metanaut

the Plan

2012-01-21T08:16:00.000-08:00

alright folks, so here's the plan...

My main blog is moving to http://unitedlifeministry.org/blog. Check out the preview!
This blog will remain up, but will be primarily for long-form thoughts and essays. Some are going to be related to ministry, others not so related.
My wife and I are going to start a family blog in the near future...would love for you to check it out!

what I do for a vocation

2011-12-21T22:53:00.001-08:00

just about to move...

2011-11-30T14:37:00.001-08:00

...this blog from here to our ministry's new website.

but for now let me give a shout out to a colleague in ministry who's also put together a blog.

I highly recommend giving him a read. You can find his latest post in my blog-roll, as well as here: http://keewonhuh.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/sister-hears-gods-voice/#comment-72

I'm back!

2011-10-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

man, it's been awhile.

to be honest, we're about to transition this blog over to our ministry website, so it's days as a ministry blog are...almost over.

but fear not, it will simply come back better than ever, and at a different address.

for now, here's some idea of what i've been up to:

brothers from United Life gathering outside the Sorrento Hotel in Seattle, WA as they begin final preparations for our ministry's "Ladies Appreciation Night"

Say What? Part 3: The Meaning of the Spoken Word

2011-09-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

This is the third in a three part series of posts that I'm writing in response to a question a member of United Life asked me several weeks ago. That question was, "...It started out with...saying that it would be bad (Blasphemous) to repeat certain chants and things...But I...said that it didn't really matter if the person saying such things had no knowledge of their meaning, or didn't assosiate [sic] those words with their meaning...So, what do you think?"

The second part in this series tackled the first part of this question, "what determines the goodness/badness of a spoken word or phrase?" This post will tackle the second: What significance, if any, do spoken words/phrases have?

***

There's a lot of logic in assuming that words spoken without understanding have no significance. After all, would a word or phrase have any sort of meaning except through a speaker's understanding? For example: "замечательная женщина твоя матушка". To a speaker who doesn't know what those words mean, what significance could they possibly have?

The answer, of course, is that we're forgetting the listener. When I was visiting Korea as a teenager many summers ago, my cousin taught me all kinds of bad words. It was fun saying them and seeing the reaction I got. So I started spewing them out around my cousin's mom. She kept telling me to stop, but she also kept laughing so I kept doing it. Then one day she sat me down and started cussing me out in English. Keep in mind that my aunt may have never missed a day of church in her life. Those words coming out of her mouth just made a terrible picture.

There's a good chunk of our answer right there: there are more people involved in a conversation than just the speaker. Even if a speaker has no clue what they're saying, the listener might, and that makes even what seems to be gibberish potentially significant. (To an Albanian it really doesn't matter what I wrote up above, but to a Russian it could be the difference between friendship and enmity) Just because you don't know what you're saying, you are still responsible for what comes out of your mouth:

"From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so." James 3:10

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 4:29

"But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander; and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." Colossians 3:9-10

"The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious and adds persuasiveness to his lips. Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body." Proverbs 16:23-24

"Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." Matthew 15:10-11

So what if we're in Albania and I'm speaking gibberish to all parties? This brings us to one more, really important part to all of this.

Although the scripture passages referenced above don't necessarily refer to times when the speaker doesn't understand what she's saying, they point at an understanding of words and speech that takes us beyond asking, "is it okay if I say this/that?" As Jesus says in Matthew 15, what comes out of your mouth represents what's in your heart. If it's filth coming out, then there's a source for that. If it's gibberish, is that any better? What should be coming out of the mouths of followers of Christ is speech that builds up, that glorifies God and shows love to one another.

Taking the stance that language is only as good/significant as the meaning we give it may seem progressive at first, but let's see if it passes the "reality test." When would there be a time to randomly utter a cultic chant that you didn't know the meaning of? Or what if I've decided that f*ck is just another four letter word and decided to add it into my preaching to "add some flavor"?

You see what I'm getting at? Will God still love you if you cuss like a sailor? Of course he will, because his love isn't based on our actions in the first place. But would it be glorifying to him and uplifting to those around you? Probably just as uplifting as it would be for me to utter random cultic chants or drop more f-bombs in my sermons.

Every word we speak is significant because it is a chance to build up or tear down.

Image taken from: http://againstthewholegrain.blogspot.com/2011/04/lee-siegel-sartre-semantics-and-hope.html

say what? Part 2!

2011-08-24T15:41:00.000-07:00

Diving right in...

What determines the badness/goodness/significance of the spoken word?

I'm going to divide this one up into two questions:

What determines the goodness/badness of a spoken word or phrase?
What significance, if any, do spoken words/phrases have?

We'll tackle the first one today:

For one following Jesus Christ, goodness/badness of anything is in reference to what either helps us to follow, or hinders us and other followers from following him (or flat out is running in the opposite direction). Specifically this takes shape in the rule of love: loving another as him/herself.

It's important to realize that this points us away from asking "is it okay if I do _________?". When you're in a relationship to God you're not seeking to do the least amount of good and greatest amount of selfish behavior God will let you get away with. Relationships don't work like that. Friendships and love don't work like that. When you're in a real relationship, you go all out seeking the best for the other.

When it comes to language then, the question is: how can I follow Christ with every word that I speak?

Sound extreme? Well let's put it this way: would it be extreme for a husband to ask, "How can I show love to my wife in everything that I do and say?" No, we'd just call that love. Real relationships don't look for a line of acceptable behavior. They seek the greatest good that they can do, love that they can show and run in that direction.

So let's go back to a person hypothetically repeating some kind of cultic chant or cussing up a storm without any knowledge of the meaning of those words...I think my question would be how they ever got into that situation if they were pursuing Christ with every word that they spoke. I mean...how would saying a bunch of gibberish that you don't understand ever make sense as a thing to do if you were trying to follow Christ with every word?

So, in short: Does it matter if someone is saying a chant or using foul language, even if they have no idea what they're saying? Yes, because there's no way (at least as far as I can see) that doing so would be part of them either a) following Christ and/or b) loving others as themselves.

image from: http://djames.ca/preacher-mix

say what?

2011-08-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

So this post's title has to do with a question that was posed to me on facebook today. I'll get to that in a second.

First, let me just say....

KASE WAS AWESOME.

thank you God.

Not only were many students and leaders re-energized and, yes, empowered to lead in their different ministry settings, but I was personally reminded this year of why I signed up to be a part of KASE in the first place. Once again, the simple recipe of bringing students together from various contexts and investing in them as bearers and receivers of the good news of Jesus Christ brought about some amazing results!

Looking forward to 2012 (especially now that we've got a nice little "commando squad" of pastors and leaders here that now know and want to be a part of the vision of this conference)

Now to think of a new name for it...

***

Okay, back to the title. Here's the question:

I'd like to submit a question. Me and...we're debating the significance of words and their meaning. It started out with...saying that it would be bad (Blasphemous) to repeat certain chants and things which are promoted in yoga. But I asked about it and said that it didn't really matter if the person saying such things had no knowledge of their meaning, or didn't assosiate those words with their meaning. The argument extended into if this applied to swears as well. So, what do you think?

Great question!

One deserving of more than a few minutes of thought and writing. So I'll save my full answer for tomorrow.

For now let me boil down the question's key components:

What determines the significance/badness/goodness of the spoken word?
Are certain words/sounds still significant/bad/good if the listener/speaker does not understand their meaning?
What do we mean by "significant"? Good/bad by what standard?

In "say what?" part 2, we'll dig into these topics and more!

keeping it real...

2011-07-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

pretty busy with summer ministry at our church...summer program for children, plus VBS, plus KASE...not to mention the weddings (that's where the pic above is from) and retreats and such.

I say all this to say that this blog is not dead, it's just in hibernation for the summer

hopefully I'll be able to come up for air again in a couple of weeks!

advice for pastors that's not just for pastors...

2011-06-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Was emailed this by a friend. It comes from toddrhoades.com.

A lot of stuff in here that applies to every Christ follower, but a few things that specifically pastors have a hard time putting into practice (i.e. wise delegation of ministry responsibilities).

I wonder...for you non-pastors out there that read these kinds of lists...does it sound like pastors are always telling each other to quit working so hard? If so, how do you feel about that?

***

1. Let God restore your soul daily.

Psalm 23. Matthew 11:28.

Worship. Prayer. Solitude. Listening. Bible reading.

Averill quote: I pray for you to know the REST of Jesus in all things. The enemy will deceitfully persuade you that you have many things to accomplish in order to keep things running. I am all too aware of this temptation. Simplicity in Christ leads us to only one thing to do- let Christ do it.

2. Give your marriage priority attention.

A bad marriage ruins the rest of life. (Remember the Proverbs.)

A good marriage fortifies you for the rest of life.

Is your home a tunnel of chaos or an oasis of rest?

3. Work with your personal rhythms.

For me: start early, try and leave early.

Creative work in the mornings.

Between 4-7 p.m.: not my best time for mental focus.

4. Keep your Sabbath rest.

A principle of creation: rest one day in seven.

Sabbath is a day to pray and play.

Eugene Peterson: hike all day.

5. Do the things only you can do – and delegate the rest.

Be ruthless in simplifying your work.

Empower others!

Take some time now to save much time later.

6. Focus on results not time at work.

40-50 hours a week, total for me.

However, the point is not to clock your time but to get things done.

Focus on your highest impact activities.

Managers do things right. Leaders do the right things.

7. Get regular exercise.

For me: weight lift and cardio 4-5 times per week

If you are healthier and fit, you can work harder and you will last longer.

Exercise is a huge stress reliever.

8. Ask for help.

Secrets are dangerous.
Need help? In the last 18 months, has a trusted person told you, “I think you need to talk to somebody about that.” If the answer is yes, get help.
Every prominent Christian leader and pastor I know, regularly visits a counselor. It is okay to ask for help.

9. Let God heal your anger.

Ask God to show you … heal you.

Ask a close friend if you seem angry.

Consider: Elder prayer, counseling, talking with an insightful friend.

This is enormously important!

10. Don’t be crushed by criticism.

Consider the source.

Be willing to receive criticism from trustworthy people – people who are for you, who are insightful, who are not negative.

Consider if you are a pleaser. Galatians 1:10

what what? a couple of brothers to check out (at least in the sense of reading their stuff...their online stuff...in a blog...)

2011-06-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

hey all, I wanted to highlight a couple of previously unlinked sites that I think are worth checking out.

Michael Oh

One is from a brother that's known nationally and even internationally. His name is Michael Oh, and I had the privilege of grabbing some lunch at Chilis with him a few years back. He shared about his vision for a starting an English immersion school in Japan, and about his ministry of reconciliation and spreading the Good News there. He's a man of passion, of love for his family, and of seeking after those that God seeks after.

I recommend his blog to you:

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-danger-of-fruitfulness-without-purity

His profile is here: http://www.cbijapan.org/fonts/aboutsem/leadership.htm

UPDATE: Must read the following post from Oh. It is incredible: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/despite-us-god-works

David Ro

The other is from a local brother of mine, David Ro. He's serving at Zion Presbyterian, a church that neighbors ours, and my wife and I have really been enjoying getting to know him and his wife! They're a great couple that is intent on serving God and loving his people, and they came all the way to Seattle from Chicago (and, before that, California and Virginia) to do that.

You can find his writings here:

http://livingdavidaroca.blogspot.com/

The pic of David (he's the Asian in the middle), by the way, comes from an article about a program that he was in called "Mission Year". You can find the article here: http://www.worldmag.com/articles/12751. Honestly, I had no idea he did Mission Year...I just googled his name and it's what came up! But now that I found that he did it, I'm impressed both by his service, as well as by the program itself. I encourage you to check out the article as well.

Enjoy!

Fresh and New! Seattle's First Ever Asian American Ministry Conference

2011-06-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I can't say for sure that SPU's Inaugural Asian American Ministry Conference is Seattle's first, but I couldn't find anything on Google that proved otherwise.

With that disclaimer aside, what a blessing this conference was!

First of all, it was right here in Seattle, so I didn't have to buy a plane ticket and find a cat sitter to attend.

Second, it was right here in Seattle, so I got to interact with and meet a lot of fellow servants of God's kingdom who are serving locally.

Third, it was right here in Seattle, so the fruit that is coming out of this conference means a world of good for what God is doing in these parts.

A couple of other reflections...

There was a great panel about Asian American women in ministry led by Seattle's very own Rev. Nancy Sugikawa (Lighthouse Church), featuring Elaine Cho, Ken Fong, Christine Nakano, and Wayne Ogimachi. I learned a ton, but I was also struck by a little nugget that Ogimachi had to share regarding leadership in the church. He stated that the job of the pastor isn't to delegate, but to find and raise up people to lead. So the task of pastoral leadership is not to simply tell other people what to do, but to identify, train, and encourage members who have the gift of managing and leading others.
This is kind of a biggie...Aside from having a few more "academically oriented" talks than I was expecting, the conference also ended up being a bit more focused on issues of race than I was expecting, and it got me thinking: How big of a deal is racism when it comes to discipleship? Sounds like a question with an obvious answer, I mean, isn't racism always a bad thing? But let's go deeper. The fact is, as the song says, everyone's a little bit racist sometimes. So why then do we need to talk about it? Why then do we as followers of Jesus Christ need to speak up when things like this or this happen?

What say you?

The thing is, when the church brings up "the R word", a lot of people get defensive (and sometimes offensive). Everyone knows racism is a bad thing, and so we can't get anywhere by naming something as racist, even if it is. It's like admitting it automatically puts you into social jail.

But racism still exists. Race still matters. (And let's be clear: you and I are just as much a part of this as anyone)

But does it matter to discipleship? Does it matter to a pastor who/ministry that is trying to call and equip followers to Christ?

Personally, I think it does, but I think that connection needs to be made in a much more compelling way than it currently is. The research and scholarship has been done regarding racism, ethnic studies, and identity, but the connection between discipleship and race issues has not been made in a convincing manner (especially for the general lay public...but I'd say not really even for pastors and other leaders in ministry).

I'm going to argue for this: fewer talks and sermons about why "Deadly Vipers" is something that Zondervan should never have published, and more about why every follower of Christ needs to care about these issues. And perhaps even more importantly: Why ethnic minority groups need to step to the plate on one another's behalf. This was said quite well by Seattle Pacific Seminary professor Brian Bantum on the opening night of the conference. I agree, especially because it makes the message so much more powerful. If an Asian tries to fight for the rights of Asians, it often just sounds like we're being too sensitive. But if all ethnic groups rise up on behalf of one that gets oppressed, then the message takes on power.

where did the Bible come from?

2011-06-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

So the past few weeks we've been talking about scripture and its place in the life of a follower of Christ. You can hear Part 2 (Part 1 wasn't recorded) here.

