Ambitious Project

Worship Service On Sunday if Sunday is also Christmas?

2011-12-22T08:38:00.000-08:00

So what happens for Christians when Sunday happens to fall on Christmas Day?

Well for many it causes a quandary: To have worship services or not.

I have read a bit over the last couple of weeks giving great reasons for and against having services this coming Sunday.

For me, both as a believer in general and an Anglican in particular most of the arguments both pro and con are lost on me. It just isn't a question at all. The Lord has blessed All Saints with a place to worship, therefore there will be worship on both the Eve of the Nativity of our Lord and on Christmas Day.

Frankly, I find it a bit bizarre that evangelical believers are often nonplussed, even angered, about the yearly drive to remove the phrase "Merry Christmas" from the season's discourse, even as they mistakenly identify the Christ-Mass as "all about families spending time together." Folks, no it is not. Christmas is all about Jesus. It ain't about us except for the part we play in making it necessary that the babe in the manger had to come at all. You see, the only thing about Christmas that is about us is our sin.

You see the manger sits in a shadow...not the shadow of a barn in Bethlehem... but the shadow of the Cross raised high on Calvary. And so, this Sunday, I'll be in church, I'll worship Jesus with whoever shows up because they believe as I do: That Jesus is worthy of my worship...even if Christmas...maybe especially... if Christmas is on Sunday.

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Thanksgiving, Blessing, and PRAISING!

2011-11-23T06:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday as I was reading and praying through Gerritt's Blessing book I was struck by the passage from John's gospel that calls us to understand that we are connected to one another and to God through Christ. What a wonderful thing for which to be profoundly thankful! And here we are on the eve of Thanksgiving, having journeyed through a season of reflecting on blessings and seeking to be people who bless others. The Scriptures have so much to say about giving thanks that it is hard to pinpoint any one passage but a couple come to my mind often. First the one offered in Gerritt's book from Colossians: “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” (Col 4:2 ESV) The theme of praying and giving thanks for those prayers as answered even before we see them answered is repeated many times in God's Word. And it is certainly echoed strongly in Philippians, where Paul exhorts us, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Phi 4:6 ESV)

Today's readings remind us to turn to what truly blesses and feeds us. Not the food or drink of this earth but the word of God and the gift that God has given us in allowing us to praise Him: To shout aloud His holy name!

Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!
(Psa 150:1-6 ESV)

These passages come to my mind when I pray with earnestness and not just fussing. Because I do know that God always answers prayers and that His answers are always the right answers and therefore worthy of being praised and for giving thanks. Today I want to thank Gerritt for his wonderful book which has blessed my over the last weeks and I also want to thank my wife, Lee, and my son, EJ, for loving me, in spite of me. I also want to thank the congregation I serve, my time as your rector, has a been a blessing in so many ways. I also want to thank Baton Rouge, I love this community and always will. Most of all, today, I want to thank Jesus. Who not only loves me, in spite of me, but who saved me who walks with me even when I try not to walk with Him. You have never forsaken me, Lord. And I know you never will. Thank you and PRAISE YOU Lord Jesus!

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The Blessing Life: Friday Morning Oct. 21

2011-10-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

“We are a group of people addicted to and obsessed with the work of the Kingdom, with little to no idea how to be with the king.” ~ Mike Breen

“Blessing is not first of all material prosperity, which may or may not occur. Rather, blessing is the fruitfulness of life lived in loving relation to God and others.” ~ Gerrit Dawson

After the past few days of walking this intentional blessing life journey and spending time with the king, even as I have blessed God more, given Him more praise, and loved Him more I have found that I love those around me more and have felt His love for me more than ever.

Each of our readings during this past week have really posed a hidden question to us. It is one we have asked at All Saints before. It is a question first posed to me by Dwight Smith, “What if it is true?” “What if God is who He says He is, has done what He says He has done, is doing what He says He is doing, and will do what He says He will do?” Does your... can your... world look different if that is all true?

I believe some things that many would regard as outrageous because I believe that Jesus is who He says He is and all that follows from that. I believe that I have an inheritance in heaven that cannot be taken away. I believe that while I am a resident of this world and have citizenship in this world, my true citizenship is in, as Augustine put it, the City of God. I believe that those who live a life receptive to the true spiritual blessings of God are the only faithful stewards of His material blessing, no matter what form that material blessing takes. I believe that those who live in the joy of giving glory to God an blessing Him for His greatness and goodness actually see the world, everything that surrounds us, differently than those who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

I am enjoying walking this path of blessing life and look forward to the changes that God has and is working in my own heart as I open my heart to Him and to you.

40 days of Blessing: Day 2

2011-10-17T16:48:00.000-07:00

“We are a group of people addicted to and obsessed with the work of the Kingdom, with little to no idea how to be with the king.” Mike Breen @ http://mikebreen.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/why-the-missional-movement-will-fail/

Hat tip to Daniel Adkinson @ http://anglican1000.org/?/main/page/477

Wow. This is the fundamental reason to enter into a season of considering our blessings and considering how we, as God's people in the world, are called to be a blessing. We spend so much time doing and rarely spend time with the one for whom we think we are doing. What He wants first is ... well... us. That is why He calls us to be a blessing as we are blessed.

But what is the basis of that calling? Is it to simply try harder? Or is it something different. Might it perhaps begin with... repentance? Not repentance as in the sense of wailing and lamentation... but something... perhaps deeper... something like what Dallas Willard calls "thinking about our thinking" ---- real self reflection--- not navel gazing but real reflection in the light of God's Word.

As I was reading the assigned Psalm --- Psalm 63 the song God You Are My God Poured into my mind... Step by step... He leads me... and I do pray that I will follow Him all of my days.

Knowing that God's face is shining on me because of the finished work of Christ I can know that God loves me and is FOR me.

Knowing that God is keeping me today I knew that I could not really be emotionally, spiritually or even physically harmed in any way that truly matters by anyone in this world.

Since God's name is branded on my heart ... I can know that the God of the universe owns me!

Good day 2.

