LOVE

How much love there isn’t in this world is far more amazing than how much love there is.

Imagine if all the churches got together and came up with a giant/overshadowing mission statement. “Our goal is to SHOW you LOVE!” Talk about a unifying and Biblical concept.


1Corinthians 13: 11-12
When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.


I’ve been in a church with a great preacher, but who happened to have a real problem with loving people.

I’ve been in a church desperate to love, but hindered from that goal by the “straw-man goals” set up by leadership.

I’ve been in a church so obsessed with presentation and “feeling” that they fall into the trap of believing they are loving, when really they are just imitating.

I’ve been in a church where the love was so abundant that no one knew what they had and then in a flash it was gone.

I’ve been in a church where the love is there, ready, apparent, but sometimes just left lying on the table due to a lack of leadership.

I’ve been in a church where the love is so overwhelming that it drowns out all other concerns, to the point that those pouring out the love accidentally begin to pour out conditions with their love and don’t even realize it.

I've been in a church in the throes of "active drowning".

I’ve been in a church where, amazingly enough, hate palpably seeks to take the place of love.

But far better than all of these, I’ve read about a church that simply is LOVE!


1 Corinthians 13: 13
But now faith, hope, love abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.


Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your Heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.

“The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Transformers

Awesome movie! Granted, it's based on the 80's TV cartoon and comic book, and the concept is entirely preposterous, but that is what makes it great. Unfortunately, that's why some of the more "intellectual" movie critics can't wrap their puny minds around the glory of the dorky insanity that is Transformers. In spite of this, I've still seen it getting "thumbs up" from around 75% of the critics. That pretty much makes it a landslide victory for the Transformers in my book. Just try getting better!

I was blessed enough to get to see it on opening day with a huge theater full of fans, which is always fun. For a summer action movie, there's nothing better than the clapping, the laughing, the cheering, and getting to be part of an audience getting exactly what they expected, and loving it.

AUTOBOTS RULE!!

The Offense of the Mind

Here's a question: Who among us cannot claim to have at one time or another been “offended”? I’m not trying to imply that there are some out there that very well may hold on to such a claim to fame, but they are definitely rare among the rare.

I believe that it would be a fair statement to say that we have been, and are being, programmed to find offense in our day-to-day lives. We are taught that offense is a real, tangible thing in this world, and that it can do real, tangible harm.

Children in today’s world are especially prone to such teachings, and perhaps the current collegiates are the biggest active participant in allowing such teachings to be perpetuated. Those of us not falling into one of these two groups are still subjected to the woes of the world brought on by the breeding of such a culture of offense via the media. The media broadcast the message that offense is easy and widespread. Offense is readily consumed by a media machine built to feed on such manufactured anti-news.

So here’s a different question: How many times were you offended today? Did you catch yourself even once saying “WHOA!!, that guy shouldn’t have said that! How could they say that?” I did catch myself saying such things, at least 3 times in the last two days. Hence the inspiration for this blogry.

I have to say, probably to the choir and/or the vacuum, that to be offended is preposterous. To further proclaim to the world that one is offended is an absurdity. And to then carry things even further and actually blame someone else for the fact that one has taken offense is downright ignorant. Offense is a choice, and to ALLOW someone to offend you in any manner is an absolutely puny and self-righteous attitude to take.

If you are offended by anyone at anytime, regardless of how outrageous or ignorant something they said or did may have been, reflects equally negatively on you the offended as much as it does the offender. And yet, because the media, and the educational system at large, coddle the offended as if offense is some sort of REAL crime, we thereby allow people to victimize themselves at will. And can there be any real defense when the offense is solely the product of the offended’s mind? Nope. Therefore the offended is always right. How quaint: Guilty with no chance of being proven innocent.

And so, the real question for everyone (children, collegiate, professor, reporter, anchorman, politician, parent, etc…) to ask of themselves is “How long before I offend someone?” Then, once you do succeed in offending someone, all you can do is wonder, how bad will the punishment be?

In a perfect world, we could simply all stop being offended by things we can’t control: the thoughts and actions of others. This doesn’t mean we can’t punish the perpetrators of real crimes and be disgusted and repulsed by their words and actions. But it does mean that we don’t need to be “offended” by them. I believe there is a difference, but I worry that the difference is being lost.

Dandy Lions

The softest grass blades always seem to work their way right up between the big toe and toe number 2, leaving behind the slightest of tickles on top of the foot as you step. What was that?

The darkness can creep up on you, stealing away your peace of mind.

The dandy lions are swarming the grass tonight, moving alive as they burst out of their dark winter homes seeking to satiate on the call of the glowing beacons dotting the houses up and down the street. Spring is draining out and summer is beginning its yearly blaze.

