Give Thanks!

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!
Psalm 30:11-12

The Gospel Truth

Scot McKnight, NT professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago and author of various books like Jesus Creed, reviews John Piper's latest book "God is the Gospel."

In his review he defines the Gospel as the work of the trinitarian God (Father, Son, Spirit), in the context of a community, to restore cracked Eikons to union with God and communion with others, for the good of others and the world. Chew on that.

Milk and Cereal

This makes you want to break your fast. Ha!

Cleaning house brings criticism

The article on the front page of today's Columbus Dispatch caught my eye, One man's storage unit is another's eyesore. The story focuses on the misfortune of one local family whose home was severely damaged when a run-away car slammed into it. Now as they are piecing their life and home back together they are "cleaning house" and taking advantage of that great invention, PODS (portable on demand storage).

But as the picture above reveals, all is not well on Main Street, because the POD is a bit of an eyesore to the neighbors. A friend of the family said, "If I didn't know their situation, I'd call the city." We don't like PODS, do we, because they are not clean, they don't fit in. Well manicured lawns and white picket fences don't seem to fit in when someone's living room is in their front yard. So the article follows the discussion, how long should someone have a POD in their front yard? How long is too long? How long is long enough? I don't want my neighbors cluttering up their yard with random belongings that should be tucked away in their house, that is not what I signed up for when I moved into the neighborhood. Do you?!

But if our houses represent our lives and our neighborhood is our local church (just work with me) how long should PODS be allowed to be in our front yards. As Christians we are slowly being transformed into the image of the Lord (2 Cor 3:18) and we go through some remodeling in the process. We have to move some furniture out of the living room, knock down some walls and put on some fresh coats of paint. And unless we live behind 8 foot privacy fences, it will be a bit visible to the neighbors. Sometimes we even have hire some pro's to come in help us do the work.

How should the neighborhood respond? Should we allow PODS in the neighborhood? How long should they be there? I find a bit of guidance in Galatians 6. "Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ (6:2)." The picture here is an oppressive load that will crush an individual if they alone are left to support it. In those situations Paul say, hey neighbors - not only will a POD show up in their yard, but you should put one in your yard and take some of the load. Sometimes homes are nearly demolished and PODS must be brought in.

But Paul goes on in verse 5 to say, "For each one will bear his own load." Here the image is a back-pack size load that is manageable. These loads don't require a POD, so everyone in the neighborhood should strap on their backpacks to handle their own loads of this size. So every neighborhood is a mix of backpacks and PODS as we all undergo remodeling, the sanctifying process of being conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). My back-pack is on and my driveway is open for a POD if you need it, will you pull one up if I need?

25-21...cause for worship

With hands lifted high and voices bellowing from deep within our collective souls the Buckeye Nation joined together in a unified chorus of worship of "Carmen Ohio." The worship will continue for days, weeks, months and years as we re-live and remember the story of Novemeber 19, 2005. We complete our joy by re-living and retelling...the drive...the catch...the score. We tell our kids and our kids re-enact the events of the day. Bob Hunter in the Columbus Dispatch notes this reality in his Sunday column. Go Bucks!

Touch no unclean thing.

"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." 2 Corinthians 6:17

No blasphemy intended, but this week in Columbus is about separating the sheep from the wolves (pun intended). Draw a line in the sand, pick your colors, sit on different couches or at different locations. This one is for all the tamales.

I feel like talking X's & O's today. I think the difference in this one will be the special teams and the turnover ratio. You've got to protect the pill and come out ahead in the kicking game. We'll see which group of men separate themselves from the boys this weekend. Any brave souls want to sound off and venture a guess at the outcome? I'm rarely a prognosticator but how about 34-14 Scarlet & Gray.

A leader worth following

Can you imagine packing up all your belongings your wife and two kids and driving to the Pacific ocean to start a church... from nothing. That might be the short version of the story but that is exactly what a seminary friend of mine, Paul Fleming has done. Talk about adventure... talk about walking by faith... talk about courage. That is why I wanted to introduce you to Paul, because he is such an encouragement to me. He is driven, he has amazing skills and work ethic and a deep faith that this is God's work.

I would encourage you to keep your eye on his ministry (Westport Church) as they try gather a church in one of the largest non-christian populations in the country....Hillsboro, Oregon. Check out some of the creative things he's been doing as they are just getting started:

• School System: The facilities director in our school system has agreed to talk with us about how Westport can serve our local schools.
• Chamber of Commerce: We have been welcomed by our city leaders, and receive regular invitations to local community events.
• Business Breakfast: Each month we join business leaders around the city for breakfast, hosted by a local Christian businessman.
• Intel: We've been meeting each week on the campus of Intel to discuss The Davinci Code with employees.
• Local Advertising: We secured advertising space in the city's local maps. 10,000 maps were printed for distribution to new move ins. We're excited that the name of Jesus Christ is being exalted in our city's promotional materials.

Pray for Paul & his family as they introduce their community to Jesus Christ.

Good News with skin on...

"The message of the gospel is not a 'spiritual' thing, but good tidings applied to man's entire existence. . . . The true New Testament expectation includes the new earth, and the present life is founded on and proceeds from this expectation. Only with an eye to God's future can one understand the richness of life in the present."
-- G. C. Berkouwer, The Return of Christ (Eerdmans, 1972)

Lock the church doors...

When is the last time that God called off church for the week? Probably too long ago. What if God said, "Don't waste my time this Sunday by acting like things are going OK"... or ... "I know that you aren't bringing your best to worship, you are robbing me".... or ... "I need a Sabbath from your sorry excuse from worship" ... or ..."your service is so full of you (speaking, playing, singing) that there is no room for me (to speak, to encourage, to be there)."

I know sacrilege to even suggest the thought. But I know that God is not impressed with our shows or our words if we are coming to Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. And in a day when God did speak quite directly to his people, he said something just like this. In the time of the prophets, God sent Malachi to Israel to point out to them the error of their ways. And their problem was that they were playing at worship and in the process mocking God. Trying to get God's full blessing, while cutting corners on the sacrifice they were willing to make to Him. So God says, "I wish that one of you would close the temple doors...I am not pleased with you...and I will no longer accept an offering from you (Malachi 1:10)."

Is our church due for a Fall Break? Does God wish that we would just lock the doors and quit playing at worship? Our God is a Great King and is worthy of our best. Why do we consider holding it back? Who are we saving our best for? Our worship matters because He matters.

Time for some fresh air

Sunday Night at 11:15 our kitchen was filled with firemen and paramedics. It was surreal, but it happened. It all started as a typical lazy Sunday night for us. The kids were asleep and we were lying on the couch sharing a bag of microwave popcorn. We both commented how our stomachs were bothering us, nothing more. I dozed off and Christine woke me suggesting we head off to bed.

But something in the back of her mind was troubled that or stomachs were bothering us. For some reasons she noted that our carbon monoxide detectors were unplugged (due to the kids) and thought she would plug them in... for peace of mind. But when she plugged the first in, the alarm sounded, signifying a dangerous level of CO in the house. We pulled it out and put in a second detector, with the same results. We tried both detectors in different parts of the house and each time the alarm sounded.

So now we are wondering do we have a problem or is this a false alarm. If it was nothing we didn't want to blow it out of proportion, but what if? What if we were surrounded by a deadly cloud of invisible, odorless gas that was slowly killing us? We had no idea if we were breathing fresh air or indeed we were in a death chamber, so we called 911. Within minutes a fire engine and an ambulance pulled in front of our house, complete with lights flashing and sirens sounding. (How are we going to explain this to the neighbors? - we thought).