“How To Be A Universalist Without Really Trying?”: Part 1

2011-04-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

I am currently reading Rob Bell's new book “Love Wins”. According to my Kindle, I am 76% through the book. I have been 100% disappointed since about page 1. I won't say a lot more right now but once I have finished the book I will post a couple of comments. The best thought I can come up with for what Bell offers by way of theological musing so far is that a better sub-title would have been, “How To Be A Universalist Without Really Trying?”
Since before the book's release, Bell has been all over the airwaves declaring that he is emphatically NOT a universalist, only to then continue by expressing a stream of platitudes and thinly veiled universalist theological positions. As I have read the book I have found my personal frustration mounting. Bell, like many others, likes to precede many of his musings with the a priori disclaimer, “I am not a theologian” and then proceed to offer sloppy theological arguments. That is like saying, “Well, I am not a trained surgeon, but I am going to operate on you anyway.” Bell argues throughout the book that the position he is offering has been around in the Church for along time. He is right about that. Thereafter, his conclusions are specious at best.
Heresy has been around a long time. Longevity alone does not indicate truth. The longevity of the orthodox positions on heaven and hell are not substantiated by their having been around a long time. They are substantiated by God's Holy Scriptures. Bell's concern to preserve the best part of the “story” in the Bible reveals something about his starting position over and over again...at least in the first 76% of the book.

More later... when I have read 100% of the book

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"God's Wife Edited Out of the Bible -- Almost:" ... You cannot make this stuff up... or can you?

2011-03-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

In today's blog entry I am offering my take on latest offering from the non-believing community's efforts to enlighten the rest of us regarding the Bible's true content.

The headline at the Discovery channel website can be found at
http://news.discovery.com/history/god-wife-yahweh-asherah-110318.html#view-comments

This is where we learn that contrary to the clear biblical witness, according to Francesca Stavrakopoulou, “God's wife, Asherah, was a powerful fertility goddess.”

As you might suspect, when I read this it was news to me. Why would this be news to those of us with at least passing familiarity with the biblical narrative? Well, that is simple. It turns out that good old Asherah has been edited out of the Bible by the male writers of the text.

So, if this is true, we are left with two possible scenarios: 1. There is no God and the Bible is not the inspired Word of God and is instead truly a work of men and thus editing out this important tidbit regarding God's wife is just part of the long march to uber-male domination in the ancient world or 2. There is a God and the Bible is inspired and He did have a wife and He doesn't seem to have had a problem with her being excised from the Scriptures. That is no way to treat a wife.

On the other hand (option 3) this might just be a giant bunch of hooey. I vote for option 3.

The basis of the theory about God's “wife” is that there is evidence that Hebrews worshiped Asherah. No kidding. Anyone remotely familiar with what the Bible says would not find it surprising at all. Since the worshiping of Baal and Asherah were two of the big idolatrous sins that kept getting the Hebrews in trouble with God. Of course if you have a predetermined agenda you can easily reconfigure this reality and make a claim like: “The ancient Israelites were polytheists, Brody told Discovery News, "with only a small minority worshiping Yahweh alone before the historic events of 586 B.C." In that year, an elite community within Judea was exiled to Babylon and the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. This, Brody said, led to "a more universal vision of strict monotheism: one god not only for Judah, but for all of the nations."

Now Brody is actually partly right. The Babylonian captivity in 586 B.C. did lead to a stricter practice of monotheism. That was the whole point of God allowing the Babylonian Captivity! To create a repentant people. Good grief.

The other argument offered in support of God having a wife? The answer Stavrakopoulou gives: Asherah is mentioned in Kings. Well Asherah is also mentioned in Deuteronomy, Judges, in addition to 1 and 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Micah. Not to mention, since Asherah is an idol, being mentioned by God to Moses in a less than favorable light when God said: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. (Exodus 20:2-4 ESV).

Furthermore, everyplace Asherah is mentioned, in Kings and elsewhere, it is part of a condemnation or warning to the people. If the “writers” of the Bible just wanted to get rid of any mention of Asherah, why did they leave her in at all? The underlying argument of the article is “well someone set up an idol in the temple so it must have been part of the normal practice of worship since that what some did” is a really perverse use of the “is-ought” ethic that pervades much of modern culture. The take in the line of thinking offered in this article seems to be like this: “Well the idols were there so it must have been o.k.” That is like saying, well there is sin in the Church so this a normative and therefore acceptable practice in the Church. No, it is not. And no, it was not and is not o.k. to engage in idolatry now. Idolatry, which in this case, takes the form of making a claim that “God had a wife.”

Now, I understand that the writer of the Discovery Channel article and the folks whose opinons on this subject that she is writing about probably don't believe that God did say... well... anything since I doubt that they believe in God. But the thing I wonder is this, if they don't believe He is, how can they believe He was, and if He wasn't, why do they care if He was married?

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (2Ti 4:3-4 ESV)

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Final... for now...Thoughts on the Woman at the Well

2011-03-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

Is it really the job of the Church to build bridges “to” culture or is it the calling of the Church to be the bridge to God that Jesus has already built with His blood? In this moment at the well, is Jesus really building a bridge of compassionate conversation to the woman or is He building a bridge for the woman to cross over to Him? Perhaps the outward appearance of the “well-event” is of Jesus, God-Incarnate, coming to the woman. But in the story itself Jesus is already AT the well. The focal point of this story is, in fact, the focal point of the entire story of history: Jesus.

The story of Jesus and the woman at the well is not as much a descriptive example of how we are to build bridges to where people are so that we might meet them on their common ground. Because the story is not about us... the story is about Jesus. The truth, often overlooked, is that Jesus is the primary subject of the evangel and not us. We are the object of His love. He is the focal point of the Good News and we are the recipients of that love. When we get that then we might begin to mine the deepest treasures of the “well-event”. The danger of the wrong view of “evangelical bridge-building” is two-fold: 1. Failure to realize that when we build bridges the traffic can, and certainly will, cross in both directions (hat tip to R.C.S.) and 2. Missing the point that the woman did not encounter a man at the well who had heard about here and spoke to her in a compassionate way … she met God incarnate at the well who knew her at the deepest level of her heart and showed compassion to her anyway. The main point of the story is not who Jesus met but who the woman met.
And is certainly not primarily about how Jesus met the woman, but rather “who the woman met” at the well. Because she met God at the well. The fact that she met God at the well gives meaning to the contents of the true well. The well from which the living water flows.

