Wordless Wednesday
This gives me goosebumps. In my limited time cross culturally I have seen nothing express culture, and speak across cultures more then music. Enjoy this, I know I did.
Archive for April, 2009
Thomas Kempis
“Give me courage to resist, patience to endure, and constancy to persevere. Give me the soothing unction of Your spirit rather than all the consolations of the world, and in place of carnal love, infuse into me the love of Your name.”
Thomas Kempis: The Imitation of Christ.
Worshiping under our own power
How many times have you sat down in a worship service and felt like something was out of place? How many times do you walk away thinking that it was something with you and how you approached God? How many times are we tempted to blame it on the worship band not doing their job, or not singing the right songs? Our approach to worship determines how we worship. No other external factor should be interfering with our worship. If it is then it is an idol and it must be dealt with as such.
Reading 2 Samuel 6 this week has been an interesting experience. Why is it that God would strike Uzzah the High Priest dead for touching the Ark? He was simply trying to keep it from falling off the cart? Why was it that David’s dancing and praising earned the scorn of Michal and why was it that God caused her womb to be barren? These all seem to be pretty harsh things. I think that they were two symptoms of a greater problem, the problem of hindered worship.
2 Samuel 6:3-7 (NLT)
3 They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from Abinadab’s house, which was on a hill. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab’s sons, were guiding the cart as it left the house, 4 carrying the Ark of God. Ahio walked in front of the Ark. 5 David and all the people of Israel were celebrating before the LORD, singing songs* and playing all kinds of musical instruments—lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.
6 But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand and steadied the Ark of God. 7 Then the LORD’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him dead because of this.* so Uzzah died right there beside the Ark of God.
Tim Keel
“If hypocrisy is the cardinal sin in a post modern context, then authenticity is the cardinal virtue”
Tim Keel quoted in his book Intuitive Leadership Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor and Chaos. pg. 117
Culture Making
I’m a culture maker from Andy Crouch on Vimeo.
If you remember I recently shared a bit about a book called Culture Making by Andy Crouch. This is a short video he put together to get you thinking about what he presents in the book. If you have not yet read the book I truly recommend it.
Puzzled and Pleasantly Perplexed!
I had to have 3 P’s in the title. Two just would not do. Something about 3 makes it all balanced. O.K., so on to the crux of the post.
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In Luke 8:26-33 we see Jesus casting the demons out of the man and into the swine. The text says:
They sailed on to the country of the Gerasenes, directly opposite Galilee. As he stepped out onto land, a madman from town met him; he was a victim of demons. He hadn’t worn clothes for a long time, nor lived at home; he lived in the cemetery. When he saw Jesus he screamed, fell before him, and bellowed, “What business do you have messing with me? You’re Jesus, Son of the High God, but don’t give me a hard time!” (The man said this because Jesus had started to order the unclean spirit out of him.) Time after time the demon threw the man into convulsions. He had been placed under constant guard and tied with chains and shackles, but crazed and driven wild by the demon, he would shatter the bonds.
Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“Mob. My name is Mob,” he said, because many demons afflicted him. And they begged Jesus desperately not to order them to the bottomless pit. A large herd of pigs was browsing and rooting on a nearby hill. The demons begged Jesus to order them into the pigs. He gave the order. It was even worse for the pigs than for the man. Crazed, they stampeded over a cliff into the lake and drowned.
In reading this account this morning I was struck with the simple question of “why did he do it?” I understand why he healed the demoniac. He did it because he is God and he wants us to be healed and the demons were quaking in their boots. They recognized him and he sent them away. But why did he grant their peitition to reside in the swine? Why did he not just send them into oblivion?
Just as the demons were causing such great destruction in the man, it says they did more so to the pigs? I dont know about you, but if I was a farmer and I had pigs and I watched them all run off a cliff and die I would be a little cheezed off as well.
All I can think is that Jesus cast the unclean spirits into that which the culture considered unclean. We know from Jewish custom, as well as The Parable of the Prodigal Son, that Pigs were considered unclean, and those who tended to them had what would be the modern day equivalent of cleaning sewers. Was he saying something here? Was he saying unclean can only associate with unclean?
Still, sound off and lets discuss. God could have anihilated those demons in a milisecond, but instead he choose to honor the demons request and send them to the pigs… I am pleasantly perplexed.
Meditation on the Cross!
I have not much profound to expound, so I choose silence.
I have not a word to say that would break the mournful silence.
I find my heart unworthy, simultaneously the Centurion and the mournful Saints.
I fear trusting my emotions. I fear they will betray me in the end.
So today I choose silence, reverence and respect.
Thank you for that which you did, your were obedient unto the cross.
Prayers for a Privileged People
I recently took delivery of several books that I have wanted from Amazon.com. I was giddy with anticipation, watching the UPS tracker as it inched ever so closer to my house. I was happy it delivered at 10:55 A.M. on Monday and my apartment manager took delivery. I know it is nerdy to be so delighted with anticipation, but I have needed some good stimulating books. The Christian books I have wanted seem not to populate the shelves of my local Christian retailers or Borders, or Barnes and Noble. So I ordered, and I waited.
One book was called Prayers for a Privileged People by Walter Brueggemann. I have wanted it for awhile. It is a collection of prayers he has written or shared with congregations over his considerably productive lifetime. Prayers for all occasions, liturgical and responsive. It is not something you sit and read in one setting, but you move through in pieces, and you treasure the pieces and the come back for more. It is a cosmic buffet of prayed goodness of God. You get the picture.
I was amused, after being a little put out about it, that the copy I recieved from Amazon has several blank pages between prayers. At first I thought this was by design, but after looking for a few prayers that were in the index that are not there I realized my book is a misprint. URGG, I do not want to deal with a return to Amazon. I am not going to. I choose to see this as a metaphor of God today.
I, like so many others, have a schedule that gets crammed and cramped with the things of life. Missions meetings, work, parent teacher conferences, hospital visits, time with my son, etcetera etcetera. I carefully craft time for myself early in the morning so that I can enter into devotion and prayer with God. Lately, I have let those times get a little truncated in favor of getting more sleep, getting a jump on a new book, or just flat out laziness on my part. I admit it, I am unfaithful in my prayer life. And when I pray it is crammed between my reading the scripture and stepping into the shower. If I am late I cram the prayer in. I try and pray lectio divina style, but sometimes I just dont have the ability.
Staring at those blank pages God told me that he wants me to use those pages as a reminder to pause and reflect after I pray. I feel embarassed to admit it that I dont always do that because on this very blog I have shared how I go through my day devotionally. I am going to get back to that. Even if it means waking up before my customary 4:15 a.m.
I love when God uses the mundane, the unusual and the every day routine things of life to remind us of Himself. I am glad He does because it reminds me that I am highly favored in His sight and he sees me as being important enough to gently nudge, and sometimes all out do a WWF smack down on, towards seeing Him in greater measure.
Thank you God that you look at me, your imperfect creation with faults, cracks and broken promises and you look on me with love. Thank you God that you dance over me, that you favor me, and that you gently nudge me, your servant, into submission before you.
~Selah~