The storms are aging, the rain returns to the clouds, and the clouds drift away on the winds. The stars are turned into position.

posting...

Talk about an easy habit to get out of....I'm turning my posting brain back on right now. I'm sure something is out there waiting to get posted, and I'll get it posted as soon as I come across it.

Breathing Rain

Presuming the preeminence of God and His Word over all, I can’t think of anything better in this world, anything that renews my spirit and soul, more than rain. No matter what it is you are doing, rain changes perspective, and not in some lame intellectual way, but in a base, underlying manner.

It is like food for the soul. I think the rain replenishes us as a living part of this planet, just as it does everything else. Rain even seems to have a refreshing, cleansing effect on the manmade stuff of this world.

God’s ways are perfect. At one time or another, we all lose sight of this. Rain restores some primal understanding of who God is, and who we truly are in comparison. Perspective.

I hope it’s raining where you are right now.

*****

"I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit." -- Leviticus 26:4

"Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm ... " -- Job 38:25 ...
"Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?" -- Job 38:28

" ... the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel." -- Psalms 68:8 ...

"He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills." -- Psalms 147:8

"You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the LORD, have created it." -- Isaiah 45:8

"Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, O LORD our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this." -- Jeremiah 14:22

"When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses." -- Jeremiah 51:16

"Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime; it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone." -- Zechariah 10:1

" ... that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." -- Matthew 5:45

"Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." -- James 5:17

VALUE

I’ve got to give it up to my church when it comes to VALUE for their Easter Service. Apparently they had over 1000 in attendance with 30 salvations. Clearly, regardless of my personal like/dislike attitude, what the church is putting out there clearly has value when it comes to bringing a clear and concise gospel message to people.

30 salvations…although I am struggling with what this means. I think any Christian would, although I also think Christians should have the least trouble accepting it. My struggle has been with a basic question: How do we know there were 30 salvations? Are we just talking about checking a box on a card? What about the public confession, what about the baptism, what about, what about, what about…..?

Then the following thought occurred to me: What about all the “what abouts”? If a person says they have accepted Christ in their heart, who am I to contend with them? The Biblical truth is, a this stage in their journey, I have no choice but to take them at their word, and perhaps I even have an obligation to believe them. The same is true for everyone who knows me to be a Christian; they have taken me at my word. Even when I got up in front of strangers and made a “confession of belief in Christ” or when I was baptized, everyone was simply taking me at my word that I truly believed. They had no choice.

So who am I to doubt someone’s “not so public” confession of marking a communication card in church saying they had accepted Christ? Soon enough, their life either will or it won’t bear the fruits that go along with being a Christian. Sooner or later, they either will or they won’t be filled with a desire to obey Christ and be baptized. Sooner or later, they either will or they won’t willingly subject themselves to the command to fulfill the Great Commission.

The better thing for me to do, rather than further explore my doubt, would be to simply pray for the seed that obviously sprouted on Easter in these 30+ peoples’ hearts, praying that it will find root in good soil, and grow huge for the glory of Christ’s kingdom. AMEN!

Contrivances

These thoughts tonight stem from what is to me a serious concern: When it comes to genuinely seeking to serve Christ in a manner consistent with the intent of spreading the gospel message to the 4 corners of the globe, when it comes to working to enlarge the kingdom by seeing people dedicate their lives to Christ, when it comes to seeking to exist in the center of the culture without losing sight of Christ, where is the line? I’m just seeking to explore some thoughts, and no offense is intended, just in case you happen to be reading this and know exactly what I’m talking about. I’m just being genuine.

contrivance
noun
1.
a device or control that is very useful for a particular job [syn: appliance]
2.
the faculty of contriving; inventive skill; "his skillful contrivance of answers to every problem"
3.
an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade; "his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us off the track"
4.
an artificial or unnatural or obviously contrived arrangement of details or parts etc.; "the plot contained too many improbable contrivances to be believable"
5.
any improvised arrangement for temporary use [syn: lash-up]
6.
the act of devising something [syn: devisal]

I’ve pondered this question since my Easter Morning church service today. I don’t have an answer, but I really do wonder where the line is, if there even is a line.

During the service, I found myself extremely distracted and though the message was perfect and true, the “show” going on around the message was definitely as cluttered and “contrived” as the culture it was seeking to exist within. I wonder how much of the message survived. Perhaps it isn’t our job to worry about the survival of the message. Rather, perhaps we’re just supposed to put it out there and let the message do its thing. But is it possible to get in the way of the message with our human stuff?

