Along the same vein of Pascal and further along in the history of philosophy, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche...the rest of the outworking flows from my corrupt and vile brain.
People do not even value, much less take charge of their own existence. Instead, they are filling their lives with various activities so as to divert their attention away from their own unfavorable attitude toward individual existence. Much of men's unhappiness arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.
We cannot contemplate our existence because it is too unsettling to forever set our gaze on our poverty, feebleness, and mortal condition. Nothing can comfort the soul when one is unwilling to yield to the Savior. Well, that is to say, nothing can comfort besides of course worldly distractions. And who is to say world distractions isn't real sustaining comfort? Many roll through life clinging to this very type of comfort!
The Savior holds the magic potion but the human would rather writhe in pain, rather than to succumb to the idea that he himself is atrociously sinful. But if one ever did choose to focus on the horrors within oneself then one should be compelled, no, that's not strong enough, rather one should be driven by an insane madness to change whatever is necessary to end one's impoverished state. Until one is driven to madness one cannot bear to be humiliated and crucified next to the Savior. Only mad men pray prayers such as, "That I may know Christ and him crucified." It is madness to first realize one's deep sin. At this moment of awareness of one's own deep sin one is driven to madness. It is nothing short of maddening to realize you aren't the good you always imagined yourself to be.
You can seize worldly distractions or you can seize the cross and pray for new life. Many will die never owning their life. Many resolutely refuse to see the deep seated problems within. Own your life. Seize the life God intended, a life to be lived at the foot of the cross.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Questions that matter
Asking myself questions that matter.
What gift will I give the rest of humanity?
What will I contribute to the human race?
What will I do that will justify my existence?
Will the rest of humanity say that it was good for me to have existed?
What I know is the following...
There is a tendency to implicitly give the idea that a positive existence should be linked to ideas of happiness, or how much fun a person can grab for oneself. An example of this would be coming to the conclusion that I have lived a good life, because I had a lot of smiles and happiness throughout my years. But I submit that this is dead wrong as an assessment for determining the quality of one's life. The quality of life should not be linked to how many smiles or how much happiness one can selfishly grab hold of for oneself.
Happiness sometimes gives a hint also of a selfish undercurrent where the individual is at center stage, and that the world exists for oneself and is at that person's personal disposal to fit one's fancies and whims. Christians are just as much of the problem as anyone else. Me included, I always see myself as part of the problem. I never speak of me on an island with the solutions looking in at the masses with the problems. In my mind I always preach to myself as the ultimate problem. Christians fall into the trap stripping Jesus from the voice he wishes to give when they try to make Jesus fill this selfish gap and void of personal whims and fancies in various ways, many times merely couching it in "spiritual terms" so that it seems less sinful and scandalous. Jesus isn't about fulfilling the whims and fancies surrounding a human's selfish definition of happiness and shallow reason for existence. Jesus' existence was about giving himself away, not about a greedy fat kid at Halloween trying to grab all that sweet tasty candy happiness for himself. Jesus gave himself wholly away to the other.
Christians are not exempt from such terrible traps of selfcenteredness. All such traps produced by the undercurrent of our American culture end in a useless existence. We see the byproduct of that today in our churches, because many Christians are absolutely useless in their service to the Lord. I don't believe this is a harsh assessment or overstatement in the least. We as a whole stand pathetic in our witness in America. We as a whole do indeed stand as totally useless when it comes to us being used by God as his servants. There is nothing meaningful in endless pursuit of happiness as our American culture defines happiness. Christians pursuing this kind of happiness doesn't have a redeeming affect on anyone. But on Sunday morning when the service ends and the doors open we still look unchanged, and look like a bunch of fat kids looking to go trick or treating. If I want to be utterly useless and incapable of being used by God all I need to do is to keep following a shallow definition of what it means to have a positive existence. A meaningful existence isn't about happiness or fun. I don't want to be another American fat kid craving a sugar high.
A positive existence should never be marked by how many times one is able to have fun experiences. But our churches seem to steer themselves down this vomit laced road. Church activities are far too geared to fun, fellowship, and having a good time. I'm so glad we instill in our youth a message that my Jesus exists solely for entertaining me myself and I. Fun, fellowship, and having a good time in my mind is a recipe for church death. This simply cannot be the core message. But still churches echo that message far more than any real message Jesus would have to give us. Let's produce some more fat kids craving candy and then wonder in two decades why the American churches are completely extinct. We are by and large simply screwing ourselves in our churches here in America.
