Day 352 and despite my best attempts I'm not getting these blogs in on a daily basis.
Sorry folks. I've failed at doing a daily blog for 365 days.
I've failed ....but ..... I'm not a failure.
If you were at Redeemer's Church on Sunday you would be familiar with this phrase.
It will come online [www.redeemerschurch.com and hit Sunday messages].
It was me one of the newest Christmas thoughts I'd had for a few years. We can learn how to be fully human from the fully human Son of Man.
The Son of Man (the title Jesus most went by) teaches us how to fail gracefully.
Yep...... read that again.....I did use the word "fail" with regards to Jesus.
And, at present I'm still employed and not fired due to heresy.
Listen to the message .....maybe even listen to it twice and then blog comments welcome.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Day 345 A Chalcedon Christmas
Day 345 and theology takes centre stage of this advent season.
Chalcedonian theology in particular.
Jesus Christ is one person, two natures, fully God and fully man.
BOOM!
Christmas is just loaded with rich, profound theology.
One person, two natures, fully God and fully man.
Not half a man; not two persons; not a modified form of God or man.
Fully God, fully man, two natures but one person.
No wonder Walter Wink wrote "If Jesus had not been born we would not have been able to invent him."
This is more incredible than fantastic fiction.
Listen in to today's preach on this topic: http://www.redeemerschurch.com/dlgMediaPlayer.aspx?id=880
This is the Jesus of the Christian faith.
This is the Jesus you are invited to experience.
Hear the word about him and then by faith receive Him. All of Him. fully Go - a secure and powerful salvation; fully human - the truest, fullest way to live.
Christmas truly is magical.
Chalcedonian theology in particular.
Jesus Christ is one person, two natures, fully God and fully man.
BOOM!
Christmas is just loaded with rich, profound theology.
One person, two natures, fully God and fully man.
Not half a man; not two persons; not a modified form of God or man.
Fully God, fully man, two natures but one person.
No wonder Walter Wink wrote "If Jesus had not been born we would not have been able to invent him."
This is more incredible than fantastic fiction.
Listen in to today's preach on this topic: http://www.redeemerschurch.com/dlgMediaPlayer.aspx?id=880
This is the Jesus of the Christian faith.
This is the Jesus you are invited to experience.
Hear the word about him and then by faith receive Him. All of Him. fully Go - a secure and powerful salvation; fully human - the truest, fullest way to live.
Christmas truly is magical.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Day 338 - It's OK to be weak.
Day 338 ...... and as everyone left Redeemer's Church this morning lunch was on us!
Thanks Juanito's for serving over 600 people great food.
Too bad folks if this was a Sunday you chose shopping or skiing over church!!
So one of our pastors this morning, Ann Hudson, guided our thinking to Isaiah 9 and the well known words "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders."
As Ann commented, this context of these words are decades of bloody tyrants, of warriors boots and garments rolled in blood .....and then boom - inappropriately and disconcertingly comes the words "For to us a child is born!"
You would expect that following the striking images of bloody warfare the prophet would have given us the image of a Messiah as a righteous warrior, or a judge, or like an Achilles or Ben Hur. But instead he describes the hope of Israel as first a child!
This pushes us.
As confident, educated, sophisticated people accepting weakness and need is perhaps more difficult for us moderns that more most people in the history of the world. Being weak in our culture is shameful.
But in how God reveals Christ, he reveals something necessary to embrace God's revelation. Listen to the words I read a few weeks ago:
"We are, in short, created with limited ways and abilities to know the world, so that we may enjoy needing God and each other."
Needing God - necessitates weakness.
God gave them a baby, a child ....in their greatest moment of need.
Wow!
Thanks Juanito's for serving over 600 people great food.
Too bad folks if this was a Sunday you chose shopping or skiing over church!!
So one of our pastors this morning, Ann Hudson, guided our thinking to Isaiah 9 and the well known words "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders."
As Ann commented, this context of these words are decades of bloody tyrants, of warriors boots and garments rolled in blood .....and then boom - inappropriately and disconcertingly comes the words "For to us a child is born!"
You would expect that following the striking images of bloody warfare the prophet would have given us the image of a Messiah as a righteous warrior, or a judge, or like an Achilles or Ben Hur. But instead he describes the hope of Israel as first a child!
This pushes us.
As confident, educated, sophisticated people accepting weakness and need is perhaps more difficult for us moderns that more most people in the history of the world. Being weak in our culture is shameful.
