GroshLink

LifeWay is running a contest on "Why do you believe God is good?"  The video with the most votes by April 5 wins $5000.  If you're interested, more below.  The website is here. HT: Miller.

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Coming out of the Next Generation:  understanding its faith practices and impact upon faith communities, I've enaged in several conversations regarding what it means to be in Christ and the Body of Christ which reflects the reality of God and relies upon the Word and Spirit to be the people of God versus drawing in the younger generation through the things of this world.  What could be more unChristian than not being, i.e, incarnating, Christ in order to get people in the door?  

On Saturday morning, I heard on Public Broadcasting a bust on Evangelical Marital Arts Ministries.  Sigh. It was followed by not to bad recognition of who Jesus truly is, or at the least they composed the words well.  As I returned to my email I found a forward of Flock Is Now a Fight Team in Some Ministries (R. M. Schneiderman, NY Times, February 1, 2010) from a brother in Christ.  Father forgive your people.  Enable us to truly be Christ. 

Related, just picked up Nick Fiedler's the HOPEFUL skeptic: revisiting CHRISTIANITY from the OUTSIDE. Anyone else reading it? I'd be interested in being part of a discussion group. FYI: "A Note to the Reader" and Chapter 1 are posted here. Nick's blog is http://thehopefulskeptic.com/.

Thank-you to the Facebook friend who introduced me to Chris Smith of The Englewood Review of Books via Facebook! This morning I downloaded Chris' excellent piece Growing Deeper in Our Church Communities, thanks to a link I saw while reading Fighting despair in 2010 (an superb challenge to cynicism). Let me encourage you to check out both of these links and pass them along to brothers and sisters in Christ ;-)

 

Have you beein following Brit Hume's comments regarding Tiger [Woods] needing Christ? HT to Miller for this Focus on the Family interview with Hume where he shares his own testimony and his journey with God after his son killed himself.

A brother in Christ passed along these thoughts regarding Colossians 1:24 and I share them with you for our mutual edification:

still thinking about the colossians 1 statement about our "filling up the afflictions lacking in christ"...and it's not just the normal persecution of believers by those who hate God...it's something much more significant...Christ's suffering was for payment for our sins, ours is in the spreading of the gospel...God has ordained that believers' suffering is essential to drawing many to Christ...a great mystery...

ps...we know of the great physical suffering of christians in other countries...we seem so comfortable by comparison...but even you and i go through emotional suffering as we attempt to reach out to others..that is very difficult to handle..."He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief"

Come & See. ... Go & Tell. ...

May the splendor, majesty, and mystery of the Christ child send us to our knees in worship.  

1. Christmas Eve Prayer (Christine Sine, 12/24/2009)
2. Before the Presence of God (Quote from Bobby Gross' Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God, Emerging Scholars Network, 12/25/2009)
3. Jesus Creed (Variety of posts/links including Michael Card's Immanuel given by Scot McKnight, 12/25/2009)
4. Songs which the twins sung at last night's Christmas Eve Service included:
   1. One Starry Night (Link is a youtube sung by another choir)
   2. City on a Hill's version of Holy Emmanuel (2002) -- below

    

On December 15, Worship Quote of the Week highlighted some Christmas thoughts from C.S. Lewis.  Take a few minutes to join me in reflecting upon the below poem:

THE NATIVITY
Among the oxen (like an ox I'm slow)
I see a glory in the stable grow
Which, with the ox's dullness might at length
Give me an ox's strength.

Among the asses (stubborn I as they)
I see my Savior where I looked for hay;
So may my beastlike folly learn at least
The patience of a beast.

Among the sheep (I like a sheep have strayed)
I watch the manger where my Lord is laid;
Oh that my baa-ing nature would win thence
Some woolly innocence.

— C. S. Lewis, from POEMS, edited by Walter Hooper, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.  Posted at http://www.wqotw.org/quote.php?date=2009-12-15.

The Inquiring Nuns (1968) ask people on the street, inside/outside Roman Catholic churches, and in museums around Chicago, "Are you happy? ... What makes you happy? ... What makes you unhappy? ... Why?" 

 

Last night while watching The Inquiring Nuns with Theresa, I was reminded how asking good questions, listening, and probing further guides conversation even with people you don't know (or don't know very well). That's central to campus appointments, outreach tables (where I've done similar interview through the years), small group Bible studies, web/email interactions, etc.  What a joy to have the opportunity to not just cold call, but have many opportunities to return to conversation with faculty, researches, students, etc AND pick-up where we left off.  Pray for the Spirit and the Word to enable me to grow in asking good questions, listening and discerning how to share helpful next steps with those whom I minister. 

