it is always difficult to move on. we recently completed a move from a church we helped to start to a town where we are pretty much anonymous. this is a change. i am enjoying it so far, but we only have really one friend a piece here, so it will be a challenge. there are plenty of people i enjoy here in waco, but not a ton that i can really confide in, or talk to. so now we start afresh. we will have to learn people again, find a new place to belong and find new places to do what we like to do.
my heart is really in denver, and i know i should do my best to put all my energies into finishing my education in the coming year, the whole reason we moved in the first place. that will also be a challenge.
6.18.2007
evangelism
for the two of you that regularly check out this blog, sorry for the delay in posts, i have felt uninspired lately. i need a change of scenery.
something that still provides me not only with regular mental exercise, but also an opportunity to share who god is are two of my coworkers at starbucks. their names are jimmy and chris, and i would ask if you know them to please not mention this blog. i value them for their friendship and i would never want them to believe that they were a project to me. however, they both claim to be atheists, and have a very bad taste for christianity in general.
chris grew up in a christian home, but somewhere along the way he was wounded by christians and turned his back on christ. jimmy didnt grow up in a christian home, but also has been wounded and negatively affected by christians in general. i feel like with both of them i have reached a level of relationship that i can be honest about what i believe, and know that they can be honest about what they believe. both are extremely intelligent and do not feel the need to pretend to be something they are not. this is the thing that breaks my heart about both, i asked each seperately if they would have an easier time believing in christ if christians werent such idiots so often. both said yes.
we each have to ask ourselves if we give people like this bad tastes in their mouths, or if we are sure that we represent christ accurately. only when we have done that, when we have earned the right to be listened to, can we share that the god of the universe loves these people, and that he wants desperately to know them and for them to know him. if we do not live as christ does, we do not earn that right.
something that still provides me not only with regular mental exercise, but also an opportunity to share who god is are two of my coworkers at starbucks. their names are jimmy and chris, and i would ask if you know them to please not mention this blog. i value them for their friendship and i would never want them to believe that they were a project to me. however, they both claim to be atheists, and have a very bad taste for christianity in general.
chris grew up in a christian home, but somewhere along the way he was wounded by christians and turned his back on christ. jimmy didnt grow up in a christian home, but also has been wounded and negatively affected by christians in general. i feel like with both of them i have reached a level of relationship that i can be honest about what i believe, and know that they can be honest about what they believe. both are extremely intelligent and do not feel the need to pretend to be something they are not. this is the thing that breaks my heart about both, i asked each seperately if they would have an easier time believing in christ if christians werent such idiots so often. both said yes.
we each have to ask ourselves if we give people like this bad tastes in their mouths, or if we are sure that we represent christ accurately. only when we have done that, when we have earned the right to be listened to, can we share that the god of the universe loves these people, and that he wants desperately to know them and for them to know him. if we do not live as christ does, we do not earn that right.
5.21.2007
faith
as robin and i begin to walk in what seems as if it will be a difficult time. i am reminded of faith. it seems like a very difficult thing, to believe in this god that is, at times, very much invisible and untouchable. i want very much to call him out, to say, hey do you realize the difficulty you are putting my beloved through, the agony she is feeling, the hard time she is having. but i know already at least a part of the answer he would give.
ye of little faith.
i doubt him after he cared so intensely and unfailingly for me and my family as we lost our primary provider, i doubt him after he has faithfully and completely provided for several mission trips that he called me to, i doubt him after he has gotten me safely thus far, still i doubt. but i can affirm, that every time, my faith, my relationship to this invisible god has been reformed, sharpened, galvanized by the crushing hammer strokes of difficulty, my faith has been shaped and molded by the adversity i have felt, why would it be any different for her?
she is on her journey as well, i believe he would say, she must have times that seem crushing, she must have times that seem like the end, otherwise she would not be refined, she would not be changed. that does not mean it is easy, no change is. but it does mean that in the end, we will look back and be grateful that we do not serve a god that promises the world, but a god that promises that some day, we will be made too great for this world, and we will only be fit for a new creation, one so fantastic that our current limited bodies would not be able to take if shown but a glimpse of it now.
