At the heart of all temptations, as we see here [in the temptations of Jesus], is the act of pushing God aside because we perceive him as secondary; if not actually superfluous and annoying in comparison with all the apparently far more urgent matters that fill our lives. Constructing a world by our own lights, without reference to God, building our own foundation; refusing to acknowledge the reality of anything beyond the political and material, while setting God aside s an illusion – that is the temptation that threatens us in many varied forms. Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazarath
Category: Faith & Theology
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December 18, 2011
The Temptatons of Jesus and our Temptations
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December 13, 2011
Junia is Not Alone
I’m a friend of many women who have had to wrestle through trying to discern their calling into pastoral ministry. Discerning this isn’t easy no matter your sex, but when you are a women its infinitely more difficult. I’m one who advocates for women being able to serve in any capacity in the local church. It’s funny, for readers of mine who weren’t brought up in church, they probably find it strange that I even have to say that. But, the church has a long history of arguing about this very topic. That said, I totally understand the complexity of the issue. I was raised in a tradition that believed women were not t0 teach or be involved in leadership. Well, that’s not totally true....Read More →
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September 26, 2011
Two Weeks from Today…
…I’ll be recovering from running 26.2 miles… that is if i finish! For the last 4 months I’ve been training hard for this marathon. I’ve made a couple posts on my blog as to why I’m running the marathon (Why I’m Running The Chicago Marathon) and what I’ve kept on running (Why I Run.). When I started this training one of my main goals was to support one of the communities that I care about the most. After we adopted Mason from Guatemala we began looking for ways to come alongside the people in the home of his birthplace. Many of you know we found Lemonade International, who has been doing some amazing work there in the heart of Guatemala City – La Limonada is...Read More →
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September 23, 2011
Measuring Church Effectiveness
What he said… “Ultimately, each church will be evaluated by only one thing. It’s disciples. Your church is only as good as its disciples. It does not matter how good your praise, preaching, programs or property are: If you’re disciples are passive, needy, consumerist, and not moving in the direction of radical obedience, your church is not good.” - Neil Cole (not sure what book this is from)
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July 28, 2011
The Necessity of Community for Witness
In light of my post yesterday on the problem of isolation and individualism in our culture I offer you this short expert from Darrel Guder’s excellent book, The Continuing Conversion of the Church. This is an older book (published in 2000), but I read this in 2001 and it single-handedly recalibrated my understanding of the nature and purpose of the church. It is probably one of the most formative books I’ve read over the years. The invitation to respond to the gospel, however, must naturally lead to incorporation into the community of witness. It is clear from the New Testament that God’s Spirit forms a community of people for mission. God’s call has always formed a people, a community, within which God was known, worshiped,...Read More →
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June 29, 2011
The Primary Task of the Church?
“We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:28 The church, in the context of its missional calling, must work with all its energy to present people fully mature in Jesus Christ. I think we can say that mission without discipleship is ineffective and discipleship without mission is pointless and honestly can’t really even be called discipleship. It was Alan Hirsch who said, “I have come to believe we are never going to be the movement Jesus wants unless we first et the issues of discipleship right. This is because the health and growth of transformative...Read More →
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April 27, 2011
Is Diversity About Being Hip and Relevant?
Great article on diversity and the changing world from Faith and Leadership: Most of us have heard a variation of this statement: “The United States is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse. To stay ‘relevant,’ we must adapt to this new reality.” I have often wondered exactly what this statement is supposed to mean for the church. Does it mean that churches filled primarily with white or black persons should somehow forget such folks and focus on other people? Does it mean churches should start playing some imagined stereotypical Hispanic music? It is never clear. Rather, it seems as if the statement is typically more a veiled threat: get hip (somehow) or disappear. Forget getting hip. The growing diversity is a gift from God, a...Read More →
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April 19, 2011
Reflecting on Back Surgery & the Poor
For the last 6 months my I’ve had shooting pain down my left leg in addition to it going numb all the way down to my toes whenever I stand for more than 3-5 minutes. Strangely, it has been the worst when walking through a grocery store. I’ve taken that as a sign to stop walking through grocery stores. In related news, we’ve spent less money when shopping for food. Today, I’ve been laying in bed a most of the day recovering from back surgery that I had yesterday. I had spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spine) plus a herniated disk in the L4-L4 vertebrae that my wonderful doctor kindly fixed for me. I am still a bit sore and kinda doped up on percocet so...Read More →
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April 13, 2011
Few Bear the Cross
From The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A’Kempis, “Jesus hath many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of His Cross. He hath many seekers of comfort, but few of tribulation. He findeth many companions of His table, but few of His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, few are willing to undergo anything for His sake. Many follow Jesus that they may eat of His loaves, but few that they may drink of the cup of His passion. Many are astonished at His Miracles, few follow after the shame of His Cross. Many love Jesus so long as no adversities happen to them. Many praise Him and bless Him, so long as they receive any comforts from Him. But if Jesus hide...Read More →
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April 12, 2011
Two Super-Easy Steps to Preaching a Holistic Gospel
We all think we are preaching a holistic gospel. In all my years of interacting with pastors, teachers and leaders I have never met anyone who got into a pulpit on a regular basis and said “I think I am going to preach a one-sided gospel.” In reality, none of us are preaching a fully holistic gospel, are we? Obviously I don’t think so, or I wouldn’t have asked the question. I believe this is one of the reasons we need to continually be in dialogue with the entire body of Christ, Christians from all walks of life. We must know and learn from Christians from different racial, ethic and socio-economic backgrounds and even Christians from urban, suburban and rural contexts. It is in these conversations and friendships...Read More →
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March 29, 2011
It’s not me, It’s you: Being Part of the God’s Family
A prayer from this mornings reading in Common Prayer Lord, our efforts at faithfulness are fraught with failure more often than we care to admit. Thank you that your love for us is never wasted. Keep us rooted in your word, eating at your table, and praying by your Spirit, so that we may remember when we fail that we are part of your family not because we deserve to be but because you want us. Amen. May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you; may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm; may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you; may he bring you home...Read More →
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March 4, 2011
What is the Form and Function of the Church?