Moving through life there is but one thing which we can use to measure a positive existence. That one thing is one's closeness to the Divine. Positive existence is not to be tied to how much happiness one can attain, or how many fun experiences one can hoard for oneself. A meaningful existence is about being a useful servant.
There is nothing wrong with Jesus as the ultimate hard worker. This is in no way works based salvation. This is a little bit of taking seriously Jesus' message about picking up one's cross and following the ultimate servant. Our churches will soon die in America because we are too lazy to get out of bed to hear a serious call that demands complete domination and absolute discipline of oneself and one's will. I myself would do well to force myself to work a little harder for my master each and every day. After all, what does being a useful servant mean if it doesn't mean submission to a painful message?
What gift will I give the rest of humanity?
What will I contribute to the human race?
What will I do that will justify my existence?
Will the rest of humanity say that it was good for me to have existed?
What I know is the following...
There is a tendency to implicitly give the idea that a positive existence should be linked to ideas of happiness, or how much fun a person can grab for oneself. An example of this would be coming to the conclusion that I have lived a good life, because I had a lot of smiles and happiness throughout my years. But I submit that this is dead wrong as an assessment for determining the quality of one's life. The quality of life should not be linked to how many smiles or how much happiness one can selfishly grab hold of for oneself.
Happiness sometimes gives a hint also of a selfish undercurrent where the individual is at center stage, and that the world exists for oneself and is at that person's personal disposal to fit one's fancies and whims. Christians are just as much of the problem as anyone else. Me included, I always see myself as part of the problem. I never speak of me on an island with the solutions looking in at the masses with the problems. In my mind I always preach to myself as the ultimate problem. Christians fall into the trap stripping Jesus from the voice he wishes to give when they try to make Jesus fill this selfish gap and void of personal whims and fancies in various ways, many times merely couching it in "spiritual terms" so that it seems less sinful and scandalous. Jesus isn't about fulfilling the whims and fancies surrounding a human's selfish definition of happiness and shallow reason for existence. Jesus' existence was about giving himself away, not about a greedy fat kid at Halloween trying to grab all that sweet tasty candy happiness for himself. Jesus gave himself wholly away to the other.
Christians are not exempt from such terrible traps of selfcenteredness. All such traps produced by the undercurrent of our American culture end in a useless existence. We see the byproduct of that today in our churches, because many Christians are absolutely useless in their service to the Lord. I don't believe this is a harsh assessment or overstatement in the least. We as a whole stand pathetic in our witness in America. We as a whole do indeed stand as totally useless when it comes to us being used by God as his servants. There is nothing meaningful in endless pursuit of happiness as our American culture defines happiness. Christians pursuing this kind of happiness doesn't have a redeeming affect on anyone. But on Sunday morning when the service ends and the doors open we still look unchanged, and look like a bunch of fat kids looking to go trick or treating. If I want to be utterly useless and incapable of being used by God all I need to do is to keep following a shallow definition of what it means to have a positive existence. A meaningful existence isn't about happiness or fun. I don't want to be another American fat kid craving a sugar high.
A positive existence should never be marked by how many times one is able to have fun experiences. But our churches seem to steer themselves down this vomit laced road. Church activities are far too geared to fun, fellowship, and having a good time. I'm so glad we instill in our youth a message that my Jesus exists solely for entertaining me myself and I. Fun, fellowship, and having a good time in my mind is a recipe for church death. This simply cannot be the core message. But still churches echo that message far more than any real message Jesus would have to give us. Let's produce some more fat kids craving candy and then wonder in two decades why the American churches are completely extinct. We are by and large simply screwing ourselves in our churches here in America.
Moving through life there is but one thing which we can use to measure a positive existence. That one thing is one's closeness to the Divine. Positive existence is not to be tied to how much happiness one can attain, or how many fun experiences one can hoard for oneself. A meaningful existence is about being a useful servant.
There is nothing wrong with Jesus as the ultimate hard worker. This is in no way works based salvation. This is a little bit of taking seriously Jesus' message about picking up one's cross and following the ultimate servant. Our churches will soon die in America because we are too lazy to get out of bed to hear a serious call that demands complete domination and absolute discipline of oneself and one's will. I myself would do well to force myself to work a little harder for my master each and every day. After all, what does being a useful servant mean if it doesn't mean submission to a painful message?