We covered a lot over the last three weeks, but one of the things that we didn't have as much time to talk about are some of the common, Da Vinci Code-esque myths that people hold regarding the origin of the Bible. Now it's easy to come by these myths: the time when most people hear them is in college, and the fact is that most youth group students aren't taught an equally compelling story before they get to college. Most youth group students just aren't at a place where they can really deal with the idea of a "perfect word" coming from imperfect people, inspired by a perfect God. There's just a lot of thoughts there that are hard for any teenager to hold in tension together, and so usually they're fed a much more basic, "this is God's Word, end of story" explanation, which doesn't hold up once you get to college and take a course on the New Testament as literature.

So, drawing upon a great conversation some friends and I had on this blog two and a half years ago, let me fill in the blanks and correct or at least counterbalance some of the myths out there.

The Bible was written by a bunch of old white men in a room

I must categorically disagree with this statement. While it is true that the canon we have today was fixed by various leaders of the church, this was done internationally, over the course of centuries, and was really not that hotly debated. As early as the second century, the “memoirs of the apostles” were mentioned by Justin Martyr. By 160 Irenaeus cited almost the entire New Testament in his writings, leaving out only a few letters. The Muratorian Fragment, of which we have the 7th century Latin copy, is generally argued to be a 2nd century document (though this is still debated), and it contains a list of nearly all of the books of the New Testament. By the fourth century ecumenical councils, the canon was not even in debate: what people differed on during those councils wasn’t the books themselves, but the conclusions that they were making from those books.
By the way, this might be a good place to mention that most argue that by the time the aforementioned lists were coming out the Gnostic gospels were only just being written. In other words, regardless of what one may believe about Gnosticism as a belief, its central writings were “second-generation” in the sense that they were responses to the Christian gospels written half a century or more earlier, and the accounts of witnesses who lived more than a hundred years before the Gnostics.
In fact, this relates to a central fact about Christian scripture that is greatly misunderstood by both Christians and non-Christians alike: that the New Testament came together out of necessity, not fiat. The canonical gospels state of themselves that they are simply an “orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled…handed on…by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses…” (opening of Luke). In other words, they were not first written, then believed, but the opposite. They were written down some years after a core group of thousands either witnessed the events for themselves, or heard about them first hand, and this was done for the same reason any accounting of events is written: in order to keep exaggeration and human error in check (note that by the time Luke’s book came out, the Gnostic gospels were still fifty to a hundred years away). Any such accounts that came out were passed around from community to community, and their survival depended upon the agreement of these thousands of first-generation Christians (people who either knew Jesus for themselves or who heard about him through the Apostles). Only Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John survived that rigorous test.
By the time of the first ecumenical council in Nicaea, the canon was not a debate topic. In fact, it is important to note that Nicaea was the first ecumenical council called by the church since the council of Jerusalem recounted in the Book of Acts. This means that for three-hundred plus years the church did fine determining on its own, in a manner that balanced grassroots belief with the leadership of democratically appointed church leaders, what writings were true to the original teachings and events of the life of Jesus. Nicaea was called because one such leader, Arius, differed with another such leader, Alexander, and the difference threatened to split the church. This difference was not over which books should be in the bible, but over the conclusions each made from it. We can argue about whether politics played a significant role in the decision of the Council of Nicaea, but we cannot argue that it played a role in determining which books we now consider the Christian New Testament. That had been decided long ago by a consensus of thousands, and had been reaffirmed by subsequent generations of Christians in what I think is best described as a democratic and personal process.

How can we trust the Bible when it's changed so much over time?

Actually, the Bible is remarkable for how little it has changed over time. Again, as with all of the dates I'm mentioning here, we could debate about specific years and whatnot, but the truth is that since the Council of Nicaea there really has not been that much variation or error. In fact, those who copied the manuscripts were so meticulous that we have evidence of almost every variation that does exist in Scripture, and in many if not most Bibles there's a little footnote every time you run across one of those variations. And it's important to note here that not one of these variations puts into question the ultimate testimony of Jesus: that He is the Son of God who came to demonstrate God's love for us and take away the sins of the world.
This means that for 1700 or so years no one has been able to alter the text of the Bible. Not Napoleon. Not Hitler. Not a single Pope or Roman Emperor. If history's most powerful people weren't able to change one letter of the Bible they did not like, why do we have this impression in our minds that Scripture is constantly shifting and bending according to the whimsies of those in power? The truth: Scripture just hasn't changed, nor will it. No one has the power to change it.

How can we trust the Bible when it has so many errors and inconsistencies?

To this question I'd ask, "Which errors are you talking about, and do they affect your ability to trust what the Bible is telling you about Jesus Christ?"
The fact of the matter is that much of the Old Testament wouldn't hold up at an American Historical Association conference...if it were being read as a history text book. But that's not its purpose. Yes, I believe that everything written in Scripture is the Word of God, but I don't believe its authority is in question if Joshebbasshebeth the Tahchemonite killed 800 men at one time or 801 (or 8 for that matter!). That's the classic "slippery-slope" error. The records concerning Joshebbasshebeth do not confirm nor deny the validity of the account of the four gospels and the rest of the New Testament regarding Jesus Christ, nor were they ever meant to.
Hopefully this will also help you see why the Old Testament is not in conflict with modern day science: God never intended us to see science and Scripture as an either/or thing. Take the argument between Seven-Day Creationists and Evolutionists. How much of this is truly based on Scripture? If it were really about Scripture, then wouldn't those pro-Scripture notice that nowhere in the account of Genesis 1 does it say that the first three days were Earth days (the sun and the moon aren't created until the fourth day)? There is nothing in Genesis 1 that requires the Earth to have been created in seven Earth days. Yes the first day is recounted in verse 5 as "And there was evening and there was morning, the first day", but nowhere within those verses does it specify that we're talking about the sun rising and setting, since it hadn't even been created yet. What's more, the fourth, fifth, and sixth day are not described as beginning when the sun rises and ending when it sets either, leaving the time that creation took wide open, even under the strictest Scriptural lens.

How can we trust just one "holy text" when there are so many competing ones out there? Doesn't it make more sense to take the best that all the holy writings have to offer?

I agree with part of this statement. In fact, I think that the Bible itself never declares itself to be the only source of wisdom in creation. It is clear that truth can be found in many places, and I think it is every pastor’s duty to learn from these other sources as well.
Yet it is also clear that at times one writing directly opposes another writing. Take the Koran for example. It describes Jesus as a divinely appointed messenger and prophet, but definitely not God incarnate. It also rejects the idea that Jesus was crucified. Where then should we go regarding our understanding of Jesus of Nazareth? How do we determine whether to believe one, the other, or neither?

Alright, that's probably enough for now! Thanks for reading all of this, and I hope it was helpful to you!

image: http://www.islandcrisis.net/2010/08/dinosaurs-extinction-multiple-meteor-showers/

got sick

2011-06-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

felt pretty out of commission for a good part of the week. I'll be back in the blogging saddle next week!

two people that have rocked me in the past month, part 2

2011-05-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

"Binna Kim remembers waking up in a pool of blood. She was on the floor of her bedroom, it was dark--perhaps the middle of the night--and her head was throbbing...Her head was feeling it was about to split open, she had an idea: She would crawl to the bathroom tub. It was low and sturdy enough to support her. She would use it to stand up, then she could figure out the next step.

She reached the bathroom and passed out.

On April 6, 2006, Binna's father, Sang In Kim, wrote a suicide letter to his church pastor, explaining he was killing himself because he owed people tens of thousands of dollars he could not repay. The 55-year-old asked the pastor to take care of his family. But that night, he changed his mind; he would take his entire family with him..."

This is how the KoreAm article about Binna Kim begins. You can find the entire story here. Yet although the story begins tragically with her father killing her mother and brother and attempting to murder her, it ends with an immense ray of hope.

You see, not only does Binna miraculously survive that horrific night, she, through the help of close family friends, amazing doctors, and, ultimately, God, ends up being able to reconstruct her life, move forward, and find hope.

You can find this on her facebook page: "...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-4)".

If anyone can talk about hope after suffering, Binna Kim can.

There's a lot in Binna's story that rocked me, and I encourage you to read the whole thing. I think I'll just mention a couple of things here though:

Later in the article the writer shares that Binna is eventually able to forgive her father. In fact, it sounds from the article as if this is a pretty big part of why she is able to have hope and look forward to the future. This is amazing.
Murder suicides among the Korean adult community are sadly far more common than we think. That spring in 2006, there were 14 lives claimed in Korean murder-suicides, all in Southern California, all perpetrated by the fathers of the families.

This Friday night at United Life we're inviting Dr. Doni Kwak, a local Edmonds-based Korean American psychologist to share with us about the relationship between mental health and following Jesus Christ. If anyone needs to hear this, it's the Korean American community. I think we tend to believe that if we're going to church, praying, and doing the whole American Dream thing, we're doing fine. But the truth is that often masks deeper issues and keeps us from addressing them.

I encourage you to join us this Friday night. You can find the event information here.

the End (May 21?)

2011-05-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, so let me start right off by saying I don't agree with the teachings of Harold Camping, and I don't think that trying to determine the exact date of Christ's return is ever a useful exercise for followers of Christ.

With that said, I do think that Christ is clear that there will be a day when he will bring about the completion of the work that he started. In other words, there will be an End. The world as we know it will not exist forever, and every deed will be brought to light. Justice will have its day, and the voice of the oppressed will be answered.

Of course, this is something that everyone should come to terms with, as we all will admit that this is true for each of us individually. There is an End for each one of us, though it will most likely come at different times and dates for each of us.

Therefore, we should be prepared, regardless of whether this End is communal or individual, or whether it should happen on May 21, 2011 or May 21, 3011.

But let me give you two reasons why we shouldn't get into the practice of trying to guess the exact date.

1. Be Ready to Live, not Die

Here's my problem with picking a date and going with it. Over and over again I read in Scripture that God wants us to live ready, meaning that our entire lives are to belong to him, not just in the days leading up to a specific date. It's much easier to just prepare for a month or two of living for God, but I think God wants more than that. I think he wants our whole lives, whether that means one month or one hundred months of putting our faith in and following Christ.

"So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober"

- 1 Thessalonians 5:6

"Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."

- Matthew 24:44

2. The Bible Says What Harold Camping is Doing is a Bad Idea

Okay, so let me give you the actual verses:

Acts 1:6-7, "It is not for you to know the times or the season, which the Father hath put in His own power."
Matthew 24:36, "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, "As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way"

Dang...those verses are pretty clear. But let me give you one more important verse and fact about all of this. Harold Camping already predicted that this day would come...in 1994. And he was wrong. So check this out:

Deuteronomy 18:20-22, "But any prophet who...presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak--that prophet shall die. You may say to yourself, "How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?" If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken."

I'm definitely not saying that we're supposed to execute anybody. But God is pretty clear that we shouldn't trust the word of someone who was already wrong once about a prophecy. Harold Camping was already wrong once. He does not speak with authority.

two people that have rocked me in the past month, part 1

2011-05-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

their names: Emile Mack and Binna Kim

Okay, so I haven't met either of them personally. But their stories (which I read about in KoreAm magazine) impacted me this past month in ways that interviews don't usually do. Although KoreAm isn't a Christian magazine per se, I saw in their stories a glimpse of one of God's most amazing gifts to us: the gift of Reconciliation. Wait...glimpse is far too light a word: how about banner or billboard? In any case, I think you get the idea: God spoke to me through these stories, and I pray the same for you!

Emile Mack:

okay, let's start with the basics: Mack was born in Korea, but was adopted by an African American couple at the age of 3. He grew up in the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles, and eventually rose to become the Deputy Chief of the LA Fire Department.

Here's an excerpt from the original interview:

But Mack, 53, is quite used to standing out—and not just because he’s been a firefighter for 32 years. Rather, the high cheek bones and almond-shaped eyes may signal a Korean background, but his identity, his culture and the place he called home throughout his childhood were intimately tied to the parents who raised him. That is to say, he long identified with the African American culture, and shades of brown were the faces with whom he felt the closest.

After being abandoned at a South Korean police station as a baby, he was adopted in 1960 by Undine and Clarence Mack, an African American couple. That statement alone is enough to floor people unfamiliar with his backstory. Yet, as Emile tells it, it’s really a simple tale: The Children’s Christian Society brought photographs of children from a South Korean orphanage to his parents’ Los Angeles church. And Undine and Clarence decided to make the 3-year-old boy with the big button cheeks their son.

And all the queries that naturally arise upon learning that his parents are black—Did you struggle with your identity? Did you ever feel like you didn’t belong? Do you consider yourself black or Asian?—are quietly shut down with answers that make the questioner feel slightly foolish for the asking.

“I grew up not trying to identify, but naturally identifying with the people around me, the African American culture,” says Mack. “From before I can remember, I was surrounded by African American people. They were the ones I saw every day, they were my family, the people I lived with, who loved me, took care of me and played with me.”

Here's a link to the rest of his story as told by Elizabeth Eun.

Mack's story is, I believe, an example of an amazing truth about God that probably doesn't get talked about enough.

I don't know about you, but when I read about how Mack's parents raised him the way that they did, teaching him to love people of all races, demonstrating that through their own adoption of someone outside of their own race, not to mention the fact that they really lived out what they believed not just at the beginning when Mack was a cute little three year old, but through his adolescent years and beyond, I was deeply moved. And I would argue that what's moving about this isn't just how awesome his parents were, but that something awesome about God was shining through the way Mack's parents acted and loved.

And that awesome thing is this: God's love is a reconciling love, and he desires that we both experience and practice that love ourselves.

It's no coincidence that Mack's parents made the decision to adopt him after being shown his picture at a church. God is all about this. The cross itself is God's bridge to us. Jesus sacrificed in order to reconcile us to God. And Mack's story is a great example of what this looks like when Christ's followers live this out. No, let me go farther: it's a call for us to live this out as well.

Am I saying go out and adopt someone not from your own ethnic group? No, not necessarily. But there are so many ways that we can and must be practicing reconciling love every single day of our lives. We are divided from so many others in so many ways, and the person I introduce in part 2 of this post series will show that. Race is just one of the ways we're divided from one another. But the truth is this: we are called to build bridges where the world around us divides.

Are you practicing God's reconciling love in your own relationships?

Are you even seeing the people God is calling you love, or is your world so divided that there are people you've already cut out of your vision?

photo source: http://iamkoream.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/F-Emile-0211-PP-Dad.jpg

the folly of waiting for that special moment...

2011-05-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

so this past Sunday we completed our 20 week sermon series on the Gospel of Matthew by looking at Jesus' final words to his disciples before ascended into heaven. And there was one verse in particular (Matthew 28:17) in that passage that struck me: "When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted."

