Renewed Hope

I've never been that comfortable with the imagery of the church being the bride of Christ. I think part of it is actually because I am a guy, and therefore don't anticipate walking down the aisle in a beautiful white gown. Even the thought of marriage in general wasn't all too appealing to me until recently. Now, the changing of my feelings on this subject is not the purpose of this post. Don't get me wrong, I've always considered marriage a beautiful thing, a gift from God to be exact. However, in our society today one would think that it is in perilous jeopardy.

In the last year or two I've certainly had reasons to feel pessimistic about the state of marriage. Several of my friends have recently been closely touched by divorce. On top of that, it never really seemed like any of my friends, or me for that matter, would ever have any interest in it. However, last weekend my faith was renewed. It came from several different conversations with non-Christian friends and acquaintances. Here I was, with guys my age, who were all talking about getting married and having a family. Now, non of us are planning on giving the next girl we meet a ring, but the fact that that desire is still alive renewed my faith that the desire God gave each of us, and designed us to have, is still alive and well.

Now, just to work on accepting that imagery of the church. I'm sure God can help me with that.

The Use of Journals

Last weekend I had a short talk with my good friend Jayson Oldham, a pastor at Ladner Baptist Church, about his interest in the writings of Dallas Willard. His reason for it was that Jayson feels that spiritual disciplines are an important habit that many people today lack. I found this an interesting thought. I do not really keep a journal, nor to I engage in many of these disciplines. However, while travelling in Europe this summer, I kept a diary in which I wrote about my experiences and what I was thinking at the time. This morning I was reviewing some of my entries and found one where I just mentioned some of the things I felt God had been teaching me. To be able to look back a few months and see what God had been teaching me allowed me to reflect on where I'd come from since then. Reflection like that is what makes sure lessons learned are not lost. Maybe it is something I should do more.

Jesus Camp

I should be in bed, however I just finished watching the movie "Jesus Camp". Firstly, the philosophy of the documentary's main character is absolutely true. Anyone wanting to advance a cause should do so by selling their beliefs to the younger generations. It is a strategy widely employed and not just by religious groups. Advertisers target children. The fact that a group of Christians with political beliefs and intentions is selling them kids should surprise nobody. I don't know how anybody finds this surprising.

On to the movie itself. First of all, the film makers clearly have an agenda and we can assume that the film is put together in such a way to advance that. Having said that though, people can be very naive. What did the people think when they consented to being filmed, that this secular group would portray them as the saviors of the nation? Secondly, they seem to fail to appreciate any kind of intimacy or privacy in a person's relationship with God. For example, the Bible clearly says that if you have the gift of speaking in tongues, either exercise it in private or interpret it for those around you. Instead, they allow themselves to be filmed speaking in tongues in front of a group of children, and then allowing it to be filmed for a documentary clearly seems inappropriate.

Lastly, I feel they entirely take the idea of being soldiers for God out of context. Going back to the Bible again, it talks abot love, peace and respect. Evangelism is not seizing power and forcing things upon people. The imagery of an army and of soldiers is about people being dedicated to a cause. Fighting for Christ does not involve fighting. Even debating can so often be detrimental. It is interesting to look at how Jesus preached to non-Jewish audiences. This is part of a study I am doing right now and so I won't go too much in to it, but it was very different then when he was speaking to religious crowds. Militancy and imposing of ones beliefs is simply not Jesus' way.

There is a lot more to the movie, but those were my initial reactions. If mroe comes to mind I will add it later.

Step Up

Last week was our church's annual general meeting. I'm a church member, and I'm 23. So, I went and sat through the reports on expenses, givings, attendance and all that. I even gave a report of my own (I serve on a couple of committees). I was happy to see a few other members of my age group there, but at the same time I know there were a number of us who weren't there. In the past, I've always heard people telling the younger crowd that they need to come out to these meetings if they want to "have their voices heard". But to me, those days are passing. The fact is we need to accept that we are now adults and we need to being to be the ones to lead the church or else soon there will be nobody doing it. We need to take responsibility for our churches and our roles in them. No more consumerism, let's give back.

When Things are too Easy

Christ died for our sins. It's a simple statement really. That one line from 1st Corinthians 15:3 is enough to ensure us that we are forgiven, that atonement has been made on our behalf. Now, this isn't to say that the 66 books of the Bible are really just there for decoration and all we need is one catch phrase. Certainly not. But perhaps we think that. Perhaps the power of this verse has been lost on us.