A community that is guided by the scriptures. Without the scriptures, we’d have no direction or compass. Its our family history. It’s gives us a trajectory for our future. When we read the scriptures we read them in community with a missional bent. A community that is dependent on the Spirit. Without the dependence on the spirit, the church is merely wasting its time! God sent the son, the son sent the spirit, the sprit sends the church. A community where people are learning to become disciples of Jesus. We’re learning to do the things that Jesus would do if he were us. A community that is incarnational rather than attractional. If you build it they will come just doesn’t work in post-Christendom. A community...Read More →
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February 28, 2011
Submission in Leadership
One of the major early themes in The Imitation of Christ is that of humility. I will be honest. I am not a big fan of humility. Humility is one of those things that constantly seems desperately out of grasp. Just when I feel like I am getting close to understanding it and getting it, it moves further away from me. As a pastor however, I know its the one thing that I need the most. It is the one thing that fights against most pastor’s greatest temptation: Pride. It is a strange thing that pastors and leaders struggle so much with pride. We are supposed to be the ones who are most grounded in the scriptures, grace and truth. I think therein lies the...Read More →
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January 25, 2011
Recovering God’s Story in Worship
From Robert Webber’s Book, Ancient-Future Worship In the postmodern world of violence and uncertainty, there is a great need to recover the Christus Victor theme that God in Christ has defeated all the powers of evil, that he has conclusively abolished sin, death, and all that is evil in the world, and that because of his death and resurrection, he will return for his final victory over all that is evil and set up his kingdom and reign over all the earth. The church is called to witness to this truth by its very existence and in its worship to remember these past saving events of God in history that assures the new world we anticipate. Definitely a book worth reading…
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January 24, 2011
Follow Me. Walking with Jesus.
Discipleship as the Call of the Kingdom (i.e. a brain dump on discipleship) The call of the Kingdom is Jesus’ call to “follow me”. If the kingdom is the in-breaking of God’s reign, the call of “follow me” is the call to bring your life under that reign. If the Kingdom is that God is breaking into time and space for the purpose of reclaiming what is His.. The call to “Follow me” must be heard in light of this reality. The call of “follow me” is to have your life be so under the reign of God that people get a glimpse of the Kingdom through you. This way Jesus called them it was not possible to half-ass the response to follow me. I...Read More →
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January 21, 2011
Balcony-Type Christianity?
We just started a study of the book of Mark at The Well. Been reading George Ladd’s A Theology of the New Testament and thought I would share this gem with you, “Mark campaigns against balcony-type Christians who are too high for mission and discipleship that in Mark’s terms necessarily involves cross-bearing and self-sacrifice.” One of the things I am getting as I read Mark so far is that the disciples themselves didn’t understand what they were getting themselves into. Sure, they showed great faith by dropping their nets and leaving their lives and family behind to follow Jesus. But, they didn’t count the cost as we see them constantly misunderstanding what they were getting themselves into throughout the rest of the book. Ladd continues,...Read More →
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January 3, 2011
I am Joining the Lemonade International Board
It was with a deep sense of humility that I can announce that I have officially joined the board of Lemonade International. Lemonade International exists to “educate and empower the people of the largest urban slum in Central America, La Limonada.” La Limonada is known to have the 4th highest murder rate in the world. There is a saying in Guatemala City that “even Santa Claus doesn’t visit La Limonada.” I have shared with a few Guatemalan friends from here in the States that we visited there last summer and their response was “and you are not dead?!” By all accounts La Limonada is a hopeless place. But, by God’s account, it is a place where He is making beauty out of ashes. A Guatemalan...Read More →
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January 1, 2011
Top 5 Books of 2010
This has not been my best reading year in terms of number of books. However, I was able to read a few great books that are worth mentioning. So, I proudly present to you my top five books of 2010. Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ Eugene Peterson I love Eugene Peterson’s writing. I consider him one of my “author mentors”. I rarely have anything bad to say about anything he has written and this is no exception. In fact, I think that this is his best book yet. Yes, that is saying a lot. This book is essentially an exposition of Ephesians and he offers an stunningly realistic look at the reality of the thing we call “church.” I read this...Read More →
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December 18, 2010
God is With Us.
Immanuel. God is with us. Wait. Stop. Listen again… Immanuel. God is with us. God. Is. With. Us. Wait. God is with you. Sure. But God is with me? Yes. Really? Yes. You don’t need to come to Jesus. He’s has come to you. He has pursued you. Loves you. Yes, you. The wait is over.
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December 15, 2010
Six Themes of Change in the Church
Scot McKnight points to some new research by Barna. Kinda depressing really.