The other day my dad reminded me of how many thousand Jesus preached to out in the desert, sometimes, up to 5000 at a time (at least) with no postal service, no TV, no radio, no printers, no billboards, no amplifiers, no guitars (6? I think this morning), no microphones, no smoke machines, no lights, no repetitive songs, no crosses, not even any food, no coffee, no childcare, no building, no shelter, no ministers, no Bible colleges, no universities, no denominations, no money, no salaries, no t-shirts, and NO NEED for any of those things. Just the Gospel and the world, doing their thing.

But God did give me a thought at the end of the service…what about VALUE? Rather than looking at it from a “like/dislike” perspective, it would be better to determine whether there was value in what I was a part of this morning. I don’t know the answer to that, but I hope there was. By value, of course I mean value when it comes to fulfilling the Great Commission.

I do truly believe the leadership of the church I currently attend, and claim as a member, should ask themselves more frequently: Does this thing which we’re making a part of what we are presenting in the name of Jesus add REAL value to what we’re trying to achieve?

I’m not offering any answers, or opinions beyond what I’m saying here, but I do believe the question is genuine.

Moments

Whenever I hear someone on the radio, TV or at church talking about “Their Moment” it always takes me back to trying to figure out “My Moment”. I sort of know when it was, but then again I sometimes find myself unsure.

For a year or so, driving back and forth from college I’d listen to Christian Talk Radio, and every day at 12:30, timed perfectly for my drive from class to work, I’d listen to R.C. Sproll. For some reason the things he had to say and the way in which he said them, really spoke to me. In general I listened to a lot of Christian Talk Radio and had in my mind moved from a point of complete disgust of those who were “religious” to a place where I could see room in my life for God.

But in listening to R.C. Sproll I found myself more and more thinking not about religion and God, but rather about Jesus. This was, as I know now, the one missing piece of the puzzle. This was why I couldn’t see what others were seeing, and explained a lot of the arrogant hostility that probably shaped a lot of who I was back then. I do think that in general I was a nice guy, but at the same time, there was a “not-so-nice” attitude underlying everything, including my perspective on God and religion.

At some point, in September/October of 1997 several things began to come together. And a couple of things had to do with apparent random news items that otherwise would not have impacted my life. Perhaps their close proximity to each other time-linewise is what brought them to bear in my life. I really can’t say, but I do believe that it was the time in my life when the Spirit was moving in on me and I was going to have to make a choice.

When I think about those two items now, they sort of seem emotionally wimpy and silly, especially to be pegged as the cause for a 23 year old to question his reason for existence, but they did. Princess Diana was killed and Mother Teresa passed away. The events in and of themselves did not cause me to take any action. However I do believe that the following sensationalized, non-stop news coverage of the lives that these two people led somehow caused me to think about my own life in the same terms. And of course, when you go to that place inside yourself, you are walking headfirst into the “image of God”.

FLASHBACK:
One other thing had happened which I tend to leave out of the story. A few months prior, a regular customer at the garden center where I happened to have been working for the past few years came in one day. To be honest, she was pretty old, and quite frankly on this particular day looked like she was in fact dead, which was really creeping me out. Of course, since she was standing right there in front of me, it was unlikely that she was dead. But then she said something out of the ordinary. She cited a Bible verse. Somewhere I have that verse written down, but at the time I was mystified, and the entire event seemed like something very “spooky” and yet as if a message was being given me. However I was pretty dense. I’m sure she said ACTS #:#, however I heard AXE #:#. I went home and tried to look up AXE in an old, dusty copy of a Bible my grandma had given me 15 or so years earlier, but had no luck.

BACK TO THE STORY AT HAND:
So let’s review, I found myself reading and researching God’s word because of some weird thing a walking-dead old lady said. My radio, which I strangely kept tuned to Christian Talk all the time, continued to pound in a message that I was at that time deaf to. Then the deaths of 2 strangers on the other side of the world somehow took me on an introspective journey to who I actually was and why. Well all of this leads to one of the “moments” in question. I wrote a prayer.

I was big on writing poetry, but this was definitely a prayer. I remember I tricked myself into writing it by telling myself that it was a poem that just looked like a prayer, but it was most definitely a prayer. And in this prayer I confessed that no matter how hard I tried to think about Jesus or “love him”, I found myself reviled that I would be so “wimpy” and basically considered such a thought border line homosexual, which made it even more revolting. But in this one page written prayer, among other things, I made mention that I hated the devil and that I felt like he was a roaring lion in my life, and I asked God to make me love Jesus, because I could not get around this roadblock that the World was throwing in the way. So, was that “my moment” right there? I don’t know…did I in that moment ask Jesus into my life? Anyway, from here, other things happened.

