And I will die alone, and be left there Well I guess I'll just go home Or God knows where Because death is just so full, and man so small I'm scared of what's behind, and what's before But there will come a time you'll see With no more tears And love will not break your heart But dismiss your fears Get over your hill and see, what you find there With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair --from Mumford and Sons, “After the Storm” Now, I wouldn’t count Mumford and Sons as a beacon of good theology (perhaps as an existentialist one), but these haunting yet hopeful lyrics … [Read more...] about A Meditation on Life, Death, and Being a Nameless “Other”
What do we do about doubt?
Recently a young man in my church asked the question: is it okay for Christians to have doubt? One well meaning lady told him that Christians shouldn’t experience doubt and he just needed to be more spiritual. That answer left both he and I unsatisfied. Let’s face it—most if not all Christians, whether we want to admit it or not, experience moments where we identify very much with Thomas and you might as well dub us as “Doubting” Mike or Suzanne or Ichabod! But what do we do with our doubt? Before anything else, we must remember to not glorify doubt. In one seminary class, we were … [Read more...] about What do we do about doubt?
Speak, O Lord
This past week, I spent an afternoon at our association’s High School camp. I was curious—I had never been to our camps and we have some teenagers in our church who rave about it. During the afternoon chapel session, the director and counselors partook in a Q&A session, which I think is a good thing. One question in particular came up that caught my attention: “How do you know if God is speaking to you?” This question is one that intrigues many people—kids and adults—and the following Sunday evening when I did the lesson for the youth group, since most of them were not able to go to … [Read more...] about Speak, O Lord
True Freedom
Here at the start of July many of us will barbeque, spend time with family and friends, and watch an explosion of color in the sky from fireworks. We do this on July 4—Independence Day—to celebrate the freedoms we have in this country. Of course, our freedoms are great. In the history of the world, ours has been one of the freest countries for Christians to worship God. But as patriotic as we can be as Americans we must remember that “American” at best is a secondary and mere temporary mark of our identity. We have a much greater citizenship in an infinitely superior country. Hebrews … [Read more...] about True Freedom
Reclaiming Gospel Community
In my post A Church-less Gospel? I lamented “gospel” presentations that have little-to-no emphasis on church, the gospel community. Part of the problem we face is our cultural focus on individualism that mars a greater sense of community. We do not build biblical community because we do not truly understand and practice the ideas of community living. The culture in which the Bible was written was a much different culture than ours. Then, others more strongly identified you with your community and your family. And it makes sense—transportation at the time was much slower and more … [Read more...] about Reclaiming Gospel Community
A Church-less Gospel?
Trevin Wax wrote a recent piece about the proper place of church in the story of the Gospel. This certainly touches on a broader issue that we see a lot of places from George Barna all the way down to the person we see in worship once in a blue moon: the sad issue of defining the Gospel and Gospel living without the inclusion of the local church. I recently looked through a study some of my church members completed in the past about Gospel-centered living. One man told me, “I really like that study.” After looking through it I replied, “I don’t.” That’s not to say there wasn’t good … [Read more...] about A Church-less Gospel?
Do pastors care for the church with a fatherly love?
A bit back I wrote a post on congregationalism, and within it stated of pastors: They are elders, in part, because they are trustworthy men of character who have proven themselves good managers through the care of their families and can therefore care for the church in a loving, fatherly way. In the comment stream there was an objection that the love of a pastor should be seen as the brotherly/sisterly love of equals as opposed to a fatherly love, since such a “fatherly” position is reserved for God alone. Though the passage was not referenced, in my mind behind such objection would be … [Read more...] about Do pastors care for the church with a fatherly love?
I am happy, I just express my happiness in a different way than you…
The other day I went bowling with a group of people from my church I consider good friends. I’m not good at bowling, but I always have fun—it’s one of those things I do just to do it because I enjoy it. I enjoy being with the people I went with as well. But then something happened a few days later that caught me off guard. A conversation that went something like this: “Are you happy?” “Yeah…” “You just seem unhappy.” “Okay... I’m happy.” “When we went bowling you didn’t act like you were having a good time.” “I had a great time.” “But you didn’t seem like you were having a good … [Read more...] about I am happy, I just express my happiness in a different way than you…
The Shelter in the Midst of the Storm
For you [Lord] have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.—Isaiah 25:4 The other day I wrote a blog post about creation groaning in light of the recent tornadoes and other natural disasters. Little did I know then, how close to home that would strike. On Wednesday I made the hour and forty-five minute trek from my present home to my hometown for the funeral of a friend and neighbor (the man was a much much nicer Mr. Wilson to my not so hyperactive Dennis the Menace). On the way there I drove through … [Read more...] about The Shelter in the Midst of the Storm
Creation is Groaning
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.—Romans 8:20-22 Over this past month the country has been rocked with numerous tornadoes resulting in 500+ deaths, the latest 100+ from a single tornado, alone, in Joplin, MO—the deadliest single tornado on record. And this not far removed from an earthquake that … [Read more...] about Creation is Groaning