Ash Wednesday Repost
In honor of Ash Wednesday, here's a link to a blog post I wrote last year on the Wordpress.com blog I was using. I've had an interesting history with Ash Wednesday. Can't wait to see what tonight brings!
Sunday Links 3.6.2011
Can't wait for tonight. We are heading down to Heritage UMC in Van Buren to worship with and hear from one of my seminary and professors and mentors, Dr. Bob Tuttle. I'll report on these times of worship this week!
See you soon!
- iPad 2 out on Friday. We'll see whether I can snag one while in Dallas or if I'll have to order on-line.
- Check out this post from my group blog about a group from my last church who made their Grand Ole Opry debut last night. They are awesome.
- Mark Roberts writes about loneliness in ministry and shares the sad story of a recent pastor suicide.
- There's been lots circulating about God's wrath and hell recently. This is a good post by Jared Wilson on the subject.
- 10 Things that Make a Pastor Remarkable.
- I totally cried when I saw this video the first time. And the second. O! that my joy for God's word were as great as a people receiving it in their language for the first time!
- I'm attending a conference in Dallas at the end of the week as well at The Gospel Coalition in Chicago next month. This is a great and timely post for conference-goers. Unfortunately, it is needed.
- Finally, I thought this was interesting, how Thomas Jefferson prepared for meetings.
See you soon!
In Our Place
The cross had to be carried and endured before it could be preached. Jesus came to become the sacrifice, not clarify the concept of sacrifice.
He did not come to teach about the cross, but to be nailed to it. He came that there might be a gospel to preach.
- Thomas Oden, The Word of Life
Three Things I'm Excited About
First, Eugene Peterson's memoir The Pastor. I'm excited about this because I think Peterson's clear thinking on what a pastor should do has been extremely helpful to me in the eight years I've been in ministry. I read a lot on pastoral work and leadership and sometimes the sheer volume of tasks I think I should be doing according to some experts is something beyond overwhelming. When I read Working the Angles and Five Smooth Stones For Pastoral Work I'm able to breathe a little easier and know what my calling and my value is and isn't.
I can't help it, I'm excited about the iPad 2 announcement tomorrow. I didn't get one last year and spent most of the last 13 months telling myself, "You don't need one." That may still be true, but I sold my three year old iMac anyway and am going to get an iPad for one reason: OmniFocus for the iPad. As good as OmniFocus is for the Mac and iPhone, it is flat out sick on the iPad. It's my brain and I'd much prefer to carry it around every day instead of my MacBook Pro. I'm still at the point where I need a computer for Adobe CS5 and video editing, but I don't do that every single day. I do use OmniFocus and when you couple that with the text editing apps I use, OPML, DropBox, and GoogleDocs...well, it'll be much easier on my shoulder and back only having to lug that around. (That's not even mentioning the greatness that is Accordance for iOS).
It's not going to get as big of a paragraph, but I'm most excited about Lent. I'm working on a last minute devotional guide for the church that I think will be a help to my flock. The Lenten preaching focus is going to be on the cross so I'm reading and writing a lot. I'm praying for a lot of fruit. I'm also going to attend two conferences during Lent, one in Dallas and one in Chicago, that I'll be writing up at the end of both. Can't wait to share those.
I can't help it, I'm excited about the iPad 2 announcement tomorrow. I didn't get one last year and spent most of the last 13 months telling myself, "You don't need one." That may still be true, but I sold my three year old iMac anyway and am going to get an iPad for one reason: OmniFocus for the iPad. As good as OmniFocus is for the Mac and iPhone, it is flat out sick on the iPad. It's my brain and I'd much prefer to carry it around every day instead of my MacBook Pro. I'm still at the point where I need a computer for Adobe CS5 and video editing, but I don't do that every single day. I do use OmniFocus and when you couple that with the text editing apps I use, OPML, DropBox, and GoogleDocs...well, it'll be much easier on my shoulder and back only having to lug that around. (That's not even mentioning the greatness that is Accordance for iOS).
It's not going to get as big of a paragraph, but I'm most excited about Lent. I'm working on a last minute devotional guide for the church that I think will be a help to my flock. The Lenten preaching focus is going to be on the cross so I'm reading and writing a lot. I'm praying for a lot of fruit. I'm also going to attend two conferences during Lent, one in Dallas and one in Chicago, that I'll be writing up at the end of both. Can't wait to share those.
What I'm Learning in Ecclesiastes - Part Four
This is probably the last post I'm going to make on Ecclesiastes in this series unless something really jumps out at me in the next few weeks. We just wrapped up chapter 2 and got into chapter 3 and, of course, had to mention the Byrds and Turn! Turn! Turn! There is a time for x contrasted with a time for y. That seems to be the formula for the first several verses of Ecclesiastes 3. This is what I learned from it:
4) God will often use one season to prepare you for the next.
This isn't implicit in the text, but it's something I'm confident of as I grow in age and in faith. For example, there is a time for mourning and God will teach you and comfort you so that the time for rejoicing will be incredibly sweet.