My 9 year old sister had been going to a church with the people that lived directly behind us. It is another story to tell how God had led us to that house, however he had most definitely taken our entire family to that home for a very specific reason.

My dad had visited one Sunday morning as a courtesy to the family behind us and to see what kind of place it was that his youngest daughter had been attending with these “strangers”.

The next Sunday, I went with my dad, my mom and my future wife. We went to the church service, but Satan was definitely in fine form that morning in trying to stop us from getting there. I even stepped in Dog Stuff on the way to the car that morning, and that always is a bad start to a day. We got there, and being very self-conscious about everything, I felt very conspicuous and don’t think I heard any of the sermon that was preached or anything else. I was more focused on the “goings-on” of the service and wondering when the hypnosis, or whatever, was going to start. It never did. And then something very peculiar happened.

That first morning we attended, they announced that that evening a lady named Joni Tabor was going to be presenting a message. Not a sermon exactly, but she was a singer and it was sort of her ministry work of going around to churches and singing and saying a few words. My future wife and I attended that night, by ourselves. I heard every word she had to say, and at the end of her message, she had an altar call, but not just any altar call. She asked for anyone with all kinds of various needs to come and kneel down in the front of the church. AMAZINGLY, I went forward. I am still astounded to this day that I did that. Then she asked for people to come forward and pray with these people (myself included) who were on their knees at the front of the church. I remember thinking in my very self-conscious way that no one was going to come forward and place their hand on my back to indicate to me that they were praying with me. But AMAZINGLY, someone did. After that prayer time was over, I asked that woman, who I did not know and did not ask her name, to pray for strength for me. It seemed like the easy answer when she had asked if I had any needs that she could pray for me about. Perhaps this was my moment?

Later that week, the preacher from that church called my dad and arranged for an in house visit since basically our whole family had visited the church. I was pretty interested in what he would have to say, just out of curiosity I told myself. When Roger was in our house somehow he asked me why I was there. I told him “I just felt like I was supposed to be there.” I just listened, and asked no questions.

Within a week of that moment in our home, I found myself walking into the church office in the middle of the afternoon, basically as a stranger, asking to talk to the preacher. Once in there, I just blurted out that I needed to get baptized. We arranged a time for 2 days later in the evening, and that was it for me. Maybe this was my moment?

Somewhere in all of that weirdness exists “My Moment”. I’m not sure where, but I am 100% sure that it is in there, somewhere. In August of that same year, I would never have been able to predict where I’d be within 2 months time and what I’d be doing.

One of these days I’m going to FIND that prayer that I had accidentally, on-purpose prayed back in 1997. If I ever do come across it and I’m still blogging, I’ll be sure to post it, word for word, no matter how embarrassing I find it now, because once upon a time, I used it to talk to God for the very first time that mattered.

God is Good All the Time….and He is at work in your life right now.

I've definitely been kind of lazy lately. I think I worked out whatever demons were buggin me about that denominationlism stuff. Been feeling much freer lately in that regard. But I just haven't felt much like posting. But I've been having some great thoughts about things I could write about. I found this quote on a fellow bloggers site and really like it, and definitley agree with the truth behind it. My flames definitely need to be fanned. It's been awhile, and there have been plenty of wet blankets hovering around for the last few years. I pray for a little fanning of the flames of my soul, my Christian soul. Its always scary to pray for the things you know you need and that your soul is crying out for. But scary in a good way, 'cause God is Good, All the Time.

"Every Christian is a contradiction to this old world. He crosses it at every point. He goes against the grain from beginning to end. From the day that he is born again until the day that he goes on to be with the Lord, he must stand against the current of a world always going the other way. God expects him to be "beside himself," "a fool for Christ's sake," "drunk on new wine." If he allows it, men will tone him down, steal the joy of his salvation, and reduce him to the dreary level of the general average. If the devil cannot keep us from being saved, he next endeavors to make average Christians of us, and in this he usually succeeds. He tames the holy recklessness of God's dare-saints until they sink into the drab pattern of most of us, "faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly dull." The devil does not mind our joining church if we behave like most of those who are already inside. But when a real, wide-awake Christian breezes along, taking the Gospel seriously, the devil grows alarmed and begins plotting his downfall. He gets plenty of assistance right in the church, for many church folk do not like to have their Laodicean complacency upset by these who turn the world upside down. So they conspire with Satan to turn the young Christian's fever into a chill. There are always plenty of human wet blankets to smother the zealot's flame, and they have put out more spiritual fires than have all the skeptics and infidels." -- Vance Havner

"If your Gospel isn't touching others, it hasn't touched you!" -- Curry R. Blake

God Bless You!

