He protests against my blogging?
Well, it seems that I may have stepped over the line.
I’m not the only one, but I am one of the bloggers called out – by name.
And, who called me out? None other than my PhD mentor Dave Black.
I suppose I’m in trouble and should do something to bury the hatchet. What do you think I should do? Here’s his protest (from his blog on Friday, May 27, 2011 at 5:20 p.m.):
Once more I protest (as usual in vain) against the kind of blogging that is being done by the likes of Alan Knox, Eric Carpenter, Aussie John, Arthur Sido and a host of others of their ilk. They know all too well that they will never make the “Top 50” of any list out there and that their Alexa ratings are abysmal. To make matters worse, they update their blogs so frequently, how can they ever hope to generate a loyal following? They are forever publishing original material that makes their readers think, really think. Don’t they realize that the evangelical subculture to which they belong demands conformity above all else? Honestly, these guys need to do something to make their blogs more palatable.
(As you see, I am feeling fine and enjoying the blogosphere immensely this afternoon.)
I just don’t know. Perhaps it’s a lost cause. (Perhaps he’s a master at sarcasm?)
Predicting, Listening, Craving, and Serving
As I wrote a few days ago, there are so many good blog posts in my feed reader right now that I can’t possibly create a separate post for each one of them. However, I do want to point my readers to them, because… well, like I said, they’re very good.
So here are another list of posts that I found extremely encouraging and challenging.
I hope you take the time to read these posts. I think you’ll be glad that you did.
Eric from “A Pilgrim’s Progress” writes “I Can’t Predict Who’s Interested“
In his post, Eric is primarily talking about church. Until he talks to people, he cannot tell who is interested in discussing and living out issues regarding the church. However, I think this applies to the gospel as well.
Guy from “The M Blog” writes “Listening to one another’s stories“
He says that we must listen to one another before we can help, teach, disciple, etc. one another. And, while I agree with Guy that “listen to one another” is not one of the commands found in Scripture, it does seem to be an important foundation to many of the commands, especially the “one another” commands.
Bobby at “Deconstructing Neverland” writes “Craving for community“
He talks about some of the obstacles and frustrations that people face when they seek community with other believers. I know these obstacles and frustrations are real. Not only have I faced them myself, but I get emails from people all the time who face the same things.
Chris at “The Amplified Life” writes “A Quick Thought on Serving Others“
He is surprised that a gesture as simple as holding the door for someone is rare. What about real acts of service? Is the church any better than culture at serving others?
I’d love to hear what you think about these posts.
Serving people even when they reject us
My friends Paul and Laurel are in in Switzerland learning French. Why? Because they plan to move to a certain country in Africa where French is one of the predominant languages. While in Africa, they will be developing written languages (for the first time) for several spoken tribal languages. Then, they will help translate the Scriptures into those tribal languages.
Why? They are doing all this to disciple the people among those tribes. They do not view translation as an end, but as one of the means toward helping people grow in maturity in Jesus Christ.
However, it seems that God is continuing to teach them about serving him and loving others while they are in Switzerland. In one of their latest posts, “Rejecting a gift given out of love,” they tell the story of a friend who wanted to help a homeless man they found rooting around in the garbage can for scraps of food. Here is part of the story:
Our friend got up immediately and resolutely saying that he would buy this man a meal. Within a few minutes, our friend came back and just quietly placed the bag of food at the man’s feet, smiled, and walked on. To all of our shock, the homeless man grunted and hastily grabbed the bag of food and angrily slammed it into the trash can he had just been eating out of. We were speechless.
But, they also learned something very important through this:
We were all immediately struck with the reality that this is how the Lord feels when people reject His gift given out of His great love for us… Another challenge we took away from this is to persevere in loving and serving people even when rejected because that is what Jesus did.
This is a difficult lesson to learn. We all want to be accepted, and we want people to be appreciative when we love them.
But, we should never allow people’s responses (or lack of responses) to be a motivation or a hindrance to our service. The only service that honors God is one that is motivated by a love for him and others and that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Communion, Missionaries, Harold Camping, and Depression
There are so many good blog posts that I’ve starred in my feed reader. There’s no way that I can devote a separate post for each one, although they certainly deserve it.
