Gathering peeps -the "Party with a Purpose" info has now been posted to the website (click here).
This is going to be a good time for sure!
We need you to go online and buy your tickets today - thanks.
I hear Dave W. is dressing like Madonna, as his roomie i know these things.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Dialogue
One time, when i was a kid, my parents were awakened by a strange sound. The sound was me. I don't remember this occurrence, but I imagine it was pretty funny. I can just see them rubbing their eyes, sitting up in bed and finding their young son peeing in a drawer! I'm guessing they tossed those sweaters out! I walked over to the dresser, pulled out a drawer and let go. Perhaps some Freudian psychoanalyst could label that action as subconsciously meaningful. All I know is that it was funny, and that I didn't know what I was doing. I was sleep walking! And sleep-peeing. . . That's a different issue. . .
My life feels like I'm sleep walking and peeing on people's clothes a lot of the time. And when I finally snap into a more conscious state, it's usually rather embarrassing. I don't get me! (That has to be comforting to the legion of you out there who don't get me either! Haha). I hope that you are not arrogant enough to believe that you really know yourself either. One of the most brilliant men in history ranked self knowledge and self understanding as the ultimate goal of his philosophy. I don't necessarily agree that it is THE ultimate goal. However, the fact that Plato believed it to be such, speaks loudly of both the importance and great difficulty of self understanding. Perhaps Plato felt like he was peeing on people's togas too. That's got to make you feel good, right?
Even better, the Bible speaks of this same paradox. Many of you are painfully aware of Romans 7 and identify with the Apostle Paul's words, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." I doubt that even Plato was completely succesful in his quest to know himself. I certainly don't have that sort of intellect. So what am I to do? It is so important, and yet so very difficult that even the most enlightened minds fall short. Sometimes I feel like I'm on the right track, but it is always short-lived. The cycle always continues and I am eventually confused again.
I've been going through a very confusing period lately. You could call it a dry spell without any good reason. I lacked desire for God and I hungered for something to make me feel comfortable and happy; to make me feel good about me. And I didn't understand why I was in this spot. Things came to a head last week while talking with a close friend in a similar situation. I told her that you couldn't really ask for forgiveness for your anger until you confess just how deep and nasty is that anger. Suddenly, it hit me. I had some anger that needed confession. Mine was anger with God himself. As I drove away that night I confessed and I wept. I didn't like admitting that I was angry with God, but the truth is far more important than what I like or dislike. I told him that I was very disappointed in a lot of things. I don't deal well with sadness, hurt and heart-break. I usually transition to anger pretty quickly. And then I just let it boil.
It felt good to get that weight off of my shoulders and to say what was buried deep inside. I was not railing against God. I was simply confessing the truth that I had felt this way, and that i didn't want to anymore. I think he answered me and comforted me in several ways over the weekend. The most important of those came on Monday night as I sat in a circle with my D-group. We looked into God's word and spent a good amount of time in silence; asking what God had for us in this particular passage. I don't want to write the never-ending blog, so check out 2 Peter 1:3-9 on your own.
Peter tells us that we have every good thing that pertains to life with our God; we have great promises and we partake in God himself! Because of this, we should seek faith, goodness, knowledge, love, etc. That is the content of verses 3-8. It is SO easy for us to stop at verse 8! We are such moralists! But Peter continues in verse 9, "whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins." What a key this is for me!
Why am I dry, and angry, and lacking motivation? Why am I confused and doing the very things I hate? Why is my life not described more by faith, knowledge, and love? I have FORGOTTEN! I have NOT forgotten that I'm supposed to read the Bible, and pray, and be thankful, and do a laundry list of other good things. No, we hardly ever forget about all there is to do. But doing without heart is holllow and meaningless and does not please our God. This is doing in order to please God, not because he is pleased in us already. But the Bible, the very word of God, encourages us that the motivation is NEVER found in this hollow legalism. Our motivation is found in the Cross of Jesus Christ alone! What a thing to forget!
I think that the impressions that God left on my heart over the past week are for you as well, and that is why I'm writing this. Are you in that funk where you just don't get yourself? Or are you riding the wave of a spiritual high, and fighting off that nagging voice in your head; telling you what you already know, that you'll be in the funk again soon? I can't tell you how to never feel down or dry. I can tell you that you will feel that way. And I can tell you that you can freely express the doubt, disappointment and even anger that you harbor against God. He didn't orchestrate your life the easy way, and is not surprised that you don't like it. Maybe for you the disappointments are found in your wallet, or on your ring finger, or just in the hours of boredom in your day. Be honest with your God. Let some tears flow if you need to. Know that someone already gets you better than you get yourself.
