Chapter 12 – Prayer
We, the human race, struggle to have meaningful conversations. How many meetings have you set through with the central topic of how to communicate? How many times have you been challenged to improve your communication skills? Communication is our greatest opportunity.
Some of the questions that float through my sub consciousness, and consciousness are:
What if I say the wrong thing?
What if I neglect something of significance?
What if I cannot engage the audience?
Wright’s approach:
“Our Father...”
Prayer between Heaven and Earth
Discovering Help in Prayer
More Pathway’s into Prayer
Getting Started
Questions to ponder on and discuss:
The prayer Jesus taught us to pray remarkably leaves out the word I and in the translations that I have read the words what if aren’t part of the prayer at all.
His prayer:
“Our Father .... (whatever translation you would like)
“...It’s a prayer about God’s honor and glory. It’s a prayer about God’s kingdom coming on earth as in heaven—which...pretty much sums up what a lot of Christianity is all about.” (pg.160)
Prayer between Heaven and Earth
“We are called to live at the overlap both of heaven and earth—the earth has yet to be fully redeemed as one day it will be—and of God’s future and this world’s present.” (pg 163) How could we possibly know how to pray? Paul writes in Romans 8:26 that God’s Spirit intercedes for us. I found this section to be intriguing. There is a statement that lingers, I don’t have words to elaborate or explain, but here it is. “...the Spirit, God himself is groaning from within the heart of the world, because God himself, by the Spirit, dwells in our hearts as we resonate with the pain of the world.” (pg 162) Sit with those words a minute.
Discovering Help in Prayer
Wright points out that “...discovering that there are ways of being helped in prayer by using words and forms written and shaped by others comes as good news...”. (pg 167) God has met me in the word authentic, there’s a part of me that wants to be right. I don’t want to be fake or futile. Humility... coming to the realization that I do not have to recreate the wheel, God has provided me, us, with many holy examples of prayer.
More Pathway’s into Prayer
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (pg 168) In the simplicity of these words there is an invitation “...a way of coming into focus, of going down deep and out wide, of concentrating on the God we know in Jesus as the one we can trust in all circumstances, and of holding before his mercy all that we want to pray about...” (pg 168)
Remove yourself, your stuff, all that you think you ought to be and hear the words of this prayer Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. What stirs inside of you? There are many such prayers that God has provided to minister to us through our spiritual journey, as you pray them listen for God’s response.
Getting Started
Pastors, mentors, spiritual directors, friends, and books are all guides that God has provided to help us, to encourage us. Use them.
As God reveals more of himself to us through prayer, our will become his will. We will find our passions become his passions, our prayers a response to his groaning through the Spirit in us.
“But for all of us, Christian prayer is God’s gift. “Through the Messiah we have access, by faith, to this grace in which we stand” (Romans 5:2). We are welcomed into God’s very presence. Like John in Revelation 4 and 5, we see through prayer a door standing in heaven, and we are ushered into the throne room.
But we are no longer there as mere observers. We are there as beloved children. Let Jesus himself have the last word: “If you, then, evil as you are, know how to five good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Chapters 7 & 8
SIMPLY CHRISTIAN
Chapter 7 – Jesus and the Coming of God’s Kingdom
“This is a persistent mistake, based on the medieval notion that the point of all religion – the rule of the game, if you like – was to make sure you ended up at the right side of the stage at the end of the mystery play (that is in heaven rather than hell)” (p 92)
That is probably true of a lot of our persistent religious mistakes – that they are based on medieval or past notions. The medieval notions would keep us focused on what we do and even more what we cannot do. That is we cannot conquer sin. No, we need a Savior to set us free.
We humans like to do things ourselves. It’s all about me! I can hear Joyce Meyer squawking across the stage “What about me? – What about me? – What about me?” Really, what about you? Why do you believe in Jesus? Why did you submit your will to Him? Were you afraid of going to hell or did you see your brokenness and truly seek Him as your only possible Savior? The Savior, who can break the chains, can set us free and can make us truly whole. “We are offered freedom: freedom to experience God’s rescue for ourselves” (p 92) – what an invitation!
Wright would have us see Jesus as the bridge between Heaven and earth, between human and God, between this world and God’s kingdom, between our past and our future. Look into his writing about Israel and insert yourself. (Hey, maybe this is about you!) Jesus came to show us a different way, a revolutionary way to live. The Israelites wanted a King to set them free, bring back the good old days and fulfill the prophecies. Jesus brought them the stories and healings, the message to lead them to the freedom they sought. Two thousand years later are we truly hearing the message or are we still making the same persistent mistake of looking for what we want?
Questions to ponder on and discuss:
1. Why do you think it has gone “out of fashion”, if you would, to speak about hell in our churches? Do you believe in heaven and hell?
2. Do you believe Jesus was a revolutionary? How would you describe Him if you had to write “about the Jesus of our present experience” (p 95)?
3. A new world is described in this chapter, what do you imagine when your read that we are to “work at bringing it to birth on earth as in heaven.”(p 92)?
SIMPLY CHRISTIAN
Chapter 8 – Jesus: Rescue and Renewal
The truth … the way … here someone has written the story so succinctly.
What an interesting insight into Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophecies: “Jesus seems to have combined the two interpretations in a creative, indeed explosive, way. The Servant would be both royal and a sufferer.” (p 107) The Jews wanted a king, a hero, not a martyr. How sad that day at Golgotha that it was the centurion, harden to death and suffering from his many years of killing, was one of the few who really heard and considered “maybe this man was God’s Son after all.” (p 111) Yet, here we are two thousand years later and we do believe, but still our own terms. God calls the Israelites stiff-necked and tells Moses to talk to them, least He might destroy them (reference Exodus 33:5). Have our necks relaxed any or are we still so sure of ourselves and our own ways today? ‘I am the truth.’
Thinking in terms of how Jesus thought and studied is an interesting take. Even further is the thought that Jesus was not aware of His destiny, but that through His studies He was able “to shape his sense of what he had to do.”(p 108) This gives a whole new mosaic to the pattern of call. Why would a human take on such a plan? Where would any human obtain such audacity to believe they were capable of such a task? What faith is this? The modern day questions of WWJD falls so short it seems comical by comparison of this pattern for living. ‘I am the way.’
In Wright’s context he uses this insight to help us understand why the disciples and followers of Jesus believed He was divine. This becomes so much deeper when you look at the martyrs of the following centuries; dying because they knew Christ was “the unique embodiment of the one God of Israel” (p 117).
The thought that all our sins were carried by Christ on the hours upon the cross overwhelms me. That is every sin from Eden to Babylon, to Auschwitz, to Hiroshima, to 9/11, to beyond eternity was placed within this pure sinless mind and God looked away. In all this, Christ cried out for the pain of God’s separation only. Then, He asked for our forgiveness.
How can we make sense of this? I believe it comes down to love, just as Wright says in the final two paragraphs and just as Jesus gave in His new commandment. God calls each of us to be “one of those partners in love” (p 119).
1. Can you see any parallels between the Israelites expectations for the Temple of Jerusalem and the modern expectations upon the Church of today?
2. Wright gives God’s plan to rescue the world from evil on page 108. Does this fit with your beliefs?
3. In his Option Three, Wright sees heaven and earth as interlocked. How does that look to you?
Chapter 7 – Jesus and the Coming of God’s Kingdom
“This is a persistent mistake, based on the medieval notion that the point of all religion – the rule of the game, if you like – was to make sure you ended up at the right side of the stage at the end of the mystery play (that is in heaven rather than hell)” (p 92)
That is probably true of a lot of our persistent religious mistakes – that they are based on medieval or past notions. The medieval notions would keep us focused on what we do and even more what we cannot do. That is we cannot conquer sin. No, we need a Savior to set us free.
We humans like to do things ourselves. It’s all about me! I can hear Joyce Meyer squawking across the stage “What about me? – What about me? – What about me?” Really, what about you? Why do you believe in Jesus? Why did you submit your will to Him? Were you afraid of going to hell or did you see your brokenness and truly seek Him as your only possible Savior? The Savior, who can break the chains, can set us free and can make us truly whole. “We are offered freedom: freedom to experience God’s rescue for ourselves” (p 92) – what an invitation!
Wright would have us see Jesus as the bridge between Heaven and earth, between human and God, between this world and God’s kingdom, between our past and our future. Look into his writing about Israel and insert yourself. (Hey, maybe this is about you!) Jesus came to show us a different way, a revolutionary way to live. The Israelites wanted a King to set them free, bring back the good old days and fulfill the prophecies. Jesus brought them the stories and healings, the message to lead them to the freedom they sought. Two thousand years later are we truly hearing the message or are we still making the same persistent mistake of looking for what we want?