PS.  Interested in more from The Inquiring Nuns (1968)?  Here's an Interview with a "contemporary" man and a blogger review.

Update: If Theresa and I were interviewing people, we'd prefer to explore contentment or satisfaction instead of happiness.  Harder to ask as simple a question.  Maybe, "How do you find contentment/satisfaction?  Would you describe yourself as contented/satisfied at this time?"  Hmm. ... this would lead to a much different interaction, "Are you happy?" enables a circumstantial, entry door to conversation.  Anyone with thoughts on the topic?

The reason I don't like to pray is simple. I don't really love God. I do love the idea of loving God. It would be a fine, fine thing to love God, I believe. But I have to face it: One reason I go to church is not because I already love God but because I'd like to love him. I'm afraid I have the same reaction to church as I do to prayer. Lots of debate about whether I should go. Going most Sundays because I should go. And when it's over, a lot of times I can say, "I love having worshiped." ... -- Waiting for Jesus to Show Up: Moving from loving the idea of loving God to loving God (Mark Galli, Christianity Today, posted 12/10/2009 10:33AM).  HT:  Arlene

What's waiting been like this Advent for you, your family, the local assembly of which you are a member?  How are you entering the new year of the Christian calendar (and 2010)?  Take a few minutes to be challenged/encouraged by Waiting for Jesus to Show Up: Moving from loving the idea of loving God to loving God. Let us know by email how we can pray for you.

The reality of the Kingdom of God and the Presence of God has recently shown through with power in conversation at a graduate student dinner sponsored by the PSU-Hershey Mecial Center's Christian Medical Society (CMS), reading G.P. Taylor's Shadowmancer (Note: CT Author interview), family devotions based upon The Jesse Tree [Geraldine McCaughrean, Bee Willey (illustrator), Eerdmans, 2005], the adult elective on N.T. Wright's Simply Christian, and blocks of time to be quiet/listen (I really enjoy "no radio" in runs back and forth from CMS activities).  

Pray for each and every member of our family, our whole family, and people of God to journey through this season and the coming year with eyes focused upon the Christ child.  To God be the glory!

An excerpt from a sermon from St. Gregory Nazianzen (HT Jim):

The  very Son of God, older  than  the ages, the invisible, the incomprehensible, the incorporeal, the beginning of beginning, the light of light, the fountain of life and immortality, the image of the archetype, the immovable seal, the perfect likeness, the definition and word of the Father: he it is who comes to his own image and takes our nature for the good of our nature, and unites himself to an intelligent soul for the good of my soul, to purify like by like. He takes to himself all that is human, except for sin. He was conceived by the Virgin Mary, who had been first prepared in soul and body by the Spirit; his coming to birth had to be treated with honor, virginity had to receive new honor. He comes forth as God, in the human nature he has taken, one being, made of two contrary elements, flesh and spirit. Spirit gave divinity, flesh received it.

He who makes rich is made poor; he takes on the poverty of my flesh, that I may gain the riches of his divinity. He who is full is made empty; he is emptied for a brief space of his glory that I may share in his fullness.

What is this wealth of goodness? What is this mystery that surrounds me? I received the likeness of God, but failed to keep it. He takes on my flesh, to bring salvation to the image, immortality to the flesh. He enters into a second union with us, a union far more wonderful than the first.

Holiness had to be brought to man by the humanity assumed by one who was God, so that God might overcome the tyrant by force and so deliver us and lead us back to himself through the mediation of his Son. The Son arranged this for the honor of the Father, to whom the Son is clearly obedient in all things.

The Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep, came in search of the straying sheep to the mountains and hills on which you used to offer sacrifice. When he found it, he took it on the shoulders that bore the wood of the cross, and led it back to the life of heaven.

Christ, the light of all lights, follows John, the lamp that goes before him. The Word of God follows the voice in the wilderness; the bridegroom follows the bridegroom's friend, who prepares a worthy people for the Lord by cleansing them by water in preparation for the Spirit.

We need God to take our flesh and die that we might live. We have died with him, that we may be purified. We have risen again with him, because we have died with him. We have been glorified with him, because we have risen again with him.

Amen!

