Black Friday is upon us…

Is it just me, or are you amazed at the craziness of Black Friday too? Am I the only one that finds the whole concept of Black Friday ridiculous?

We are going to be starting a series in Jr. High this week that is called Advent Conspiracy. This is not something of my own creation, I am just 1 of many that is jumping on the bandwagon of this movement. Here is the concept: we as Americans spend a ridiculous amount of money each year on Christmas. Christmas has become about consuming and not celebrating. So we are saying “enough”.

I am preparing for this weekend, and just for fun I thought I would look up some things on Black Friday. So, naturally, I go to YouTube. It is here that the madness is exposed. Videos of people doing insane things for “stuff”. People standing (actually more like camping) in line for hours, days, just to save $100 on a TV that they probably don’t need. (no actual stats on that, just an assumption on my part)

What does this say about our culture? I am afraid it says a lot. We are willing to spend countless hours in line to buy stuff. Meanwhile there are pressing issues around the world, but we so much as blink. Clean water? sorry, there is a sale at Walmart. Starving children? sorry Best Buy has a 10% off sale for all used video games. Orphans? sorry, Dillards is having a sale on their dishes. I think you get the picture.

So, what do we do? I don’t have all the answers. I do know this: my favorite memories from my childhood have nothing to do with the presents I got. It had more to do with the presence of my family and friends. If we give more of ourselves and less gifts, what would happen?

Check out this video. I hope that we can take back Christmas. No more stuff.

Upside Down

Right now we are going through a series in our Jr. High group titled “UPSIDE DOWN”. When you read the parables of Jesus, he is constantly flipping the popular ideologies and practices of his day upside down. He is taking the cultural “norms” and poking holes in them.
Personally, I find this to be the most refreshing part of Jesus, and at the same time the most challenging part of his teaching. He calls the disciples and all who hear to a new kind of life, a new kind of living, and gives a new vision of what the Kingdom of God is like.
What would do if we took these ideas, teachings, and thoughts of Jesus to heart? Would the way we live today look differently? I would argue Yes, and even those of us that would call us Christians, I believe if we really began to live according to the way of Jesus that we too would begin to live very differently.
In the parables, Jesus is often times speaking to the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the religious folk of Jesus’ day. I can’t help but think that those stories are still being directed at the Religious folk of today. As I go through the stories, I can’t help but think of us inside the church needing to listen to these stories and truths just as much as anyone. This has been a part of my teaching over the last 3 weeks, which has been great to teach, but also very good to hear.
For example, this weekend I am teaching about the Great Banquet. Sometimes we forget who the Kingdom of God is for, we (Christians) can become very pious, thinking that we have it together and it is “others” in need of God’s grace.
Oh how quick we forget. We (christians) sometimes have such a short memory. I sometimes have a short memory. I was ( and am everyday) in need of God’s saving grace, in need of the mercy that God hands out, broken and lost. The message of Jesus is beautiful, and I am in need of it.
I have been loving this series. What is your favorite parable?

Guns in Church

I saw this article through Eugene Cho’s blog.

Guns in church? Really? There was one quote from the article that really scared me.

“I want to be part of what makes criminals wonder if the next person they choose to assault may be the one that ends their life,”

As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but think of what Jesus would say to this quote. Oh, how far we have come.

So what do you think? Should we have guns in church?

What about playing patriotic music in church? Is that what Jesus was talking about when he referenced serving 2 masters?

the next part of my journey…

I have been working at Superstition Springs Community Church for about 3 months now as the 5th and 6th grade Director. I have loved being on staff at a place with such dynamic people and dynamic leaders. Over the past 3 months I have grown a lot as a person and as a leader in a ministry position.  I came into this job knowing that there was a great team of leaders in place, and knowing that I would like to be on staff at a place like this for an extended period of time. What I didn’t expect was that God would be opening the doors up for me to move into a new position so quickly. BUT…

He did. I am now the new Jr. High Pastor at SSCC (soon to be MissionCommunityChurch)!!! I have this overwhelming sense of gratitude and excitement to be in this position, and… I also have this feeling of timidity and anxiety. The job of leading students can be challenging at times, frustrating, and taxing, but the payoff is so much greater than any of those things. I get to teach students about Jesus!!! I get to develop relationships with students and leaders that will hopefully turn out to be lifelong relationships. I get to see students make some seriously big decisions in their lives, and hopefully steer them in a different direction than I did.  I love this job. This is what I was created to do.

National Day of Prayer???

I am sorry… maybe I am too cynical… but do we need a “National Day of Prayer”?

What are we supposed to do today that is different from any other day?

This article asks a similar question.