Maybe I haven’t watched enough reality TV shows, but I know I’ve watched all the good ones, and it occurred to me today, for absolutely no reason at all mind you, that I’ve never seen anyone sneeze on reality TV before.

I’ve seen or heard reference to every single other possible bodily function and/or noise, but no sneezing.

Apparently sneezing is the one thing that is simply too abhorrent, even for reality TV to take on. Can you explain it?

A picture says a thousand words...

P-U...and is that really a baby walker in the room? Surely there's not a baby in that house...ever.

Mysterious Music from the Menagerie of Mighty Mane Groomers

You know, for some reason, I really like Arcade Fire. Weird, but the truth.

Yeah sure I’m just a 30+ year old who was oblivious to them until he happened to catch them on Saturday Night Live by accident because I was tuning in to watch “Dwight Schrute”. But do I care? Do I feel uncool because they are so modern and current that they were flying under my radar screen? Nah. Should I? Maybe, but I’m making up for it as quickly as I can now. But that's all water under the bridge....lol.

I just consider myself lucky to have realized they exist at all. I'm sure they'll start to get on my nerves soon enought, so I better enjoy them while I can.

The Chicken or The Egg

Mention the word emergent and you will get one of two reactions: blissful ignorance or wary caution. The funny thing though is a person’s awareness and feelings regarding the word itself seem to have absolutely no correlation to a person’s like or dislike for what amounts to an emergently styled worship service in a church. The reason for this is that emergent actually functions on two wholly distinct levels, only one of which is truly valid.

The first and easiest to peg is the aesthetic. This is the dead giveaway as to whether emergent concepts are being brought to bear on the service. The second is easy to pinpoint, but much more difficult to nail down in terms of specifics: doctrine and theology.

Let me start with the first and probably largest part of the great and mystical emergent: Aesthetics.

Here’s a brief checklist of things to look for:
#1 Extremely simple, yet modern look in terms of architecture. No complexity, not a lot of expense. Basically a barebones, yet classy look at the same time. Sort of like something like you’d picture in an aspiring up and coming artist’s loft apartment.

#2 Decorating colors are basically natural colors: skin tones, earth tones, blue, green yellow. That pretty much sums it up.

#3 Food provided every Sunday in a coffee shop fashion, with all the nice cups, snack selection, etc….

#4 In the sanctuary itself, darkness. Not even enough light to read by while singing, worship, praise, prayer times are going on. During the sermon, just enough extra light to read by in case you’d rather read your Bible as opposed to take it off the screen. But candles, lots and lots and lots of candles.

#5 On a large stage, lots of people, constantly changing personnel and stage set-up, professional stage lighting, loudness level right on the edge between concert and worship.

#6 Prayer is central to the service and the set up is oriented around providing places to pray during the service.

#7 Chairs, not pews.

#8 Jeans and Crocs all over the place.

#9 Occasionally, you’ll find the congregations constituting the church bodies worshipping in this manner meeting in “odd” locations, such as subways, hotels, etc… And of course, in these instances, the presentation is completely defined by the location in which they meet.

#10 Always a lot of people in attendance of all ages and types.

And there’s more stuff, but you get the idea…



So on to the other area, and probably the issue that most have used as a way to define the great and mystical emergent as basically a culturally, shallow attempt at subversion of the Gospel message. This has been used as a flashpoint by the entrenched, over-reaching church authority (yes even protestants have an over-arching church hierarchy) to rid themselves of having to even think about emergent, thereby avoiding any real discussion of actively pursuing the great commission in the modern age. And on the flip-side, the “leaders” of emergent, or to be more accurate, those who brought the concept of emergent to the forefront of church discussion, have allowed themselves (maybe even foolishly welcomed) to be drawn into discussions of theology and doctrine.

I say that to tie emergent to doctrine does it an extreme disservice and completely misrepresents what is at the core. Truly, the liberal/conservative tendencies of those associated with emergent run the entire gammit of liberal/conservative theology. This understanding in itself should nullify any attempt to peg it as representing a specific type of theology. You can find emergent present in any and all denominations. All it represents is change, and a fairly harmless change at that. But isn’t that where the trouble always starts. Isn’t it always some harmless change, like moving chairs, playing a certain song in church, drinking and eating in the sanctuary, wearing jeans to church, playing drums during the service.

Emergent is not about theology, it is not about doctrine, it is not about denominations. Emergent is about attraction. It is about a thinking that asks Christians to exercise maturity in their faith and lay aside their own preferences for the good of the kingdom. Christ laid aside heaven itself to come to Earth to be treated as a criminal and brutally killed. Can we not simply alter the “performance” that we all put on each Sunday morning as individuals and as a church so that we are more attractive in a real and friendly kind of way to people who have not yet been reached in the name of Christ? Isn’t it all about aesthetics?

