Archive for December, 2008
Merry Christmas!
I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and leave a favorite quote from the great theologian Dr. Seuss. So enjoy Christmas with your families and know that I am eagerly looking forward to being with you all in January.
“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more” - Dr. Seuss
3.4-4.17
[youversion]Matthew 3:4-4:17[/youversion] | So John is out in the desert baptizing his followers when a bunch of Pharisees and Sadducees (the religious folk) come out to see what is happening. John basically rebukes them for walking around as though they are the righteous when God is condemning and bringing judgment on the very system they lead. John goes so far as to call them a “brood of vipers”. Now you have to understand this is some major verbal judo for these people. Think about it…
brood=children | vipers=serpents | satan is the serpent.
It’s basically like John is calling these people (who believe they are the children of God) the children of Satan. This is not the side of the battle you want to find yourself on.
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My Confession
I don’t believe we can live out the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth without first repenting of seeking another way, another kingdom. I have spent the last ten years of my life working in the church but all the while (and to my shame) seeking the dreams of an earthly kingdom.
This is me. This is my confession.
I repent of making my Christianity all about me.
I repent of putting what I want before what others need.
I repent of calling myself by your name but not looking like you at all.
I repent of letting the hungry and thirsty go by without even blinking an eye.
I repent of my need to be important to others.
I repent of turning your church into an event.
I repent of standing by and doing nothing.
I repent of turning away from people who are hurting because I am too busy.
I repent of turning away from You because I am too busy.
I repent of my need to be the best.
I repent of chasing the American Dream.
I repent of thinking I am “better” than other people.
I repent of treating your Creation as though it did not matter.
I repent of making heaven about me.
I repent of making Christianity something academic.
I repent of seeking my glory rather than Your glory.
I repent of wasting my life on lesser pursuits.
I repent of living in a way that tells the world I don’t need You.
I repent of forgetting You.
I repent of leaving You.
I repent of doubting You.
May my life give flesh to Your Words. May my life give love to Your Creation. May my life give hope to Your Hurting. May my life give Heaven to Your Earth. Amen.
One
In the beginning of the Bible we have this amazing story where God is almost entirely finished with creation and up to this point everything has been called, “good”. But all of a sudden the story is interrupted with God saying,
“It is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him.”
After everything God had created and called good, there was something that was not good. Man was alone. God saw a need for wholeness that even Adam himself was not fully aware of. So God removes a part of Adam’s side and creates this amazing creation that is perfectly fitted for him - the perfect partner. Can you imagine Adam’s face when he first sees this beautiful creation walking towards him? Who knows what he was thinking but he bursts out and says,
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A Growing Discontent
There is a growing discontent for many of us who have settled for the typical church routine. We have been haunted by a small, nagging question; it stalks us when we get up on Sunday morning, or hits us right in the middle of yet another Sunday sermon; and no matter how hard we try to push it away – the question stays, and stays, and stays, nagging us to… do something… or be something… or find something different. Some of us ignore the question and resign ourselves to the fact that maybe the discontent means something is wrong with me rather than something wrong with our church.
Some of us have moved to different churches trying to answer the question only to experience more disappointment. We thought if we traded in our Skirts, Ties and Shakespearian Bibles for Jeans, Drums and Ordinary English we would be content, but it didn’t work. The cooler music and hipper marketing only turned out to be the same experience in a different package. On the outside, we felt more comfortable wearing our jeans to church; but on the inside, the question left us even more uncomfortable than before.
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January 10
The date has been confirmed!!!
We are meeting back at The Garage on January 10th. We are shifting our time to the morning though!!! We will have some Starbucks Coffee and Panera Bagels in the AM and we will order pizza for lunch. Bring a few dollars to pitch in to cover the costs if you can. I am excited for this next time together and can’t wait to see you there. Feel free to invite friends if you would like them to be a part of this shift in who we are becoming, and come ready for conversation, prayer and challenging each other to become people who bring heaven to earth. Peace to you all. Josh
3:1-3
[youversion]Matthew 3:1-3[/youversion] | We pick back up with John the Baptist out in the desert baptizing the people who are coming out to him. Notice what John’s message is,
“repent for the kingdom of heaven is near”
Many of us have read this and thought, “Oh yeah, I need to stop sinning and be good because I want to go to heaven when I die.” But John’s message meant so much more than this. The Jewish people of John’s day were living in exile. They were God’s people but were ruled by the Romans. They were the true servants of God but they had foreigners who told them what to do. They were the salt and light of the world but the darkest empire ever to rule had conquered them. So when a devout Jew would have heard John’s message of a kingdom they would have heard a message of hope and revolution. A message that God was coming in to save the day, rescue his people, remove the occupiers, and restore the temple for true worship of the one true God. Just a bit different from what we may think, eh?
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The Digital Bible
The Bible is online. Here are three sites that I find myself using constantly for research, study, and reading. They each have their unique features making them all worthy of bookmarking for future use. Give them a test-drive to see what each of them are all about. Then leave some comments and let us all know what you think.
BibleGateway.com is the ultimate Bible search engine. It offers the most available versions of the Bible including versions in several different languages for the non-english user. It allows for search by keyword or passage lookup. I find myself using this a lot for quick look-ups and the always useful copy/paste for documents. Have you ever wanted to know how many times the word “love” appears in the Bible? Well give it a try… type it in the keyword area and see for yourself.
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DISCUSS