Book has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Thomas Nelson
Monday, March 05, 2012
The Love and Respect Experience
Book has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Thomas Nelson
Thursday, January 05, 2012
A different kind of 1%
Not sure how this plays out when you look at the Occupy Movement, but it reinforces something that I have thought about for a long time.
It only takes $34,000 a year, after taxes, to be among the richest 1% in the world.
Friday, November 25, 2011
The Road to Missional
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
How much does "security" cost?
Recently I met with a congressional office to deliver postcards from Mennonites calling for cuts to the military budget. The staffer listened politely and then said, “Well, you know that’s not exactly how people up here [on Capitol Hill] see things.”Read the whole article here.There are plenty of practical reasons why the military budget can and should be cut, which analysts across the political spectrum now point out. Over the past decade, the Pentagon’s base budget — not counting war spending — has nearly doubled, taking valuable resources away from other priorities. There are vast amounts of wasteful spending at the Pentagon, which cannot even pass an audit. Weapons systems regularly overrun their budgeted cost, sometimes by billions of dollars. A University of Massachusetts study showed that federal spending on education, health care and clean energy all produce more jobs per dollar than does military spending.Behind the facts and figures lie some challenging questions that are rarely addressed. How much spending on “security” is ever going to be enough? Do weapons keep us safe or sometimes put us in greater danger? What about the impact on others around the world? Are they safer because of U.S. military might?
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Hmmm....
"When I turn on the television and see “family values” conservatives jumping to Cain’s defense within hours of the first charges surfacing, or Penn State students rioting over the decision of their university’s Board of Trustees to fire Paterno, I have to ask myself, “What has happened to this supposedly Christian nation"?
I know that in the United States defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty. But I am not talking about the law here. I am talking about where our hearts incline, and whether they incline in a Christian direction."
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Close Enough to Hear God Breathe: The Great Story of Divine Intimacy
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
A question worth asking...
Your thoughts...?
Here’s a bold claim: the church should put aside all other declarations when it comes to engaging the LGBTQ issues of our day, and start by gathering around the affirmation “We Are Broken.”... Arriving at this posture, I suggest, is the starting point for the engagement of this issue. Of course it is the posture that must be re-inhabited by the community of Jesus Christ whenever she is confronted by any fork in the road that comes when a church body is confronted with a new and or conflictual issue in culture. This posture, labeled by the words “We Are Broken,” is always the starting point for the process of discernment in Christ. We come together under the common agreement “We are Broken” and then invite others to join in as we seek the way forward for healing, redemption and new creation.You can read the whole post at Reclaiming the Mission. I like what he is saying, but am curious if others have thoughts or counter-points to Fitch's ideas. Leave a comment below and help me work through this in my own head. Thanks.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Have you ruined your life...?
“The person who never makes a mistake and always manages to obey the rules is often a compassionless person, because he sees people for whom the wheels have fallen off and he wonders what’s wrong with them, but the person who feels that he has ruined his life often has more capacity for humility and compassion.” (Brian McLaren)
Taken from a great article about a book that I highly recommend.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Death Interrupted...
-- Shane Claiborne
Read a great article by Shane here.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
9/11
Everyone is posting something today, 10 years after 9/11. My heart breaks for those who lost loved ones on that day. As a pastor I walk through loss with people on a regular basis...it should never be trivialized. It's one of the reasons I long for the return of Jesus, when He makes all things new, when death dies, and life fully comes. So today I pray for all who ache due to what they lost on 9/11. But I thought Will Willimon's comments in Christianity Today poignantly share something that the church lost (or lost sight of) that day. Something less tangible than the life of a loved one, but something very profound. He writes...
On 9/11 I thought, For the most powerful, militarized nation in the world also to think of itself as an innocent victim is deadly. It was a rare prophetic moment for me, considering Presidents Bush and Obama have spent billions asking the military to rectify the crime of a small band of lawless individuals, destroying a couple of nations who had little to do with it, in the costliest, longest series of wars in the history of the United States.
