I'm Sure But I'm Still Figuring It Out

The Cross is the Kingdom Come...

2009-11-27T15:54:00.000-05:00

Here is a short excerpt from “The Politics of Jesus” by John Howard Yoder

“Here at the cross is the man who loves his enemies, the man whose righteousness is greater than that of the Pharisees, who being rich became poor, who gives his robe to those who took his cloak, who prays for those who despitefully use him. The cross is not a detour or a hurdle on the way to the kingdom, nor is it even the way to the kingdom; it is the kingdom come.” (emphasis added)

Oord on Postmodernity

2009-11-26T22:23:00.003-05:00

Here is a portion of a blog by Tom Oord that I found very well put and well written. For those of you who are afraid of postmodernity, please read this with an open mind. For the whole blogpost, click HERE

Humility and Conviction

Postmodern Christians can live faithfully between the absence of absolute certainty and the abyss of extreme relativism. This middle ground promotes both humility and conviction.

Postmodernists reject the idea that we can know with absolute certainty the full truth about reality. Absolute certainty requires inerrant sense perception. It requires a set of inerrant ideas. Or it requires inerrant interpretation of an inerrant source. Such inerrancy does not exist.

This lack of absolute certainty about the full truth of reality, however, is not bad news for Christians. After all, faith resides at the heart of the Christian message. Christians are believers not proposition defenders.

Faith is different from absolute certainty. But it’s different from absolute mystery too. Faith need not be blind or unreasonable.

To believe is not to reject reason or evidence altogether. One can affirm a degree of confidence in the greater plausibility of statements, ways of living, or perceptions. And this greater confidence can foster reasonable conviction. Faith can be grounded.

A number of postmodernists affirm that what we regard as true extends well beyond verbal statements. Truth also has a livable, embodied element. It has an aesthetic element too. Truth is personal, communal, and even cosmic. Truth is multi-faceted.

Postmodernists recognize that we cannot comprehend truth entirely. We see through a glass darkly. And this inability to be absolutely certain or to know reality fully should lead us to humility.

Pride still comes before a fall. But pride emerges not only when we retain full control of our lives. We can also sin through pride by thinking we have full and certain knowledge. We forget that the just live by faith. Postmodernism can foster the virtue of humble living.

In sum, postmodernists need not reject truth. But postmodernism reminds us that “we know in part.” Christian convictions embraced in humility can help us live abundant life in our emerging world.

Playlist

2009-11-06T21:46:00.003-05:00

Alot of us have preconceived notions about what kind of music Jr. Highers like. You expect some Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana to be on the queue. Well...allow me to open up your minds. Here is a sampling of the music that was requested by some of our Jr. High students on the way to the weekend retreat I drove them to today. Strap in...

KC and the Sunshine Band - Boogie Shoes

Kenny Loggins - Footloose

Jackson 5 - ABC

Kenny Chesney - She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy

The Drunken Scotsman

"that Jewish guy you made us listen to" = Matisyahu

Iron Maiden

Creed (to which I replied, "Dont worry, you'll grow out of that"

Inspiration!

2009-10-13T15:57:00.002-04:00

So part of my lack of posting recently has been my lack of motivation. I need a kick in the pants.

The fact of the matter is that I have been so busy that I have allowed my life to scream by without taking the time to reflect on it. I think we are all probably guilty of allowing our life to pass by us. The unfortunate truth is that often we miss God's presence in our lives for this reason. So take the little man's advice and say "not this time"...

Here's to new beginnings...

2009-10-13T10:30:00.003-04:00

Im quite ashamed of my blogging performance in the past few months. I had a crazy summer and restarted my seminary career this fall while still serving part time at Lebanon. That being said, my blog has been very silent. I know this is a lame way to kick off my reawakening, but here is the sermon that I gave this morning in my Homiletics class. There are a few things that I said in the sermon that were not in the manuscript, but you will get the point. Feedback, as always, is very much appreciated. Here's to new beginnings...