Note:  Earlier post with powerful quote from St. Gregory Nazianzen in reference to the cross and the miracle of salvation, Who is your Savior?

 

In follow-up to Be Thou my Wisdom.

With all concerns regarding financial resources and positioning around us, let us together sing. ...

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

How can we refrain from ...

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Be Thou My (Our) Vision this Advent, for the coming year, and all our days!  Amen.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Ever have a task at which you are particularly ill equipped?  For me it is sorting through paper resources/files.  I see so many possible uses and relationships between various materials that I find them difficult to categorize, file, set down, and/or throw away. 

On Monday I faced off against the new to me filing cabinets which I found free a few houses down the street.  The goal was not only to move over files, but also to clean up/out some unnecessary papers. Setting aside the computer virus issues and the scurry of Advent/Christmas preparations (as the girls had no school due to deer season), I did not make much progress.  Why?  I came across sheet after sheet of paper which

1. Testified to God the Father's powerful work in His creation (particularly related to campus ministry) through His mighty hand, Son, people, and Spirit. 
2. Reminded me of tasks to be completed, which I tried to accomplish to get them off the list and discard the sheet of paper.
3. Generated new ideas for the campus mission.

I dwelt upon a Be Thou My Vision handout for quite some time, remembering the numerous times I've shared the words/themes of the song during conferences, campus gatherings, and personal appointments.  With Advent beginning, I was particularly drawn to the verse given above. 

Pray that the Word and Spirit would enable me to may seek/receive and encourage others to seek/receive the Wisdom of God each and every day.  Pray for the wisdom of God (and not my own musings) to flow with clarity in appointments, e-communications, presentations, and social interactions during a busy season with varying lengths of conversation.  Note: I've found greatest length of conversation and opportunity to get to know people to occur during various social gatherings?  Why?  Previously open times in campus schedules fill due to the end of term and various holiday events. 

Pray for God to grant me and all in our household/ministry to be filled with Wisdom all the days of our lives at home, among the people of God, in the community, on campus, wherever we are sent. 

In no other subject is error more dangerous, inquiry more difficult, or the discovery of truth more rewarding.  -- St. Augustine, De Trinitate 

As Advent spurs us into reflection, here's a resource to return to ...

Practicing a Christ Centered Christmas 2.0: The Character, Person, and Story of God, Week 1

May you find this telling of the story a blessing to be shared among family, friends, members of your local congregation, neighbors.  As I've mentioned in early posts (e.g., Come quickly, Jesus!) our whole family has been blessed by the The Jesus Storybook Bible.  We'll be reading it several more times in the coming years as the children grow.

In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. ... Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD. -- Isaiah 2:1,5

Are you desiring to become more familiar with the lectinonary we begin Advent?  If so, swing by Christine Sine's post Daily Bible Readings For Advent, consider Begin Living the Christian Year in Advent, and/or try out Following the Star (HT Arlene, more below).  

The d365 daily devotional series is produced by Passport, Inc. Passport’s seasonal devotional sites, Following the Star and Journey to the Cross, help readers journey through Advent and Lent. These series are written especially for students and seek to provide reflections on themes that impact our faith journey. We hope that in the midst of busy or boring days, these sites will create a quiet space in your life for contemplation and prayer. As you complete the devotion, if you would like to offer a response, a prayer, or prayer request, please click here and visit our Guestbook, also found in the menu below.

You can help the devotional series by spreading the word! For free resources to promote the sites at your church, in Bible study groups, or in other organizations, please click here and visit www.d365.org/share. You can also find a place to email your friends about the site at this link.

Note:  If you have lectionary (or other Advent) materials to suggest, please comment or drop me an email (and I'll include in future posts as I develop an Advent resource base).

In case you missed the Advent Conspiracy 2008 promo video, worth the few minutes before planning your day/season ...

  Note:  Don't miss conversation/ideas sharing at Rethinking Christmas

 

... liturgies make us certain kinds of people, and what defines us is what we love.  They do this because we are the sorts of animals whose orientation to the world is shaped from the body up more than from the head down.  Liturgies aim our love to different ends precisely by training our hearts through our bodies.  They prime us to approach the world in a certain way, to value certain things, to aim for certain goals, to pursue certain dreams, to work together on certain projects.

