Thursday, December 16, 2010

Would This Book Have Helped Me? And As A Result Blessed My Kids? Sure!

Maybe it's the season in my own life, but I think How Children Raise Parents: The Art of Listening to Your Family by Dan Allender is one of the most important books on parenting I've ever read. As the father of grown and out-of-the-home children, I wish I had read it - and understood it - while they were much younger.  I'm thankful that all three are doing well with exciting and productive lives.  With this book though, I see now that I could have given them more of what mattered,  and received more of what the Father had for me in them.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Giving Thanks Like The Pilgrims

Several years ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to take a three day "American History" tour for college credit through Massachusetts.  That kindled a deep respect and ongoing appreciation for the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

Since then, Thanksgiving has become my favorite national holiday.  No surprise there!  I love to eat, gather with family, nap through football games and watch advertisers attempt to commercialize a holiday meant to focus on giving thanks, not acquiring more.  And I always love to review the history of the Pilgrims and Plymouth Plantation.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

COEXIST? Yes and No

 
It's a popular bumper sticker these days.  Spelled out with the symbols of a number of different - often conflicting - religions and groups, it sometimes seems like a desperate plea: "Can't all you folks just get along?!?"  Or maybe an authoritative command from someone who knows better than those conflicting adherents do?  It's hard to tell.

So can people from all these different faith commitments really coexist?  Should they?  I think the Gospel of Grace answers with both a "Yes" and a "No."

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Beautiful, Art and the Gospel of Grace

Conservative Evangelicals like me are typically not known for their "artsy" orientation to life.  I'm thankful that the Gospel of Grace is setting me free from that.

Circles of Relationship

Years ago a pattern from the life of Jesus was pointed out to me.  My life and ministry have been shaped by it ever since.  It is key to our vision for community and care here at Christ Covenant.  It is based on three "circles of relationship" that can be seen in the life of Jesus.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Our Field of Ministry: Demographics of Christ Covenant's Target Area

In June of 2009, Christ Covenant commissioned a demographic study of our target area by the Percept Group - a demographic study organization specializing in information for Christian ministries.


Percept prepared a report focused on the people living in a 5-mile radius of Salem Elementary School - 4501 Jackson Rd. - where we meet on Sunday mornings for worship.  It is a large report, full of numbers, graphs and comparisons.  Lots of interesting things to think about and ponder.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Bearing Fruit or Doing Better? The Gospel of Grace and Christian Maturity

What does Christian Maturity (theologically speaking: the process of sanctification) look like in the real world?  What should people around us see happening in our life over time as we grow in Christ-likeness?  I've been learning that the Gospel of Grace has a surprising answer to questions of this sort.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

They Did Not Really Belong To Us . . .

Whatever the Supreme Court might decide to do with him, I think the Apostle John would consider Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church to be an anti-christ.  Not the big Anti-christ, mind you, but an antichrist all the same.  I say that knowing that the Apostle John knew Jesus first hand.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

For The Record: The Man Speaks For No One I know

Including the God of the Bible.

The man I'm referring to is Terry Jones - leader of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL.  I'm having trouble referring to him as a pastor.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Weeds in the Yard, Weeds in My Heart

A few days ago, while walking back from picking up the mail, I bent over a flower bed to pull up a few weeds that had sprouted up.  Within minutes, my hands were dirty, I was dripping with perspiration and quite frustrated by this pointless, unending task.  What was most frustrating.  .  .  .

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Potluck or Drive Through? A Culinary Perspective on Ecclesiology (Look that one up in your wikkipedia!)

People joke about how connected church life is to food and eating sometimes, but maybe there is more there than first meets the eye.  It seems to me that far too often we approach church life as if it were a fast-food drive-through window while the Father intends it to be more like a potluck.  Here's what I mean:

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Church Conflict and "Reading the Bible With Gospel Eyes"

I've been in ministry long enough now to have seen - and been part of - all the church conflict I need for a life time.  For many of my unbelieving friends, church conflict born of pettiness or self-righteousness is sufficient reason - in their minds, at least - to step back from anything church related.  I'm sympathetic, but not convinced.  Sadly, church conflict becomes for them the noise that drowns out the music of the Gospel of grace.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Grace and Prayer for the Gores

Let me be honest: I am not and never have been a supporter of the politics, policies or perspectives of Al Gore.  I voted against him every chance I had, and would do it again without reservation.

That said, I am still saddened by the recent announcement of the separation of Al and Tipper Gore.  Forty years of marriage. Four kids.  Best of times and worst of times, usually lived the brutal glare of the public spotlight.  That's a lot of life and relationship, so I am saddened to see it come to a season of stepping away.  Not only am I saddened, but I've been praying for them regularly.  And praying for the other marriages in my circle of relationships - including my own.  It is a tough world out there if it can bring the Gores to this moment.