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Only Half
If the world's eyes answered for me
If the world responded on my behalf
If the world answered for me they would say
I give you only half
My witness is only half
My Jesus requires only half
My commitment to serve the Glorious King is half
My commitment is only half serious
I'm responsible for only half of my actions
My Jesus only requires me to be responsible for half of my actions
But You Lord say
I demand all
I will not settle for half
I am the jealous God
I am Jesus requiring all
So help me Lord this Sabbath day
Force me to give you all when I only wish to give you half
Overwhelm me by your mercy and grace so that I cannot help but give you all in gratitude
A mind divided is not devoted to Jesus
A heart divided is half for the world
Teach me discipline so that I do not respond to half of your message
You bid me to fully come and die on your cross
Only giving half of myself is fully lukewarm
If the world responded on my behalf
If the world answered for me they would say
I give you only half
My witness is only half
My Jesus requires only half
My commitment to serve the Glorious King is half
My commitment is only half serious
I'm responsible for only half of my actions
My Jesus only requires me to be responsible for half of my actions
But You Lord say
I demand all
I will not settle for half
I am the jealous God
I am Jesus requiring all
So help me Lord this Sabbath day
Force me to give you all when I only wish to give you half
Overwhelm me by your mercy and grace so that I cannot help but give you all in gratitude
A mind divided is not devoted to Jesus
A heart divided is half for the world
Teach me discipline so that I do not respond to half of your message
You bid me to fully come and die on your cross
Only giving half of myself is fully lukewarm
Friday, November 16, 2007
Bending My Thoughts of the Other
One my biggest goals in life is mutating my thoughts of God into more accurate representations of God's holiness, and in this case I mean by that, God's otherness.
God is other than the human. At the root, He is light, and our sinfulness is only acquainted and accustomed to dwelling in the darkness. Therefore one of my biggest quests is to spend time thinking of God in ways not often thought about by our society today, (and hopefully) ways that bring us out of our pop culture's theological darkness.
In this way it is a voice from the wilderness so to speak, recovering aspects of God's multifaceted nature long lost. Aspects that are nonexistent today because we are entrenched in a narrow tunnel vision of God continually being perpetuated and reinforced by our American Evangelical culture.
John the Baptist preached a God coming, a God which the world did not know, and his message was repent. When the Messiah came, the world still did not have the mental framework capacity to cope with Isaiah 53's "suffering servant," and therefore John, who prepared the road, still could not fully rupture humanity's hearts. The people cognitively suffered from tunnel vision in what they expected the Messiah to be.
Let us not be surprised when we rediscover God, and the long forgotten but highly valuable aspects of the Godhead. May God break American Evangelical tunnel vision.
-God is the grieving God [Jesus wept, Holy Spirit continually grieves] Prophets wept.
-God's relentless pursuit of humanity throughout the ages of time [don't you pharisees know who I am? [Luke 15, pursuit of what is lost]
-God's drawing humanity back through a series of questions (Adam [Gen 3], and Cain [Gen 4])
-God's intensity
-God never sleeps
-Idea of the Holy
May God interrupt me today, so that I may be a little less like my old self tomorrow.
God is other than the human. At the root, He is light, and our sinfulness is only acquainted and accustomed to dwelling in the darkness. Therefore one of my biggest quests is to spend time thinking of God in ways not often thought about by our society today, (and hopefully) ways that bring us out of our pop culture's theological darkness.
In this way it is a voice from the wilderness so to speak, recovering aspects of God's multifaceted nature long lost. Aspects that are nonexistent today because we are entrenched in a narrow tunnel vision of God continually being perpetuated and reinforced by our American Evangelical culture.
John the Baptist preached a God coming, a God which the world did not know, and his message was repent. When the Messiah came, the world still did not have the mental framework capacity to cope with Isaiah 53's "suffering servant," and therefore John, who prepared the road, still could not fully rupture humanity's hearts. The people cognitively suffered from tunnel vision in what they expected the Messiah to be.
Let us not be surprised when we rediscover God, and the long forgotten but highly valuable aspects of the Godhead. May God break American Evangelical tunnel vision.
-God is the grieving God [Jesus wept, Holy Spirit continually grieves] Prophets wept.