Above all, look to the Cross. People of God, only in the Cross of Jesus, will you find meaning for your pain and purpose for your life. When you identify your life with an instrument of torturous execution, and with the man and God who endured it on your behalf, you will find new motivation for living and at least a little more self-understanding. It is all washed away. Jesus Christ became your deepest, darkest secret on the Cross. That truth has a way of changing hearts, not just stuffing the anger and hurt within them. I will get angry again. You will get in that funk again. The key is the Cross. Struggle on, Church.
My life feels like I'm sleep walking and peeing on people's clothes a lot of the time. And when I finally snap into a more conscious state, it's usually rather embarrassing. I don't get me! (That has to be comforting to the legion of you out there who don't get me either! Haha). I hope that you are not arrogant enough to believe that you really know yourself either. One of the most brilliant men in history ranked self knowledge and self understanding as the ultimate goal of his philosophy. I don't necessarily agree that it is THE ultimate goal. However, the fact that Plato believed it to be such, speaks loudly of both the importance and great difficulty of self understanding. Perhaps Plato felt like he was peeing on people's togas too. That's got to make you feel good, right?
Even better, the Bible speaks of this same paradox. Many of you are painfully aware of Romans 7 and identify with the Apostle Paul's words, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." I doubt that even Plato was completely succesful in his quest to know himself. I certainly don't have that sort of intellect. So what am I to do? It is so important, and yet so very difficult that even the most enlightened minds fall short. Sometimes I feel like I'm on the right track, but it is always short-lived. The cycle always continues and I am eventually confused again.
I've been going through a very confusing period lately. You could call it a dry spell without any good reason. I lacked desire for God and I hungered for something to make me feel comfortable and happy; to make me feel good about me. And I didn't understand why I was in this spot. Things came to a head last week while talking with a close friend in a similar situation. I told her that you couldn't really ask for forgiveness for your anger until you confess just how deep and nasty is that anger. Suddenly, it hit me. I had some anger that needed confession. Mine was anger with God himself. As I drove away that night I confessed and I wept. I didn't like admitting that I was angry with God, but the truth is far more important than what I like or dislike. I told him that I was very disappointed in a lot of things. I don't deal well with sadness, hurt and heart-break. I usually transition to anger pretty quickly. And then I just let it boil.
It felt good to get that weight off of my shoulders and to say what was buried deep inside. I was not railing against God. I was simply confessing the truth that I had felt this way, and that i didn't want to anymore. I think he answered me and comforted me in several ways over the weekend. The most important of those came on Monday night as I sat in a circle with my D-group. We looked into God's word and spent a good amount of time in silence; asking what God had for us in this particular passage. I don't want to write the never-ending blog, so check out 2 Peter 1:3-9 on your own.
Peter tells us that we have every good thing that pertains to life with our God; we have great promises and we partake in God himself! Because of this, we should seek faith, goodness, knowledge, love, etc. That is the content of verses 3-8. It is SO easy for us to stop at verse 8! We are such moralists! But Peter continues in verse 9, "whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins." What a key this is for me!
Why am I dry, and angry, and lacking motivation? Why am I confused and doing the very things I hate? Why is my life not described more by faith, knowledge, and love? I have FORGOTTEN! I have NOT forgotten that I'm supposed to read the Bible, and pray, and be thankful, and do a laundry list of other good things. No, we hardly ever forget about all there is to do. But doing without heart is holllow and meaningless and does not please our God. This is doing in order to please God, not because he is pleased in us already. But the Bible, the very word of God, encourages us that the motivation is NEVER found in this hollow legalism. Our motivation is found in the Cross of Jesus Christ alone! What a thing to forget!
I think that the impressions that God left on my heart over the past week are for you as well, and that is why I'm writing this. Are you in that funk where you just don't get yourself? Or are you riding the wave of a spiritual high, and fighting off that nagging voice in your head; telling you what you already know, that you'll be in the funk again soon? I can't tell you how to never feel down or dry. I can tell you that you will feel that way. And I can tell you that you can freely express the doubt, disappointment and even anger that you harbor against God. He didn't orchestrate your life the easy way, and is not surprised that you don't like it. Maybe for you the disappointments are found in your wallet, or on your ring finger, or just in the hours of boredom in your day. Be honest with your God. Let some tears flow if you need to. Know that someone already gets you better than you get yourself.
