A new creation. New mercies every morning. All things new. A new covenant. A new earth. The New Year will feel old ... before we know it. Probably by the third day of work, the second day of class, or the first day we fail the resolution promised.
But here is good news: Jesus is always new. Jesus is always renewing us. Jesus is in the renewal business -- remaking our world in the way it was always meant to be. And often he renews through us, by our labor, with the strength and vision he has placed inside each of us, his children.
New is not a once-a-trip-around-the-sun experience for the follower of Jesus. New is a constant, continual, never-ending state of being. New gets older every day, yet remains new.
2012. Yet another solar swing upon an earth that is aging, and also being made new at the very same time.
Happy New Year!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
The Solid Past and the Liquid Future
This weekend we're considering Hebrews 12:1 and the importance of nurturing both roots and branches, past and future, old and new. It seems to me that neglect of either tradition or innovation, either conservation or liberation, either the unchanging God or the God who is always on the move ... leads to sickness, and death.
We need both: the solid past and the liquid future. When we pursue one to the exclusion of the other ... life, and especially Christian life, is in danger.
We need both: the solid past and the liquid future. When we pursue one to the exclusion of the other ... life, and especially Christian life, is in danger.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
The One Project: Seattle!
February 13-14, 2012.
Seattle, Washington, USA.
An Adventist Gathering.
All About Jesus.
Join leaders, thinkers, pastors, teachers, poets, and lovers from around the world.
Find out more HERE.
Seattle, Washington, USA.
An Adventist Gathering.
All About Jesus.
Join leaders, thinkers, pastors, teachers, poets, and lovers from around the world.
Find out more HERE.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Brain Work
Exploring the biblical/spiritual import of "critical thinking" for an upcoming sermon. It struck me: is "critical thinking" being redundant? Isn't all "thinking," in a sense, "critical?" Uncritical thought, then, an oxymoron?
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Arguments
I've been working this summer on seven presentations for Walla Walla University's October "Week of Worship." The topic I've chosen to bite off (and really, I've sensed God's nudge in this direction) is ... shutter ... Christian apologetics. The Big Question, in two words: Is God?
There will be some students (perhaps the majority) who have never questioned God's existence. Will this week seem like an "already got that question figured out, let's move on?" Somehow I hope their faith will find strength and greater experience as they consider philosophical reasons to believe. I also hope they will see the week as a CPR class: preparing for when others (or even themselves) will benefit from what they have learned. (This is a mature approach to listening to sermons, by the way. To learn FOR OTHERS and to learn FOR YOUR FUTURE, even if the present does not resonate with the message.)
There will be some students who've never had serious questions about God's existence, but the darkness visits them from time to time (as it did Mother Teresa, Ellen White, Henri Nouwen, and, honestly, probably the majority of God-seekers). In some ways this group will be the easiest to speak to: they know the monsters that lurk. To hear reasons to believe will be of comfort.
Then there will be some students who have explored the big questions--and now have big, big questions. They will question whether any "arguments" really should or can be made. Christianity seems illogical, non-believable. In my faith tradition (Adventism) there are, like in other tribes, many who have serious, thoughtful doubts. I have many friends (from teenagers to retirees) who simply have given up believing. The challenge with this group will also be to make arguments in an honest, mature, humble way. The church has made so many arguments about so many things--and claimed that each of these topics is of paramount importance. We have cried wolf when there has been no wolf. We have sounded a "Level Five" alarm when the emergency has not been one. And so, to those weary of constant argumentation--a challenge to make any argument.
At the end of the day, we share our stories. We speak of our convictions. Everyone lawyers. We all communicate our view of the world. We do so respecting the other point of view. We try not to overstate or understate what we think we know, what we have come to believe. I like the language of NT Wright in his "Simply Christian." He speaks of hints of God. Whispers. Suggestions. God leaves bits of himself in science, morality, relationships, philosophy, history--we can find him as we seek. But he doesn't "slam dunk" his case in our face. And perhaps we should not "slam dunk" his case in the face of others.
Ultimately, I think, belief is found in personal experience. "I know he lives. He lives within my heart." Making the case doesn't hold a candle to knowing the Christ. And so he can be found in physics and math, Shakespeare and Twain, chocolate and 10Ks, and most certainly in a life devoted to justice, to compassion, to serving the least of these, who is, Jesus.
There will be some students (perhaps the majority) who have never questioned God's existence. Will this week seem like an "already got that question figured out, let's move on?" Somehow I hope their faith will find strength and greater experience as they consider philosophical reasons to believe. I also hope they will see the week as a CPR class: preparing for when others (or even themselves) will benefit from what they have learned. (This is a mature approach to listening to sermons, by the way. To learn FOR OTHERS and to learn FOR YOUR FUTURE, even if the present does not resonate with the message.)
There will be some students who've never had serious questions about God's existence, but the darkness visits them from time to time (as it did Mother Teresa, Ellen White, Henri Nouwen, and, honestly, probably the majority of God-seekers). In some ways this group will be the easiest to speak to: they know the monsters that lurk. To hear reasons to believe will be of comfort.
Then there will be some students who have explored the big questions--and now have big, big questions. They will question whether any "arguments" really should or can be made. Christianity seems illogical, non-believable. In my faith tradition (Adventism) there are, like in other tribes, many who have serious, thoughtful doubts. I have many friends (from teenagers to retirees) who simply have given up believing. The challenge with this group will also be to make arguments in an honest, mature, humble way. The church has made so many arguments about so many things--and claimed that each of these topics is of paramount importance. We have cried wolf when there has been no wolf. We have sounded a "Level Five" alarm when the emergency has not been one. And so, to those weary of constant argumentation--a challenge to make any argument.
At the end of the day, we share our stories. We speak of our convictions. Everyone lawyers. We all communicate our view of the world. We do so respecting the other point of view. We try not to overstate or understate what we think we know, what we have come to believe. I like the language of NT Wright in his "Simply Christian." He speaks of hints of God. Whispers. Suggestions. God leaves bits of himself in science, morality, relationships, philosophy, history--we can find him as we seek. But he doesn't "slam dunk" his case in our face. And perhaps we should not "slam dunk" his case in the face of others.
Ultimately, I think, belief is found in personal experience. "I know he lives. He lives within my heart." Making the case doesn't hold a candle to knowing the Christ. And so he can be found in physics and math, Shakespeare and Twain, chocolate and 10Ks, and most certainly in a life devoted to justice, to compassion, to serving the least of these, who is, Jesus.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
A Word For College Grads
This is an important essay from David Brooks. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/opinion/31brooks.html?_r=1
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