Can you imagine that? The disciples are gathered on the mountain with the resurrected Jesus, worshiping him, and still there were those that doubted.

What more proof/evidence did they need?

There's two really important things to take away from this. First, although I'm just as much a fan of the scientific method as the next person (you can't argue with its results), you have to admit that we as human beings are simply not as rational and objective as we thought we were. Look at the whole President Obama birth certificate thing. The president could put a million official documents up and there would still be people arguing that it's all a conspiracy. Or just imagine how many members of Al Qaeda will never believe that Osama bin Laden's been killed.

Convincing humans of the truth of something, especially something that goes against their strongly held beliefs, takes more than just truth. It takes a transformation of them as well.

Second, the fact that Jesus is addressing not only those that worship him on the mountain, but also those standing on the mountain doubting him shows us a lot about how we really look to Jesus. I'm reading a book right now about a man who became an alcoholic after he accepted Christ and became a follower of Jesus. Not to say that that's an admirable thing, but it points to something we need to understand, but rarely do: that Jesus isn't suddenly impressed when we decide we're going to follow him. He has a much more sober view of our flaws and failings.

Jesus called both those who doubted him as well as those who were worshiping him to follow him because he knew that it was as they followed him that they would be transformed. He didn't need their assurance because he was sure about the only thing he had to be sure of: Himself. It didn't matter how much they doubted: all he needed from them was enough faith to take one step forward towards him.

A lot of us get discouraged when we fail, when we realize how weak our faith is. The truth, though, is that you're probably worse off than you think. But know that this means you are also more loved than you think. This is true because Jesus knew your failings before he came to you and called you, which means that the person you thought he called and loved wasn't nearly as lovable as you thought. You were harder to love than you thought. But Jesus loved that person, the real you, not the image you had of yourself.

It doesn't matter where you are right now. Do you have enough faith to take one step towards Jesus? One step. Maybe it's choosing to open your Bible today. Maybe it's not cheating when you know you could have gotten away with it. Maybe it's sharing with someone the love of God in word and deed. One step. That's all you need to be his disciples. Take that step immediately, and watch him transform you.

(Pictured: "Big Turtle in the Masoala Hall, Zurich", alex.ch, available under Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 license.)

Inreach

2011-04-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brunkfordbraun/

I remember a couple of things from my earlier days of learning how to lead ministries. One is a distinct memory of rejecting our leadership's push to get more people to come to our ministry. My thinking was, because our church was so dysfunctional, I couldn't imagine what good it would do to invite anyone to it. Of course I went, but that was because it was my church. I was born into it. I didn't choose it.

The other is a memory of speaking with someone who was a ministry leader at an East Coast college campus while we were studying abroad together. She told me her ministry position: "Inreach Director". It was a position I had thought about for our own campus, and it was one that I thought was needed. Again, although our campus ministry often pushed outward, internally I just saw so many problems that needed fixing. The garden, so to speak, needed some serious caretaking before we invited others to be planted into it.

Now, however, I realize that things work a bit differently. Let me tell you something that probably doesn't work, now that I've put a few years into building ministries:

"If you build it, they will come."

I don't think so.

The idea that we will have succeeded if we build a ministry with a good, fun community where everyone is happy and everyone knows your name, doesn't work for one major reason (at least as far as I can tell): Christ didn't gather together his church (his ekklesia or gathering) in order to bless us with warm feelings. He gathered the church to be Him and share his message. We exist so that others may know Christ, whether it be through the words that he speaks or the actions that he takes through us.

In other words, the motto shouldn't be, "If you build it, they will come." Rather, it should be, "As you go to them, I will build My Kingdom. (Okay, so I'm no poet...I think you still get the picture!)

A lot more could be said, but let me finish with this. The choice actually isn't between focusing on "inreach" or outreach. We shouldn't be concerned about focusing on one or the other. Rather, outreach in its purest form will always be the best inreach. When we reach out as Jesus is calling us to, we're not talking just about service projects or evangelism events. We're talking about nothing less than the basic following of Jesus Christ in all aspects of our lives. When we do that, we will not be able to help but to care for our brothers and sisters both within and outside our ministries.

Focus on keeping your eyes locked on Jesus amidst everything that you say and do, and everything else will follow.

Here Lies Jesus of Nazareth

2011-04-19T16:23:00.000-07:00

"So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb."

- Matthew 27:59-61

The title of this post was a little weird to write as someone who believes in the resurrection, but I think that modern day followers of Christ often forget that it was true for one day.

This past Sunday we talked about the fact that you can't really celebrate the resurrection fully unless you fully take in the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ. In other words, what does it mean for us to say on Easter, "He is Risen!" if we don't really think about what he is being raised from?

To be honest, although I preached about this this past Sunday, it's still sinking in for me. What does it mean for Jesus to have died and been buried? What should reflecting on how things were the Saturday before the first Easter Sunday look like for you and for me?

What did Jesus have to go through after the crucifixion and before the resurrection?

I don't have all the answers, though I gave some directions for us to go in this past Sunday. Mainly I encouraged us to use this week to reflect on the fact that not only did God actually turn his face away from Jesus on the cross, pouring over him the wrath and punishment that we had earned for ourselves, but that Jesus chose this on our behalf.

But I'd also like to see how reflecting on the death and burial of Jesus looks like for you.

I'd love to hear from you! Post your reflections/thoughts here or shoot me a message at ben dot park at unitedlifeministry dot org.

something from one of United Life's sisters

2011-04-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

so I'm a little conferenced out (in a good way!) after attending two conferences in two weeks (honestly: it could have been THREE if my wife and I had gone to the English Ministry Pastors' Conference in New Jersey last Mon - Wed!).

In lieu of a full post this week, allow me to share something that one of our United Lifers sent to me in response to the message I shared three Sundays ago regarding the power of daily "out-loud" personal worship:

Forget Your Inhibitions and Worship

Thursday, March 31, 2011

"Earth is crammed with Heaven.

Every bush is aflame with the fire of God,

but only those who see take off their shoes [and worship].

The rest just pick the berries." ¹

Our Bible teacher seemed set on making me feel very "unspiritual"! Now he was talking about worship and when, and how, and where do we worship. My thoughts? Pretty dogmatic, isn't he? But his probing started the wheels turning in my mind about my own worship experiences.

My searching led me first of all to some people in the Bible. Let's think about it. Moses definitely had a fantastic worship experience when he met God in the burning bush. Paul had an incredible experience of worship when he met God on the road to Damascus. Samuel marked the very spot with a stone where he had a worship experience with the Lord and named that stone "Ebenezer". I think Peter might say, "On the morning when I saw the Lord on the shore and I jumped in the water and ran to His side. That was a great experience of worship for me." Nebuchadnezzar "raised his eyes toward heaven" and worshipped the Lord when his reason returned to him. Very exciting, memorable events, but David journals many times of worship with the Lord as he was just meditating.

We could probably go on and on and find worship experiences from many different people in a lot of different settings. Which brings this question to mind. Why do we anticipate "worshipping" the Lord on Sunday morning as we sing--as though this was the only time during the week when we are free to worship? Worshipping with others is Biblical, wonderful, and very fulfilling, but I see worship as a very intimate thing, unique and personal for each of us. When everyone else is singing and clapping and raising their hands is it all right for me to whisper, "Oh, Lord. I love You. I know You as my compassionate Friend, my constant Companion, the One who never leaves me and understands every thing about me. I worship You." But there's no raising of the hands, no swaying with the music, no singing, no dancing. Can this be worship for me?

If I were to ask you to give me your definition of worship, what would you say? I would define worship as a personal encounter with God and I think we limit our worship for Him and with Him when we designate a special time set aside for "worship" and have these great expectations for burning bushes, Ebnezers, and soaring emotions. He is with us constantly, not only around us but IN us--as close as the air on the outside as we gulp it and take it to the inside! We can't get away from Him! Every moment spent in His presence can be worship, acknowledging His awesome nature. He and I are together and I am awed being in His presence. Yes, there are special times when He seems closer, more real, more a part of my infinitesimally small world. I love to "worship" the Lord when I'm sitting in the swing out in the screened-in "Summer House", or looking out the window into the silence of night when moonlight is illuminating the darkness, in the front yard watching the leaves swirl around me, or raising my hands in praise just as I drift off to the Sandman's House.

Psalm 95:6 says: Come let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

John 4:24 says: God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

I think the verse from Psalms is saying, "Anabel, forget where you are--who is watching you--your inhibitions--and worship Me. I am right here with you, you know. Pay homage to Me as you desire. Don't let others control your worship of Me." And John is admonishing us to worship Him sincerely, not as a show, not as you are expected to worship, and be very truthful as you kneel before Him--not for others to see--just for God to see.

So, here at my desk, at 8:15 on Sunday night, I will lean back in my chair, close my eyes, and worship Him. I may raise my hands in adoration or lower my head in abject submission. Whatever. I believe it will be acceptable to Him as worship. Do you?

1. Elizabeth Browning

View Devotion Archives »

In loving memory
of Anabel Gillham
Memorial Page

Northwest ministry conference 2

2011-04-08T16:14:00.001-07:00

Northwest ministry conference!

2011-04-08T09:35:00.001-07:00

a great approach to dealing with a question that every church and ministry needs to face

2011-04-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

***
"I can put it this way: In light of how the gospel is preached in your church, and assuming 95% [I don't of course know but let's say that number is right] North Koreans have never heard the gospel, what percent of North Koreans will spend forever with God? Maybe this kind of question makes you feel uncomfortable, but it’s one we have to face. That is one of the deepest concerns in Rob Bell’s book. It’s time to be honest about what we think. The gospel claim is that salvation is found in Christ alone (Acts 4:12). What about those who have not heard? Where do you stand?"

***

this is a quote from a professor named Scot McKnight who has a heart for the average, every day Christian (and not just those studying Christian theology full time). He does a great job at looking at tough questions that we in the church often stifle because they lead to more questions and sometimes even doubt. What's even more impressive and glorifying to God is that he does it in a way that never compromises the central truths of scripture, and the core character of God.

the quote above comes from his review of a book written by a pastor named Rob Bell. The book is called "Love Wins" and it has raised an uproar in Christian circles because it makes the basic claim that a loving God will not allow the majority of humanity to suffer in hell. Many so-called liberal/progressive Christians (I hate labels, but it's useful here) already believe this (or doubt the existence of hell altogether). But Bell has been well read and followed by many from the evangelical/conservative crowd, which has led to a lot of backlash against him. John Piper, who I respect very much, even tweeted, "Farewell, Rob Bell" or something to that effect.

I encourage you to check out Scot McKnight's entire series of posts reviewing Bell's book. You can find the first one here.

be my friend or else

2011-04-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

from www.mayhemiclabs.com/blog/1

"The same day the Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question...But Jesus answered them, 'You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.'" Matthew 22:23-29

"Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." 1 John 2:9-11

A few weeks ago I preached on the Matthew 22 passage, and one of the applications that seemed like a clear message for all of us was this: we need to understand that God is bigger than our differences, and that there are going to be brothers and sisters with whom we disagree that will be standing with us worshiping God in heaven when all is said and done.

Without going in to all of the details, the fact is that in Matthew 22 we see that the Sadducees had shrunk God down to one question, Resurrection: True or False? In other words, if you agreed with them on the issue of bodily resurrection, then God was with you. If you disagreed, on the other hand, then you might as well be forgotten.

Sadly, this spirit of division has not departed from the people of God. Today, and I especially notice this in the Korean-American church, it is still too easy to choose sides and hate others. Mars Hill people distinguish themselves from City Church people. Presbyterians distinguish themselves from Foursquares. Charismatics/Pentecostals distinguish themselves from Mainliners or Dispensationalists.

The list goes on and on.

Even closer to home, I've seen pastors and leaders stop working with and even badmouthing certain people because of theological differences. Granted, I don't think we should all take our differences lightly. I believe as much as anyone that these differences can and often are significant. But we take it too far. Suddenly someone who disagrees with us about baptism is now a "liberal" or a "conservative". Suddenly we begin to question how much of their theology actually is legitimate. Suddenly it's conceivable to us that they might not even be real Christians at all.

Yes, there is a line that must be drawn. There is, as one author writes, a minimum set of beliefs that every Christian must maintain and still logically be a Christ-follower. But we go way too far and draw way too many lines with far too thick a brush. We take hard stances on certain issues, and we may very well be right, but often we make the mistake of thinking that we can't have true fellowship with those with whom we differ.

Where in the bible does it say that if someone disagrees with you about the kinds of gifts the Holy Spirit displays today you should not worship together? Even in 1 Corinthians 14 where Paul comes down hard on those who speak tongues without interpreting, never does he say that fellowship should be broken with that person. He says in verse 38 that they should be "not recognized" or ignored, but not kicked out of the community.

We need to be more humble.

We pull the plug on way too many relationships, and we fail to collaborate because we think others are wrong about this or that issue. The fact is, they may be wrong and you may be right. But even if that's so, nobody is right when all are divided.

I'm speaking from experience here. I often peg and label a person pretty quickly after I've met them. Even more so when it comes to pastors and leaders. But I've realized that A) I'm often wrong and B) even when I'm right, there's still nothing there to keep us from working and worshiping together. 98% of the time it's not like their prayer is going to bring a curse down on me or my group.

We need to be more humble.

We need to work together, even through our differences. God is moving in this city. But if we don't put our differences in their place, we'll be obstacles to his purposes, not his agents.

Let me close with a story I heard on Saturday at the JAMA Greather Things NW Conference: I was speaking with a pastor who had served on an aircraft carrier many years ago. He told me that he and his bible study group would go around the carrier spreading the gospel every week. Some weeks, though, he and his group would see the Pentecostal sailors doing the same thing. So they waited until those sailors left, and then he and his guys came in and took away what the Pentecostals handed out, and instead give them their own literature. It was only until some time later that someone actually read the Pentecostal pamphlets that they realized that both their pamphlets and the Pentecostals' basically said the same thing.

We need to be one body.

When Do You Sing?

2011-03-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

from bawdybeau.wordpress.com

So this past Sunday I preached about a critical mistake that many people (especially those who've gone to church all their lives) make, and that is: our gods are too small.

Instead of worshiping God as he really is, we shrink him down to manageable, bite-sized pieces, and thus who we sing to, pray to, and worship on Sundays often isn't really God, but our picture of what we think he should be like.

In short, we domesticate God. Instead of taking his place as King and Lord in our lives, he becomes an accessory, a good luck charm, "buddy Jesus".

So what's the antidote to this?

I talked about this on Sunday, but I think it bears repeating here: we need to sing to Him not only on Sundays, but on Tuesdays (Today!).