But in how God reveals Christ, he reveals something necessary to embrace God's revelation. Listen to the words I read a few weeks ago:
"We are, in short, created with limited ways and abilities to know the world, so that we may enjoy needing God and each other."
Needing God - necessitates weakness.
God gave them a baby, a child ....in their greatest moment of need.
Wow!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Day 337 - Thank God for Bethlehem.
Day 337 and I'm just back from cold Minneapolis .....strangely, cold and snow put you more in the Christmas mood. Spend all day today Christmas decorating (yuck I loathe Christmas lights and contrarian wives!). Tomorrow Redeemer's Church Christmas stage design will dazzle and draw us into an Incarnational worship experience.
Day 2 of advent thoughts:
In our world, as in world's past, a persons geography so often defines their destiny.
Live in Africa and you will be poor.
Live in the US and you will be educated.
Live in North Korea and you will be isolated.
Live in France and you will loathe English cooking, etc, etc.
The Christmas story reminds us that the Scripture's will have none of this geographical fatalism that dismisses individuals, families, towns or entire ethnic groups.
People then, like today try to insist on this geographical fatalism.
In Jesus' day they said "what good thing can come out of Bethlehem?"
Christmas and Jesus kick geographical fatalism in the butt!
Now, God's goodness and God's good people can be found anyplace where people accept His grace.
Thank God for Bethlehem - it changes the reality of people living in the Huruma slum, Kenya; the poor village of Jocotillo Guatemala; the earthquake ruin of Haiti; the red light zone of Tijuana and the heat, flatness, bad air, 15.7% unemployment Central Valley, CA.
Day 2 of advent thoughts:
In our world, as in world's past, a persons geography so often defines their destiny.
Live in Africa and you will be poor.
Live in the US and you will be educated.
Live in North Korea and you will be isolated.
Live in France and you will loathe English cooking, etc, etc.
The Christmas story reminds us that the Scripture's will have none of this geographical fatalism that dismisses individuals, families, towns or entire ethnic groups.
People then, like today try to insist on this geographical fatalism.
In Jesus' day they said "what good thing can come out of Bethlehem?"
Christmas and Jesus kick geographical fatalism in the butt!
Now, God's goodness and God's good people can be found anyplace where people accept His grace.
Thank God for Bethlehem - it changes the reality of people living in the Huruma slum, Kenya; the poor village of Jocotillo Guatemala; the earthquake ruin of Haiti; the red light zone of Tijuana and the heat, flatness, bad air, 15.7% unemployment Central Valley, CA.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Day 324 and a little taste of how I hope to finish the year!
Day 324 and yes ........I have miserably failed at doing this daily as I hoped I would do back in January ...like 324 days ago!
So, here's what I'm thinking. Starting December 5 I preach a Christmas series called It's Not Your Birthday DUH! Great title eh!!!
For the days of advent I will try and blog a daily blog that explores aspects of the incarnation.
Here's a taste:
"When Jesus was born, Mary, Joseph, and a handful of others knew that this child was the hope for Israel and the world. Against common sense and ruthless opposition they trusted God's leading and protection with that hope in mind. Just as Jesus grew in knowledge and wisdom, he must have grown in hope. From the cradle he learned to hope that crying would bring his mother to feed him and that his neediness would cause Joseph to protect and provide for him. For hope is that deep assurance that more is yet to come, in physical growth and sustenance, in knowledge and wisdom, and in love."
Taken from Flesh & Blood Jesus: Learning To Be Fully Human From The Son of Man @ Dan Russ.
See you in a few days.
So, here's what I'm thinking. Starting December 5 I preach a Christmas series called It's Not Your Birthday DUH! Great title eh!!!
For the days of advent I will try and blog a daily blog that explores aspects of the incarnation.
Here's a taste:
"When Jesus was born, Mary, Joseph, and a handful of others knew that this child was the hope for Israel and the world. Against common sense and ruthless opposition they trusted God's leading and protection with that hope in mind. Just as Jesus grew in knowledge and wisdom, he must have grown in hope. From the cradle he learned to hope that crying would bring his mother to feed him and that his neediness would cause Joseph to protect and provide for him. For hope is that deep assurance that more is yet to come, in physical growth and sustenance, in knowledge and wisdom, and in love."
Taken from Flesh & Blood Jesus: Learning To Be Fully Human From The Son of Man @ Dan Russ.
See you in a few days.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Day 284 and I found some new inspiration.
Day 284 and sorry for the less than regular blogging going on just now ......something to do with a writers block thing going on.
