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Won’t Get Fooled Again

Posted by on Jan 16, 2008 in discipleship, synchroblog | 47 comments

Once upon a time, God used a donkey. How foolish! Not today. Today, God has other means of transportation available to him. He uses nice cars – Cadillacs, BMWs, Mercedes, even limos. God even uses jet planes. Why would God want to use something as foolish as a donkey when he has planes available to him?

Once upon a time, God used pagan prophets and philosophers. How foolish! Not today. Nothing good can come from culture. Today, God wants his people to read Christian books, watch Christian movies, and listen to Christian music. If God has something to say, he would never be so foolish as to speak through a pagan.

Once upon a time, God ate with prostitutes, drunks, thieves, and other malcontents. How foolish! Not today. God has enough good people now that he doesn’t need to hang out with that sort anymore. It would be foolish for God to be found among the dregs of society today.

Once upon a time, God gathered people in fields, and on a mountain, and in a valley, and in homes, and in a school. How foolish! Not today. If people want to meet with God today, they can come to his house – a church building. Wouldn’t it be foolish for people to think that God would come to them when he has beautiful buildings now?

Once upon a time, God spoke through untrained people. How foolish! Not today. There are plenty of college- and university- and seminary-trained people for God to speak through today. He doesn’t need to speak through the unlearned. What if they said something wrong? How foolish to think that God would still speak through uneducated people today.

Once upon a time, God called the foolish, weak, and unknown – the nobodies – of society. How foolish! Not today. Now God calls the smart, the powerful, and the celebrities to speak on the lecture circuit, write books, and hold conferences. How foolish to think that we could make it without our Christian celebrities!

Once upon a time, God asked people to drop everything and follow him. How foolish! Not today. God realizes that today we need a steady job with a good salary, a home, two cars, health and life insurance, a good dental plan, excellent schools, vacation, and a retirement plan. Do you foolishly think that God would ask us to follow him without these necessities?

Once upon a time, God expected his people to encourage one another when they met together. How foolish! Not today. Now God has provided us with professionals to handle all the dirty work, to study, to teach, to sing, to deal with problems. How foolish to think that God would expect us to do these things today.

Once upon a time, God wanted his people to trust him completely without relying on their own ability to understand. How foolish! Not today. God knows that people today need to think logically about things, to make reasonable decisions. God knows that we need all the details of his plans, especially the outcome. Do you foolishly think that God still expects us to trust him completely?

Once upon a time, God created and enforced covenants. How foolish! Not today. God now expects us to write our own covenants and to hold people accountable to them. If we don’t hold people accountable, then who will? How foolish it would be to think that God is still capable of taking care of his covenants and his children.

Yes, once upon a time, God used a donkey. But we can all see how foolish that would be now. We won’t get fooled again.

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This post is part of a synchroblog on the topic “God’s Call to the Fools”. Click below to read additional posts on the same topic.

Remembering the Incarnation

Posted by on Dec 12, 2007 in discipleship, synchroblog | 7 comments

This post is part of a synchroblog on the topic “Redeeming the Season”. A few weeks ago, when this topic was introduced, I thought through several options for this post. However, as December rolled along and we came close to Christmas, I started thinking about the incarnation, and specifically how all of my Christmas preparations reminded me of the incarnation – or how they did not remind me of the incarnation. These are personal reflections. I am not intending to suggest that everyone reflects on these things in the same way.

The incarnation is one of the most remarkable doctrines of the Christian faith. God became man and dwelled among us – it is almost incomprehensible! There are many exciting and life-changing truths that can be explored by beginning with the incarnation such as the love of God, the mercy and compassion of God, redemption, relationship, unity, etc. Perhaps the most exciting corollary (if it can be called a corollary) to the incarnation for me is the subsequent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus came, and lived, and died, and rose, and ascended, and promised to send “another helper” – the Holy Spirit. Thus, because of the incarnation, God not only dwelled with us, he now dwells in us.

But, I’ve realized this “Christmas season” that very little of what I do or think or say actually reminds me of the incarnation. Christmas trees and decorations and Christmas cards do not remind me of the incarnation. I think they’re supposed to, but they don’t. As much as I love to sing Christmas carols, they remind me of a baby, but not the incarnation. Christmas candy and fruit cakes and eggnog do not remind me of the incarnation, although I love them. Christmas gifts and wish lists and shopping do not remind me of the incarnation. Yes, I know that God gave his son, but perhaps I’m too focused on myself, but Christmas gifts do not remind me of the incarnation. Parades and craft sales do not remind me of the incarnation.

