A Truncated Gospel?

As I was doing my personal study in the early chapters of Amos today, I was reminded of how God longs to interact, communicate and relate with people. However, we can take that in and receive it in different ways. Either we can take it as a personal benefit, where my salvation and relationship with God is the end all, OR that this invitation to enter into relationship with God is an invitation to be a part of His plans and purposes and mission in the world.

The debate between Doug Pagitt and Bob Dewaay touched on that as well. Often the articulation of evangelical theology (and the Gospel itself) can be in reaction to (and even in reference to) false teaching or false religions, or competitive worldviews. This reaction determines the wording of the message as “the only true way to come to God.” It seems that this can cause the Christian message to be severely truncated.

The Gospel is not merely the good news of "the way to God." It goes further in that it is an invitation for us to participate with God in His activity in the world, in His mission “to bring all things together under one head,” as Paul puts it in his letter to the Ephesians. I wonder if one of the consequences of reducing this Gospel is that mission, evangelism, social justice, etc. get pushed aside as peripheral activities of the Church or as supplementary things that really strong, elite Christians do as some sort of hobby.

We see God relating with His people in that context time and time again in the Old Testament. His purpose in setting aside a people for Himself (Israel) was to reveal Himself as God to the rest of creation, not solely for the benefit of that chosen people.

(Head over to The Weary Pilgrim for related discussion on these things.)

Categories: devotional, church, mission

Cyber Chatter (or, Contextless Links)

The all-new BrandonAndKristy.net is up and running. Check it out for the full scoop on our Irish trajectory. At least the fullest scoop you'll get without a face-to-face conversation.

Pandora.com - create your own radio station. If your radio stations are like any of those here in the Springs (i.e., that play the same 8 vanilla pop songs over and over again), this is a welcome innovation. Too bad there's no way to transmit it to the car stereo. The bands that I entered included Death Cab, The Shins, My Morning Jacket, and a few others. The station automatically threw in stuff by Placebo, The Decemberists, O.A.R., and a few others that I liked, but hadn't heard much of.

The Day Chocolate Company - fairly traded chocolate, heavy on the fair trade education.

JR Woodward - Invisible Children march. While I was at Azusa Pacific last November, I was exposed to the film and it's great to see it continuing to build support. Woodward also has some other great posts like his thoughts on the emerging church and the blogosphere.

What Euro city do I belong in?

You Belong in Amsterdam

A little old fashioned, a little modern - you're the best of both worlds. And so is Amsterdam. Whether you want to be a squatter graffiti artist or a great novelist, Amsterdam has all that you want in Europe (in one small city).

What European City Do You Belong In?

(HT: Mr. Woodward)

Eh? I would've thought that the only "old-fashioned" thing about me is that I'm still using Blogger. (No worries. Kristy and I still have our sights set on Dublin.)

Categories: justice, music, Europe

Podcast Thoughts: Doug Pagitt and Bob Dewaay Debate

Over the last several days I’ve been listening to the podcasts of Doug Pagitt’s debate/discussion with Bob Dewaay. I’ve only gotten through the second of the three, but there are definitely some patterns emerging in their discussion. I appreciate the fact that, though Doug is an important voice in the movement, he himself emphasizes that those in the emerging church dialogue do not have complete theological consensus and that he does not speak for the entire movement. I think people who are skeptical about the "emerging church" discussion need to recognize this as well, seeing it as an opportunity to evaluate the current state of Christianity (particularly in the West) and not something to feel threatened by.

Dewaay seems to be coming to the table with the presupposition that, since the canon of Scripture is closed, we can know and understand spiritual things wholly and perfectly with an almost scientific precision. As if the canon of our ability to understand Scripture is also closed. He has most definitely adopted the rationalistic confidence of the Enlightenment.

Dewaay also speaks of “boundaries” quite a bit, which really smacks of Pharisaic legalism to me. In the stories of Jesus, time and time again we see him confronting the Pharisees for using their religious boundaries to create a controlled, man-made spiritual system with which to build themselves up and to oppress others. I think Pagitt did a great job of gently confronting this issue with Dewaay in the context of Christians practicing yoga when he listed off a number of other things that could lead people into darkness like scientific logic, sexuality, food, etc. but aren’t inherently evil.