that is the hope i hold, and although sometimes it feels much more like doubt, that is the faith i cherish.
ye of little faith.
i doubt him after he cared so intensely and unfailingly for me and my family as we lost our primary provider, i doubt him after he has faithfully and completely provided for several mission trips that he called me to, i doubt him after he has gotten me safely thus far, still i doubt. but i can affirm, that every time, my faith, my relationship to this invisible god has been reformed, sharpened, galvanized by the crushing hammer strokes of difficulty, my faith has been shaped and molded by the adversity i have felt, why would it be any different for her?
she is on her journey as well, i believe he would say, she must have times that seem crushing, she must have times that seem like the end, otherwise she would not be refined, she would not be changed. that does not mean it is easy, no change is. but it does mean that in the end, we will look back and be grateful that we do not serve a god that promises the world, but a god that promises that some day, we will be made too great for this world, and we will only be fit for a new creation, one so fantastic that our current limited bodies would not be able to take if shown but a glimpse of it now.
that is the hope i hold, and although sometimes it feels much more like doubt, that is the faith i cherish.
5.16.2007
humility
i read quite a few blogs, some just for what a friend calls "irritainment" and some for inspiration. most of them are christian in nature, and the thing that i come away with much of the time is, how arrogant can these people be?
i recently read a sign at starbucks, about ten minutes before i tore it down and threw it away, about a debate between ray comfort, kirk cameron and a couple of atheists. the sign talked about this debate and said that the audience was evenly divided between christians and atheists, but that the christians were very polite and well-mannered, while the atheists were rude and inconsiderate. my first question is, what relevance does that have? are we right because we were better behaved? i also want to know how they even know that.
so i guess what i think we have a problem with is that all too often we think we have it all figured out. as christians, people would be much more receptive to our message if we acted as if we didnt have it all figured out. we would all benefit quite a bit from larger doses of humility, we wonder often why jesus was so well-liked, but most churches are not. maybe its because we are so arrogant.
i recently read a sign at starbucks, about ten minutes before i tore it down and threw it away, about a debate between ray comfort, kirk cameron and a couple of atheists. the sign talked about this debate and said that the audience was evenly divided between christians and atheists, but that the christians were very polite and well-mannered, while the atheists were rude and inconsiderate. my first question is, what relevance does that have? are we right because we were better behaved? i also want to know how they even know that.
so i guess what i think we have a problem with is that all too often we think we have it all figured out. as christians, people would be much more receptive to our message if we acted as if we didnt have it all figured out. we would all benefit quite a bit from larger doses of humility, we wonder often why jesus was so well-liked, but most churches are not. maybe its because we are so arrogant.
5.03.2007
hell
c. s. lewis writes that hell is locked from the inside. the very essence of hell, according to lewis, is that you get your own way, you are left alone by god, to be alone. i think there is a lot to that.
maybe hell is not so much about god punishing us for what we have done, but more about allowing us to live with our choice. or i suppose, to die with our choice. when a person chooses against god and chooses against his eternal life, that person is choosing solitude, but when a person chooses eternal life, he is choosing community, relationship.
now it is certainly possible to choose relationship from a selfish standpoint, but i just wonder if that is even true relationship. is it possible to continue to progress in a relationship if it does not continually become more about the other person and less about ourselves?
i realize that according to some this may be venturing into the arena of heresy, but those people probably dont read this. i think it is very possible that hell should not be viewed a punitive in nature, but as the necessary option for those that do not wish to die to themselves, those who do not wish to choose relationship over self.
maybe hell is not so much about god punishing us for what we have done, but more about allowing us to live with our choice. or i suppose, to die with our choice. when a person chooses against god and chooses against his eternal life, that person is choosing solitude, but when a person chooses eternal life, he is choosing community, relationship.
now it is certainly possible to choose relationship from a selfish standpoint, but i just wonder if that is even true relationship. is it possible to continue to progress in a relationship if it does not continually become more about the other person and less about ourselves?
i realize that according to some this may be venturing into the arena of heresy, but those people probably dont read this. i think it is very possible that hell should not be viewed a punitive in nature, but as the necessary option for those that do not wish to die to themselves, those who do not wish to choose relationship over self.
