CRASH!

Moving away from the District Attorney Mindset

To be sure, there are plenty of areas where the Christian community should step up and represent a Biblical view towards morality.  There are plenty of Sins (capital S) that the Scriptures are very clear on and we should take a consistent stand against such activity for the good of our society and culture.  There is little debate in most evangelical circles against the clarity against murder, theft, sexual immorality (growing debate here, but it is not because it is not clear...) and relational commands such as kindness and truth.  I am not saying that we should not take a stand against such activities, first in our own house, and then in the world around us.  That said, I think the time has come for us to make an effort to be known as a group of people of mercy.  To fully embrace the mandate of Micah and do justice, walk humbly and to LOVE MERCY.  There is a huge need for the church to step up and champion mercy.  We must become experts in dispensing mercy to one another certainly but also to those who deserve it least (in our own eyes).
We have spent long enough acting as the local D.A. in our communities.  God give us the grace to balance both Truth and Grace and be champions of mercy as we also stand clearly in your light against any activity that demeans the people you love or harms the planet you created.

Religion vs. Grace

When our faith slips int to "religion" (which is trying to earn salvation by moral effort instead of salvation as a gift of grace) we are either left w/o hope (as we recognize that we cannot live up to the lofty standard of God) or we become arrogant (as we compare ourselves with others and believe that we are good, or at least better than most). This is why religion can become so destructive.  It can either beat us down to hopelessness, or puff us up to becoming a lot less than the loving person we long to be. 
In Christ, we see us as the flawed creatures we are and that we could never live up to perfection.  We can not even keep our own "rules" much less God's!  We know that we could never measure up and unless someone intervenes on our behalf and helps us, we are lost.  This is the beauty of Christianity and how it separates itself from "religions."  I have been so loved and can feel so secure because my salvation is not dependent on what  I do, but instead on what Christ has done for me.
Now, here is the really cool thing!  This type of  faith leads  me to both humility and confidence.  Humility because God has so loved us even when we did not deserve it, and confidence because God says I am totally accepted on the basis of Christ's work for me.  This means in Christ, I should neither whine or strut!  I now exist in a state where there is nothing to prove and nothing to lose...this is FREEDOM!!  This is the Gospel!
May you live in that wonderful balance of humility and confidence that is based on the work of Christ on your behalf!

What's My Hurry

I love b'fast, but skip it usually because I like to get on in to the office, or I may buy something bad for me on the way to the office instead of fixin' something.
I like sandwiches w/o crust, but i rarely take the time to cut off the crust.
I enjoy journaling but often slip into email and stuff b4 I journal.
I usually leave concerts and ballgames early to beat the traffic.
I never stay an extra day on vacation and instead usually come home a day or two early.
I consistently drive5-10 mph over the speed limit.
I rush to the next task on my list w/o any (or not much) celebration of thankfulness on what was just accomplished.
What is my Hurry???  Isn't life flying by fast enough w/o me rushing through it?

New Wine

³⁶ Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment.

³⁷ “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. ³⁸ New wine must be stored in new wineskins. ³⁹ But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”

Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. "Text edition"--Spine. (2nd ed.) (Lk 5:36-39). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

I have heard many teachers refer to this set of verses and use it as a mantra for change in the church  and a call to hear the Holy Spirits voice as He calls us to a fresh and new way...of course i agree with all that  and pray for the wisdom to  head Jesus' movement towards fresh and  new ways to be His people.
What I want to talk about is verse 39--
This part is only in Luke and speaks of a persons natural reluctance to change once they have found something they like.  The word "just fine" (better in NIV) is literally "good enough."  It is literally saying that this works for me and that is good enough, why change??  Wow!  I have heard that one!
Jesus would plead with us as His children to not settle in some way of gathering in His name that is "good enough."  He is pleading with me to enter fresh, deep, clear waters with Him and trust Him at new and deep levels.  I don't know who reads these posts but to you as well, He is pleading to go with Him to a new place; a place of unknown riches that only He can give.  Are you willing to go to a new place?  Am I?  What I'm doin now is just fine...it is good enough...but His hand beckons us to  this new place.  Shall we enter in?

Ridicule is Not an Argument

There is a new attitude out there against people of faith.  With several new works recently published (The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins,  The End of Faith, Sam Harris,  God is not Great, Christopher Hitchens, to name a few) the new strategy is a boldness by the "brights" (self acclaimed name for the new atheist) that is centered on the technique of ridicule.   This is really not an argument and does not  strengthen the case in any way, but it is now something that has taken many of us by surprise.  But, why should we be surprised?  Are they not following suit?   Have we (the people who believe in the existence of God) not modeled this "strategy" for them for years?  I, at least, will confess that I have walked that road before.

