on the walk

I have been planning for some time to return to blogging. I have missed the outlet for writing and I have a few ideas that have been building up. I had hoped to return to blogging sooner, but today’s sermon by Rodney Ross has pushed me over the edge.

He was teaching on forgiveness. It was fantastically creative (it was kid’s Sunday). The central text was the story of Joseph. He shared all the sins that fractured Joseph from his brothers. (And of course the sins of Joseph’s tactlessness that fractured them from Joseph.) He drew the sermon to a climax by drawing our attention on Genesis 45:4. In this verse, as Joseph prepares to reveal himself to his brothers, he says to them, “Come closer.” It is a beautiful moment, and as Rodney told the story I was so deeply struck. (You can listen to the same sermon from Jenny Krichton here.)

That is the heart of forgiveness. Sin breaks relationships. And when we are wronged it is so natural to let sin have its effect and pull away. But when we do this, we are giving in to the power of sin. Paul teaches that we are not slaves to sin. That means that I am not a slave to my own sin. But it also means that I am not a slave to the sins of others. If someone sins against me, their sins separates us. But by the power of Christ, I can say the same thing that Joseph says, “Come closer.”

This is of course precisely what Jesus commands in Matthew 18. “If someone sins against, go to them.” There is more to that teaching and if sin continues things get more difficult. But this does not change the first impulse. The first impulse is to resist the fundamental power of sin to separate and tear apart. This is what God has done in Christ and what we are called to do for each other.

To those who have wronged us, let us say – as God has said to us – “Come closer.”

on the walk

-Ethan

I commend to many this strong and beautiful reflection by David Fitch.

He reminds me that however attached I am to my dreams, when I am following God, I must continually say, “not my will but yours.”

on the walk

-Ethan

I am regularly challenged by the wise reflections of Dan Kimball. Here you will find a wise article on liturgy. With his normal careful and kind style he explores the implications of liturgy not just as the order of service in a Christian worship service, but most importantly as the “work of the people.” (This is the original meaning of the word.) This has such striking implications for how we worship as a church. He concludes his thoughts:

We have found that the goal shouldn’t be to maintain the past or to always be on the cutting edge. Our goal is to worship in a way that represents our community to God and God to our community. That means contextualizing worship for today, but not forgetting the family of God throughout history to which we belong.

That is a profound reminder for me as I help lead a church that has hundred+ year history and is also interested and influenced by many current trends in churches all over the country. Our worship cannot be the worship of the past or the worship of Willow Creek. For it to be our worship, it must be our worship. Worship properly offered, must be the work of the people.

As I read Dan’s thoughts I remembered a recent post in which I stole from my friend Aaron Wymer some of his fine thoughts on worship. But I also thought about the consistent them in scripture that true worship goes beyond the weekly worship service.

Scripture is pretty consistent that the public gathering for worship is just the tip of the worship iceberg. It is the public and visible reality of a deep and richer foundation. Our worship is the fullness of our service and prayer, our offering not just of a weekly gift but of our whole lives in every day. It not just the songs we sing but the justice we seek, not just the prayers we pray but the hungry that are fed. This is our liturgy, this is the work of the people. I think the next time someone asks me if I attend a liturgical church I will answer, “I hope so.”

on the walk

-Ethan

I am easily susceptible to over selling. Regardless of how good something actually is, if I encounter it after it has been oversold, I find myself almost unable to appreciate it. In that spirit I offer this video which is certainly funnier than average.

CLETUS TAKE THE REEL

Have Fun!

on the walk

My blog has been slow lately because I have been trying to upgrade. It has been a disaster.

I’m still trying but now all the old links are broken.

AAAARRGH

There were three big catalysts that started me wondering what church events should look like.  The first was a church change.  There was surprisingly little overlap between the kind of events hosted by one church and the kind hosted by the other.  Yet both churches were healthy and God honoring churches led by wise biblically literate people. The second two were biblical texts, one of which is today’s text.

Were are working though acts and we are still on Acts 2:42-47.  In that last post I talked about the general practices that were embodied in this new community.  To these four practices the church was devoted and in light of this devotion, God grew the church.  In the midst of this description two very different kinds of events are described.  The details we get are so few.  Just enough for us to wonder, to ponder, what were those early Christians doing.  The context for these two events is so different, the clearly served vastly different functions in the light of the church.

The two events were daily events.  I wonder how often did an individual attend.  How long did they last, were they scheduled or continuous?  Were they planned in advance or did it happen organically.  So much of what is described in these few verses occurs organically that one might suggest that these events represent a similar phenomena.  On the other hand, it is hard to imagine that all this was happening with no forethought or planning.  Two event locations are identified: the temple and homes. Let’s tackle the homes first.

Here is the sentences in which homes show up, “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.”  The double listing of “break bread” and “eat together” makes it pretty clear that breaking of bread is more than just sharing meals but must refer to some sort of symbolic meal.  Presumably this is a commemoration of the last supper.  I wonder what was happening in these hoem meetings. Are they “house churches” or “small groups.”  Did they have a program or just share a meal?  Was this a consistent group of people meeting various homes or do they simply mean that hospitality was so rampant that people just continually found themselves eating together.

