Living Advent: Happy New Year!

Living Advent: Happy New Year!

This Sunday, November 27^th is the first day of Advent.   The question that I have for you is:  How might our world be different if we lived in sacred rhythm of the Advent Season? How might we avoid getting swept into holiday frenzy? How might our eagerness for instant gratification change if we practiced living Advent every day?

Could living in the sacred rhythm of the Advent season change our lives, our church – and the world – for the good?

Using this daily “Living Advent Calendar” is designed to help us be in right relationship with ourselves, with family and friends and neighbors, with creation, and most importantly with God.   If you didn’t get a copy of it last Sunday at church, you can download it from our church website here:   Living Advent Calendar

You can choose to use this calendar on your own, but perhaps you will have a richer experience if you “live it” with your family, friends, and/or church community.  Perhaps you could find a partner or group of people with whom to discuss and reflect on the daily invitations.  Perhaps you could meet once a week with your partner or group and talk about your experiences as well as pray for one another.  Instead of Sunday morning adult education classes, find someone during the “coffee time” to ask, “What daily practice was hard for you this week?”  Or, “what practice did you like the most?”  Or, “which practice refreshed or challenged you?”

As a church there is no greater time to bear witness to our culture about the peace and joy that Jesus gives us than in the midst of the hustle and business of the Christmas season.  Let’s join together and practice Advent. 

MSCF #8- Stand By Me

Liturgically speaking, this is a really cool couple of weeks of the Christian year.   The reason is because they are the last 2 weeks of the Christian year.  (The first day of Advent, Sunday, November 27^th begins the new Christian year.)  And in church in these couple of weeks we get to talk what we don’t often talk about:  the end times.

But the reason I like these last 2 weeks of the year is because that even when the Bible is talking about the end of the world, the message of the gospel is pretty simple:  Those who follow Christ don’t have to worry.  I don’t mean this in a “left behind” sort of way, as in we to celebrate our escape while everybody else gets punished.   Rather, I mean this in the I-am-a-huge-worrier sort of way.  Will my family be ok?  Will God judge me worthy of heaven?   But in the midst of the worry the simple and powerful message of the gospel comes in:  just be faithful.  In other words, just trust the one who keeps his promises and keep doing the work that He calls us into no matter what day it is. 

The interesting about this whole thing is that as I was turning on my computer to write this blog entry, the song “Stand by Me” came on in Starbucks and I heard the words:   

“If the sky that we look upon


Should tumble and fall

And the mountains should crumble to the sea


I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear


Just as long as you stand, stand by me.”

The writer of this song, Ben E. King, must know his Bible and that great promise Jesus gives us in it:

Matthew 28:20:  “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Making Sense of the Christian Faith #7- The Body of Christ

Why go to church?  This is a big conversation that is being had in our culture today and quite frankly, the (national and local) statistics say, less and less people are choosing to be a part of a local church.

I have to be honest and say that it is a scary conversation for me as a pastor because…well… it is my livelihood.  Maybe more than that it is a question that tugs (and sometimes flat out yanks) at my insecurities:  Is the church relevant to people anymore?  

I don’t mean to start a debate and because I am writing a blog (not a book) I don’t want to go too far into what is a very complex issue.   I also believe that the constant challenge of every church should be this question:   How do we remain faithful to the gospel and connect with people in the culture?  But there is a wonderful image that Lose gives in the book that captures beautifully the reason why we should go to church.  The image is breathing.

“The Holy Spirit” says Lose, “breathes us in so that we can be called and commissioned and breathes us back out into the world to make a difference.  Breathed in, breathed out.”  At church as we worship, as we hear the word of God and we celebrate His sacraments:  we are breathed in by God and we breathe in the Holy Spirit.  And in the process we are brought back to that simple gospel truth that we are beloved children of God, that in Christ we have forgiveness and we are made new so that we can be fully alive.  And then we are breathed out, so that we can go out and experience life the way it was meant to be lived, a life of service to our neighbor, a life of joy. 

And breathing is a rhythm.  It is not too long before we breathe in that we need to breathe out.  It is not too long before we breathe out that we need to breathe back in.  No, it is not to long at all.   In fact, according to God, it is about every 7 days…  

Chapter #6- You have beautiful feet...

In Making Sense of the Christian Faith Chapter 6 we are looking at the concept of “atonement.”  In other words the question: “Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?”  It is the question that has been with Christianity ever since the beginning and it was a controversy even before Paul penned these words when writing his 1st letter to the Corinthians:  but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:23)” 

For many this question is a non-starter to faith.  It is just too much to believe that God would become flesh and then (to add to the scandal of it all) die on a cross.  And yet, it is at the center of what we believe.  We can’t get away from it no matter how many diamonds we put on the crosses that we hang around our necks.  Each of the gospel stories has the death and resurrection as its central event. 

So the questions become:  Does it make sense to you?  Does it make enough sense to you to understand why it needed to happen?  And… here’s the real question… does it make enough sense to you to be able to try and explain it to your children, your neighbors, your (fill in the blank).  If not, read Chapter 6.

I say this because lately I have been looking at the big picture of faith in our culture.  Sadly, less and less people know the Christian story these days.  A simple reason for this is that less and less people are telling it.  One of the reasons for this is because it is a hard story to tell.  It takes work.  And there is a risk, not everybody is going to believe it.  Some might even scoff at us when we tell it.  But, and here is the thing, for some it is going to be liberating, life-saving and the best story they have ever heard.  This is why it has come to be known as “the gospel” which means “good news.” 

Let’s not forget that it is a really beautiful story to know.  It gives life.  It tells the story of how much God loves us.  It helps people to make sense of life.  Let’s not forget that it is a story that is meant to be told even if it feels a bit risky or hard to tell.  Let’s not forget we have beautiful feet.

