Think and let think...

A question worth asking, actually two.

On Easter Sunday I will be bringing the message at the Sunrise Service at Edge Park United Methodist Church and that message centers around one question. 

"What if the Resurrection never happened?"

As you can imagine this question is quite loaded, but important for us to ask ourselves all the same. 

"How would our lives be different?" 

If you are close to the DFW area I hope you will consider coming to Edge Park UMC's Sunrise Service to discuss the previous questions and how even today they affect our very lives.  Edge Park UMC Sunrise Service 5616 Crowley Rd.  Fort Worth, TX 76134  6:30 am

Forgiveness....

Forgiveness from Alex Hood on Vimeo.

Simply Youth Ministry Conference

Drop Like Stars

Today was a great day. My much anticipated package arrived. Drop Like Stars, the new book by Rob Bell, teaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For more information about Rob you can visit his site here. I of course immediately dropped (huh interesting choice of word) everything that I had on me and ripped open the package and eagerly opened the huge hardcover book. 

No, I haven't finished it yet. Are you crazy? 

I have started reading it and im only a couple of pages in and already have fallen in love with it and had to put it down when I read his little blurb about the "Prodigal Son." I stopped because I just had to share. Here is what it says in the text. I'll be starting with the older sons response the whole village party of his little brother returning. 

"This celebration infuriates the older brother. He refuses to join the party and instead argues the injustice of it all to their father, who responds, 'My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive; he was lost and is found.' 

The older then has a moment of profound enlightenment. He puts his arm around his father and says, 'You're right, Dad. I'm sorry I've been such an ass. Can I get you a beer?' 

Uh...actually, that's not how the story ends. The story ends with the father's words about how everything he has belongs to his son and how they have to celebrate because his son 'was dead and is alive again.'" 

What an odd way to finish a story? It begs the question, "Why doesn't God give us a little bit more closure on this story? We don't know what the elder brother decides to do. He could've pulled a Cain and killed the younger brother or could have done what is right and welcomed his brother back with open arms. We don't know. 

Where is the Hollywood ending? 

Well, Rob provides the scene that is already in your head I'm sure. 

"The older brother enters the party and the younger brother is surrounded by people who want to talk to him but he sees his brother and so he says to them, 'just a minute, please' as he starts walking toward his brother and the orchestra music in the background gets louder and louder as they get closer and closer until they embrace and everybody at the party circles around them and starts clapping and then the camera pans over to that one last shot - the one of the father holding a glass of champagne with a smile on his face and a tear in his eye." 

Some elder brothers never join the party
Some fathers never throw one.
Some brothers never come back.
Some things never get resolved.

In the midst of tragedy people affected by it want answers and it would wise of us to just be present with them. Don't say anything, but just be present. Sometimes we dont do that. We say things like, "this is just how God planned it," which makes us think, "The god who planned THAT is not a god I want anything to do with." 

Life hurts. We have times of laughter, suffering, joy, and pain. During these times we desire answers from God but we are met with silence. I think the silence in the midst of pain is brilliant. God wired us to be relational, creative, emotional beings. He knows we want answers, but time and time again He meets our questions with silence because there is a time and place for words. 

Sometimes even though we think we want answers, who's to say we're gonna like the answers that we get? Just having people present and there because they can be speaks more than words do. Even in 1 Corinthians we learn in the "love chapter" what love really is and in that section of passage everything that describes love is not using words. It's action. 

Actions speak louder than words. God teaches us in this moment that in life there are things that wont be resolved. They wont have a definite absolute answer. 

Not everything in life has a hollywood ending, but God is always present. 

Daily Bible Verse (Hebrews 10:35-36)

I'm going to be starting a daily blogging series today with sharing my thoughts and reflections on the "Daily Bible Verse" that I have listed on the main page of my blog. So, let's start this series off today with the scripture Hebrews 10:35-36

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Hebrews was written by an unknown author in an unknown time at an unknown place, but we know who it was written to. It was written to the Hebrew Christians who were at that time considering a return to Judaism. They have come to a point where they are starting to doubt. They were taught their entire lives the Law of the Prophets through commandments, rituals, and even the prophets themselves describing the promises of God. The Law was the way to forgiveness and salvation. That is what they have been taught up until Jesus came and died for the world and now there is the old (Judaism) and the new (Christianity), but the book of Hebrews is about realizing that both of those of religions revealed by God. 