What we can know however is still pretty significant.   One of the events of the early church was a consistent, home-based, cross centered meal.  Those are three pretty big elements.  This is one of the key events of the early church, and I am not sure if my church has any event like this.  Sunday morning isn’t this, most small group programs are not this.  Now of course that may not be a problem.  The NT is not a blueprint.  Precedence is not the same as command.  On the other hand, I am in a group right now in which we share a supper each week, and there is something powerful about the experience.  And not only is it powerful, but it is cumulative.  For few weeks they are guests, soon thought they are friends, and not long after that, our lives are becoming intertwined.  We have only been sharing meals once a week for a few months.  I wonder where this could lead.  Could it be that the kind of community described by this text is not some kind of bizarre social experiment, but it is instead the natural off-shoot of eating together weekly with the same people.

The other event is even more mysterious.  What were they doing off in the temple each week.  But I will leave such speculation till the next post, because as we read on in Acts we get one example of what a day at th temple was like.  (I will admit that this does not seem to be a typical day but perhaps there will be clues for the regular events as well as the  exceptional ones.)

on the walk,

-Ethan

The spirit of God causes a disturbance.  God creates an opportunity and the church responds.

You can read it all in the second chapter of Acts.

There are a lot of wonderful details in this text that I will ignore.  For this exercise I want to simply consider what this event is as an event. Here are a few things that I notice.

1. They did not plan for this event but they did prepare for it.  They were together and in prayer. This resonates with so much of my experience.  Most of my most effective evangelism has been in situations that I did not plan but I did prepare for.  We prepare not because we can anticipate the specific event but by immersing our selves in prayer and study, in worship and service.
2. God initiates the event and they jump on board.  There is a much quoted line from Bono, that we ought to see where God is working and go there.  I think that is good advice and certainly that is what is followed here. God begins the event.  God empowers the gathered church and draws
3. God has seriously good timing.
4. Peter lets the event that has attracted them draw their attention to Jesus.  He does not ignore the moment and in fact seeks to explain it but he does not dwell there.  This is in contrast to much street preaching today (and even most beach evangelism, etc.)  We just start preaching even though nothing has gathered a crowd and created an atmosphere of interest.  In this case, the work of the spirit has created a setting in which people are interested to hear what Peter will say.  This still happens today.  The work of the spirit may not happen in the same way, but I have seen the church led by God’s spirit work in ways that cause crowds to wonder, “What is going on?”  and as the church answers they get to draw people to Jesus.
5. Peters lets the people respond.  I find it so remarkable, that Peter let’s them ask what they should do.  He presents the truth and lets this truth lead them to the crisis of decision.  And then in that crisis he responds to their questions.

Because this event flows from the work of the spirit, it isn’t exactly repeatable.  Nevertheless we can be a people who are together, and are praying and are prepared so that when God’s spirit creates an opportunity, and those who witness wonder what is happening we can proclaim the gospel in that moment.

on the walk

-Ethan

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2009/01/biblical_litera.html

One of the questions that has stirred Mountain Christian Church to action over the past few years is “If your church ceased to exist tomorrow, would the community around you notice or care?”

In light of this question we have commited ourselves to care for the local community as well as the world. We hope to take light to the world.

I was remined of this commitment as I read this fascinating article (HT: Ben Witherinton III).  These are the reflections of an atheist on the impact of Christianity in Africa.  It is worth your time to read.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece

on the walk

-Ethan

The first event of the history of the church was a prayer meeting and we don’t have very many of those and don’t feel guilty about it.

The second Christian event is a business meeting and that is something we do pretty well. The irony is that I know many Christians who feel guilty about having business meetings. There is this sense that business meetings are too practical and too mundane to be truly spiritual.  Somehow there is a since that a meeting focus on practical issues of leadership and church politics aren’t really Christian activities.  We fail to notice that here it is in Acts, the very second recorded church event is a business meetings.
Take a look at the text.  While the believers are busy waiting and praying Peter stands up with an idea:

Acts 1:15-26

Here are a few observations.

0. This meeting arises out of a community of prayer.
1.  A leader sees the need and calls the meeting.

2.  A leader connects the situation to scripture and lays out the parameters for their action.

3. Everyone participates but it is not a democracy. In the church, the believers deserve to influence the process of selecting their leaders.
4. More than one acceptable option is produced.  (This is so important to me.  I have seen many church decision processes get sidetracked because people are arguing over two good options and because a choice is hard to make, nothing is done.)

5. In the end they roll dice.  (Let’s face it, that is crazy.  I totally want someone to propose that at an upcoming meeting.  Please report back and share with the restof us how that goes.

And a few reflections:

Unless you intend to be a dictator, leadership will involve meetings.  The only way to include others in a process of leadership is to have meetings (and probably lots of meetings).  In fact, from my experience I have concluded that many a great work waits to be done becuase no one has stepped up to call a meeting, gather the right people, set an agenda and insist that a choice is made. This event is Peter’s first important act of leadership.

So for those keeping score at home we have prayer meetings and business meetings.  I can’t wait to see what happens next.

on the walk

-Ethan