Like I said, I love these things. They make me feel festive and joyous and giving and grateful and happy. But, they do not remind me of the incarnation. I love to decorate our house and look at the decorations at other houses. I love Christmas carols and songs – both singing them and listening to them. I love the festivities and activities that surround Christmas. I love giving and getting Christmas. But, I cannot say that these activities have reminded me of the incarnation this year.

However, I have been reminded of the incarnation. When I met with a small group of students and learned about people who were being forced into prostitution or sold into slavery or forced to work for very little money, I was reminded of the incarnation.

When I sat down with some friends and heard what God was doing in their lives and listened to their struggles and victories, I was reminded of the incarnation.

When I saw some adults sit down on the floor to play with and talk to underprivileged children, I was reminded of the incarnation.

When I read emails from people who are struggling to determine God’s will for them and their family but recognizing the hope and promise that they have in him, I was reminded of the incarnation.

There’s nothing wrong with nativity scenes and carols. But they remind me of a baby in a manger, not the God of the universe who dwells within me. There’s nothing wrong with Santa and Rudolph and Frosty and Jack Frost. But they remind me of gifts and fun and happiness and winter, not that I should abide in Christ as he abides in me. There’s nothing wrong with hanging the greens and decking the halls and sleighing the bells. But they remind me of festivities and parties and fun times, not the indwelling power that is within me – the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

As I’ve thought about the Christmas season this year, more than anything I’ve realized that it does little to help me in my walk with Christ. Remember, this is my conclusion, not yours. Perhaps celebrating Christmas helps you in your walk with Christ and helps you grow in maturity toward Christ-likeness. I will continue to celebrate Christmas, because my family, friends, and I all enjoy the festivities. But, I recognize that Christmas is not really about the incarnation – at least not in the sense that I need to remember and meditate on the incarnation.

In fact, as I’ve thought about the Christmas season, I’ve also realized that I need to remember and meditate on the incarnation throughout the year – possibly every day, every hour, every moment.

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Redeeming the Season is the Topic for this month’s SynchroBlog. Now there are a variety of seasons being celebrated at the end of each year from Christmas to Hannukah to Eid al-Adha and Muharram, from the Winter Solstice to Kwanzaa and Yule. Some people celebrate none of these seasonal holydays, and do so for good reason. Below is a variety of responses to the subject of redeeming the season. From the discipline of simplicity, to uninhibited celebration, to refraining from celebrating, to celebrating another’s holyday for the purpose of identificational evangelism the subject is explored. Follow the links below to “Redeeming the Season.” For more holidays to consider see here

Recapturing the Spirit of Christmas at Sonja Andrew’s Calacirian
Fanning the Flickering Flame of Advent at Paul Walker’s Out of the Cocoon
Lainie Petersen at Headspace
Eager Longing at Elizaphanian
The Battle Rages at Bryan Riley’s Charis Shalom
Secularizing Christmas at JohnSmulo.com
There’s Something About Mary at Hello Said Jenelle
Geocentric Versus Anthropocentric Holydays at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Celebrating Christmas in a Pluralistic Society at Matt Stone’s Journeys in Between
The Ghost of Christmas Past at Erin Word’s Decompressing Faith
Redeeming the season — season of redemption by Steve Hayes
Remembering the Incarnation at Alan Knox’ The Assembling of the Church
A Biblical Response to a Secular Christmas by Glenn Ansley’s Bad Theology
Happy Life Day at The Agent B Files
What’s So Bad About Christmas? at Julie Clawson’s One Hand Clapping

Advent Newbie

Posted by on Nov 29, 2007 in blog links, discipleship, synchroblog | 4 comments

Brother Maynard at “Subversive Influence” is “Advent Blogging” this year. Scot McKnight at “Jesus Creed” is also blogging through Advent season. Also, the topic of this month’s synchroblog is “Redeeming the Season” – not necessarily the “Christmas” season, but something to do with December.

I’ve been thinking about Christmas, Advent, and the Incarnation over the last few days. To be honest, I don’t know much about Advent, so I guess I’m an Advent newbie (But, I’m not an “Advent virgin” like grace… sorry, grace, but your secret is out now.) When Margaret and I were first married, we did one of the Advent readings on Sunday morning. I honestly don’t remember anything about it. We read something from a slip of paper and lit a candle – it was obviously a very moving experience for us.