Above all, look to the Cross. People of God, only in the Cross of Jesus, will you find meaning for your pain and purpose for your life. When you identify your life with an instrument of torturous execution, and with the man and God who endured it on your behalf, you will find new motivation for living and at least a little more self-understanding. It is all washed away. Jesus Christ became your deepest, darkest secret on the Cross. That truth has a way of changing hearts, not just stuffing the anger and hurt within them. I will get angry again. You will get in that funk again. The key is the Cross. Struggle on, Church.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
An Open Letter To The Easily Offended
I would not create Christianity. If given the task of formulating a religion or belief system for the world, the primary characteristics of Christendom wouldn't show up on my radar. It is so contrary to all of my base instincts and desires.
If I were to create religion, it probably wouldn't be too far off from something like Islam. Let me be clear. I am not at all saying that I prefer Islam to Christianity. I am saying that the Islamic style of religion makes sense to our minds. Islam is a religion of action. It's a religion where the followers simply counteract evil with good deeds. Now that's a good idea. Every time I do something bad, I should just do something good. Even better, maybe I'll do three good things, just for insurance. Apparently, that makes so much sense to us Christians, that we usually try to remake our religion into a more Islamic logic every single day.
There are plenty of churches and people that would call themselves "Christian" that unabashedly preach this sort of religion. They may throw in a bit of lip service about grace and mercy, but what they're really preaching is "don't drink, don't smoke, don't have sex," as the path to paradise. That makes sense to our minds. If we do not consciously fight against it every day, we will become cold, dead legalists. Our Christianity will be no good for the world, because it will be no different than Islam or any other religion.
The gospel offends me. The good news that Jesus Christ is God's provision for my sin is not very difficult to comprehend, but it is difficult to accept. Why? Because I'm just not that bad. That's what we want to believe. And if we are skilled enough at lying to ourselves, we can believe it for a long time. By some incredible act of grace, God wacks us over the head and allows us to see our own hearts sometimes. Maybe your moment of sobriety happens at work, when you lash out at a subordinate or coworker for no good reason. Maybe you catch yourself subconsciously transitioning in conversation from a friend's clothing style to her value. Maybe you see your own lust, ambition, or vanity for just a moment and it makes you want to throw up. Thank God that you have. If not, pray to God that you will.
If you don't see it yet, spend a little time reading the Bible as you pray to understand what I am saying. Read about God's creation, read about his law, read about his majesty. Read that you are spiritually dead and unable to see these realities unless God shows you, and ask. Ask him until he shows you. You will not understand Christianity until you understand that God is holy and completely set apart from us. That is the only way you can then see that our sin is just too great to be outweighed by a couple trips to the local soup kitchen. It encompasses our being.
And know that you are not alone. You are not alone in being offended by this truth. Everything in me wants to declare that I am good enough, I am sufficient to meet my own needs. My nature is to cast aside the religion of God and work for it. I believe it to be nobler, stronger, smarter. Don't worry, you don't have to create that religion if you want it. It's available in churches, mosques and synagogues and even in the corners of our own hearts. They'll tell you to be good, be moral. And that will appear to do the trick. You'll feel better about yourself and your life. You'll look good to everyone else. But the incredible debt of sin in your life will not be swept away. And your dead spiritual heart will not be revived. You can decorate a tomb like a living room if you want to, but that doesn't make the contents of that tomb any less dead.
People of God, do good because he loves you, not in order for him to love you. You can not earn what has already been given. The garbage heap of sin that looks bigger everyday has been incinerated by Christ alone. Look again and again to your savior and to His word as your sufficiency. Offend each other on a regular basis. Remind each other (and me) that we do not earn salvation, nor God's favor. Don't let each other (or me) off the hook with our moralistic, legalistic talk. Point each other to the greatest offense we have ever known, the love of the Cross of Jesus Christ. Only in confrontation with this Cross will we ever hope to see what real religion should be. . .
If I were to create religion, it probably wouldn't be too far off from something like Islam. Let me be clear. I am not at all saying that I prefer Islam to Christianity. I am saying that the Islamic style of religion makes sense to our minds. Islam is a religion of action. It's a religion where the followers simply counteract evil with good deeds. Now that's a good idea. Every time I do something bad, I should just do something good. Even better, maybe I'll do three good things, just for insurance. Apparently, that makes so much sense to us Christians, that we usually try to remake our religion into a more Islamic logic every single day.