My frustration with Pagitt was that he was coming from a completely different paradigm such that, at times, he didn’t really seem to be able to even meet Dewaay from his larger point of reference. At one point he even said, “I don’t know what to do with the approach that says that all the answers have been revealed.” As soon as he said this in the conversation, I cringed and thought, “What kind of healthy conversation can we have if we can’t even attempt to understand the issues of the person with whom we’re dialoguing!”

I could almost hear Bob screaming out for Doug to talk to him on his terms. It came across just in the number of times that Bob repeated himself, as if he didn’t know how else to address Doug’s viewpoints. Funny enough, his repeated statements didn’t even really seem to be addressing the issues at times.

However, at one point Pagitt does do a great job of clarifying his view that words, though obviously important, are not always sufficient. I thought he affirmed the usefulness and importance of words when he said that the proclamation/usage of words is not the end of the story, but only the beginning.

It’ll be interesting to catch the rest of the debate. For the most part, they’re both pretty respectful and even lighthearted. I’m fascinated by Pagitt’s eschatological view, though I definitely haven’t bought in to it fully. I can also see why people accuse him and others in the emerging church dialogue of “universalism,” even though he doesn’t explicitly discuss those things. It’d be really interesting to sit down over a cup of coffee and just hear from Pagitt on tons of theological issues and what has lead him to those conclusions.

Looking forward to podcast 3.

Categories: church, culture, mission, emerging

Prayer for Finland

Recently, I’ve been praying for Finland, the Scandinavian country bordering Russia in the East and Sweden in the West. After being controlled by Sweden for 600 years and then by Russia for nearly another 100 years, it became independent in 1917. Look at any detailed map of Finland and you’ll see massive lakes covering the southern parts of the country.

As every other posted prayer for Europe, please feel free to offer up a prayer in the comments section.

P R A Y E R :
God of hope and light, we pray for this unique Scandinavian nation. We pray that you would strengthen Finnish believers to live with the hope and the joy that spring from friendship with You. We thank you for the positive influence and assistance that Finnish Christians have given to Estonia and we ask that You would continue to strengthen your people in Finland so that they might continue to be a blessing to the spiritual condition of other Baltic and Nordic countries around them. Cause the Body of Christ in Finland to have burdened hearts for those who do not know You and to passionately proclaim and demonstrate the Good News of Jesus, especially to a growing immigrant population.

Categories: pray, Europe

Foolishness to the Greeks

Just from the number of times I'd seen Leslie Newbigin's book "Foolishness to the Greeks" quoted and referenced over the last 2 or 3 years, I knew that I was going to be in for something heavy. The other day, after putting the book down for a few minutes of silent contemplation, I told my wife that it was the thickest 150 page book I've ever read. I don't know that I've ever been so deeply challenged to wrestle with the overarching philosophical paradigms that our society is built on.

It's no surprise that the questions Newbigin addresses came from his own experience as British missionary in India. The question in particular (which invariably leads to others) that any thoughtful missionary asks is this: What elements of my faith have been more shaped by my culture than I realize? For the contemporary, evangelical Christian in Western society, the question is thus: What elements of evangelical Christianity have been informed and shaped more by the paradigms of modern Enlightenment philosophy and scientific rationale than purely by God’s Word (if it’s even possible to be purely biblical)? As you can see, I’ve already cheated by trying to tack on another question at the end of the question.

Newbigin gives his testimony this way:

“As a young missionary, I was confident that the critical evaluations I made about Hindu beliefs and practices were securely founded on God’s revelation in Christ. As I grew older, I learned to see that they were shaped more than I had realized by my own culture.” (p. 21)

In light of the ubiquitous discussion on postmodernism in evangelical circles, it’s probably necessary for me to explain right away that what Newbigin does NOT do is make an attempt at dismantling a proper confidence in the truth (or “authority,” or “inerrancy,” depending on the label one prefers) of Scripture. If anything, his explanation thus far (currently I’m in chapter 5) gives confidence in the authority of God through our sacred texts, particularly in the context of “a community that is committed to faith and obedience and is embodying that commitment in an active discipleship that embraces the whole of life, public and private.”

