Pentecost

This past Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. During worship we read Acts 2. This passage quotes Joel 2.

“Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants—men and women alike. And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth— blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, for some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will escape, just as the Lord has said. These will be among the survivors whom the Lord has called. NLT

This passage stuck me. I loving hearing about God's provision for his people. I am forever mystified about godly visions and dreams. I eagerly wait for God's Kingdom.

So, in my everlasting quest to understand God, I thought it would be cool to read Joel and understand his message. Here are a few tidbits about Joel:

• "Joel" means "Jehovah is God"
  
• He was contemporaries with Amos
• Most likely this was a pre-excilic book written about 835 BC. However, there are not real clues to when or where this book was written.
  
• It was written to Judah
• Joel may have been a priest before God called him to be a prophet
• Themes of destruction, judgement and hope are prevalent
  
• The turning verse is 2:12-13 (IMHO)
  

I find it interesting in the passage quoted above Joel mentions:

1. The Spirit of God is poured out on all of humanity! There does not seem to be a distinction between those who are faithful to God and those who are not. Hmmm.....
2. Both sons and daughters will prophesy. Likewise, both male and female servants will be the recipients of the Spirit of God. Hmmm.....

But here is my big issue:
This book talks about God being Israel's bulldog and I think it can thus be said that he is the church's and the believer's bulldog as well. So, when are Israel, the church and I going to "rend our hearts and not our clothes?" Because it is this act which precipitates the gracious compassion of God towards us.

How do we go about this?
What does this mean for me as an individual?
What needs to change?

Who would have thought 3 chapters of minor prophet lost in the Old Testament would provide wisdom for understanding repentance, confession and reform.

Then the Lord will pity his people and jealously guard the honor of his land- Joel 2:18

Street Climbing

Wow!

Thinking about the Tongue

Sunday's teaching went well. There was some good discussion during and after the gathering. One of the community came up to me afterward to share some of his ideas and thoughts on the James 3. He was not sure why he was doing this after worship instead of during, but nonetheless I am glad he did.
He was mulling over analogies of the tongue and came up with two that were good. The first was the tongue can be like the wind. It can either fan the flame of a spark and grow it into a raging fire or it can blow seed and spread new life.
In the second analogy he referenced those passages in Scripture talking about nature praising God and giving testament to his character (Job 38:7; Ps. 19:1, 50:6, 147:4, 148:1-6; Luke 19:40; Rom. 1:19-20). He spoke about how we as Christ followers could speak in harmony with the chorus nature sings or we would contradict the testimony of nature in what we say.
The vision I had when he was talking was of two set of sound waves. When we use our words in accord with the message of nature, let that be literal or metaphorical, both sets of waves travel together in harmony. When we speak, active or think antithetically to creation, it is as if our words move crosswise and against nature. Again, I envisaged a cross hatch or weave pattern where the two sets of waves travel in different directions.
For me this sparked thoughts of not only casual speech, but also of preaching. Thinking about this left me with some questions I am toying with:

1. Does all creation give praise? What has the fall done to the message of nature?
   
2. What is the nature of the testimony of creation? Does creation praise in some way we are unable to "hear" due to the fall? Are the writers of Scripture only referring to how creation's beauty, design and complexity reveal God?
3. Is there a way to know what creation "says" about God?
4. Can our speech match with creation, thus be in harmony?
5. Does this idea presuppose a Correspondence Theory of truth?
   
6. What implications does this idea have for the whole of Christian living?
7. I'm I just nuts for even thinking of this stuff?

Gotta think more about this.

Thanks Chadwick for the great ideas!

iPods

I don't have an iPod. Although I have had the chance to play with one lately. A friend has lent me his truck and in it is one of his spare iPods. I feel kind of weird scrolling through his lists of music. I feel like I am looking through his wallet or poking around on his computer. I get a chance to see into his life a little through the music he listens to. He has a great selection of tunes! Aretha Franklin, Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash, Bach, Daft Punk, NIN, Britteny Spears, POD, Filter and the like. Wow, that's quite a spread. I have enjoined listening to his tunes, but still feel like I am invading his privacy even though I have his permission. Maybe this says more about me then him.