I know that Advent has to do with waiting… anticipating… expecting… hoping. I would love to examine these expectancy themes, and I’m thinking about examining them in four time frames: the time of the prophets, the time of Jesus, current time, and eschatologically – end times. It seems that hope and expectancy – could we say, “faith” – plays a huge role in all of those time frames. Perhaps studying Advent from those different perspectives could help us understand the incarnation and its implications today. Advent begins Sunday, so I will probably post Advent posts each of the four Advent Sundays: 12/2, 12/9, 12/16, and 12/23. The synchroblog “Redeeming the Season” will be 12/12. Then, I plan to publish a final post about the incarnation on Christmas Day.

Anyway, this is a different kind of post. I mainly wanted to begin thinking (out loud – to match my silent thinking) through some of these Advent and Incarnation issues. I’d love to hear your thoughts on Advent and my possible study.

But I gave at church

Posted by on Nov 15, 2007 in discipleship, service, synchroblog | 11 comments

This post is part of a synchroblog concerning “Money and the Church”. I recently wrote a blog series on paying a salary to elders/pastors ,which would also go along with this synchroblog (see my post “Summary – Should elders/pastors be paid a salary?” for a summary of my argument and links to the argument details). However, for this synchroblog, I decided to go in a different direction. For this post I want to think about this question: How does a church – that is a group of believers – balance the corporate and individual responsibility of being good stewards of money? Also, I want to share an idea that some in the church came up with as a way to balance corporate and individual responsibilities of stewardship.

First, stewardship is a recognition that we – as God’s people – do not actually own anything that we possess. Instead, God is the owner, and we are stewards. Thus, we are responsible for using everything that we have in a manner worthy of and pleasing to God.

Second, stewardship is primarily a personal responsibility, as are other aspects of obedience. I cannot obey God for someone else, and someone else cannot obey God on my behalf. In the same way, I cannot be a steward of something that God has given to someone else, and other people are not responsible for stewarding those things that God has given to me. Of course, if someone gives me something – money, property, time, etc. – it is then my responsibility to be a good steward of those things that have been given to me.

Finally, if a group of people agree together to certain financial commitments, then they are corporately responsible – that is, responsible together – to meet those commitments. This is where most churches find themselves. They have corporate responsibilities to pay for buildings and other capital expenses, literature, salaries, benefits, etc. These types of expenses are rarely questioned and are usually considered to be necessary for a church – that is, a group of believers. In fact, many believers are taught that giving toward these corporate commitments is the way or at least the primary way of fulfilling financial stewardship.

However, there is a danger when considering corporate commitments. All corporate commitments are not biblical responsibilities. In fact, many church organizations have attempted to take personal responsibilities away from individuals and place them under the umbrella of the organization. Thus, many church organizations now take on benevolence and hospitality and service, such that the organization feels that the individual is obedient to God when the individual gives to the church organization. The church organization becomes a service middleman, obeying God as a representative of the individual. Is this a valid function of a church? If a person gives all of her money to a church organization is she actually obeying God?

As we examine the issues of corporate and personal responsibilities, let’s recognize that Scripture rarely – if ever – deals with the corporate aspect of stewardship. We only see instances in Scripture where people pool their money or possessions together for specific purposes, such as helping those who are in need (Acts 4:34-35; 1 Cor 16:1-3; etc.) or those who are travelling away from home to spread the gospel (Phil 4:14-17). We do not see instances of churches pooling together their money for their own benefit, in order to store the money in a bank account, or in order to provide for future needs.

However, we do see several instances where individuals are given the responsibility to personally provide for the needs of others. Here are a couple of passages in particular:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17 ESV)

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18 ESV)

There are other passages which deal with giving, doing charitable deeds, showing mercy, offering hospitality, providing food and drink – all of these are the personal responsibility of each follower of Jesus Christ. No one can obey for someone else. No group or church can obey on behalf of the individual Christian.

In many churches and in the minds of many Christians, the biblical concept of “use your money to provide for the needs of those around you” has been replaced with the concept of “put all of your money in the offering plate and let us decide how best to use it”. However, we should understand that putting all of our money into an offering plate is not a biblical teaching, and neither does it remove the responsibility from the individual for taking care of the needs of people that God brings into their lives.

I think that James might deal with this concept as follows: “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘I put all of my money in the offering plate. Go talk to the benevolence committee and see if you are worthy of help,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” Perhaps, John would respond to this concept as follow: “But if anyone has the world’s goods and puts it all in an offering plate without considering his brother in need, and so closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”

Recently, our church struggled with the balance between the corporate responsibilities and individual responsibilities of stewardship. The church had selected a few people to discuss these ideas and suggest a budget to help us meet corporate responsibilities as well as provide individuals with the means of meeting their personal stewardship responsibilities.