In the third chapter, he explains 5 strategies that have historically been used “to affirm the gospel in the context of post-Enlightenment culture.” In so doing, he rather effectively disassembles the liberal theological systems of such men as Bultmann and Schleiermacher, explaining quite clearly that their theologies were a product of the flawed presuppositions and framework of the modern scientific world-view. (Of course, it’s worth mentioning that he also does this with Benjamin Warfield’s theological thinking.)

The scary thing is that there seems to be a confidence in the evangelical church that we can shed any outside cultural baggage and actually view the Gospel from a purely objective perspective. This very confidence is only made possible by a presupposed, almost subconscious acceptance of the philosophy of scientific reason handed down to us by the fathers of the Enlightenment. Before one has even attempted to understand or explain the Gospel, there has already been a buy-in of that general philosophical framework (though probably to a lesser degree for Christ-followers, with the help of the Holy Spirit.)

Earlier in chapter two, Newbigin offers a question that seems to be most germane to the issues that he addresses.

“As people who are a part of modern Western culture, with its confidence in the validity of scientific methods, how can we move from the place where we explain the gospel in terms of our modern scientific world-view to the place where we explain our modern scientific world-view from the point of view of the gospel?”

Not only was that a necessary question in 1986, but it is an increasingly critical question in our emerging cultural context.

Just a few thoughts and ideas being stirred in me thus far. Still trying to wrap my brain around much of it. I’m thinking that there are huge evaluative implications on Christendom in light of these things as well. Could it be that the basic tenets of Christendom have been an attempt to contextualize the gospel in response to the Enlightenment project? Comments, feedback, and questions are welcome.

Categories: mission, culture, church, Christendom

Life Happens

While this transition time of marriage and fund raising is temporary and sometimes rather nerve-wracking, Kristy and I have discussed some of the benefits recently. While we're looking forward to settling down in Ireland, where we'll be able to make long-term commitments to church/ministry and friends, this time is providing opportunity for things that won't come as easy once we get there.

For example, it's been nice to check out a few of the beautiful parks here in The Springs. Just spending the time outdoors together has been refreshing.

We've also been able to tackle some extra reading. Kristy is currently finishing up "Angela's Ashes" and learning a bit about Irish Catholic culture and I'm slowly digesting "Foolishness to the Greeks."

It's also been such a blessing to spend extra time in scripture and prayer each morning. Once we get into a busy ministry schedule/routine in Ireland, it will be much more difficult to spend as much concentrated time in such spiritual discipline, but it will at least be that much more habitual.

Kristy has also volunteered in a local school district's tutoring program and we both are in a fairly regular habit of exercise at a local gym.

The search for opportunities to serve have been a little less successful. Due to the temporary nature of our time here and the sporadic road trips for family and fund-raising purposes, it just hasn't been easy to be around consistently enough to plug in to anything (though we're still trying.)

Aside from those things, it's been a lot of e-mailing, calling, and waiting. Oh! the waiting. Waiting to hear back from churches. Or potential financial partners. Or from the GEM finance people regarding our account and what percentage of our support requirement we're at and how much we still have to raise. The "waiting." It's just something that goes with the territory.

It's certainly not your typical career/job, this "missionary" stuff. But as I said before, it's providing some great opportunity to launch our marriage in a healthy way and to be intentional about nurturing our souls.

Categories: life

More on Sudan, Ireland, and Current Reading

The crisis in Sudan continues. Click here to send a message to America's leadership. Yes, we must be careful because the Sudanese government is helping us in the fight against terrorism in their corner of the world, but we cannot let that same government get away with genocide!

You may have noticed that I've expanded the categories in the left margin. In particular, I've got about 23 different links on Irish history and culture, which is a little different than the rest of the categories, which only link posts from Restless Blogrimage. (Seriously, Blogger - get with the program with the whole "categories" thang!)

In other random news, I finished "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by the brilliant Irish author and literary figure, James Joyce. It's a tough read, but the man had such an amazing command of the English language. If you don't mind a little stream of consciousness, (with some heavy philosophical discussion thrown in towards the end), I'd definitely recommend him to any fan of classic lit. However, if you want a consistent story line and standard literary elements like plot, climax, and resolution, forget about it.