From Condemnation to Grace

Hebrews 4:12-16

Jake Clawson

At first glance, this passage is mortifying. We read first that the word of God is living and active! We respond with Yes, amen! God’s word speaks to us in fresh ways every time we pick the blessed book up! And then we continue reading…The word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword and it pierces right through you, dividing soul from spirit and joints from marrow. It can even peer through your pretense to judge the content of your heart! And now our response is Oh wow, this is certainly not what I signed up for!

The word of God that we read about in early portion of our Scripture, the law, has no feelings. It does not care how ashamed of your evil or misguided deeds you are. It is concerned that you are made quite well aware of your sinfulness. It is there to point out to you and everybody else that you are not good enough. Hebrews puts it in terms of “being laid bare.” While this immediately conjures up images of being nude and exposed, these same words are used in Greek to express the frightening image of bending the person’s neck backwards to be exposed to the sacrificial knife.

Personally, I hate the idea of my neck being bent backwards. Now my reason for that is certainly a bit silly. I was always pulling up my collar and guarding my neck in the dark because I was afraid of vampires. My mother actually recently confessed to me that it was her fault that I had this irrational fear as a child because she let me watch the Lost Boys, a movie about teenage vampires, somewhere around the time when I heading to Preschool. Now you may not be afraid of vampires, but none of use prefers to feel vulnerable.

Try as we might, we are unable to keep our guard up or hide in the presence of God. The most common analogy to this revealing function of the word of God is a surgeon with his scalpel. And while no one can be faulted for making the reference because the passage describes the word of God as a sword, both of these references are completely foreign to the majority of us. Unless you are a surgeon or a Medieval War re-enactor, chances are you have little experience with swords or scalpels. So I would like to offer up the vegetable peeler as a modern example. The word of God is sharper than any dual edged vegetable peeler. Sounds a little emasculating to go from a sword to a vegetable peeler, but there is certainly truth to be found here.

Think about what a vegetable peeler does. It fairly easily strips off the layers of whatever you are using it on. Now think about how we function as people. We love layers. We don’t want anyone to know our business. Sure, we sign up for Facebook and MySpace and Twitter so we can tell the world that we just had the best Turkey Club of our lives, but we wouldn’t post our deepest thoughts out there for all to see, would we? We don’t want anyone to know our deepest sins, and the things that truly beset us. So we hide. We hide behind pretense. We hide behind a lie. We hide behind a smile.

No one likes to be caught in his or her sin.

In the 1950’s there was a woman by the name of Marion Keech. One day Marion believed that her body had been overtaken and she had received a message from a being named Sananda. Sananda told Marion that at midnight on December 21st the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean would rise causing a great flood that would destroy the would. Of course, the only way to be saved from this disaster would be to believe in Sananda and await the rescue spaceship that she would send. Although not evangelistic, word spread about Marion and the impending disaster and converts were made. Doctors left their lucrative posts, families literally sold the farm along with all of their other belongings, and on the evening of December 21st, they all gathered in the living room of the Keech residence. Listening to the ticking of the clock and waiting intently for their rescue spacecraft to land curbside, Marion and her followers watched as midnight came and went. As the reality of burned bridges and unfulfilled expectations came crashing down, some wept openly while others stared blankly. Marion was faced with the consequences that she was wrong and she was going to be held accountable by those who had placed their lives in her hands. So what does she do? Like so many of us, Marion searched for a way out. Thinking quickly, she had a new revelation from Sananda claiming that due to the faithfulness of her followers, she had decided to spare the earth from disaster.

We want to make Marion the antagonist of this story. But the truth of the matter is that if we are honest, we can see ourselves in her. We too have been guilty of dishonesty. We too have been guilty of covering up our misdeeds with more misdeeds. We have learned how to rationalize so effectively that we are able to fool ourselves along with those around us. We know what it is like to build up walls between ourselves and the truth about ourselves.

These walls get stripped away, one by one, by the discerning word of God. Our layers are stripped away in the presence of the one to whom nothing is hidden.

Having our layers stripped away we find ourselves broken and defenseless. We have come to the realization that we have nowhere left to hide. I would suppose that many of you know what I mean. Maybe this very day you feel as though you have landed at the bottom of the barrel, unable to move under the weight and guilt of your own wrongdoing. Here we feel incapable of doing anything but asking, praying, and reaching out for mercy.

