Uncategorized – Salvaged Faith

fact checking in an age of T.M.I.

Posted on February 13, 2012Leave a comment

Too Much Information. I’m not entirely sure that is what was envisioned by the framers of amendment one when they gave freedom to the press. I’m not sure that was what was envisioned by the inventors of the internet, or cable tv, or email.

But we are inundated constantly with information. And depending on which sources we use for our information we read completely different “facts.” Even within one publication we can have radically different portrayals of the truth. Or opinion – which has begun to substitute just fine for truth these days.

As a pastor, I face this when I have congregants reading different interpretations of scripture from vastly different sources and theological frameworks. While it provides and opportunity to talk about why these interpretations might be different, do we ever reach back and find out what the truth of the text is? Is there Truth to be found? or is it all a matter of interpretation?

Certainly this isn’t a new problem. That’s why throughout the Judeo-Christian tradition there have always been schools of thought that argued with one another. There is a reason that Jesus had to interact with Pharisees and Sadducees and Zealots and Essenes. They were all holding on to different pieces of the truth, and holding on to them so fast that they became the Truth for each.

We do this in the church. We do this in politics. We do this in schools. We do this everywhere. Because the idea that we can’t fully grasp the Truth – that it is something that is bigger than us, is scary. We want black and white – truth and falsehood, good guys and bad guys. The in between stuff is a mess and we don’t want to live there.

I chatted with a fellow pastor a while back about how people seem to like morality sermons better than grace sermons. Because with morality and justification sermons the choice is clear – do this, don’t do that. When we talk about love and forgiveness and grace, suddenly we are in the gray area… showing love to a murderer? having compassion for a drug addict? Witnessing someone transform their lives? it’s messy, and hard and challenging, and we would much rather label people as good or bad – even labeling ourselves as good or bad is easier than accepting messy grace.

But the world we live in is not black and white. Reality is dirty and messy and complicated. When we finally dig deep and get to the truth, sometimes we learn that it cannot always be reduced to either/or… sometimes it is both/and.

So what are we to do when we are swimming in a culture of information and mis-information? How do we know which way to turn?

First, hang out with people who don’t think like you. One of the best ways to fact-check your information is to compare it with what other people are hearing. I am involved in both a weekly bible study and a monthly pastoral gathering and one of the things I cherish the most is that we don’t always agree. We approach theology and scripture from different angles. We place our emphasis on different words. But in dialogue with one another, we peel back layers of delusion and confusion and we all grow because of the experience. I also try to listen with patience when I am home visiting my family and the news is on. While we might not turn to the same sources of information, we can help one another to gain a larger picture of the truth by asking questions, sharing what we have also hear about that situation, and trying to understand the rhetoric behind the news. The key to this piece of advice is that we cannot immediately get defensive. We must listen and share with grace and love.

Second, seek outside sources of information that you know to be trusted. Not all questions can be answered adequately with a google search, not every website has accurate and honest information. In the midst of the chaos, I’m becoming increasingly grateful for websites like snopes.com. They help sift through lots of information and help to clear up some of the mis-information out there. But they do so in a way that realizes that there is fact and fiction out there. They are willing to say that parts are true and parts aren’t. They show you which is which. They show which items are a matter of interpretation and opinion. They back stuff up with resources. They are indespensible!!!! I am now in the habit of running any email forward I recieve through snopes.com – just to see what’s out there. But I am sad to say that I have had to actually fact check news stories lately as well. While I am not aware of any specific website that does this for theological dilemmas, I am open to suggestions! The biggest rule here is to seek out a source that doesn’t have a dog in the fight. Look for a source that doesn’t have a financial investment or tie to the information and how it might be used.

Third, get as close to the source of information as you can. If you are trying to study the bible – take some lessons in greek or hebrew. Carry a dictionary with you and look at what a particular word might mean. Spend some time studying the context and what is going on in history at the time. The same principles apply to news stories. You are going to be much farther from the truth if you are reading a blog responding to an opinion page article about the Super Bowl than if you were there in person. Reading in-depth sports news articles from the day after adds another layer. Get as close as possible to the source as you can for the most accurate descriptions.

