I got this from Jordon Cooper a while ago, but I wanted to post it again. Check it out, it might surprise you.
Link
Thursday, August 26, 2004
The Contrast that Clarifies...
There seems to be a great fear about mainstream society moving away from Christian values. I can understand that. I have four children who will grow up in a country that no longer takes for granted what I have as standards for morality. But I'm wondering if we are working too hard at the wrong issues. In their book The Shaping of Things to Come, Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch make a good case for refocusing our energies on mission.
Since the time of Constantine the church has had a central place in society. For the bulk of that time it was the driving social and moral force. Frost and Hirsch refer to this period as Christendom. They are not talking about Christianity, but about the power and influence that Christianity has had in the eyes of the average individual. Christendom was great, but today it's more accurate to describe Europe and a growing section of North American as Post-Christendom. Some people may react to that critique of North America. It is true that there are many "Christians" in North America, but you have to question why it is not making a difference in the moral stance of North American culture. Frost and Hirsch claim that the church is living in an era like that of the early church. We are not the driving force in society. And we, like the early church, need to adopt a missionary posture. Instead of worrying about fighting the trends in society, we need to be the church. We need to work within a culture that is foreign to what we know to be true.
I've said all of this because I think that it's important that we don't see the defeat of our moral agenda as the defeat of our God. Sometimes declining morality actually helps to clarify what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Several months ago I was working on a powerpoint presentation for our church. I couldn't get the text to stand out enough and was getting frustrated by it. Everything looked muted. One of our tech people at the church came over to help me out. In about two minutes he solved my problem. In order to help the text "stand out", he used a shadow edge for each of the letters. The darkness all around them made them clear. I learned that day that it's the contrast that clarifies. And maybe that's what God is doing in our society today. Maybe He's allowing things like gay marriage to help the church be more than just a place we go on Sunday. It's the contrast that clarifies. Maybe instead of spending our energy trying to utilize the political process to accomplish our goals we need to be the church, follow Jesus, and help others to do the same.
Since the time of Constantine the church has had a central place in society. For the bulk of that time it was the driving social and moral force. Frost and Hirsch refer to this period as Christendom. They are not talking about Christianity, but about the power and influence that Christianity has had in the eyes of the average individual. Christendom was great, but today it's more accurate to describe Europe and a growing section of North American as Post-Christendom. Some people may react to that critique of North America. It is true that there are many "Christians" in North America, but you have to question why it is not making a difference in the moral stance of North American culture. Frost and Hirsch claim that the church is living in an era like that of the early church. We are not the driving force in society. And we, like the early church, need to adopt a missionary posture. Instead of worrying about fighting the trends in society, we need to be the church. We need to work within a culture that is foreign to what we know to be true.
I've said all of this because I think that it's important that we don't see the defeat of our moral agenda as the defeat of our God. Sometimes declining morality actually helps to clarify what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Several months ago I was working on a powerpoint presentation for our church. I couldn't get the text to stand out enough and was getting frustrated by it. Everything looked muted. One of our tech people at the church came over to help me out. In about two minutes he solved my problem. In order to help the text "stand out", he used a shadow edge for each of the letters. The darkness all around them made them clear. I learned that day that it's the contrast that clarifies. And maybe that's what God is doing in our society today. Maybe He's allowing things like gay marriage to help the church be more than just a place we go on Sunday. It's the contrast that clarifies. Maybe instead of spending our energy trying to utilize the political process to accomplish our goals we need to be the church, follow Jesus, and help others to do the same.
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Saw "The Village" last night...
I saw M. Night Shyamalan's new movie The Village last night. Even though it was a bit predictable, he told a great story. Major themes included the tendency to run away from evil and seek an outward solution to an inward problem. Very worth seeing. Would be good to follow it with a group discussion. The link below is to a review of the movie by Hollywood Jesus
Link to - The Village - A Hollywood Jesus Movie Review
Link to - The Village - A Hollywood Jesus Movie Review
Blessings sometimes come through brokenness...
My secretary sent me a thought provoking quote.
"Love finds no steady home in psychological health. I am sure God wants us to be whole and healthy in every way possible, but love neither depends upon these things nor ends with them. In fact, blessings sometimes come through brokenness that could never come in any other way."
Not sure who said it, but it's one of those quotes that makes you say hmmmm.
"Love finds no steady home in psychological health. I am sure God wants us to be whole and healthy in every way possible, but love neither depends upon these things nor ends with them. In fact, blessings sometimes come through brokenness that could never come in any other way."
Not sure who said it, but it's one of those quotes that makes you say hmmmm.
My wife prays honest prayers...
One of our friends is very sick. She may die. She's a new Christian. Her husband is not. Our greatest fear is that if she dies her husband will be angry with God forever. As my wife prayed for her last night she said, "God, do something miraculous, something that makes you look nice." We all want God to look nice. We want Him to do things that make others like Him. But often He doesn't come across as nice. He's confusing. He's scary. He's appears inconsiderate and harsh. And He sometimes insists on doing things that seem perfectly designed to drive people away. It's moments like these that make you understand a bit more of what it means to "put your trust in Jesus". It's not some sinner's prayer that gives you a ticket to heaven when you die. It's giving your life over to Jesus. Trusting Him even when He doesn't look "nice". Pray for our friend. And pray for us. We want to live lives of trust.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Desert Pastor writes...