Here enters the Word of God once again in our passage, however not the law that lays us bare and renders us indefensible, but rather the Word of God made flesh in Jesus Christ.

Jesus finds us as the broken people we are and he is able to sympathize with our weakness and our inability to keep ourselves from sinning. Often when we think of sympathizing, we think of someone placing a gentle hand on our shoulder and telling us that they know what we are going through. While this is warming, many times we are left wanting for something more than words. We long for a companion with whom we can struggle. Jesus Christ is that companion. A better translation of Christ’s sympathy here is “to suffer with.” Jesus Christ suffers with you. He knows what it is like to be tempted, in all the ways that we are, because he lived a life just like you and me and was able to overcome sin and death. The very presence of Jesus Christ, the one through whom all things in creation were made cares enough about you to come alongside you as you struggle in your sin and are laid bare by the law.

Thankfully, Christ’s sympathy is not the end of the story. Sympathy does not save nor will it solve your problems. Through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection He has become for us the perfect mediator between God and ourselves. Christ has taken on and relinquished the condemnation of the law for you! As our great high priest, Christ has gone through the heavens and sits at the right hand of the throne of God. He has transformed that throne from the place where judgment is delivered to the place where grace and mercy can be found.

The call of Christ is to come boldly to this throne as you are. Let go of pretending that you are OK. Let go of the notion that you have to be good enough to come to this throne. Let go of your pretense. Let go of your fear. Believe in the name of Jesus Christ and that He has exhausted the sentence of the law for you. Hear his call to come, for the Word of God is no longer condemnation for you, but rather grace and mercy to meet you in your deepest need. Amen.

What you think you want...

2009-06-30T23:09:00.007-04:00

Part of the nation of Isreal's history is their shift from a "theocracy" - a rule by God, to a "monarchy" - a rule by a king. The long and short of it is this. All the ruling people of the nation come to Samuel their leader, the last of their judges who was also a prophet, and say to him, "Give us a king, one to rule over us and fight in our battles!" Samuel is very displeased by this request because he feels as though it is a rejection not only of Yahweh (who has been their ruler to this point), but also of him. Yahweh assures him that it is just a rejection of Himself, and tells Samuel to give the people what they want, of course knowing that this is NOT a good idea. So Samuel then returns to the people to tell them what to expect from this king. In his own words...

"He said, "This is the way the kind of king you're talking about operates. He'll take your sons and make soldiers of them—chariotry, cavalry, infantry, regimented in battalions and squadrons. He'll put some to forced labor on his farms, plowing and harvesting, and others to making either weapons of war or chariots in which he can ride in luxury. He'll put your daughters to work as beauticians and waitresses and cooks. He'll conscript your best fields, vineyards, and orchards and hand them over to his special friends. He'll tax your harvests and vintage to support his extensive bureaucracy. Your prize workers and best animals he'll take for his own use. He'll lay a tax on your flocks and you'll end up no better than slaves. The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves. But don't expect God to answer."

Sounds pretty appealing right??? And we continue...

"But the people wouldn't listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We will have a king to rule us! Then we'll be just like all the other nations. Our king will rule us and lead us and fight our battles.""

To this I reply "Excuse me sir, but your subtext is showing."

You see...

The people of Isreal really didn't want a KING...they wanted to be like the nations that surrounded them...

I have been thinking alot recently about teen dating. And before you think that I have accidentally collapsed two blog posts into one, please allow me a moment to explain.

Being a youth director, you have to deal with teen dating on a pretty regular basis. Most of these "dating relationships" do not end well. For some reason teens (and maybe even those of us in our 20's and 30's??) believe that it is possible to make a smooth transition from a dating relationship to a friendship when things go awry. Why we havent realized that this is HARDLY possible is beyond me. I mean, honestly, how many instances of this actually working out have you witnessed? This, to me, is especially problematic when the teens that are giving this strategy a go are members of youth group. Because when these relationships crash and burn, it usually ends up that one, or maybe even BOTH, of the parties end up not coming back to youth group to avoid the other.