Within minutes the firemen were able to clarify that indeed there was no dangerous level of CO and that we probably needed new CO detectors, but the experience was a bit unnerving. And it got me thinking about how many Christian lives die slow and painless deaths. It is as if they slowly succumb to an invisible cloud of deadly gas and slowly fade off. If you are in the presence of dangerous levels of CO and you do nothing, you will die. And I think that we as Christians are surrounded by a similar cloud that will bring our spiritual lives to a halt if we don't do anything.

Not that Christianity is defined by our doings, but if our lives are not lived Christianly we will surely fade into an existence that is robbed of the joys of being "in Christ." That seems to be what Paul is saying in Galatians 5:16 when he says "live by the Spirit." Our lives of eating and breathing and speaking and playing are either done in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:25) or in step with the flesh. Our Christianity is a way of life a way of living, almost a spiritual breathing, of fresh air which gives us life and enlivens our actions and speech. With out living with this fresh breath of the spirit our breathing takes in an invisible, odorless gas that is lifeless and will slowly kill our spiritual life. In that case, call 9-1-1.

Smile

A visit from across the pond

That may look like America's cutest couple, but it's not. That is Peep (pronounce Pape) & Anna Saar from Estonia. They visited our Homegroup on Tuesday to share about what God is up to in their country. They are part of an Estonian mission called Going UP which is reaching thousands of teens and 20somethings with the message of Christ. And these are certainly not your mommy & daddy's style of missionaries. The dress cool, they look good, they love authentic worship, they have fun, they use engaging technology... and they are enticing thousands of people to consider the claims of Jesus. Astounding in a country which regularly ranks as one of the most secular societies in the world.

How do they do it? When I listened to Peep I was struck by two things: his big god-size vision for reaching his country for Christ and his honest sense of humility about being apart of this work of God. It appears to be all about Him (that is God) and not so much about them. How refreshing and encouraging it was to see such vision and to catch a glimpse of what God is doing. A group from our church will go over to help them run an English Camp March 16-26, 2006. Save your vacation days and join the trip.

Beauty

The colors dance before me as I glided down the road. On this side a cloud of rich crimson red waves in the afternoon soon. Just down the way a punchy orange stands under the protection of some splendid evergreens. Across the street some pale yellow playfully tickles some light green limbs which reach out into the breeze. And as time slows for this moment, I see it. I see amazing beauty. When I can see beyond the picket fences and the stone chimneys laid in geometric symmetry I see the organic, natural beauty of creation. The vivid colors invite me to look again and again. I look for patterns and rhythm and continuity. I see creativity and ingenuity and power. It's right there in front of me. What has been hidden during the heat of summer days is not revealed during the crispness of fall. Surely beauty has a source greater than the small minds of men can conjure up. The tapestry of tall trees, ice covered mountains and deep oceans spill forth a creative story. It is inexcusable...It is right there. Wow, what beauty. Thank you God for revealing your beauty and breathing your creative life into this place.

Together Alone

Last weekend I sat down with Jon Krakauer's classic, "Into Thin Air". It is his personal story of a 1996 ascent to Mt. Everest, the highest point on the earth (29,028 ft). But the trip suddenly went all wrong and 9 people died near the peak, after being caught in a storm. Four of the five whom he reached the peak with were killed within hours.

It is a chilling tale of personalities, wills and egos that drive individuals to attempt such a feat. The closest I have been to a mountain is a few random days in an indoor rock gym. But even from that distance I get the idea that the world of climbing, while an individual endeavor, often requires a great deal of teamwork. That is why one particular passage on 213 jumped off the page when I read it.....

"There were more than 50 people camped on the Col (26,000 ft) that night, huddled in shelters side by side, yet an odd feeling of isolation hung in the air. The roar of the wind made it impossible to communicate from one tent to the next. In this godforsaken place, I felt disconnected from the climbers around me - emotionally, physically, spiritually - to a degree I hadn't experienced on any previous expedition. We were a team in name only, I'd sadly come to realize. Although in a few hours we would leave camp as a group, we would ascend as individuals, linked to one another by neither rope nor any deep sense of loyalty. Each client was in it for himself or herself, pretty much. And I was not different..."