Of course I don't mean only Tuesday. I mean our picture of God needs to be big enough for us to see the sense of worshiping him not one day a week, but every day, every hour of our lives. And the crazy thing, and I know this from my own life, is that when we sing (and by singing I include humming, whistling...anything that is done expressly for His pleasure and is a manifestation of our devotion) to him by ourselves, outside of church, our picture of him becomes bigger and bigger. Our perception of his presence and reality in our lives gets bigger and bigger.

See what I'm saying?

If you want your faith to grow, if you want to see God more clearly as he really is, then today, when no one's around, sing to Him.

***

PS: Read a great post by Greg Boyd (a well known pastor and theologian in St. Paul, MN) regarding the new movie The Adjustment Bureau and how it applies to the classic predestination vs. free will debate.

The Westborean Hypocrisy

2011-03-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

As I said in my last post, I've got a bit of a problem calling Westboro a church. The church is, by definition, a gathering called together by Christ, and I question whether Westboro can make that claim.

But let's get past the realm of sound bites and picket signs, and into the arena of dialogue. Specifically, let me offer a refutation of the common theme that runs through Westboro's signs that draws, word for word, from the very scripture that Westboro claims for inspiration.

"Pray for More Dead Soldiers"

So Westboro's reasoning here is that US soldiers are dying before their time because the US tolerates homosexuality. This sign is representative of Westboro's other signs and slogans (including their famous: "God Hates Fags") because it draws on their fundamental argument: that tragedy strikes a nation when it tolerates behavior that he hates.

Therefore, Westboro argues, we should actually ask God for more soldiers to die, and more young people to die tragic deaths, so that the nation repents of its sin and follows God faithfully once again. This leads to two questions. First, does scripture indicate that if God is displeased with the stance a nation or people take on an issue, will he then kill that nation's young men and women before their time? Second, does scripture indicate that the followers of God should pray for more to die in order that the nation might repent and follow God?

I'll deal with each question separately:

1: Westboro argues that if God is displeased with the stance a nation or people take on an issue, will he then kill that nation's young men and women in the battlefield. Does scripture actually indicate this?

It's possible to begin to make this argument when you look at how God dealt with the Israelites. Often they would be given time to repent, but told that if they failed to repent they would face disaster on the battlefield. The destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the many exiles were considered punishment by God for Israel's failure to repent and follow him.

But this line of reasoning (that God is killing US soldiers because of the nation's toleration of homosexuality) falters when you look at the nations that conquered and exiled Israel. If God killed soldiers because he was displeased with a nation, then what about every nation in the world? Every nation tolerates some form of sin. And even if you want to restrict this argument to homosexuality, then what about all the nations that are even more permissive and accepting of homosexuality than the US? How come they aren't in the middle of a war right now, losing soldiers?

What's more, if you go to the New Testament, NONE of the leaders of the church connect the tragedy of a nation to that nation's toleration of any particular sin. To be fair, there are verses that indicate that sin leads to consequences here and now for individuals, but none of the first followers of Jesus said anything to indicate that they believed that God punished nations based on their toleration of any particular sin.

2: Does scripture indicate that the followers of God should pray for more of a nation's soldiers to die in order that the nation might repent and follow God?

Take a look at this passage from Isaiah 12: "You will say in that day: 'I will gave thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation'

"With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: 'Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.'"

Isaiah is actually filled with passages that seem to indicate that God does in fact inflict punishment on nations in the form of disaster and military loss. Disaster is prophesied for Assyria, Babylon, and Israel, among others. But nowhere in Isaiah do we hear that God desires more loss of life, or that we should pray for more to die. In fact, as the passage above indicates, God intends for his name to be proclaimed as savior, that he would be known as the one to be trusted.

So if God wants to be known as savior, if he intends for his name to be exalted, then why would you believe that he wants his people to pray for more disaster? Even if you believed that he punishes nations in order to lead them to repentance, there is no scriptural evidence that God wants us to pray for more punishment or death. This is wrong not only because God clearly self-identifies as savior, not bringer of destruction, but also because of a lapse in logic. It's a lapse in logic to say just because someone punishes someone, the punished should ask for more punishment. In fact, both the punished and the punisher generally want the opposite: they want repentance and reform.

Let me make it extremely simple: why in the world would anyone pray for the consequence/punishment and not the cause of the problem? That's like an environmentalist praying for more global warming so that we can reform our environmental policies, or a parent praying for more groundings so that their child will stop getting into fights. Obviously you would pray for REFORM and transformation, not consequences and punishments.

Finally, if you go to the New Testament, NONE of the leaders of the church encourage followers of Christ to pray for the demise of Rome or Israel. In fact, 1 Timothy 2 indicates just the opposite:

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Also Romans 13:7, "Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed."

***

Alright, this post has definitely gotten too long, so I'll stop things here. I think, though, the point has been made. Westboro's fundamental argument and guiding vision statement is standing on smoke. Their entire philosophy is a house of cards waiting to fall, because the very scripture that they claim as inspiration condemns their very argument.

United Life Sermon Podcast, Take One

2011-03-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

Alright, not sure if these enclosure links are really working on blogger, so I tried setting this up on wordpress instead. Looks like it worked!

unitedlifepodcast.wordpress.com

Also, here's a direct link to the sermon itself.

The Westboro Baptist Law Firm: Part One

2011-03-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

So Westboro Baptist Church came back into the limelight last week after the US Supreme Court ruled in their favor, upholding the church's right to protest at funerals. Specifically, they ruled that the church was protected by the First Amendment protecting free speech when they protested at the funeral of 20 year old Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder in 2006. These protests typically include signs and chants such as (excuse the language), "Thank God for IEDs", "God hates fags", "God hates America", and "God hates fat enablers". Westboro's stated goal is to warn people about God's anger towards homosexuality, and any society, organization, country, or person that supports homosexuality. They argue that the deaths of soldiers, mine workers, and any other non-natural causes of death are God's punishment of America for tolerating homosexuality. They made a statement after the 2008 earthquakes in China killed thousands thanking God for the heavy loss of life and said that they were praying for many more such earthquakes, and for many more people to die.

I wanted to bring them up this week for two reasons. One, although I had seen and heard a lot about Westboro over the past few years (especially since they made their national media splash protesting at the 1998 funeral of 21 year old Matthew Sheppard, who was tortured and beaten to death near Laramie, WY because he was gay), after doing a small amount of research I discovered that I didn't know nearly as much as I thought I did. I had always assumed that it was a denomination or a large group of people that was behind this. I'm probably not the only one either. Because this group claims to come in the name of God, and because their signs all reference God, it's easy to make the jump to assume that they represent at least a branch of Christianity.

But did you know that Westboro is basically made up of one family, the Phelps? The head pastor of the church is Fred Phelps, a former lawyer and civil rights activist (no kidding: he was actually awarded two civil rights awards) known for taking on cases other lawyers wouldn't, and for taking on big business. Nine of his thirteen children have remained a part of Westboro, and his daughter (also a lawyer) is the main spokesperson for the church. Many of their grandchildren are also a part of the church, and are a part of the church's many protests.

In other words, I think you could make a fair case for calling Westboro not a Baptist church but a Phelpsist Group (I'd leave the church part out of it). Westboro Phelpsists.

Why is this an important thing to know? Well, for starters, let's stop associating what the Phelpsists say and write and do with other Christians. Your church down the street is not going to march to your funeral and protest. That's what the Phelpsists do, not followers of Jesus Christ. What's more, the Phelpsists refuse dialog, protesting and shouting hurtful and hateful things with closed minds. This doesn't mean that all followers of Christ do. In fact, as I'll discuss in my next post, it's practically the total opposite of what followers of Christ should do.

In short, Westboro isn't a church. The church, as Christ himself describes it, is a gathering called together by him. Westboro, on the other hand, is a group of people that has been called together by one man, Fred Phelps, who shaped and dominated it with his skillful speaking and strong, oppressive, manipulating leadership (his estranged son, Nate, has testified to the fact that his father beat each of his children, a claim that is supported even by Phelpses still a part of Westboro).

One more fruit of research to share with you: Did you know that the Phelpses claim to receive little outside funding, and their protests and activities are funded mostly by themselves, as well as cases their law firm wins in court? They especially benefit when people disrupt their protests, because then the Phelpses can sue those people for infringing on their First Amendment rights. Some people argue that their protests go so over the top exactly in order to bait others to attack them for this reason.

Say what you want, the Phelpses know how to play the court game pretty well.

The other reason I wanted to bring Westboro up is because I wanted to show once and for all exactly how what the Phelpses are doing is NOT what God desires of them, using nothing but their own epistemology. I'll tackle that in the next post.

"Dear Peter: Get Behind Me, Satan"

2011-03-01T15:29:00.000-08:00

So a couple of Sundays ago we had some time at the end of the message for people to text in or ask questions, and one of the questions was (more or less), "Why was Peter so singled out by Jesus in verse 23 (when Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!")?" I had a short answer that I was able to give, but I also requested a bit more time to research the matter. Here's what I came up with.

Most commentators point out the link between what Jesus commands Peter to do here and what he commands Satan to do at the end of his temptation in the wilderness in Matthew 4. In the wilderness, Satan tempts Jesus with the offer of supernatural power, incredible domination over nations, and never ending satisfaction, and Jesus responds to those temptations by telling Satan in verse 10, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"

Jesus, by referencing what happens to him in the wilderness, connects Peter's rebuke of Jesus with Satan's temptation of him. The chance to walk away from the cross and the temptation to accept the offers of Satan are tied together, and so his response to both is strikingly similar.

Yet this doesn't explain why Jesus calls Peter Satan. He could have said something like, "Be careful, Peter! Satan is tempting me through you!" Why didn't he put it like that?

After my research, I'm still not sure, but I can say a couple of things. First, by focusing on Peter, Jesus says a lot to all of us. Remember that just verses before 16:23 Jesus gives Peter his name, The Rock, promising that upon him and his confession would he build his invincible church. So if he can follow that with the sternest of rebukes, we get a great warning to not let ourselves become conceited. Even though Jesus will not let the Gates of Hades prevail against the church, that doesn't mean the church can never be wrong! We must be supremely humble, always seeking to be steered by Jesus, always ready to be corrected by him. We must not, as Peter did, try and steer God in the way that we think is best.

Also, it's important to note that Peter is one of the disciples that Jesus is closest with, even after this incident. We need to remember that a harsh rebuke is not the sign of a lack of love. After this moment, Jesus continues to call upon Peter, he continues to build his church upon him. Our failures never keep Jesus from being able to build what he wants to build, and they never push him away from us. Jesus did not choose us because we were lovable. He loves us because he chose us, and failures don't deter him from making that choice.

Finally, although it is difficult to know exactly why he calls Peter Satan directly, it is not a necessary component to following Jesus. Sometimes we think we need all of the answers before we can do something. But the truth is some things we need to learn along the way/on the job. Jesus calls us to follow him first, not wait until we read the whole manual. In fact it is in following him that many things become clear. Yes, it is a good thing to research and go deeper with a confusing passage. But do not wait until you have completely understood it before you go out and follow Christ. Follow him first. He's shown you enough, you understand enough to begin the journey.

for those of you who feel like talking to God is like talking to a brick wall

2011-02-22T12:04:00.000-08:00

I see a lot of readers of the bible getting frustrated when they feel like they're not "getting anything out of it." I myself have felt this a number of times as well. It's supremely frustrating to make the effort to sit down and open up scripture and then feel like all you're doing is reading words, almost as pointless as staring at a brick wall. Why can't the Bible be more like Wired or Manga or ESPN the Magazine or even Real Simple?! I've, at times, felt this way as well.

But one really really important thing to know is that, when it comes to why God would want us to read his Bible, the content of what we're going to read is second to the action itself. Or, to put it more specifically, the primary purpose of having us spend time in God's word is to spend time with God.

My wife and I were recently able to spend some time with my parents, not an easy feat since they live over 2,000 miles away. And while we didn't really accomplish all that much (our one family excursion ended up being too risky/unappealing due to an incoming snowstorm and cold spell), the "success" of our trip was never going to be about what we'd be able to check off of our check list. The primary purpose was about being there with my parents, spending time with them, enjoying life together with them.

I mean, can you imagine what it would be like if your friend came over to your place and, within a few minutes of hanging out with you asked, "So...what am I supposed to be getting out of this?" That would make for a brief friendship, right? And yet this is how we approach our time with God and his word.

So let me encourage you today: line up your primary purpose in reading God's word with God's. Know that you've already "accomplished" the most important thing - opening up his word, taking time to be with him. Yes, he's going to have incredible things to say to you through his word, but that's going to be the fruit of your time together, not the tree itself.

***

Note: this Sunday we had some time for questions, and I mentioned that I'd have to do some more research in order to do justice for one of the questions (which was, essentially, why does Peter personally get labeled "Satan" by Jesus in Matthew 16?). I'll be posting that later in the week.

image from: http://www.brickhousebullies.com/brick_wall.jpg

may we all be missional moms

2011-02-15T07:16:00.000-08:00

so I just found out about this great blog by Helen Lee through a guest post that she did at Beauty and Depravity (Eugene Cho's blog). Helen Lee is an accomplished Korean-American writer and thinker, and her blog is called The Missional Mom.

The post she wrote is entitled "May We All Be Egyptians", and I think it sends a message to all followers of Christ about how much power we really have to impact and change this world for His Name's Sake.

Are we ready to follow?

Check out the post here.

How to Follow Jesus and Not Go to Seminary

2011-02-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

Over at What's Best Next they've run a bunch of good articles (I recommend their new series on "The Three Signs of a Miserable Job". I'm sure their post on "How to Set Up Your Desk" has also got to be an interesting read), but one that's stuck out to me recently has been a link to a talk that Tim Keller over at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC gave debunking the notion that spiritual vocations (mission work, pastoral positions) matter more to God than secular work.

Back in seminary we used to have this joke about how in college ministries, you could put money on the best and brightest leaders ending up as future ministry staff workers. Now I'm sure many if not most of them were really being called into college ministry. But the numbers weighed heavily enough in one direction that one could reasonably make the argument that "successful" college ministries seemed to just perpetuate themselves rather than...

...rather than what?

The argument can be applied to churches as well. Don't get me wrong, I would love for more people to consider and commit to full time ministry through the church. There is definitely a shortage of pastors and mission workers. But a good ministry should not live to perpetuate itself. Instead, a good ministry transforms the people in it, as well as the cultures and systems that those people are in. A good ministry is like a good water treatment system: it both circulates and treats the water so that it can reach the most number of people with the best possible water. It doesn't just pool up the water in a reservoir and keep it there forever.

So, with that said, let me echo the call that Keller has made, though in my own words: go be an awesome _____________, following Jesus Christ daily in whatever fills that blank. If you're a student, follow Christ through your books, through your interactions with friends and classmates and teachers. If you're working for corporate, follow Christ through you meetings, through your phone calls, through what you do at your desk. If you're a sales person or even a business owner, follow Christ with the conviction that your company's bottom line is not the bottom line you are called to.