I am currently reading the book of Numbers. Numbers sometimes gets passed over because so much of the book is just what the name says it is, numbers. Did you know that the tribe of Reuben had 46,500 warriors? (That's in chapter 2). Amongst these numbers though, there are some passages that deal with division of the people in armies and various laws etc. It was in reading these passages, particularly chapters 4 through 6 that I began to think about how real God must have been to the Israelites. What originally spurred this thought was when Moses counts the firstborn children of all the tribes. Firstborns are significant remember. Not only do they have certain rights in their society, but there is also the history of the passover where God's people sacrificed a lamb and painted theirs door frames with its blood so that the angel of death would not kill the firstborns in their houses. Anyway, at the end of Chapter 3, God is telling Moses that the Levites will be given to Him to serve as priests. Because the Levites are being given over to God, they are used to redeem the firstborns of Israel (as there were more firstborns than there were Levites, a redemption in silver is also made).

This is all well and good and something we can easily accept as a part of the Old Testament. Imagine being there though when this was happening. Imagine seeing a whole tribe of your people being set aside to serve God. Imagine being counted amongst the Levites. How real would God seem to you then? How serious would things seem? Imagine just being around back in the Old Testament times and going to the altar to offer sacrifices for your sins. Imagine the smell of blood. How contious would you be of God? How contious would you be of the cost of sin? Christ's sacrifice for us was powerful enough to render all the laws, all the procedures and all the requirements outdated. However, having never witnessed what it was like before Christ, do we really grasp what that means? 2000 years ago the perfect sacrifice was made and the Earth has never been the same Its power remains the same today.

On the journey...

And so my journey continues. I feel excited these days. I really feel like I am being called to use my gifts for God in some way, but I don't know how yet. I am excited about our small group and the younger members who are yearning to be closer to God.

I am currently reading the book "Be the Change" by Zach Hunter. Zach Hunter is one of those annoyingly active teenagers who seems to have accomplished so much. God has really used him and sometimes I wonder why I haven't been used in the same way. I think it is part of the corruption of ministry for us to forget that God values high profile ministry as much as he does one of His people touching the life of one person who needs it. While I hope to be inspired by this book I need to keep that in mind.

I just finished the book "Jesus Wants to Save Christians". I really found it to have some interesting insight and I will be writing more about some of the issues it raises soon.

God Reaching Out

Apparently it's Christmas time. It seems everyone enjoys this time of year, however to Christians it should be even more significant. This is the time we celebrate the the event which started it all. I usually stop and read the gospel account of the Christmas story, however I usually find that I don't get much from it. Let's face it, I can more or less recite it from memory in several different translations. We hear it every year, at church, at home, on TV and on those PSA pieces on Christian radio.

Today I came to do my Bible reading and realized that I was done the study I was on. When this happens, I usually head on over to BibleGateway.com and read their passage of the day. Not suprisingly, it was part of the Christmas story. The passage today was the story of the Magi. I read the online commentary that goes with this passage and it set me off on a train of thought that I had never persued before. Have you ever considered the significance of the Magi? First of all they were pagans, not only pagans, but astrologers. Astrology was not a welcome profession in the Jewsih world. Yet here they come, and they must not have come quietly. We all know they brought expensive gifts, yet they got in to see Herod. It is therefore safe to assume that they probably came in a large caravan with a lot of fanfare. They probably expected this new King to be found in the royal court. The problem is, He wasn't there.

Disturbed at the notion of a new Jewish King, Herod calls in the religious leaders to ask them about the Messiah. Here's the kicker, these leaders figure out what town the Messiah would be in. Do they care? Do they go with the Magi to worship the One their people have been waiting for? No. Those who came to worship Jesus were foreigm pagans. There's other examples like this throughout the Bible. Consider Philip and the Etheopian Eunich. This man was far from being in line with the accepted religios culture of the time, yet he is seeking Jesus and Philip leads him to salvation. God reaches out to all, and often to the ones we least expect it. By using a star to mark His Son't birth, he reached deep into the pagan world of astrology, and touched the heart of people most would not have expected to worship the Messiah. Today in our world, God wants to reach into the cultures that are entrenched in beliefs that take them far from Him. His arms are open.