How sad that a group of people who would have each benefited from a common sense of loyalty were simply alone together. As a pastor I dread the thought that people in my church are not tethered together as they climb the mountains of life. We too would benefit from being roped together by a deep sense of loyalty.

Trick-or-Treat

On October 31, my neighborhood comes to life. Nearly all the houses have their lights turned on and most everyone comes out to happily meet passers-by. In addition to the people sitting on their porches with goodies for the neighborhood, there are the kids who are dressed up and excitedly going house to house to support their sugar fix. It is the one day of the year that I feel like I actually live in Mayberry. I meet neighbors who've moved in but I haven't taken the time to meet yet. And tonight some of our neighbors came up the idea to schedule our first neighborhood progressive dinner. Halloween is actually one of the few reasons neighborhoods have of actually coming to life and interacting as neighbors. Maybe we should do this more often. This year we followed our little "Cowboy Woody" house-to-house while we carried a "Lion." We came across some houses that were dark and I paused, thinking "too bad that these folks missed a great opportunity to meet the neighbors."

Before I put Caden to bed he wanted to read the story of Daniel & the Lions den in his Bible. After we read the story I prayed silently that God would prepare him to be a good neighbor. That he would care about his neighbors and be involved in their lives. That he would trust in God, boldly, as Daniel had and that his love for his neighbor would overflow from his love for God.

80's Party Recap

Look at that good looking couple.
Looks like they just walked off the set of music video, ha.

Saturday nights 80's Party proved to be a night immersed in the 80's. Kudo's to those who jumped into the merrymaking with two feet. We were visited by the "GhostBusters" and the "Scooby Doo gang". Not too mention some preps and some goths with a few 70's throwbacks. But one word seemed to carry the night....karaoke. I think there is some hidden talent just waiting for the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. they deserve.

Click here to check some pics of the event and make your comments.

You can't win 'em all

Nothing like a game of Jenga to blow off some mid-week steam. That was my remedy tonight. The cares of the world faded away as I focused on these tiny little blocks. Every Jenga player knows that it takes patience, touch and the nerves of a brain surgeon to piece together a Jenga win. But it all depends on your competition. If your competitor is distracted or jittery, they are done.

Well tonight, I overpowered my jenga-mate 4-1. Nothing short of a landslide...yah, I know. But what do you expect when you play a first-timer. I actually had to teach him the rules of the game, if you can believe that. He is really inexperienced in pressure situations and seems to lack concentration at times. What's wrong with this guy, you're thing. Ok...I was playing my 2 year old son. There I said it. And yes he did win a match, it was the first game that we played. I knew he was pretty good at building blocks, but I didn't think he had it in him to stick it to dear old dad in our first ever competition. I'm not supposed to lose to him when I'm actually trying (and I was) for at least another 10 years, when I'm good and ready to realize that I'm over the hill. But I'm still young and resilient, so I rolled off 4 consecutive wins (although he hung in there) before I changed his diaper and put him in bed. Jenga anyone?

Where has all the curiosity gone?

I was recently listening to an interview with noted historian, John Lukacs. He shared that sometime back in the 16th century the French word used to refer to historians was 'curior' or 'curious one.' Thus, those who sought to know where they came from and how thought, art, politics and culture developed were driven for such an understanding by an insatiable curiosity about such things.

Which leads me to look in the mirror and ask...Where are the curious ones? Where is such curiosity that would turn off a TV a read a classic book or bypass the local theme park and go on to the historic museum. Has curiosity about people and places and religion and language...died? Or is there a pent up curiosity still within us. A muscle that has atrophied from too many late nights of Seinfeld and Saturdays of MTV & ESPN.