Questions to ponder on and discuss:
1. Why do you think it has gone “out of fashion”, if you would, to speak about hell in our churches? Do you believe in heaven and hell?
2. Do you believe Jesus was a revolutionary? How would you describe Him if you had to write “about the Jesus of our present experience” (p 95)?
3. A new world is described in this chapter, what do you imagine when your read that we are to “work at bringing it to birth on earth as in heaven.”(p 92)?
SIMPLY CHRISTIAN
Chapter 8 – Jesus: Rescue and Renewal
The truth … the way … here someone has written the story so succinctly.
What an interesting insight into Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophecies: “Jesus seems to have combined the two interpretations in a creative, indeed explosive, way. The Servant would be both royal and a sufferer.” (p 107) The Jews wanted a king, a hero, not a martyr. How sad that day at Golgotha that it was the centurion, harden to death and suffering from his many years of killing, was one of the few who really heard and considered “maybe this man was God’s Son after all.” (p 111) Yet, here we are two thousand years later and we do believe, but still our own terms. God calls the Israelites stiff-necked and tells Moses to talk to them, least He might destroy them (reference Exodus 33:5). Have our necks relaxed any or are we still so sure of ourselves and our own ways today? ‘I am the truth.’
Thinking in terms of how Jesus thought and studied is an interesting take. Even further is the thought that Jesus was not aware of His destiny, but that through His studies He was able “to shape his sense of what he had to do.”(p 108) This gives a whole new mosaic to the pattern of call. Why would a human take on such a plan? Where would any human obtain such audacity to believe they were capable of such a task? What faith is this? The modern day questions of WWJD falls so short it seems comical by comparison of this pattern for living. ‘I am the way.’
In Wright’s context he uses this insight to help us understand why the disciples and followers of Jesus believed He was divine. This becomes so much deeper when you look at the martyrs of the following centuries; dying because they knew Christ was “the unique embodiment of the one God of Israel” (p 117).
The thought that all our sins were carried by Christ on the hours upon the cross overwhelms me. That is every sin from Eden to Babylon, to Auschwitz, to Hiroshima, to 9/11, to beyond eternity was placed within this pure sinless mind and God looked away. In all this, Christ cried out for the pain of God’s separation only. Then, He asked for our forgiveness.
How can we make sense of this? I believe it comes down to love, just as Wright says in the final two paragraphs and just as Jesus gave in His new commandment. God calls each of us to be “one of those partners in love” (p 119).
1. Can you see any parallels between the Israelites expectations for the Temple of Jerusalem and the modern expectations upon the Church of today?
2. Wright gives God’s plan to rescue the world from evil on page 108. Does this fit with your beliefs?
3. In his Option Three, Wright sees heaven and earth as interlocked. How does that look to you?
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Chapters 5 & 6
Chapter 5 – “God”
In the first four chapters of “Simply Christian,” Wright presents the picture of how God creates four “echoes” that resonate in each of us –
• The Longing for Justice
• The Quest for Spirituality
• The Hunger for Relationship
• The Delight in Beauty
In Chapter 5, he examines how God intersects with humans. He looks at how God’s space (heaven) and our space (earth) interact with one another. He presents three possibilities for this:
• Pantheism – The two worlds (heaven and earth) are basically the same. God is everywhere and everything. One manifestation of pantheism is multi-goded paganism such as the Greeks having a god for just about everything. This philosophy though has no room for evil -- if God is everywhere and everything, how can evil exist?
• Separation (Deism) – God is out there but completely separate from us. He has no desire for connection with us. This does not explain God’s working around us and it also leaves man devoid of hope.
• Interlocking (Theism) – The third possibility Wright expounds on is the one he supports – that God and man (heaven and earth) overlap and interlock with one another.
Here are words from page 65:
“This sense of overlap between heaven and earth, and the sense of God thereby being present on earth without having to leave heaven, lies at the heart of Jewish and early Christian theology. … for the ancient Israelite and early Christian, the creation of the world was the free outpouring of God’s powerful love. The one true God made a world that was other than himself, because that is what love delights to do. And, having made such a world, he has remained in a close, dynamic, and intimate relationship with it”
REFLECTION –
• What is there to your “story” – your faith journey – that has allowed you to see and embrace the concept of a God who strives to intersect in intimate relationship with His people?
• How does your belief in this area affect how you live? How do you carry your story out to the world?
Chapter 6 – “Israel”
From page 71 – “It is fundamental to the Christian worldview in its truest form that what happened in Jesus of Nazareth was the very climax of the long story of Israel.”
Throughout the story of Exodus, there was this going back and forth of God’s people. They would try to follow God but then they would get in the way of themselves. Self-importance would separate them from God. Their history involved moments of exile and homecoming with the Temple – the place where they saw the intersection of God and man as occurring.
God assured His people – all people – of His faithfulness to them and of final restoration of His Kingdom. But how was God going to reunite with His creation – what He loved most? He sent Jesus to intersect with us, be among us, and fix us from within by paving a way for redemption and grace. Wright attests that Jesus’ arrival was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel.
REFLECTION --
• How does the story of Israel relate to your own faith journey?
• How is Jesus in your life a fulfillment of God’s promise of faithfulness to you?
• What calling does God’s faithfulness to you place on your life?
In the first four chapters of “Simply Christian,” Wright presents the picture of how God creates four “echoes” that resonate in each of us –
• The Longing for Justice
• The Quest for Spirituality
• The Hunger for Relationship
• The Delight in Beauty
In Chapter 5, he examines how God intersects with humans. He looks at how God’s space (heaven) and our space (earth) interact with one another. He presents three possibilities for this:
• Pantheism – The two worlds (heaven and earth) are basically the same. God is everywhere and everything. One manifestation of pantheism is multi-goded paganism such as the Greeks having a god for just about everything. This philosophy though has no room for evil -- if God is everywhere and everything, how can evil exist?
• Separation (Deism) – God is out there but completely separate from us. He has no desire for connection with us. This does not explain God’s working around us and it also leaves man devoid of hope.
• Interlocking (Theism) – The third possibility Wright expounds on is the one he supports – that God and man (heaven and earth) overlap and interlock with one another.
Here are words from page 65:
“This sense of overlap between heaven and earth, and the sense of God thereby being present on earth without having to leave heaven, lies at the heart of Jewish and early Christian theology. … for the ancient Israelite and early Christian, the creation of the world was the free outpouring of God’s powerful love. The one true God made a world that was other than himself, because that is what love delights to do. And, having made such a world, he has remained in a close, dynamic, and intimate relationship with it”
REFLECTION –
• What is there to your “story” – your faith journey – that has allowed you to see and embrace the concept of a God who strives to intersect in intimate relationship with His people?
• How does your belief in this area affect how you live? How do you carry your story out to the world?
Chapter 6 – “Israel”
From page 71 – “It is fundamental to the Christian worldview in its truest form that what happened in Jesus of Nazareth was the very climax of the long story of Israel.”
Throughout the story of Exodus, there was this going back and forth of God’s people. They would try to follow God but then they would get in the way of themselves. Self-importance would separate them from God. Their history involved moments of exile and homecoming with the Temple – the place where they saw the intersection of God and man as occurring.
God assured His people – all people – of His faithfulness to them and of final restoration of His Kingdom. But how was God going to reunite with His creation – what He loved most? He sent Jesus to intersect with us, be among us, and fix us from within by paving a way for redemption and grace. Wright attests that Jesus’ arrival was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel.
REFLECTION --
• How does the story of Israel relate to your own faith journey?
• How is Jesus in your life a fulfillment of God’s promise of faithfulness to you?
• What calling does God’s faithfulness to you place on your life?
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Week Three Part Two - Chapter 4
Chapter Four—For the Beauty of the Earth
In 2002, Julie and I renewed our wedding vows. Our original wedding day was a wet, overcast event in which two very young and “in love” people committed themselves to something bigger than they either imagined. I had just graduated from college (barely) the week before and Julie really didn’t get to plan her wedding the way she would have wanted. It was beautiful and tasteful yet it was not what she had envisioned for that special day.