This last point is the one I want to end this post by stressing. We as followers of Christ have the chance to make a huge impact on our world by not living for the bottom line. I was at McDonald's today and I noticed just how happy all of the workers seemed there, something I usually associate with good management. That led me to think about the potential for a follower of Christ to create an atmosphere where workers are treated well, where good leadership is provided, where customers are served as fellow human beings, not just cash cows. Because the rest of our culture has taken it for granted that the bottom line really is what it all comes down to, we as Christ followers have the chance to do something amazing:

If Christ followers follow him, even when it puts them in conflict with "the bottom line", we could not only make a mark on our workplaces and communities, we could touch countless numbers with the undeniable impact of Jesus Christ.

So...how in your current job/place is Christ calling you to follow him today?

A Social Media Swiss Army Knife: Five More Essential Tools and Tips

2011-02-01T12:42:00.000-08:00

Alright, sticking with the "five things" theme that I began last week, here are a few more tools and tips that I thought of that I have been really thankful for over the past year or two:

1. Link Your Stuff Together

This is probably both a tip and a tool. The tip part of it is the fact that no one should spend their time updating site after site after site. Granted there are cool sites to visit just for the sake of visiting them, but there are enough tools out there to link together your different sites that you shouldn't need to update more than one or two EVER.

Here's how I do it:

I use tumblr, blogger, facebook, twitter, and linkedin.
I've got my tumblr hooked up with my twitter so that all of my tumblr posts appear as tweets. You can set that up through the "customize" button that Tumblr gives you in your dashboard. Once there click on "services" and you'll get an option to link your twitter account to your tumblr.
I've got my twitter hooked up with facebook so that my tweets come out as facebook status updates. Since my tumblr is hooked up to my twitter, that means all I have to do is update my tumblr and both my facebook and twitter will carry it. By the way, they leave out certain tweets automatically so you don't have to worry about your direct replies via twitter appearing as nonsensical facebook updates.
I have a gadget on my blogger blog that carries my 5 (there's that number again) most recent tweets. I also usually put a link on my tumblr whenever I update my blogger. Yes, that means I have to update two sites instead of one, but two's far more convenient than five, and there's hardly any work that goes into it. By the way, right now the most traffic I get on this blog by far comes from my tumblr links.
Finally, to top it all off, my blogger and twitter are both linked up to linkedin, meaning people can read both whenever they visit my linkedin profile. Usually this is a pretty different crowd from my other 4 sites, so this helps me keep connected to them. Again, linking the three sites together is as simple as just following the directions that linkedin gives you directly on your home page.

2. Know When to Stop Consuming and Start Creating

I give KJ a lot of credit for putting this idea together nicely into a life philosophy. He put it slightly differently, but I think our points remain essentially the same: basically, in our day and age, we have an infinite amount of material to read, watch, and listen. IMDB alone can suck you in for hours. But there comes a point when we're to "consume less and create more" (that's how KJ put it).

Actually, Seth Godin (and I got the link from What's Best Next) makes a really similar point here with regards to productivity. It used to be that you'd go into a library, research for a day, and then you'd run out of books and have to start writing. True no longer. Now you could spend the rest of your life researching and still not be done learning about a topic.

The trick now is to know when to put the book down, turn off the screen, and begin writing/doing/creating. C.S. Lewis used to advise writers to write one page a day, regardless of what it was about or whether they'd keep it later or whether they were feeling writers block or not. You may not be a writer, but the point is your life wasn't meant to be spent just absorbing material. You were meant to create, and that means knowing when to stop consuming, and when to start doing.

3. Beware of Multitasking

I've been reading over and over again about what "search" does to our brains, and it isn't pretty. Basically the research is starting to show that our attention spans are shrinking, and with them our ability to really focus and concentrate. That means we're getting better at skimming over the top of a lot of things, but we're getting worse at digging deep. That means things like in depth analysis and insightful commentary are becoming harder and harder for us.

I experience this problem first hand. All it takes is one tangent and I could be lost for half an hour (on a good day) just barking up the wrong tree. Multiply that by a few tangents, and by the end of the day I feel like I've wasted it. The solution, I think, is to intentionally know when it's time to be focusing on one thing, and when it's time to be flexible to search and research whatever you think you need to.

All this, by the way, feeds right into the fifth thing, but let me slip in one other thing first...

4. The Written To-Do List

I discovered this truth recently.

It turns out that written to do lists are just a whole lot more effective than electronic ones, in part I think because of the points I've just made. It's too easy to get caught up in the whole web of the internet when you're working with electronic to-do lists (more syncing, more effective apps!). On the other hand, keeping your to-do lists on a piece of paper (I like to keep it in my ministry notebook) serves to automatically pull you back into a time of focus and concentration away from your phone and laptop.

You can find corroborating evidence from one of the many people who suggest something along these lines here.

5. Last and Most Importantly: Time With God

Our men's discipleship group at United Life has made a commitment to spend time with God, in his word, every day throughout the course of our discipleship group. It has resulted in some great devotional blogging that has really encouraged me and I know others.

For myself, it is amazing how easy it is for me to go a whole day with God on the back burner. This is ironic when my vocation is to make him known. Imagine Steve Jobs forgetting that he's working for Apple as he meets with his board to come up with their next product line.

But it is no less incongruent for any follower of Christ to try to do life without Christ. We all need daily time with him if we are to continue to follow him. There are just too many other attractions and gravities in our lives that pull us away from the path that he's cleared for us. It really doesn't even take 24 hours for us to be fully turned around and off course, so even once a day might be too little.

You get my point.

All of the rest of this stuff is just kids playing in a sandbox unless we're first anchored in Christ. We need to spend time with him daily. We need to read his word. We need to hear the message he has for us over and over again, with this being a good place to start.

A Social Media Compass: Five Must Have Resources and Links

2011-01-25T14:09:00.000-08:00

Alright, so, truth be told, the fact is this post isn't going to actually be as comprehensive as the title suggests. But I do think there's going to be some useful stuff in here for you. For example, one of the many tips and ideas you'll get by checking out some of the links and resources that I'm going to post for you here is to make a title engaging enough to be worthy enough of a click. I'll let you be the judge of the example I put above.

No, this post won't list everything you'll ever need, nor is it even exactly all oriented to social media and blogging. Some of this has more to do with how to stay in touch with today's constantly shifting cultural landscape than it does with specific things bloggers and such need to know. But I do think it'll be worthwhile, not to mention the fact that this will give you an idea of where I go for inspiration and, at times, deeper understanding of the world around me.

Okay, so my Five Must Haves:

1. An RSS Aggregator

So I started using Google Reader as my RSS aggregator a few years back, and I've been pretty pleased with what it's been giving me. Basically, if you don't already know, what an RSS aggregator does is it takes the URLs of different blogs and news sites that you give it and it compiles them all into one list. That way you don't have to open up a bunch of different tabs or go spending hours visiting site after site. It also lets you skip over sites that don't have anything good that day. In other words, it's very similar to a blog dashboard which puts together everyone you're following into one place, but it isn't limited to your particular .com (tumblr, blogger, etc).

Another cool thing about RSS aggregators is they also usually have a list of "suggested" sites, meaning you get content that you wouldn't normally have heard about otherwise. This is key to getting out of your own network and seeing what other people are seeing.

Finally, I've synced up reader.google.com with an app on my phone (the one I use is NewsRob) so that I can check these articles and blogs wherever I am, whenever I feel like. This makes for a nice 5 minute break that informs and sometimes even entertains. It adds something to my day without consuming a large block of time.

All of this helps build your next must have which is...

2. Your "A-List"

RSS Aggregators really help you keep track of people who you think have interesting things to say. In order to use this great feature, however, you've got to take note of when someone says something interesting! Using something like Google Reader, all you have to do is grab the URL of whoever impressed you, input it under "Add Subscription", and, presto, you've got yourself a constant feed of whatever they publish.

Yes, you may get tired of what they have to say after awhile, at which point it is more than easy to drop them from your list. But, in the meantime, you'll fresh, updated content from them, which means fresh, updated ideas and insights if you've picked someone good, all without lifting a finger.

Also, when you find someone good, share them with your readers! I've found most of the people on my "A-List" because of other people who put a link to them on their blog/website. Share the wealth.

My next must-have is an example of someone I've started learning from in this way...

3. Seth Godin

Okay, so there's way too much to say about this guy that you can find out for yourself if you're interested. For here all I'm going to say is that Seth is really on top of what social media is all about and how to use and understand it. And, by the way, what he says is true across a wide variety of disciplines, although what he says is generally directed towards business execs.

As a pastor, I find what he's saying useful because he not only shares good insights about both technology and leadership, he also has a knack for seeing broader truths that apply to a wide swath of people. What's more, he's also really good at breaking down the process of turning ideas into reality, especially the part about what to do when you're finding yourself losing motivation and/or productivity.

I actually found out about Seth from a guy that I'm following on my RSS aggregator named Matt Perman. He has a blog called whatsbestnext.com and he does a great job of looking at technology, leadership, and productivity from the perspective of a Christ-follower. I think any pastor or Christian in business ought to check him out.

4. A Desire to Improve

There is a lot of good advice out there, and people are learning new things every day (not to mention that's how fast the technological landscape changes). Don't let making "the perfect blog" (there isn't such a thing) get in the way of what you're actually called to write, but do lift your head up now and then to see what's working for others and why.

Here's one great post that really hits the spot...for today. Check it out, get what helpful principles you can from it, and keep track of what the author's up to so that you can keep learning from him. By the way, I can't remember if it was that link or another that helped me realize the role of a good post title in making your post visible to people who haven't visited it before, but you have them (whoever they were) to thank for my post's title today.

5. The Ability to Read

Now this is an example of something that might not be totally useful to bloggers and social media types out there. My apologies. I could have mentioned something like "create synergy by syncing tumblr, blogger, twitter, facebook, etc", or I could have talked about which sites offered the best tools depending on what you're trying to do, but the post I've linked to as my Fifth Must Have is something that has really stuck with me ever since I read it.

So if you're reading this, you obviously know how to read.

Or do you...?

I've linked to the above post (which was written by an old professor of mine at Swarthmore College) both because the author, Timothy Burke, has a really great point to make about something we all kind of take for granted, and also because this demonstrates one of the really great uses of the blog format. It's the kind of essay that might've been passed around after being xeroxed a million times a few years back (I have a few of those as well), but is now available for you whenever you are. All you have to do is google something like "how to read in college" or have it passed on to you by someone who thinks you might have a use for it, and your life is changed. Let that be an inspiration to you as you write your next post.

Along these lines let me put a link here to a post about why every pastor should blog. This post is another one of those that has stuck with me for awhile. For you pastors and church leaders out there, I encourage you to check it out.

unpardonable?

2011-01-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

So there's a verse in Matthew 12 that goes like this, "Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven." The context is Jesus speaking to his listeners after the religious elites of his day, the Pharisees, accuse him (behind his back) of getting the power to do miracles from an evil source.

Just after I finished seminary I had the great opportunity to be trained in ministry under a pastor in New Jersey who I still look to as one of my mentors. We were able to spend a lot of time together, and I was invited a few times to sit in on a few counseling sessions with him. One of the things that I got out of those invaluable times was the fact that worrying over one's spiritual condition could often lead in some really positive directions.

Worry is a dangerous thing. It can spiral out of control, and it's often rooted in a lack of trust in God. We worry more the most distant and judgmental God seems from us. But what I heard often enough in these counseling sessions and have seen in my own work with people is that sometimes worry, especially when it had to do with one's standing with God, was often a sign that your conscience (itself a tool of the Holy Spirit) was working. In short, worry meant that you didn't have to worry (as long as you took the appropriate actions as a result).

Followers of Christ sometimes read Matthew 12:31 and fear that there is this edge to God's forgiveness. When we read the phrase, "will not be forgiven" we fear that there's the possibility that we can somehow slip up and accidentally fall off of God's ability to forgive. This is just foolish. The fact that you worry about this at all means that you haven't gone too far. In fact what Jesus is talking about is a continual prideful "hardening of the heart" against the truth of what God is doing. This doesn't happen by accident. Hardening your heart is continually telling yourself, "God can't do that. There's no way God would love like this. God can't use that person". Hardening your heart is continually telling God what role he is allowed to play, and that doesn't happen by accident.

If you worry about any aspect of your relationship with God, whether it's a fear that you may have accidentally blasphemed against the Spirit or you just haven't been feeling right with Him lately, know that this is a good first step. It means that your conscience has woken up, and there's a very good chance it was the Spirit himself in you doing the waking. That's right: God in you, at work.

But you've got to take some steps now. Don't sit there and wallow in your worry. Respond to it. Turn away from whatever you need to turn from. Do that thing now that you've been putting off. Call that person to ask for their help. Offer your help to that person in need.

Worry means God has lit a fire under you. It's time to stand up.

***

PS: One of our United Lifers has made his way out to Hawaii for Discipleship Training School. You can read his updates here.

If the link doesn't work here's the url: http://cacacacalvin.blogspot.com/

Needed

2011-01-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

I've been noticing something so obvious, so often repeated by churches and pastors everywhere, yet so difficult to really put into action on a regular basis.

And that is...my tendency to let Sundays be an exception.

One of my joys as a pastor is how awesome Sunday worship is for me. I'm not just saying this because I'm a pastor. As you might hope and expect, every Sunday I find that I cannot preach unless I am right with God, laying everything down before him, listening carefully to what he wants to say to his people so that I don't get in the way with my own agenda. And I say with amazement that he makes this happen every Sunday.

And it feels awesome.

This isn't to say I don't have my doubts. I regularly end sermons feeling pretty unsure of how things went, though I'm getting better and better at leaving my doubts aside and submitting myself primarily to God's evaluation (as opposed to that of humans). But it has been truly great experiencing pretty much every week the power of God to allow me to lay down my agenda, to listen for what he wants to say to everyone in the room, including myself, and then to stand up and preach that. This action of God not only enables me to preach, it also fills up our time of worship and response in song as well, making every Sunday an incredible experience for me personally.

But then Monday comes. And then Tuesday. And even though I'm working on the message for the upcoming Sunday, a phenomenon so well known a gradeschooler could warn you about it keeps hindering my preparation. And that is: what happens on Sundays is the exception for me and not the rule.

You see, on Sundays what enables me to preach is primarily the fact that I have submitted myself to God and his message for his people. That's the only way I can preach with any conviction. Without that I can feel in my core the total lameness of what I'm saying. So when I don't seek this during the week of preparation as well, I find sermon writing to be difficult at best.