James K.A. Smith
Desiring the Kingdom

Join me in prayerful consideration/application of this quote as we enter the holiday season on campus and in the larger culture.  HT:  *CINO daily asterisk (11/3/2009). Placing Smith's book on my to read list, check out Byron Borger's post A rich week of new books: Bobby Gross, James K. A. Smith, Walt Brueggeman, Timothy Keller DVD

Swing by Emerging Scholars Network for Mike's excellent interview of Bobby Gross, director of InterVarsity's Graduate & Faculty Ministry & author of Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God (IVP, 2009). Our family will be journeying through this book in the coming year (starts November 29). Check out Byron Borger's rave reviews at A rich week of new books: Bobby Gross, James K. A. Smith, Walt Brueggeman, Timothy Keller DVD and Pennsylvania State Pastors' Conference: Books about Church, Congregational life, and more.

       

PS. For those in South Central PA, mark your calendars for when Bobby visits the area on Ascension Day 2010 (i.e., May 13), in partnership with Hearts & Minds Books. Details tba. ...

As we prepare to enter the Adventure of Advent. I once again invite you to join me in participating in Advent posts with Christine Sine at Godspace.

On Sunday, the Cherub choir, which includes Eden, sang the first two verses of For the Beauty of the Earth for Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ.  After the reading of Psalm 148, the Junior Choir sang led the congregation in For the Beauty of the Earth.  Below's a video which I shared with girls over Sunday breakfast, in preparation for morning and as a time of worship.  

Lord of all, to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise. 

May our words, relationships, lives, Churches be such a hymn today!

Related choir post: How Great is our God.

On Sunday, Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ's Junior Choir, which includes Ellen & Hayley, led the congregation in worship.  How Great is our God was one of selections.  Below's a interview of Chris Tomlin which I watched with in Ellen & Hayley as we discussed the song.  Tomlin shares the simple origin of How Great is our God, sings the praise song, and then shows the chords. 

PS.  Ellen and Hayley liked the section which showed the chord progression. 

Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture (Adam McHugh, InterVarsity Press, November 2009) arrived today and I've started to read it.  Hope Theresa has some interest in chatting about the book during our much needed date night.  Below's a quote from Chapter 1.  Any comments from friends, whether more heavily oriented toward introversion or extroversion.

The pragmatism that we have inherited fosters an action oriented culture. Evangelicalism values the doer over the thinker.  The evangelical God has a big agenda. It’s as if the moment we surrender our lives to Christ we are issued a flashing neon sign that says “GO!” There is a restless energy to evangelicalism that leads to a full schedule and a fast pace. Some have said that, in Christian culture, busyness is next to godliness. We are always in motion, constantly growing, ever expanding.

I’ll never forget the statements a senior pastor of a 300-member congregation uttered when I interviewed for an associate pastor position: “This is a really high-octane environment. We’re looking for someone who is excitable and high energy. You have to be totally sold out to work here. We work full throttle.”

I double-checked my surroundings to make certain I was at a church and hadn’t stumbled into an interview for the pit crew at the Indianapolis Speedway. I would have laughed at his statements if I wasn’t so mortified. I was reminded of Eugene Peterson’s indictment of our brand of Christianity: “American religion is conspicuous for its messianically pretentious energy, its embarrassingly banal prose, and its impatiently hustling ambition.” -- Chapter 1 can be found on-line here.

Note:  You may remember my earlier post, For My Introverted AND Extroverted friends, in which I express enthusiasm for the book's release.  Since my time at The Changing Face of Ministry: Engaging All Ages in the Mission of the Church and The Authority of Scripture in the Christian Life, it has only increased.  More on that later, need time to get-away to read, process, and then chat before writing more.

Click here for my notes from Gordon MacDonald's presentation on The Changing Face of Ministry: Engaging All Ages in the Mission of the Church (10/29/2009, Center for Leadership Impact, an initiative of the Evangelical Theological Seminary).

Another quote from Gordon MacDonald's presentation on The Changing Face of Ministry: Engaging All Ages in the Mission of the Church. 

What are the spiritual resources for ministers? What prevents them from becoming dull, sullen, lukewarm bureaucrats, people who have many projects, plans, and appointments but who have lost their heart somewhere in the midst of their activities? What keeps ministers vital, alive, energetic and full of zeal? What allows them to preach and teach, counsel and celebrate with a continuing sense of wonder, joy, gratitude, and praise? -- Henri Nouwen, The Living Reminder

A number of people have found Henri Nouwen's book The Living Reminder a helpful resource in addressing these questions.  Anyone have a copy I can borrow?