Without such curiosity is possible to know God? Isn't there a holy search that we embark upon, driven by a life-and-death type of curiosity to find answers to the big questions of life? I a reminded of first commandment, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your MIND and with all your strength (Mark 12:30)." Might our curiosities be released so that we learn to love God with our minds. At the next commercial break maybe we should pick up a classic allegory. After the next movie maybe we should sit down with a systematic theology. At the next library maybe we should thumb through a good journal. Here's for feeding your curiosity.

The invisible sin

Today's post is probably mostly directed to guys, because its about pornography. With the proliferation of low-cost cable TV and satellite dishes and the instant access to the Internet, pornography is readily available free-of-charge, within the privacy and comfort of your most private space. And more often than not - men, boys and sometimes women open the door to this insidious and destructive world. My fear is that it is the silent demon that many Christians wrestle with. We must shed light on this dark closet of our lives so that through exposure we might find forgiveness from shame, power over the flesh, and redemption of our hearts and minds in the area of sex.

Someone who is doing something about this is www.xxxchurch.com. They published these staggering "Porn Reality" stats:

• Number of pornographic web sites: 4.2 Million
• People who regularly visit Internet porn web sites daily: 40 million
• Christians who said pornography is a major problem in the home: 47%
• Breakdown of male/female visitors to pornography sites: 65% male - 35% female
• 30% of unsolicited e-mails contain pornographic materials
• Women, far more than men, are likely to act out their behaviors in real life, such as having multiple partners, casual sex, or affairs.
• Porn revenue is larger than the combined revenues of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises.
• US porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC at $6.2 billion.

Don't let this be the invisible sin. It is real. It happens in our homes, in our churches and in our families. To those who are burdened by the heavy yoke of sexual addiction I offer an alternative. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

A Place or a People?

My mind raced to that simple question after a short discussion with a friend at church last Sunday. He was sharing with me how he was inviting co-workers to our church. He shared that he described our church as a place where people do more than go to church on Sundays, but that we are involved in life. I was pretty happy with his description. And my thoughts fell back to that simple question of identity, are we a place or a people. Recent history has answered that question for us and we have been formed in the midst of its answer. But does its answer live and breathe with he rich vitality of the gospel.

My own thinking on the subject was fertilized by the collection of essays entitled "Missional Church." Within its pages I discovered that during the Reformation the Reformers, in a desire to correct the wanderings of the church emphasized some "true marks" of the church. In an attempt to realign the church with Scripture they suggested that the true church is a place where the gospel is rightly preached, the sacraments are rightly administered and church discipline is exercised. And as the modern thought grew to embrace the autonomy of the individual and capitalism and consumerism rose to power in the west the church increasingly was viewed as "a place where certain things happened."

But does a this "place where" language accurately represent the scriptural call to go and make disciples. Now I am not suggesting that we sell off our church buildings, but maybe more how we think about our relationship to church and how we talk about our church. Think about how we talk about our churches (Missional Church, p.58). ...you "go to church" much the same way you might go to a store. You "attend" a church, the way you attend a school or theater. You "belong to a church" as you would a service club with its programs and activities." This language is often the way I speak of my church experience. But it has created the experience of "church hopping" where we shop churches to find which one serves us the best array of clerical delicacies.

But I'm increasingly finding this "place where" language devoid of the power that the gospel appears to bring in the writings of Paul and the acts of the apostles. The apostles seem to be gathering "a people who" will die to themselves and live for Christ..."a people who" will submit to another as to the Lord..."a people who" will give of their plenty to meet the needs of others. If our church is a place where certain things happen, then we might be missing the richness of alternative-community that the gospel can create when we are a people who are faithfully living out the gospel amongst one another.

Are we consumers shopping for a place where they play the best music, deliver the best sermon and look and dress just like us? Will we leave if the pastor says something we don't like or the elders make a decision we don't agree with? Then we go down the road to find another place where they don't do that.