My Church Is Too Small

October 24, 2012 in Theology with 6 Comments

image of God at church

A Tale of Two Mornings

As the fog of sleep slowly recedes, I roll over, snuggle into the blankets, and let out a contented sigh. Saturday morning. There’s something about those words that sends a little shiver of pleasure down my spine. A lazy morning in my jammies, pancakes on the griddle, soccer in the sun, children laughing in the yard. I know the reality is often quite different: Saturdays filled with grumpy chores, rainy soccer, and burned pancakes. But that doesn’t stop the warm glow slowly spreading from my ears to my toes as I think those precious words: Saturday morning.

Then the fog clears a bit more and I remember: that was yesterday.

My eyes snap open.

Sunday morning. I’d love to tell you that those words send a similar shiver of pleasure down my spine. But I’d be lying. If I do get a shiver, it’s more like the feeling you get when you suddenly remember that your in-laws are coming over for dinner. Not quite terror, but certainly not joy. More like resignation.

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Flotsam and jetsam (10/24)

October 24, 2012 in Flotsam and jetsam with 0 Comments

Before Instagram (via imgur)

Good Reads

  • The Gospel according to Obama: Obama is a progressive Christian who blends the emotional fire of the African-American church, the ecumenical outlook of contemporary Protestantism, and the activism of the Social Gospel, a late 19th-century movement whose leaders faulted American churches for focusing too much on personal salvation while ignoring the conditions that led to pervasive poverty.
  • 40 Reasons to Be a Part of a Local Church: Is it possible to live a faithful Christian life without being a faithful part of a local church? I’ve heard many people make the argument that it is indeed possible—especially if there are no good churches around. I disagree.
  • From Bible-Belt Pastor to Atheist Leader: All he had ever wanted was to be a comfort and a support to the people he grew up with, but now a divide stood between him and them. He could no longer hide his disbelief.
  • America’s Facebook Generation Is Reading Strong: In what may come as a pleasant surprise to people who fear the Facebook generation has given up on reading — or, at least, reading anything longer than 140 characters — a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project reveals the prominent role of books, libraries and technology in the lives of young readers, ages 16 to 29.

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Flotsam and jetsam (10/22)

October 22, 2012 in Flotsam and jetsam with 0 Comments

Good Reads

  • God Talk: The Book of Common Prayer at 350: Cranmer’s language endures in English literature and popular culture, from Neville Chamberlain’s use of the phrase “Peace in our time,” on his return from his ill-fated meeting with Hitler, to David Bowie’s song “Ashes to Ashes.
  • The Three Deadliest Words in the World: It’s a Girl: It’s estimated that as many as 200 million girls are missing from the world’s population due to the practice of gendercide, the culturally-based killing of a child (overwhelmingly female) on the basis of its sex.
  • The Psychology of Resentment: You need not experience extraordinary suffering or be wronged in an unusually grievous way to feel the strong, seemingly unstoppable pull toward resentment. All you need to do is live a little in this fallen world. Before long you’re given a good solid reason to resent someone. Often someone quite close to you. Family member, spouse, parent, long-time friend. It feels impossible to love that person.

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A Prayer for Sunday (Boethius)

October 21, 2012 in Prayers with 0 Comments

Christian philosophy, boethiusAnicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, now that’s a name. It’s a little long for my taste, but a middle name like “Manlius” would be pretty cool.

Boethius was a Christian philosopher who lived during the time when the Roman empire in the west was crumbling, the Ostrogoths had taken control of Rome, and the Church was struggling to navigate these difficult waters. Born into a prominent Roman family, Boethius and his sons served the new Ostrogothic emperor, until the emperor imprisoned Boethius for allegedly conspiring with the eastern Roman emperor in Constantinople. While in prison, Boethius composed his Consolation of Philosophy, one of the most influential works of the early middle ages.

After a short time in prison, Boethius was executed. Though the exact date of his death is unknown, his feast day is traditionally celebrated on October 23. So, in his honor, this Sunday’s prayer comes from him.

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Saturday Morning Fun…How Much Do Cats Actually Kill?