And here's one of my points in mentioning all of this: I think a big part of it has to do with not making the space and time during the week to really worship God like I do on Sundays. I go through the right motions: I study the passage, I pray, I ask God to say what he wants to say. But I don't ask as seriously on Tuesday as I do on Sundays, I don't reach that breaking point that I do on Sundays, that moment where I know it's going to be his word or mine, and I choose his.

But I do choose his. Starting today. Pray for me. Pray for United Life.

Now here's my other point, as this goes for everyone: I've run into too many people who have great experiences on Sundays, and then experience nothing throughout the rest of the week. I think our problems are the same. Just like me, you experience God's power on Sunday, when he convicts you to your core, makes whole your brokenness, or reassures your soul (or all of the above), and a good part of what got you to that place was saying yes to God and making yourself available to him on that day of worship. But then you don't then continue to pursue him during the week.

Is it any wonder why you're are plateauing spiritually, why you lack growth?

Choose him today. Make time to worship him. And let's share when we see each other at the end of this week how things went.

And the calendar turns to 11...

2011-01-05T11:51:00.000-08:00

...2011 that is!

Ah, finally a "normal" week.

Yes, there's no such thing as normal, but it feels good to not have any special events to put on this week. (By the way, count me in as not a fan of Saturday holidays)

As we shift years, I think it's healthy to look back on how much really happened over the past 12 months. The way I'd like to do that is to start with the phrase, "On January 1st, 2010...".

Here we go!

On January 1st, 2010, we had no idea what an iPad was. We hadn't seen the iPhone 4 either, though I'm sure we could have made some guesses.

On January 1st, 2010, 230,000 people in Haiti were going about their lives with no idea that an earthquake would kill them in less than two weeks.

On January 1st, 2010, Kim Yu-Na was not a household name. Most households didn't know what a vuvuzela was either.

On January 1st, 2010, nobody knew we'd trap antimatter for the first time ever. (I'm not even sure what the scientific significance of that is, but I think it sounds pretty cool)

On a more serious note, on January 1st, 2010 we didn't imagine we'd see an oil spill worse than the Exxon Valdez, or a volcanic eruption ashy enough to stop all Eurpoean air traffic for a solid week.

On January 1st, 2010, 46 people on the Chonan and 4 people on Yeongpyong woke up most likely not knowing that 2010 would be their last year.

It's been a busy and significant year, to say the least. And I'm sure each of us, no matter where we're from, could share some things that happened this year that hit much closer to home. We at United Life have our share as well.

On January 1st, 2010, we had no idea we'd be saying goodbye so early to our brother and friend, Kevin Mingi Kim. His death not only shocked us, it also brought us together. Although this has been said by many people, many times, Kevin ministered to us in his death as he did so often in life. Never have I seen so many people see God through the life of one man.

On January 1st, 2010, we were preparing ourselves to send off two sisters and a brother to the far reaches of the globe (Seoul, Sydney, and Hawaii) as they entered Discipleship Training School with YWAM (Youth With a Mission). We were so blessed by their return in July as people who had truly experienced the transforming power of God. God went 3 for 3!

And, of course, on January 1st, 2010, Felise wasn't yet a Park, and I still didn't know how amazing it would be to be married to her!

Now on to 2011.

I'd love to hear from you: as of 1.1.11, what's 1 thing you think God is calling you to do in 2011? What's 1 thing you'd like to see happen?

still too much going on to post right now...

2010-12-29T13:52:00.000-08:00

just got back from our leadership retreat yesterday, had my first full night of sleep in A WHILE, now off to wish some pillars of our ministry farewell as they make the move to NYC.

until I really have a chance to sit down and post, here's some pics from our retreat:

busy but good week ahead

2010-12-21T11:28:00.000-08:00

first of all: go here barnabastrading.com and give 10

second: this is going to be short because I've got a bunch of stuff to prepare for the upcoming week (besides the usual Sunday sermon, going to be leading and speaking at our ministry's first-ever (non-"board exclusive") leadership retreat.

third: listening to a Catalyst interview with Seth Godin and heard the following three cool things

- "The Dip": The "dip" (the moment when things get really hard after some earlier success) is a huge gift to all of us. Let's take medical students and doctors for example. The dip for many of them happens when they take O-Chem. Many of them fail. And this is good for all of us, because it keeps out those (no offense intended for those who failed o-chem...some of my good and very smart friends have failed o-chem) who wouldn't make good doctors.

- "________": There was a really good second idea in there, but I can't remember. Just another good reason to go listen to this podcast for yourself.

- "I notice things": Godin was asked about how he comes up with what he creates, and he really understood himself well. He said that he simply notices things. Everyone else sees these same things, but they don't notice them in the sense that they're not able to activate and articulate those ideas and connections in their own lives. He admits that he doesn't have the time or discipline to do deep research, but that isn't who he is anyway (and I think those of us who follow Christ can say this is an issue of doing what we're "called" to do rather than what we think appears good).

2010-12-14T16:50:00.000-08:00

I've been reading through Genesis alongside Matthew (I've heard some people describe Matthew as the "New Genesis", part of the reason for its placement at the front of the New Testament), and today I was struck by God's covenant to Noah.*

In particular, I was struck by what God says to Noah after his family finally reaches dry ground. He says to them, "And you, be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it." (9:7) Now there are many ways to read that verse, but let me leave those alone for a minute and just give you what really resonated with me this morning as I read it: be fruitful.

Okay, so there's being fruitful in the sense of having lots of kids. But there's also fruitful in the sense of producing good things, fruits, not necessarily just children. And that is what we do, hopefully, when we work.

What is work? Some of us produce physical things, others of us produce intellectual property, and many more of us work in the service industry. But when you boil it all down, we all produce fruit (even those in the service industry! Their fruit is a satisfied customer).

So when we do our jobs well, we are being fruitful. This is one form of obedience to God. You can even go as far as to say that a job well done is an act of worship.

Of course there is a limit to this. There are certain jobs that don't produce fruit, but actually destroy fruit. And just producing fruit by itself isn't worship unless it is done as an act of obedience to God. Finally, I think above the commandment to be fruitful are far away the greatest commandments: "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength" and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-40). But, with all that said, it is important to realize this: a job well done is still a calling from God.

So whatever you're doing, whatever industry you're in or training to be in, know that there is a point to what you are doing. Go, be fruitful, and worship God.

*Side note: I saw an article a few weeks ago about a politician arguing that we don't have to worry about global warming because God promises Noah as part of his covenant with him in Genesis 9 that "And the water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh." (9:15) This is a questionable application of this verse, and shows why we need theological education and training. Although the Spirit definitely is the most important part in being able to understand what God is saying to us through His Word, God didn't give us the ability to think as well as the ability to improve that ability without reason. Rep. Shimkus should be hearing from leaders in his own denomination about why this verse is not an invitation for Christians to neglect stewardship of the environment.

The Other Shoe

2010-12-07T13:36:00.000-08:00

Ever hear the phrase, "Waiting for the other shoe to drop"? If you haven't, basically it's used when everybody who's heard/seen one thing knows for sure another thing is coming. It's pretty closely related to the whole "good news/bad news" idea. Once you hear one, you know you're going to hear the other. (If you wan't to know the whole entertaining origin story, click here.)

I think I can say that church goers and Christ followers alike are often waiting for "the other shoe" to drop. Here's what I mean: pastors preach that Christ died for their sins and that God loves them unconditionally. This is radically good news, and at churches that preach this message faithfully amazing things happen! But then what often follows is significantly less radical. In fact, I think it's safe to say that many churches and leaders are not sure what to do or preach next. The result is often ministry plans that seem related less to the in-breaking Kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus Christ, and related more to the latest (and, just as likely, already stale) management/organizational/motivational techniques taught by whoever's having the most success at any given moment.

Over the past few weeks and months an interesting theme has been coming up in my life directly tied to all this. I think it started with a couple of books that were on my desk: Crazy Love by Francis Chan and The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard. Both of these books stressed the idea that salvation wasn't a one time event, that God's grace was never meant to lead to passivity among followers of Christ. In fact, followers of Christ should be defined by just that: following Christ actively and radically in their daily lives.

Then I had a meaningful and thought provoking conversation with a fellow pastor about grace and discipleship. If I understood him correctly, his argument was that if you study scriptures honestly, you will find that they themselves argue that discipleship is a key ingredient in salvation. He went as far as to argue that we could lose our salvation if we chose not to grow in our knowledge of Christ nor actively follow him. I had a problem with what I saw as linking our salvation to our works, but nevertheless he made a strong point: that scripture does not mince words when it comes to discipleship. "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot...So, because you are lukewarm...I will spit you out of my mouth...Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne." (Revelation 3:20-22) Regardless of whether you want to argue that a rejection of discipleship means a rejection of God's grace, it's clear that the Biblical witness argues that discipleship is an essential part of being a follower of Christ.

These, plus a few other factors and conversations that I've had, have led me to see what "the other shoe" has got to be for ministry: it's got to be growing in our Christ-likeness. It's got to be a serious commitment to helping each member of Christ's body follow Christ everywhere and at every time. At the end of Willard's book, he argues that each pastor/ministry must evaluate themselves based on whether they are truly and effectively helping people to grow in their Christ-likeness. I agree. Not in addition to or in place of, but as part of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, United Life must be about making disciples of Jesus Christ.

Listen, I've known this in my head forever. But it's starting to really sink in right now. I look around and I see so many young Christians who know everything they need to know, but whose lives and faith are still floundering. And the one key element that I can see missing for all of them is the fact that they have never been seriously discipled. They have never been seriously challenged to hear Christ calling them not only to receive God's grace, but to truly and steadily become like him. They have never been told that this is an essential part of following Christ.

It's time to start.

"Have you heard of God the Mother?" Part 2

2010-12-01T16:29:00.003-08:00

in my previous post I talked about some specific issues with the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCG), a group that is known among students in Seattle for beginning conversations with the question, "Have you heard of God the mother" and then inviting those students to their "Bible studies" to explore the question further. These studies are, of course, entryways designed to convince, pressure, and convert people to their beliefs.

btw: quick application for every church and follower of Christ - can we be accused of the same tactics? check yourselves! The gospel of Christ never needs to use coercion (2 Corinthians 4:1-2).

In this post I'm going to talk briefly about the whole idea of the "motherhood" of God. You may be surprised by how I'm going to start: there actually is a biblical basis for seeing certain "motherly" aspects of God.

***

"Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, rearing them on its pinions, the LORD alone guided him...and he suckled him with honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock." - Deuteronomy 32:10-11, 13 (the image here is extremely mothering: parenting, suckling/nursing the young. In other words, God is being described here with "motherly" adjectives)
"You forgot the God who gave you birth" - verse 18 of the same chapter. The image here is clear.
"I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I...bent down to them and fed them." - Hosea 11:4 (the image here could be interpreted either as motherly or fatherly, though feeding is generally recognized as a motherly thing to do. either way, the idea of parental compassion comes out strongly)
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings..." - Matthew 23:37 (here Jesus clearly uses the motherly imagery of being a mother hen caring for her brood)

***

So it's not crazy to talk about the "motherhood" aspects of God. The Bible clearly shows that God has no problem describing himself as having "motherly" love and compassion. The truth is, God is more than the words "father" or "mother" can contain. In fact, all of the best aspects of fatherhood and motherhood have their origin in God, so it shouldn't pose any problem to talk about the reverse: that good motherhood and good fatherhood reflect characteristics of God and bring glory to Him.

btw: I wouldn't, however, go so far as to rewrite Jesus' clearly said prayer (the Lord's Prayer) to begin "our mother". He chose his words for a reason, and he taught his disciples to pray, "Our Father" not "our mother". We should do the same.

***

IN RESPONSE TO THE CLAIMS OF WORLD MISSION SOCIETY CHURCH OF GOD:

The WMSCG clearly goes beyond claiming that God can be described using certain motherly adjectives. They claim that God is currently on earth in the form of Ms. Zhang, the Heavenly Mother, and that the Holy Spirit is manifested in the deceased Ahn Sunghong.

Even if you can agree that God could be described as "motherly" through the Bible, there is no way that you can argue biblically that Ahn Sunghong and Ms. Zhang are the new godhead.

Exodus 33:17-20: "And the LORD said to Moses, 'You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.'" If this is true, then people could not look upon Ms. Zhang and live (unless the argument is made that the God speaking to Moses is different from the Heavenly Mother, in which case we should go back to Deuteronomy 5:7 and 6:4 which speak about the Oneness of God).
Job 38:4-7: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth...Who determined its measurements -surely you know...On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Are you truly willing to argue that Ms. Zhang or Rev. Ahn were the ones who laid the foundation of the earth? For good measure: 39:1 - all due respect, but can Ms. Zhang tell you when "the mountain goats give birth" or (41:1) can she "draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord"?
Revelation 21:2: "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." This is actually one of the verses that WMSCG members use to try and argue for the fact that when the Bible talks about God it is talking about the Heavenly Mother (Ms. Zhang).

Now, just plainly speaking here:. Do you think John is talking here about a person who will be born in the 20th century and to be described and worshiped as our "Heavenly Mother"? Or do you think he is talking about a place, whether spiritual and/or geographical? Read the whole chapter and you tell me. The clear, common sense interpretation of what John is writing about here (through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) is that he is describing a place, using bridal imagery to show his reader how important and carefully prepared this place will be for God.

There's plenty right in the chapter that points to scripture meaning a place (either spiritual or geographical) and not a person when it references the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, but let's also note the fact that the redeeming and rebuilding of Jerusalem is a constant theme throughout the Old Testament. Granted, this had to do with the fact that Jerusalem was literally destroyed by its invaders and the Jews had been scattered all over the world, longing to return to their home city to rebuild it (which they end up doing). But even in those prophecies there is talk about an "eternal" Jerusalem, one that will never face destruction:

Isa 33:20, 62:6-9, 66:13 - in this last verse note that while the entire chapter talks about Jerusalem as a mother/woman, it is clear that it is a place in and through which God's grace and mercy will be seen. The image is of a woman, but the actual identity of Jerusalem is as a spiritual and/or geographical place, not a person.

***

Alright, with all this said, let me close with one final important point: it would be real easy to hate on this group, but we are not called to that either as followers of Christ. We can hate what they are doing, we can hate the fact that people's families have been torn apart by them, but we must pray for them and extend the gospel of Christ to them. It doesn't help to bash them either online or to their faces: what we do must bring fame and honor to the name of Jesus Christ.

***

more resources:

a great video overviewing WMSCG

http://www.factnet.org/?p=665

an article showing the link between the "We Love U" foundation and WMSCG

http://www.stripes.com/news/feeling-the-love-1.87526

many comments from family members who have been hurt by the WMSCG and lost loved ones to them

http://brendoman.com/wardwords/2005/11/21/cult

"Have you heard of God the Mother?"