So on a beautiful spring morning in an outside garden service, Julie and I recommitted ourselves to the vows we had made ten years earlier. It was amazing. Julie was stunning in a simple white gown and hair up in flowers with curls hanging down framing her deep blue eyes. Samuel walked her down from the back door of the church to the garden of tall trees that shaded the area from the morning sun. Noah carried the second ring we found for the occasion and Emma tried her best to drop flower pedals for Julie to walk on. I was a little thinner in the waste (and the hair) than I was ten years earlier. Dear friends from seminary (whom we had spent the past five and a half years living life together—see the previous chapter) were there to celebrate with us and one of my favorite professors performed the ceremony.
It was beautiful but now, six years later, the beauty of that moment is gone. We have lots of photos and videos taken by neighbors. Yet in all of the photos and all of the video, nothing can capture the beauty of that day and that moment. Even in that moment though, we were left wanting more beauty.
Wright talks about the “transience of beauty” (pg. 40). A photograph, a recording, a book, a painting, a play, a film—all of these things are flashes of beauty that fade away. Wright says that beauty always leaves us wanting more. Beauty is “the sense of longing, the kind of pleasure which is exquisite and yet leaves us unsatisfied….The world is full of beauty, but the beauty [itself] is incomplete” (pg. 40).
Wright suggests that we know, deep inside, that this beauty is fleeting and transient. But at the same time, we deeply long for a beauty that is permanent and lasting. Paul says that permanence is coming and today we see things through a dimly lit mirror but someday, “we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1st Cor. 13:12). Wright says that God promises to complete what God began “The beauty of this world will be enfolded in the beauty of God—and not just the beauty of God himself, but the beauty which, because God is the creator par excellence, he will create when the present world is rescued, healed, restored and completed.”
Questions—
1. What did you experience this week (see, touch, smell, hear) that was beautiful? How does that compare with the most beautiful thing you have experienced?
2. Have you ever longed for beauty? What is it like? What is it like to experience beauty knowing that it won’t always be the way you experienced it for the moment you were there?
3. How has that beautiful thing, not lost its luster but left you longing for more beauty?
In 2002, Julie and I renewed our wedding vows. Our original wedding day was a wet, overcast event in which two very young and “in love” people committed themselves to something bigger than they either imagined. I had just graduated from college (barely) the week before and Julie really didn’t get to plan her wedding the way she would have wanted. It was beautiful and tasteful yet it was not what she had envisioned for that special day.
So on a beautiful spring morning in an outside garden service, Julie and I recommitted ourselves to the vows we had made ten years earlier. It was amazing. Julie was stunning in a simple white gown and hair up in flowers with curls hanging down framing her deep blue eyes. Samuel walked her down from the back door of the church to the garden of tall trees that shaded the area from the morning sun. Noah carried the second ring we found for the occasion and Emma tried her best to drop flower pedals for Julie to walk on. I was a little thinner in the waste (and the hair) than I was ten years earlier. Dear friends from seminary (whom we had spent the past five and a half years living life together—see the previous chapter) were there to celebrate with us and one of my favorite professors performed the ceremony.
It was beautiful but now, six years later, the beauty of that moment is gone. We have lots of photos and videos taken by neighbors. Yet in all of the photos and all of the video, nothing can capture the beauty of that day and that moment. Even in that moment though, we were left wanting more beauty.
Wright talks about the “transience of beauty” (pg. 40). A photograph, a recording, a book, a painting, a play, a film—all of these things are flashes of beauty that fade away. Wright says that beauty always leaves us wanting more. Beauty is “the sense of longing, the kind of pleasure which is exquisite and yet leaves us unsatisfied….The world is full of beauty, but the beauty [itself] is incomplete” (pg. 40).
Wright suggests that we know, deep inside, that this beauty is fleeting and transient. But at the same time, we deeply long for a beauty that is permanent and lasting. Paul says that permanence is coming and today we see things through a dimly lit mirror but someday, “we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1st Cor. 13:12). Wright says that God promises to complete what God began “The beauty of this world will be enfolded in the beauty of God—and not just the beauty of God himself, but the beauty which, because God is the creator par excellence, he will create when the present world is rescued, healed, restored and completed.”
Questions—
1. What did you experience this week (see, touch, smell, hear) that was beautiful? How does that compare with the most beautiful thing you have experienced?
2. Have you ever longed for beauty? What is it like? What is it like to experience beauty knowing that it won’t always be the way you experienced it for the moment you were there?
3. How has that beautiful thing, not lost its luster but left you longing for more beauty?
Friday, June 27, 2008
Week Three Part One - Chapter 3
Chapter Three—Made For Each Other
“It seems that we humans were designed to find our purpose and meaning not simply in ourselves and our own inner lives, but in one another and in the shared meanings and purposes of a family, a street, a workplace, a community, a town. A nation.” (pg. 31).
We were made for relationships. Life together. Community. The person who avoids relationships—the loner, the hermit, the recluse—are seen as unusual because they separate themselves from that which we all know deep in our being that we need—relationships.
Thus from the most intimate relationship (marriage) to those on the largest scale (national institutions) we find the same thing: we all know we are made to live together, but we all find that doing so is more difficult than we had imagined.” (pgs. 33).
Yet while we know the importance of relationships and regardless of whether we are “extroverts” or “introverts” we all long to be known by someone, we also know that relationships are incredibly difficult. Look at any the relationships you have with your family, your friends, your neighbors and your colleagues. Failed marriages. Dysfunctional families. Betrayed friendships. Politics at work. Is any of your relationships easy? How could something so desired, so longed for and so important to understanding who we are be at the same time so difficult, so damaging, so painful and mind-numbingly hard?
“Relationship was part of the way in which we were meant to be fully human, not for our own sake, but as part of a much larger scheme of things. And our failures in human relationship are thereby woven into our failures in the other large projects of which we know in our bones that we are part: our failure to put the world to rights in systems of justice, and our failure to maintain and develop that spirituality which, at its heart, involves a relationship of trust and love with the Creator” (pg. 37).
Wright ends his chapter with hope—It is only Christianity that shows us a God that loves healthy relationships. God is in relationship with Himself—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God desires relationship with God’s Creation and that model of health is what God desires for us both with God, with ourselves and with one another. “The voice is reminding us of who we really are. It may even be offering us some kind of rescue from our predicament…” (pg. 38).
Questions to think about—
1. How have the following relationships formed who you are today, both good and bad—
a. Your parents or guardians from when you were a child—
b. Your siblings—
c. Your Spouse or significant other—
d. Your Friends—
2. What is the most important relationship in your life today? What about that relationship makes it so important? How difficult is it to maintain that relationship?
“It seems that we humans were designed to find our purpose and meaning not simply in ourselves and our own inner lives, but in one another and in the shared meanings and purposes of a family, a street, a workplace, a community, a town. A nation.” (pg. 31).
We were made for relationships. Life together. Community. The person who avoids relationships—the loner, the hermit, the recluse—are seen as unusual because they separate themselves from that which we all know deep in our being that we need—relationships.
Thus from the most intimate relationship (marriage) to those on the largest scale (national institutions) we find the same thing: we all know we are made to live together, but we all find that doing so is more difficult than we had imagined.” (pgs. 33).
Yet while we know the importance of relationships and regardless of whether we are “extroverts” or “introverts” we all long to be known by someone, we also know that relationships are incredibly difficult. Look at any the relationships you have with your family, your friends, your neighbors and your colleagues. Failed marriages. Dysfunctional families. Betrayed friendships. Politics at work. Is any of your relationships easy? How could something so desired, so longed for and so important to understanding who we are be at the same time so difficult, so damaging, so painful and mind-numbingly hard?
“Relationship was part of the way in which we were meant to be fully human, not for our own sake, but as part of a much larger scheme of things. And our failures in human relationship are thereby woven into our failures in the other large projects of which we know in our bones that we are part: our failure to put the world to rights in systems of justice, and our failure to maintain and develop that spirituality which, at its heart, involves a relationship of trust and love with the Creator” (pg. 37).
Wright ends his chapter with hope—It is only Christianity that shows us a God that loves healthy relationships. God is in relationship with Himself—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God desires relationship with God’s Creation and that model of health is what God desires for us both with God, with ourselves and with one another. “The voice is reminding us of who we really are. It may even be offering us some kind of rescue from our predicament…” (pg. 38).
Questions to think about—
1. How have the following relationships formed who you are today, both good and bad—
a. Your parents or guardians from when you were a child—
b. Your siblings—
c. Your Spouse or significant other—
d. Your Friends—
2. What is the most important relationship in your life today? What about that relationship makes it so important? How difficult is it to maintain that relationship?