Thoughts on Preaching

I am preaching on James 3 this week. Here are some thoughts and feelings floating through my head:

• I am constantly trying to find ways in which I can convey the excitement and nutriment I receive from preparing for a sermon to those who will hear me deliver the sermon.
• I love to explain and teach, but sometimes I don't have to because the passage is clear enough on its own. When this happens I feel a little lost and am not sure of my place in the "preaching event."
  
• I long for a sermon preparation format, regiment or routine (maybe this is the problem) that lets the Holy Sprint move freely through me. I feel I can produce sermon manuscripts that are confining.
  
• I love details...almost to a fault. I sometimes miss the big picture. I can't see the forest for the bark.
• I tend to write in propositions, statements of fact, rather than in evocative language.
• I never feel more purposeful than when preaching God's word.
• I struggle with sermon preparation and delivery, but love the fight.
• I know that I am most attacked, spiritually, befor preaching.
• I am nervous every time I preach.
• I am more concerned about being wrong in my understanding and interpretation of Scripture than I am my "delivery."
• I believe the purpose of preaching is life change (for me and those who listen). My quest is to understand how my presentations of God's word can aid in this endeavor.
  

9999999999999999999999999999999998999

I love techmology!

Sick of Myself

So, there I was, sitting in a bakery having breakfast with a friend when he looked across the tables and noticed someone familiar. They both exchanged polite smiles and the almost obligatory, "hey how's it going?...good, thanks!"

Only a few seconds latter something hit my friend. He looked at me and said, "excuse me, I'll be right back." He made his way to the table of his old friend and her little boy. I couldn't hear their whole conversation, but it included phrases like, "yeah after 12 months he kicked me out" and "living with my parents" and "no, but I looking for a job."

A few minutes later my friends comes back to our table and asks, "hey, do you have any money?" I knew what this meant. He wanted to give this old friend a couple bucks to help her out. I had heard her mention something about wanting to take her boy to The Dollar Store.

My first reaction was to say, "No, I am broke," which would have been a lie, since I knew I had a twenty, a five and three ones in my wallet. So as I replied, "yeah," I reached for my wallet. I specifically held it at an angle so my friend could not see how much money I actually had. This would allow me to chose whatever bill denomination I wanted without feeling pressured. I could have gone with the twenty or a single. I went with the five because it was easiest. One bill, one motion and with the five I wouldn't look as cheap as I felt.

Even as I think back on the situation I still can't believe how I intentionally shielded my cash from my friend's line of sight. I didn't want to feel pressured to give him any of my money, much less my twenty bucks. Man it makes me sick to think of what I did.

A few days later I heard a cliche that rings true, "freely give, because you have freely received." I know this has deep theological truth to it. Jesus freely gave his life for mine. Boy, did he get ripped off! Salvation is free to all. But, as I have been dwelling on this though, I see it has very practical applications too.

I have received a huge amount of life for free. It has cost me knowing. Here is a list of some of things I have been given for free or had nothing to do with in my life:

1. My parents. I am adopted and they chose me. I am sure I have had a better life with these people as my parents than my bio-family would have been able give me.
2. My health. I think I won some genetic lottery since I was not born mis-formed, with a crazy disease or lacking proper nutrition. I haven't had my life altered by some freak accident. Yes, I have been hurt, but not to the point that my life has been greatly changed. I don't even have allergies. (I am going bold now that I think of it, maybe I should rethink this one.)
   
3. My education. I have been blessed with enough brains to make it through school, (again and again and again and again) not to mention even having the opportunity to go to school.
4. My family. I have a beautiful wife and healthy kids. Yes, I had a hand in making the kids, but not in how they turned out. As for my wife, she just loves me!
   
5. My freedom. I was born and live in a country that values personal freedom.
6. My lifestyle. Even though I get a paycheck, for which I work very hard, if it were not for #1-5 above I would not have a good job.
7. My salvation. Thank you God!

So, why is it I hold onto things that aren't even mine?
Can't I see I am blessed and favored by God?
Shouldn't I give since so much has been given to me?
Why do I think this "stuff" is mine?
Why is it that I didn't reach deeply into my wallet and give without regret?
(Especially, since my friend bought my breakfast that morning at the bakery!)
Why am I afraid to trust God to meet my needs, when he already has proven himself faith? (reread #1-7 again!)

Pray for me!