I’m kind of tired, but I hope this is making sense.

Transparency, Part 1

I had a thought today on the way to work. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m constantly trying to understand the delicate balance that a church seeks to achieve in the world.

On the one hand, the church must be undeniably Christian, and therefore reject the ways of the world. In this sense the corporate church entity’s primary mission as a mechanism in God’s plan would seem to be to oversee, maintain, and care for the flock; with the ultimate goal of spiritual growth and independence within the members of the flock.

The catch-22 to this is if the church does a good job of caring for the flock and raising them to spiritual maturity, the flock’s natural spiritual impulse will be to begin reaching out through love and understanding to those around them that are unsaved. Therefore, odds are that this new group of mature and independent Christians will want to begin to alter the way in which people are brought into the Church by recognizing and altering the approach the corporate church takes in relating to those outside the church.

Out of love and understanding and yearning to serve their Lord, once we are saved, we begin to desire to see others saved……at all costs?

Perhaps at all costs….Christ laid down His very life. In light of what He did, aren’t we simply called to lay aside our selves. Seems simple compared to dying, but you’d think our task more difficult than that of Christ when you begin to look around at all the various denominational groups within the corporate church, each of which has been formed because of an inability to lay aside their self.

Oh, but wait, they did lay aside their selves, once upon a time, right? Wasn’t that why their group formed in the first place, because they wanted to reach out and go where people hadn’t gone before. Leaving behind their progenitors who were content to continue working with what they have seen work in the past, and expect to continue to work in the future. Something always overlooked is the fact that laying aside one’s self is not a one time act, it is an act that continues forever. The self must continuously be denied when it comes to serving another, especially when that “another” is Jesus Christ. If you aren’t serving Jesus, you’re only serving yourself.

And so, I suppose therein lies the beginning of an understanding of what love and understanding truly mean? Remember love and understanding…it’s what drives the mature and independent Christian to go out into the world and fulfill the commission.

So again I ask, what is love and understanding? Is it some sort of haughty type of pity? Is it remorse over what the unsaved are missing out on? Is it compassion? And if compassion, what type? Do we allow our compassion to compel us to action, or does our compassion find itself restricted to our prayers?
I think, in a lot of ways, regardless of where the Christian is coming from in their desire to show love and understanding, ultimately the burden of defining how that love and understanding is interpreted is completely on the shoulders of those in the cross-hairs of our Christian love and understanding.

Sacrifices

This year my wife and I have been reading one of those Through The Bible In A Year books. And being a month and a half into it, we have hit what many consider the most dreaded obstacle of all those seeking to read through the Bible.

“So high you can’t get over it; so low you can’t get under it; so wide you can’t get around it.”

Leviticus

So far, we’ve only been exploring the intricate descriptions of what fat to sacrifice, of which animal, when, and by whom. Maybe, for a reader who’s completely caught up on his sleep, these books would satisfy some trivial fascination, but when you’ve been through these readings before, and have two kids to keep your energy-level maxed out, all I find is mystery and dozing.

I realize that the words of Leviticus must be included for a reason. And because they are literally a part of God’s Word, they must be included in anyone’s attempt to genuinely study God’s word. Sooooo, when was the last time you heard a sermon on Leviticus, or had a Sunday school lesson or small group study on Leviticus? In my ten years as a Christian, the answer is never.

Of course, for Christians, the reason for this is simple--Jesus. But in my mind the book of Leviticus is also the reason for Jesus. The Law.

Christians are outside of the Law because of Jesus. Therefore we have very little interest in such things. However would we not be outside of the Law without Jesus? And would we not have Jesus without the Law? Although I can’t say I have even an inkling of understanding yet as to why it is important to read Leviticus, as Christians, there has to be some unique understanding of Christ’s atonement to be had from working through the Old Testament Law books such as Leviticus. At least that’s my guess.

We shall see if my current reading gleans me any of that unique perspective that I seek. My prayer is that it will.

These are the commands the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites. Leviticus 27:34

LET'S BE PERFECTLY CLEAR ON THIS...

butter = BAD!!!! :(

-butter-g= GOOD!!!! :)

God's Origami

I’ve been going through this daily origami calendar I received as a Christmas present. It's been a month and a half and every day I do a new little origami project. Some designs are a lot fancier than I'd have expected to be able to do. But the complex designs are no harder than the simple designs. They all boil down to the same ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS: directions, piece of paper, folding, imagination.