So I am left to ponder...What are the alternatives? I am certainly not in the "I kissed dating goodbye" camp. I have seen the emotional disaster that ensues. However, I am disenfranchised with the "date everyone and see who works out" camp, as well. I think that teens are apt to latch on a little too tightly to the first female or male peer that shows them affection either physically or emotionally. Granted, there are those "highschool sweetheart" stories out there, but that is surely the exception to any kind of real life experience of teen dating...thus the "oooo's" and "aaahhh's" from the crowd when these stories are told. So I am inclined to pull a I Samuel 8 kind of move.

You want a girlfriend or boyfriend? Really? Why? Because you feel attracted to a certain individual and all the people around you tell you that attaching that title to that individual is just what people do?

Well this is what I have to say to you...

"This is the way the kind of relationship you're talking about operates. The boy will take your emotional stability and play around with it like an Nintendo Wii. He'll make you feel good about yourself as long as you are making him feel better about himself. He may even take your virginity. He'll take your time. Time you'll wish you never gave him in 4 months when you're upset that he dumped you, O so easily. Boys...she'll take your money. Money you'll wished you never spent 4 months from now when your well thought out plans take a dive. She'll take your time. Time that could have been spent playing your Nintendo Wii or taking over universe in World of Warcraft. The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this boyfriend or girlfriend you so much want for yourselves. But don't expect God to answer."

OK...maybe the last part was a little harsh...

But seriously, why can't we just get rid of the titles? It seems that things would be much less complicated that way. I don't care if you "accidentally" "make-out" every once and a while. Just dont put any extra pressure on yourself because of some stupid cultural norm.

Blog Design

2009-06-16T00:27:00.002-04:00

Just a note:
If you drop by the blog and see it in total disarray, I am redesigning the thing. So if you arrive at the blog and notice that someone else's Flickr Photostream is running in the corner, please disregard that. OR, if you notice that my Twitter feed is no longer, please disregard that as well. OR, if you notice that the title of my blog is something that doesnt make sense or is in another language, just simmah dahn nah. Thank you Alec Baldwin for having such a crush on Tina Fey that you followed her to 30 Rock. I adore you both. Good night.

Most Anti-Essential Christian Reading List

2009-05-31T13:09:00.003-04:00

I totally didnt ask for permission to do this, but I am giving him props. This is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. This is a list of the most anti-essential Christian books offered up by Eugene Cho's readers. They are fake and fantastic.

Everyone Is Going To Hell Except Me – John MacArthur
There’s No ‘U’ in Ministry: A Woman’s Guide – Mark Driscoll
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid – John Hagee
God’s Most Glorified When We’re Most Calvinified in Him, by John Piper
Right Behind – a fresh set of Apocalyptic chronicles by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins
Eugene Cho Haven’t Published Squat so No One Can Even Make Fun of Him – by Eugene Cho
We Know Jesus Better Than You Do – The Vatican Curia
I’m Cool With Whatever (Featuring Enhanced Doodle Graphics) – Brian McLaren
This Book Looks Longer Than It Really Is – Rob Bell
God Wants You To Pay For My Airplane – Creflo Dollar
10 Keys To The 8 Steps To The 3 Paths To The 1 Way to God (TM) – Rick Warren
I Secretly Wish I Were the Pope: A Memoir – N.T. Wright
How to Smile – Joel Osteen
How to Fall in My Presence – Benny Hinn
Hippie Christianity for Ordinary Rednecks – Shane Claiborne
You Can Kiss Dating My Daughter Goodbye – Joshua Harris, Sr

you can check out the original link here. http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/the-most-anti-essential-christian-books/

Being the Body

2009-05-20T13:34:00.002-04:00

Being the Body was the title to my sermon on Sunday. For some reason, I struggled greatly to write the thing, and wasn't completely satisfied with the way it came out. I have an idea of what a sermon is supposed to do as the public proclamation of the promises of God for the people of God. I also grew up in a fire-breathing, Bible-beating denomination (no offense to those of you who are still a part, but you know what I mean). The two are always at war within me and it seems the latter got the better of me this round. Even though I dont really care for this sermon...I wanted to put it out there for public critique...so here it is.
....
One of the wonderful things about the word and works of God is this, they are alive. We do not serve a Lord who is only crucified, but one who is living and active in our midst. As reigning Lord of heaven and earth, His word too, the book of Hebrews tells us, is living and active. Let us pray that we would hear the message God is speaking to us today, not what Jake Clawson is speaking. Let us pray.