Seeking inspiration I hunted down some new writers. Ended up with a book called Good News for Anxious Christians @ Phillip Cary.
This book delivered. in fact it delivered so well I had to have one of my orthodox, reformed theological anchors read the book. Naturally I'm drawn to thinking that is outside of the box, on the edge, left of center and tending towards heresy! When you grow up in the faith and for decades have read and heard the teachings of the Scriptures - it needs a new sound to inspire you.
Obviously here the secret is to be inspired without becoming a heretic. Hence my anchors, as well as a solid theological education and constant reading in the field of orthodoxy.
Phillip Cary successfully delivers a new sound and new inspiration. Watch for this book appearing on our church resource shelves in the coming weeks.
Here's an excerpt from his chapter on "Why You Don't Have to 'Let God Take Control'":
Where did we get the idea that the Lord doesn't allow us to make ordinary human mistakes?We are not supposed to sin, of course, but there are many kinds of mistakes that are not sin, such as the mistakes we make when we're just learning how to use our talents well. Being fallible creatures, we have to make some mistakes in order to learn. But it will be difficult for us to learn from our mistakes if we don't admit to ourselves that we're the ones making them. This is one of the most important ways that the new evangelical theology has the effect of preventing people from becoming responsible adults.
And then here's the line, the inspiring line:
It's often put this way: God can't work in your life unless you let him. This is an astonishing piece of fantasy. Where in the Bible or anywhere else in God's creation did people get the idea that God was so helpless? If God can't do anything unless we let him, then God is not really God, and indeed he is less real than any person we know.
Seeking inspiration I hunted down some new writers. Ended up with a book called Good News for Anxious Christians @ Phillip Cary.
This book delivered. in fact it delivered so well I had to have one of my orthodox, reformed theological anchors read the book. Naturally I'm drawn to thinking that is outside of the box, on the edge, left of center and tending towards heresy! When you grow up in the faith and for decades have read and heard the teachings of the Scriptures - it needs a new sound to inspire you.
Obviously here the secret is to be inspired without becoming a heretic. Hence my anchors, as well as a solid theological education and constant reading in the field of orthodoxy.
Phillip Cary successfully delivers a new sound and new inspiration. Watch for this book appearing on our church resource shelves in the coming weeks.
Here's an excerpt from his chapter on "Why You Don't Have to 'Let God Take Control'":
Where did we get the idea that the Lord doesn't allow us to make ordinary human mistakes?We are not supposed to sin, of course, but there are many kinds of mistakes that are not sin, such as the mistakes we make when we're just learning how to use our talents well. Being fallible creatures, we have to make some mistakes in order to learn. But it will be difficult for us to learn from our mistakes if we don't admit to ourselves that we're the ones making them. This is one of the most important ways that the new evangelical theology has the effect of preventing people from becoming responsible adults.
And then here's the line, the inspiring line:
It's often put this way: God can't work in your life unless you let him. This is an astonishing piece of fantasy. Where in the Bible or anywhere else in God's creation did people get the idea that God was so helpless? If God can't do anything unless we let him, then God is not really God, and indeed he is less real than any person we know.
WOW!!
Cary writes on 10 topics that so often plague modern Christians causing anxiousness and fear. Teaching from seemingly good pulpits by well intended pastors - but sadly error that hurts and harms Christian health.
Wise Christians are becoming smarter at discerning that the truth is often stranger than it's been made to sound over the past many years.
At Redeemer's Church we're working hard at preaching the Gospel not just to people who've never heard it before, but also to Christians.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Day 275 and what I really think about visiting Africa.
Day 275 .....and I borrow my leadership blog from Week 40.
It's time to be honest.
Not that I'm dishonest at other times. But, sometimes I choose not to share my more personal or vulnerable thoughts. This blog is me going to a more personal level than other times - and hence, more honest.
Here's my honesty - I don't really like going to Kenya, Africa.
I love the guys we partner with; I love our driver/agent Ben; I love all that's happening in the Furaha Community Huruma Centre, part of the Furaha Community Foundation; I love the first thing in the morning and the smells, aroma and sunrise of Kenya. But, i don;t really like going to Africa.
It's a hard journey - two major long flights.
It's a hard place to stay - my guy hurts for the entire time I'm there.
It's a hard place to lead - as team leader you are constantly aware that you are in a desperate city, a city that saw a terrorist attack against Americans; a city filled with desperate people seeing white people as targets; it's a place where the word police does not always equal justice but more often equal corruption.
