Here I go again...

The other night, I stopped at our local Goodwill to drop some things off.  I know that they sell books there, so I snuck over quick to see if they had anything.

I found a copy of a beloved childhood story book that I remember, and I thought it might be cool to read to my kids.

I also found a book by Greg Boyd, titled Letters From a Skeptic.

And then I fell flat on my face.  Not literally.  I would have preferred to fall literally, rather than how I did.  It started at the checkout counter, as the person behind the counter rang me up.

He looked at the Boyd book, and then at me.

"This book is not what you think it is."  he said.

Your Next Show

Somehow we have gotten to a point where a seemingly intelligent, grown man can study Jesus his entire life and come to the conclusion that Jesus would, in fact, burn books in protest of a building as an insult to a worldwide religious community.

Somehow this man can convince his few followers and random strangers that his message is one that Jesus would approve of, and even preach were He still preaching.

I, for one, do not understand how this message is in any way biblical, much less Christian.

From the Top Down

When things come from the top down, there is friction. We chafe at the thought of being told what to do.  When we were kids, we hated getting punished by our parents.  As adults, we scream bloody murder when our governing bodies assume more control.

There seems to be something deep and primal about this kind of rebellion.

When we see governments getting too big and controlling, we revolt. When we get punished, we get angry.

Could this be because we are hard-wired against oppression?  Could it be that freedom is so absolutely essential to our existence as humans that regardless of our spiritual state, we recognize oppression for the evil it is?

Or is this post an entirely made up Western conservative social construct?

National Day of Prayer

Abba, Father, God,

We come to you today in prayer for our nation.  When our Founding Fathers began this great experiment, they believed that freedom was paramount to the human experience, indeed that our freedom was given to us by You.

They believed that no man should have to live in fear of another man, and that governments should rule only by the consent of the governed.

Today, Lord, we pray for those who govern for us.  We pray that they may have the strength to stand for what they believe, that they have the will to govern fairly, and that above all, they may have the heart of a servant.

When we pray for our nation, Father God, we remember those who have taken up the uniform of our armed services.  We ask for their safety and protection.

But more than that, Lord, we ask that they will diligently and honesty seek freedom for those who have had it taken from them.  We ask that they truly seek ways to love our enemies.

We recognize and mourn the fallen state of Creation.  We understand that in this imperfect world, all we have is imperfect solutions.  In the midst of all that, Lord, we ask that our leaders direct our dealings with other nations with respect to all life, including the lives of those who wish harm upon those around them.  We ask not for mere military strength, we ask not simply for an end to terrorism, we stand today and ask for Justice.  We pray that your Justice thunder down around and through us, silencing those who fill our ears with inane babble, and giving loud voices to those who need to be heard. 

We know what tension there is between Your Kingdom, and the state of Your Creation today.

We know that the world is not entirely as it was created to be.  We ask for your forgiveness for our failings in stewarding Your Creation.  We have not done the best with it, and we are truly sorry.

We pray that You would give us keen insight into how Your Creation works.  We praise you for the myriad ways You have demonstrated Your Glory to us through Your Creation.  We thank you for them, and we promise to use the knowledge we receive to better care for Your Creation.

We ask, Lord, that we may see clearly the path laid out for us by Jesus Christ.  We ask that you give us the strength and the will to choose the path of Christ over our political affiliations, over the expedient solutions, over the status quo, and over mere business as usual.

We pray, Lord God, that we recognize not only today, but every day, that you are Lord of Creation.  We desire to live so deeply into Your will that we will truly be free.

All of this, Lord, we ask for our nation, and our leaders:  that we will be a beacon of Your Hope, of Your Love, of Your Justice, for all people, and all nations.

In the Name of the Father who created and who sustains us,
And of the Son, who has redeemed us,
And of the Holy Spirit, who empowers us,

Amen.

The Woman at the Well

Recently, our pastor preached a service on water. 

We've been focusing on water as a community for a while now.  The sermon was on the Samaritan woman at the well.

We examined the dichotomy in the conversation, how the woman was talking about water, and Jesus was talking about something else entirely, yet they had this whole conversation about it.  The woman was talking about water, and Jesus was talking about spiritual life, spiritual water.

Fourth Day

Jesus changed everything.

And the fourth day was the first day in that change.

When I was in high school, and then later in college, I was a part of a ministry geared towards youths.  This ministry put on events that would last one weekend.  I volunteered for several of them, and always had awesome experiences.

Easter Sunday

HE IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN INDEED!


The Lamb without defect was sacrificed for our sins.  He has conquered death!

No more are we doomed to remain seperated from God!

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"



So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.


They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"


"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.


"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"


Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."


Jesus said to her, "Mary."


She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).


Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "


Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.


John 20 1-18

Holy Saturday

I am laid low in the dust;
preserve my life according to your word.
I recounted my ways and you answered me;
teach me your decrees.


Let me understand the teaching of your precepts;
then I will meditate on your wonders.
My soul is weary with sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word.


Keep me from deceitful ways;
be gracious to me through your law.
I have chosen the way of truth;
I have set my heart on your laws.


I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD;
do not let me be put to shame.
I run in the path of your commands,
for you have set my heart free.


Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees;
then I will keep them to the end.
Give me understanding, and I will keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.


Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.


Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.
Fulfill your promise to your servant,
so that you may be feared.

Take away the disgrace I dread,
for your laws are good.
How I long for your precepts!
Preserve my life in your righteousness.

Psalm 119, 25-40
 
 
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Good Friday

The season of Lent is coming to a close.

There is a strange tension that we feel during this time of year.  All around us, winter is breaking apart, and spring is breaking through.  But Lent is about death.