Father, speak to us through your word this day. Open our ears that we might hear your voice, and open our hearts that we might accept the message you bring us. Use me as your vessel this morning, and may your Holy Spirit rest on me as I bring the word you have placed on my heart to your people. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

A few months ago I met a man in this very building named Benjamin Alan Best. I had just returned from a youth event when a gentleman who wanted to speak to the Pastor approached me. Well, no Pastor was available so he got to talk to a Director instead. The story goes that he is riding his bicycle across the country on the generosity of churches and other Christian individuals. And my word does he have the church system down to a tee. He knew about the discretionary funds that larger churches give their pastors. He even knew that he had a better chance of receiving cash from an Episcopal church than the gift card or soup kitchen meal that he might receive from other denominations.

Basically, Ben wanted me to put him in a hotel for the night. I told him that I couldn’t do that, but that I knew of several places I could take him in the city to get him a bed for the night. The thing was, he refused to go into the city. When I pressed him to tell me why, Ben told me “Jesus isn’t there.” He said that when you go into the city, you have to go to churches with buzzers and big locks on the door where you are viewed as a nuisance and shelters where they treat you like a criminal. He told me that Jesus can be found in the wealthy suburbs. He told me he was looking for “real Christians,” and to Ben a “real Christian” was someone who would give him the help that he was looking for.

Ben believed the myth that the institution of the church was the thing that could meet his needs. Ben desired to have the help of the church of Christ, rather than the dignifying purpose of the Risen Christ who is the head of the church. I think there is a little bit of Benjamin in all of us. I think that at we are guilty of encouraging people to believe the myth that the organization can meet their need because it takes the pressure off of us to meet the need.

Eventually, we find ourselves hiding behind this building, the staff we employ, and the programs we run. If we hear of a need, our response is to take it to the deacons; if we have a problem, we take it to a committee; if we meet a person who is in need of help, we take it to the church. Sometimes this isn’t a bad thing, and the appropriate action is to take the problem to a committee or take our need to the deacons. But let us remember that it is we who are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ and he has chosen to work through us!

However, if we continue neglecting the reality of our personal call and purpose, we will be in danger of losing our identity as members of the body of Christ. We will be tempted to cash in our purpose as members of that body for some stock in the institutional church. We are often so involved in the life of the church – with our committees, trips, campaigns, and even Bible studies - that we lose sight of the fact that we are the life of the church. Our lives are the life of the church, yet we denigrate the dignity that God has given us by boiling the dynamic life of the church down to meetings and luncheons. The programs that we run here at Lebanon are not bad things; in fact I have been impressed with the willingness of the people in this community to get involved. However, we must be mindful that these programs are always an overflow of the purpose that God has given the individual members of His body that call this particular community home. Let us not lose sight of what - or shall I say whom - the church truly is, why we have come here, and more importantly, who has called us here in the first place.

When we overemphasize the organizational aspect of the church, we realize that it is easier to defer to the church to supply for the needs around us than it is to confront them ourselves. We’ve also realized that if we come here on Sunday morning, it is easy to perform a noteworthy invisibility act and shuffle out as soon as we see that blessed asterisk in the bulletin telling us to stand near the end of the service. This seems good to us because we are only as involved as we care to be and never forced to be vulnerable. Again, we find ourselves hiding behind the church and neglecting what the church truly is.

