Tag: Regular

Photo by Nicole MasonMy brother shared a video with me a few weeks ago. It has since disappeared off the internet. But, the gist of it was focused on this one question, “How do people change?” In the video, a police officer told the story of how a man approached him at a restaurant after observing the officer during his meal. The officer, as most officers do, was on high alert while he ate, completely on. The man who observed him shared that he had not always been on the “right side of the law” but that if anything were to have happened in that place he would have had the officer’s back. Both men were changed. I am learning that there is a fundamental way that we as people change. We change through our interactions with other people. This sounds obvious. This seems to be a “duh” kind of concept. Yet, it seems to be a foreign reality to most people. I’m not...

Or is it just fantasy? Photo by Okamatsu FujikawaI am noticing an unsettling trend within my tribe. There is a lot of “spiritualization” happening at the expense of doing what is right. This is something that has happened at many times throughout human history. Jesus even dealt with this when he was here. Check out this story, Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according...

That time when you realize Psalm 50 is relevant. Photo by Eduard MilitaruI have been thinking and praying about where we’re at in this crazy world of ours. Something just isn’t connecting for me as I see my tribe, my people, so quickly give themselves to the power of the empire. It doesn’t matter if they’re on the left or the right. Every few years they scramble over themselves to align themselves with power for a “seat at the table.” This time around it was more stark than ever. Today Psalm 50 was one of the passages in the Scriptures that I read. I had to return to it because it was, as my friend The Beard says, “relevant.” It’s so money, that I want you to read the whole thing and not just the snippets: A Psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God...

…or Are You A Two Faced Poser? Photo by Camila DamasioGrowing up in a nearly all white community in a white family there were a lot of jokes about other races and nationalities. We would tell these jokes with reckless abandon in private and hushed voices in public. I am ashamed as I look back at the jokes and that I would tell. As I grew older and entered into close relationships with people who looked different than me that these jokes didn’t seem as funny anymore. A few times I manned up and challenged the joke teller, “Well I’m not racist if that’s what you’re getting at. It’s just a joke. It’s not like I’d say that joke around them.” In Galatians 2 Paul tells a story about a time when he and Peter (Cephas) had a little “issue”: Galatians 2:11–14 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was...

Sometimes pain, affliction, or suffering has purpose. When we are going through the hard times in our lives we often wonder “where is God?” Philosophers have wrestled with the question of “why do bad things happen to good people?” There’s an entire text in the Bible about this very question, the book of Job. Isaiah 48 opens with God explaining why his people are experiencing affliction. There are two reasons, first, he says they are stiff-necked. The sinews of their neck are like iron! This means that they can’t turn or change. It’s an illustration for a lack of repentance. The second reason is that it is a result of the affliction or suffering God is glorified. This second reason is a hard pill for me to swallow. It feels uncomfortable. But, then as I continued to ponder what he’s saying, I am drawn back to the opening verse, “Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who...

Your friends and family won’t get you. I remember sitting at the table at the family cabin after my first mission trip with Cru. My family was asking about the summer and what I had learned. As we started talking about Jesus and the gospel, it didn’t go so well. “Who is interpreting the Bible for you?” When my wife and I became missionaries to the college campus, most of our backing came from people we didn’t know. Close friends and some family didn’t join with us. They prayed, of that I’m certain. But, they just couldn’t get on board with what we were doing. As a pastor, I’m finding that my weird life is misunderstood by many of those closest to me. I’ve learned to be OK with it. To smile and laugh, I know it’s not mean-spirited. Jesus was in his hometown and as he tried to carried out his ministry those closest to him said, “And on the Sabbath he began to...

Or…get your heart and mind right for tomorrow. Tomorrow is January 20, 2017 and Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated as the President of the United States. Governor Mike Pence will be the Vice President of the United States. The country I live in will once again transition power from one sitting president to the next. There will be no civil war. There will be no intervention from the United Nations. There will be no need for a foreign super-power to act as a nation builder. Every time this happens it is an amazing thing to behold. Many of my friends are excited about the prospects of a Republican presidency. Many of my friends are deeply concerned about a Trump presidency. I am sure that the people of my congregation fall on both sides of this spectrum too. As the inauguration approaches I want to remind us that as Christians our primary allegiance is to the kingdom of God and this demands us...