Directions = God’s Word (Inspired and Inerrant)
Piece of Paper = Me or You or Her or Him (the clay)
Folding = Rebirth as a new creation (Belief in Jesus as the incarnate Son of God)
Imagination = Seeing the world through a whole new set of eyes (LOVE)

“There are three things that will endure-faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love.” Happy Valentines Day!

The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

You ever think about what you remember? I do. And sometimes I wonder about the things that I don’t remember, and why.

I started down this path thinking back to a time before I professed a belief in Jesus, back when I used to actually verbally argue in a public forum against the “logic” of believing in Jesus. I don’t know how important it is for us to remember what it was like for us as people in the world before we believed, but it can’t be worthless. Regardless though, it got me thinking…

Time goes by, sometimes a lot of time, but the things we remember, what we remember of them, we remember like yesterday. Why is that? Is there some kind of timeless quality to our memories?

We truly are the sum of our experiences in life, and we carry those experiences with us as memories. They define us as people. They define our character. In this way, they are not our past; they are our present and our future. In this sense, they are timeless. The only other thing I know that is timeless is God. After all, He is the creator of time, therefore He must be above it. So perhaps, in our minds, in the mysterious place where we carry the things that we know, from experience, we come closest to God. Perhaps it is in the self-reflection that comes only with memories that we can experience to the fullest our relationship with God.

And then there are the things that we forget. We “forget” something for the longest time, then suddenly there it is floating out there in front of us, overshadowing every other part of our days and thoughts, like a ghost appearing out of nothingness. And yet it is not a ghost, it is a reality, our reality, and we know it has shaped us, and we know it will continue to shape us. But where was it for all of that time, why now does it come back to us.

And what about the things we never forget, from the moment they happen until we die? And what about the things we will never remember? Did we even actually experience something if we have no memory of it? Maybe we are protectiong ourselves from who we are by not remembering. Or maybe we simply can't remember.

Some are tortured by their memories, bringing to bear guilt, regret, remorse, sadness, and sometimes driving people to drastic actions. But for most, these symptoms take a much more mild and molding direction. We all would like to think that we become better people as a result of the lives we have lived, but then again, so easily we forget, only to remember again, too late to prevent the formation of yet another bridling memory, nearly identical to one that we'd already like to forget.

I wonder if the soul might actually be the sum of our memories. When we stand before the judgement seat as someone whose life on Earth has come to an end, what more can we possibly be than the sum of our memories. One thing I know for certain, who we are, we shall be before God…

…but Praise God there is that one guy who came and took the punishment that belongs to us for who we are upon himself. Thank God for his Son, and Jesus’ willingness to do what he did for us.

Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

What do you call yourself

I wanted to post a message I got from my dad commenting on the subject of my prior post. Perspective always helps bring clarity.

When we were inducted into Uncle Sam's Army they asked us a couple of questions for basic info that went on our dog tags. They asked and I blurted out Protestant when they asked for religion. The popular choices were protestant Catholic and Jewish, but I was scared and tired, and thought that there was some kind of politically correct answer, and of course, they don't let you change anything once you've given an answer, you are stuck with that answer until the end of time according to the Army. Immediately after getting stuck with the stupid moniker "protestant", I wanted to change it to Christian so bad, that I regretted it every day that I spent in the Army. More than a few of my prayers had to do with my guilt over that word that prevented me from being known by Jesus' name.

I always assumed that the reason they wanted to know was in case of impending death or disaster while on duty, they would go and summon the appropriate man of the cloth to come and minister to the dying soldier. Still, I regret it to this day. For someone to walk around calling themself a Baptist, a Nazarene, a Catholic, a Methodist, or an "indie" is like me, as a scared and stupid buck private on his way to war, calling myself something as inane as a protestant. Looking back, I always go with my original instinct to avoid nameplates and labels, and I'm just satisfied to be known merely by what they were called in the first century, a Christian. That is good enough for me.

I once belonged to the Methodist church, just as you did, but I never knew what it meant to be a Methodist. I think in (anytown USA), being a (dominant religious group) gets you some really good political points, at least that is what everyone knows from bitter experience who has ever lived in (anytown USA) and is not a (dominant religious group). In the end man-made religious labels are frequently used by insecure folks looking for some kind of prideful advantage through association. On the other hand, humans need to belong, and groups label themselves to help each other identify like-minded folks. Join one (or more) church(es) (there isn't a limit on membership, you know), but let your heart show what you are. I feel totally secure as a Christian no matter where I might find myself attending church or who I might be associating with outside of church.

What's in a name?