Fourth, think carefully about “crowd sourcing”. There is an idea in the Wesleyan tradition about Christian Conferencing – that when we gather to discuss and discern with the help of the Holy Spirit we will find God’s will. We use it to guide important decisions we make (like voting on issues at General Conference) but also in the discernment of truth and what sources of information are important to consider. I believe God is good and that it is possible to discern the truth among many, so I want to lift this up as an important principle to share. In scripture study, this might be thought of as communal lectio divina, where we allow the responses of the group inform us. In today’s networked world, simply asking a question like “How did Whitney Houston die?” on facebook or twitter might get you the right information and from a number of people with a number of different sources. But it could also lead you directly into the midst of mis-information, rumors, speculation and nonsense. Accept “crowd sourced” information with a grain of salt and let it lead you deeper into some of the other principles we have mentioned here, rather than simply being your final stop.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when we try to pretend that this world of information is cut and dry and easy. When we skew facts and figures, stories, and information, we do so in order to get OUR point across, but in doing so tell only part of the story. It seems like everyone has their own corner on the truth – a news station for just about every perspective you might care to have, a biblical translation that cuts out all liberal or conservative viewpoints. We are so good at owning up to our biases that we actually forget there are other sides of the story to tell. What used to be sources of real news and information have become just another layer of scum you need to dig through in order to gain a smidgen of knowledge.

Truth is not easy to find. It will take work. It will take some self-awareness to see outside of the fishbowl we are swimming in. But in this world of far too much information, it is work that we must do.

Lost – the Oldest Game Ever Played?

Posted on July 29, 2010Leave a comment

In the second part of the pilot episode of ABC’s, Lost, we find John Locke sitting on the beach setting up a backgammon board. Young Walt walks up and wants to know what the game is and how to play.

In his usual enigmatic way, Locke replies, holding up the black and white counters, “two players, two sides, one is light, one is dark.”

That theme of light and dark, good and evil, white and black flows throughout the series of lost. Constantly you are trying to figure out who is good, who is bad, and which side the characters are playing on.

Having known very little about the actual game of backgammon, I did some research. In the game, the goal is to get all of your counters/checkers/stones off of the board. The checkers are initially set up at various set locations across the board and the light and dark pieces are moved in opposite directions, each player trying to get their pieces “home.” It is the roll of the dice that determines how many moves each person can make.

Opposing forces, two sides, each trying to make it “home.”

Later, I want to discuss what it might mean for each side to make their stragetic moves in their attempts to get home, but right now, I’m struck by the contrast between black and white.

In Christian theology, there is a battle between good and evil, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. This is talked about both cosmically in the sense of Christ’s victory over the forces of Satan and individually as our hearts and minds are up for grabs. Christians are called to live in the light, to clothe themselves with rightousness, to put all darkness and evil out of their lives. There is no inbetween. Those who are “lukewarm” might as well be on the darkside. The choice is clear.

Yet even in the midst of this black and white, either/or language, there exists within theology another current that talks about the grey area… the both/and. Lutheran theology claims that we are simultaneously sinners and saints, darkness and light living together. In Methodist theology, we talk about sanctification – that God’s grace flows within us from the moment of justification and over time, we are gradually perfected in God’s eyes – that someday we reach that moment of perfection, but that in the meantime we are people of the light who struggle with the darkness within us.

The question is one of if and when redemption can come. If we are filled with darkness and evil, can we ever change our ways? If we are filled with light and goodness, can we ever fall from grace?

The characters on Lost constantly struggle with these questions. As we are introduced to Kate, Sawyer, Charlie, Eko, Sun, and others, we see the destruction that their past lives have caused. We see the hurt and pain they have caused not only others, but also themselves. And while at the same time running from their past, they are also running towards a new future. In small ways throughout their lives they have done redeemable acts – like Sawyer leaving his “commission” to the daughter he has never met, or Eko trying to help the villagers get their vaccine – although he chose a path of killing to get there. Their lives are a mixed back of light and darkness, each vying with the other to take control of these individuals.

The island in many ways gives them a clean slate – a tabula rasa, as one of the first episodes puts it. It is a fresh start and a chance for them to make themselves over as new people, without their past haunting them.

The ability to say that they are sorry, to confess the wrongs of their lives and to make amends is difficult. Kate finds that she cannot apologize for killing her step-father, nor Eko for the destruction that followed as he tried to save his brother from a similiar fate. But Charlie does find ways to say that he is sorry and successfully gives up heroin use. Sawyer makes amends with the survivors by throwing a boar feast. Juliet tries to prove she is on the side of the survivors through telling the truth about being a “mole.”