-God's relentless pursuit of humanity throughout the ages of time [don't you pharisees know who I am? [Luke 15, pursuit of what is lost]
-God's drawing humanity back through a series of questions (Adam [Gen 3], and Cain [Gen 4])
-God's intensity
-God never sleeps
-Idea of the Holy
May God interrupt me today, so that I may be a little less like my old self tomorrow.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Media, Connected or Distant
I gave a talk on media last night. Some rough thoughts follow.
Living in a media saturated culture points to at least one thing. We love to be connected. With this known by all experientially, I still ask, are we connected to the most important things? We crave to be connected. Internet, blogs, youtube, my space, facebook, AIM, MSN Messenger, email, pagers, cells, blue-tooth, palm pilots, blackberries, ipods, iphones, and the wonderful world of online gaming…Yes we're connected, but Jesus asks, "are you connected with me?"
In 1 Peter 2:4-6 we get an insight as to how we're supposed to be connected.
1. Be connected with the cornerstone Jesus.
2. Living stones must be cut, chiseled, and put into place by the relation to the cornerstone.
3. To build something stones must be placed upon each other. Stones are called to bear weight on their shoulders. As living stones we're called to responsibility, called to be connected in God's building project and called to carry weight on our shoulders.
God says, I have a building project going on, and you’re part of it. You’re the living stones from which I’m building a temple that will mark the My presence. You will sacrifice yourself to Me on My altar, and I will live in your midst.
Are you connected to God’s building project?
A second idea of stones follow. A completely different idea however.
God gives a little stone (a little message) and throws it into the pond of our lives. We are called to see that stone hit the waters of the pond, and called to see its ripple affects. Note the similarities of how we're supposed to see the ripple affects of a seed planted by Matt 13. Here the ripple affects of a seed are fruit. In order to see the ripple effects of God's message, or in order for a seed to grow we must cut the noise, all the other stones thrown into the pond that prevent us from seeing the ripple effects from that tiny little of God. Distractions, cares, and concerns of the world that prevent us from internalizing God's message can also take the form of over-saturation of media's lesser message, so that we forget God's most important message.
One pebble, one 35 minute message, however great it is, is prone to get lost in the shuffle of all the other competing messages biding for our time in a media-centric world. How will you protect an important small pebble message from the outside noise until you can see its ripple affects on your life?
Finally, a distant God is different then a close God. God far away we can deal with, God close up is a whole other issue. Are we connected or distant with God? A distant God we can keep at arms length and we can filter a messages which we choose to accept. A God close up gets in our face at times, teaches hard messages at times, and will not be content being drowned out by all the other messages in our media-centric world.
My analysis follows:
-Talk was broken up into small manageable chunks where people I think by and large could keep tracking, and maintain concentration.
-Exegeted text, exegeted culture well. Message was also pertinent with where our society is at.
-Might have been heavy handed, or too direct for some, but it was solely an attempt to address the serious dilemma that we all too often fail to see in the mirror. Perhaps some mistake my passion when speaking for something less admirable or noble. I need to make sure I communicate in a way they see the intent of my communication. I'm so mad at myself if a came off to strong, that's a bad tendency of mine.
-Good use of reflection PowerPoint slides, thus allowing time for reflection and thoughts to sink in. Allowed time for people to think about what I was saying.
-I don't see any issues with any of the content of the message. I agonize over this fundamental element and cannot see myself erroring in any content that was presented.
-I might have ultimately failed in communicating the message in a way that truly touches people. This makes me so angry at myself, because I try so hard at this element.
-Good use of imagery and analogy. Living stones, building project and temple imagery 1 Pet 2. Football analogy, catch a football (a message) but only credit "for a catch" if we hang on to God's seed of a message and allow it to take root in our hearts. Pebble in pond analogy, requires personal inward searching for a message to hit home, until we can see a seed message have a ripple affects on our lives.
-Down side of analogies is that sometimes I'm too cryptic, and should just go plain-Jane. If I have 3 weeks to give a talk I have too much time to think in my head, and then unfortunately the only one who understands the message is me. Maybe I failed miserably at this element as well.