For instance, in filling in the details for the statement that there is a season and a time for everything, Ecclesiastes 3:2 says that there is "a time to be born and a time to die". Last week, I officiated a funeral for a man that I respected a great deal. This season of death and mourning for the family and the community has been, I believe, tempered by the season of preparation given to him through birth. He was an amazing fellow who not only lived fully but also experienced the new birth (John 3:3). The psalmist writes "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." (Psalm 116:15). It's precious to us as well, no matter how hard it is to say good-bye, because of the life well-lived through a deep belief and faithfulness to Christ Jesus.
I don't want to go all crazy hermeneutical guy, but I've also been thinking about v. 5b which says, "a time to seek and a time to lose." Two of my Scripture memory verses are Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." and Luke 9:23 "And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Going one verse further in Luke gets you, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." I've been reflecting on what it means to seek God's kingdom and his righteousness and how that leads me into losing my life for Jesus' sake. One has been leading me to the other and there is not only a time for both, but also a time in which they exist together in my heart.
I'm still waiting for that season by the grace of God.
4) God will often use one season to prepare you for the next.
This isn't implicit in the text, but it's something I'm confident of as I grow in age and in faith. For example, there is a time for mourning and God will teach you and comfort you so that the time for rejoicing will be incredibly sweet.
For instance, in filling in the details for the statement that there is a season and a time for everything, Ecclesiastes 3:2 says that there is "a time to be born and a time to die". Last week, I officiated a funeral for a man that I respected a great deal. This season of death and mourning for the family and the community has been, I believe, tempered by the season of preparation given to him through birth. He was an amazing fellow who not only lived fully but also experienced the new birth (John 3:3). The psalmist writes "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." (Psalm 116:15). It's precious to us as well, no matter how hard it is to say good-bye, because of the life well-lived through a deep belief and faithfulness to Christ Jesus.
I don't want to go all crazy hermeneutical guy, but I've also been thinking about v. 5b which says, "a time to seek and a time to lose." Two of my Scripture memory verses are Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." and Luke 9:23 "And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Going one verse further in Luke gets you, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." I've been reflecting on what it means to seek God's kingdom and his righteousness and how that leads me into losing my life for Jesus' sake. One has been leading me to the other and there is not only a time for both, but also a time in which they exist together in my heart.
I'm still waiting for that season by the grace of God.
Sunday Links 2.27.2011
Not as many links this week, but it was one crammed full including a funeral and a couple of days away with the family. Check back next Sunday! Well, and the other days, too :-)
- Our children are little mirrors of our own sin. Truth hurts.
- What to do when you preach a "dud". I needed this, at least to be reminded of my own weakness and dependance upon Christ.
- Man shall not live by Facebook alone. Oh, the trappings of the Bermuda Triangle of Productivity.
- It's that time of the year for United Methodist pastors: the appointive season. Bishop Will Willimon posted a guest post about pastor transitions.
- I'm attending two conferences this year since I haven't been to one in quite some time and these are 1 and 2 days a piece instead of a week, and here's some questions I'm going to think through before and after.
Field Preaching
Since I was a kid, I've been fascinated by John Wesley and the early Methodist circuit riders. They seemed to be risk taking adventurists. I read two comic books when I was about 9 years old, one about Wesley and the other about circuit riders that captured my imagination - and I still have the one on Wesley! One of the things that has always impressed me about Wesley was his open air preaching, or, field preaching. It was a radical concept introduced to him by George Whitefield. The physically short Wesley must have had some great big pipes to reach the thousands who heard him. Sometimes he would preach in town squares and people would crowd around to hear him preach.
Though fascinated, I've long been a chicken about field preaching. One reason has to do with the weirdos who came onto the campuses of both schools I attended, the University of Arkansas and Asbury Theological Seminary. I've been called names by these preachers. I had a guy get up in my face on Beale St. in Memphis one evening. I've generally been turned off by these guys. I always thought, too, that there's no place for this kind of preaching today. I have lots and lots of objections.
But, Steve McCoy has made me think a lot about what real open air preaching is all about. He's also gotten me to consider an idea so crazy that it might actually work.
Wesley rode 250,000 miles on horseback and preached 23,000 sermons. Man, whatever was burning in him, God, set on fire in me.
Though fascinated, I've long been a chicken about field preaching. One reason has to do with the weirdos who came onto the campuses of both schools I attended, the University of Arkansas and Asbury Theological Seminary. I've been called names by these preachers. I had a guy get up in my face on Beale St. in Memphis one evening. I've generally been turned off by these guys. I always thought, too, that there's no place for this kind of preaching today. I have lots and lots of objections.
But, Steve McCoy has made me think a lot about what real open air preaching is all about. He's also gotten me to consider an idea so crazy that it might actually work.
Wesley rode 250,000 miles on horseback and preached 23,000 sermons. Man, whatever was burning in him, God, set on fire in me.
A Little R&R
Weeks with funerals always turn out to be emotionally exhausting which somehow translates into physical exhaustion. I really loved and respected the man we remembered yesterday and was so glad I could share his forgiveness by Jesus and the joy of his hope in Jesus. It was a great witness and testimony.