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Simply Christian Background
Todd Richards provided us with a great outline/summary of how NT Wright sets up his book. Here is a good overview:
N.T. “Tom” Wright is the Anglican Bishop of Durham. He was educated at Oxford and is considered as one of the leading New Testament scholars in the world today. He is as much a historian as a theologian in that Wright believes that to understand Christianity, one has to understand the Old Testament, first century Judaism and the early church.
Simply Christian is broken up into three sections. In section one, Wright looks at four “Echoes of a voice” that each hear—
• The Longing for Justice (Chapter One)
• The Quest for Spirituality (Chapter Two)
• The Hunger for Relationship (Chapter Three)
• The Delight in Beauty (Chapter Four)
These four Echoes are “universal intuitions” that each of us hear. They have been distorted though because the Voice is heard through our own line of personal defenses that we have to protect us from the outside world. As a result, justice, spirituality, relationships and beauty have been distorted and we fill our longing with versions of the four echoes that are less than they ought to be.
Section two talks about how these four themes are ultimately answered and redeemed through Jesus Christ and this thing called Christianity. Finally, section three outlines how we live into these four themes in the day-to-day of walking with Jesus.
N.T. “Tom” Wright is the Anglican Bishop of Durham. He was educated at Oxford and is considered as one of the leading New Testament scholars in the world today. He is as much a historian as a theologian in that Wright believes that to understand Christianity, one has to understand the Old Testament, first century Judaism and the early church.
Simply Christian is broken up into three sections. In section one, Wright looks at four “Echoes of a voice” that each hear—
• The Longing for Justice (Chapter One)
• The Quest for Spirituality (Chapter Two)
• The Hunger for Relationship (Chapter Three)
• The Delight in Beauty (Chapter Four)
These four Echoes are “universal intuitions” that each of us hear. They have been distorted though because the Voice is heard through our own line of personal defenses that we have to protect us from the outside world. As a result, justice, spirituality, relationships and beauty have been distorted and we fill our longing with versions of the four echoes that are less than they ought to be.
Section two talks about how these four themes are ultimately answered and redeemed through Jesus Christ and this thing called Christianity. Finally, section three outlines how we live into these four themes in the day-to-day of walking with Jesus.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Week Two – Chapters 1 & 2
Continuing in our study of N.T. Wright’s great work, I want to lift up some key quotes, some pertinent scriptures and some reflective questions. Enjoy and continue to share your processing with us by making comments below
Chapter One
QUOTE
“The art of being gentle – of kindness and forgiveness, sensitivity and thoughtfulness and generosity and humility and good old-fashioned love – have gone out of fashion. Ironically, everyone is demanding their “rights,” and this demand is so shrill that it destroys one of the most basic “rights,” if we can put it like that: the “right,” or at least the longing and hope, to have a peaceful, stable, secure, and caring place to live, to be, to learn, and to flourish. Once again people ask the question: Why is it like this? Does it have to be like this? Can things be put to rights and if so how?...we can say that the reason we have these dreams, the reason we have a sense of a memory of the echo of a voice, is that there is someone speaking to us, whispering in our inner ear – someone who cares very much about this present world and our present selves.” (page 8, 9)
SCRIPTURE – Matthew 5 NLT
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. 6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice for they will be satisfied. 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
REFLECTION
• Where does our sense of justice come from and how do my rights fit into God’s whispers for this reality?
• Where does the life of Jesus fit in with our sense of and the fulfillment of justice?
Chapter Two
QUOTE
“’The hidden spring’ of spirituality is the second feature of human life which, I suggest, functions as the echo of a voice; as a signpost pointing away from the bleak landscape of modern secularism and toward the possibility that we humans are made for more than this.” (page 20)
SCRIPTURE – Matthew 10 NLT
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
REFLECTION
• How does your spirituality tell you that you were made for more?
• Jesus promises rest for our souls. If you experience that on a normal basis, what is it that gets you there?
• How does or should Christian spirituality affect making things right in the world?
BLESSING
My prayer for all of us today is that we would allow the voice of the One who called us and cares deeply about things being made right to cloud out the individualistic “rights” that are not from God and in fact are keeping us from living God’s Kingdom here as it is in heaven!
Chapter One
QUOTE
“The art of being gentle – of kindness and forgiveness, sensitivity and thoughtfulness and generosity and humility and good old-fashioned love – have gone out of fashion. Ironically, everyone is demanding their “rights,” and this demand is so shrill that it destroys one of the most basic “rights,” if we can put it like that: the “right,” or at least the longing and hope, to have a peaceful, stable, secure, and caring place to live, to be, to learn, and to flourish. Once again people ask the question: Why is it like this? Does it have to be like this? Can things be put to rights and if so how?...we can say that the reason we have these dreams, the reason we have a sense of a memory of the echo of a voice, is that there is someone speaking to us, whispering in our inner ear – someone who cares very much about this present world and our present selves.” (page 8, 9)
SCRIPTURE – Matthew 5 NLT
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. 6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice for they will be satisfied. 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
REFLECTION
• Where does our sense of justice come from and how do my rights fit into God’s whispers for this reality?
• Where does the life of Jesus fit in with our sense of and the fulfillment of justice?
Chapter Two
QUOTE
“’The hidden spring’ of spirituality is the second feature of human life which, I suggest, functions as the echo of a voice; as a signpost pointing away from the bleak landscape of modern secularism and toward the possibility that we humans are made for more than this.” (page 20)
SCRIPTURE – Matthew 10 NLT
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
REFLECTION
• How does your spirituality tell you that you were made for more?
• Jesus promises rest for our souls. If you experience that on a normal basis, what is it that gets you there?
• How does or should Christian spirituality affect making things right in the world?
BLESSING
My prayer for all of us today is that we would allow the voice of the One who called us and cares deeply about things being made right to cloud out the individualistic “rights” that are not from God and in fact are keeping us from living God’s Kingdom here as it is in heaven!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Simply Christian Week One - Introduction
I was sitting on the back porch of a rented vacation home during the week of our United Methodist Annual Conference this week when I picked up N.T. Wright’s book, Simply Christian. I was struck by the irony of the moment. Here is a book that tries to make sense of Christianity while about 150 feet from me, men and women from western Ohio were praying, voting, worshipping and electing in “sessions of the church.” I was trying to figure out what the neighbor who didn’t rent his house out for the week thinks about this Annual Conference and even deeper about this thing called “Christianity.”
In Wright’s introduction he states that his aim of the text is “to describe what Christianity is all about.” A simple task. Or is it really?
I want to make us use our minds a little bit today and I ask you to clear from your answer slate any answer that has been given to you over the years that you don’t really believe or live yourself. Because there are neighbors who are sitting in the room next to us who are desperate to know, “what is this Christianity thing all about”.
So, how would you respond? What is Christianity all about?
When I started thinking about it, I began to put down things in a list of what makes a Christian a Christian. I had on there things like church, giving, missions, etc. as these seem to be expressions of my faith. But what lies behind those? What are the values that make a Christ-follower genuine? I think we would need to add some artistic language instead of just concrete, measurable statements. Words like “hope” and “joy” and “relationship” may be used too.
Micah 6:8 states, “No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
I love this phrase because it appears on first glance to be describing activity of one who wants to follow God but if you look deeper, there are some deep heart issues to unpack.
“to do what is right” Surely, the prophet is telling the people of God to live the reality of God in their actions. He is saying that part of being Simply Christian is to have an understanding of what is the right way to live and then to act upon that understanding. In order to get here, one must be humble enough to admit that what is right is often what is most difficult. This also has an element of justice in it…naming a reality of God being a God of justice (see more in the next week’s lifeline and Chpts. 1 & 2). One question to think about for now (this is just the introduction ):
• How do my earthly decisions “right-en” things on earth?
“to love mercy” I adore this statement because it speaks directly to my heart. I cannot just DO mercy. I am asked to LOVE it. My heart should beat for mercy because my life has been caught up by God’s mercy for me. I am praying that God would grow in me a greater capacity to be a mercy-bearer to everyone I know.
• Am I growing in the amount of mercy I give those who don’t deserve it?
“to walk humbly” Could Christianity Made Simple be summed up in this statement? Would by neighbor be caught up with my love for God if I best illustrated my Christianity as a humble journey with God? Yes, we approach the throne with confidence. Yes, we know that we cannot be separated from the love of God. But, we also know that we take NO confidence in our flesh and that if anything good is from us, it has FIRST come down from the Father of Lights. The longer we walk with God, the more humble we become.
• How am I submitting my pride to God today?