-Personally, this has been a lot of thinking, and a real mental and emotional drain. I haven't slept much in preparation. How my one pebble of a message touches the pond of people's lives the world has yet to see. What I do take comfort in is that I think I can say with a clear conscience that I tried my best to listen to God's voice in the direction and tone of the talk. I gave it my best crack, the best way I know how, and ultimately I rest in God's sovereignty to bring a ripple affect in people's lives from a small pebble of a message. So I move on, try to repent and construct better messages next time, and in the meantime preach more pointed messages at myself because God's demands so much more from me, a servant. Maybe God never told me to preach, preaching might be my dream, not God's plan. If that's the case then may my job in the secular workplace be equally as glorifying to God as any pastor's message on any given Sunday.
Living in a media saturated culture points to at least one thing. We love to be connected. With this known by all experientially, I still ask, are we connected to the most important things? We crave to be connected. Internet, blogs, youtube, my space, facebook, AIM, MSN Messenger, email, pagers, cells, blue-tooth, palm pilots, blackberries, ipods, iphones, and the wonderful world of online gaming…Yes we're connected, but Jesus asks, "are you connected with me?"
In 1 Peter 2:4-6 we get an insight as to how we're supposed to be connected.
1. Be connected with the cornerstone Jesus.
2. Living stones must be cut, chiseled, and put into place by the relation to the cornerstone.
3. To build something stones must be placed upon each other. Stones are called to bear weight on their shoulders. As living stones we're called to responsibility, called to be connected in God's building project and called to carry weight on our shoulders.
God says, I have a building project going on, and you’re part of it. You’re the living stones from which I’m building a temple that will mark the My presence. You will sacrifice yourself to Me on My altar, and I will live in your midst.
Are you connected to God’s building project?
A second idea of stones follow. A completely different idea however.
God gives a little stone (a little message) and throws it into the pond of our lives. We are called to see that stone hit the waters of the pond, and called to see its ripple affects. Note the similarities of how we're supposed to see the ripple affects of a seed planted by Matt 13. Here the ripple affects of a seed are fruit. In order to see the ripple effects of God's message, or in order for a seed to grow we must cut the noise, all the other stones thrown into the pond that prevent us from seeing the ripple effects from that tiny little of God. Distractions, cares, and concerns of the world that prevent us from internalizing God's message can also take the form of over-saturation of media's lesser message, so that we forget God's most important message.
One pebble, one 35 minute message, however great it is, is prone to get lost in the shuffle of all the other competing messages biding for our time in a media-centric world. How will you protect an important small pebble message from the outside noise until you can see its ripple affects on your life?
Finally, a distant God is different then a close God. God far away we can deal with, God close up is a whole other issue. Are we connected or distant with God? A distant God we can keep at arms length and we can filter a messages which we choose to accept. A God close up gets in our face at times, teaches hard messages at times, and will not be content being drowned out by all the other messages in our media-centric world.
My analysis follows:
-Talk was broken up into small manageable chunks where people I think by and large could keep tracking, and maintain concentration.
-Exegeted text, exegeted culture well. Message was also pertinent with where our society is at.
-Might have been heavy handed, or too direct for some, but it was solely an attempt to address the serious dilemma that we all too often fail to see in the mirror. Perhaps some mistake my passion when speaking for something less admirable or noble. I need to make sure I communicate in a way they see the intent of my communication. I'm so mad at myself if a came off to strong, that's a bad tendency of mine.
-Good use of reflection PowerPoint slides, thus allowing time for reflection and thoughts to sink in. Allowed time for people to think about what I was saying.
-I don't see any issues with any of the content of the message. I agonize over this fundamental element and cannot see myself erroring in any content that was presented.
-I might have ultimately failed in communicating the message in a way that truly touches people. This makes me so angry at myself, because I try so hard at this element.
-Good use of imagery and analogy. Living stones, building project and temple imagery 1 Pet 2. Football analogy, catch a football (a message) but only credit "for a catch" if we hang on to God's seed of a message and allow it to take root in our hearts. Pebble in pond analogy, requires personal inward searching for a message to hit home, until we can see a seed message have a ripple affects on our lives.
-Down side of analogies is that sometimes I'm too cryptic, and should just go plain-Jane. If I have 3 weeks to give a talk I have too much time to think in my head, and then unfortunately the only one who understands the message is me. Maybe I failed miserably at this element as well.
