:

Ingestive addictions where we abuse substances like alcohol, drugs, or food; or ??
Process addictions like work, sex, money, gambling, or relationships.
Definition of addiction: wherever denial is present.

2. Co-dependency -- A conscious, or sub-conscious, attempt to protect the addictive behavior in another person – or people -- from suffering the effects of addictive behavior.

3. ACOAs can also be co-dependent, because ACOAs often come from broken or dysfunctional homes.

B. THE REASON FOR CONFLICT
If we're going to overcome conflict in our lives, it will help us to understand first of all the reason that it’s there. The Bible is very clear about this - in fact it's almost too blunt...

Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you. (James 4:1, NCV)

C. RESOLVING CONFLICT -- There are practical steps that the Bible speaks about that will help us to resolve the conflicts in our lives…

1. Become a sincere follower of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:16 - As parts of the same body, our anger against each other has disappeared. For both of us have been reconciled to God and so the feud ended at the cross.
Paul's talking about conflict between nations here but this works between people too. The feud ended at the cross. God's able to solve the conflicts in our lives.

2. Become a responder, not a reactor. How?

Prayer. Before you react to the other person, talk to God about it. In fact, that may resolve it right there! You may find it's mostly your problem anyway.
James 1:5 -- If you want to know what God wants you to do ask Him and He will gladly tell you.
Seek out wisdom (become accountable; mentoring constellation)
Proverbs 11:14 (AMP) -- Where no wise guidance is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

3. Seek first to understand – and then to be understood (or, learning how to listen)

Philippians 2:3 -- Don’t be selfish. Don’t just think about your own affairs but be interested in others’ too, in what they are doing. Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ.
The Greek word for “interested” is “scopos”. It’s the same word we get the words microscope or telescope from – focus in on the needs that they have in their lives.

4. Be in touch, or get in touch, with your own issues – and own them.

Matthew 7:3 -- Why do you notice the little piece of dust in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the big piece of wood in your own eye. First, take the wood out of your own eye and then you will clearly see to take the dust out of your friend’s eye.
Even if it’s a little speck in your eye it’s going to create a blind spot.
Where do you feel the most challenged by EHC??

5. Establish Guidelines.

Psalm 119:153 (MSG) -- Your mercies, God, run into the billions; following your guidelines, revive me.
Matthew 18:15-17 becomes for us a guideline for resolving conflict:

If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along...

Sometimes, we need to ask for help…
Churches (really, all organizations – and families) need “grievance procedures”…
Passive/Aggressive behavior vs. forbearance

6. Use appropriate language

Pro 15:4 (MSG) -- Kind words heal and help; cutting words wound and maim.
James 1:26 -- If anyone thinks himself to be [Godly], and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

Some basic skills:

Practice reflective listening (mirroring - or paraphrasing).
Validate the other person’s feelings (feelings are neither right nor wrong)
Body language is important… (A part of EH is about not sending mixed signals – body language, tone of voice, etc.)
Never use the words always or never.

Some phrases that help with conflict resolution…

“Help me to understand…”
“Can you tell me more about that?"
"How did you feel about that?"
“That's got to be hard."
"You make sense to me because..."
“I can understand that."
"That makes sense to me.”

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Tim 1:5, emphasis added)

Lent Meditation - Saturday 3/14

2009-03-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

Missional Engagement of Our Culture

Begin -- God calls the church to be a counterculture for the common good.
Dwell -- When we live closely with others, we find new opportunities to minister.
Unite -- We serve more effectively and joyfully when we serve together.
Reconcile -- God wants to heal our racial and ethnic divisions, especially in and through his church.
Invest -- Transforming entire communities begins when we give ourselves to people, one by one.
Abide -- Spiritual disciplines help us to abide in Christ so we can serve faithfully.

Lent Meditation - Monday 3/9

2009-03-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. --Romans 5:6-8

MEDITATION

On January 26, 2001, a drunken Japanese man fell onto the tracks at a Tokyo commuter station. Two men immediately jumped down to rescue him, but an oncoming train struck and killed all three. The incident pricked the conscience of a whole nation when it became known that one of the would-be rescuers, 26-year-old Lee Soo Hyun, was a South Korean national who had come to Japan as a student. The event raised the question, “Why would an outsider like Mr. Lee risk his life attempting to save an enemy?” Historical relations between Japan and Korea seethe with animosity. Most recently, Koreans suffered under Japan’s occupation of their homeland from 1910-1945. Today, more than a half million people in Japan live as second-class citizens because they are descendents of Koreans forcefully transferred to Japan during that period, often as slave labor, including Mr. Lee’s grandfather. The Christ-like act of sacrifice by Mr. Lee (apparently not a professing Christian) will not fade away quickly. Four years after Mr. Lee’s death, organizers in South Korea and Japan joined hands to produce a biographical movie on Mr. Lee, We Will Not Forget You, released this in 2006.

