Times are Changing

I co-teach the membership class at our church. In that class we list (probably from Rick Warren) the top four reasons people don't attend church. Here they are.

1. Sermons are boring and irrelavent.
2. Members are unfriendly to visitors.
3. Churches are only interested in your money.
4. Churches lack quality child care.

Fair enough, as a church we have tried to change to take away barriers so that more people will come to church. Only one thing . . . I was reading a blog by Dan Kimball (I have it as a permanent link on my page)and he made a list which talks about why people don't attend church. Here is his list.

1. The Church is an “Organized Religion” with a political agenda
2. The Church is Judgmental and Negative
3. The Church is Male Dominated and Female Oppressive
4. The Church is Homophobic
5. The Church Thinks They Have the Exclusive Way to God (and everyone else is wrong)
6. The Church takes the Bible too literally and are “Fundamentalists”

I think this is an accurate list. Times are changing, it seems just about the time we fix the problems of why people don't like church a whole new set of things emerges. I could add to this list . . . but I won't for now.

So my thought is if we were just more like Jesus, maybe we wouldn't be seeing as such things, maybe we would attract people not because of what we aren't, but because of what we are . . . loving, accepting, graceous . . . for God loves mercy over sacrifice.

Never noticed

This morning in reading Matthew 27 (Jesus death), I noticed a verse that I have never noticed before in as many times as I have read this account. Here it is, verses 52-53 right after Jesus died.

"The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people."

I wonder if one of them was Elijah, as people thought Jesus was calling for him in the verses just before. Anyway, the image is powerful . . . as Jesus dies the whole earth is breaking open, curtains in the temple ripping, earth shaking rocks splitting, people raising from the dead, creation is crying out is agony, and it is over . . .or rather it is just beginning.

A Franciscan Benediction

Here is a Benidiction I found that I really like.

"May God bless you with discomfort
at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitaion of people,
so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
and to turn their pain into joy. Any may God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference in this world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done."

Retelling

For those of you who might be just starting to read my blog, I have been blogging through the gospel's paying close attention to two questions, "What is the Gospel," and "What is the Kindom?" I am currently in Matt 26, were we see foreshadowing to Jesus death.

First a woman did a beautiful thing to Jesus. She took very expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus. Jesus says that was done to prepare him for burrial. (If somebody poured a bottle of perfume on a person now days, I think everyone in the room would want to be burried.) Then Jesus says everytime this gospel is preached the story of what this women did will be told as well. Interesting . . . in some of my evangelism classes in school they told us that we should be able to share the gospel in 15 seconds. As a result I never shared this story when sharing the gospel (nor really ever). Maybe we have made the gospel so short that we have lost the beauty of it and much of the significance. Thankfully our culture is getting back to valuing story, and maybe we ought to learn to retell the story of Jesus.

A second point in this chapter is during the passover, we see great foreshadowing of Jesus death. Jesus presents the wine as the bood of the covenant, and this is the first time in the gospels that we see his death a means to forgiveness of sins. Again there is great significance here. With the disicples thinking Jesus was refering to the mosaic covenat and Jesus elluding to the future covenant all in one. In this moment we can see the significance of the old testament come together in what Christ is about to do.

Emerging Church

For those of you interested in the emerging church, Steve Taylor's A-Z is at www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/archives/a_to_z_of_emerging_church.php

Also, Brian McLaren is doing a 4-5 week series on the emerging church at his church. You can download the first three weeks at crcctalks.blogspot.com.

Dead

So Yesterday at church I tried to get something of my computer, and discovered that the Hard drive is dead (gasp). It's been since feb. since I backed up, and even that was only my church files.

So this morning (Monday) I am wondering if I should even bother going into work. I am wondering how people even ministered to others without a computer . . . I am lost . . . and crying . . .

New Stuff

You might notice on the left side of my blog, I put something new called blog map. I am expanding my blog, to include a section of my blog where I have posted articles I have written for the church newsletter, as well as a section to recommend books (and review) that I have recently read. check it out.

hmmm

Out of all of Jesus teaching, Matthew 25 contains the most descriptive explanation of what it looks like in the end when Jesus judges. 2 things jump out at me. 1) Everybody is surpised at the outcome. Those who Jesus says are righteous and those who Jesus said were wicked, both are a little confused and surpised at what is happening (both groups also call Him Lord). 2) The determining thing in the separation is how each group treated the least of these, because how you treat the least of these is how you treat Jesus, and demonstrates whether or not you really love Jesus.

It seems like this passage should have a little more emphasis than it currently does in our theology. I am certainly not pressing for works being what gets you into heaven . . . then why would Jesus have died for our sins? But I would like to see us deal with this a little more seriously.