I am hoping there is hope though.  And it is because they are separated, not divorced.  Here's what I am hoping and praying for.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Learning To Pray - Some Recommended Books

Summer has arrived!  Typically this is a great time to get out of the usual rush routine for lots of different things - including summertime reading.  Connected with my sermon on June 6, let me recommend some books on prayer.  Why not choose one and set aside time to read it this summer?  In addition, I'd love to have you post some of your own recommendations in the comments section.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Keep Your Chinstrap Buckled On Every Play - Advice For Graduates

Amy Umble of the Fredericksburg FreeLance-Star got me thinking when she asked a number of area clergy if they had any advice for soon-to-be graduates.  I sent her my short - "might-make-it-through-the-editor" - version, but saved the longer - "preacher-version" - for here.  Sometimes I like being my own editor.

Do some long-term thinking about life.  Life is like a football game.  (My wife is rolling her eyes now, so you can too.)

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Art in the Life of the Church

We had a great weekend with friends from the Grace Photography Team joining us here at Christ Covenant.  Grace Community Church was a season in my life where I began to connect in fresh new ways to an understanding of the Gospel and art in the life of the local church.  Even more fun, I got to join in Gospel community with others as we tried to live that understanding out.

Part of clarifying my own sense of how the Gospel vision of life and faith effects art was to differentiate other approaches to art in the life of the church.  As I look back through my own history, I can see several different approaches.  At the risk of setting the argument, I give them my own name and description.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Viewing The New (and Broken) World of Student Life

I've watched the events surrounding the death of UVa student Yeardley Love with real sadness.  I still remember the day of the Virginia Tech shootings, where our son was a sophomore at the time.  I suspect that there is a deep-seated terror in the pit of every parent's stomach when these stories flash into our world.  "What can I do to make this world a little safer for the children I love?"  I had trouble sleeping after the VaTech shootings with this playing over and over again in mind.

While I have no stones to throw in these situations, I must admit that I watch them through different eyes now because of two books I have recently read.  These books are each insightful, but certainly not in comforting ways.  They make one statement from their different perspectives that has kept me awake several nights once again: The world in which our high school and college-aged students are living is dramatically different than the one in which I grew up.  So different, that I dare not use my own experience as a resource for understanding theirs.  If I do, I will miss their need every time.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Monday Morning Reflections on Worship

I try to spend Monday mornings reading, cleaning up and getting back on track after a Sunday of ministry.  In the course of the reading, I've come across two things I'd like to pass along.

The first is a posting from the First Things Blog called "The Secret of Appreciating Church." Churches and pastors often feel like we are under a glaring spotlight of evaluation each week.  Hunter Baker reminds us that church is community and part of what we "get out of it" relates to what we put into it.  "Community" is our middle name at Christ Covenant, and one of our mission pillars is a commitment to small group ministry.  This post brought me back to center.

The second is a parody video that is a good reminder for those of us who plan and lead worship.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Just What Do You Mean By "Christian?"

Because I lived in Michigan for twelve years, I've watched with some interest as events unfolded following the arrest of twelve members of the Hutaree "Christian Militia" group last month.  The arrests broke up their apparent plan to kill local law enforcement officers.  There are lots of things to ponder with this, but the one that I keep coming back to is their designation as a "Christian" Militia group.  Christian?  How so?

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Why Plant Churches?

I heard a number of startling facts and figures last week at the meeting of the EPC Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic - my regional accountability structure and "church planting support group."  For instance: There is an annual net loss of churches in the United States of about 2000.  Click here for more.

Let's put aside for a moment all the issues related to making statements like these: the challenge of counting churches, determining what are the churches you want to count, etc. etc. etc.  Even as difficult as it is to ascertain the particulars of the data, the conclusion is one that most people would affirm, even intuitively.  Fewer people in the United States today have a meaningful relationship with Jesus and His community than in years not too far past.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Jesus is LORD - Mark 1:3, the Divine Name and the Divinity of Jesus

There is a clue given to readers in all of the good translations of the Bible that often goes unnoticed.  Read the Old Testament carefully and you will notice that sometimes you read "LORD" and other times you read "Lord."  These are two different words, and noticing that difference has expanded my awe and reverence for Jesus.

For example, look at Psalm 8:1 - "O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Easter Meditation - Confused by the Death of Duty

"Why do you look for the living among the dead?"  The two angels raise a penetrating question of those first followers of Jesus to arrive at the tomb, but it would have taken a moment for it to make sense.  At first encounter, grace can be very confusing.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Good Friday Meditation - Forgiveness is "Picking Up the Tab"

Votaire, the 18th century French skeptic has said that "God forgives because it is His business."  It is hard to look at Jesus dying on the cross and think that forgiveness is a business with an attractive return on investment.  Instead, I think that God forgives because He loves.  And love is willing to pick up the tab.  For forgiveness to happen, someone must pay a price.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Maundy Thursday Meditation - The Lord's Supper

How do you picture the Last Supper?  I suppose I am not the only person who sees that last night of Jesus before His crucifixion as da Vinci's painting by that name.  A quick look through history at other artists' renditions of this moment present the same basic image: Jesus and His twelve disciples around the table. Even ignoring the recent silliness of Dan Brown's novel The da Vinci Code I think it's time to reconsider the image in light of what was really going on.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Palm Sunday Meditation - The Cost of Love

Read Luke 19:28-40

The Triumphal Entry is a watershed moment in the ministry of Jesus.  It is His Rubicon.  Once he arrives in Jerusalem, there is no looking back.  Only forward to the cross.