The group came up with a budget that was very different from anything that I have seen before – although, perhaps others have done something similar. I don’t think any of the people came into their meetings with this budget in mind. In fact, I know there were some differences of opinion in how to handle the money and the budget. I was not part of this group, but I was excited to see these people work together to come up with this concept.

According to this new budget – which was just approved by the church – we will take care of corporate responsibilities through our corporate offering. They removed everything from the budget that should be considered a personal responsibility. Since we have very little overhead and very few corporate expenses, the budget came to under $40 per person per month. This is the extent of our budget. Everyone knows that this amount is all that they are responsible for giving toward the “corporate budget”.

However, we all also understand that this is not the extent of our stewardship. We are individually responsible for giving to people and ministries as God leads us. Some of us are involved in ministries to children, and it makes sense that God would want them to use their money in those ministries. Others are involved in ministries overseas, and again it would make sense that God would want them to use their money in those endeavors. Some are involved in evangelistic or community service projects, and again it makes sense that God would want these people to use the money that he gives them to support these endeavors.

We also know that there will be times when there are special needs that we will want to contribute to together – much like the offering for the Jerusalem church during the famine, and the offering for Paul during his travels. When we know of these needs, we will take up contributions specifically to meet these needs, much like we see the church doing in Scripture.

I’m not putting this forward as the only possible option for how the church should deal with money. I’m not even saying that this is a good example. However, this is the way that we have decided to deal with these stewardship issues. I am excited that we are recognizing that we have both corporate and individual responsibilities when it comes to stewardship, and that according to Scripture, the individual responsibilities outweigh the corporate. We are moving away from a model where people feel they are being obedient stewards by simply placing a check in an offering plate. Now, we must consider the needs of people that God brings into our lives and how he would want us to meet those needs both individually and corporately.

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The November Synchroblog is on the topic “Money and the Church”. Take the time to check out the contributions of the other bloggers who are taking part in this synchroblog:

The Check That Controls at Igneous Quill
Pushing The Camel: Why there might be more rich people in Heaven than in your local Church at Fernando’s desk
Sally Coleman at Eternal Echoes
Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz at Hello Said Jenelle
Zaque at Johnny Beloved
Walking with the Camels at Calacirian
Greed and Bitterness: Why Nobody’s Got it Right About Money and The Church at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Wealth Amidst Powers at Theocity
Money and the Church: A Fulltime Story at The Pursuit
But I Gave at Church at The Assembling of the Church
Moving Out of Jesus Neighborhood at Be the Revolution
Money and the Church: why the big fuss? at Mike’s Musings
Coffee Hour Morality at One Hand Clapping
Bling Bling in the Holy of Holies at In Reba’s World
Magazinial Outreach at Decompressing Faith
Money’s too tight to mention at Out of the Cocoon
Bullshit at The Agent B Files
The Bourgeois Elephant in the Missional/Emergent Living Room at Headspace
When the Church Gives at Payneful Memories
Who, or What, Do You Worship at Charis Shalom
Greed at Hollow Again
Silver and Gold Have We – Oops! at Subversive Influence
Tithe Schmithe at Discombobula

Synchroblog Thursday

Posted by on Nov 14, 2007 in synchroblog | 1 comment

This Thursday, there will be another synchroblog, this time on the topic of “Money and the Church”. If you are not familiar with a synchroblog, it is when many different bloggers publish posts on the same topic on the same day. If you have never taken part in a synchroblog, I would highly recommend it. It is a great way to meet other bloggers, listen to their views on a subject, and to let your voice be heard about a subject. If you are interested in taking part in Thursday’s synchroblog (or future synchroblogs), visit to Phil’s blog post called “Next Synchroblog – Thursday, November 15th” and let him know. I hope you decide to join us.

Fall Festivals and Scary Masks

Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 in synchroblog | 52 comments

When I was growing up, I loved Halloween. I would usually spend hours and hours (the day before) deciding what kind of costume I would wear. I always made my own costumes – primarily because the stores were sold out, but also because the store ones were so bad and expensive. One year, I was a pirate and learned that mascara does not make good beard stubble. I also created an astronaut costume once, using an entire roll of aluminum foil. Once I was a zombie and had to go through several sticks of my mother’s lipstick before I found the right shade of red for blood. (Now that I look back, it seems that my costumes probably cost my mother more than a store bought costume would.)

Trick-or-Treating was always a blast! Since we lived several miles outside of the city, there were no neighborhoods around us. We would drive to all of our relatives houses, then run through at least one of the nicer neighborhoods on the way home. After trick-or-treating, my brother and I would compare bags to see who had the most candy. He usually did, because I ate mine while we were walking and riding.