I am now looking to a new strategy.  I am looking for a common ground...and the one i am trying to get others to agree on is the common ground of faith.  Yes, faith.  Both camps (theists and atheists as well as agnostics) all have this in common.  At the end of all our arguments we can not PROVE our position and each of us make a leap of faith.  As Tim Keller says, "Rationality can only get you to probability, personal conviction can get you to certainty."  Given this, both camps are coming at this argument with certainty that comes from a personal conviction.  This conviction is derived by what I would call a "leap" of faith.  At some point, we came to the end of our evidence and made a conclusion that comes from personal conviction.
Now, if we can get us both to agree on this then meaningful dialog can happen, and once this can be agreed upon, the atheist is forced to face some of the giant leaps that they have to make given the evidence that we now have about the beginning of our universe and the detailed design of it as well.   But unless we can find this common ground, we are only left with ridicule...and this, as history has shown, will not do much to advance the Kingdom of God.

A Question

How is it that the 2 main holidays for the Christian faith have as a major part of the holiday a fictional character as part of the celebration?  How did Santa and the Bunny become so central to the holiday...??
Now I know the academic answer as to their origins and how it has slipped into our holidays, but it is just a very subtle tactic by "someone" that these distractions are involved. 
The strength of the holiday is not that it has these characters in them, but that the "real" message of these holidays has survived at all.  We are so quick to dilute the message that Christ came at great cost to himself and the Father, and that He came with the purpose of paying for sin and communicating love. 
Hope your Easter had more hope than Bunny...

Trying to Relax

Talked with someone about the pressure of a blog....I know it is just for fun, but there is something in me that feels and wants to be brilliant!  I want to write stuff that is creative and thought provoking...
This pressure makes me not write, so...under the advice of a friend, I'll just write more often and stuff that is on my mind...dangerous...
So, today, I'll start this.  Will not write every day, but will try to begin at least weekly with it.  There I typed it!  LOL!  Let's see what happens

Wow!  It is great to be a child of the KIng of Kings!  Happy Easter Week!!

Community in New Places

OK, I know that this will surprise some of you, but I an internet gamer (I'm so old, don't even know what to call it).  I play World of Warcraft, a MORPG (multi player role playing game) that you run around and kill stuff and work together with other players to accomplish certain objectives and solve certain challenges.  It is really repetitive and can be a huge waste of time.  Many, I have heard have gotten way too involved with it, and I confess that I have had to put limits on myself.  You can sit down and time seems to fly by.
Here is the surprising thing;  I have found new friends on this game.  I have linked with a guild (group that decide to work together longer term) and found them to be friendly, helpful and even supportive of each other in real life, not just game issues.  Prayer is offered and received, vacations are shared (not by me but others do this), and counsel is given on many life issues between a wide range of ages.  This is surprising to me.  I did not really expect to find it there.
Now, it is no substitute for the real community that happens face to face.  It will never allow for the deepest type of sharing that happens between people who do life together, but it is a type of community all the same and interesting to see. 
I will keep you posted on how this goes.  Just wanted to come out of the closet as a gamer...LOL!
p.s.  I am really bad at the game and people just tolerate me there 'cuz I'm nice...age thing I think...

Benediction

We at Westgate have been closing our services with the following benediction for many months.  There have been many requests for the version I read, so I am posting it here.  Enjoy

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live deeply within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice , freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done to bring love and kindness to the people of the world,

 In Jesus Name, Amen

The Hermanuetic of Pain

Psalm 119:71  "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees."  NIV
There are all types of benefits to suffering and trials in my life for my character development.  I see it now as one of the primary instruments that the Holy Spirit has used and is using to form Christ in me.  The promises of Scripture about this abound (Romans 5, 8, James 1).  But it seems that there is a benefit for me as a preacher that i have not noticed much.  A small verse that tells me that not only my character is being developed, but also my understanding of God's Word is deepening.  That the suffering (affliction) that i presently go through is also a tool for God to increase my understanding of the depths of His great mercy written and captured for us in His Word.  We can truly rejoice in trials of "many kinds" because we know of this great benefit towards us.
As I muse of this for a while, it is a great truth of my past.  Some passages, once read with the quickest glance and the arrogance that there is not much there, are now deep wells to drink from and to refresh my heart as I wrestle with this life we are to live.  Lose and pain tempered and hope found in the great depths of God's Word are only seen through the eyes of one that has walked along the path of affliction. 
May God bless you with the hope not only of one day leaving this dark sorry planet, but with the knowledge that His Word  is our source of great strength and comfort and is our great Teacher of the God we so long to know.