Romans 10:15:  “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”       

You are a Theologian... I am serious.

Thinking theologically about the Incarnation…

Have I already lost you?  Are you eyes already starting to glaze over?   Are the words theological and incarnation more potent than the average over-the-counter sleeping pill? 

We have been talking theology now for several weeks and, I have discovered that when it comes to theological concepts like the Incarnation, many people say things like, “I believe that in Jesus, God became human so why do I need to think any more about it?” 

The answer is because these questions are still being asked, maybe not by us but by many others.  Not just by Muslims and Jewish people who want to understand that Jesus was a great teacher but not divine, but also by, for example, many young people within the Christian church who have never learned about this concept because the older people have stopped passing it along. 

So my encouragement as we cross the halfway point of reading this book is: keep reading.   Keep reading not just for you but also for those around you.  More than likely, there are people around you  who might have questions about God that you can help answer.  In fact, you might just be the theologian that God has put in their life to talk about the Incarnation.  Or maybe I should say it this way, you might be the person that God has put in their life to tell that beautiful story about a God who loves us so much that he is willing to come to us, in all our messiness, in all our chaos,  and remind us how much He loves us.   

The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments…  when is the last time you really thought about them?  Not about whether or not they should be featured in front of a court house somewhere but their actual content? 

For me, they are just one of those things that I assume in my life.  I assume they are there, I assume that they all make sense in their own way and… I assume that I know them. 

But I am glad that I have gotten the chance to think about them again.  The perspective that has helped is the way David Lose describes them as a gift that a parent gives a child in order to help them live life.  Maybe it is because now I am a parent and I am one of the officially designated law givers in my house.  Maybe because my oldest is really smart and lets me know when he disagrees or sees flaws with one of the laws that I lay down.  Maybe because I picture a future in which my kids challenge and even rebel against my laws just for the sake of rebelling.

I am ready with my defense.  “These rules I have given you not because I want to oppress you, not because I want to make you feel ashamed when you can’t live up to them, but because if we are able to follow them, life in the family will be better.  Peace will abound.  We will learn how to look out for each other, respect each other, and be the family God calls us to be for the world.” 

O man, I know that there will be conversations in which that defense will sound so thin.  I picture my kids as teenagers as they roll their eyes when they hear dad repeat it yet again like he is some kind of broken record.   I see it happening because I remember doing it to my parents.  But I know that I have got to hold my line.  Because I really do love my family and I want the best for them and I have come to realize that while giving and reinforcing rules is usually a pretty thankless job it is one of the best ways to show your kids how much you love them.         

Of God Talk and Figgy Pudding

For those reading Making Sense of the Christian Faith and are somewhere around the 1st chapter,

Thanks for participating in the conversation!  Here are 2 reasons that I am glad we are engaging in this conversation:   1.) figgy Pudding and  2.) the next generation.

First, figgy pudding.  Let me explain.  My professor David Lose (author of the book) tells a story that he thought was analogous to the place that many people are these day when it comes to many parts of our faith.  He was out Christmas caroling and came to the last song they were to sing.  “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” they sang.   You know the verse right?  You might even be singing it in your head right now.  You know the second verse too, right?  “So bring us some figgy pudding…so bring us some figgy pudding.”  As Dr. Lose was singing it he suddenly realized…. He had no idea what figgy pudding was.  There he was claiming it, belting it out and not knowing what it meant.  Isn’t that the way we are with parts of the Bible and parts of the Christian Faith?  We claim it is ours, maybe we even sing about it!  But do we really as much about it as we should?  I mean what really is the book of Hezekiah all about?  (There isn’t really a book of Hezekiah in the Bible)  So maybe we should be more engaged in the Biblical story and more engaged in the faith.   By the way, here is a picture of some figgy pudding…

And you thought it looked like Jello pudding… didn’t you?  I did.

Second,  We really do need to learn how to pass down our faith.  The Bible commands us too.  But do we really need to be commanded to pass down something that we cherish to the people who we love so much?  The trick is learning how to do it.  And learning how do it means learning it, then learning how to listen to the people who we want to pass it down to, and then learning how to talk about it with them. No easy process but well worth the effort.

So thank you for reading and may this reading engage us and challenge us to learn, grow, and share... and perhaps try out some figgy pudding the next time you get the chance.  

Making Sense of the Christian Faith- An Invitation

Hello to all!  I know it has been a while since I last wrote in my blog!  The reason I write today is because we are starting a new emphasis at Ascension.  Together, many of us will be reading and discussing David Lose's book:  Making Sense of the Christian Faith.  It is a book about the basics of Christian theology.

The reason I recommend this book is not necessarily because I think that everybody need to "brush up on the basics"  (though some of us do and that's o.k.!) but because there are a whole lot of people in our world, in our neighborhood, perhaps even in the same room who have questions about what we believe and why we believe it.  We should probably have a response for them- a response that might even help them make sense of this world and of life in general.

This is why Making Sense of the Christian Faith is such a great book.  It is a written in a simple question and answer style and it has great content.

So I invite you to join us.  Get the book and be a part of a small group (there are books, small group leader guides and discussion starter dvd's available in the church office) or come join us on Sunday mornings at Ascension.  We will meet in Founders Hall at 9:30.  I am also trying to put together a group of people at 11am as well.

I will also be sending out a blog about this once a week.  Please feel free to unsubscribe to this blog if you don't plan to be a part of this conversation.  You will not offend me at all and I would hate to thing that I am sending you emails that you would rather not read.

If you have any other questions please let me know by emailing me at pastortim@alcto.org.

Here is a short video Aidan and I made in preparation for the class: