Archive for August, 2006

We Are the Body of Christ

Published
by
Mike
on August 7, 2006
in Church
. 33 Comments

Yesterday’s assembly was transforming. There was a buzz of excitement as the people of God gathered. We looked around at the 200 or so people and it was clear that they reflected the city of Houston where they’re living out their Christian calling. It was probably the most racially diverse group I’ve been with in quite a while; and I’m guessing it’s an economically diverse group as well. But they were one. They were gathered around one table as a family.

We began by singing “O Worship the King” and “We Shall Assemble.” Then a young woman prayed that as we gathered our lives might be reshaped into the image of the risen Christ.

An older woman then got up and reminded the church of some of the ways God was allowing them to minister on Wednesday nights (including ESL classes). She recognized the people leading those ministries, encouraged others to consider finding a place of service there, and then asked God’s blessings on all the ways he was allowing the church to live out the mission of Christ.

A much-loved, long-tenured minister spoke briefly about people in the church who needed prayer. After a time of singing (”Lord, I Lift Your Name on High”; “My Hope Is Built”; “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name”; “He Is Exalted”; and “Listen to Our Hearts”), of prayer and of scripture reading, the young preacher spoke. Right to our hearts. He sat around a table and talked about the meaning of tables in Luke/Acts and in the life of the church today. He and his wife have only been at the church a couple months, but he talked about all the tables they’d been around with people in the church. His words not only DESCRIBED a fellowship that exists, they helped FORM an even greater sense of unity and mission.

Then, after “O, For a Faith That Will Not Shrink” and “O Sacred Head,” a family gathered around that table, speaking right to our hearts about what eating together means to them . . . and what it means to gather around the table of Christ. (While only the dad, the mom, and their daughter spoke, their young son was also in the spirit of the moment. He helped us by pretending to eat and drink the whole time, making it hard to keep a straight face as we listened.) We shared communion, understanding more of the blessing.

After the collection and singing “There’s a Fountain Free,” the ministers and elders gathered around a young woman who’s been one of their ministers to bless her as she heads off to graduate school. Then the benediction moved us from that assembly to an all-church potluck.

Here’s what struck me: while amazing things were being said up front, I never felt like a spectator. I felt like a part of the family, challenged to reach out to my brothers and sisters and called to live out the Way of Christ in this world.

Church in Houston

Published
by
Mike
on August 6, 2006
in General
. 8 Comments

Today we’ll get to go with Matt and Jenna to their church, the Southwest Central Church of Christ in Houston. They were drawn to this church because of its passion for the city — complete with all the messiness that an urban ministry brings. Now, our dear friends Josh and Kayci Ross are here. It’s Josh’s first full-time ministry after graduating from ACU with his M. Div. in May.

It’ll be a great day at Highland with Jerry Taylor preaching. I’ll look forward to returning to the pulpit next Sunday.

May everyone’s spirits be refreshed today.

Proverbs

Published
by
Mike
on August 4, 2006
in General
. 42 Comments

I just read a bunch of proverbs from around the world. Here are some that connect with me:

“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today.” (Chinese)

“The beginning of health is to know the disease.” (Spanish)

“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.” (Indian)

“Wherever the heart is, the feet don’t hesitate to go.” (Togo)

The Cross and the Sword

Published
by
Mike
on August 3, 2006
in Books, Salt and Light, faith and politics
. 67 Comments

Even though my beliefs are orthodox (and somewhat conservative, if defined properly), I find myself less and less comfortable with the Evangelical world. In America this has come to mean one way to vote, one nation to defend. It tends to see all truth as CLEAR and OBVIOUS to anyone with a brain. It shuns doubt, mystery, and nuance.

Maybe others will find this article from the NY Times stimulating.

It begins:

MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — Like most pastors who lead thriving evangelical megachurches, the Rev. Gregory A. Boyd was asked frequently to give his blessing — and the church’s — to conservative political candidates and causes.

The requests came from church members and visitors alike: Would he please announce a rally against gay marriage during services? Would he introduce a politician from the pulpit? Could members set up a table in the lobby promoting their anti-abortion work? Would the church distribute “voters’ guides” that all but endorsed Republican candidates? And with the country at war, please couldn’t the church hang an American flag in the sanctuary?

After refusing each time, Mr. Boyd finally became fed up, he said. Before the last presidential election, he preached six sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.

“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”

Mr. Boyd says he is no liberal. He is opposed to abortion and thinks homosexuality is not God’s ideal. The response from his congregation at Woodland Hills Church here in suburban St. Paul — packed mostly with politically and theologically conservative, middle-class evangelicals — was passionate. Some members walked out of a sermon and never returned. By the time the dust had settled, Woodland Hills, which Mr. Boyd founded in 1992, had lost about 1,000 of its 5,000 members.

But there were also congregants who thanked Mr. Boyd, telling him they were moved to tears to hear him voice concerns they had been too afraid to share.

For more, follow the link.

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Who is Agnieszka Tennant — and will we get to read more from her? Her article entitled “What (Not All) Women Want” in the current issue of Christianity Today is phenomenal. (I can’t find it online to provide a link.)

She responds to the book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. Here are a few of her words:

The gist of Captivating is this: “Every woman longs for three things: to be swept up into a romance, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, and to be the Beauty of the story.” I used to want such things — when I was a girl who didn’t understand how her womanizing father messed up her heart and when I fed my imagination with soft heart-porn like Pretty Woman. But doesn’t there come a time when we must grow out of the kind of self-regard that was cute when we were girls?

What do I long for? To trust God always, no matter what happens. That’s my trembling prayer.

And this: To figure out why, in a country as filled with devout churchgoers as my motherland, Poland, corruption is much more prominent and insidious than in the reputed atheistic countries of Europe. That’s why I’m going to grad school this fall. I want to do my little part to fight a battle against corruption. It will be an adventure. (But wait: Does this kind of talk make me sound like a man, since “in the heart of every man is a deserate desire for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue” — and since intellectual curiosity doesn’t seem to mark a truly Captivating woman?)

I may not be an Eldredge kind of lady, but I know beauty when I see it. And the most regrettable failure of Captivating is its tame idea of beauty. “Beauty is core to a woman — who she is and what she longs to be,” Stasi Eldredge writes. “Beauty is what the world longs to experience from a woman.” She gives examples: “Pioneer women brought china teacups into the wilderness, and I bring a pretty tablecloth to eat on when my family camps. We wear perfume, paint our toenails, color our hair, and pierce our ears, all in an effort to be ever more beautiful.” Sure. But there’s so much more.

Beauty draws blood to the heart and speeds up the pulse; sometimes it evokes repentance. I wish more Christians were comfortable with its pull. Too often, beauty raptures us so forcibly that we fear it will lead to temptation. So we avert our eyes. What if we turned our ecstasy into worship? . . .

True beauty is precarious, unbound.

It cannot be confined to pre-approved tastes or to one gender. It is wild at heart. Like Christ. And like the complicated men and women who follow him . . . .

Renouncing Satan

Published
by
Mike
on August 2, 2006
in General and movies
. 9 Comments

It’s hard to forget the power of that scene near the end of “The Godfather.” Michael, serving as godfather for his sister’s firstborn, renounces Satan — just as his hitmen are carrying out murders of revenge on the heads of the other crime families. The juxtapostion of religious symbol and bloodshed is jarring.

But what a statement. The good that’s in us; the bad that is lurking.

Does that give us some perspective on these battles in the Middle East that won’t end?

Or, perhaps more importantly, does it offer any insight into yourself?

As someone has said, in baptism the “old man” is buried — but he refuses to drown.

Home Again

Published
by
Mike
on August 1, 2006
in General and travel
. 14 Comments

It felt like home again when we got to the familiar atmosphere of DFW: most people speaking English, the smell of Tex-Mex food in the air, and the Abilene-bound American Eagle flight delayed for two hours. Yes, back to the familiar.

It was a week without internet and with very little television. No phone calls but an occasional check to make sure everyone was all right.

Does that count as fasting?

We didn’t even have a newspaper. Didn’t know until today how much better our week was than Mel Gibson’s. Didn’t know what progress had been made (or not made) in the Middle East. Didn’t know if the Cards, Angels, Rangers, and Yankees were winning or losing. (That’s right: no SportsCenter.)

Just a week with my Beloved and a couple friends. It was wonderful.

But so is home. And — following that little two-hour delay — we’re here.

By the way, I didn’t realize until today that I’d published the previous post twice. As someone pointed out, that’s what you can expect from a guy on his 50th birthday! :) I started to delete one, but I don’t know how to transfer the comments. It shall remain, then, as a Blog Boo-Boo.