Before that, I read through "Liquid Church" by Pete Ward. Wasn't nearly as helpful as "The Shaping of Things to Come," but, early in the book, Ward does a great job of describing how things like modernism and the enlightenment have shaped the church. I wasn’t real crazy about his approach to systems of theology at the end and how he combined the ideas of several theologians to try and give answers for the current challenges of today’s church. He also had some great evaluation about the consumerism paradigm so prevalent in the postmodern psyche, but he didn’t really offer any significant cautions or weaknesses in it. It might be good to go back and take another quick read through some of the things I highlighted.

Now I’m hoping to jump into Leslie Newbigin’s classic missiological work “Foolishness to the Greeks.” It’s only about 150 pages, but I’m anticipating some density.

Fun with Fund Raising (or, “Ministry Partner Development” and Other Such Equivocal Verbiage or, Adventures in Biblical Bling)

The Levites lived on it. Jesus had it. Paul asked for it. Countless organizations across the world depend on it. “Financial support.” My grandmother called it “panhandling.”

Our particular organization doesn’t like to call it “raising support.” It’s “ministry partner development” or “support discovery.” I have another name for it – “awkward.”

I mean, I know that scripture says, “It’s more blessed to give than to receive,” but it’s kind of in the “hard-to-swallow” category for most Christ-followers, right there above “love your enemies” and “whoever wants to save his life will lose it.” Sure, it’s biblical, but in a sort of clichéd unrealistic way. Besides, if it’s more blessed to give than to receive, wouldn’t we see more rap artists handing out the bling in the hood and more millionaire CEOs becoming philanthropy partners with Irish rock stars?

And sure, God tells us pretty clearly that “the earth is His, and everything in it,” but surely that’s some sort of Hebrew poetry and it doesn’t necessarily apply to the hard-earned money that people bring in with their own skills and efforts.

Yet the facts remain, as solidly as every other black and white morsel of God’s truth. It is more blessed to give than to receive. (Just ask Bill and Melinda Gates, who’ve handed out billions of dollars in charitable giving over the last 7 years.) And there is nothing in all creation that doesn’t ultimately belong to Him who created all things. (Including every penny that we have ever “earned” in our lives.)

However, as Kristy and I do “ministry partner development” (or whatever the $#££ you want to call it), we find it difficult not to cower in fear of people’s potential lack of understanding and ill-conceived notions about money and non-profit work. Again, the word “awkward” comes to mind. As do the words “offensive” and “charity case” and “get a real job.”

And yet, it all gets balanced out when we look at our financial ministry team and are overwhelmed with the generous partnerships of so many people who believe in what we are doing and who want to be an indispensable part of it. Have you ever been so grateful to someone that you just didn’t feel like there was anything you could do express your gratitude enough? We have a growing team of approximately 70 families and individuals and 7 churches that we feel that way toward. That’s 70 families and 7 churches who have told us explicitly, “We believe in the work that God has called you to in Europe and we want in on some of the action!”

So there’s a little piece of our experience in “raising support” as missionaries over the last several months. It’s a little uncomfortable at times, but it’s also hugely rewarding and faith-building.

Of course, I can’t end without a word about our current $1k shortfall. We’d love to have you join our team. Whether or not you decide to give, please pray that God would raise up the financial partnerships that we need.

Categories: life, devotional

Prayer for Estonia

In the run up to Easter last week, I was incorporating prayer for Estonia in my Holy Week meditations. As I did a little bit of research into the country, I was fascinated by the cultural history and heritage of this little nation that got bullied by the Soviet Union for so long. In fact, it’s said that Estonians make up 65% of the population in the country while 30% are Russian and the rest Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Finnish. Ethnically and linguistically, Estonia is most similar to Finland (which happens to be the country I'm praying for this week.)

(Click here for more on what God is doing in Estonia through the ministry of Josiah Venture.)

P R A Y E R :
Ancient of Days and God of all nations, we lift up this small nation of Estonia to You. We thank You for the unique language and heritage that You have cultivated in this country, despite the ruthless foreign occupation and oppression from other countries over the years. We pray that You would raise up Your people in Estonia to boldly demonstrate and pronounce Your reigning Kingdom throughout their society. Guide them in addressing the unique issues of their culture in the wake of the fall of communism, in the tension with the remaining Russian population, and with the introduction of democracy and capitalism. We pray that Your Church might have an answer for the economic abuses and extremes of Estonia’s newfound wealth and luxury and that they might provide a voice for those trapped in the destructive cycles of crime and poverty.