The massive snow piles that have dominated my ramp at work for the past few months are gone, replaced with mud, and my airplanes are no longer coming back with sticky slick puddles of de-ice fluid dripping from them.

Sunday Quote 32810

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."



This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:


"Say to the Daughter of Zion,
'See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' "

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"


When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"


The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

Matthew 21:1-11, NIV


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Sunday Quote 32110

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.


Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"


Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."


Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

Matthew 16: 21-28, NIV


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Two Letters

Dwight Eisenhower was the Supreme Allied Commander in charge of all of the Allied Forces in Europe during WWII.  During the final preparations for the invasion of Europe, Operation Overlord, he penned two letters, intending that one or the other would be distributed after the first day of the invasion.  One letter was an anouncement of the success of the invasion, how our troops were fighting hard and winning a foothold against Hitler in Europe.

The other letter was an anouncement of failure.  The invasion failed, and what survivors are left are returning to England to regroup for a later date.

Eisenhower didn't have to use the second note.  We know that the invasion was ultimately a success, and that the Allied Powers prevailed against Hitler's evil.

Sunday Quote 31410

Robb McCoy at his blog The Fat Pastor has this to say about Jesus and His impending trial:

So he sat there in Gethsemane and he prayed. He prayed for another way out. He prayed in anguish. He prayed as a man who could feel pain, who would be hurt by betrayal, who would be scarred by the scourge, and would bleed when nails were driven into his arms and legs. He prayed as a man who knew that if he would follow God’s will, he would be charged, convicted, mocked, humiliated, abandoned, and nailed to a cross. Knowing all of this full well he prayed, “Not my will, but yours.” Then he rose and stood up for all that he had lived for.

As we approach Easter, this is a powerful reminder of the choices we face each day.  How many times could Jesus have backed down, but didn't?  How many times, in the course of his earthly ministry, could he have toed the line and not rocked the boat?  How many times could he have accepted the status quo?

How many times do we?


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Do It

The Rogue Warrior series of novels is one of my guilty pleasures.  The plotlines are paper-thin and ridiculously repetative, and in the grand scheme of literature, they have little or no redeeming value.  The characters are static and cliche, as is the dialogue, and the books are riddled with enough salty language to raise your sodium levels to unsafe heights.  All in all, it is exactly the kind of book one would expect from a boisterous, over-the-top ex Navy SEAL like CDR Richard "Dick" Marcinko.

Let me put it this way: if James Bond didn't have his dashing British pedigree to fall back on, then he would be a character in these books.

Sunday Quote 30710

Tony Woodlief of Sand in the Gears on "Christianizing" the history of this nation.

It seems far more likely that we are born into this country, fellow Christians, not because God decided to bless us, but because He knows our weak faiths and frames couldn’t handle being truly oppressed in places like Somalia or Pakistan or China. Think about it — God can place you anywhere in history and space, and he chooses not to make you a martyr under the Romans or Muslims or Communists, but an upper-middle class white person in the most prosperous, healthiest, and safest country on the planet. You think that’s because you’re especially righteous? Think again. If America is a special haven carved out by God, it’s because he knew his weakest children needed a safe place.

Touche, Tony.  Touche.


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Zealots

Seth Godin wrote a blog post recently about zealots.

Although his writing is geared more for a marketing and business audience, much of what he says can apply to our Christian walk as well.

His post on zealots is a post that I think we could all learn something from.

Sunday Quote 22810

John Piper on Bible study:

“A pastor will not be able to feed his flock rich and challenging insight into God’s word unless he becomes a disciplined thinker. But almost none of us does this by nature. We must train ourselves to do it. And one of the best ways to train ourselves to think about what we read is to read with pen in hand and to write down a train of thought that comes to mind. Without this, we simply cannot sustain a sequence of questions and answers long enough to come to penetrating conclusions”

I have a steno notebook that I carry in my Bible holder where I can keep all my notes and thoughts while I read and listen to Pastor Rob.  But we don't have to do that only during church.  I usually find myself looking up Bible verses online, and so can't write in my Bible at that time.  But I am never, ever far away from a notebook, legal pad, or at the very least, a scrap of paper to scribble something down on.  I can't tell you how many times I've gone back to my notes and discovered some other connection or insight that I had written down before.

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Why do We do This?

The Hughes H-1 racer is a beautiful machine. It was originally conceived and built by Howard Hughes and his mechanic Glenn Odekirk in 1935. Several technologies used on the aircraft were groundbreaking, including flush rivets that did not protrude out from the aircraft skin, and retractable landing gear. The engine was a top of the line radial engine, the Pratt&Whitney R-1535, capable of producing 1,000 horsepower. When it was completed, with Hughes himself at the controls, it broke two speed records: the land-plane speed record (352 mph), and the trans-continental speed record. Hughes flew from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, and 25 seconds, for an average speed of 322 mph.

Sunday Quote 13110

St John Chrysostom on free will:

“We are directed by free will and not, as some say, subjected to the compulsion of inescapable fate. That is why God has given us the promise of his kingdom but also threatened us with punishment.  He would not have done that to people in the toils of necessity.  He would not have laid down laws, he would not have given us exhortations if we had been prisoners of destiny. . . The myth of a compelling destiny is nonsense.  Our lives are subject to no unavoidable fate.  Everything, as I have argued, points to the beauty of free will.”

Thank-you to Tony Woodlief of Sand in the Gears, who had this quote up.  You can read his post about it here.



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The Only Easy Day was Yesterday.

The training to become a Navy SEAL is probably the most rigorous training a human being can be subjected to.

The first phase of the training is seven weeks of almost non-stop physical activity:  timed runs (in boots and fatigue pants), endless sets of push-ups and sit-ups, ocean swims.  In addition to this,