"A new book is on it's way to me -- thanks in part to Len at NextReformation.com. In his Thursday, August 19th post, evaluating a recent exchange between Brian McLaren and Dr. Duane Litfin (President, Wheaton), he interjects a fantastic quote from The Present Future, by Reggie McNeal:
"We have a church in North American that is more secular than the culture. Just when the church adopted a business model, the culture went looking for God. Just when the church embraced strategic planning (linear and Newtonian), the universe shifted to preparedness (loopy and quantum). Just when the church began building recreation centers, the culture began a search for sacred space. Church people still think that secularism holds sway and that people outside the church have trouble connecting to God. The problem is that when people come to church, expecting to find God, they often encounter a religious club holding a meeting where God is conspicuously absent. It may feel like a self-help seminar or even a political rally. But if pre-Christians came expecting to find God -- sorry! They may experience more spiritual energy at a U2 concert or listening to a Creed CD."
It feels as if the Church has lost it's prophetic gift and voice in relation to the culture-at-large. Instead of being that community-in-the-Holy-Spirit which forsees and anticipates and boldly steps out to lead -- the Church largely continues to function in "copy-cat" mode.
Does this bother anyone?"
Once again, Desert Pastor, thanks for asking good questions...
"A new book is on it's way to me -- thanks in part to Len at NextReformation.com. In his Thursday, August 19th post, evaluating a recent exchange between Brian McLaren and Dr. Duane Litfin (President, Wheaton), he interjects a fantastic quote from The Present Future, by Reggie McNeal:
"We have a church in North American that is more secular than the culture. Just when the church adopted a business model, the culture went looking for God. Just when the church embraced strategic planning (linear and Newtonian), the universe shifted to preparedness (loopy and quantum). Just when the church began building recreation centers, the culture began a search for sacred space. Church people still think that secularism holds sway and that people outside the church have trouble connecting to God. The problem is that when people come to church, expecting to find God, they often encounter a religious club holding a meeting where God is conspicuously absent. It may feel like a self-help seminar or even a political rally. But if pre-Christians came expecting to find God -- sorry! They may experience more spiritual energy at a U2 concert or listening to a Creed CD."
It feels as if the Church has lost it's prophetic gift and voice in relation to the culture-at-large. Instead of being that community-in-the-Holy-Spirit which forsees and anticipates and boldly steps out to lead -- the Church largely continues to function in "copy-cat" mode.
Does this bother anyone?"
Once again, Desert Pastor, thanks for asking good questions...
Presenting both sides...
You may have read the article by Brian McLaren that I linked to on August 19th. It's only fair to link to this response by the President of Wheaton College, Dr. Duane Litfin. They both raise valid points that are worth wrestling with.
Not sure where to go from here? Comments anyone?
Not sure where to go from here? Comments anyone?
Friday, August 20, 2004
Missional Hospitality
From Desert Pastor's "Paradoxology", who by the way has the best blog name in all of Christendom, as far as I'm concerned. He's doing us a great service by helping us rethink hospitality.
Link
Link
Plastic Surgery - It's Not Just For Humans Anymore
This from Scott Williams' blog
"...just when you think some people are the shallowest individuals the world has ever known, they manage to drain a little more water out of the pool..."
Link
"...just when you think some people are the shallowest individuals the world has ever known, they manage to drain a little more water out of the pool..."
Link
Want an education on the "Kingdom"?
Open the link below and click on "Dallas Willard - Kingdom" for an entire series of MP3's that Dallas and Todd Hunter taught on living life in the Kingdom of God. This is some of the best teaching I've ever heard on what Jesus meant when He said that "...the Kingdom of God is at hand..."
Link
Link
Where am I from?
During my last visit home (North Carolina) I was struck by just how much living in Canada for the past 11 years has shaped my thinking. As I interacted with family and friends I realized that I have begun to think more like a Canadian and less like an American. Perhaps the biggest surprise was to see that I had ever thought like an American. We don't realize how much the culture we live in shapes the way we think, feel, and act. Different cultures hold different ideals. They allow the freedom to question other cultures but are very slow to question their own. So now I seem to be more Canadian than American in the way I think. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all that I have been given from the US. But I have to admit that I think differently now.
This all has big implications when I reflect on Hebrews 11, especially verse 13-16. "...All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."
My ultimate reality is that I am neither American or Canadian, I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God. I am a stranger and an alien living here in British Columbia. And if the Spirit is at work in my life I should be experiencing a shift in thinking. What the Kingdom of God values should be increasingly more important to me. That's where it all comes to a head. Followers of Jesus are from another world. We should think and act differently. We should be able to question the cultures we live in from heaven's perspective. May God help us all to live as though we are longing for "...a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."