What do you think? Should this be a big deal?

quote

“Our closed human concepts of gospel and God can prevent us from fully experiencing both” – Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child

Church DNA

Through a conversation with a Pastor that is new to our local church, I was faced with this idea that has been simmering in my brain over the past week:  Churches have their own DNA, so not every church is going to look the same, and that is OK. 

I feel like I want to not refer to churches as churches (you know what I mean?), I am trying to break the habit of calling a building or organization a church. 

Anyways… I have been thinking about the idea of our body, SSCC, having our own DNA. We have been wired a certain way. We have been given passions that will help us to fulfill our calling. We have had leaders put in place that are going compliment our DNA and not change it.  This is all good, and the more we understand our DNA the better we will  be able to fulfill our purpose and mission. 

Here is where I get in trouble: I sometimes forget that other local bodies (churches) may have a different DNA, and that is OK. You see, I am quick to correct and critique other churches if their make-up is different than ours. If they don’t care about justice like we do, then they are wrong!! or.. are they? I have been wired a certain way, but not everyone has been wired like me, so does that make them wrong? Of Course Not! 

I found myself really struggling with this recently.  I was thinking about how some other churches are wrong for not having a passion for the poor like we do. (there are areas that we lack in, but other communities flourish)

You see, at SSCC we have been hard-wired to do justice. We have 3 causes that we put all of our energy towards. Vision Abolition, Vision Arizona, and Vision Africa. I love that we do these things. This is part of our DNA. I am beginning to see our DNA, and this will hopefully allow me to discover others’ too. 

So, my conclusion: If I can allow this principle of church DNA to sink in, then I be one step closer to understanding the ways of Jesus. 

What do you think? What is your church DNA? What are your passions?

Brennan Manning #2

Enjoy!

The Christian response to evil – to aggression- is resistance, of course, but nonviolent resistance, the resistance of love, prayer and accepted suffering. When Christians do anything else, they have parted company with Jesus. Nonviolence  is the expression of a faith that the greatest power in human history is the forward movement of love.  Nonviolence is as realistic as Jesus Himself, and it is one with the cross of Christ’s victory over evil. The question of whether or not nonviolent resistance “works” should be referred not so much to the gain of an immediate victory as to the transformation of history from within by the converging forces of love. Gandhi wrote that ” Jesus lived and died in vain if he did not teach us to regulate the whole of life by the eternal law of love.”

This point has been stressed by Scripture scholar Marcus Barth in his book Acquittal by Resurrection. If God so loved the world as to forgive all men and women for the murder of His Son, and to make out of that murder the cause of His murderer’s redemption, how can people fail to forgive each other their mutual crimes? What man can serve as the executioner of his brother when God refused to execute those guilty of the death of His Son? After that acquittal, there is no crime on earth, no form of aggression, that can justify a person deliberately taking the life of another.

From his book The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus

Religion is bad?

I was thinking today as I was listening to NPR about Religion. I often hear people say that they are spiritual but not religious. Or… they may say something like ” I think that religion is bad”. Or…someone might suggest that religion is for people that are weak and need an institution to tell them what to do. Usually my first response is to go on the defense. I want to strike back and immediately tell that person why they are wrong about religion. BUT…

I may have had a glimpse of why people feel this way.

The story featured on NPR was about how there are countries in the Middle East that are getting progressively worse concerning in-fighting.  In Saudi Arabia and Bahrain the Sunni leaders are oppressing their Shiite counterparts. But wait… aren’t they all Muslim? Why are they fighting each other? Then I began to think about the fighting that took place in Ireland the last 2 decades.  Then my brain began to run through history and think about all the fighting and all the lives lost in the name of religion. The list is endless.  You can go all the way back to the time of the Hebrews to see the fighting that has taken place in the name of religion.

It began to make sense.  Why do Muslims fight each other? Why do Catholics and Protestants fight each other?

Maybe next time I will not get upset as easily, now maybe I have been given a glimpse into that mindset.

What do you think?

Brennan Manning #1

Brennan is my my favorite author, his stuff is truly amazing. If you have not read any of his stuff, I want to encourage you to pick up some of his books.

This week I am going to be posting some of his thoughts concerning Easter. I hope that you enjoy.

I can think of no other time in history when the name of Jesus has been so frequently mentioned and the content of His life and teaching so thoroughly ignored. When the true prophetic voice is raised in the church, it is never simply to denounce and indict. The prophet undertakes his vocation out of love for the people and a deep desire to see them restored to the Lord. In order to free the captives, the captivity has to be named. And in America, in our day, our captivity is to the prosperity gospel.

This comes from his book The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus