the church geek

This is another sermon in my sermon series “Faithful Questions.” The primary text for this sermon is 2 Corinthians 12:7-9. Much of the inspiration for this sermon comes from the very excellent book When Faith is Tested by Jeffry Zurheide which is consonant with my theological thought on the matter of suffering.

In 1981 Rabbi Harold Kushner published a rather famous little book called “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” One thing that makes it really compelling is it was written in the memory of his son Aaron Zev Kushner.

Aaron was born in 1963 and by all indications was a normal and very bright boy. By the age of two, Aaron could identify a dozen different kinds of dinosaurs and could explain patiently to adults that dinosaurs were extinct.

The Kushner’s however were concerned that once Aaron reached the age of eight months he stopped gaining weight. They took him to various doctors who checked him out and assured them he’d grow up to be a normal person, except for the fact that he would be very short.

When Aaron reached his third birthday, the Kushner’s became acquainted with a doctor who was an expert on growth deficiencies. After some studies and tests the doctor told the Kushners that their son had a condition called progeria.

The doctor then explained that Aaron’s condition was known more commonly as “rapid aging.” He then revealed that Aaron would never grow past three feet tall and would look like a little old man even though he was still a child.

ShareThis

1.) I really enjoyed this little essay by Elin Ljung on Adam Copeland’s blog. It is part of a series on the Bible in which Adam is inviting guest bloggers to submit the essays.

2.) Maybe you’ve seen this already as it’s popped up a few times on the blogosphere, but just in time for lent you can discover which city struggles the most with each of the seven deadly sins.

3.) Here’s another photo that I’ve enjoyed this week.

4.) Jason Byassee offers some thoughts on Bumper Sticker Politics.

5.) Where do you fit on the emerging/emergent map? I think it’s funny that on this map ‘evangelical’ fits right in the center of ‘Orthodox Christianity.’ I wonder what the Eastern Orthodox would think of that? Lots of emergent theology seems more consonant with Eastern Orthodoxy than evangelicalism does.

ShareThis

I’ve finally put together my outline for a Lenten Sermon Series. As I questioned what to do for Lent, I found myself intrigued by Mars Hill Church and Mark Driscoll’s idea for a sermon series called “Ask Anything.”

I opened it up to the congregation to participate by submitting questions. While I didn’t have as many people submit questions as I might have hoped, the questions I did get from folks were excellent. I’m also glad I didn’t get the sorts of questions Driscoll got on his blog!! So, here is my outline for my Lenten sermon series called “Faithful Questions.”

Feb 10 – How do we figure out God’s direction for our life?
God has given each one of us many different abilities and skills. How do we determine God’s direction for our life and how do we know how God wants us to use what we have been given?

Feb 17 – How does prayer work?
If two of us pray to God and we pray for opposite things, which side wins? What about when we bring something to God in prayer: when is it time for us to ‘let go and let God?’

Feb 24 – Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why would a loving God allow challenges to afflict a person who has a tremendous Christian faith? In general why is it that bad things happen to us?

Mar 2 – Is the Bible God’s ‘final’ word?
Does God evolve and/or does our understanding of God evolve? If so, should our Bible, which we call “God’s word,” be updated?

Mar 9 – How much faith is enough?
Can our faith in God grow or lessen? If it lessens are we farther from God? If it grows are we closer? How do we know when we have “enough” faith?

Mar 16 – As Christians, how should we ‘talk’ about sin?
Should we ever confront another Christian who sins? Can we address sin with another Christian without condemning them?

That should keep me busy for the next month and a half…

ShareThis

My church has never had a Lenten study before at least not in recent years. I’ve been pondering offering something, but I’m not quite sure what that would be. I know of a handful of folks who have been dealing with issues of forgiveness and wondered about offering an in depth course related to that, since I think studies around lent ought to be about some of the more meaty issues of our faith.

I’m wondering what have you done in the past and what has worked in your congregation?