-Personally, this has been a lot of thinking, and a real mental and emotional drain. I haven't slept much in preparation. How my one pebble of a message touches the pond of people's lives the world has yet to see. What I do take comfort in is that I think I can say with a clear conscience that I tried my best to listen to God's voice in the direction and tone of the talk. I gave it my best crack, the best way I know how, and ultimately I rest in God's sovereignty to bring a ripple affect in people's lives from a small pebble of a message. So I move on, try to repent and construct better messages next time, and in the meantime preach more pointed messages at myself because God's demands so much more from me, a servant. Maybe God never told me to preach, preaching might be my dream, not God's plan. If that's the case then may my job in the secular workplace be equally as glorifying to God as any pastor's message on any given Sunday.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Too Close For Comfort
You are the King of Kings,
You are the Lord of Lords,
You reign majestically from the heavens above.
The cherubim shout holy, holy, holy.
From a distance we admire our majestic King. From a distance it is easy to call Jesus our treasure. But the distant God whose throne rests sovereignly over all of creation came down. He came down to see where our treasure truly lays. He came down to earth and lent a close ear to the human. Now I say, "You are my King," and the King talks back. He questions back what I say to Him and shatters my existence.
God from a distant doesn't talk back. God close up however is a whole other matter. God's holiness from a distance is a beautiful glorious thing. God's holy presence up close is a terrifying thing. A nice, tidy prayer praising the holy God soon becomes unraveled when a distant God chooses by His abundant grace to break the barriers to speak pointedly to address our sins, our very lives. The once high sounding prayers can now only be sputtered out by Peter's, flee from me Jesus, for I am a sinful man, or Isaiah's woe is me, I am undone.
When the distant God comes close, it's too close for comfort. Are you connected or distant to God today? What are you going to do about it?
You are the Lord of Lords,
You reign majestically from the heavens above.
The cherubim shout holy, holy, holy.
From a distance we admire our majestic King. From a distance it is easy to call Jesus our treasure. But the distant God whose throne rests sovereignly over all of creation came down. He came down to see where our treasure truly lays. He came down to earth and lent a close ear to the human. Now I say, "You are my King," and the King talks back. He questions back what I say to Him and shatters my existence.
God from a distant doesn't talk back. God close up however is a whole other matter. God's holiness from a distance is a beautiful glorious thing. God's holy presence up close is a terrifying thing. A nice, tidy prayer praising the holy God soon becomes unraveled when a distant God chooses by His abundant grace to break the barriers to speak pointedly to address our sins, our very lives. The once high sounding prayers can now only be sputtered out by Peter's, flee from me Jesus, for I am a sinful man, or Isaiah's woe is me, I am undone.
When the distant God comes close, it's too close for comfort. Are you connected or distant to God today? What are you going to do about it?
Friday, November 9, 2007
Catapult Thyself
There is much spoken out there and equally as much written where pastors can get into little pastoral circles and talk about the problems in ministry until the cows come home. I should probably include myself in that mix, however, I'm not a pastor, and therefore I exempt myself :-) Conversations usually follow the basic train of thought:
-spectator ethic rather than participant ethic
-they are the frozen chosen
-they won't listen and won't follow!
-holy huddles
-the culture today breeds Christians who gather together merely for social and entertainment purposes
Looking towards becoming a better leader myself I try to exegete our culture and our problems, but hopefully I pray not dwell on them all day. The answer is serving God, but what specific message will that Platonic form manifest itself this week?
The wise sage Matt Erickson contributes the following prayer thusly, "They would see that their spirituality is not about them alone, but about finding their place within the body of Christ." Individualism is at an all time high, and Matt correctly brings this to a forefront again in our minds. But individualism, how? Perhaps it's individualism because of the mode of media. Media creating islands of isolation (when I'm listening to my ipod I'm in my own little world) and therefore the natural byproduct is separation and individualism. So, doing "spirituality alone" can be connected to the problem of underdeveloped thinking of how media impacts us in the most subtle and unseeming ways.