This book is going to lead us down some pretty deep roads and I pray that you hang on through the whole summer.
In Wright’s introduction he states that his aim of the text is “to describe what Christianity is all about.” A simple task. Or is it really?
I want to make us use our minds a little bit today and I ask you to clear from your answer slate any answer that has been given to you over the years that you don’t really believe or live yourself. Because there are neighbors who are sitting in the room next to us who are desperate to know, “what is this Christianity thing all about”.
So, how would you respond? What is Christianity all about?
When I started thinking about it, I began to put down things in a list of what makes a Christian a Christian. I had on there things like church, giving, missions, etc. as these seem to be expressions of my faith. But what lies behind those? What are the values that make a Christ-follower genuine? I think we would need to add some artistic language instead of just concrete, measurable statements. Words like “hope” and “joy” and “relationship” may be used too.
Micah 6:8 states, “No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
I love this phrase because it appears on first glance to be describing activity of one who wants to follow God but if you look deeper, there are some deep heart issues to unpack.
“to do what is right” Surely, the prophet is telling the people of God to live the reality of God in their actions. He is saying that part of being Simply Christian is to have an understanding of what is the right way to live and then to act upon that understanding. In order to get here, one must be humble enough to admit that what is right is often what is most difficult. This also has an element of justice in it…naming a reality of God being a God of justice (see more in the next week’s lifeline and Chpts. 1 & 2). One question to think about for now (this is just the introduction ):
• How do my earthly decisions “right-en” things on earth?
“to love mercy” I adore this statement because it speaks directly to my heart. I cannot just DO mercy. I am asked to LOVE it. My heart should beat for mercy because my life has been caught up by God’s mercy for me. I am praying that God would grow in me a greater capacity to be a mercy-bearer to everyone I know.
• Am I growing in the amount of mercy I give those who don’t deserve it?
“to walk humbly” Could Christianity Made Simple be summed up in this statement? Would by neighbor be caught up with my love for God if I best illustrated my Christianity as a humble journey with God? Yes, we approach the throne with confidence. Yes, we know that we cannot be separated from the love of God. But, we also know that we take NO confidence in our flesh and that if anything good is from us, it has FIRST come down from the Father of Lights. The longer we walk with God, the more humble we become.
• How am I submitting my pride to God today?
This book is going to lead us down some pretty deep roads and I pray that you hang on through the whole summer.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Simply Christian
Beginning Sunday, June 8th, our church is inviting its community to read through, pray through and reflect on N.T. Wright's book, "Simply Christian." Our church bookstore will be selling the book and it is available all over the internet.
Each week, I will be posting some reflections and thoughts on this web page to encourage dialog, questioning, prayer and reflection. If you'd like to submit comments, please do so!!!! Let me know that you're journeying with us, even if you never add a comment by emailing me. The reading schedule for the summer will look like this:
By June 18th - Read Chapters 1 & 2
By June 25th - Read Chapters 3 & 4
By July 2nd - Read Chapter 5
By July 9th - Read Chapter 6
By July 16th - Read Chapters 7 & 8
By July 23rd - Read Chapters 9 & 10
By July 30th - Read Chapter 11
By August 6th - Read Chapter 12
By August 13th - Read Chapters 13 & 14
By August 20th - Read Chapters 15 & 16
By August 27th - Read Afterword
I will post things on Wednesdays and our church's lifeline email will feature thoughts on this book as well. Let me know that you're tracking with us and look forward to great discussion and hopefully new lives of greater depths!
Monday, July 16, 2007
The Hike
I finally made it. After 5 years and over 35 days of looking at Mt. Kernel, today was the day I made it to the top. I did not and could not have made it alone...in fact there were many times I would have been happy to quit but my friends wouldn't let me. Erin, Chris Mullenhour, Tyler Martin, Kaleb Spicer, Jake Ditmer, Kent VanFossen, Derick Latimer and Natalie Gossard were incredible teammates. WE hiked for 4 hours straight up and then straight down. It was seriously one of the most intense hikes of my life. We had a blast though. We talked a lot, we read Psalm 121 on the top, we took lots of pictures and all in all it was so worth it. Nothing could spoil it...
...until 20 minutes from the end of our hike, almost nearing the orphanage someone mentioned one of the other people that they THOUGHT were supposed to come with us but didn't. As we talked we quickly realized that him not being with us on the mountain may not have been the biggest worry. We may have left him in Tijuana (45 minutes away). It was true. Mitch Paulus was left behind.
My heart sank. As much as I was excited, I was that crushed because I SOOO wanted him to be there with me and I was responsible for leaving him. (he tried catching us as one of our Mexican friends, Balta, drove 100 miles and hour trying to catch us). I realized that my joys in life are really not joys without those that want the same for their life there too.
Mitch gave me a hard time for a while but after pampering him all night and stroking his ego with my words, he has given me reprieve. Actually, he has been more than generous and considers the conversation with Balta worth a ton.
I told him I'll hike it with him next year!
...until 20 minutes from the end of our hike, almost nearing the orphanage someone mentioned one of the other people that they THOUGHT were supposed to come with us but didn't. As we talked we quickly realized that him not being with us on the mountain may not have been the biggest worry. We may have left him in Tijuana (45 minutes away). It was true. Mitch Paulus was left behind.
My heart sank. As much as I was excited, I was that crushed because I SOOO wanted him to be there with me and I was responsible for leaving him. (he tried catching us as one of our Mexican friends, Balta, drove 100 miles and hour trying to catch us). I realized that my joys in life are really not joys without those that want the same for their life there too.
Mitch gave me a hard time for a while but after pampering him all night and stroking his ego with my words, he has given me reprieve. Actually, he has been more than generous and considers the conversation with Balta worth a ton.
I told him I'll hike it with him next year!
Coming Home
I must first apologize for the lack of posts lately. Believe it or not, we actually get busy on missions trips and when faced with the decision of writing or sleeping or writing vs. playing with our new friends, writing inevitably lost. Lo siento.
We have been hard at it. On Saturday, we all stayed in Tijuana and did a million little but necessary projects around this home. We organized tool sheds, we fixed bikes, we deep cleaned rooms, some guys installed shower curtains, new sinks, mirrors and a bathroom overhaul, others organized and cleaned closets. It was all thankless but in it we were serving Jesus. That night, 9 of us went to the home of Nicolas the pastor here to stay for the night. I'll try to get someone to share at some point on what that night meant, but needless to say, this humble giving man opened his little home to our travelers...and in doing so became Jesus to us all. His wife, Candi served them 2 incredible meals and the kids gave up their beds so our group could sleep there.
While they were they about 15 of us drove through the Red Light District of Tijuana. I will not even try to describe it but instead tell you about what God did through it. The girls learned about what it means to be God's treasure and to never let anything or anyone lessen that and the guys learned what it means to love unconditionally, what we should be giving our lives to prevent and how to care for women in the world.
The next night, we switched. More went to Nicolas' house, the rest to the Red Zone. In the middle was the city dump, church, some hang time, and lots and lots of beans and rice.
I don't want to diminish any of those, but their stories are too grand for one post.
Our final day has been spent reconnecting with the Mexicans, processing our weeks, laughing a lot and one incredible hike. More to come later...I may write a bit on our flight tomorrow.
Dan
We have been hard at it. On Saturday, we all stayed in Tijuana and did a million little but necessary projects around this home. We organized tool sheds, we fixed bikes, we deep cleaned rooms, some guys installed shower curtains, new sinks, mirrors and a bathroom overhaul, others organized and cleaned closets. It was all thankless but in it we were serving Jesus. That night, 9 of us went to the home of Nicolas the pastor here to stay for the night. I'll try to get someone to share at some point on what that night meant, but needless to say, this humble giving man opened his little home to our travelers...and in doing so became Jesus to us all. His wife, Candi served them 2 incredible meals and the kids gave up their beds so our group could sleep there.
While they were they about 15 of us drove through the Red Light District of Tijuana. I will not even try to describe it but instead tell you about what God did through it. The girls learned about what it means to be God's treasure and to never let anything or anyone lessen that and the guys learned what it means to love unconditionally, what we should be giving our lives to prevent and how to care for women in the world.
The next night, we switched. More went to Nicolas' house, the rest to the Red Zone. In the middle was the city dump, church, some hang time, and lots and lots of beans and rice.
I don't want to diminish any of those, but their stories are too grand for one post.
Our final day has been spent reconnecting with the Mexicans, processing our weeks, laughing a lot and one incredible hike. More to come later...I may write a bit on our flight tomorrow.