When the story becomes something else, even slightly, we weaken the very evangel that we state we desire to share before we have even shared it and thereby dilute it of its deepest gift: Jesus and the bridge He built to the world on the Cross.

As we prepare to enter the second week of Lent, my prayer is that our focus will be on Christ's bridge of love already built and that we might in our compassionate conversations with others simply point them to the bridge already built.

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Thoughts on the Woman at the Well: Part 2

2011-03-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

Conventional evangelical wisdom regarding the story of Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well in terms of application often goes something like this: See, here is Jesus building a communication bridge by meeting the woman “where she is.” In this gloss on the story Jesus is understood as the antithesis of judgment and the penultimate example of engaging culture in a relevant way through open, free and true two-way conversation. The give and take of the conversation, from the human perspective, gives all appearance of actually being two-way. The call, based on this understanding of the “well-event,” is clear: Those called to present the evangel (good news) are to build bridges to culture.

But I wonder if this conventional evangelical wisdom regarding the “well-event” is correct.

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Some thoughts on The Woman at the Well

2011-03-08T07:47:00.000-08:00

In the next few blog entries I am going to share some of my musings on the story of Jesus' interaction with the woman at the well.

Here is today's thought:

I wonder sometimes if we understand what... or rather WHO the Scriptures are about.

Take for example the story most commonly referred to as “The Woman at the Well.” The description tells us everything doesn't it? The story is about “The Woman” at the “Well.” But is it really? The story is not really primarily about the woman at the well... the story is primarily about Jesus at the well. The story only has meaning because Jesus is at the well. The woman came to the well many days but the day we are told about is the day Jesus was there. The woman's story is important and her reaction even more so. But her deepest meaning is rooted in the prior presence of Christ at the well. And this is always the case.... he is always the one who is already there... wherever “there” may be when we arrive.

As I prepare to begin my Lent my prayer for myself and for you is that you will look for Jesus where He already is.

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Christmas, Contractions, and Ignorance

2010-12-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas = Christ Mass
Happy Holidays = Happy Holy Days
So what makes the Happy Days Holy?

Well, uh, that would be Christ.

Oh, the profound ignorance of political correctness.

Is there really a significant difference between someone who does not know that Christ has something to do with Christmas saying "Merry Christmas" and someone saying "Happy Holidays" without knowing they are wishing you Happy Holy Days?

What ifs and the Big WHAT IF?

2010-10-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

I was unpacking some of my books the last couple of weeks in All Saints' new church building, and as I unpacked the books I would often pause and thumb through some of the more familiar and favorite titles. As I did so I was struck again by a question Dwight Smith once posed to me and a room full of church planters, “What if?” Now there are a lot of “what if” questions that are possible in this world. As the father of a near fourteen-year-old boy, I have heard a number of them over the years, and the rate at which they come seems to rise exponentially with his age. Parents are used to the compendium of “what if” questions. Sometimes they are verbal and sometimes they are the askance glance of a small child preparing to do that which they know is forbidden, as if to be asking the very cosmos, along with Mom and/or Dad, “What if I touch that which you have told me not to touch?” What if I had never met my wife Lee (not a good scenario), what if we had never had our son, E.J. ( I can't imagine the world without him), what if I had decided to be a golf rules official rather than attend seminary, or what if I had taken that one easier course instead of the Comparative European Politics course which caused my graduated GPA to drop to 3.74999 to just miss the 3.75 summa cum laude honor. Or how about a bigger what if? What if I had spent more time having fun in college and just a little less time worried about my GPA and still graduated with the same magna cum laude honor which, as it turns out, hasn't really made much of an impact on the rest of my life... go figure. Yeah what ifs are all around us... but the what if that Dwight was talking about was a much bigger one. It is the what if that is actually a great source of assurance for me in my walk with Christ.

What Dwight was asking was for us to simply stop for just a moment and think of the world we live in for just a moment through this single lens, “What if it's true.” “What if Jesus really is who He says He is?” “What if Jesus really has done what He says He has done.” “What IF Jesus can do what He says He can do?” Now before any of us answer any or all of these questions we need to be careful about our answer, because our answer ought to also be reflected in our lives. Because if we say that Jesus IS who he says He is, has DONE what He says He has done, and CAN DO what He says He can do, then the way we interact with the world around us should be characterized by that belief. If Jesus is who He says He is then He is the living Son of God, He is both God and Man, and He has loved humanity with such a love that to truly consider the breadth and depth of that love is to stand in awe. If Jesus really has done what He says He has done then He is THE Savior and there really is no other way to salvation, He really is the ONLY way to the Father. And if Jesus really can do what He says He can do, then even now He stands with outstretched arms for a lost and hurting world ready to receive all who turn to Him. If Dwight's “what if” is true, then there is hope without end, love without limits, grace and mercy and compassion in vast abundance waiting to be poured out if we will simply ask.

This is the big “what if,” because as a Christian I do believe that Jesus is all those things and because I do I face each day, even when I am down, with the knowledge that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. Which is important in general, but what really gets me is this: because Jesus IS who He says He is, HAS done what He says He has done and CAN DO what He says He can do, I know that He is Emmanuel--- GOD WITH ME. Jesus is with ME. And when I consider that all the what ifs pale in comparison. Because the final what if is this: what if His church started truly acting like we really believe these Jesus “what ifs?”

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9/11: Where Are the Flowers in Damascus?

2010-09-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

I was wondering what I might say about today. And as I thought about it I thought I might simply share a couple of thoughts from a much longer piece I wrote, mostly for myself, shortly after the haunting events of September 11th, 2001. Below you will find a couple of excerpts from that piece that still characterize how I felt and feel about this day.