The Law of the Prophets was fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Have you ever felt that your faith is stagnant? 

We have all had times of doubt and feel that our faith is not where it was. It's feeling more stale, and lacking growth and going nowhere. So, creeps in the doubt. 

I present to you Hebrews 10:35-36

Be persistent. Don't give up. 

Life in the essence of everything that it is will get hard. It will beat you down, but God will always be by your side, giving you the guidance and strength that is required of you in every situation of your life. You know for the longest time I have had this pet peeve. I absolutely detest the word, "can't" I just dont like, it bothers me when people use it too. 

God doesn't like that either. Us using the word can't im sure is not one of God's favorite things we do, because with God's help we can do all things. 

In the midst of their lives and doubt the Hebrew Christians were looking for answers and wanted God to assure them of their doubts. We want that too. We want answers, but God doesn't give them all the time. Sometimes God is silent and doesn't give an answer. 

The end of the book of Job 

The end of the prodigal son

He tells the writers heart that as God's children we persevere and be confident in what Jesus did for all of mankind. Don't lose heart. Have confidence in Christ. He will supply what we need, but we have to have an openness as well. We must open our hearts, minds, and very souls. God will supply the strength and courage to persevere, but maybe not in the way we expect. 

Thoughts from Today.

"The Affirmessy Process – The postmodern thought that life is a journey, or process, that affirms the multiple realities of all people and allows for messy conversations, messy theology, messy questions, and messy understanding. The journey in the affirmessy process is not about having all the answers, but rather the answer is enjoying/allowing/affirming each other’s asking of the messy, unsolvable questions." 

-Russell Clark, 2009-

Lately I have been encountering from different perspectives in my life that there is a certain amount of feeling the need to be clean before coming to God. Let me explain. How many times have you heard this: 

"I can't pray to God and accept Jesus into my heart until I get my life fixed." 

"I can't come to God like me!? Are you nuts?" 

Well, maybe I am, but that's another discussion all together. :-) However, that thought that we have to be perfect to be "allowed" to talk to the Lord is....well, it seems to me to contradict who God is, what he represents, and who He has a passion for. It's very true in fact that God has given us a gift of his grace and love through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ and that is very difficult, sometimes it seems impossible, to accept.  There is something that doesn't fit with "free gift" for us as human beings, but that's exactly what a gift is. It's free, you don't have to pay a down payment, or a monthly charge. It's free. We are ok with this idea when it comes to getting a gift from say your mom, dad, brother, sister, or even your best friend, but when it comes to God's free gift of grace and love? 

We struggle with that. We can't wrap our mind around..that. 

With presents from your mom, dad, etc. you can return the favor. With God we feel unworthy. There's a reason for that. 

We are.

(Just a little side-note: What if it stopped there? Praise God that it doesn't)

But.

(That one word makes the sentence take a 180. We go from fallen to forgiven. Just one word.)

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8

I present to you Exhibit A. Jesus Christ was sent for the sole purpose of giving the world redemption through His blood. Period. God knows that your messy. You got junk. Baggage. Things have happened in our lives that have damaged us. hurt us to the core, and what is God's response? 

He wants you and I to come to Him with ALL our junk, baggage, and everything that makes our lives messy. God says, "Bring it. I can take care of this. I got this." 

"The Affirmessy Process – The postmodern thought that life is a journey, or process, that affirms the multiple realities of all people and allows for messy conversations, messy theology, messy questions, and messy understanding. The journey in the affirmessy process is not about having all the answers, but rather the answer is enjoying/allowing/affirming each other’s asking of the messy, unsolvable questions." 

Point is this. We don't have all the answers, but we do have God and He tells us that we are loved and its ok to not know everything. He says its ok to not have it all "together," and its ok because of what He tells us through Paul in Philippians 1:6: 

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." 

It's a journey, filled with mistakes and joys and tears and laughter and love. We will all understand fully when we see Jesus' face to face.

65%

Check this out: 

"Among non-Christians ages 16-29-atheists, agnostics, those undecided about their faith, and individuals affiliated with other faiths- more than four out of every five have gone to a Christian church at some time in their life (82%). Most of these attended for at least three months. And two-thirds of non-Christians (65%) said they have had conversations in the last year with a Christian friend and their faith views. More than half (53%) said they have been specifically approached in the past few years about becoming a Christian.