Dan
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Friday Thoughts...From Chris Mullenhour
Time has been absolutely flying by. First I would like to tell you what some of us have been working on. Kent VanFossen, Jacob Ditmer and I had the privilege to work with a group from Monroe, OH and another gentlemen (Alen) on installing solar panels for the new orphanage in Rosarito. We had to climb up onto a sloped structure and install 6 panels, then a seventh on another building and and an eighth panel above the kitchen to power the freezer and fridge. It tested us physically and mentally. But we were able to get it all done in 2 days and the new orphanage was able to use the power from the solar panels yesterday. They turned off their diesel generator and let the sun power take care of them. It was awesome. I hear that it is pretty rare for a project to be started and completed to where we can see it's benefits immediately. So we are very blessed to see that complete. God is so good. Watching all the different projects being worked on and completed has been rewarding, but watching and experiencing what God is doing in each of us here is nothing but miraculous. It is amazing what changes in you when you get away from you everyday life and go somewhere just to serve them. I feel like there are no issues in my life right now. I know they will return when I return home. But why? Why can I live here not worrying about work, providing for my family, what's on tv tonight, but I can't do that at home? That's something for me and everyone else here to figure out.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Another Day...Did you Know
Did You Know...
...that your teenager is capable of using a jack-hammer to dig a trench? I saw 2 do it today.
...that your teenager can hang solar panels to give power to an 8-acre orphange? I saw one do it today.
...that your teenager can help 10 mexican kids smile by making beaded necklaces? I saw 15 do it today.
...that your teenager can build a wall that would keep the security of kids who have been broken secure? I saw 6 do it today.
...that your teenager cheerleader knows how to correctly pour the footings for a basketball court? I saw 2 of them do it today.
...that the whiny, hyper teenager in your house just volunteered to wash dishes for the entire orphanage instead of playing basketball? I just witnessed Jesus!
God has been huge here. We worked hard at the Rosarito campus, building a wall, pouring a floor, cleaning rooms, installing solar panels, doing dishes and more. We even spent some time as a group praying for the permit to come for the orphanage to be able to dig a well. God is huge and tonight we are just hanging with our new friends, sharing a bowl or two of ice cream before we head out to another busy day tomorrow. We love you and could use your prayers!
Dan
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
They're Here - From Dan
It's been a while since we posted...here's brief run through of why:
Monday 9 am - Went to Rosarito (no phone or internet) to play with the kids and build a wall and sand walls. Loads of fun. At 5:30, we all hiked to the top of the Mt. Kernel that I've been wanting to do for 5 years...but we only made it to the peak before the peak before we ran out of water and time. We were above the clouds though and we read scripture and prayed on top as the moisture in the clouds softened the pages. When we came down, we had a quick bologna sandwich, shower and bed at Rosarito. It is awesome to sleep in the bunks of the kids who mean so much to us already.
Tuesday - We woke up early for breakfast and then spent most of the day working on random projects in Rosarito until lunch and then spent a lot of time with the kids. It was awesome to see Laura (they called her Dora) find her niche with some girls and Zach (they called him EE-Sack or Isaac) with Daniel, Jesus and Oscar. They took his digital camera and took some awesome pics. We came back to Tijuana around 5 for dinner and then we had an incredible night. After dinner, we met in my room for a time of devotion where we examined Psalm 32...the difference between living unforgiven and coming clean. We prayed and then Zach and Laura and me prayed for every traveler coming, we anointed each other and then they anointed each vehicle, room, bathroom, common space and more asking God to be the group's protection and hiding place this week. (I have been tear-ey ever since). We crashed early and then...
Today - We left early to pick up our crew of 30 today. After a fun border crossing in 2 15-passenger vans and a Suburban, we excitedly picked everyone up. And we even had a little room to spare in the cars. We drove them to downtown, gave them 3 maps and an assignment to find a couple key things in downtown San Diego before hopping on the trolley and meeting us down 5 miles from the Tijuana border. Only one group got them all done but they all look energized. We arrived in TJ around 4 and had a group time, we unpacked, we played with kids, we watched the Mexico/Argentina Soccer game, we ate incredible food and as I type the kids are playing volleyball and an incredible jam session between 2 mexicans and 2 americans just ended in the chapel. Tomorrow the hard work begins in Rosarito as we head out early.
Love you all and thanks for your prayers.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
One Full Day
From Dan...
It's been a wonderful and typical first full day in Mexico...
One of the questions that arose during out team's preparation was "Are we invited down there or are we just going (invading)?" It was and is a great question, one that cannot be answered in a simple sentence but in the moment I remember saying, "You are invited not to what you think. You are invited into a relationship." Today typified that.
We began the day trying to go to church in the neighborhood next to the enormous city dump. I had researched it, talked to the pastor's wife about coming and we even drove and found it (which is a miracle since the directions said, "make a left on the next road after the blue building and if you reach one with ducks on them you've gone too far." Seriously. Those were the points of interest. Well anyway, when we got to the church, there was a note on the door saying, "Special Worship Sunday Night 6 pm." In other words, they had moved the morning worship until evening. (those pastor types, I tell you). In America, we would have yelled and screamed because we demand our churches to cater to us and so if it wasn't properly advertised using the radio, paper, internet and newsletter, we feel as if our rights were violated. We didn't have that luxury...we just turned around and headed back to the orphanage for church.
It was great. I could barely understand a word, but the 30 or so members that were there were really worshipping and engaged with the Word. I was privileged enough to be asked to pray at the end too (actually someone had to tell me in English that he had just asked me to pray in Spanish). it was fun.
Here's where the story comes together. From that point on until now (10 pm local time), we have DONE, aka ACCOMPLISHED nada, zero, nothing. No walls to build. No orphans to save. No prayer services. You see if we were to work on these days, then our Mexican hosts would too and they don't do that. They, instead watch football (soccer) (Mexico beat Paraguay and they literally had a superbowl-like celebration in the streets over a simple win...awesome), they hang out and talk, they eat, they engage with each other. And what I'm learning is that in that, they are engaging God in them and God in others. They were not rushed and neither were we. We just enjoyed.
Tonight Zach and Laura took some of the Mexican high school boys and girls to get pizza and ice cream. When I saw them after, they both were excited and I could tell that they had made connections that will change their lives. And imagine that all that happened without hammering one nail.
We were invited to relationship. We are invited to relationship. It's not about what we do. It's about Him.
Hasta luego.
It's been a wonderful and typical first full day in Mexico...
One of the questions that arose during out team's preparation was "Are we invited down there or are we just going (invading)?" It was and is a great question, one that cannot be answered in a simple sentence but in the moment I remember saying, "You are invited not to what you think. You are invited into a relationship." Today typified that.
We began the day trying to go to church in the neighborhood next to the enormous city dump. I had researched it, talked to the pastor's wife about coming and we even drove and found it (which is a miracle since the directions said, "make a left on the next road after the blue building and if you reach one with ducks on them you've gone too far." Seriously. Those were the points of interest. Well anyway, when we got to the church, there was a note on the door saying, "Special Worship Sunday Night 6 pm." In other words, they had moved the morning worship until evening. (those pastor types, I tell you). In America, we would have yelled and screamed because we demand our churches to cater to us and so if it wasn't properly advertised using the radio, paper, internet and newsletter, we feel as if our rights were violated. We didn't have that luxury...we just turned around and headed back to the orphanage for church.
It was great. I could barely understand a word, but the 30 or so members that were there were really worshipping and engaged with the Word. I was privileged enough to be asked to pray at the end too (actually someone had to tell me in English that he had just asked me to pray in Spanish). it was fun.
Here's where the story comes together. From that point on until now (10 pm local time), we have DONE, aka ACCOMPLISHED nada, zero, nothing. No walls to build. No orphans to save. No prayer services. You see if we were to work on these days, then our Mexican hosts would too and they don't do that. They, instead watch football (soccer) (Mexico beat Paraguay and they literally had a superbowl-like celebration in the streets over a simple win...awesome), they hang out and talk, they eat, they engage with each other. And what I'm learning is that in that, they are engaging God in them and God in others. They were not rushed and neither were we. We just enjoyed.
Tonight Zach and Laura took some of the Mexican high school boys and girls to get pizza and ice cream. When I saw them after, they both were excited and I could tell that they had made connections that will change their lives. And imagine that all that happened without hammering one nail.
We were invited to relationship. We are invited to relationship. It's not about what we do. It's about Him.
Hasta luego.
Reflections on Church from Zach
Matthew 18:21-22 - Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."