“Yesterday, I was reminded that the Islamic faith has no concept of the doctrine of vicarious Atonement and so they have no foundation for authentic forgiveness. As a result they are drawn into the equivalent of offering continuous bloody sacrifices to appease perceived wrongs: law codes that require the chopping off of hands and ears, beheadings, and canings for infractions of religious law take the place of a loving God with whom they can be in relationship. For this they deserve more than our anger: they need our pity and our prayers. As for those who would remind me that mosques are houses of prayer and have no altars, I am moved to point out that the altars that the worst of Islam has set up in the last thirty years have been in our airports and on our planes, on our buses and in our schools, in a Marine Barracks in Beirut and in the harbors where our ships are docked, and now in the World Trade Center towers. Every one of these terrible crimes was committed in the name of Allah under the deluded understanding that such acts would guarantee the perpetrator immediate entry into Paradise. Islam in its fundamental and steadfast refusal to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord has set itself up as the holder of the keys to the gates of paradise and salvation. It is being argued and I suspect that this will continue, that this act of terror is a perversion of Islam. Yet the very subject of whether it is permissible under Islamic law to be engaged in an act of suicide bombing is a subject for legitimate debate among Islamic scholars. I recognize that many may disagree with any characterization of Islam’s fundamental religious tenets as lending even tacit support for such acts of terror. Yet, I am moved in response to ask this question. Where are the flowers in Damascus? Where are the tears in Libya? I saw such tears in Paris, I have seen the flowers in Berlin and I have heard our national anthem played in front of Buckingham Palace. The silence of the Islamic world is almost deafening. At this moment in time those of the Islamic faith have an opportunity to recognize in this act the utter bankruptcy of a faith that cannot accept Jesus as Lord. This is an opportunity for repentance not only here at home where America has so drifted from the faith of our fathers but also for the whole of Islam. May God so grant such an outpouring of His grace.”

“Our struggle against terror and those who would wield it as a weapon of warfare against the innocent must be rooted in love for the liberty that Americans and Christians hold so dear. In the days ahead we will do well to remember that the liberty we have long enjoyed in America was not won on Bunker Hill but on Calvary’s hill. Not on the lofty heights overlooking Yorktown harbor but on the barren slopes above Jerusalem. The foundations for our understanding of Christian liberty were not hammered out in legislative halls of Virginia and Philadelphia but in the council halls of Chalcedon and Nicea. Those who founded this nation and hammered out the parameters of the liberty that we enjoy did not invent liberty, they were the beneficiaries of a liberty already won. Our true liberty, our true freedom, was bought with the highest price of all, with the blood of the very Son of God, the God that we worship, the Incarnate God of all creation in the person of Jesus Christ. Our true freedom is found in the saving knowledge of the one who says of Himself, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Our liberty is rooted in the Truth that sets men truly free: the truth of the Christian faith that stands in stark opposition to all of the world’s religions in the striking claim that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and the only way to the Father. This is the wellspring of true freedom for if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed. Only in the light and context of such freedom can humanity hope to do the will of God. May God so grant us the grace to know His will in the days that lie ahead that we may remain steadfast in love not hate, in determination not bitterness, and in resolve not bigotry. We are called to go forth to love and serve the Lord. I pray that we will be granted the strength so to do. It must now become our fervent prayer that He will make us instruments of His peace and His justice in the days that lie ahead and in the accomplishment of the terrible task that has been set before this nation. Let us go boldly forth but do so with the name of Jesus fresh upon our lips, singing:

Jesus! Name of wondrous love!
Name all other names above!
Unto which must every knee
bow in deep humility.
Jesus! Name of priceless worth
to the fallen of the earth,
for the promise that it gave,
“Jesus shall His people save.”
Jesus! Only Name that’s given,
under all the mighty heaven,
whereby those to sin enslaved,
burst their fetters and are saved."

Lord, Jesus Christ, let it be so.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

As I said these are excerpts from a much longer piece penned some ten years ago and I find myself still asking, "Where are the flowers in Damascus?"

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SPINACH AND SCRIPTURE

2010-08-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

I really like spinach...now. But there was a time when, like most kids, I wouldn't go near the stuff. In time things changed and I pretty much like spinach any way it is prepared. I never have to be cajoled or threatened into eating my spinach like when I was little. I remember one tactic that was often used (with limited success I must admit) was act like I wasn't allowed to eat the spinach on the notion that I would want more what I was told I cannot have. The theory's limited success (at least with me) with regards to increasing my childhood spinach intake not withstanding, the basis of the theory is a pretty good one. Most of us do want a little bit more what seems to be just out of reach or even forbidden.

I was reading a work on the theology of the English reformers (cleverly titled the same), the other day and was in chapter one on Scripture and was reminded that there was a time when people did not have access to Bibles. When they finally did begin to translate the Bible into English, the cost prohibited most folks from owning a copy so they had to go down to the local church and look at a copy there (often chained down to prevent its theft). And as I was reading and thinking about these things it occurred to me that when the Bible was not readily available men longed to read it in their own language. Now that you can find some translation of the Bible (many times multiple copies) in many many homes, the actual reading of the Scripture doesn't quite measure up to the levels of ownership of Bibles. There it is on the shelf waiting to be read – but...

So why? Is it because the Bible is so readily available and no longer denied to us? Perhaps. I notice that in those countries where it remains a crime, or when Bible ownership is at least very tightly controlled, the treasures of Holy Scripture seem to have much higher regard. I wonder if the day were to come for us though, here in America, when we would find it a crime to own a Bible, would we see the value of God's word and yearn for it once again. I pray that is not what it will take but wonder sometimes if it is.

I grew up and realized that not only was spinach good for me but that it tasted good as well. I also grew up and found out the same about the Scriptures: not only are they good for me but they taste good as well. God's Word is like manna, it makes the unholy lips of sinners clean. It does this because unlike spinach which can only nourish the body, the Word of God nourishes the soul and spirit of believers... and you don't even have to consume it with a cream sauce... its great right out of the package. So eat up!

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Are We There Yet?

2010-08-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

The four worst words a parent is destined to hear on any journey. Not just particularly long journeys but pretty much any trip. The length of the journey only determines the rate at which the question will come. On a journey of any serious length the rapidity with which the inquiry is directed toward the parent or parents present increases over time until it finally reaches the maddening crescendo of about once every three or four minutes. Of course by that time the parents have been mentally reduced to mere mumbles interspersed with the occasional “give it a rest” (or something along those lines) in reply.

And though these four words are the bane of most parents' traveling adventures, it really is everyone's question. Phrased in a variety of ways it still comes down to “are we there yet?” We ask ourselves this question in ways like the following: Am I there yet in my career? Am I there yet in my desire to lose weight, get more fit, spend more time with my family, or watch less television and spend more time reading? Am I there yet in reading the Bible more, praying more regularly, or simply being with God? Am I there yet?... “There” is always out in front of us and because we are often so focused on “there” we never quite spend any time “here,” wherever “here” might happen to be.

I began to go through a season like that when All Saints was delayed in getting into the building we were trying to rent for use as a church. “When will we get in the building” was just another version of “Are we there yet?” that I was asking of God. But what I found, as God delayed that process, was to begin not so much looking to the “there” ahead of us but to the “here” where I was. Sure we had to make some adjustments and worship in homes for a season, but we grew closer as a result. Sure it was sometimes a frustrating season of digging through red tape and negotiating to work out the details so we could finally take occupancy of the building, but we learned so many valuable lessons about others and ourselves.

But the most important thing for me was that as the process unfolded it became increasingly less important to be “there” because I began to understand that wherever “there” was going to be, when we got “there” we would find that God had already been there. That He was, and is, always with us in our “here-s” and our “there-s”. Will we – will I – still ask from time to time, “Are we (am I) there yet?” I imagine so. But hopefully as I continue to walk with the Lord, I'll grow in my understanding and my faith that He is the one who is always there and here, and here will become the exact place I want to be because it's the here-s that will get me there. In the end what I came to understand was that when I was asking my heavenly Father: “Are we there yet?” His answer was always the same, “Of course we are there, because I am here.”

IHN
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Oh, well, now that you put it that way...

2010-06-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

Oh well now that you put it that way...

This just in from a number of online sources: “Compared with a group of control adolescents born to heterosexual parents with similar educational and financial backgrounds, the children of lesbian couples scored better on academic and social tests and lower on measures of rule-breaking and aggression.”

You can read more here http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19014-children-of-lesbian-parents-do-better-than-their-peers.html or here http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/07/lesbian.children.adjustment/?hpt=T2

Well that does it, doesn't it? Over 3,000 years of the moral teaching of Holy Scripture can now be set aside because a sociological study or two claims that children raised by same sex couples fare as well or better than children with hetero sexual parents. The rationale for this claim? Well, for me, the money quote behind this claim is this: “the children of lesbian couples scored better on academic and social tests and lower on measures of rule-breaking and aggression.” Especially ironic to me is the “rule-breaking” measurement. One wonders whose “rules” are being referenced in order to determine whether they are being broken. Clearly not God's rules. Just for a second let's consider who developed the standards for measuring the “academic” and “social” tests and “measures of rule breaking and aggression.”

But a few questions do come to mind. Were those standards, perhaps, developed by the same liberal sociologists, etc. that have been pushing for the normalization and acceptability of homosexuality for so long? Is it possible that there has been an intentional effort to redefine “faring as well” by controlling the means and standards of measuring sociological norms? Is it just possible that the norms and standards that define “better academics” (read: acceptance of a secular humanist educational agenda),”social tests (read: politically correct indoctrination), “rule-breaking, (read: submitting to a THX-1138 world view), and “aggression” (see politically correct behavior) are norms and standards formulated by those with a Neo-Marxist worldview and agenda and embraced by the government run education systems in America? The answer is yes. This is classic Marxist liberalism: redefine the good by controlling how it is measured.

Why would this be of concern to a Christian? Because it is a direct and intentional attack on the biblical worldview and the teaching of Holy Scripture with regards to sexual morality. It is part of the concerted efforts of those who wish to see the demise of the nuclear family and seek a redefinition of family to further their political agenda. This is not really about what a family is or is not. This is about using sexual perversion as a tool and children as pawns in the sordid effort to gain political power by those who are offended by the very idea of Christianity. This is so because Christianity and a biblical worldview are the most significant obstacles to the ongoing efforts to remake America's economic and political systems in the image of Stalinist communism complete to the subjugation and erosion of the historic teachings of the Christian Church.

Of course there is the additional problematic element regarding the legitimacy of the findings of the study altogether since, according to CNN, “Funding for the research came from several lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy groups, such as the Gill Foundation and the Lesbian Health Fund from the Gay Lesbian Medical Association.”

On the other hand if Dr. Nanette Gartrell, the author of the study, can be trusted that the the "funding sources played no role in the design or conduct of the study, " then there is nothing to worry about... so we can just keep on drinking the secular Kool Aid.

Counter to Gartrell's claim, “Wendy Wright, president of the Concerned Women for America, a group that supports biblical values, questioned the legitimacy of the findings from a study funded by gay advocacy groups. That proves the prejudice and bias of the study," she said. "This study was clearly designed to come out with one outcome -- to attempt to sway people that children are not detrimentally affected in a homosexual household.”” Of course Wright is – no pun intended – right. At least partially. I suspect that what we face is worse than simply fudging the results by deciding the outcome in advance from the data perspective alone. I suspect that what we are seeing is the result of decades of social re-engineering. The norms have been moved. I suspect that they measured exactly what they are reporting. And that is the really sad part of it all. What passes for well adjusted has been defined in such a way that children being raised in such a deviant environment can be measured as doing “better” than or as well as other children. Kyrie eleison.