And yet, as fear and anger take over, darkness again creeps in. On the first night in their camp, Eko takes the lives of two men that have tried to haul him off. Sayid returns to torture as a means of getting information. Sawyer just cannot leave the con alone when he feels that power has slipped away from him.

In the game of backgammon, light and darkness cannot exist on the same point at the same time. Either there are too many counters of the one color and the other cannot move in, or there is a one on one confrontation. As the light or dark counter moves onto a point occupied by another – the “blot” – the blot must leave the board and is placed on the bar between the sides of the board. That counter must now start from the beginning and make its way all the way back around the board.

This game takes a leap backwards into ancient history when in the final season we learn about the origins of Jacob (the man in white) and his brother, The Man In Black. Throughout the series, these two enigmatic figures seem to be the personification of good and evil. They seem to be the very forces that keep the lives of our characters spinning both on and off of this place. And yet – even these two are caught in the same struggles. Their mother is murdered, they are lied to, and in the end – one acts on blind faith and obedience… much like we might wish Adam and Eve had done in the Garden of Eden, while the other seeks to make his own way and to escape from this Island. It is the struggle between these two temptations… to obey or to rebel that causes Jacob to kill his brother and inadvertantly unleash the monster.

That constant interplay, the struggle between light and dark is present in our lives. Faced with temptation, encountered with fear, we must make a choice to move and to confront those opposing forces or to sit back and wait for the darkness to win. As we see all too clearly in Lost, mistrust and secrecy become avenues for darkness to work. Yet, we know through scriptures that through prayer, through community, through open hearts, we are strengthened by others and by God to face those opposing forces. Jack’s famous, “live together, die alone,” is not only a statement about survival – but a recipe for how they can strengthen themselves for the battle of hearts and minds.

Ironically – and I’m sure this will come up in later posts – while we might die alone… Lost presents us with the impression that we will not be alone in our death. There is no sense of condemnation, no black and white, no judgment…. but ala C.S. Lewis – not all are ready to get on the bus and take the ride.

Clothing Ourselves…

Posted on December 27, 2009Leave a comment

This season is always interesting when you preach from the lectionary – the three year cycle of readings – because we seem to be doing a time warp.

Just two days ago, we celebrated the birth of Christ, and here we are in the midst of the Christmas season – but then we jump ahead twelve years for the scriptures today and find ourselves in Jerusalem with Jesus as a young man.

We have very little record of what happens in between. There are a number of other gospels that have been found that are not included in our book. But they come from much different times and say many things that contradict what we find here in scriptures.

No, all that we have officially is story of Jesus being circumcised in Luke’s gospel, and then twelve years later this rather ordinary tale of a mother, a father and a son visiting Jerusalem for the Passover feast.

They had done this quite often. Every year they faithfully made the trek with others in their village and family members. Every year they battled the crowds and the people and the animals to worship with one another.

In fact, the only thing that made this year different from any other year is that something had changed in Jesus.

As a precocious 12 year old boy, he was starting to realize a difference between his early parents, Mary and Joseph, and his heavenly parent, God Almighty.

And he got into his head that he was ready to make the switch – he was ready to leave his family in order to be closer to his Father. He made his way to the temple, sat down in the midst of some rabbis and started debating with them!

Now, we could accuse Mary and Joseph of being bad parents… but they got a good ways down the road back to home before they realized that their son was no longer with them. It was chaos in the caravan so it was hard to keep track of one another – and perhaps Jesus had employed a little trickery to sneak off. In any case, they realized he wasn’t with them and rush back to the City of David to find him.

I can’t imagine the panic they were feeling. They searched every corner of the city – where they had spent the night, places they had eaten, where they last saw him, and they checked the temple courts.

And there he was – in the midst of the teachers – who were all astounded at the wisdom of this little boy.

But here is what I think is the really interesting part of the story… Jesus tried to explain that he wanted to be there in the temple close to his Holy Father… but in the end, he traveled back with Mary and Joseph to Nazareth.

The scriptures say that he was obedient to them – for all that time.

For 18 years, Jesus disappeared. He went home and obeyed his parents. Moms and Dads – note that scripture when your kids are acting up =)

For 18 years, we have no record of what he did. We assume he took up the mantle of his father the carpenter, but it doesn’t say so anywhere in scripture. Some say that he traveled and studied in far off places. Perhaps he married and had a family – afterall, 30 is a quite old age in this culture to be starting one’s life work. Now, the scriptures say no where that he did do these things… but they also don’t say that he didn’t. There is a gap that we try to fill with our imaginations and what we know about the culture of the time. But really, we are left wondering what was he doing all of that time?

The only answer that I can come up with is that he was waiting.

He was waiting for the time to be right.

He was waiting for the call of the Lord upon his life.

In our reading from Colossians today, we are told to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…. And above all clothe ourselves with love.

The one that sticks out in that passage for me is patience.

Jesus went back to Nazareth with his mother and father instead of starting his ministry when he wanted to. He went back to Nazareth and clothed himself with patience. He clothed himself with humility as he honored his earthly parents. He got himself ready for his ministry to the world by clothing himself with compassion and kindness and meekness. And above all else, he clothed himself with love.

For all of that time, Jesus was hidden away from the eyes of the world, but he was also getting himself ready for what was to come.

I think the hardest part of our lives sometimes is the fact that we haven’t heard God speak to us yet. Some of us have… some of us have heard a still small voice, but others of us are still waiting.

We are like the young man Jesus who reluctantly but humbly goes back home with Mary and Joseph – we must wait, and we may not be sure for how long.

But in the meantime… we can get ourselves ready. We practice our faith so that we are ready when the time comes. We spend time learning the scriptures. We can spend time singing the songs of faith. We can spend time caring for our neighbors and loved ones, clothing ourselves with compassion. We can practice forgiveness for the small things – so that when the big things come into our lives, we are ready for them.

Our call is not to simply wait for a burning bush to appear. Our call is to take this faith we have been given and to practice it in small ways each and every day so that we are ready – we are clothed with the right stuff – when that burning bush appears.

Next week, we will look at some of the ways that Christ was being prepared for his ministry in the world…. Even back to the time of his birth, and the following week we will hear the call that ended that 18 years of silence. So come, journey with us as we prepare our hearts and minds for what God is going to do in our midst.

Amen, and Amen.

Tumblr

Posted on August 17, 2009Leave a comment

It’s not always the easiest to link to things as I see them or to comment on an image or a song I run across. So as you stop by, I want to invite you to also check out my tumblog. You can get to it through the tab at the top of the page – or at www.salvagedfaith.tumblr.com

August 9 – alternative sermon

Posted on August 10, 2009Leave a comment

This is a piece of the sermon that I left out in order to talk about rhythm and music and dancing…

This abandonment of heart reminds me of John Wesley. He was a preacher’s son and went on to become a preacher himself. He always did what was expected of him and went above and beyond when it came to keeping the ordinances of God. He fasted and prayed and read the bible and served God not only through a local congregation but also through the university he himself had attended.

The Church of England at the time wasn’t very welcoming of the common person. The churches were cold and stuffy, the people were looked down upon if they didn’t come in dressed properly, and the ministers didn’t speak the language of the common people – they were much more comfortable with the fancy words they had learned in their academic pursuits. In fact, it kind of reminds me of the church we described at the beginning of this message… so caught up in itself that it didn’t even realize it was leaving some people out.

John Wesley however soon came into contact with all of those people who had been forgotten. He met miners and workers and orphans and the poor and he realized that they were never going to set foot inside the cathedral on their own initiative. He realized that he was going to have to take the gospel to them.

In spite of the ridicule he would face, in spite of his own hesitations, Wesley decided to go and preach in the open air to these folks. In his journal on April 2, 1739, Wesley writes, “At four in the afternoon I submitted to ‘be more vile,’ and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation . . . .” He stood in the middle of a graveyard… climbed on top of a tombstone in fact so that others could see him, and he began to preach to the miners as they got off of work. In his actions that day, not only was his own heart transformed, but so too were the lives of thousands as the Wesleyan movement truly began.

Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you’ve never been hurt and live like it’s heaven on Earth

Things I need to Blog About

Posted on June 16, 2009Leave a comment

1) Annual Conference (especially a few of the Bishop’s challenges)
3) Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted – sharing about S.A.C.C. group and weeping with those who cry out for inclusion.
4) Rethink Church… marketing, perception, implemention… or can it really just be a fresh look? (new door hangers that we might use in our congregation to start in home meetings)
5) The joy of doing funerals… wanting to read Becca Stevens new book Funerals for Strangers… and wishing I had thought to write it first.

Transfigured Transitions

Posted on February 22, 2009Leave a comment

I was a speech and drama geek in high school. From the beginning of classes in September until the school year ended in May, you could find me in Mrs. Campbell’s room. I was in every play, every musical, and competed at large group and individual speech contests every year.

Each and every event required a lot of preparation and practice. And there would be a huge level of anticipation as the lines came together and the speeches were memorized and on the day of performances we were all too giddy to contain ourselves. The big day or night would come and before we knew it, all of the work was over in one blazing flash of glory. We would come home from speech contest with our awards, or head to the cast party after our productions and we would celebrate for a bit, but the next Monday we would be back in Mrs. Campbell’s room working on the next project to come our way.

That’s how you had to operate because of the flow of the school year; there was never really too much time to celebrate. There was always something new to prepare for and we got back to work as soon as we had a moment to take our breath.

Those performances were always like mountain top experiences for me. So much hard work and preparation had gone into the weeks and months leading up to the big moment that you just prayed that you would get there and that everything would go well. You prayed that all of the hard work would pay off and that you would see the fruit of your work.

In some ways, I wonder if that’s how Peter, James, and John felt when Jesus took them up to the mountain.

They had been following their teacher for quite some time now and they had witnessed some pretty amazing things.

I can imagine that when these three were singled out to head up to the top of the mountain – they probably thought that something extremely important was about to happen. I can picture Peter and James and John nervous with anticipation. Would this be their big test? Would this be their moment to shine? Was this what they had been preparing for?

As they reach the summit, Jesus moves a few paces ahead and then turns around to face them. And as he does – he changes before their eyes! His whole body seems to radiate with an inexplicable glory and even his clothes shine brighter than the sun.

Just as the three disciples begin to adjust their eyes to this brilliance they see two figures appear beside their Master… two figures who could only be Moses and Elijah. As Peter and James and John cower in fear and trembling before this amazing visage – the three mysterious beings have a conversation.

Now, if I’m Peter, if I have been learning at the feet of Jesus for a few months, if I have been a part miracles that have taken place, and if I’m led up to the top of a mountain where my teacher suddenly begins to glow and radiate glory – I would be pretty fearful myself. Fearful of making a mistake, fearful of interfering, fearful of living through the experience!

But in spite of all that fear, Peter begins to think that maybe this is the moment they have been preparing for. Never mind the fact that Jesus just had a conversation with them about suffering and dying and taking up your cross before they made this journey up the mountain. This was what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah and Peter begins to think that this is the moment for him too.

Can you imagine what it would be like to interrupt Jesus and Moses and Elijah if they were having a conversation? “umm… excuse me, Hi, some of you don’t know me but my name is Peter, and I would be more than happy to make you guys some tents – you know a place to sit down and rest for a while – if that would make you more comfortable.”

We don’t know how the three radiant figures responded because a cloud overshadowed the trio of disciples like a fog rolling in. The glory of Jesus, Moses and Elijah was concealed by the dense cloud and in a rumble of thunderous glory the voice of God spoke to their hearts: This is my Son, This is my Beloved! Listen to him!

Just as quickly as the cloud moved it, it dissipated and the three bewildered and terrified disciples opened their eyes to find their teacher Jesus, standing before them alone. With hardly a word, apart from telling them not to talk about what they had seen until after the resurrection, Jesus leads them back down the mountain.

Is that a crazy story or what? You know, this Sunday when we celebrate the Transfiguration we try to hold together three really important ideas. First, we are remembering this mountain top experience of the disciples and we are invited to rest for a few moments in the glory of God. It is a time to remember that we are merely witnesses to the gospel and that God’s power far exceeds anything that we can imagine. As we heared in our reading from 2 Corinthians – we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord.

Secondly, the Transfiguration is an affirmation that the law and the prophets, symbolized by Moses and Elijah are fully behind the ministry of the Son of God. Jesus doesn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Jesus is the one spoken of by the prophets – who will bring the restoration of Israel… the restoration of all creation… and that the power of God will be seen not in the sword, but in the suffering of God’s servant.

But lastly, the Transfiguration is situated in a particular time. It comes right in the middle of the gospel of Mark and it comes at an important time in the church year.

In Mark, Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem. Life as it was for the disciples would never be the same for they were leaving behind the healing and the teaching and were heading straight towards the seat of power… not to be a force that would overthrow it violently, but through a display of righteous love that would “refuse to play the world’s power game of domination, exploitation, greed, and deception.”