Instead, I’m going to gather several of them together in this post.
Please, take the time to read these. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Chris at “The Amplified Life” writes about “Acts 27:35 and the Communion Meal“
This is a very interesting passage, and one that the church should definitely consider. Yes, Paul uses all the nomenclature of “communion” or “the Lord’s Supper” or “the Eucharist”, and then invites the pagan sailors to join him in the meal.
Andy from “aBowden Blog” writes about “Living as a missionary in a small, southern town“
Yes, even small, southern towns in the middle of the Bible belt need missionaries. And, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, then you are a missionary.
Steve at “From the Pew” writes “Harold Camping: An Untold Story“
Yes, this is the same Harold Camping who predicted the rapture would occur on May 21, 2011, and still predicts the world will end on October 21, 2011. You should read what Steve says.
Jason at “Second and Content” writes “Do Not Give Up“
Remember that Jason is currently in South Africa. He has been struggling with depression and discouragement and writes about that in this post.
So, there you have it. Four very good posts. Believe it or not, I have even more to share, but they will have to wait for another post.
What do you think?
A more-than-Sunday community
Since his family’s move a few months ago, Arthur from “The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia” has been chronicling their search for church and community. As he has explained many times, they are seeking a simple expression of church while maintaining relationships with those who are part of more institutional churches.
His latest post, “Simple church on Sunday is just the start,” is a very important step in this process.
Arthur understands that whatever form the church meeting takes on Sunday (or whatever day the church meets), one meeting per week will not develop community – at least, not the community and fellowship that we read about in the pages of the New Testament.
So, what does that mean? It means that Arthur understands that he and his family must spend time with believers throughout the week. And, guess what? Arthur gives us some examples of things he plans to do:
I don’t think that given the realities of life in America in the 21st century that community must precisely resemble the first century in every respect. Nor do I think that community will necessarily resemble more communal historical Christian groups like the Hutterites. So I think it will look quite different in different contexts. Where I live out in the country, perhaps we meet as families in one place or another on a regular basis (other than the Sunday meeting!). Maybe BBQ on a Saturday where we spend the day together. I am really interested in getting a Bible study going in our area, I know enough people to make it work. We already have a connection with a youth group that is not affiliated with a particular church that meets a lot. Even something as simple as intentional visits to other Christians would foster a sense of community. Of course having the weather lighten up would be nice, we have had almost ten inches of rain in the last month or so! Even out where we live I could see families buying property or houses near one another to increase proximity although a lot of us have more or less established roots so that may not be as feasible.
Later in the post, Arthur makes some suggestions for people living in more urban areas.
What are some other ways that you and your family have developed (or could develop) relationships with other believers near you?
Can a traditional church allow more participation?
I’ve enjoyed reading Chris’s blog “The Amplified Life.” He writes about both concepts and practices. I love that!
One of his latest posts is called “Open Sharing in a More Traditional Setting.”
Chris admits at the beginning of the post that they are the typical traditional church in America. But, recently, they’ve started allow others in the church the opportunity to speak.
Here is part of his description:
Whenever we begin the sharing time I open by saying, “Does anyone have any words of encouragement, testimonies, praises or prayer requests? What is God doing in our lives?” I specifically use that order because (1) I want people to be encouraged to share their “God stories” with the community; (2) it is important for others to hear what God is doing around us; (3) and while prayer is a great gift and very important, I don’t want it to turn into “Please pray for my aunt’s, nephew’s, brother’s, son’s, best friend’s sister’s pet gerbil.”
For the first few months we received mostly, if not all prayer requests. But then gradually we began to have others share some testimony. Then others would share a word of encouragement. Now, through the Holy Spirit’s guidance, it has taken on a life of it’s own. Sometimes we have taken 10-15 minutes during our “traditional” worship time to share what God has done and is doing and what we are praying to see God do. the feedback from the community is that it has become or is becoming one of their favorite aspects of our corporate gathering.