Believers see that cross as the price to be paid for the redemption of the world. His motivation was love for His fallen creation.  Jesus crossed this line and faced the cross because He was willing to pay the price of real love.

And make no mistake, real love is not only about receiving or exchanging for our personal benefit. There are seasons when real love is very costly. 

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Son of Laughter - Chapter 6

God made a special promise to Abraham in Genesis 12.  The promise was more wonderful than anything Abraham could have done for himself, and met the deepest hope of his heart.  But there was something else about that promise that is like every other promise that God makes.  How often I overlook it though.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Glen Beck Through Gospel Eyes: My Two Cents

Wow!  So Glenn Beck is now passing out advice on where to go to church!  There are two things that I'd like to say about that.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Gospel Eyes and Violence in the Bible - A Reflection on Jihad, Herem and NPR

This week NPR aired a segment meant to compare the levels of violence advocated by the Bible and the Quaran.  Click here to read and listen.  In it, a Penn State professor named Philip Jenkins focuses on the Old Testament practice of herem, the practice of total destruction of people groups as Israel enters the land or faces an enemy people.  Professor Jenkins refers to it as genocide and makes the case on these grounds that the violence of the Bible is of a wholly different nature - genocide rather than self-defense - and degree than the violence of the Quaran - jihad in particular.

Interesting.  Frankly, I think he is wrong on many levels and agree with Andrew Bostom who takes him to task in the NPR segment.  I was struck though by a particular point of difference I would have with Professor Jenkins' contention.  And it is about how the Bible is meant to be read and understood.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

A Giant Staircase to Heaven - Chpt. 5

Even as unreliable as my memory is, I can look back through my life and see different perspectives that I have carried regarding God and what He is like.  They are fresh in my memory, because I see these same three perspectives held by people I meet and talk with every day.  Reading the story of the Tower of Babel with "Gospel eyes" reminds of how different each of those perspectives are.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A New Beginning - Chpt. 4

Sometimes starting over is not enough.  And trying harder doesn't always get us to the goal.   Sometimes the problem is so deep that it is just repeated at every new start and the goal is too far to reach with the resources that we have.  That's one of the lessons from the story of Noah.

Consider Noah as a "start over" project that demonstrates beyond the shadow of a doubt that humanity's problem is something that can't be overcome by one more fresh start or by more effort with the same resources.  The story makes clear that in the end, we'll need rescue from the outside.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Terrible Lie - Chpt. 3

Trust.  That is the heart of the story.  Who do I trust?  And will I obey someone, even when I don't fully understand or appreciate their guidance?  If I trust them, I will.  But if I don't trust them, I will obey whatever I do trust instead.  In the end, I can get a sense of who or what my heart is trusting, by observing who I am obeying.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The Beginning: A Perfect Home - Chpt. 2

Every story has a beginning.  And the beginning is always important.  But the beginning is only the beginning.  It's not the story itself.  In this chapter, we look at the beginning and all the important things that it has to say.  We must remember though, that we are also reading the beginning of the Big Story.

Let's look first at some of those things that the beginning teaches us.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Sermon Prep for 02.21.10 - The Vision Series: Transformed

This week I'll be preaching from Romans 12:1-2 and looking at the whole matter of "transformation."

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism

This Sunday, I was preaching on the topic of "vision" from Proverbs 29:18 as the opening of a series on the matter of biblical vision, and specifically our vision for ministry at Christ Covenant.

Even a brief study of the key word "khazon" made it clear to me that "vision" is something that comes "from outside our own system of thinking."  We don't develop a vision simply from what we know or observe.  Instead, with information or perspective provided from outside our world - from the message of the Bible and/or the "still, small voice" of the Holy Spirit (however you understand or hear that!) - we come to see our world and our place in it with new insight.  As my friend Ken Priddy says: "Vision is about discernment, not creativity."

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The Story and the Song - Chpt. 1

This is a remarkably subtle statement regarding the doctrine of revelation with real importance for how we read the Bible.  And so well written that a kindergartner can get the idea!

Every Story Whispers His Name - Intro

Full Disclosure Statement: I make NO money on the following endorsement:

Go purchase “The Jesus Storybook Bible” by Sally Lloyd-Jones.  (Amazon.com  or Christian Book Distributors)  Find an excuse to read it to children.  Give it away as a gift.  Use it in classes you teach.  Most of all though, take the time to read it yourself.

I’m reading it one chapter per week to my entire congregation during the Worship Service!  Sort of an odd twist on the “Lessons” of liturgical churches.  And each week, I intend to post some reflections on the chapter I’ve just read to Christ Covenant.

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