It seems like any time we talk about good works -- we always feel compelled to follow it with the sentence, "they don't save." As if we don't value them, because you can't earn your salvation. Maybe it's time we talk about what good works does, instead of what it doesn't do. 1) Good works do save . . . the love we show brings other to Jesus, it saves others so to speak. 2) Good works actually demonstrates that we know and love Jesus, if we are not loving the least of these we don't know and love Jesus. 3) Without good works it is evedence that you are not allowing God to work in your life to make you more like Jesus.

Just a thought.

Get Lost!

Lost premier starting tonight! Heck Yes!

Well, you asked

I read Matt 24 this morning. It begins with the disciples asking what is the sign of His coming and the end of the age. In short I guess he is telling the disciples things are going to get worse before it gets better (I have never been good at interpreting prohpecy), but don't give up, and don't be decieved.

Only one thing about the Kingdom in here . . . (that I see) He says, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come." Here Jesus says the good news of the kingdom is what is going to be preached everywhere . . . many take this as we need to get the gospel to every tribe in the world, then Jesus will come back.

The one other interesting point is that Jesus says the Son does not even know the time. Interesting.

Go time

In Matt. 23 we see a fighting side of Jesus. He is basically calling out the pharisees as they are trying to undermine what He is trying to accomplish in the Kindomg, "You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying." I think if they were just refusing to enter themselves, I think Jesus would have let them alone, but since they were oppressing others from living in the kingdom, that's what brings Jesus out.

There is a lot here, but one part that stuck out to me. Jesus says you give your tythes, but neglect the more important matters of the law -- (Here they are, are you ready) justice, mercy, and faithfulness. He goes on to say you strain out the gnat but swallow a camel. I wonder what that looks like today?

Love

In Matt. 22 Jesus sums up all of the law and the prophets by saying love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, and also love your neighbor as yourself. I have been thinking about love this week, and remembered 1 Cor. 13. . . . "it I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."

It makes me think if I think I have truth, but it is out of the context of love, I don't really have truth (because God is love). If I think I have holiness, but it isn't rooted in love, it isn't really holiness.

Love is the context in which holiness and truth can be formed. We must start with love. So let's not fear showing love to others. Let's start with love, then wait and see what happens next.

Kierkegaard says something similiar but you will probably have to read it more than once.
"The truth consists not in knowing the truth intellectually but in being the truth . . . Knowing the truth is something which follows as a matter of course from being the truth, and not conversely. And it is precisely for this reason it becomes untruth when knowing the truth is separated from being the truth, or when knowing the truth is treated as one and the same thing as being the truth, since the true relation is the converse of this: to be the truth is one and the same thing as knowing the truth."

Two Sons

In Matt. 21 Jesus tells a parable of two sons. The Father went to the first son and ask him to work in the field, he said no, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the second sons, who said yes, but then decided not to. Which son did what his father wanted. Of course the first. Then Jesus says to the religious leaders, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you." But let me paraphrase what Jesus said for today, "I tell you the truth, the homosexuals and the those who perform abortions are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you"

The religious leaders were good at talking. They could talk religion in a way that could impress men, but at the end of the day they just did not do what the Father wanted. I want to be less about talking, and more about actually doing what the Father wants done. I think we might be suprised if we could really see who was pleasing the Father today. I want to join the kingdom . . . I want to go work in the field rather than talk about working in the field. I think it would please the father.

In 19 and 20

In Matt. 19-20 there is a lot more teaching of the Kingdom. By far the way Matthew records the story, it is all about the Kingdom. Anyway, here is what we learn in these chapters.

1) The Kindgom of heaven belongs to children (and those like children).
2) It is very difficult for good religious people who are also rich to enter the Kingdom of God, because they tend to love there money more than what the Kingdom stands for (gulp).
3) In the Kingdom God gives grace to whom he wants to. Don't try to tell God what is fair, and who he should and should not give mercy to. God will contuct his business the way he wants to. So work hard, rejoice in God's generousity, and remember the first will be last and the last will be first in God's Kingdom. Let's not judge eternal destiny's.
4) Jesus came to serve not to be served. If we want to be great, we must serve as the least.

opps. Matt 18

Another great chapter all about the kingdom. It starts with the disciples argueing about who is greatest . . . could they have missed the point any more?

Jesus' response is the chapter beginning with little children are the greatest. When a little child is lost the shepherd leaves the rest because the "little ones" are the of greatest importance in the Kingdom.

And then it talks about forgiveness . . . the parable that is told reminds me of the Lord's prayer, "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Again there is a connection made with God treating us in the manor we treat others. God starts with forgiving, and being merciful, but if it doesn't change are life, and we are not merciful in return, how can we expect mercy from God. Living in the Kingdom is about living as Jesus would live. Loving, forgiving, and caring for the least.