The silence of most Christians and the giddy enthusiasm of a few, as well as the ubiquity of flags and patriotic extravaganzas in allegedly evangelical churches, says to me that American Christians may look back upon our response to 9/11 as our greatest Christological defeat. It was shattering to admit that we had lost the theological means to distinguish between the United States and the kingdom of God. The criminals who perpetrated 9/11 and the flag-waving boosters of our almost exclusively martial response were of one mind: that the nonviolent way of Jesus is stupid. All of us preachers share the shame; when our people felt very vulnerable, they reached for the flag, not the Cross.
September 11 has changed me. I’m going to preach as never before about Christ crucified as the answer to the question of what’s wrong with the world. I have also resolved to relentlessly reiterate from the pulpit that the worst day in history was not a Tuesday in New York, but a Friday in Jerusalem when a consortium of clergy and politicians colluded to run the world on our own terms by crucifying God’s own Son.
9/11 reminds us that the world is broken. And the only way that it will ever be transformed is by the life giving gospel of Jesus.
Thursday, August 04, 2011
The U-Turn Church: New Direction for Health and Growth
I recently was given a review copy of Kevin Harney and Bob Bouwer’s book, The U-Turn Church: New Direction for Health and Growth. I am always interested to look at books which speak of church renewal and health, especially ones where the authors are pastors who have worked in churches needing renewal.
Both Harney and Bouwer have been a part of exciting things in their churches, and it was encouraging to read how God has worked in their contexts. The book was filled with all the usual advice, get a crystal clear vision, make sure you focus on Biblical principles rather than personal preferences, take risks, unleash leaders. The ideas are not new, they just have different examples flowing from the experiences of the authors in their church settings.
As a pastor of a small rural church I found myself thinking that this book might be better suited to pastors of larger churches, and that’s probably true. But there was one section that I found very valuable - the power of prayer. The authors share some of their own personal stories and strategies for increasing and deepening prayer in their churches. There were practical applications, as well as a sense that no matter what you do, ultimately it is God who turns churches around. With this foundation for my reading of the book I was able to see it less as a formula or pattern, and more as a living testimony to the fact that God still uses the church to reach the world.
In my younger days I was always looking for that one book that would have the secret to developing a vibrant and vital church. As I have spent time in pastoring and in prayer, I have realized that the key is to deepen my relationship with Christ and to invite others to do the same. This book allowed me to celebrate God’s work in these two churches, as well as calling me to deepen my relationship with Jesus.
So if you’re looking for a formula...you won’t find it. If you want to hear how God has worked and be encouraged that He can work in your congregation as well...then this book is worth the read.
Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Saturday, July 09, 2011
A good reminder...
"How shameful to think that perhaps pagans, people with no faith in Christ,may be better than we and nearer to God’s reign.
Remember how Christ received a pagan centurion and told him, “I’ll go and cure your servant”? The centurion, full of humility and confidence, said, “No, Lord. I am not worthy that you go there. Just say a word and my servant will be cured.” Christ marveled, says the gospel, and he said, “Truly, I have not found such faith in Israel.” (Matthew 8:5–13; Luke 7:2–10.)
I say: Christ will also say of this church: outside the limits of Catholicism perhaps there is more faith, more holiness.So we must not extinguish the Spirit. The Spirit is not the monopoly of a movement, even of a Christian movement, of a hierarchy, or priesthood, or religious congregation. The Spirit is free, and he wants men and women, wherever they are, to realize their vocation to find Christ, who became flesh to save all human flesh. Yes, to save all, dear brothers and sisters.I know that some people come to the cathedral who have even lost the faith or are non-Christians. Let them be welcome. And if this message is saying something to them, I ask them to reflect in their inner consciousness, for, like Christ, I can tell them: the kingdom of God is not far from you, God’s kingdom is within your heart. Seek it, and you will find it."--Oscar Romero, taken from The Violence of Love.
Friday, July 08, 2011
More on how the internet is shaping our thinking...
Thursday, July 07, 2011
The world according to Google...
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
The world cannot know...
The world cannot know the unsurpassable worth of human life without a people who consistently work to protect it - in the fetus, in the convict, in the immigrant, in the soldier, and in the enemy.Read the whole article here. Read the comments too.