So then what does this newest report, seeking to offer a thinly veiled effort legitimizing same sex parenting, really mean? It means that if I control the measurement then I control the results of any study. In other words, if I can redefine 70 out of 100 as an A, I can be a functional C student with a 4.0 GPA because I have adjusted the standard. Just so in sociology: First, I redefine what is socially acceptable to achieve the results I already desire and then, I measure the behavior based on the new standard. A child who would be considered well adjusted from a Christian point of view can now be judged, by the new sociological standards within the secular system, to be an irrational, paranoid, narrow minded, bigot with the potential to do great harm if left unrestrained. He who controls the rules controls the outcomes. So it is no real surprise that children being raised by proponents of the new sociological measurements for achievement would score well or better within their own system.

For those who still believe that our Christian faith can and even, in some cases, should be compartmentalized from other areas of social interaction, this report my cause only some minor discomfort. And that discomfort largely an aesthetic reaction. But for those of us who believe firmly that the call to discipleship and the walk of sanctification require that our faith in Christ must increasingly become a part of the very warp and woof of the fabric of our existence, it raises a stark alarm. And that is not an aesthetic-based alarm but an ethical and biblical alarm. Because this is yet another step in the left's long march toward pushing this country away from the Christian ethos that has so long under girded and sustained us as a nation in times of both prosperity and of challenge. The culture war that currently rages in America threatens to move us starkly away from the Christian ethos and toward an ethos that is antithetical to both the Holy Scriptures and the founding documents of this nation. So in considering the veracity of this study I do not so much doubt the findings, as I am deeply disturbed and concerned for what the findings say about what we, as a nation, are moving toward considering acceptable social behavior outcomes.

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Wow I can't believe I missed this

2009-10-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me this earlier today... while the events at the ELCA convention were as sad as those at TEC's convention earlier... It may be worthy of noting that God (being omniscient and omnipresent) might be paying attention to what the Church is doing.

This is from a recent issue of WORLD magazine:
Remarkable providence: When a tornado hits, four centuries of press history flash before my eyes
by Marvin Olasky

Journalists love the unusual: "Man bites dog" stories are big. So how should reporters have reacted to a Minneapolis surprise last month?

Facts: A convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) last month voted to ordain as clergy noncelibate U.S. homosexuals. No severe weather warnings were in place, and no tornado had come into downtown Minneapolis for a long time—at least 90 years, according to one archivist. Nevertheless, as delegates met, a tornado damaged the roof of the Minneapolis convention center where they were meeting and knocked the cross off the host church next door.

In subsequent days I read a spectrum of reports about the event. Here's a quick survey of coverage, moving from right (certainty of God's righteous action) to left (any mention should be left out, because it's certain that any god that might exist would not act in this way):
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

• Minneapolis pastor/author John Piper produced Bible-based news analysis of the kind standard in 17th-century journalism. (In 1681 a general meeting of Massachusetts ministers urged careful coverage of "Illustrious Providences," including "Divine Judgments, Tempests, Floods, Earth-quakes, Thunders as are unusual . . .") Citing Christ's analysis of the fatal fall of the Siloam tower (Luke 13), Piper wrote that "the tornado in Minneapolis was a gentle but firm warning to the ELCA and all of us: Turn from the approval of sin. Turn from the promotion of behaviors that lead to destruction. . . . Rejoice in the pardon of the cross of Christ and its power to transform left and right wing sinners."

• Blogger (and former UPI religion editor) Uwe Siemon-Netto called the ECLA meeting "shameful" but did not conclude absolutely that God sent the tornado. He wrote, "I could not help grinning: This was truly Old Testament-style: God sometimes uses nature to make a point. Of course you will have to believe in these things in order to grasp their ramifications. If on the other hand you accept Biblical truths only selectively, as did the majority of the Minneapolis delegates, then this incident could only have been a random occurrence—you know: as random as the beginning of the universe."

• The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the news and noted one interpretation, with a raised-eyebrow "even": "Some conservatives even saw signs of divine anger when a tornado touched down on the Minneapolis Convention Center just hours before the vote." The Associated Press also reported the incident, but in a more sardonic way: "A few jokes about God's wrath proved inevitable. 'We trust that the weather is not a commentary on our work,' said the Rev. Steven Loy, who was helping oversee the convention."

• The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported the tornado but downplayed it: "The storm largely escaped the notice of the 2,000 Lutherans involved." (Hmm . . . Julia Duin of the Washington Times noted that "inside the center, ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson read the 121st Psalm—which talks about God's loving care—to the nervous assembly.")

• The New York Times was at the extreme left: It left out any report of the tornado, even though it ran two stories totaling 1,462 words and concluded the second with words from a pro-gay-ordaining Lutheran pastor, 'Let's stop leaving people behind and let's be the family God is calling us to be.'

Where would you be on the spectrum? Where am I? Piper is right: God controls the winds, so any tornado is a warning to all of us that we do not control even the next hour of our lives. We need to be careful about citing tornado hits or misses as proof of God's specific disfavor or favor: Episcopalian prelates who approve sin should not rest easy because their conclaves have not caved in. In WORLD we avoid stating as fact that which cannot be proven from the Bible or from careful observation, but we do not follow the Times in ignoring remarkable providences.

That the Minneapolis tornado did not kill or seriously injure anyone is one more instance of God's miraculous mercy and persistent patience. The Bible warns us all, so we should not need tornados—but sometimes we do. Thank you, God, for not giving us what we deserve. Help more of us to grab hold of Christ so that we do not reap the whirlwind, in this life or the next.

Sermon Series on Leviticus

2009-09-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

So we are working through the Book of Leviticus this Fall at All Saints in a sermon series entitled, Mercy Grace, and the Cross of Christ: A look at Leviticus for the 21st Century.

Since it is my firm conviction that Christians cannot hope to grasp the fullness of the Cross of Christ without an understanding of what Leviticus is about (hint: Jesus), we are looking at the key passages and sections of the often neglected OT book as a means of establishing the foundation of the Gospel. Two Sunday's ago we looked at the Feast of Trumpets which is the foreshadowing of the Great In Gathering when Christ comes again. As we looked at the passage I drew an analogy between the feast of Trumpets and what many call "Rally Day" or Reunion Sunday to highlight that people are coming off their summer vacations and gathering to begin the new church year.

This past Sunday we took our first look at the Day of Atonement as it is briefly described in chapter 23 in the context of it's call on God's people for spiritual renewal. Here is an excerpt from that sermon:

"The point of the times of rest and self examination is not to put yet another weighty burden but rather to offer a breathe of hope .. a point of release from the burdens of the world AND our own personal sin as we look to the Cross... you see when we examine ourselves and find ourselves lacking we have a choice: WE CAN MAKE EXCUSES OR we can turn to the Cross... we can turn to the one who paid for all those things we see in ourselves that we don't want to see when we examine ourselves. When we face our falleness we can turn to Jesus who put Himself in or place who lived as we live and died the death we deserve.. we can ask Jesus, our Lord Jesus, our Savior, to have mercy on the one we know ourselves to be. To have mercy on us... BUT we have trouble accepting the forgiveness of God because we operate under an illusion.. and the illusion is this... He wouldn't really forgive me if He knew who I really was.., Brothers and sisters He does know who we are... when Jesus died He died for your sins.. not just collective sins ... for your specific sins... for you. He knows you and He died for you to make the Day of Atonement have it's fullest meaning and He offers you and I a chance to respond to His sacrifice.. to accept... receive and be something new, in other words, He is offering in Himself and in and through His sacrifice … He is offering to you and to me transformation... real and enduring TRANSFORMATION!"

You can hear the whole thing at www.allsaintsanglicanbr.org

Blessings,

mark+

Good news, and other ramblings for Wednesday morning

2009-09-30T04:52:00.000-07:00

not as GOOD as THE Good News but I can walk and bend my knee this morning... as I mentioned yesterday we had a lovely cold snap hit in time for this last long run before the race on the 25th of Oct. so now I know that a really good way to ruin a perfectly good first cool day of the Fall is to start off with a 24 miler:)

I am praying for the people in Samoa who were struck by the tsunami yesterday and the folks in SE Asia who are suffering from the storm Ketsana

It is a simply gorgeous day here in BR today...

so why so long...

2009-09-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

Well it could be that I am lazy or it could be that I have been super busy... we had the Bishop in for my service of installation as the rector of All Saints and the lead up to that took time and then after it was playing catch up but mostly I wonder if this is a good use of time for someone leading a new church... surely the things I think of or the things going on in my life are not terribly interesting to others (I say that in soite of the twitterization of America) but today in keeping with the post I just put up about the marathon training run this morning I can do nothing except sit and so working on the "blogging thingy"... in the next post I shall take up our new sermon series (does that sound pretentious or what?

what was i thinking

2009-09-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

So I ran 24 miles this morning. The plan at the beginning worked like a charm...kept it slow... good warm up hit the half way point right at 2:04 and still felt strong. But then came the strange feeling in the left knee and the the tightening... it was a good morning for running the heat we had been having in BR broke to a nice cool morning... I am under a month out from the Marine Corps Marathon in DC and I am becoming increasingly convinced that my goal of an under four hour time is WAAAY out of reach. Things were looking good earlier in the training this summer but It occured to me that my 47 years may simply have run faster than me...I am looking forward to the run in DC but right now I am just hoping to finish the race ahead of the street cleaners.

Oh yeah... that funky feeling... almost certainly the iliotibial band right at the knee... becoming inflamed... never had this on any of the runs so far so ...apparently ... for me 21 miles is where the ye old iliotibial band decides to say "no thank you very much" and if you insist on keeping up this foolishness I'll be reminding you of the error of your ways for the rest of the daym, tonight and well untill I just get tired of hurting you...

All kidding aside .. it does hurt like the dickens BUT the run is for charity... I am running for 25:40 and for the Sonrise orphanage in Rwanda you can check out the fund raising page at http://www.2540.org/Team2540/marine-corps-marathon-2009-e5/fr-mark-turner-m49/

As I sit here on the back porch of our home.. I think about how it was just a year ago that I had come home from being in Rwanda. It seems a long time ago... but the people of Africa and the faith of the Christians there remains such a big part of me...

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Gratitude and Heresy and an Invitation to Sermon Comments and Questions

2009-08-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

We are now posting the sermons on mp3 at our church website (http://www.allsaintsanglicanbr.org/). Here is an excerpt from this past Sunday's sermon:

"Q: Isn't it sufficient to simply say I love Jesus and Jesus loves me?
To this question I ask this follow up: Which Jesus? The Jesus of the Scriptures? The Jesus who is the 2nd person of the Triune Godhead, the Jesus who spoke all things into existence?

Or the Jesus who was just a prophet, the Jesus who did not really die on the Cross, the Jesus who never rose from the dead, the Jesus who was just one really good man among many good men.

Or the Jesus who is fully man and fully God? The Jesus that is in perfect union with the Father and the Holy Spirit? The Jesus who is not just in relationship with the Father but is of the same substance as the Father... one in the same in their essence. It's important ...
Because THAT is the Jesus who died for your sins and mine...That is the God who loves us with such a love such a compassion that if we were to really consider it we would weep in thanksgiving..."

If you listen to a sermon or were in church on Sunday and have questions or comments post them here.

IHN
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So...I'm still learning

2009-08-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

...and that means I am learning this blogging thing as I go... I am reading the Blogging Church (find out more at the author's blog @ http://www.leaveitbehind.com/) right now and trying to synthesize it's contents, start and actually maintain a blog, while trying to get a new church up and off the ground..soooo ...that means I am posting when I can until I develop a rhythm (if you only knew how many times I just typed "rhythm" you would be amazed in fact I looked at the final correct version while typing the last version and still got it wrong the first time) ...