If we see some truth in the framework of media creating us into little separate isolated islands, then isolated spiritualism is bound to follow. Spirituality alone may manifest itself in many ways. One way are ministries is heavy in "events" and "socials" but really ultimately at the end of the day weak in fellowship. How does this happen? Simple, the "events" and "socials" are merely filled with shallow "gas pump fellowship." (I coined that baby, so don't you go stealing that on me unless you give me props. That idea is part of one of my chapters in my up and coming book.) This means that conversations only go as far and as deep as a conversation you would have with a stranger outside a gas pump on a crisp November morning. A solution I propose is simply to stop planning and holding "events" and "socials" for the simple fact that they are meeting their intended purposes anyways, which is or at least should be to build confidence in a young outreach team at these are easy places to mingle with new faces or to kick start Christian fellowship at the start of each term. Stop burning the energies and simply stop that hamster wheel altogether. Go to pray until you can figure out how to listen to God's voice again in learning how to build Christian community through other means other than by putting on a sound and light show at a youth rally.
Another way spirituality is done alone is much different. In the example above, there was gathering, which is deceptive. That would give the appearance of connectivity. But as I argue, that's only "gas pump fellowship" connectivity. The other way we see spirituality done alone is by the rogue or nut job. The nut job is out to lunch as far as a holistic understanding of God's message is concerned. His personal piety in some places may be truly outstanding, but his grasping of God's message of the need to "play nice" and the need for doing theology in a community is at around a second grade reader level.
Ultimately, I see exegeting the culture of our media-centric world today useful in peeling back the curtain of reality to tackle larger issues such the tragic isolated island concept and "doing spirituality alone." I must say I am grateful for Matt and the interns at Elmbrook Church as they have been a blessing on my life as I try to wade through the mud of my over-racked brain.
I shall continue to catapult myself to think about these issues. Catapulting myself into exegeting both text and culture. Tuesday I talk on media for a college ministry, hence my media contact points here today. I remain indebted to all of you who think about me and pray for me often. Thank you friend.
-spectator ethic rather than participant ethic
-they are the frozen chosen
-they won't listen and won't follow!
-holy huddles
-the culture today breeds Christians who gather together merely for social and entertainment purposes
Looking towards becoming a better leader myself I try to exegete our culture and our problems, but hopefully I pray not dwell on them all day. The answer is serving God, but what specific message will that Platonic form manifest itself this week?
The wise sage Matt Erickson contributes the following prayer thusly, "They would see that their spirituality is not about them alone, but about finding their place within the body of Christ." Individualism is at an all time high, and Matt correctly brings this to a forefront again in our minds. But individualism, how? Perhaps it's individualism because of the mode of media. Media creating islands of isolation (when I'm listening to my ipod I'm in my own little world) and therefore the natural byproduct is separation and individualism. So, doing "spirituality alone" can be connected to the problem of underdeveloped thinking of how media impacts us in the most subtle and unseeming ways.
If we see some truth in the framework of media creating us into little separate isolated islands, then isolated spiritualism is bound to follow. Spirituality alone may manifest itself in many ways. One way are ministries is heavy in "events" and "socials" but really ultimately at the end of the day weak in fellowship. How does this happen? Simple, the "events" and "socials" are merely filled with shallow "gas pump fellowship." (I coined that baby, so don't you go stealing that on me unless you give me props. That idea is part of one of my chapters in my up and coming book.) This means that conversations only go as far and as deep as a conversation you would have with a stranger outside a gas pump on a crisp November morning. A solution I propose is simply to stop planning and holding "events" and "socials" for the simple fact that they are meeting their intended purposes anyways, which is or at least should be to build confidence in a young outreach team at these are easy places to mingle with new faces or to kick start Christian fellowship at the start of each term. Stop burning the energies and simply stop that hamster wheel altogether. Go to pray until you can figure out how to listen to God's voice again in learning how to build Christian community through other means other than by putting on a sound and light show at a youth rally.
Another way spirituality is done alone is much different. In the example above, there was gathering, which is deceptive. That would give the appearance of connectivity. But as I argue, that's only "gas pump fellowship" connectivity. The other way we see spirituality done alone is by the rogue or nut job. The nut job is out to lunch as far as a holistic understanding of God's message is concerned. His personal piety in some places may be truly outstanding, but his grasping of God's message of the need to "play nice" and the need for doing theology in a community is at around a second grade reader level.
Ultimately, I see exegeting the culture of our media-centric world today useful in peeling back the curtain of reality to tackle larger issues such the tragic isolated island concept and "doing spirituality alone." I must say I am grateful for Matt and the interns at Elmbrook Church as they have been a blessing on my life as I try to wade through the mud of my over-racked brain.