I also enjoyed Halloween Carnivals. I liked the games and the candy. I liked seeing friends’ costumes and throwing pies and sack races. We would always have peanuts and cotton candy and candy apples and popcorn. It was always fun at the end of the evening to see whose costumes didn’t make it through the fun and festivities.

One year, a few friends and I decided to “haunt” one of their front yards. We all dressed up in scary costumes and waited in the bushes until someone came to knock on the door. Then we would jump out and scare them. One of my friends stuffed straw in his shirt, put on a big mask and hat, and sat very still in a rocking chair beside the door. He looked like a scarecrow. When someone walked up to the door and knocked, he would jump up. I think there were only three heart attacks that night. The funny thing is that my “scarecrow” friend would always get whacked in the head with a bagful of candy.

A few years ago, I was told that it was wrong for Christians to participate in Halloween. I trusted the people who told me, so I went along. Instead of having Halloween Carnivals, we had Fall Festivals. Instead of scary costumes, the children dressed in “nice” costumes: super heroes or princesses or cowboys or astronauts (Hey, I was an astronaut once…) or pirates (Or maybe pirates are too scary?). We would give the children candy and peanuts and cotton candy and candy apples and popcorn. You may think that this sounds surprisingly similar to a Halloween Carnival, but I assure you that this was no Halloween Carnival, it was a Fall Festival. Plus, since we were Christians, we put tracts in the goody bags that we handed out for the kids to put their candy in, because they were not trick-or-treating.

When we were planning the Fall Festival, we made sure to tell the boys and girls that were part of the church that they could dress up, but they were not supposed to dress up in scary costumes. No ghosts or witches or monsters or zombies (uh oh) or teachers… well, nice teachers may be okay. We drilled this into their heads for several weeks preceding the Fall Festival. And, they complied. They arrived at the Fall Festivals dressed as cowboys and soldiers and princesses and ballerinas.

But, there was a problem. You see, we also advertised this Fall Festival around the neighborhood. This would not just be church fun, this would be an outreach! And a few neighborhood boys and girls actually came to the Fall Festival! A success, right? Well, kinda.

You see, some of these neighborhood boys and girls wore scary costumes. There were one or two monsters and a witch. *gasp* What should we do? Should we make them take off their costumes? Maybe we could let them in, but just give them the cold shoulder. Maybe they wouldn’t stay long. Surely they would recognize that they don’t fit in here.

Of course, we didn’t have to worry about that. As soon as our “good” boys and girls in their “nice” costumes saw the neighborhood boys and girls in their scary costumes, they pointed and said in loud voices (as children always talk), “Look, Mom! Look, Dad! They’re wearing scary costumes! That’s bad, isn’t it?”

Yes, this was actually said by some children. Yes, the neighborhood boys and girls heard. Yes, the “bad” children’s parents heard as well. They also saw that that they and their children were given the “evil eye” – which, unfortunately, was not part of a “scary” mask. They noticed that the “good” boys and girls were praised for their costumes, but not the “bad” boys and girls. And, yes, it was suggested by several “good” parents that we ask the “scary” and “bad” kids to leave.

We were very happy with outreach, as long as we reached people who looked like us, acted like us, believed like us, and wore Halloween – I mean, Fall Festival – costumes like us. These attitudes are necessary if we are creating an isolated group. However, if it is our desire to remain in the world and if it is our desire to impact the world, then these attitudes are dangerous and contrary to the attitude of Jesus.

Yes, I know that Halloween has pagan roots. Of course, Christmas and Easter also have pagan roots. Just as Christians in the past “Christianized” Christmas and Easter, many are attempting to “Christianze” Halloween by calling it “Fall Festival” or “Harvest Carnival” or something like that. Fine. I don’t have a problem with that. If someone decides that they do not want to dress up and go door-to-door asking for candy, I do not have a problem with that either. If someone decides that they are going to turn off their front door light and not give out candy, that is their choice.

Some Christians still take part in Halloween. This does not make them pagans, nor does it mean that they are being deceived, nor does it mean that they are too worldly. Other Christians prefer to take part in Fall Festivals. This does not make them more saintly, nor does it mean that they are closer to God, nor does it mean that they are more mature in Christ. We can recognize the differences, but we should not allow the differences to separate us. We have to look deeper than the “nice” or “scary” mask that a person wears.