A few months ago we received a deal for two free nights in a hotel, so we are taking some family time. I'm looking forward to resting, spending time with my girls, and to get back into the Bible and prayer. It's been a bit of a dry season.
What do you do to reconnect with God and those closest to you?
A few months ago we received a deal for two free nights in a hotel, so we are taking some family time. I'm looking forward to resting, spending time with my girls, and to get back into the Bible and prayer. It's been a bit of a dry season.
What do you do to reconnect with God and those closest to you?
It's the End of the World as We Know it - So Go Make a Disciple
I jokingly wrote on Twitter earlier that if I were a lying opportunist with no conscience, this would be a good week to write an end-times e-book for $50 a pop. In the last week we've seen a huge earthquake in New Zealand, continued protests, unrest, and revolution in the Middle East, one of the weirdest political stories of my lifetime unfolding in Wisconsin, and oil prices shooting up 9% in one day. I'd almost bet Tim LaHaye was busy working on a new bestseller as I write.
Someone loaned me some of the end-times novels that were popular in the late 90's when I was in college and seminary. It didn't take me long to grow in my disdain for both the quality of writing and the theology behind the book series. One of the first questions I had was a practical one: "Could I look in the eyes of a brother in Christ from a persecuted part of the world and tell him, 'It's okay. Before persecution comes, Jesus will vacuum you up and let everyone else suffer.'"? This kind of thinking could only appeal to comfortable, middle-class white people who can't tell the difference between persecution and having their feelings hurt.
For some reason, our little bubble of Christendom is caught up in second-coming fever - when is Jesus coming back? I get asked this a lot. How do I answer? Easy. It's in the Bible. Jesus says in Acts 1:7 "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority." I know this isn't a satisfactory answer for folks who turn on the television and see the events I've already mentioned. "Surely the time is near!" they say. Back in the Bible, however, I make it a point to look at Matthew 24:3-14
Here are some of the questions I ask folks who are so ready to turn the events in the news into Jesus' coming:
Since, as best as I can tell, the answer to those questions is "no", I like to point to the end of that passage. If you are so intent on knowing when Jesus might come back, then do something to address the fact that there are 2,000 people groups in this world that do not have a witness of Jesus Christ among them. Since the risen Jesus gave a command to make disciples, maybe we should do what he said and make sure we spend ourselves in that and leave his return to the appointed time of which we do not know.
Someone loaned me some of the end-times novels that were popular in the late 90's when I was in college and seminary. It didn't take me long to grow in my disdain for both the quality of writing and the theology behind the book series. One of the first questions I had was a practical one: "Could I look in the eyes of a brother in Christ from a persecuted part of the world and tell him, 'It's okay. Before persecution comes, Jesus will vacuum you up and let everyone else suffer.'"? This kind of thinking could only appeal to comfortable, middle-class white people who can't tell the difference between persecution and having their feelings hurt.
For some reason, our little bubble of Christendom is caught up in second-coming fever - when is Jesus coming back? I get asked this a lot. How do I answer? Easy. It's in the Bible. Jesus says in Acts 1:7 "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority." I know this isn't a satisfactory answer for folks who turn on the television and see the events I've already mentioned. "Surely the time is near!" they say. Back in the Bible, however, I make it a point to look at Matthew 24:3-14
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Here are some of the questions I ask folks who are so ready to turn the events in the news into Jesus' coming:
- Has there ever been a time in which there wasn't a war of some sort, or at least the possibility that one was coming?
- Has there ever been a time in which one nation or kingdom didn't rise against another?
- Has there ever been a time in which there were no famines?
- Has there ever been a time devoid of earthquakes in various places?
Since, as best as I can tell, the answer to those questions is "no", I like to point to the end of that passage. If you are so intent on knowing when Jesus might come back, then do something to address the fact that there are 2,000 people groups in this world that do not have a witness of Jesus Christ among them. Since the risen Jesus gave a command to make disciples, maybe we should do what he said and make sure we spend ourselves in that and leave his return to the appointed time of which we do not know.
Dancing in the Minefields
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtTa81LyuQM
“I do” are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another
I’ve heard Is a good place to begin
‘Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it’s an easy price
For the life that we have found
I love my wife. I love her very imperfectly, but I love her.
This is my favorite piece of writing from my late-friend Michael Spencer: Running Wounded. It's about the frailties of marriage and the incredible mercies of God.
“I do” are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another
I’ve heard Is a good place to begin
‘Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it’s an easy price
For the life that we have found
If there is one thing young engaged couples need to hear, it’s that a good marriage is not something you find, it’s something you work for. It takes struggle. You must crucify your selfishness. You must at times confront, and at other times confess. The practice of forgiveness is essential. This is undeniably hard work! But eventually it pays off. Eventually, it creates a relationship of beauty, trust, and mutual support. - Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
I love my wife. I love her very imperfectly, but I love her.
This is my favorite piece of writing from my late-friend Michael Spencer: Running Wounded. It's about the frailties of marriage and the incredible mercies of God.