I shall continue to catapult myself to think about these issues. Catapulting myself into exegeting both text and culture. Tuesday I talk on media for a college ministry, hence my media contact points here today. I remain indebted to all of you who think about me and pray for me often. Thank you friend.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Make a Message STICK!!
So I bet you struggle with this topic too. Whether its how to preach it and stick it to your audience or flip it around and have a great message as you're sitting in the audience stick to you. It about making it stick. To make it stick on others, analyze what it takes to stick it to yourself. AKA know yourself!
First off, holy humbleness! How many great messages do I hear, but no stick! Such a spiral of depression. But through the years I start to learn something about making my soul sticky. Brokenness, and seeing yourself in need of the message aids in making messages stick. Much discussion, reflection, and contemplation also aid in making the message stick. Practical prayer to put legs unto a great message starts to make the message stick to the feet in practical action steps. If these don't happen kiss goodbye to that great message. You won't remember it two Sundays from now guaranteed. Discipline thyself to mediate. Now, all of life is about making the Word stick. So pray for me and I'll pray the terrible process of sanctification onto you as well.
Now, there's few things harder in this world than to make "hearing" turn into "listening." At least loosely I think this is what Jesus' hearing/listening was about. To listen is to make the message stick. Anything less and the message bounces off, that is merely hearing. To listen requires the mental activity to make the necessary connections to how the message ideas can be fleshed out in experiential reality. To listen also gives the nod to obedience. As time elapses and you don't find yourself being obedient to the message, you never truly listened to it. It's as simple as that. Don't complicate it. Admit it. Call it what is it. I admit it. I hear, but my ears are uncircumcised and heart closed and clinging to things of old. Better to admit I have a hard time digesting messages and listening then to say I listen but am not moved by the message in practical outworkings. Be brutally honest with yourself and call reality what it is, so the Savior can save you and bring you to a better reality. Know thyself. To know vices is to know thyself.
If you teach, teach to stick. Message content should be as follow. Pray, listen, pray. Exegete text, exegete culture. Then return to text with culture's questions and concerns. Do theology on the carefully exegeted text, and then return to culture. At culture, think about how to smash the message powerfully against the audience's mind and heart. The message must be memorable, if it's not memorable, it's a failure. Creativity in the message delivery process should be prayed about.
Lastly, if you give the message you aren't responsible for the audience's hearing, grasping, and eventual listening to the message. BUT any disciple is responsible for praying for his audience with relentless fervor.
First off, holy humbleness! How many great messages do I hear, but no stick! Such a spiral of depression. But through the years I start to learn something about making my soul sticky. Brokenness, and seeing yourself in need of the message aids in making messages stick. Much discussion, reflection, and contemplation also aid in making the message stick. Practical prayer to put legs unto a great message starts to make the message stick to the feet in practical action steps. If these don't happen kiss goodbye to that great message. You won't remember it two Sundays from now guaranteed. Discipline thyself to mediate. Now, all of life is about making the Word stick. So pray for me and I'll pray the terrible process of sanctification onto you as well.
Now, there's few things harder in this world than to make "hearing" turn into "listening." At least loosely I think this is what Jesus' hearing/listening was about. To listen is to make the message stick. Anything less and the message bounces off, that is merely hearing. To listen requires the mental activity to make the necessary connections to how the message ideas can be fleshed out in experiential reality. To listen also gives the nod to obedience. As time elapses and you don't find yourself being obedient to the message, you never truly listened to it. It's as simple as that. Don't complicate it. Admit it. Call it what is it. I admit it. I hear, but my ears are uncircumcised and heart closed and clinging to things of old. Better to admit I have a hard time digesting messages and listening then to say I listen but am not moved by the message in practical outworkings. Be brutally honest with yourself and call reality what it is, so the Savior can save you and bring you to a better reality. Know thyself. To know vices is to know thyself.
If you teach, teach to stick. Message content should be as follow. Pray, listen, pray. Exegete text, exegete culture. Then return to text with culture's questions and concerns. Do theology on the carefully exegeted text, and then return to culture. At culture, think about how to smash the message powerfully against the audience's mind and heart. The message must be memorable, if it's not memorable, it's a failure. Creativity in the message delivery process should be prayed about.
Lastly, if you give the message you aren't responsible for the audience's hearing, grasping, and eventual listening to the message. BUT any disciple is responsible for praying for his audience with relentless fervor.
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