However, when we start isolating ourselves from the world and other Christians, we are forgetting why we are here. When we start wagging our fingers at people – even Christians – who enjoy dressing up and having fun with their friends, we forget what it means to accept and love one another. When we condemn people for being different from us, we lose the chance to interact with them and get to know them and allow God to use us to disciple them – or use them to disciple us.

We can force people to wear “nice” costumes. Our concern should not be the mask that the person is wearing – whether it is “nice” or “scary”. The mask often hides what is underneath. So, instead of trying to change people and their behavior from the outside, let’s start by getting to know them as they are – accepting them as they are – and loving them as they are. Perhaps, then, we may find a “scary” person being changed into a Christ-like person… who may still look different than us.

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The October 24th SynchroBlog includes 26 people sharing their thoughts, their experiences, and their expertise on the subject of “A Christian Response to Halloween” (or at least something remotely connected to that idea.) Perhaps not all the writers are Christian, and that is actually even cooler. Please check out these offerings of love, and gore…uh, I mean lore.

Phil Wyman – The Christians and the Pagans Meet for Samhain
Lainie Petersen – Our Own Private Zombie: Death and the Spirit of Fear
Julie Clawson – Trappings of a World in Which we Do Not Believe
John Morehead – Rethinking Evangelical Postures on Halloween
Sonja Andrews – Vampire Protection
Adam Gonnereman – What’s So Bad About Halloween?
Reba Baskett – Halloween….why all the madness
Steve Hayes – Halloween Synchroblog
KW Leslie – The Christian Harvest Festival
John Smulo – Hallmark Halloween
Erin Word – H-A-double-L-O-double-U-double-E-N
Mike Bursell – Hallowe’en
Sam Norton – Do Not Be Afraid
Steve Hollinghurst – Removing Christendom from Halloween
David Fisher – Vampires or Leeches
Sally Coleman – Encountering hallow-tide Creatively
Kay – Halloween: Four Perspectives
Johnny Beloved – Apples and Razorblades
Alan Knox – Fall Festivals and Scary Masks
Dan Allen – Why Christians don’t like Zombies
Paul Walker – Peering Through the Negatives of Mission
Sea Raven – The Season of Samhain
Lew A – Halloween: My experiences
Timothy Victor – Appropriating Halloween and Creating Liminal Times
Nic Paton – Making Space for Halloween

Bursting the Christian bubble: update 1

Posted by on Oct 20, 2007 in discipleship, synchroblog | 2 comments

Last Monday, I published “Bursting the Christian bubble” as part of a synchroblog called “What Would Jesus Do With The Church” (WWJDWTC). (See this post or this post for details.) For this synchroblog, the authors were supposed to actually do something in relation to their post over the course of a month and report on their progress with updates. This is my first update.

So far, my family has done more to reach outside the “Christian bubble” than I have. Last week, while I was working, my family went to a nursing home with some friends who go every week. They were able to read with the residents, then spend time talking to them and getting to know them. We’re hoping that this will soon be a regular visit for our family. Visiting the nursing home will give us an opportunity to share the love of Christ with people who have very little contact with others.

Also, one night last week I was asked to substitute teach for another professor. So, I did not go to my son’s football practice that night. While my wife was at football practice, she was able to talk to some of the parents more than we are usually able to talk to them. One father in particular opened up to her about some of their struggles. I’m particularly excited about this because we are probably closer to this family than to any of the other families from the football team. I can see how God is building a relationship there.

Those are all the updates for now. I can see how God is using these opportunities to continue to move us outside of the Christian bubble and into the world around us.

Bursting the Christian bubble (synchroblog)

Posted by on Oct 15, 2007 in discipleship, fellowship, love, service, synchroblog | 21 comments

(This post is part of a synchroblog called “What Would Jesus Do… With the Church”. See this post or this post for details.)

Over the last few years, God has shown my family that we have been living in a Christian bubble. This is easy to do in seminary. In fact, until a year ago I worked at the seminary, went to school at the seminary, and lived in seminary housing. As we realized that we had very little interaction with those outside the church, we decided to make some changes.

Now, don’t misunderstand me, it is important for followers of Jesus Christ to get together in order to encourage one another toward maturity in Christ. These times are very special to my family, and we never want to stop these times of fellowship and teaching and community.

However, I do not think it is good for followers of Jesus to spend all of their time with other followers of Jesus. We are here to take part in God’s mission of reconciling the world to himself. We are God’s ambassadors. And, ambassadors are to go outside of their own country as a representative in a foreign land. We had been ambassadors that spent most of their time staying in their own country… and something had to change.