October 20, 2012 in Humor with 2 Comments

If you’re looking for a really scary Halloween costume, you can do better than Freddy, Jason, or the dude from the Saw films. If you want to go as a real serial killer, try dressing up as s cat. According to How Much to Cats Actually Kill,  they are among the most fearsome mass murderers in the world.

Check out the post for all the details, but here’s how the typical cats plans its week:

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What Is “Religion”? One-Minute Animated Intros to Four Views on Religion

October 19, 2012 in Culture with 0 Comments

world religions, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, HinduismWhat is religion? It’s been around for a very long time, and you can find expressions of religion in every time, place, and culture. But what exactly is “religion”? And why is it so widespread?

If you answer that question from a Christian perspective, you’ll probably say something about the fact that God created us with a desire to know him, so all people have an inner-drive toward some kind of religious belief. And God has also revealed something about himself in creation, making it possible for people to come up with a concept of “god” just by looking at the beauty and complexity of the world around them. With that starting point, we’re not terribly surprised to see that religion is a worldwide phenomenon. Indeed, we’d be surprised if it weren’t.

But, of course, Christians aren’t the only ones asking about where religion came from and why it is so prevalent. So here are four short videos explaining some major secular theories on the nature of religion.

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Flotsam and jetsam (10/19)

October 19, 2012 in Flotsam and jetsam with 1 Comment

Good Reads

  • Your Talents Could Hurt Your Organization: The more talents and skills you have the more likely you are to take something from nothing to up and running. Talented people who can learn quickly, adapt and grow are the heart and soul of start ups. But unless you learn to let go of most of those things, the organization you serve, will not be able to grow beyond your incompetence level. Yes, incompetence.
  • The Surprising Benefits of Theological Vision for Ministry: Many churches preach the gospel from the pulpit and therefore identify themselves as “gospel-centered.” But in some of them, staff relations, community, elder meetings, and the leadership dynamic are all based on fear, pride, and competition. The church may be a “gospel-preaching” church, but it is not a gospel-centered church.
  • Test Your Church: The questions are these: Is your church missional? How would you know? What are the elements that prove a church is missional?

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The Obama and Romney Duet

October 17, 2012 in Humor with 0 Comments

I missed the presidential debate last night. But that’s okay because I got all the Obama/Romney action I needed from this one, little video. This is accreditation week at Western Seminary, so I’m stuck in meetings all day. But this at least helped things get started on the right note! Thanks to Matt Mikalatos for sharing it.

Flotsam and jetsam (10/17)

October 17, 2012 in Flotsam and jetsam with 0 Comments

Good Reads

  • I’m Not Busy! I’m so busy. You’re so busy. We’re all so busy—so busy that we can’t possibly fit one more thing into our schedules, or one more relationship into our lives. That’s life in North America, or perhaps just life in the twenty-first century.
  • Should We Baptize Upon Profession? Our context is probably closer to that of John the Baptist in Matthew 3 when he called the Pharisees and Sadducees to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance”.  In contexts where false professions seem to be running rampant, or when it’s beneficial to profess Christ, it is necessary that we be very cautious about not giving someone false security.
  • Do Faithful Christians Take the Bible Literally? I know of no serious, Bible-believing Christian who actually takes the Bible literally. I doubt you do either. And if there were any at our Bible-studies or Sunday schools, all would look at them as either an uninformed simpleton or mentally unstable.

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C.S. Lewis on Novelty in Worship

October 16, 2012 in Ministry with 5 Comments

I like creativity in worship. Mix it up. A little change here, a little innovation there. For me, it keeps things fresh.

But C.S. Lewis had a very a different perspective. According to him, worship is like dancing: practice makes perfect. And introducing new elements into the dance simply distracts the dancers and diverts their attention from what they’re supposed to be doing: worship.

So here he is warning against novelty and change in worship. Check it out and let me know what you think. Should we avoid “novelty” in worship?

It looks as if [pastors] believed people can be lured to go to church by incessant brightenings, lightenings, lengthenings, abridgements, simplifications, and complications of the service. And it is probably true that a new, keen vicar will usually be able to form within his parish a minority who are in favour of his innovations. The majority, I believe, never are. Those who remain — many give up churchgoing altogether — merely endure.

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