Now, I know that some of my readers are part of more organic churches that allow participation by anyone while they are meeting together. But, while you may think this group of believers has a long way to go, don’t overlook the fact that they are moving in a direction that is contrary to the traditional church in America.
And why are they doing this? Just for the sake of changing and being different? No! They are making this change because they believe it better aligns with what they’ve found in Scripture. (Chris talks about some of these passages of Scripture in his post.)
I praise God that these people have decided that it’s important for a larger part of the church to take part in the meetings, and they’ve started moving in that direction!
Do you know of other traditional churches who have made this kind of change, or one similar to it?
Considering the relationship between preaching and discipleship
Charles at “In the Storyline” has written a very good post called “Is Preaching Overrated?”
Now, the good thing about this post is that Charles has not made up his own mind, and he’s good asking questions.
He says he’s found an increasing dissonance concerning preaching. Here are the reasons he gave:
1) Many of the disconnected adults I’m living among are increasingly skeptical of listening to a single individual who presumes to speak authoritatively to them
2) If I’m honest, preaching in my experience does not equip people to follow Jesus at the deepest levels.
3) The approach to preaching in the scriptures seems significantly different than the way we practice it now.
4) The contemporary practice of preaching has contributed to an unhealthy consumer orientation and celebrity culture in American Christianity.
Charles explains each “reason” and gives further information in his post. You should read his post and interact with him there.
What do you think about preaching in the modern definitions of the word? Do you think it is overrated?
Acts 2 as the modern traditional church
Okay, so you know that I’m a glutton for a good piece of satire or a post that includes sarcasm. Why? Because even though satire and sarcasm make some people angry, others are able to see themselves in satire and sarcasm where they were not see themselves in a more realistic piece.
All that to say this: Arthur as “The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia” has written as excellent satirical/sarcastic piece called “Maybe Luke was wrong because this is how it must have REALLY happened…”
In his post, Arthur retells Acts 2 as if everything happened that day the way things normally happen in modern, traditional churches. In fact, Arthur description sounded exactly like the churches I’ve known for the last 30 years or so.
Read through Arthur’s post. Notice how he describes this new “Day of Pentecost.” Then, ready Acts 2. So different… so so different.
My Short Story: Running Late
Last week, I told you that my friend Dan had published an excerpt from an upcoming novel. The excerpt was called “Physician, Heal Thyself!”
I also told you that Dan is an avid fan of the zombie genre. While talking with him, I was encouraged to begin writing fiction again. As I told you a few weeks ago, I once wrote fiction, but I had gotten out of the habit. (See my post “Have you ever written fiction?“)
Well, I’ve now published a short story on Dan’s site called “Running Late.” Yes, it’s a short story that include zombies, but I think you’ll find that it has very little blood and gore. In fact, the zombies simply form the background to the story.
Plus, believe it or not, my short story does tie into the church and following Christ. (Sometimes it’s easier to see the “message” when portrayed in a fantasy world instead of our own world.)
I’d love to get your feedback, both on the story itself and on the message that I’m trying to get across. You can leave comments here or at “Running Late.”
Blueprint for a modern-day temple of God
Jonathan at “Jon’s Journey” helps us understand how God wants his temple built in his post “Temple Blueprint.”
He begins by reminding us of the details that God spelled out for the temple built by Solomon. The details for the temple (and the earlier tabernacle) were certainly very specific.
Next, Jonathan steps through several of the questions and decisions that seem to be important for the church today. Here are a few of them:
- Steeple, Cross, icons
- Sunday or Saturday
- Children included or separate
- Priest, Pastor, Minister, Reverend, Brother, Father, Elder, Deacon
- Pews, chairs, semi-circle
Finally, Jonathan reminds us of what Jesus and the New Testament authors said about building a new temple of God, which would include modern-day temples. These scriptural instructions are just as detailed and specific as the Old Testament instructions.
So, what are these instructions? Well, here’s one example:
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Corinthians 3:16 NIV)
But, there is something different about these instructions… and it’s a very important difference I think.
Read Jonathan’s post and see what you think. Are we taking part in the instructions for the modern-day temple of God?