04.29.07
Posted in Mission, News at 6:58 am by Anthony
My friend Marshall Coffey, minister at the Anson Church of Christ, sent me this link to Pearls Before Breakfast, a Washington Post article about a world-famous classical violinist who performed in a Washington, D.C. subway station. How do people respond to beauty and grace when it is unscheduled and free? The article is lengthy, but well-worth time to read. If you do, you’ll be reflecting on it for days to come. (If your internet connection permits, view the videos and listen to the audio.)
How does the church preach and embody a message of grace in a culture that may be too self-absorbed to receive it?
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04.27.07
Posted in Family at 6:55 am by Anthony
I’ve been enjoying Philip Kenneson’s book Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community. In the chapter on joy, he talks about how manufactured desire, desires that we didn’t know that we had until someone told us, get in the way of joy.
A paragraph I read this morning reminded me of a couple of experiences this week. We do not get the newspaper and so often miss out on all the sales. Of course, this means that we almost never go shopping and so we end up spending much less money. We are trying to do some home improvement and were told that Lowe’s sometimes runs some specials that we might be interested in. I decided to buy Wednesday’s newspaper since it is of often ad-thick, but by the time I got to the Prairie Star–our local convenience store where I could pick up a paper–they were all sold out. I thought it was quite telling that there is such a demand–including mine–to buy advertising.
Much advertising comes to us “free”, usually in the form of junk mail. It’s not really free–the costs are built into the things we buy. We prefer to shop for groceries close to home, although we do sometimes incorporate a stop at the Evil Empire with other trips to the big city 30+ miles away. Our local grocery store sends out a weekly circular so we can shop the specials, and if we do, we can pay even less than at the Stuff Mart. The problem is, to get the special prices, you have to have your “Thank You” card which allows their computer to keep up with who is buying what. And it doesn’t always work; more than once we’ve gotten home and realized that we were charged the regular price. We’re just tight enough that we usually go back to reclaim the few dollars difference.
Jeremy is looking over my shoulder as I type this and asked, “Why are you just writing about shopping?” Why indeed? It’s all to introduce this quote from Kenneson’s book, which I think deserves our attention:
We might also consider carefully the impact of leafing through the advertising circulars and mail-order catalogs that arrive daily in our mailboxes. How many times have we found ourselves “needing” something immediately after thumbing through these ads and finding out that this or that (previously unnecessary or even unknown) product was “on sale”? I suspect that the advertisers are more than happy for us to feel as if we are doing ourselves some favor by buying at a discount something that only minutes before we didn’t need at all. Perhaps it would be a small step in the right direction if we determined not to peruse these instruments of desire unless we had already determined what it was that we needed. (p. 80)
Kenneson’s suggestion is not so much about saving money as it is about keeping manufactured desire from robbing us from the contentment and joy that we should find in the abundance of blessings that we already possess, most of which are not for sale, not even at the Evil Empire.
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04.24.07
Posted in News, Scripture at 6:54 pm by Anthony
Today I read a news story that quoted one politician who pretended to take the moral high road by saying, “I’m not going to get into a name-calling match with someone who has a 9 percent approval rating,” and then went on to refer to the object of his disdain as an “attack dog.”
Ever done that? “I’m not going to call names,” and then proceed to do so. I’m sure I have. Or, “I’m only telling this because I’m concerned.” Or, “You might want to pray about this … .” Or any of the countless ways that I slide in a verbal dig to build myself up or put someone else down. (Aren’t they they the same thing?)
The Bible has a lot to say about our words. Among the most helpful is James 1:19, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry…” (TNIV).
“I don’t want to call names…,” then don’t.
“I don’t want to gossip…,” then don’t.
“I don’t want to hurt your feelings…,” then don’t.
Quick to listen. Slow to speak. No name calling.
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04.20.07
Posted in Mission, Reading at 7:25 am by Anthony
After being a Christian all of my life, I find it amazing that I’m still working on answering the very fundamental question “What is the gospel?” As a child I was taught that the gospel consisted of “facts to be believed and commands to be obeyed.” When I was in college students and teachers debated whether the gospel consisted of all biblical teachings or “the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.” For a long time I accepted the shorter version, but as I’ve gotten to know Jesus better, I’ve found a lot of gospel — the good news of the kingdom — operating long before Jesus made it to the cross. Yesterday, in a commentary on Matthew by Stanley Hauerwas, I came across this statement.
That he [Jesus] must go to those in neeed indicates that the gospel is not and cannot be a set of beliefs. The gospel is the man, and this man must encounter actual men and women in order to call them into the community of the new age. Evangelism is people meeting and coming to know people. … A church that is not a missionary church is not a church. The book of Acts witnesses to the necessity for disciples of Christ to, like Jesus himself, be on the move. (p. 103)
Is the gospel a set of beliefs or a person? Or a set of beliefs about a person? Or a relationship with a person? Hauerwas’s point, and I think it’s a good one, seems to be that people whose lives are shaped by the gospel will be in relationship with people who need good news, who need Jesus, and that the gospel/Jesus cannot be shared apart from relationships. If the gospel is information, answering the question “What must I do to be saved?,” then that information can be conveyed without relationship. But when the jailor asked that question, Paul and Silas went to his home and shared with his family — in the context of real-life relationships, how “believing on the Lord Jesus Christ” was to be lived out. If lives are to be transformed, then it must happen through life-on-life sharing.
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04.10.07
Posted in Church Life at 10:38 am by Anthony
This weekend we watched with surprise and awe as the snow came down in Albany on the day before Easter. There were still patches on the ground Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. when several of us met with others from the community for our annual Sonrise Easter service, held in front of the gazebo on the courthouse lawn. The air was a little cool, but not too bad, and we had a great time of worship together.
Now that the excitement of Easter is over, we face the challenge of living the resurrected life with him! Paul tells the Colossians,
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Col. 3:1-4)
Now that we have been raised with Christ, we live on a level above the “earthly things.” We’re not to be snooty and think we are better than those still caught up in earthly things. We’re not better than them, but we are better off! Unless, of course, we allow ourselves to get drug down into the muck. Keep your feet on the ground, but keep your mind in the heavenly realms with Christ!
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04.03.07
Posted in Mission at 9:42 am by Anthony
If you work in a secular environment where your computer screen can be seen by others, you may be interested in this screensaver that I came across. It is designed to stir interest and perhaps conversation without being “in your face.” Along with nature scenes, here are some of the quotes on it.
- “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.” — Augustine
- “There is a vacuum in the heart of every person that cannot be filled by any created thing.” — Blaise Pascal
- “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” — Jim Elliott
- “To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?” — C.S. Lewis
I hope this is of some help as you are out there in the “real world” with the people that God loves so passionately and wants to reach through you.
Click here for instructions on how to download and install.
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