It's a hard place to relax - travel through 10 time zones, hit the ground running, force yourself to sleep at the wrong times, swallow malaria meds, avoid the bad bacteria you are surrounded by; travel in a matatu with dust pouring into your lungs ...as well as hitting potholes, enduring near misses, sit in pollution clogged air, constantly watch over your shoulder.
Entering Kenya, Africa is hard and I don't really like doing it.
But during the past three years I've lead a team into a large slum in Nairobi twice a year.
This visit one of our team asked me why I keep going on the trips?
My answer - I have to, for my sake!
Not that I want to appear selfish, but, I have to find a way to keep myself exposed to some of the worst poverty on the face of the globe.
I have to find a way to keep myself aware of the reality of 60% of the world's population.
I have to find a way to be among the poorest of the poor and be where Jesus would be.
My spiritual leadership is dependent upon understanding true reality, and that reality has to involve the reality of what's happening in our globe and with the majority of humanity.
If I don't go, and go regularly (we so easily forget or switch off) I will move towards a self focused existence and a skewed view of reality.
But it does more.
It pushes me to maintain spiritual leadership as a faith exercise.
Let's be honest. Sometimes in the leading of a local church autopilot can kick in.
I've been doing this for over 10 years. Putting together a preach, leading staff, leading a congregation can too easily be done out of experience and not out of faith.
But when you enter Huruma slum and you see the chaos, hopelessness, desperateness of daily life, the though about seeing transformation come through the presence of Christ - the only way such could happen is through a moving of God. that is a act of faith, not an act of experience or professional pastoring.
Going to Kenya, Africa and the hardness of going ......renews the call of faith, the cry for more faith, the reliance upon faith and faith alone.
Going - is a spiritual necessity for effective spiritual leading.
Anyone want to join me?
Anyone want a shot of renewed, invigorated, desperate faith?
It's time to be honest.
Not that I'm dishonest at other times. But, sometimes I choose not to share my more personal or vulnerable thoughts. This blog is me going to a more personal level than other times - and hence, more honest.
Here's my honesty - I don't really like going to Kenya, Africa.
I love the guys we partner with; I love our driver/agent Ben; I love all that's happening in the Furaha Community Huruma Centre, part of the Furaha Community Foundation; I love the first thing in the morning and the smells, aroma and sunrise of Kenya. But, i don;t really like going to Africa.
It's a hard journey - two major long flights.
It's a hard place to stay - my guy hurts for the entire time I'm there.
It's a hard place to lead - as team leader you are constantly aware that you are in a desperate city, a city that saw a terrorist attack against Americans; a city filled with desperate people seeing white people as targets; it's a place where the word police does not always equal justice but more often equal corruption.
It's a hard place to relax - travel through 10 time zones, hit the ground running, force yourself to sleep at the wrong times, swallow malaria meds, avoid the bad bacteria you are surrounded by; travel in a matatu with dust pouring into your lungs ...as well as hitting potholes, enduring near misses, sit in pollution clogged air, constantly watch over your shoulder.
Entering Kenya, Africa is hard and I don't really like doing it.
But during the past three years I've lead a team into a large slum in Nairobi twice a year.
This visit one of our team asked me why I keep going on the trips?
My answer - I have to, for my sake!
Not that I want to appear selfish, but, I have to find a way to keep myself exposed to some of the worst poverty on the face of the globe.
I have to find a way to keep myself aware of the reality of 60% of the world's population.
I have to find a way to be among the poorest of the poor and be where Jesus would be.
My spiritual leadership is dependent upon understanding true reality, and that reality has to involve the reality of what's happening in our globe and with the majority of humanity.
If I don't go, and go regularly (we so easily forget or switch off) I will move towards a self focused existence and a skewed view of reality.
But it does more.
It pushes me to maintain spiritual leadership as a faith exercise.
Let's be honest. Sometimes in the leading of a local church autopilot can kick in.
I've been doing this for over 10 years. Putting together a preach, leading staff, leading a congregation can too easily be done out of experience and not out of faith.
But when you enter Huruma slum and you see the chaos, hopelessness, desperateness of daily life, the though about seeing transformation come through the presence of Christ - the only way such could happen is through a moving of God. that is a act of faith, not an act of experience or professional pastoring.
Going to Kenya, Africa and the hardness of going ......renews the call of faith, the cry for more faith, the reliance upon faith and faith alone.
Going - is a spiritual necessity for effective spiritual leading.
Anyone want to join me?
Anyone want a shot of renewed, invigorated, desperate faith?
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