Narrative Theology

Stanley J. Grenz writes, "As Christians we assert that religious experience- an encounter with the divine- is foundational to our self-identity. According to the biblical tradition, the goal of the human-divine encounter is the establishment of a community of people who stand in covenant with God. We enter that community through our faith response to the proclamation of the salvific action of God in Christ, symbolized by baptism. Hence, the experience of encountering God together with the conceptual framework which facilitates it are mediated to us by a religious community-the church- through it symbols, narratives and sacred documents." (Theology for the People of God, pg. 7)

This says the way in which each member of humanity comes to know their true self identity as a child of God is through the church. It also says that the way in which we encounter God himself is through the church. All of this is mediated through Jesus. It is through the Jesus story or the biblical narrative that we get to see how God has revealed himself and interacts with humanity. The Bible is a road map for God's activity with people...his people, let it be Israel or the church.

The church functions to create a community of Christ followers in order to continue making a community of Christ followers. Yes, this sounds circular and it is, sort of, but it is not a catch 22. Here the "circle" has God as it impetus . He is the source of church and the sustainer there of. God's goal is to gather a "redeemed people living within a renewed creation enjoying fellowship with the Triune God."(Grenz, Created For Community, pg. 257) God is the trigger point at which the activities of the church start. So to say this is circle may be incorrect, but the idea of a corkscrew or spiral maybe more accurate.

It is with this in mind that Grenz goes on to point out that the theologians of the church community are the guides for the framework through which the church community facilitates the human-divine encounter. Also, he says every Christian is a theologian! Every "member a minister," they say, every believer a theologian, Grenz says. This is not as catchy, but just as true.

Over and Under

If I had not come home and kissed my wife...
If I had not come home and hugged my kids...
If I had not warmly greeted my mom after her long day at work...
If I had not smiled at the neighbor kids...
If I had not meet with God today...

...I still would have lived my faith and love someone in need.

Today I had a "meeting" with someone who works for me. She is an an older women (read: past her 30's) I recently hired to work on one of the teams I supervise. She was upset about her schedule (or lack there of really.) In the next two weeks she is only working two shifts! This is a function of the business we are in and really out of my control.

This women is educated, pursing a Master of Divinity in order to be certified to do jail ministry (God bless her)! She has been ostracized by her family for here choice to share God's grace with the very people she was abused by as a child. This choice or calling has currently left her trained to do few jobs in the world at which one can make a living wage.

In our meeting there were tears and the need for tissues. She just needed to vent about her life a bit and share her desperate need for more hours. Seemingly, she lives on the edge of financial ruin like most student ministers. Homelessness, hunger and an empty gas tank are real possibilities for her near future, she told me. Not to mention failed classes because of looking for a second job and feeling overwhelmed. In the end she was not at all mad at me and understood the cyclical nature of our business. She just needed a sympathetic ear to hear her story and say, "I understand, I have been their too."

Little did she know who she was talking to! HA!

I told her I knew what it was like to face being without a home, carrying all your belongings in your car. I mentioned I could speak to holding onto one's conviction and calling despite the doubts and confusion of others. I told her I understood what it was like to be over educated and under employed. I spoke of the sacrifices my family and I have made in order to be faithful to God.

When I shared a little of my story with her, she stopped crying, sat forward in her chair and said, "that's just wrong!" Here the tables had been turned, she was now concerned about me! This was great. Once she could see I spoke with her out of empathy and true concern, her life didn't seem so tragic. This is not to say that I am a sorrier person than she, but that connections and relationships are powerful to heal. At the end of our "meeting" as when we were brainstorming some ideas about her situation, we were not boss and employee or management and worker. We were two people struggling to be faithful to God at all cost.

God is good.

Writing

I just finished the first draft of another article and have passed it onto my editor (thanks honey). I am going to try and get this one published in a magazine. If I don't I will post it here.
It feels good to write though. I can get things off my chest. I can drain my brain and release thoughts and ideas that would otherwise bounce around in my head aimlessly.
For someone who has a fear of writing and thought it was too hard, I am convinced I was right! Writing and articulating one's thoughts is difficult and sometimes painful. But nonetheless, it is something I can do. After spending much of 2006 reading, researching and writing a 200+ page paper, I was able to dispel the myth that says, "I can't write." I would not call myself a writer yet. I believe you actually have to have something published first or devote your life to this art. I am not there yet. Maybe some day.
Write now I am just enjoying the free flow of thought and the pleasure it is to let me brain throw up on paper without of the fear of a failing grade.