ShareThis

…those who suffer in vain and without respect depend on those who suffer in accord with justice. If there were no one who said, “I die, but I shall live,” no one who said, “I and the Father are one,” then there would be no hope for those who suffer mute and devoid of hoping. All suffering would then be senseless, destructive pain that could not be worked on, all grief would be “worldly grief” and would lead to death.
Dorothee Soelle

ShareThis

What happened then goes on happening now. In the presence of his integrity, our own pretense is exposed. In the presence of his constancy, our cowardice is brought to light. In the presence of his fierce love for God and for us, our own hardness of heart is revealed. Take him out of the room and those things become relative. I am not that much worse than you are nor you than I, but leave him in the room and there is no room to hide. He is the light of the world. In his presence, people either fall down to worship him or do everything they can to extinguish his light.
Barbara Brown Taylor

ShareThis

I’ve often puzzled over the “he descended into hell” phrase of the Apostle’s Creed. Here are, perhaps, some helpful words from Emil Brunner:

God goes to the end. He reaches the goal. To be sure, this end is exactly the opposite of what we fix as our goal. We wish to climb up to heaven: God, however, descends - down to where? To death on a cross. This is why Jesus Christ has to descend into hell. He had to go the way to its very end. Our rightful end is hell, that is, banishment from God - godforsakeness. Only there has God completely come to us, there where he has taken upon himself everything, even the cursed end of our way.

Jesus Christ has gone into hell in order to get us out of there. For with everything he does, that is his goal, that he may get us out, reconcile us with God, and fill us with God’s Spirit. He had to despair of God for us (”My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) so that we do not have to despair of God. He has taken this upon himself so that we may become free of it.
Emil Brunner

ShareThis

Psychological studies reveal that Americans live in less than forty percent awareness, as though our minds and spirits cringe before the banality and ugliness of national life. Such studies imply an enormous waste of potential lost to trivial pursuits - game-playing, fantasizing, daydreaming, television, self-pity, brooding, boredom, gluttony in food or drink. Lost is the prospect of personal and social renewal, reading, study, meditation, prayer, teaching, service to the poor, justice, peacemaking, and non-violent resistance to power-mongering government and corporations. The scripture likens such crippled attentiveness to death - death before one dies.
Philip Berrigan

ShareThis

Christ’s love is so great, it must lift our minds above our little struggles - and any preoccupation with our own salvation - so that we can see the needs of others, and beyond that the greatness of God and his Creation. The cross is so much greater than the personal; it has cosmic significance, for its power embraces the whole earth and more than this earth!
J. Heinrich Arnold

ShareThis

This is a lovely decorated table that was part of a Lenten service I attended this evening at Lori’s church.

ShareThis

The spirit of truth does not seek comfort. The purpose of Lent is not to escape the conscience, but to create a healthy hatred for evil, a heartfelt contrition for sin, and a passionately felt need for grace. This continuous movement of faith from a sense of sin to grace and forgiveness ends only when the spirit is ultimately released.
Edna Hong

ShareThis

Looking for some ideas to improve your life and better your spiritual self? Check out the Ship of Fools’ 40 Ideas for Lent. I guarantee you’ll find something to help you along in your lenten journey.

ShareThis

We may come {to baptism} singing “Just as I Am,” but we will not stay by being our same old selves. The needs of the world are too great, the suffering and pain too extensive, the lures of the world too seductive for us to begin to change the world unless we are changed, unless conversion of life and morals becomes our pattern. The status quo is too alluring. It is the air we breathe, the food we eat, the six-thirty news, our institutions, our theologies, and politics. The only way we shall break its hold on us is to be transferred to another dominion, to be cut loose from our old certainties, to be thrust under the flood and then pulled forth fresh and new-born. Baptism takes us there.
William Willimon

This quote and others to come are from the devotional book Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter.

ShareThis

It is well known that Christ consistently used the expression “follower.” He never asks for admirers, worshipers, or adherents. No, he calls disciples. It is not adherents of a teaching but followers of a life Christ is looking for.
Soren Kierkegaard

ShareThis