The first change – a major one – happened just over a year ago. We moved out of seminary housing and into a “real” house about six miles from the seminary. Because of this move, we started finding ourselves reaching outside of the Christian bubble. Since our neighborhood (like many neighborhoods) is a bedroom community, we rarely see our neighbors, which means that much of our time is still being spent with followers of Jesus Christ.

We started asking God how we could spend more time with people who were not part of his family. The first thing he taught us was to not be artificial. It would not help if we started spending time with people with whom we shared nothing in common. Therefore, we wanted to spend time with people with whom we shared the same interests.

The first opportunity presented itself when our son decided he wanted to play football. We registered him for a local team and decided to my wife and I would spend as much time as possible at football practices and games. Because of this, most of the boys on the team know us. The coaches know us. We have met many of the parents. We even had dinner after an away game with some of the boys and their parents. We also started taking one of the boys home after practice.

But, Jesus is directing us to continue moving in this direction. We see Jesus eating in the homes of people like Zacchaeus, the friends of Matthew, and even a Pharisee. In fact, Jesus hung out with those who were outside of the family of God so much that the religious people called him a drunk and a glutton. It is time for us to take the next step and invite some neighbors and acquaintances to our home to continue building relationships with them.

For too long, my family has learned how to build relationships with other brothers and sisters in Christ. We are now being called to build relationships with those who are not in the family of God. This has been a long process, and I do not believe we will completely learn this within the next month. However, I do believe that God will give us opportunities in the next month, because He has given us opportunities in the past.

I don’t know if this actually falls within the bounds of this synchroblog. This is not something new for myself or for my family. This is an area where God has been changing us for the past year or more. However, over the last couple of weeks, we have talked about how we need to move beyond where we are. We have been praying and continue to pray that God would provide more interaction with people outside of his family. We want to be his ambassadors, so we actually want to be among unbelievers. We want God to plead through us, as Paul said he would. We want Jesus to continue to burst our Christian bubble.

Over the next month, I will write about the opportunities that God gives us to build relationships with those who are not following the way of Christ – about the opportunities that God gives us to continue reaching and relating outside the Christian bubble.

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Other contributors to the WWJDWTC Synchroblog:

Glenn Hager
Erin
Gary Means
Alan Knox
The Refuge
Nate Peres
Sally Coleman
Barb
Rick Stillwell
Jeff Greathouse
Dan Allen
Barbara Legere
Jonathan Brink
Jason Ellis
Rainer
Cynthia

A synchroblog with a twist…

Posted by on Oct 12, 2007 in blog links, synchroblog | 5 comments

Glenn from “re-dreaming the dream” and Erin from “Decompressing Faith” are planning a synchroblog for Monday, October 15, called “What Would Jesus Do… With the Church?” (You cann read Glen’s post here and Erin’s post here.) A synchroblog occurs when many different bloggers publish blog posts on the same day about the same subject. I have participated in two synchroblog (here and here), and I enjoyed each one.

Glenn and Erin have added a twist to this synchroblog. They want to go beyond writing about something, and actually do something:

In this synchroblog, not only do we ask you to address what you believe Jesus would do with the church; we also ask you to examine the implications for your own life and ACT on it. It is easy to sit at our computers and rail against the church; it is much more challenging to assume personal responsibility for change.

Therefore, we would invite to this synchroblog anyone who is willing to put “shoe leather” to a complaint, correction or change you would like to see for the church, whatever your interpretation of ‘church’ happens to be. It doesn’t have to be huge…simply anything you’re willing to commit to for a period of 30 days.

Please write an initial post for October 15th. Then, post periodically over the following 30 days (October 15-November 15) with any additional thoughts and reports on your progress.

I hope that I will be able to take part in this synchroblog. I’m going to talk to family about the topic this weekend, and together I hope we can come up with something to write about and do differently. Perhaps others of you will be able to take part as well. If you want to take part, just leave a comment for either Glenn or Erin on their posts.

Let us pray…

Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 in discipleship, synchroblog | 1 comment

Earlier this week, I took part in a synchroblog on the topic of prayer. My contribution was called “Pray without ceasing“. This synchroblog was put together by Cindy, Erin, and Lyn. Over 40 people participated in this synchroblog, and I was very challenged and encouraged by reading their posts.

If you are not familiar with the concept, a synchroblog occurs when different bloggers publish posts on their individual blogs about the same topic, theme, or concpet. Thus, the topic for this synchroblog was “How do you pray?” This is my second synchroblog (see the post “Here I am to worship“). I completely enjoyed the entire process of synchroblogging, and I would recommend it to other bloggers. It is a great way to get to know other bloggers as you are all thinking about and writing about the same subject.