When we buy into the myth of the “purveyor of spiritual goods” model of the church, we are not fully living out our call as individual members of the body of Christ. When we buy into externalizing the church we not only rob the church, the body of Christ, of her full potential, but we are also robbing ourselves of the fullness of life that Christ has promised us as members of His body. Ephesians 1:22-23 says this “And God has placed all things under Christ’s feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is His body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” Paul writes that you and I, the church, the body of Christ, are the fullness of Christ. God has chosen to work through human beings to the extent that we are referred to as His “fullness.” We believers are also referred to as the “bride” of Christ, and while we men feel that being called a “bride” is tantamount to being referred to as a “nancy boy” to put it lightly, it’s time to put the insecure child to bed and run with the analogy. All of us have felt the strange sensation of infatuation before. You know where you say things, and sometime even mean them, like “I feel like a piece of myself is missing when you are not with me?” This is the feeling behind the “bride of Christ” and “fullness” imagery. God literally longs for you to fulfill your calling as a member of His body. You are a beloved child who has been called and given a purpose by your Father in Heaven.

Sometimes we miss that purpose because we never realized, or were never told, that we have one. When Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected, his followers, a fledgling group of believers in this new way of life, knew they had a purpose. They carried on Christ’s message that the kingdom of God is near and they began to live their lives as indicators of this new reality. They acted differently than those around them and so this group of different people, who were pledging allegiance to someone other than Caesar and loving their enemies, began to live in community with other individuals who had proclaimed Christ as their Lord. When the church was referred to, it was the people who realized they were the church, because they didn’t have a building or programs to run that would confuse their identity as the church. I believe that when we talk about the church today, we think of the buildings, programs, and staff people we can see. We come to the church believing that we are going to find purpose there, while in reality it is God who gives you purpose as a member of the body of Christ. It is God who gifts you the skills and strengths that you possess. It is God who will give you the imagination and creativity to come out from hiding and live as faithful member of His body. And it is God who can pick you up, weaknesses, frustrations, and all, when you do not feel you have lived up to your calling.

So what does it mean to be the body of Christ? It means that Christ has called you and united you to Himself, sharing with you the mission of God to proclaim, and join in with, God’s kingdom breaking in on the world. Be encouraged by this fact; rather, be emboldened by this truth. Allow God’s love and mission to consume you. Hide no longer behind the walls of this building, neither allow this place to become an idol for you. Rather go from this place encouraging your children, friends, and family to grab onto the full life that God has already equipped them to live in His name. Amen.

30 Hour Famine

2009-05-18T22:17:00.006-04:00

So...I am going to refine my skills this summer and start using Final Cut Pro 6 instead of iMovie 08 (which really sucks actually - you can't really do much with the video itself). But check out the confession cam style video we made during the 30 Hour Famine this year. It is my very first video, so please take it easy on me.

Recap: March for Life

2009-02-10T23:51:00.006-05:00

It has taken me a month, but I am finally

getting around to recapping the March for Life.

I can almost sum up the whole of it

in one word

...impotent.

Let me put this in perspective. I was blessed to have the opportunity to go to Malawi in August. While I was there, I was overwhelmed and moved to tears by the sense of community that I felt. There was a bond of unity, unmatched in my experience, that I felt with people whom I had known for only two short weeks. My arrival felt as though I was being embraced by family I hadn't yet communed with. My departure felt as though my heart was being ripped from my chest as I left people whom I realized had become a part of me.

One would think that an event where tens of thousands of Christians rally around a common cause would evoke those same feelings.

Not.

So.

Granted, some of my dissatisfaction probably arose from the poor flow of the event and the anti-climactic lead up to the March itself.

Those things being noted, I felt no real sense of community or unity at the event. Instead of ~250,000 people rallying around a common cause, it felt like ~250,000 people showing up at the same place to push their own take on a semi-shared agenda. (I must say that I was encouraged by the fact that I saw no individuals holding destroyed fetus signs. Although, there was a ghastly display of a series of eight or so giant 10'x5' posters that had been brought in by a non-profit that will go unnamed.)

The students that I took with me left largely unaffected by the event itself as well. It in no way drew them into the cause, pushed them to think about the issues at hand with a critical eye, or challenged them to internalize the event as a whole. Disappointing? I think so.

The best thing that happened was that I was able to have a discussion with the guys about the most faithful response to the abortion issue and moral issues overall.

