Featured – Page 3

In the Beginning…

January 14, 2011 by The RevNo Comments

God created…Did you catch that? God created.God made. God did. God acted.What did he create? Quite simply, everything. He created it all and he did it well. You might even say perfectly.One of the things he created was a human being, “male and female he created them.” We learn from Genesis: “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living...

Welcome to the Jungle

January 13, 2011 by The RevNo Comments

I am reading a great book by Dick Staub entitled, The Culturally Savvy Christian. As I have been reading it, I keep hearing amens and alleluias rumble inside my head. I think it’s because this guy has written a book that I would have loved to write.I can’t write the book, he already did.What I can do though is bring some focus to this little corner of the cybernet and discuss a bit what I think it means for the church to engage culture.Welcome to the Jungle, it should be an interesting journey....

Can You Feel It Coming…

January 4, 2011 by The RevNo Comments

It seems as though there is something huge waiting to break through. I can’t put my finger on it but there is something almost tangible enveloping my heart, mind, and soul. Have you ever felt this way?Naysayers don’t seem to have any power. The vision, the mission, the dream are in front of me and yet it seems as though there is a fog that causes me to not quite be able to fully comprehend.So I actively wait.Faithful to the things that are clear and before me.Hopeful for the things that wrapped in the mystery of the fog.Thankful for the sovereignly good God within whose kingdom I serve....

A Baby, A Cross, and a Catharsis

December 25, 2010 by The RevNo Comments

Don’t we all love the prayer scene from Talladega Nights? httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7pco3TTV5k OK, maybe not all of us. But, I sure do. What strikes me is that today is the day when we all celebrate “sweet baby Jesus”. On Christmas Eve we watched a full slate of classic Christmas movies for kids and all of them dealt with skepticism regarding the existence of Santa. At the end of the day the point was always, “Christmas is about helping poor people” or some derivation. In my head though this wasn’t ringing true. I am becoming more and more convinced that Advent and Christmas cannot be separated from the Cross. The Magi brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, all important for middle eastern burials. Jesus was most likely born near Passover (that’s a discussion for another time) and he died at Passover. The Lamb of God born at Passover, the Bread of Life born in the City of Bread. What is Christmas about? It’s simple, it’s about a Cross...

I Can See Clearly Now…

December 24, 2010 by The RevNo Comments

…the rain is gone,I can see all obstacles in my wayGone are the dark clouds that had me blindIt’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)Sun-Shiny day. It’s funny how clarity can change things. After the first big winter storm the schools were all closed and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader had just been released, so we packed into the car and headed to the show. The roads weren’t too bad but there was a constant spattering of stuff on my windshield. I hit the mister and nothing happened except for the mud and grime to smear. The realization of traveling on an expressway with no visibility was a little nerve racking. This got worse as I had to slowly make way around the exit ramp cloverleaf without falling off the side. I learned a timeless that day: Clarity IS important. In the previous post we talked about the importance of language. Here’s the thing though: language without clarity is useless. This hit home...

Watch Your Language!

December 23, 2010 by The RevNo Comments

Sa a se bagay ki pi enpòtan ke ou te ka janm li. Ou ka li li l ’? Si ou pa kapab alò ou pa pral kapab konprann. Ou dwe konprann! Frape, frape! Ki moun ki la a? Ou. Ki ou? Oh pa kriye, li jis yon blag!I think that I have heard the words, “Watch your language!” more than I could ever imagine. It turns out that when I was younger I did not have much of a filter. It also turns out that as an adult I do not have much of a filter. Every day my poor wife has to remind what not to say.Don’t you feel bad for her? I do.My issues are not the point of this post, however. The issue is language. Could you read the opening few sentences? Unless you are some sort of awesome linguist, then probably not.If you are a follower of Jesus you speak a secret language, a language...

Destruction or Construction?

December 22, 2010 by The RevNo Comments

I was 18 or 19, the room was jammed with more than 1,000 college students and we were enthralled by the man on the stage. He was thick necked and spoke with power and authority. When he got passionate the veins in his neck bulged. As a young man, I found in him the embodiment of all that I wanted to be: strong, intelligent, quick witted, and a command of philosophy and logic that left your head spinning.He shared story after story of destructing the worldviews of other people thereby creating a vacuum for the message of Jesus to fill.He didn’t share many stories of people becoming followers of Jesus.Fast forward nearly ten years.I am alone in my basement listening to a man with an English accent, whom I have never seen. He is sharing story after story of people responding to the story of Jesus.One man built bridges and the other created vacuums.One man started with humanity being created...

Can You Understand Me?

December 17, 2010 by The RevNo Comments

One of the most powerful feelings I have ever had was the time that I landed in Germany and realized that I had no idea what the signs said. It was remarkably uncomfortable. I had no idea what he ads were saying, I had no idea what the people around me were saying, I could not understand a thing. I felt very lost and very confused and very much alone (which is weird because I was traveling with a group of six others).I felt these things because I knew I had no hope of being understood.I have found that as a Christ follower who intentionally seeks to introduce others to Jesus I unwittingly speak German to them.In my previous post I talked about respect. Well, if I respect someone then I can not caricature them. I need to honestly and authentically understand what they believe. This means that I must listen. Not only that it means that I must hear...

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

December 16, 2010 by The RevNo Comments

Aretha sang, “Find out what respect means to me”. Respect is a simple word. It is one which causes people to get into fights, feel good, or get loud. Respect is something that is intangible and yet is required.Today I interacted on a blog where some people were critiquing a friend’s book.They had not read the book.Yet, they trashed the book. They trashed him. They challenged his character. It was a personal attack.They claim to be Christians.Over the last couple of weeks I have been teaching a group of people about how to engage with those who don’t follow Jesus. We began with “respect.” Why? Because this is the place that Jesus starts. This is the place that Paul starts. They were respecters of people.Consider Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman in John 4.He respected her. He did not pull any punches but he dealt with her in love and did not demean her.Respect is a powerful form of love...

Community and Christmas

December 15, 2010 by The RevNo Comments

What is the meaning of Christmas? That was the question that NBC’s Community asked last week in an incredibly creative stop motion animation episode that left me laughing. The episode was full of hat tips to great Christmas specials of the past and a few nice shots at the Christian faith.Shots at Christianity in a Christmas special? Yes.Are you offended?The shots that they took weren’t the kinds that you might expect. The most crushing one came from Shirley, whose character is an outspoken Christian. She said, “I am a modern day Christian, I have learned sensitivity and so I say Happy Holidays not wanting anyone else’s religion to feel inferior to mine.”I laughed. Then, I cried.Not really. But, I have been thinking about this for the last few days.Christmas has lost something in the post-modern malaise of mutual worldview affirmations.Then I remembered last Friday, my son sang in a “Holiday Concert” at his school. They sang Happy Hannukah, Mud Slide,...