This all has big implications when I reflect on Hebrews 11, especially verse 13-16. "...All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."
My ultimate reality is that I am neither American or Canadian, I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God. I am a stranger and an alien living here in British Columbia. And if the Spirit is at work in my life I should be experiencing a shift in thinking. What the Kingdom of God values should be increasingly more important to me. That's where it all comes to a head. Followers of Jesus are from another world. We should think and act differently. We should be able to question the cultures we live in from heaven's perspective. May God help us all to live as though we are longing for "...a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."
Thursday, August 19, 2004
These Christians Radically Rethink What a Church Is
Here's an interesting article in the LA Times (you'll have to do a free registration to access it) that gives an overview of some of the differing forms that "church" is taking in North America.
Link
Link
Making wise investments
Our church hosted the African Childrens Choir last night. As always, they were a big hit. But as I listened to the stories of where these children come from, the huge number that have been orphaned by war, poverty, and AIDS, I was convicted once again about how I live my life. It takes so little money to make a difference there. Yet in Canada we (I) just tend to keep on "investing" in ourselves. We buy nicer things. We spend more time looking at Wal-Mart flyers than we do taking the mandate of Jesus to the world. We need to invest in things that matter. Maybe we need to mediatate on those "blessed to be a blessing" scriptures a bit more.
A desperately needed word for the church today...
It's a long article, but Brian McLaren articulates some of the dreams I have for the "church". Take the time to read and to think.
Link
Link
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
N.T. Wright Page
Check out this page if you want to stretch your theological thinking in a positive direction
N.T. Wright Page
N.T. Wright Page
Mission vrs. "Immersion" trips...
Not sure where this came from, but Doug Kirsch passed it on to me... Good thoughts.
"ok, so you take a group of kids every summer to some camp or something and they do stuff for poor people. then they leave and never see those people again. your kids sure feel good and i know the people who get help from mission trips feel better... for a while. mission trips are really like a band-aid. they have their place covering up minor scrapes and cuts, but poverty is a wound. poverty is more like losing a limb and that fresh coat of paint just can't give someone their limb back.
in summer 2005 i'm planning on taking my youth group on an immersion experience. we'll get to do some service projects, but this trip is about more than thinking we are the answer to other people's problems. this is about experiencing the reality of poverty. this is about trying to wrap our minds around the problem. this is about changing the way we live to be part of the solution.
We will be going to El Paso, where the 1st and the 3rd world meets. Youth will have to wrestle with questions of justice, economics, immigration, policy and try and find where and how faith fits into and directs all of it.
"[Mission trips] can fool groups into thinking they have more to offer and more to give than the people they are "helping". Immersion trips respect and honor the people a group meets, because each relationship begins with balance and respect for the other person." (from www.tamethemonster.org) Immersion trips also challenge us to see the bigger picture of living out God's justice in a complex and confusing world. It challenges us to realize that it's not about us and making ourselves feel better, but about working to bring God's Kingdom here on earth the way it is in heaven."
"ok, so you take a group of kids every summer to some camp or something and they do stuff for poor people. then they leave and never see those people again. your kids sure feel good and i know the people who get help from mission trips feel better... for a while. mission trips are really like a band-aid. they have their place covering up minor scrapes and cuts, but poverty is a wound. poverty is more like losing a limb and that fresh coat of paint just can't give someone their limb back.
in summer 2005 i'm planning on taking my youth group on an immersion experience. we'll get to do some service projects, but this trip is about more than thinking we are the answer to other people's problems. this is about experiencing the reality of poverty. this is about trying to wrap our minds around the problem. this is about changing the way we live to be part of the solution.
We will be going to El Paso, where the 1st and the 3rd world meets. Youth will have to wrestle with questions of justice, economics, immigration, policy and try and find where and how faith fits into and directs all of it.
"[Mission trips] can fool groups into thinking they have more to offer and more to give than the people they are "helping". Immersion trips respect and honor the people a group meets, because each relationship begins with balance and respect for the other person." (from www.tamethemonster.org) Immersion trips also challenge us to see the bigger picture of living out God's justice in a complex and confusing world. It challenges us to realize that it's not about us and making ourselves feel better, but about working to bring God's Kingdom here on earth the way it is in heaven."
A deeper story...
W. H. Auden writes -
"Behind the corpse in the reservoir, behind the ghost on the links,
Behind the lady who dances and the man who madly drinks,
Under the look of fatigue, the attack of migraine and the sigh
There is always another story, there is more than meets the eye."
One of the ways we usurp the place of God is by deciding that we know a person's story from our preliminary impressions of them. God help us to withhold judgement from those that actually we know so little about. May we love as we have been loved.
"Behind the corpse in the reservoir, behind the ghost on the links,
Behind the lady who dances and the man who madly drinks,
Under the look of fatigue, the attack of migraine and the sigh
There is always another story, there is more than meets the eye."
One of the ways we usurp the place of God is by deciding that we know a person's story from our preliminary impressions of them. God help us to withhold judgement from those that actually we know so little about. May we love as we have been loved.
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