So will I do this again? Probably not. Not because I'm not Pro-Life. I am. But because I think that for the most part, I disagree with the premise of the event. It seems to me that we are making our government and it's law an idol. We put our faith in changing the law, so much so that we forget about the people we are trying to affect. Let's rethink our strategy. Let's reorient ourselves around the relational nature of the lives we live. Let's believe that God is able to change the world through His people and not the government that we, in error, have placed our faith in.

Long time no see...wackos parading around with horrific signs

2009-01-21T21:49:00.006-05:00

So, I am feeling quite scrambled up this evening. I am about to hit the sack because I am getting on a bus at 6am tomorrow to go to DC. Why would you make the trip to our nation's capitol AFTER the festivities of the inauguration have taken place. Well...the reason is a complicated one, and the more I think about it, the more uneasy I become. I decided to take a trip, on the invitation of a local church, to the annual March for Life and see the spectacle of tens of thousands of people marching the mall to visit with our Senators and make our voices heard concerning the issue of abortion and life before conception.
When I was first approached about this, my initial reaction was "absolutely not." However, the more I thought about it in the context of where I am serving right now, I thought, "it's not really my job to impress my views upon these students, and it is their right to express themselves how they desire." So...I opened the opportunity up to the Sr. High. To my surprise, everyone in attendance that night at youth group wanted to go (even though on the eve of the event only about a third of those are actually going). Who knew?

I figured that this would be a great opportunity for me to open up a dialogue with them about the "right" way to express our views. I'm sure that we will see our fair share of well (and ill) intentioned people with giant posters of destroyed fetuses with captions like "Abortion is Homicide" and things of that nature. I stand in FIRM opposition to this kind of display, especially by Christians who claim that God's love for us and our love for each other stands at the center of the gospel. I find that incredibly offensive, a horrible witness, and outrageously counterproductive. Not to mention that it feeds right into the world's belief that Christians are self-righteous, bigotous Bible beaters who are detached from reality. (although I had to laugh at one of my student's idea for a sign "Don't make it, if you can't take it")

The more I think about it though, the more I am questioning my decision. I am starting to think that my very presence is a "signing off," so to speak, on the event as a whole. I am beginning to believe that the problem is more than the few who carry tasteless signs, it is the event as a whole. Buying into the belief that the government is going to, or is able to, fix our moral problems. Even if everyone radical Pro-Lifer got their wish and Roe V. Wade was overturned and abortion was illegalized in the US, that wouldn't fix the problem. The problem is always deeper than it presents itself. The problem isn't that people are having abortions, that is just the symptom.

I believe that the change we wish to see will come when we love more than we hate (especially when we are so good at calling our hate love). It's going to take those folks who can't stand abortion adopting some babies and taking care of girls who are scared and feel like they have no where to turn. This isn't as easy as walking down the mall, blending into a crowd of 200,000, but it is definitely the more faithful response. What does this type of response look like for a teen...I guess we'll see what they think tomorrow.