If you did not read all of the contributions to the prayer synchroblog, Cindy has compiled a list of all of the contributions and a few words about each one in a blog post called “Synchroblog Participants-thank you“. Here are her summaries:

Cindy Bryan “I’m waiting to find a groove again – a prayer groove in which I don’t doubt my own sincerity.”

Lyn Hallewell “I like the fact that there is no agenda with God and I. I love it when he just shows up, makes his presence known to me.”

Erin Word “Only in my nakedness will I become united with God.”

Rick Meigs “The vast majority of my prayers are short, spontaneous as the thought comes to mind“

Alan Knox “life does not interrupt God’s conversation with me; instead, life enters into God’s conversation with me as a third conversation partner.”

Julie Clawson “I have learned that there is meaning in the waiting. And so I wait in silence.”

Heather “The problem is that other than in these circumstances, there was no need for God to really enter my head.”

(Heather’s Husband) Prayer Synchroblog II

Lydia “God and I are still on speaking terms, but there’s nothing flowery or scripted about it.”

Che Vachon “I learned that I couldn’t make Him go away.”

John Smulo “Trying to follow this type of advice in the past has simply made me feel like I was a crappy Christian.”

Mary “If we pushed the right buttons, God would be obligated to perform. Prayer was presented as a way to get things done.”

Paul Mayers “i’m beginning to find prayer is sometimes conversation, sometimes request, sometimes questioning, sometimes sulking, sometimes begging and sometimes i come to the point of stopping praying my way for my things.”

Sonja Andrews “So, my prayer life looks nothing like what I was taught and I think it could be better. But … for right now, it’s what it is.”

Jon Peres “the language of the heart. i believe it is the true language the divine speaks, but we have forgotten how to speak it.”

Paul Walker …held a worship event on the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builder that incorporated creative prayer times

Susan Barnes “The unknown is always a little frightening. And in this case, the stakes are high.”

Patti Blount “So, I guess I would say that I pray more courageously than I used to because they are prayers that involve the inner work of His Hand.”

Brother Maynard “Could it be that God is not found in the whirlwind, not in the fire, not in the earthquake… and sometimes not even in the whisper. Might he sometimes be found in the silence?“

Glenn Hagar “These things have driven me to honest prayer. I don’t think that it is very pretty nor eloquent prayer, just honest.”

Nate Peres “I pray almost recklessly. Divulging anything that comes to mind.”

Barry Taylor “Prayer at its best is simply the verbal expression of a loving relationship.”

Rhonda Mitchell “That lipstick started to give them back their humanity.”

Grace “I’m still learning to pray, but for now I’m going to put away the books and let the Holy Spirit be my Teacher.”

Lew A “I do not believe in a legalistic pattern for speaking to God.”

Jonathan Hallewell “by far the greatest motivation to pray to God in my life, is when God initiates the conversation.”

Deb “Um… Uh… God? Yeah. I opened up my prayer journal to write and then the cat horked.”

Jim “Yet if we are supposed to have a relationship with God through prayer, how many relationships do you have where you say the exact same things to the other person at the exact same times of day, every single time you talk with them?“

Barb “God was seated, leaning forward, not speaking, just breathing and listening for my breath.”

Doug Jones “it is the Jesus Prayer and Praying the Hours that inform and form my prayer life.”

Pam Hogeweide “I pray with art, with images and color that reflect outloud the embers that still burn in my bones. I pray with paint, and glue, and scraps of paper that I collage together.“

Rachel Warwick “I want to learn to pray like me, not like a pretentious formalised version of me.“

Jonathan Brink “I honestly didn’t know what I was going to write, other than my thoughts on prayer when just as I began to write, my 5 year old son came up to me…“

Andy “So…how do I pray? I am finding that the “how” isn’t what matters.“

Makeesha Fisher “There is a divine mystery that takes place when I simply acknowledge that God is near – – and that is ‘enough’“.

Cynthia Clack “When I questioned why Steve had to be the one to die, my feelings were cut short with a curt, ‘we don’t ask God why.'”

Barbara Legere “Here are five things that have caused me to NOT pray in the past.”

Joy “What does prayer look like now, in my post-church, post-patriarchy, post-evangelical, post-formulaic life?“

Robby McAlpine “My ultimate goal is that prayer would be as natural and instinctive as breathing. I’m not quite there yet!“

Larry “Talking with God is no problem. Asking for things is a little harder. Asking for things for someone else is very strange.”

Rick Stilwell “I’m conflicted in some of my thoughts this morning on what prayer is and what I need to be living out because of it.”