What is a Nazarene? What about an Emergent Nazarene? I ask those questions a little tongue in cheek. The obvious and most honest answer is: “a Nazarene is a Christian”. Beyond that however, Nazarene is similar to a country in and of itself within the world of Christendom. And how can one know much about a country until one sets off with the intent to explore that country. Don’t get me wrong. This affliction is not specific to the Nazarenes. No less can be said of any other denomination or “brotherhood”.

As I type this, I’ve got a membership form waiting to be filled out and turned in to a local Nazarene church here in OKC. Aesthetically at least, this church seems to profess a vision in line with the great and mysterious EMERGENT. From what I’ve read so far, I think I’ve got EMERGENT pegged as a some sort of distant cousin to the great and mysterious OZ.

I’ve never been a Nazarene before, and don’t think I have ever planned on being a Nazarene. However, I have been a Christian before, and that’s got to count for something, right? Since my salvation nearly 10 years ago I’ve always considered myself a part of a group which professes to NOT be a denomination. So, by default, NOTness is where I’ve taken my stand over the last decade. But as things tend to do, things change. God has most definitely shown my family that it has come time for us to make a change.

From the outside looking in, one quickly finds that the NOTness of the Indies and the SOMETHINGness of denominationalism are pretty similar to one another, only on a much smaller, and even more divisive scale.

And so, growth begins again. I’ve grown spiritually from milk to meat within the “confines” of the Independent Christian Church movement. When you’re inside of the indie group, and probably most any other group or denomination, as a young and maturing Christian it becomes very easy to begin to feel as if you live in one of a multitude of countries, each with its own borders, leaders, laws, and politics. And for no other reason than we were born in this country, we begin to speak the language, adopt their beliefs and ideals, and become emboldened to the point that we are even willing to fight to protect, and occasionally expand, our borders. Soon enough we start believing that our country is the biggest and the baddest.

And yet in the hard, cold truth that can be Christian Reality (a hard place to visit, and an even more difficult place to call home) the ONLY thing that a denomination truly can be is a word. And it isn’t even a good kind of word. It’s the bad kind of un-PC word that I’ll go ahead and label a “Label”. As Christians I wonder why we so willingly allow ourselves to be labeled with a denominational moniker when regardless of the label, underneath it all we can ultimately be nothing more than Christians.

All you need to do is read a history book, or maybe go to the grocery store, and quickly enough you see that labels are good for nothing other than the application of rules and guidelines, specifications and instructions, directions and orders, competition, and ultimately power and control, usually all in the name of maintaining worldly order. This last fact explains why labels are very important in the World, but in Christendom show why all labels but one should be of no importance.

Need a Proof?: Ask a Baptist, a Nazarene, a Catholic, a Methodist or any faith-filled, loving Christian the following question: What do you want to hear come out of Jesus’ mouth when you get to heaven? The answer is obvious: “Well done good and faithful servant.” Not “good and faithful Baptist”, not “good and faithful Nazarene”, not even “well done Indie”. Rather, we all want to hear “good and faithful servant”.

Yet, as I stand ready to bare my neck to my potential Nazarene brothers and sisters (sheesh…), I suppose I must come to terms with yet another fact of my existence. To Join, or Not To Join. I must Join, I suppose for no other reason than because I must.

Or must I? Why join a church? Where is that in the Bible? Why do we even practice it? Where did it originate? What on Earth is Church membership, and what in Heaven’s name is it truly good for?

Really, rather than joining a church, aren’t we actually joining a denomination. Aren’t we already a part of The Church before we’re a part of a denomination, hence the fact that we’re allowed to “join” a denomination in the first place? And isn’t the hard truth that we do so to the exclusion of all other denominations or groups. As Christians, we do these things and we truly believe we are exercising good theology, when really there is no scriptural basis for something which is truly at the core of so much divisiveness. And if you don’t think it is divisive, then simply attempt to implement wholesale changes to the “professed” non-essentials of whatever denomination to which you happen to belong. I’ll bet you’ll soon find yourself knee deep in the blood of the “defenders of the faith” over some matters which, prior to being at the root of what has become a blood-bath, were of no consequence at all.

As for me? I’m throwing my lot in with the Nazarenes; at least until God leads my family elsewhere. Quite simply put, “it’s the way the world works”. And honestly, the place God has led us to seems to have a genuine caring about them. They may call themselves Nazarenes, and they may preach a solid and grounded Nazarene Faith, but can a church which has grown from 15 to 600 in attendance every weekend, in as short a time as 3 years, truly call itself Nazarene? Or is it much closer to truly being The Church. I’m hanging my hat on the latter, and I don’t think I’ll be disappointed. God is good!!! Amen!