4.24.2007
success
how does a person define success? sometimes it is winning an argument (speaking personally), sometimes it is being right (again guilty), sometimes it is being well-liked by everyone, sometimes it is being disliked by everyone, sometimes it is growing a large church, sometimes it is doing everything yourself. some value money, some value pride, some value popularity. the question we have to ask, as the church is in a huge paradigm shift, is; how will we define success?
for previous generations it was no doubt the mega church. for some during the same time it was being so counter-cultural that they would never be a mega church.
i would define success for us during this shift in much the same way leonard sweet defined it while he was here a few weeks ago lecturing. we must leave behind the extraneous things, those things that have become cumbersome, those things that are not enhancing or developing anyone's personal relationship with christ jesus. we must remember our task as the church, and that is to win as many as possible.
we cannot win them in the masses, but in the individual. i have a great friend now, he started as just a coworker. when he first started working with me his life was a mess. but somewhere on the way god broke into his life again, reminded him that he was a beloved child, and helped him back onto the journey of life.
each of us needs that reminder. we need someone in our community to speak words of value into our lives, or to show that we are valuable by spending time, or money, or energy. this happens in community. if people are outside of the community, but can then be incorporated in, it opens them to hear the words of value that god wants to speak to them. we can only be available, we cannot make someone hear, and we cannot make our numbers increase, but success should be defined by reminding people of their value, value that the enemy wants desperately to strip them of, to discourage, and to kill. i think that is success.
for previous generations it was no doubt the mega church. for some during the same time it was being so counter-cultural that they would never be a mega church.
i would define success for us during this shift in much the same way leonard sweet defined it while he was here a few weeks ago lecturing. we must leave behind the extraneous things, those things that have become cumbersome, those things that are not enhancing or developing anyone's personal relationship with christ jesus. we must remember our task as the church, and that is to win as many as possible.
we cannot win them in the masses, but in the individual. i have a great friend now, he started as just a coworker. when he first started working with me his life was a mess. but somewhere on the way god broke into his life again, reminded him that he was a beloved child, and helped him back onto the journey of life.
each of us needs that reminder. we need someone in our community to speak words of value into our lives, or to show that we are valuable by spending time, or money, or energy. this happens in community. if people are outside of the community, but can then be incorporated in, it opens them to hear the words of value that god wants to speak to them. we can only be available, we cannot make someone hear, and we cannot make our numbers increase, but success should be defined by reminding people of their value, value that the enemy wants desperately to strip them of, to discourage, and to kill. i think that is success.
4.17.2007
interesting quote...
on the emergent church that i read this week. i have received two emails of the same thing, but it is essentially a newsletter from jerry falwell. one of the accusations against the emergent church, at least in this newsletter, is that they (we) wish to "reanalyze the bible against the context into which it was written." god forbid.
this is one of the basic tenets of biblical hermeneutics. one of the primary goals is to attempt to find what the original meaning was to the original author, the original audience and only then can we take it and ask what it can mean to us today. it was not written in 2000, for us to understand in our context, the bible is a product of antiquity, and so there are indeed some things that do not make sense out of that context. it is the most phenomenal book ever assembled, it still speaks so much into our context today, but it still has an original meaning, and we would do well to try to find it.
there are many legitimate concerns about the emergent church, many problems and issues that we will face, what church doesnt? but if being accused of trying to find the original context of the bible is one of the worst things leveled against us, i think i can deal with that.
this is one of the basic tenets of biblical hermeneutics. one of the primary goals is to attempt to find what the original meaning was to the original author, the original audience and only then can we take it and ask what it can mean to us today. it was not written in 2000, for us to understand in our context, the bible is a product of antiquity, and so there are indeed some things that do not make sense out of that context. it is the most phenomenal book ever assembled, it still speaks so much into our context today, but it still has an original meaning, and we would do well to try to find it.
there are many legitimate concerns about the emergent church, many problems and issues that we will face, what church doesnt? but if being accused of trying to find the original context of the bible is one of the worst things leveled against us, i think i can deal with that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