The Father called Jesus not only to die on behalf of us sinners, but also to suffer for us, His enemies (as Romans 5:10 starkly renders it). As adopted children of the King, we rightly bask in the warmth of God’s mercy. Yet might we not experience more powerfully the expanse of His grace by often reflecting on the incomparable suffering Jesus endured from us in our enemy state—before He “brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves”? (Col. 1:13)

Think of it! We flogged Him…He washes our sins away! We spat on Him…He loves us! We deemed Him worthless…He pays the ultimate price for us! We treated the King like dirt…He gives us a royal welcome! We were utterly helpless, downright unworthy, intrinsically sinful, profoundly hopeless, intensely rebellious. To such a person—you, me, everyone—Jesus, the Suffering Servant, comes at just the right time to offer deliverance from the prison of sin, despair, and self-reliance. Likewise, if we endure hardship in spreading this Good News as human history unfolds relentlessly toward its climax, our suffering is ripe with meaning, never in vain, because it lives out the heart of the One who accepted the role of Sufferer…even for His enemies.

The challenge: how will we walk in the footsteps of our willing-to-suffer, willing-to-die Master? What does it mean to share His sufferings? (1 Pet. 4:13) The cross can become the core of our passion as we honestly recognize our sin that made it necessary and give ourselves to “jump on the tracks” if necessary so that others might come to know the cross.

REFLECTION

How did you, as Jesus’ enemy, cause Him to suffer? What do you want to say to Him?
How are you experiencing the friendship with God that Jesus has given you?
Do you have an enemy you need to love, or a persecutor to whom you should reach out?

Roger Hederstedt, CRM

2009-03-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

I think it helps to keep in mind that Jesus was both fully human and fully God -- not just God in an earth-suit. It's a mystery, yet it helps us to understand what he went through.

"Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion" (Phil 2:5-8, MSG)

Lent Meditation - Thur 3/5 - Desert Song (This Is Our God)

2009-03-04T17:33:00.000-08:00

This is a new song we're singing at the church. While the story is tragic, the outcome is honest and real -- and worshipful. Enjoy...

Lent Meditation - Wed 3/4

2009-03-04T08:20:00.000-08:00

Matthew 21:28-32, NLT

“But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. 30 Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go. 31 “Which of the two obeyed his father?” They replied, “The first.” Then Jesus explained his meaning: “I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. 32 For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.

I’m most like the older son. My first tendency is to react (rebellion is one of my issues). I’ve learned how to wait, think, pray, and seek input from mentors and friends. So, now I’m more responsive. I re-turn and, in the end, I usually make it to the “vineyard.”

Here’s another verse that helps us think about re-turning: God’s kindness leads us toward repentance (Romans 2:4).

It is not repentance that saves me; repentance is the sign that I realize what God has done in Christ Jesus. --Oswald Chambers

There is no justification without sanctification, no forgiveness without renewal of life, no real faith from which the fruits of new obedience do not grow. --Martin Luther

God is good.

Some Reasons We Don’t Like to Talk About Race

2009-03-02T22:08:00.000-08:00

One of the things I get very excited about as I consider the opportunities before MPVCF this year is for us to engage in respectful dialogue over the issue of race. (BTW, I received some helpful input that "racism" can be a buzzword for all races and that it may be more appropriate to describe our opportunity as,"cross-cultural communication." See above.) In this season of Lent it would be great if we took some time to think and pray about how we, as individuals and as a church, might make a way for an open respectful dialogue to take place?? What follows is a blog from a second-generation Korean-American who is a pastor named Eugene Cho. The name of the church is Quest Church and it is in Seattle. Please consider his thoughts...

One thing that is clear to me is that the church is quite silent. We talk often of reconciliation that’s necessary between God and humanity but need to keep pushing forward about how our faith informs and transforms our relationship with one another.

In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3.28/The Message)

Why is racism such a difficult topic and issue — including for Christians? Well, here are some of my reasons:

It’s hard work. And people can be lazy. And talking about racism is an exhausting conversation because it brings up some deep questions. Reconciliation is hard work.
Something called ‘Life.’ There’s lots of other things going on — umm, like the financial recession.
Confusion. People don’t like confusion. Folks like clarity and certainty. We like answers.
Conflict. People don’t like conflict and, well, the conversation of racism provokes conflict and strong opinions.
Fear. People are afraid. Afraid to consider the possibilities that we’re racist, prejudiced, or implicated by our silence. Afraid to consider that we live as victims in a “victimized” mentality. Afraid to consider that we need to “give up” something. Afraid to “count the costs.”
Apathy. People don’t care. We’re apathetic. And this is probably the scariest reason.
What? We don’t think it exists. What racism? What prejudice? And this is probably as scary as #6.
How? People don’t know how to talk about racism. We don’t have an agreed upon framework to engage the conversation and move toward peace and reconciliation.
We want to forget the past and just “move forward.” It’s over. Heck, Obama is president. It’s a new day.
[Insert additional reasons].

The topics of racism, prejudice, and reconciliation are indeed painful conversations. While I don’t necessarily believe that the answer lies exclusively with the church, I do believe the answer lies with the gospel. It lies ultimately with the message of ’shalom’ that God intended for humanity to live in fellowship with God and with one another — because we are created in the image of God.

Check out this video about one way we can engage the discussion about racism. Far too often, we end up implicating ‘the person’ leading to lots of anger, confusion, and defensiveness. Many times, it’s best to isolate the act and begin from there.