We, too, are setting our faces towards Jerusalem as we enter the season of Lent. This Wednesday, we are invited to take upon ourselves signs of our mortality through a cross of ashes placed on our foreheads and we enter into the Lenten wilderness. It is a place of testing, a place of barrenness, a place where we remember that stripped of everything else that defines us, we are God’s children.

As we make that discovery in the coming weeks, we, too, will head towards Jerusalem and live together the last week’s of Christ’s life.

The Transfiguration is the key transition point. We need to remember where we have been, and all that we have learned and seen and let that shine in the light of God’s glory, but then we need to set it down and move forward – through the wildernesss, through Jerusalem, through the cross – so that we may eventually come to fully live in the glory of God in the resurrection of Christ.

The disciples got the first part right. They understood that the past – the law and the prophets were coming to bear on the present. They understood that it was a moment to celebrate – to wonder in fear and awe.

We too, need to have those moments where we head up to the mountain tops and experience the glory of what we have accomplished so far and reflect on how far we have come.

In our congregation, we have a lot to celebrate. We just had a hugely successful dinner to raise money for our youth ministry. With all of your help, through donations and the work of your hands, we were able to earn $1450! That will cover the first half of our mission trip as well as help all of the kids who join us on Thursday nights have a good hot meal and activities that will both challenge them and help them to have fun.

This past year, the mission outreach of our congregation was amazing. We traveled to places like Lamont and Olin to serve with our hands, and we gave with generous hearts to the tune of $4300 to mission projects locally and around the world! We increased our involvement in worship and other activities – just look at the nursery class which has 7 regular little ones, or our confirmation class of 7 or the Adult Sunday School class. Look at the youth program which had 20 students who came and participated this past Thursday night. Those are some really great and wonderful things to celebrate and to hold up for God’s glory to shine upon them!

I have one more to share with you. (Hold up the paper) This is the list of Iowa Annual Conference churches and the percentage of their apportionments paid in this last year. Right here is our church – and right next to it is something that says 100%. That is a HUGE accomplishment, and it says that not only were we committed to something, but that we were willing to put our money where our mouth was and we made it happen.

What we need to learn from the disciples is that as we take this moment to celebrate, to sit in the glory of what we have accomplished, we can’t stay here. We were never called to build tents and tabernacles to enshrine these moments forever.

We can’t say – oh, well, we accomplished that, look how great we were, and be done.

We have to keep working. We have to keep seeing what changes need to be made. We have to keep following the guidance of the spirit. And that means coming down off of the mountain top, rolling up our sleeves, and getting to work.

Jesus is the one that we have to follow down off of that mountain. He takes the time for affirmation and to rest in the glory of God, but then he has to move.

Because you see, that light that overcame him on the mountaintop – the glory that transformed him into a dazzling visage wasn’t meant for him alone. It wasn’t meant only for the mountaintop. Christ is the light of the world and he knew that in order for that light to dwell within each of us, he was going to have to shine even in the darkest places of the world. He was going to have to confront evil powers. He was going to have to withstand betrayal and abuse. He was going to have to carry his cross and enter the grave of death.

But he did it all in order for the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ to shine on us.

We can’t stay on the mountaintop either. We can’t rest for a moment longer. We have to come down and let that light of Christ shine through our hearts. Like that girl I once was back in high school who was always coming down off of one performance high in order to get ready for the next project, we too have to be ready to practice what it means to be disciples.

The only difference is that plays and musicals and speech contests are full of fantasy and make believe and acting.

As Christians, we are practicing our roles in the coming Kingdom of God – a Kingdom and a reality that is so real that in the light and the power of it’s glory – all of our human cultures and systems, our ends and aims, the projects we undertake and invent all are seen as a box too small to contain the bubbling creativity of the really, really Real.

The question that is before us is whether or not we are ready to set behind us all of the things the world tries to define us by? Are we ready to let the light of Christ shine in our hearts and to accept our true identities as brothers and sisters of Christ? Are we ready to come down off of the mountain and enter this season of Lent? Let it be so.

Work In Progress

Posted on January 18, 2009Leave a comment

I have been needing a place to post sermons – and so in the next week’s I’ll be going back through and backdating/updating with my sermons from the past year.

Check back soon!