Most teenagers in America enter adulthood considering themselves to be Christians and saying they have made a personal commitment to Christ. But within a decade, most of these young people will have left the church and will have placed emotional connection to Christianity on the shelf. For most of them, their faith was merely skin deep. This leads to the sobering finding that the vast majority of people outside the church in this country, particularly among young generations, are actually de-churched individuals." 

Quite a sobering finding, but even more sobering....

"Most Americans, including two-thirds of all adult Mosaics and Busters (ages 18-41, and 65%), tell us that they have made a commitment to Jesus Christ at some point in their life." 

65%. 

Ages 18-41

Made a commitment to Christ. 

It implies that 65% of them actually sat down, and looked at the facts, read the gospels, listened to sermons, maybe participated in a bible study, and then eventually they committed themselves to be disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Then the world came crashing in. Reality started to set. Encountered probably some ridicule for being a believer in Christ and then with each comment and each doubtful experience, Jesus, the Christ whom they professed to believe and follow gets closer and closer....

and closer. 

To the shelf. 

A very sad notion, but all the same its reality of believing in something. Having faith in Jesus is a crazy notion. According to the world and so its hard. When or if anybody becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ there is this thought...

A part me thinks that a reason that some of that percentage does not stay the same is that we as human beings are well aware of our faults and think we cannot do it. It's too hard. I need to fix myself before I accept Christ because Christ is perfect and I'm not and I cant come to Him and say I'll follow Him as his disciple when I'm not fixed. 

"There's no such thing as perfect people. 
 There's no such thing as a perfect life. 
 So come as you are, broken and scarred
 Lift up your heart and be amazed 
 And be changed by a perfect God." 

God doesn't want perfect people, because he didnt create them. He created us in such a way that is not perfect but that is so beautiful. Come to God just how you are. 

Striking Quote

As I was reading unChristian this quote just really struck me, and I can't disagree with it. It really intrigues me though. Thoughts?

"Having spent time around "sinners" and also around purported saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group. I think he preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral yep. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus."

-Philip Yancey, from his book, "Whats so amazing about Grace?"

Faith based on Lifestyle and Transparency Christians

Faith- believing in things you cannot see or cannot prove. (my definition) 

Living your faith that is based on Lifestyle is dangerous. So very dangerous for the message that Jesus Christ has entrusted his believers with. As the Apostle Paul stated in Galatians 3:3, "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" It's impossible to succeed at such a notion of living your faith out by morals. 

Now, don't get me wrong morals are crucially important, but it seems that there is this belief that if you aren't a Christian then you just can't hack it. You don't have what it takes to be holy. These types of thoughts and statements are what the new generations feel about Christianity today. Very scary and dangerous indeed. They feel repelled by Christians, but even more intriguing than that is that they don't feel rejected by Jesus, but rejected by Christians. 

See, the mere fact is that we are fallen and we need God...everyday. That we cannot do it alone. Only one person could and he did it so well that we named the entire thing after him, but he was and will always be God. 

"There is darkness in our skin; our cover is wearing thin." -David Crowder, from the song "Rescue is Coming"

"We should have an honest estimation of ourselves, measuring our worth by God's purposes for our life." -Romans 12:3

We have to as Christians be Transparent and be merely trying to act right but being honest with who we are. Yes we are believers in Jesus Christ and we believe that he is our savior. That does not exclude the fact that we are fallen and we need Him every single day of life on this earth! Without Him we are nothing. 

Let us move forward as believers in Jesus Christ and be honest with who we are. Have an open mind and realize that some of the ways that we live is not a good witness and not representative of the life that Jesus taught us to live. Thank God for what you have today. It is a gift because He is gracious and loving.  

Receiving One ' s Self in the Fires of Sorrow

So occassionally I read "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers and the entry for today really made think.

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” -John 12:27-28

I bet you have heard the phrase, "Everything happens for a reason," in fact im quite sure you have. How many times in your life do you experience bad times and wonder why. Why me? Why is this happening to me? How many times do we play the victim and whine that we are going through a tough time? Far too much. Or at least I do. I submit this phrase to you from Oswald Chambers

"The way to find your self is in the fires of sorrow."

I love that because its so true. What doesnt kill me only makes me stronger right. With every bad decision i make I learn something about myself and who I am. God should be glorified at all times, not just the good times, the bad times as well because it is in those bad times that we truly find out who God created us to be. Father, glorify your name!