Categories: pray, Europe, Estonia

Is Europe Digging its Own Grave?

Accoring to the latest Ambassador's Briefing report from Greater Europe Misssion, Europe is the only continent in which the percentage of Evangelical Christians is shrinking. The report also communicates some of the issues at hand regarding the growing tension between Europe and the Muslim world, via immigration influx. Quoting Bruce Bawer's latest book, While Europe Slept,

"[…] when Christian faith had departed, it had taken with it a sense of ultimate meaning and purpose – and left the Continent vulnerable to conquest by people with deeper faith and stronger convictions. What’s more, no longer able to take religion seriously themselves, many Europeans were unable to believe that other people might take religion very seriously indeed."

It seems that the unbridled philosophy of tolerance in the European zeigeist is dramatically colliding with an influx of predominantly intolerant Muslim culture. Unfortunately, I've had an alarming number of conversations with American Christ-followers, usually steeped in unbalanced American nationalism, who question any ministry involvement of North American Christians in Europe. "It's their own fault" comes the reasoning behind the doubt. It may seem as if the kind of news that we hear from this issue of the Ambassador’s Briefing would only prove to bolster this kind of condescension.

However, in my own estimation, there is no better time than now for the church in the U.S. to come alongside its European counterparts and offer its resources and support, though not from a position of superiority or expertise. Whereas at one time, the American church could claim its superiority in cultural influence and strength, it is now being surpassed by Africa and parts of Asia in terms of its growth and missionary sending.

As James Engel and William Dyrness claim in their groundbreaking book on missions, “Many are shocked to learn that a majority of missionaries in the world now come from the Two-Thirds World. . . . In the very best sense, this is cause for celebration because the baby has now become a vigorous, maturing and responsible adult in many parts of Africa, Asia and South America.” (p. 20)

While the regrettable days of imperialistic missionary activity are gladly coming to an end, opportunity is ripe for churches around the world to link arms in the sharing of resources, experience, perspective, and wisdom. We have much to learn from each other and the future multi-ethnic party in heaven that scripture gives us glimpses of need not wait until our entrance into eternity.

Categories: Europe, mission

The Gospel of Judas Mystery Revealed

Right in time for the Easter holiday season, there's been news about the discovery of the Gospel of Judas manuscripts. This blog post solves all the mystery with news of an even more illuminating ancient manuscript. The Gospel of Judas is soooo yesterday.

A Practical Way to Help in the Darfur/Sudan Crisis

Click here for a very practical way to pressure the U.S. government in taking the lead to provide an answer to the genocide crisis in Sudan.

(Related posts from Restless Blogrimage: The Constant Gardner, Continuing Crisis in Sudan)

Categories: justice

The Beauty of Creation

On Sunday, Kristy and I took advantage of the great weather here in Colorado Springs and went for a little walk. Pulpit Rock is just minutes down the road from us. You don't see it in these pictures, but the top of Pulpit Rock gives you a great view of the Garden of the Gods as well.



Speaking of God's creation, I recently got wind of a Christian environmental group called Restoring Eden. As I was looking through their site, I noticed that they're located in La Center, Washingon, a little town between Longview, where I graduated from high school, and the Vancouver/Portland area, where I got my college degree and served as a youth pastor.

So aside from the nagging sense of homesickness, I was pretty excited about this group bringing a God-infused perspective to environmentalism. Unfortunately, evanglelical Christians have had an embarrassing history of weak theological treatment in regards to our responsibility to be stewards of creation. As Brandon Rhodes points out in his paper, environmentalism has typically been dominated by secular fundamentalists and, according to a report last year in the Economist, is "politically adrift and dreadfully out of touch."