Wow. Imagine your best friend (Frank) coming over to your house, getting in your purse/wallet and taking a dollar from you. You catch Frank in the act. Could you forgive him for what he did? Sure. It's just a dollar. Then you catch Frank again rooting through your handbag, with another dollar in his mouth as he's trying to close the clasp on the purse. What's this guys problem? I'd rip him a good one, and tell him to leave. Imagine Frank coming over to your house 490 times, and you catch him trying to steal a dollar each day. The Bible says our reaction each time should be to politely tell him to put it back and go in to drink some coffee or something. Forgive, forgive, forgive. What if, say, you're at a big carnival with Frank and he asks you to borrow 20 bucks to get a funnel cake. With the knowledge gained from Frank's history, I'd ask Frank if he's already taken it out of my wallet. But God tells us to give him the 20 dollars, and to trust that he'll be paying us back. Because that's what forgiveness is right? Forgiveness is totally erasing the wrongdoing that someone has caused us from our knowledge and to go on as if nothing happened. Could you forgive Frank???? Adios!
Wow. Imagine your best friend (Frank) coming over to your house, getting in your purse/wallet and taking a dollar from you. You catch Frank in the act. Could you forgive him for what he did? Sure. It's just a dollar. Then you catch Frank again rooting through your handbag, with another dollar in his mouth as he's trying to close the clasp on the purse. What's this guys problem? I'd rip him a good one, and tell him to leave. Imagine Frank coming over to your house 490 times, and you catch him trying to steal a dollar each day. The Bible says our reaction each time should be to politely tell him to put it back and go in to drink some coffee or something. Forgive, forgive, forgive. What if, say, you're at a big carnival with Frank and he asks you to borrow 20 bucks to get a funnel cake. With the knowledge gained from Frank's history, I'd ask Frank if he's already taken it out of my wallet. But God tells us to give him the 20 dollars, and to trust that he'll be paying us back. Because that's what forgiveness is right? Forgiveness is totally erasing the wrongdoing that someone has caused us from our knowledge and to go on as if nothing happened. Could you forgive Frank???? Adios!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Bienvenido
Welcome to our world in Tijuana! Me (Dan), Zach and Laura safely arrived this afternoon into San Diego and drove through the ritzy, Hollister-clad city of the Padres, past the numerous naval yards and into the multi-colored world of Tijuana. The first thing I always notice is sight. The yellow facades...the bright blue churches...the red political signs are just everywhere. It truly is a world that is foreign to this suburban boy, but one that has and I pray, will bring more color into my life and into my world.
Zach's Thoughts:
Everything here is pink. The walls, the ceilings, I even noticed that someone had painted a tree pink. It is driving me nuts seeing within 100 ft. of each other, the huge buildings of San Diego, and then the little fenced in buildings of Tijuana...thats all for now.
Laura's turn -
I found out that Zach sleeps A LOT! On a more serious note. I liked seeing how much things have changed since last year. Every thing looks different, and I'm noticing things that I didn't notice before. I still can't believe how happy these kids are...they are most likely 10x happier than I am, and I have 10x more things then they do. That's all really.
We'll try to share our thoughts daily and add some pics tomorrow and then when the BIG group arrives on Wednesday, I'll update it when I can.
Dan and Crew
Zach's Thoughts:
Everything here is pink. The walls, the ceilings, I even noticed that someone had painted a tree pink. It is driving me nuts seeing within 100 ft. of each other, the huge buildings of San Diego, and then the little fenced in buildings of Tijuana...thats all for now.
Laura's turn -
I found out that Zach sleeps A LOT! On a more serious note. I liked seeing how much things have changed since last year. Every thing looks different, and I'm noticing things that I didn't notice before. I still can't believe how happy these kids are...they are most likely 10x happier than I am, and I have 10x more things then they do. That's all really.
We'll try to share our thoughts daily and add some pics tomorrow and then when the BIG group arrives on Wednesday, I'll update it when I can.
Dan and Crew
Friday, April 6, 2007
April 8-14, Youth Ministry Sabbath Ideas
In the Old Testament, God asked his people to spend 6 days working, serving and creating in ways that would honor Him. But, then, just like God the Creator did from the beginning, God asked His people to spend the seventh day differently. He asked them to make it holy. He asked them to make it restful. He asked them to remember on this day that God is in charge. This day was called Sabbath.
In order to refocus our ministry toward the Creator, Ever-Present God and not toward our efforts or schedules, we are taking the week of April 8th-April 14th as a week of Sabbath. Granted, we cannot just expect teens and families to stop living life. That isn’t the point. This week, we encourage each of you to just take some deliberate sacred times of your day and set them apart to celebrate God’s activity in your life.
The youth ministry will have no FORMAL events (small groups, Sunday School, etc) this week (although there is some fun stuff happening with our friends from Mexico). Here are some suggestions for how to spend your days as Teens and/or families in order to set apart this week as holy before God.
Please post your comments on this blog if you partake in any of these ideas.
Sunday, April 8th
Spend the day doing things together as a family after going to church. Watch golf. Hide Easter eggs. Play football in the yard. Go fly a kite. Eat a lot of food and then take the left-overs down to the Alpha Center!
Monday, April 9th
Just For Teens (JFT) – Ideas:
1. Read Esther Chapters 1 & 2
2. Instead of watching your favorite show, write 6 notes to people you would like to thank or encourage.
Families – If the weather permits, walk outside together with a football or Frisbee in hand
Tuesday, April 10th
Just For Teens (JFT) – Ideas:
1. Read Esther Chapters 3 & 4
2. Write out your favorite scripture on a note card to give to one of the Mexico kids tomorrow.
Families – Eat dinner together! Here are the rules though:
a. No phone calls or text messages can be taken or responded to
b. No TV or music on
c. Everyone needs to help clean after
Wednesday, April 11th
Just For Teens (JFT) – Ideas:
1. Read Esther Chapters 5 & 6
2. Sit at a different lunch table and while you eat, silently pray for the people at your table.
Families – Come to the Mexico Choir Dinner and Concert from 5:30-8:00 at church. After, go get an ice cream and answer this question together, “What would it look like if we lived in Tijuana with these kids?”
Thursday, April 12th
Just For Teens (JFT) – Ideas:
1. Read Esther Chapters 7 & 8
2. As soon as you get home from school, clean your room and do the dishes to serve your family.
Families – Decide as a family, who you can take a meal to on Friday night and decide what you want to fix for them. Then, call that family and let them know!
Friday, April 13th
Just For Teens (JFT) – Ideas:
1. Read Esther Chapters 9 & 10
2. Write a one-page prayer to God telling him everything that you dream of for yourself.
Families – Go take the meal to the aforementioned family (stay if that has been decided upon). Tell them that you just wanted to show them God’s love tonight. Go home and watch a movie together. Popcorn is a must!
Saturday, April 14th
Just for Teens – Ideas:
1. If possible, go for a walk at Tawawa Park and just spend some time praying for someone who is really hurting.
2. If you’ve been reading Esther, write out why you liked the book & what it meant to you.
Families – Have the parents share what they wanted to be when they grew up. Have the kids share their dream vacation.
In order to refocus our ministry toward the Creator, Ever-Present God and not toward our efforts or schedules, we are taking the week of April 8th-April 14th as a week of Sabbath. Granted, we cannot just expect teens and families to stop living life. That isn’t the point. This week, we encourage each of you to just take some deliberate sacred times of your day and set them apart to celebrate God’s activity in your life.
The youth ministry will have no FORMAL events (small groups, Sunday School, etc) this week (although there is some fun stuff happening with our friends from Mexico). Here are some suggestions for how to spend your days as Teens and/or families in order to set apart this week as holy before God.
Please post your comments on this blog if you partake in any of these ideas.
Sunday, April 8th
Spend the day doing things together as a family after going to church. Watch golf. Hide Easter eggs. Play football in the yard. Go fly a kite. Eat a lot of food and then take the left-overs down to the Alpha Center!
Monday, April 9th
Just For Teens (JFT) – Ideas:
1. Read Esther Chapters 1 & 2
2. Instead of watching your favorite show, write 6 notes to people you would like to thank or encourage.
Families – If the weather permits, walk outside together with a football or Frisbee in hand
Tuesday, April 10th
Just For Teens (JFT) – Ideas:
1. Read Esther Chapters 3 & 4
2. Write out your favorite scripture on a note card to give to one of the Mexico kids tomorrow.
Families – Eat dinner together! Here are the rules though:
a. No phone calls or text messages can be taken or responded to
b. No TV or music on
c. Everyone needs to help clean after
Wednesday, April 11th
Just For Teens (JFT) – Ideas:
1. Read Esther Chapters 5 & 6
2. Sit at a different lunch table and while you eat, silently pray for the people at your table.
Families – Come to the Mexico Choir Dinner and Concert from 5:30-8:00 at church. After, go get an ice cream and answer this question together, “What would it look like if we lived in Tijuana with these kids?”