Christmas ramblings

2008-12-15T16:46:00.006-05:00

This is the deal. I am sick of Christmas getting the shaft. If you look around at how we celebrate Christmas, not only does it have little to do with Christ, but the little that DOES have to do with Christ often skims over the whole "birth of Christ, the God-child" like it is no big deal and moves on to talk about subjects that are more or less centered around the events of Easter. This is an even bigger blunder when we are talking about the framework of Presbyterians (one of which I am) and some other Protestant denominations that celebrate not only Christmas day but place a great deal of emphasis on the "Advent" season, which lasts for 5 weeks (take that, Jews). This gives us MORE than enough time to slow down and talk about the things that actually happen during CHRISTMAS itself.
Now...every year we read the Christmas story at one point or another, however we do it often times as a matter of course, without giving it a whole lot of thought or even superficial engagement. So, the other day I read the passage to our senior highers and told them to really think about what Luke was saying when he was writing this passage. "Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I am a virgin? The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy He will be called Son of God." So...an angel just said that God was going to impregnate some woman. Of course, the totally insanity of this passage is all covered up nicely in euphemisms like "the power of the Most High will overshadow you" but the fact remains that right in the middle of these euphemisms lies Mary getting knocked up by GOD! When you tear away all the niceties this Immaculate Conception conjures up the memory of the Nephilim, who are mentioned briefly in the Pentateuch as the offspring of the "sons of God" and are credited to have been "men of renown." Now we have a bigger, better, New Testament version of these men of renown in a little baby who is born in a feeding trough. What happens in the moment of conception is something incredible. In some incomprehensible way, heaven and earth, God and mankind, come together, and when they come together the world is changed forever. Jesus Christ, the God-man, ushers in the kingdom of God to the present world. I believe the kingdom of God in this instance is the collapsing of the categories of heaven and earth. Jesus walks around as an adult (and maybe even a child, who knows...but if he did work miracles as a child, it probably didnt happen like this...check out the story of Jesus and his childhood friends making clay figures in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Messiah is a little brat) and performs miracles, making the blind to see and deaf to hear, the dead come to life, and needs great and small are met. While performing this miracles, often referred to as signs, Jesus says things like "the kingdom of heaven is near (or here)." These signs are pointing to the Messiah who has brought the kingdom of heaven to earth. This is the great hope and draw of this God-man, Jesus Christ...that some day our longings for redemption and recreation will be satiated. I think Romans 8 puts it quite nicely..."for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies." Jesus' coming to earth in the from of a man is far more important that your personal "salvation," it's about God's kingdom coming to earth. It's about God initiating something brand new. It's about God beginning the wholesale recreation of the heavens and the earth. It's about God's plan, God's plan just so happens to include you and I. Let's raise a glass for the redemption of our bodies.

mixed emotions

2008-12-10T16:14:00.006-05:00

I Corinthians 3:7 goes like this..."So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth."

This has come to be my anthem. It plays out every time I see God working in my life. It did so last weekend, and became both an encouragement and a disappointment to me at the same time. I took a number of high schoolers to a retreat. The people who put them on cater them to be evangelical (and by that I mean they present the good news of Jesus Christ, not that they try to hasten back the dead days of Christendom). Here students are presented with the most basic message there is...we are sinners, we are unable to do anything about that, we need Jesus, you should probably get to know him, here is basically how to get that process started. Our times of discussion were awesome...we talked about the Lazarus story, a bunch of other really deep theological issues, and it seemed like the kids were really getting it. Then we came to the discussion time where they are presented with the fact that this matters for "you" personally and "you" NEED to accept Jesus and start a relationship with him. It was as though someone duct taped their mouths shut. I was shocked. It really seemed as though they got it. But then, when push came to shove, I realized they had no idea. The message literally could not have been laid out in simpler terms. They just didn't get it. I was making all kinds of compelling arguments and analogies...but none of it was sticking, none of it was convincing them that they had to have this relationship with Jesus. Then this verse rushed to the forefront of my mind. I was hit with the reality that just as I am helpless in my own sin, they are helpless in theirs. I am not the good doctor that will save them. I am not the shepherd that will lead them. That doctor and shepherd is none other than Christ. The moment that I start believing that I can convince someone into a relationship with Christ is a sad sad moment in history. At that moment I will have exalted myself above Christ and made myself into an idol. I was, and am continually, encouraged by the fact that it is not about me at all. I am grateful beyond words that it is not my job to notch my belt every time I convince someone of Jesus' importance. All I am called to be is a faithful signpost to the One whose work does not fail and whose Word will not return to Him void. The disappointment comes because I want these kids to get it, but I can't make that happen. But that is the great disappointment and encouragement all in one. May we all come to the realization that the work of God in and around us is not our own doing, but rather the doing of the One in whom we have placed our hope.

I, the one who sows, and even waters, am nothing...but God, who gives the growth, is everything and all in all.

lift off

2008-11-21T01:27:00.002-05:00

so...I have tried this blog thing before...and failed. let's see how it goes this time around. if im honest, i really dont have very high expectations, and if i am really honest, i am doing this more for me to word vomit publicly than for the general encouragement of all mankind. my hope and prayer is that this will become something that is good for me and for those who waste their time reading my ramblings. expect alot of questions and few answers. lets do it.