Categories: life, justice

Collaborative "Stations of the Cross" Blog

There's an ongoing collaborative blog on the Stations of the Cross (Via Crucis) this Holy Week. Brilliant idea, although one that seems natural in light of the growing Web 2.0 chatter in the cyber culture. I was pretty excited about it, given that I've done some reflection and meditation online during this Lent season. (Hmmmm . . . maybe Lent 2007 will need to involve a web fast.) It'll be a blessing to ponder and ruminate on the cross of Jesus with these fellow bloggers and spiritual pilgrims.

London's Grace has also done a Lent blog over the last 4 years, which has been ahead of the times and a great example of what creative, participatory meditation can look like in a faith communtiy.

Be sure to catch this multi-media Easter meditation sometime this week as well. There are also plenty of other worthwhile Easter resources on the Lifewords website. (HT: Jonny Baker)

Jesus Anointed by Mary

This last week, I was thinking and meditating about some of the events leading up to Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. When I came to Mary’s anointing of Jesus the day before, I was struck by Jesus’ claim in Matthew and Mark that “wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

As I looked into the passage further, I realized that this Mary who anointed Jesus in this story was the same Mary who washed Jesus’ feet with perfume and with her tears in Luke 7. In Luke’s account of that story, Jesus gave a parable to illustrate the fact that those who have been forgiven the biggest debt are naturally the ones who are most grateful. The parable was directed at Simon the Pharisee who was hosting Jesus and who was offended that Jesus would allow Mary (a known prostitute) to wash his feet.

Which brings us back around again to Mary’s anointing of Jesus, the day before his “triumphal entry into Jerusalem.” Her extravagant display of gratitude and worship didn’t stop at Simon the Pharisee’s home. And it’s no wonder. Just from reading the four Gospels, we can easily observe that prostitutes and tax collectors (who worked for the Roman government) were the worst kinds of sinners, rejects, and failures in society. This was especially true in Roman-occupied Israel, where the Jewish religion played a significant role in the identity of the Israeli people. Those who were most successful in Jewish society were the ones who excelled in meeting the standards of Jewish law.

As the biggest failures in the Jewish nation, the prostitutes and tax collectors had the biggest debt before God. At least, that’s what was communicated to them by the religious establishment. That establishment, the Pharisees and teachers of the law, were the religiously successful and didn’t see much need in themselves for forgiveness, for they were the architects of a man-made religious system. (Granted, the Law of Moses itself was given by God, but the Pharisees had added to it so much that it had become a controllable religious system.)

It’s no wonder then, that we see Jesus constantly surrounded by people in that society, like Mary, who had the greatest need for forgiveness of their sin. The reality was that their need for forgiveness wasn’t any greater than that of the religious authorities. They just didn’t have any religious pretence to hide their sin behind.

Mary’s affectionate outpouring is a glorious story in the run-up to the passion week of Jesus. And one that reminds us of the purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection. As much as not-yet-Christians need to take in the message of the cross and embrace it in order to be restored to their Creator, Christ-followers must remember the reality of their own debt that was cancelled at the cross. The temptation for Christ-followers to lose sight of their cancelled debt is just as great today as it was for the religious establishment of Jesus’ day. In this way, we have a lot more in common with the homosexuals and the pornographers and the terrorists than we’d like to admit. Without the blood of Jesus, our piety and religious activities wouldn’t put us on any greater spiritual level.

So the questions are before us. Do we hide our sin behind religious pretence, all the while failing to recognize the equality of our debt with the worst of sinners today? Could it be that the measure of our gratitude and worship to God is equal to the measure of our perceived need for forgiveness?

Categories: transformation, God

Lent Meditation

This week, I’ve found my thinking and meditation drifting toward expectation. It’s the week before Palm Sunday, the day we typically set aside in the Christian faith to commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey with symbolic fanfare and celebration. So, what were the disciples thinking? What were their expectations?

My hunch is that the disciples didn’t suffer from low expectations. They seemed to be expecting Jesus to usher in a kingdom to replace the current Israeli captivity under the Romans – a physical kingdom that would be similar to King David and Solomon, only greater. (Check out these links HERE and HERE for some information on the apocalyptic literature, both OT and inter-testamental, that may have helped shape these expectations.)

So . . . . what expectations do you bring into your relationship with God? Sometimes we can have an expectation that if we do everything right and hold up our end of the bargain in the Christian life, God will pour out his blessings on us. So we establish a kind of “if/then” relationship with God.