Thursday, April 12th
Just For Teens (JFT) – Ideas:
1. Read Esther Chapters 7 & 8
2. As soon as you get home from school, clean your room and do the dishes to serve your family.
Families – Decide as a family, who you can take a meal to on Friday night and decide what you want to fix for them. Then, call that family and let them know!
Friday, April 13th
Just For Teens (JFT) – Ideas:
1. Read Esther Chapters 9 & 10
2. Write a one-page prayer to God telling him everything that you dream of for yourself.
Families – Go take the meal to the aforementioned family (stay if that has been decided upon). Tell them that you just wanted to show them God’s love tonight. Go home and watch a movie together. Popcorn is a must!
Saturday, April 14th
Just for Teens – Ideas:
1. If possible, go for a walk at Tawawa Park and just spend some time praying for someone who is really hurting.
2. If you’ve been reading Esther, write out why you liked the book & what it meant to you.
Families – Have the parents share what they wanted to be when they grew up. Have the kids share their dream vacation.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
April 7 - Reluctant Souls
(submitted by Chris Heckaman)
John 11:3-6
“So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling Him, “Lord, your dear friend (Lazarus) is very sick.” But when Jesus heard about it He said, “Lazarus’ sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days.”
Sometime it’s hard for us to understand. Why did Jesus wait? Why didn’t He act right away when we all know if He really wanted to He could have?
He said Lazarus’ illness was so that the Son (actually Himself) could be glorified. That’s good for Him but how does it help us? God’s glory is for our good. You might say, “Yeah, I know that.” But more than just reluctantly accepting it, you can realize more so His glory is for our greatness. I think that says it best. In the end His answer will blow us away and be proven well worth the wait.
Jesus though still gets some bad press. He waited two days before leaving to go see Lazarus. It would take Him another two days to get there beyond that. He wept when He finally did get there, but it wasn’t the word for a deep cry, just a trickle of a tear from His eye. We can still think deep down he doesn’t really care, at least not enough. Mary didn’t even go out to meet Him when he arrived she was so bent.
Have you ever read the story though that closely before? Chapter 10 reveals the last time Jesus went to that region they were planning on taking Him and stoning Him. You know, it’d make me want to wait till the time was right before I went back. When Jesus did arrive did you notice He didn’t or maybe even couldn’t go into the village, but rather He stayed on the outside of the little community? Martha had to go out to meet Him. The crowd of mourners was the same crowd of previous “wanna be stoners.” Further, when Martha was told he had finally arrived, whoever told her He was near whispered it in her ear, not wanting to draw attention in front of the others. Virtually immediately after Jesus performed His miracle, bringing Lazarus back from the dead, the Jewish leaders went back to planning His demise.
Do you see? There is nothing Jesus wouldn’t do for you. Say that last sentence again, but this time out loud. Do you think it was just a little hard for Jesus to stand before Lazarus’ tomb knowing what He would encounter for Himself just a few days away? He let us as humankind taste the fruit of resurrection first. What was that like Lazarus? Even before Jesus enjoyed it for Himself. Again, there is nothing Jesus wouldn’t do for you.
Will you pray with me? Jesus, thank you. Thank you for coming to my aid. Forgive me for not thinking you really don’t care. May my devotion to you better reflect your devotion proven unto me. Amen.
John 11:3-6
“So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling Him, “Lord, your dear friend (Lazarus) is very sick.” But when Jesus heard about it He said, “Lazarus’ sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days.”
Sometime it’s hard for us to understand. Why did Jesus wait? Why didn’t He act right away when we all know if He really wanted to He could have?
He said Lazarus’ illness was so that the Son (actually Himself) could be glorified. That’s good for Him but how does it help us? God’s glory is for our good. You might say, “Yeah, I know that.” But more than just reluctantly accepting it, you can realize more so His glory is for our greatness. I think that says it best. In the end His answer will blow us away and be proven well worth the wait.
Jesus though still gets some bad press. He waited two days before leaving to go see Lazarus. It would take Him another two days to get there beyond that. He wept when He finally did get there, but it wasn’t the word for a deep cry, just a trickle of a tear from His eye. We can still think deep down he doesn’t really care, at least not enough. Mary didn’t even go out to meet Him when he arrived she was so bent.
Have you ever read the story though that closely before? Chapter 10 reveals the last time Jesus went to that region they were planning on taking Him and stoning Him. You know, it’d make me want to wait till the time was right before I went back. When Jesus did arrive did you notice He didn’t or maybe even couldn’t go into the village, but rather He stayed on the outside of the little community? Martha had to go out to meet Him. The crowd of mourners was the same crowd of previous “wanna be stoners.” Further, when Martha was told he had finally arrived, whoever told her He was near whispered it in her ear, not wanting to draw attention in front of the others. Virtually immediately after Jesus performed His miracle, bringing Lazarus back from the dead, the Jewish leaders went back to planning His demise.
Do you see? There is nothing Jesus wouldn’t do for you. Say that last sentence again, but this time out loud. Do you think it was just a little hard for Jesus to stand before Lazarus’ tomb knowing what He would encounter for Himself just a few days away? He let us as humankind taste the fruit of resurrection first. What was that like Lazarus? Even before Jesus enjoyed it for Himself. Again, there is nothing Jesus wouldn’t do for you.
Will you pray with me? Jesus, thank you. Thank you for coming to my aid. Forgive me for not thinking you really don’t care. May my devotion to you better reflect your devotion proven unto me. Amen.
April 6 - Good Friday
(submitted by Dan Gildner)
Read: John 13:1-17 and John 19:16-30
Carlo Carretto wrote in In Search of the Beyond, “We are not happy because we are unforgiving and we are unforgiving because we feel superior to others. Mercy is the fruit of the highest degree of love, because love creates equals, and a greater love makes us inferior. First, let us establish three premises:
-Those who do not love feel superior to everyone else.
-Those who love feel equal to everyone else.
-Those who love much gladly take the lower place.”
I do not love when I feel superior
Like when I am forced to spend time with someone who annoys me.
Like when Judas betrayed Jesus because Jesus wasn’t living up to his expectations.
Like when I think I own the corner market on theology
I do not love.
I love when I feel equal
Like when I am working with a team or family who expects everyone to be treated the same.
Like when my sense of justice kicks in and I equate love with fairness
I love much when I gladly take the lower place
Like when I apologize even when the other person should do so.
Like when Jesus was staring at and loving two guilty thieves with a bloody crown on his head.
Like when the people I am forced to be with become Jesus and I get to wash their feet.
This day, let us reflect on where God might want to purify our love.
1. How can I get to a place (to begin) where I do not feel superior to ANYONE?
2. What causes me to feel superior?
3. How can I move from a feeling of equality to one where I take the lower place?
4. Where can I model Jesus’ sacrificial love today?
Read: John 13:1-17 and John 19:16-30
Carlo Carretto wrote in In Search of the Beyond, “We are not happy because we are unforgiving and we are unforgiving because we feel superior to others. Mercy is the fruit of the highest degree of love, because love creates equals, and a greater love makes us inferior. First, let us establish three premises:
-Those who do not love feel superior to everyone else.
-Those who love feel equal to everyone else.
-Those who love much gladly take the lower place.”
I do not love when I feel superior
Like when I am forced to spend time with someone who annoys me.
Like when Judas betrayed Jesus because Jesus wasn’t living up to his expectations.
Like when I think I own the corner market on theology
I do not love.
I love when I feel equal
Like when I am working with a team or family who expects everyone to be treated the same.
Like when my sense of justice kicks in and I equate love with fairness
I love much when I gladly take the lower place
Like when I apologize even when the other person should do so.
Like when Jesus was staring at and loving two guilty thieves with a bloody crown on his head.
Like when the people I am forced to be with become Jesus and I get to wash their feet.
This day, let us reflect on where God might want to purify our love.
1. How can I get to a place (to begin) where I do not feel superior to ANYONE?
2. What causes me to feel superior?
3. How can I move from a feeling of equality to one where I take the lower place?
4. Where can I model Jesus’ sacrificial love today?
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