There are plenty of churches and people that would call themselves "Christian" that unabashedly preach this sort of religion. They may throw in a bit of lip service about grace and mercy, but what they're really preaching is "don't drink, don't smoke, don't have sex," as the path to paradise. That makes sense to our minds. If we do not consciously fight against it every day, we will become cold, dead legalists. Our Christianity will be no good for the world, because it will be no different than Islam or any other religion.
The gospel offends me. The good news that Jesus Christ is God's provision for my sin is not very difficult to comprehend, but it is difficult to accept. Why? Because I'm just not that bad. That's what we want to believe. And if we are skilled enough at lying to ourselves, we can believe it for a long time. By some incredible act of grace, God wacks us over the head and allows us to see our own hearts sometimes. Maybe your moment of sobriety happens at work, when you lash out at a subordinate or coworker for no good reason. Maybe you catch yourself subconsciously transitioning in conversation from a friend's clothing style to her value. Maybe you see your own lust, ambition, or vanity for just a moment and it makes you want to throw up. Thank God that you have. If not, pray to God that you will.
If you don't see it yet, spend a little time reading the Bible as you pray to understand what I am saying. Read about God's creation, read about his law, read about his majesty. Read that you are spiritually dead and unable to see these realities unless God shows you, and ask. Ask him until he shows you. You will not understand Christianity until you understand that God is holy and completely set apart from us. That is the only way you can then see that our sin is just too great to be outweighed by a couple trips to the local soup kitchen. It encompasses our being.
And know that you are not alone. You are not alone in being offended by this truth. Everything in me wants to declare that I am good enough, I am sufficient to meet my own needs. My nature is to cast aside the religion of God and work for it. I believe it to be nobler, stronger, smarter. Don't worry, you don't have to create that religion if you want it. It's available in churches, mosques and synagogues and even in the corners of our own hearts. They'll tell you to be good, be moral. And that will appear to do the trick. You'll feel better about yourself and your life. You'll look good to everyone else. But the incredible debt of sin in your life will not be swept away. And your dead spiritual heart will not be revived. You can decorate a tomb like a living room if you want to, but that doesn't make the contents of that tomb any less dead.
People of God, do good because he loves you, not in order for him to love you. You can not earn what has already been given. The garbage heap of sin that looks bigger everyday has been incinerated by Christ alone. Look again and again to your savior and to His word as your sufficiency. Offend each other on a regular basis. Remind each other (and me) that we do not earn salvation, nor God's favor. Don't let each other (or me) off the hook with our moralistic, legalistic talk. Point each other to the greatest offense we have ever known, the love of the Cross of Jesus Christ. Only in confrontation with this Cross will we ever hope to see what real religion should be. . .
Sunday, April 01, 2007
a little bit of suburbia never hurt anyone, it just may kill them
The antithesis between the Christian life and the life of the bourgeois respectability is at an end. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I am making my way through one of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's books - The Cost of Discipleship. The above quote captures the essence of the book - and while the book overall meets some criticism, it has redeeming elements thus far. This quote being one of them.
Basically he is saying that the Christian settles for status quo. It was assumed that the bourgeois lifestyle and the Christian lifestyle were mutually exclusive at one time - however as the perceived populous, we have grown comfortable and contrite in things other than God. I am apart of this populous granted, often settling for the same sum because i continue to do my math with the same formula.
In my d|group we had a discussion about being radical - it boiled down to being a completely intrinsic notion. Not being able to be captured by film, rather by one's conversation into the night while they lay on their bed. This does not make the equation easy, for it now demands the individual to seek out the things of God not based on "passer bye's" perceptions. When holiness conforms to those around, it is completely predictable and could lead you to do "great things" - it's easy, however the burden is heavy and you carry it on your own.
Radical could thus mean; staying home on a Friday, not cussing at the person who cut you off on 285, telling your father about Jesus, or simply watching what you eat. Chances are radical things start in your closet, by living a quite radical life. It's not as fancy and loud as we think, rather it's done first at the dinner table before it's found on a stage somewhere in Uganda or even at your local church.
This is not an excuse to not do grand things (yes it's true, a double negative), but a reason to take personal holiness seriously - when no one is watching and no one is applauding.
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