And then tragedy strikes. A child that we raised in a Christian environment rebels and walks away from all that we taught her. A spouse suddenly turns his back on the marriage and walks away from the faith and out of the family. Life doesn’t seem to be working for us after we’ve worked so hard to be faithful to Him and do all the things that good Christians do.

Therein lies the problem. Our expectations are misinformed. God never promises that if we follow the formula, life will work. He promises us Himself. And He promises to change us, from the inside out. To make us more like His Son. He doesn’t promise to change the circumstances around us and to shield us from the effects of a fallen world. He promises us His peace in the midst of it.

The disciples were perplexed when Jesus insisted on talking about being arrested and killed. On the very night he was taken by the soldiers, Peter lopped off a servant’s ear and the rest of the disciples scattered, like weak animals in response to a stocking predator.

Their expectations were misinformed. And as a result, their world was thrown into chaos. Everything they’d hoped for in the last 3+ years of following their Rabbi who was to re-establish the Jewish nation. Gone. Taken away from them. From their perspective (at least for the next few days), they had been wrong to trust in this miracle-worker, this self-proclaimed Messiah.

As Palm Sunday approaches, I think it’s a good opportunity to evaluate the expectations that we have in following the ways of Jesus. They may need to be adjusted. Indeed, they may need to be abandoned. If anything else, we need to be honest with ourselves about our expectations and open to the idea that maybe they're misinformed.

Categories: God, transformation

Driscoll Apology

Back in January, I posted some comments about Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill in Seattle, regarding his rather brash style of dialogue and debate. Just this morning, I came across an apology from Mark that I really appreciated. He's a good example to all of us.

06/04 update: There's some great discussion over at the Out of Ur blog regarding Mark's apology. If, as Jesus said, the world will know we are His disciples by the love we have for one another, sometimes I think we're in trouble.

HT: Rhett Smith

Categories: transformation, church, emerging

Cyber Art

I've come across some refreshingly creative and innovative art on the web recenlty.

• Rebekah Cummings has some beautiful art work on her website. Apparently, she's writing some music as well, but there doesn't seem to be any music files to download or sample.
• The guys at ThinkerLabs are doing some cool things with short films and lots of other creative ministry ideas to spark the imagination in spiritual meditation.
• These electronic engineering students in Zurich use their laptop computers to print artwork from their computer onto a large canvas - using a can of spray paint! (HT: John Hamm at Digg.com)
• The brilliantly creative band from Bellingham (WA), Death Cab for Cutie, have gathered a collection of short films inspired by their latest album, Plans. Currently, they are showcasing each short film (new premiere each Monday) on their website with plans (ha ha) to release a DVD version of the different pieces. Anybody else out there love it when talented muscians and song writers gather other forms of art around their music?

Categories: culture, music, art

The Conscious Consumer

Found out about a nice little educational resource on fair trade. It's a booklet from the Fair Trade Resource Network entitled "The Conscious Consumer." I'm planning on ordering an copy myself for just 4 bucks. Here's a little review of the booklet from the folks at Relevant Magazine.

Categories: justice

An Uncle Again

Last week, I became an uncle again! Pria Marie Wellcome was born last Tuesday night, March 28th and was 7 lbs., 3 oz. They kept Iris in the hospital until Thursday to rest up and recoup. When they got home, they were able to e-mail pics to family.


Congratulations, Tyson and Iris!

Categories: life

Prayer for Denmark

Denmark has been in the news quite a bit over the last several months. It's next in the queue for prayer over the nations of Europe. (Click here for more information on this relatively small, yet powerful and culturally rich Scandinavian nation.)

P R A Y E R:
God of all nations, our ultimate source of comfort and well-being, we lift up this small yet powerful nation to you. We pray that in the midst of a robust economy and high standard of living that You would open the eyes of not-yet-Christian Danes to the emptiness of materialism and to the peace that can only be found in You. We boldly ask You to raise up churches committed to actively participating with You in Your mission to make Yourself known. Cause Your people to be an integral part of the solution to the unique issues that Danish society faces, such as the ethnic tensions arising from Muslim immigration. Fill your people in Denmark to overflowing with supernatural love and acceptance, truth and light.

Categories: pray, Europe