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Faces of Death, American Psycho, 8mm, and TEC

2009-07-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

In this post I am sharing my thoughts, as an Anglican priest in the new Province, about the 2009 TEC General Convention

a number of years ago the book American Psycho was published. there was something of a furor about the book with some calling for the book to be banned. I was a poly sci grad student at U of H and knew little about what was truly true BUT I knew books should not be banned. on the other hand, I had seen just enough stuff in my life that I was sorry I had seen and could not forget that I was reluctant to read the book to see what the big deal was... a couple of years before American Psycho came out the Faces of Death videos were big on campus. I still remember one of my professors, Dr. Monroe, answering one of my classmates' question about whether he had seen any of the videos or if he planned on watching them. He said, “no.” “Why not,” he was asked. He replied that it was simple, he had learned that “once things went into the brain they were with you forever” they just stayed there. Images remain with us … things change us... and there is no going back...

As a Christian now, I believe that people can be redeemed...in fact, I count myself as one of the redeemed by the blood of Christ... but my mind and soul still have the imprints of images I would love to erase but can't … so join me now in a book store on Alabama St. in Houston ...it is summer 1991… I am browsing the aisles and there it is in front of me...American Psycho... I pick it up and open it to the middle and begin reading … within moments I see the truest danger of the book...it is well written... it is gripping... it draws me in because the images are so stark... frightening? Yes... disturbing? Yes..and though they do dull over time there they are living in my mind all these years later...things that go in remain... I still remember putting the book down and knowing I should never have picked it up...Dr. Monroe was right

Years later I would become a Christian and eventually God led me to seminary and the ordained ministry and that lesson begun in a classroom on U of H and brought home standing in a bookstore aisle remains with me still...the things we see, the things hear, and the things we participate in change us... they are never neutral... St. Paul says, “brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Phi 4:8 ESV)

… and that brings me to a fairly bad movie, starring Nicolas Cage, I stumbled across one day while surfing the channels... the movie is named 8mm... I do not recommend... once again it is not that the movie is made so badly or the acting terribly bad but it is a movie about a private detective who is looking for a young lady who has been caught up in the world of pornographic snuff films... if you don't know what that is already, you don't want to know... just suffice it to say they are not the kind of thing St. Paul calls us to think on.... but there was an incredible moment in the movie that provided great clarity for me... Cages' character, Tom Welles, ends up partnering with a young man, Max California, who has himself been caught up in this bizarre and dark film underworld... in a pivotal point in the movie the following conversation takes place when Max tries to warn Welles' about getting too close to the world he is investigating...

Max California: [on the porn industry] All I'm saying is... it can get to you.
Tom Welles: No worries. Thanks for the warning, though.
Max California: You're welcome. Pops... If you dance with the devil, the devil don't change. The devil changes you.

If you dance with the devil, the devil don't change. The devil changes you.
St. Paul knew this, Dr. Monroe knew something at least like this, and I have learned it to... and that brings us to TEC in the wake of their now concluded general convention... during which a rather modest resolution on the uniqueness of Christ was defeated, and numerous other actions were taken to further distance this body from the Christian faith. the events are well documented at blogs like www.standfirm.com, so I will not enumerate the sad details here.

I know there are some who are determined to fight the good fight for the orthodox faith in the TEC and yet I wonder sometimes if the fight has not become the whole thing and replaced the thing that is most important … Jesus... and sharing the Good News about Him with a world that needs to know Jesus and be in relationship with Jesus...my concern for those still in TEC who still have some semblance of a living faith and practice is whether they will be able to hold fast to that faith and practice when the focus of all that they participate in is a fight for control of a dying institution...some might say... hey, man. none of your business … you are out of TEC... mind your own business... fair enough when it was just those in power in TEC making disparaging remarks about those of us “who don't get the new way of things”... fair enough when it was those in power in TEC calling me an Anglican in parentheses and sneering at my backward fundamentalism for believing things like Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father, the Bible is the word of God, etc.... but when THE faith itself is under attack then ALL Christians should speak up and... after all... maybe Charles Dickens was right... maybe mankind is my business... and maybe Jesus was right maybe everyone is my neighbor... and maybe Max California was right... when you dance with the devil the devil don't change. The devil changes you...my fear is that good people are remaining tied to and continue to participate in TEC and based on the statements of the PB of TEC and based on the results of this last general convention... my concern is that good people are dancing with the devil...and the devil don't change...

mark+

why a blog?

2009-07-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

So, why a blog. I am not that interesting (note the subtle yet latent arrogance in my use of the phrase "not that" which suggests somehow that i am actually somewhat interesting which is, of course, debatable) so why would anyone care what I think about anything?

I don't know.

I am blogging for a number of reasons... one of which is that I read a book entitled "The Blogging Church" and the writer assured me that I should. I am the rector (senior pastor) of a new church start in Baton Rouge, LA and apparently all new church plants should have someone (or many someones) blogging... otherwise they are not very relevant. At least that is what "they" say.

All sarcasm aside, (well, at least some of it) I am blogging because as a preacher and church leader I am in the communication business... My goal is to communicate the Gospel first and foremost... along the way a blog will give me the chance to share some thoughts that are really geared for the blogosphere medium rather than other means of communication...

I like to write and this gives me an opportunity to do that...it also allows me to play fast and loose with the annoyance of proper punctuation:0, it allows me to share thoughts without going through a series of rough drafts, and allows me to interact with others who might be interested in dialoging ... we'll see...

My blog is called ambitious project in "honor" of the anonymous quote in the header... I stumbled across it a couple of years ago and was blown away... man is that where we are as a western culture or what?

We are not just down on God or even the idea of God but also we are awash in a sea of hopelessness... in Genesis God did indeed start what, from our human vantage is easy to view as a rather ambitious project in the creation of humanity... but He has not given up on us... He never has and He never will... we are God's ambitious project... God is not, in fact dead, and through the life giving blood of the only Savior, Jesus Christ, the conclusion of God's human project is assured... so my title for this blog is really a kind of homage to the Lord... an act of gratitude... thanks God, for loving me , thanks for not giving up on me, thanks for saving me and thanks for still working on me every day.

Just part of the human project story of redemption, mark+

First Blog Post

2009-07-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

Hello, this is my first blog posting. My wife, who knows far more about these things than I has assured me that I should write these posts using an editor and then cut and paste them into the blog...but hey I am living dangerously with this first one:)

I am looking forward to getting to know and interact with folks who drop by the Ambitious Project blog.

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