2010-11-30T17:44:00.000-08:00

what a nice looking group of people!

So in the past six months or so I've heard from several University of Washington students that attend United Life about people approaching them and asking them something along the lines of, "Have you heard of God the mother?" Usually the students, being polite and also open to a good theological discussion, engage these people. They find, however, that these people are extremely well versed in the Bible. My students feel like there's something wrong with their argument, but they come to me saying that they couldn't think of a good response off of the top of their heads.

I'm going to give you my response in a second, but let me say a couple of things to start. Skip to the next pic if you just want the part 1 of my response.

First of all, just because someone uses Bible verses and knows a lot of them by memory, don't assume that they know Scripture. The Bible is meant to communicate God's heart and message to us, and we must be careful to read all of it, not just the parts we like or that fit our argument. We must also be careful not to assume that just because someone knows more Bible verses than you do by heart, that they must know the Bible better than you do. Sure, take it as a challenge to get into the Word more deeply, but don't assume that they know what God is saying better than you do. Many cults train their members to memorize certain key verses that support their beliefs. It's an uneven playing field: good pastors train their members to look at all of scripture, which makes it harder for them to memorize what they're reading. Cults tell their members to look at specific verses that support their beliefs: of course it's easier for them to memorize.

Second, don't judge a book by its cover. Just because the people coming up to you look like they have your best interests in mind and talk like they know all about God, be careful. Many of them have been well trained to make specific arguments and defeat any counter-arguments you come up with. You need to know their whole story, not just the side that they present to you.

Okay, now here's my response to "Have you heard of God the mother?"

Answer: "I have, and I've also heard of Rev. Ahn Sahng-Hong who is the founder of the World Mission Society Church of God. Are you a representative of that group?" If they're not, then let me know. I'll have some more research to do. If so, then read on:

"I read in your website that the WMSCG believes the following:

- that Rev. Ahn (who passed away in 1985 and predicted the end of the world in 1988 as well as 1967) is the second coming of Christ

- that we should also worship someone called the "Jerusalem Mother" and can only receive salvation if we go to both Rev. Ahn and the "Jerusalem Mother"

- that anybody who denies these beliefs are perverting the true teachings of the Bible

- that anybody who worships on Sunday will not be saved

- that women who worship without a veil will be regarded as "trivial" by God

- that the "Jerusalem Mother" is the name given to Ms. Chung/Zang Gil Cha

- that God is not One but many because in the Old Testament he is described as "Elohim" which is a plural Hebrew word, and therefore we must worship several gods

"If you acknowledge all of these things, then I think there's a lot more to respond to than simply the question, 'Have I heard of God the mother.' In fact, I think it's a little bit deceptive to start with that question. Why not just start by asking me if I want to go to your worship on Saturdays and condemn those who worship on Sundays, wear a veil (if I'm a woman), and worship Rev. Ahn and Ms. Zang? That would be a lot more straightforward."

"That way I'd know that instead of debating the biblical roots of the idea of God the mother, what we should really be talking about is whether Christ, Paul, Peter, and all of the Old Testament prophets would really agree with you that Rev. Ahn is the incarnated Christ and that Ms. Zang is God. There are too many Bible verses that I could bring up to dispute that to show here, but I will give you a couple just in case you were looking for them:

Deuteronomy 6:4 "The LORD our God is one LORD; or The LORD is our God, the LORD is one;" (not many gods, not a father and a mother, but One God)

Acts 4:10-12 "Then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹ Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’^[a]
¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Not by the name of Ahnsunghong, not by the name of the Jerusalem Mother, only by the name of Jesus Christ)

***

The following verses I give as a warning to all who would preach a gospel contrary to Christ's:

Galatians 1:8 "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!"

Matthew 24:4-5 "See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name saying, 'I am the Christ' and they will lead many astray." In fact, just read all of Matthew 24 and see that the second coming of Jesus is going to be pretty obvious and won't leave quite this much room for debate.

***

In my next post, I'll answer specifically the question and argument regarding God's "motherhood".

A couple of really good websites to check out in the meantime:

http://encountering-ahnsahnghong.blogspot.com/ - written by someone whose sister was taken into the WMSCG.

http://www.confessionalsbytes.com/2010/07/world-mission-society-church-of-god.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Mission_Society_Church_of_God

skirmish in Korea, snow in Seattle, and Bristol Palin on Dancing with the Stars!

2010-11-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

so much happening these days, so much that could be written. so much that should be said.

but in the midst of all of it, one thing that's worth saying and not forgetting: Thank you, God, for Nov. 12th and what you did here on that night.

As you know from my last post, Nov. 12 we held an event at our church called Lovesick: Relentlessly Pursued by a Lovesick God. Our church and ministry came together that night to put together this event for the greater Seattle community with the idea that if we're going to spend our time and energy and resources doing something, what better thing to do than to show people God's love?

And we did.

From my perspective, the thing that encouraged me the most was what we learned about what it means to serve God together. In church it's so easy to just get by doing the minimum. If our church or the people around us don't ask much of us, we assume that God isn't asking anything of us either except to stay out of trouble. And yet there's so much to be said, so much to be done. We just have to get off of our couches and outside of our homes.

And we did.

It was so cool to see people rise up and put together videos, media, music, food, promotional materials, etc. We even had some people working the social media resources for Lovesick, something that hasn't really happened much for things we've done in the past. I'm seeing now that we've got what it takes to reach out and follow God as he is at work in this world. Lovesick was just the beginning.

Now when I heard about the new South/North Korea conflict, and when I thought about the plight of those living on the streets in the midst of unseasonably cold Seattle weather, part of me wondered what use a little night like Lovesick with just a few hundred people could really be to God. And yet I'm reminded that God hasn't called us to solve all the world's problems with one event, with one movement. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pioneered one of the greatest social movements in history and yet look at all the problems that still remain. Mother Theresa served so many in her lifetime, and her movement continues to heal and save people, yet look at all the people who are still crying out.

No one event, no one movement solves or saves everything.

But God still calls us to be obedient. God still calls us off the couch and out our doors. He is still at work, and he intends to use every act of obedience and faith, even a little thing like Lovesick, a simple coat drive at a local church, or even a potluck where brothers and sisters gather to love one another, thank God together, and welcome others into a community pursued by and pursuing a lovesick God.

This is what faith is all about. Not simply whether you believe in God or not, but whether you hope in Him and His love for you and this world enough to get up off of your couch and out the door.

Hope with me.

here are some pics from Lovesick:

relentlessly pursued by a lovesick God

2010-11-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

where will you be this Friday night?

This Friday at 7 PM, United Life is offering to Seattle a night dedicated to one thing and one thing only: God's incredible love for us.

I'm pretty excited by the fact that our ministry is getting to present this. Yes, it's a bit of work to put something like this together, but what is church for, anyway, if not to shine the spotlight on God and His love for us? We can do all the fundraisers and rallys and retreats we want, but what it really comes down to is the amazing truth that Jesus came preaching and living: that God loves us with a love that defines the word itself.

And I'm not only excited that we get to present this, but also how we're going to do this. We're putting a major focus on our times of worship and song. The worship team has been putting in overtime to get everything just right not only musically but spiritually. We've been checking ourselves as much as we've been checking the music. We're also giving several people the stage not to preach about God, but to share their real life encounters with Him and His love for them. I've been talking with the people who will be sharing, and it's going to be amazing because God has been so amazing in their lives.

It's going to be a powerful time. Will you join us?

Also, take 2 minutes to watch the Lovesick video. Many thanks to Sam Cha and Seung Lee for putting this video together, and to City Church for the "Jesus is______" campaign. You can check out what they're doing at jesus-is.org.

LOVESICK Promo Video from Samuel Cha on Vimeo.

NaCl

2010-11-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

yesterday's speaker, Jim Henderson (perhaps best known for buying the soul of an atheist on ebay), started the conversation, but it was another panelist who brought up what Jesus had to say about those who follow Him "being salt and light". He told the story of his grandfather who would put just a few grains of salt on watermelon and other fruit and it would give that fruit the most amazing taste. The panelist then asked us, "When you've ended a conversation, does your conversation partner walk away with that amazing taste of salt on their tongue?" (Salt, of course, being a metaphor for the presence of Christ)

Tying that to what Jesus says about being persecuted for His sake I think Christ-followers need to ask A) are we being persecuted at all and B) are we being persecuted for Jesus' sake (for bringing that dash of salt) or for something else (i.e. pushing a particular cultural or even theological agenda)?

***

In other news: if you're in the area on Nov. 12, United Life would love to have you over for a special event that we're putting on: Lovesick! Check out the event page on facebook (search: lovesick) or just come on by at 7. The event is free, and all ages are welcome.

*by the way: so I wasn't sure whether to put this on my microblog over at tumblr since this is kind of a shorter thought, but I've been trying to get my tumblr to be more of my personal blog and my blogspot to be more of my place for longer, thought out posts regarding theology, ministry, etc. But what if I have shorter, quick thoughts to post (which tumblr is better for) that are a little less personal, and a little more theological?

I have no resolution to this dilemma. I'm sure it will all play out nicely though in the end.

a breeding ground for good conversations

2010-11-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

today was really one of those days where it was hard to spend more than a few minutes focusing on anything. After attending the last week of our 6:30 AM Tuesday Morning men's ministry event at Overlake Church, we had breakfast at Denny's together with everyone who came from our church, then I had a surprise staff meeting at the church office, then a surprise lunch, then I assembled something for my office, then I dropped off my ballot, then I started taking care of emails and other prep work for our upcoming special event on Nov. 12 (Lovesick), and before you know it's 5 PM!

So, needless to say, I didn't have time to sit down and put together a thoughtful blog post. Instead, I'll give you some of today's highlights:

- as the title indicates, a great conversation at breakfast after the men's ministry event: talked about a host of stuff that applies deeply to United Life, the ministry that God is building with us, and our future. I'm excited by how passionately guys are thinking about God's calling in our ministry

- there were a few other early morning groups. OJ said he ran into a group at starbucks at 5:30 am on his way to Overlake. At a table near us was a group of Christian men meeting (we started breakfast around 8:30 am). I wonder if a morning group is somewhere in United Life's future? There's a certain energy there...

- speaking of energy, I've been wondering ever since going to a sushi conveyor belt place near our condo about the atmosphere there. There was just this feeling I had that I would love to go back there once a week...and I wondered if people felt that way about church. I know people feel that way about their coffee shops. out of that came the joking suggestion (at Dennys) that we have a group of people who all yell WELCOME like they do at sushi places when you first walk through the door. Something to that!

okay, I think that's all for now. hope you voted today!

an encouraging word from a fellow hypocrite

2010-10-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

okay, maybe I use the word "hypocrite" a little too lightly, but I think it's important for us to get over it's sticker shock because it's such a useful word, and so applicable to all of our lives.

specifically, what happens when you call a pastor or spiritual leader a hypocrite? usually you only say that when you're trying to take a church or ministry down. But isn't hypocrisy a battle we all face? Even those with the purest of integrity...isn't the thing that sets them apart a dedication to realizing and battling their own hypocrisy?

this is why, by the way, I think a good vision for the church is "The Community of Beloved (and recovering) Hypocrites"

in any case, I heard about Jaeson Ma this morning via text, and was impressed by one of the following posts from his blog. it's quite long, I basically did a combination of reading/skimming through it, but I was struck and incredibly encouraged by how open this very successful man of God was about his struggle to not lead a double life. I'm so used to just seeing shiny plastic facades when I see what a successful person's PR department puts out there, it was great to see Ma share his struggles and, thus, the Power of God as He transforms and shapes Ma's life.

take a look:

http://jaesonma.com/becoming-a-man-of-significance-pt-i/

some thoughts after hearing Mr. Blue Like Jazz speak this morning

2010-10-26T10:56:00.001-07:00

the man himself, Donald Miller

Overall, I've really been enjoying these Tuesday morning talks that the men of our ministry have been going to over the past three weeks. Yes, it's tough to get up before 6 am, but it has been so worth it. Greg Laurie, Rick Enloe, and now Donald Miller brought some solid word to the men of Seattle who are following Christ. I'm hoping I can find these talks online sometime so that we can share it with the sisters of United Life as well.

Here are some thoughts from Donald Miller's talk today. By the way, if you've never read his bestselling book, Blue Like Jazz, I recommend giving it a spin.

- Where you are at now, who you are now is enough to make an impact for the Kingdom of God. You don't need to go fit some mold before God can use you. Be who you are, be where you are, be obedient to Him, and great things are going to happen.

- Our times of pain equip us to have sympathy with the pain of others.

- Male passivity can be devastating: Father's who don't take the initiative in investing and actively supporting their daughters' lives are basically sending the message: "You are not worth it." Same can be said of husbands who don't take initiative in their wives' lives.

From Miller's own life: his father walked out on his family and Miller grew up thinking his dad had died. But when he found out his dad was alive he went to go visit him. Turns out his father walked out on his mom because he felt his mother was being controlling and emasculating. Miller's point - whether that's true or not, basically his dad's message was that Donald and the rest of the kids were not worth dealing with a controlling woman. Perhaps that's better than abusing his children and wife, but that passivity led to some incredible damage of another kind in Miller's life.

- Miller used the story of Joseph in Genesis as his talk's framework, and one of his key points was Negative Turns in our stories should not be enough to keep us from "kicking butt for God" in whatever situation we're in. Joseph experienced the worst kind of discouraging negative turns: thrown into a well immediately after his God-given dream, sold into slavery, after rising up to be Potiphar's chief servant being sent to prison for no fault of his own, then after saving Pharaoh's cup bearer spending two more years forgotten in prison...if anyone had cause to give up, it was Joseph. But all of that pain, all of those negative turns did not keep God from fulfilling his promise.

- Miller left us with a great question: What are your daydreams, what thrills you, and how can you use that to, as Joseph does, follow God's heart and "save many lives"?

Kind of cool note: we were sitting one row behind Donald Miller and had a chance to get to know him a bit before he spoke. He signed Max's book, and he asked Oliver about his iPad.

Here's the promo video for the event that we've been attending:

Man Up Video from Shawntel Hatch on Vimeo.

Week 3 of Man Up

2010-10-26T08:02:00.001-07:00

"If you want to bond as a family, unite and fight something dark together."

Welcome back brian and james!

2010-10-21T21:52:00.001-07:00

~ sent on the Sprint Now network

my five keys to productivity, success, and effective catsitting

2010-10-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

looks like a full on double rainbow across the sky to me!

okay, so I'm not going to write about catsitting today, though if you would like to hear what I've recently learned about and from it I'd be more than happy to share. For what it's worth, I think my wife and I actually make pretty good catsitters.

I wanted to just briefly hit on a few things. First, I've been looking at my website's stats, and I've found that a good deal of this blog's audience is probably fellow pastors. If that's you, WELCOME! Although I started this blog for the members of my ministry, I have a heart for other pastors and ministries and am glad to connect with you.

SPECIAL PASTORS' "INSIDER" EXCLUSIVE SECTION:
(I'd hide this behind a special pay wall if I knew how...jk)
- Question to everyone in the ministry: are you able to take a Sabbath? If so, what have you found to be the ideal schedule for your given day of rest?
- Related to the above question: what are some things that you find help your productivity throughout the week?(One thing I'm trying out is moving away from electronic to do lists, and back to pen and paper. I'm finding it to be strangely more effective. I made the switch because of a post not unlike the following: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/want-to-get-things-done-write-it-down/.

BACK TO THE REGULAR, "PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS" SECTION:
Just wanted to mention a couple of things today...

- ...Rick Enloe had a ton of good things to share, but maybe the one that is sticking with me the most is, and I mentioned this in the previous post, how much Christians should be defined by curiosity about the lives of others. It makes so much sense!

First, there's the command to love others as ourselves. Obviously this means being interested in what's going on their lives, even people we've never met before...even OUR ENEMIES! Shocking, counter-cultural stuff.
Second, there's the fact that in our day and age, people are very sensitive to spin and "catches" (i.e. "What's the catch?"). So many types of evangelism are actually counter-effective today because they come across as sales pitches or double-talk. The truth, though, is that Christians never have to resort to this (take a look at 2nd Corinthians 4!). Having faith that God knows what he's doing, we can leave "results" up to Him and instead focus on being faithful to the basic calling to love others as ourselves. In short, we truly can be interested in someone's else's life without expecting something out of them. Of course we hope that they meet Jesus Christ and begin following Him, but that is not up to us, nor does it determine whether we should continue to love them or not. Of course we must continue to love and be interested in their lives!

- I also wanted to mention that our brothers Brian and James have returned from the streets of Seattle. Their blog is still up at bjarbjar.blogspot.com. Please join me in thanking God for returning them to us.

Brian, James, if you guys are reading this, I'm waiting for your reflection piece! Don't delay too long...

They asked our question!

2010-10-19T07:41:00.001-07:00

So the pic here is significant not only because it shows us back at the OC (overlake church) for our 2nd week of "man up: share your faith" (630 AM!), but also because the screen in the background has the question we texted in!
Our question: how do we start the conversation at work, is it changing our screensaver, leaving our Bibles on our desks? Rick Enloe's answer: Christians should be marked by a genuine, sane curiosity for other people's lives.

*update*

if you look closely at the bottom right hand side of the shot, you'll see the back of one very famous Seattle real estate celebrity's head!

living like tomorrow will never come

2010-10-12T17:29:00.000-07:00

"Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed."

- romans 13:11-12

As I was preparing for this past Sunday's sermon I was amazed at how much of life is built around the idea that time is standing still. I mean, would we really buy what we buy and pay money for what we pay money for if we knew that tomorrow our time on earth would be over? Would we really say what we said (or failed to say) if there was actually an end to life as we've known it so far?

Instead it's almost like we're taking for granted this idea that nothing's ever going to change, and so the biggest thing on our mind is that laptop, that class, that promotion/raise (or lack of it).

What advances to the front of the line when we realize that time comes in a limited quantity? Let me propose the following:

- our relationship with God and working to clear up all of the misconceptions/outright lies out there about God

- our relationships with one another

- what we do for/with people, especially helping those in need and taking care of the responsibilities given to us to steward

- music and art (i.e. making beautiful things with the gifts God has given us)

am I missing anything?

Men's ministry event

2010-10-12T07:51:00.001-07:00

Here's where the brothers of our church were at 630 am.

~ sent on the Sprint Now network

condolences and a prayer request

2010-10-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

as you can see from the earlier posts, we're going through a rough time right now at United Life. One of our former members, someone who was closely tied to our ministry even after he had officially joined another church in the area, passed away tragically and unexpectedly at the age of 25 last week. his family is doing remarkably well, but I'd like to ask for your prayer support and covering over them.

he was an amazing man, someone who taught me a lot both in his life and in his death. I'll probably post more about him later. for now, please just continue to keep his family in prayer, as well as our ministry. may we be Christ's body, guided by and incarnating Him and His love.

for more information you can visit welovekevinkim.com.

***

I'd also like to ask for your prayers for our brothers Brian and James. They are still living on the streets intentionally, and much has been happening. Please pray that they may be obedient and sensitive to God's will for them. Pray also that they be guided by His wisdom.

Thank you!

let's get together

2010-09-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

we're meeting together this Friday night at 7:30 PM in the United Life chapel

we're going to pray for the family, as well as spend some time remembering Mingi together

I hope you can be there

not ready

2010-09-29T10:06:00.001-07:00

I'm waiting for the family to speak first before I say anything through this medium, even though I know it's all over facebook

I do want to post though and say that now is the time to pray for everyone who's been touched by this tragedy, especially his family. now is the time for us to both receive God's comfort through the Holy Spirit and to give it through word and action

Romans 12:15

Psalm 126

Revelation 21:1-7

lessons for the "homefull"

2010-09-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, one of United Life's very own (along with a friend named James) forsook his home on September 7th of this year in order to follow through with a conviction and calling he had to live on the streets of Seattle for a set period of time. While many have both applauded and questioned Brian and James decision, one thing I can vouch for: they're not primarily motivated by guilt, but because they feel that God has called them to do this.

One of the most amazing parts of all of this for me has been seeing how much thought, discussion, and prayer their decision has given birth to. Just speaking for myself, I can't be in a store for too long before I consider what a blessing it is to have the means to be able to choose whether to buy something or not. I can't adjust the heat or humidity in our bedroom before being thankful that I have not only a room to sleep in, but also a bathroom, kitchen, and even a living room. And I can't drive by someone at a street corner asking for "anything that will help, God bless" without wondering if I'm treating them as well as I hope everyone is treating Brian and James (I find myself not necessarily giving more often, but making a lot more eye contact than I used to).

I write this first of all to praise God for what He is doing through Brian, James, their decision, and among all those who know them or are about to meet them.

I also write this to remind those who care about these two brothers to continue to cover them in prayer.

Finally, I write this to encourage all of us to do two things:

Change how we see and think about the homeless around us. Just picture Brian or James in their shoes, and treat them accordingly.
Be obedient to God. Amazingly, God wants to be connected to you and me. And while he doesn't always speak with words or visions, he is definitely making his purpose for us clear. Just read the Bible and pray, and you'll know what I'm talking about. And when you start to get a feel for what he wants from you, I encourage your follow through by bringing your attention to all of the awesome stuff that's coming out of Brian and James' obedience. They are touching many lives with their obedience, surely God will do the same with yours.

As I've been mentioning, Brian and James are keeping us updated at bjarbjar.blogspot.com. I've put a link on the right side of this page.

a church for introverts?

2010-09-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

I was reading 2 Corinthians 11:1-6 today and I was struck by what Paul says in verse 6: "But even if I am (L)unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in (M)knowledge; in fact, in every way we have (N)made this evident to you in all things." (NASB)

Unskilled in speech...in other words, an introvert? The Greek there is "idiōtēs". (My Greek professor in seminary warned us not to throw Greek vocab and grammar around, but you can make the connection yourself).

Paul, basically, didn't feel as comfortable speaking as he did writing to the Corinthians, which I think is something that resonates with many today. Many of us just can express ourselves more comfortably and honestly when we're writing it out. In person there's just...well...it's hard to explain, but all you need to do is visit Facebook to know what I'm talking about.

So if Paul is like many of us (one who has varying degrees of confidence and boldness, one who may sometimes stutter or pause for too long as they are making a point, in other words...a real person!), then I think that there is both a hope and a challenge for all of us.

The hope: we can have great impact, even if we're not "super-apostles" (see verse 5). The key isn't our skill or our level of extroversion, but our obedience to God. Just say yes to Him, and leave the results up to Him. There is a place in Christ's body even for the quietest of introverts.

The challenge: don't wait to get "up to speed" before you say "yes" to God. We must always be careful not to try to lead others when we ourselves don't know what we're doing. But at the same time God does not call by accident. He called Moses to lead even though Moses did not feel ready. He called Samuel even though he was just a young boy. And He called Paul to plant churches and preach the good news of Christ even though many, many obstacles were in his way and he was "unskilled in speech."

The key here is saying "yes" to God, which is something we either do or don't do every minute of every day. It's not something that comes just at a retreat or on a Sunday at church (though hopefully it's happening then too!), it's something that comes with every decision we make. Love that car that just cut me off, don't love that car. Pray about that thing, don't pray about that thing. Trust God, don't trust God. See what I'm talking about...?

****************************

UPDATE: BRIAN AND JAMES

If you're keeping up with their street blog (which I've linked on the sidebar here), that's great, but they're only able to update whenever they get to a computer. I'll try to update some here as well.

Specifically, when I spoke to Brian last night he had two prayer requests for him and James:

1) Long johns - they're pretty well layered for their upper body, but their legs are freezing.

2) Mental/spiritual focus - I think the best way to put this is that they're kind of in survival mode right now for obvious reasons, which makes it hard for them to stretch themselves and see and act on the bigger things God might be putting before them.

Also, he asked if we had any prayer requests for him! Please message me if you'd like Brian and James to be praying for you and I'll pass along your request.

imagine if I told you you'd have to sleep on the streets tonight...

2010-09-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

...and then do the same for the next 39 nights after that?

I just got off the phone with one of our United Life brothers and board members who is following through with a conviction to live on the streets for forty days. Last night was his first night.

He told me with some laughter in his voice that it was cold.

Regardless of how you feel about someone choosing to live on the streets, I can tell you that his obedience to this conviction is already bearing fruit. For me personally, although I've always known in my head that the homeless I see on the streets of Seattle are somebody's brothers, mothers, sons, and cousins, the worry that I feel for Brian (who, thankfully, is traveling with a companion) is like nothing I've ever felt for any homeless person before. "What if something happened to him...?" is the thought that echoed louder and louder in my mind as Brian's departure date approached. Before I've never worried about that for the homeless people that I've met.

We can talk about ending homelessness, we can volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, we can serve at soup kitchens...all of those things I've done much of. But because of one brother's faithfulness in listening to something that God put on his heart, I realize how removed I've kept myself to the plight of those living on the streets. Just this past week a number of people were shot by Seattle police officers. One who died on the spot was a homeless man who was carving a piece of wood and failed to put his knife down in time. Any other week I probably would have shrugged my shoulders and said, "too bad". Now, however, I can taste, at least slightly, what that man's family is feeling.

Brian and James are going to grow in gargantuan ways over the next few weeks. But I think those of us who love and pray for them will as well. I invite you to join me. You can start by committing to pray for them daily, and you can also keep track of how things are going for them by visiting their blog (which they'll be updating through public computers through Seattle) at http://bjarbjar.blogspot.com/.

liftoff

2010-09-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

One of the cool things about being married is the way my relationship with my wife is developing. Although we grew a lot together while dating and being engaged for the last two years, the last (nearly) two months have really accelerated aspects of how we relate to one another. These relational aspects have, in turn, had a transformational impact on us both as individuals and as a married couple.

One small thing that I've noticed is how our greetings and salutations have changed now that we're married. Before text messages were definitely our thing. We'd text each other good morning, and then talk at night about how our days went. Now everything is much more direct: she's the first thing I see and say good morning to in the morning and the last person I speak to in person at night. And, although I can't put my finger on it, we as a couple before God are transforming because of this. We are just so connected now...I can't go to the office without feeling like I'm bringing a piece of her with me.

On a related note (and this is what I'm wanting to get to today), I can't stress enough how important it has been to me to consciously develop the discipline of taking a few moments at the beginning of my day to thank God for his unconditional love for me. I'm shocked by how easy it is for me to not do this: it is just status quo for me (and I think most of us) to roll out of bed thinking about everything besides God and his love for us. Our minds are so in need of the refreshing of the Holy Spirit that if we ever do think about God it is by feeling guilty about things we've done or are doing wrong, or even feeling resentful at him as we look at how we've been unable to meet his standards and assume that he is judging us for it.

To fight this we must engage in the discipline of greeting God every morning, no matter how childish or meaningless it may feel. This boils down to how connected greetings and relationships are: by saying good morning to God and reminding ourselves of his unconditional love for us through Jesus Christ, we are declaring "yes" to a relationship with him, and this is an act with powerful implications. Connecting with God first before we plug ourselves into anything else rewires our souls for what they were originally meant for: a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Let me close by pointing us back to the image at the top of the post. It's a Saturn V rocket, the most powerful engine ever built by humankind. As powerful as a Saturn V rocket is, however, it has a single guiding element upon which its entire operation hinges: Newton's Third Law of motion, "to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction." Without an engine built around this single element, the rocket would go nowhere.

For humans in general, and Christians specifically, there are many elements and factors that call for our attention. We find ourselves distracted and somewhat shallowed out. But there is just one thing that really matters, one thing our of which all of the worthwhile things in the world flow out of: our relationship to God through Jesus Christ. Cultivate this relationship, start your day by grounding yourself in God's unconditional love for you. Say good morning to Him...and receive his greeting back.

a strange day

2010-08-31T16:59:00.001-07:00

it was a day full of unexpecteds...meetings, tasks, etc. So, unfortunately, I didn't have the time I expected I would have to work on this site.

hope to remedy that tomorrow!

retreating

2010-08-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

This past week United Life retreated to a vacation home in North Bend located between Mount Si, Rattlesnake Ledge, and Twin Falls State Park for three days. Although we didn't go far geographically (North Bend is only about an hour away from Seattle), spiritually we definitely got somewhere.

Specifically, last week was a great time for us to taste and see what God was all about. Often we act and think like we'll never see God at work. Last week, however, our speakers Abe and Boyoon Gin led us through some real practical (yet simultaneously spiritual...the two are not mutually exclusive) prayer exercises, exercises that challenged us to have faith that God is alive and active and speaking.

Isn't it funny that Christians who profess belief in God actually have a hard time really believing that he is living and active? Granted, there have been many, many examples throughout history of people abusing the possibility of an active voice of God. When I was a child, for a light example, another student pretended to be God's voice telling me they saw me doing something bad and that I should ask forgiveness (kids can be so messed up!). Sadly, worse examples, of course, are bountiful.

But just because bad has been done, doesn't mean the core message isn't true. Followers of Christ need to know that Christ not only believed in a God who was living and active, but Christ promised the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is God present and alive in our world today. And not only believe, but act on this as well.

So this past week we had a lot of really practical and straightforward chances to do this: praying through hurtful experiences from our pasts, confessing, receiving and giving forgiveness to one another, even going through a simple of exercise of picturing our own hearts and asking God to give us a picture of how he wants to heal them. No crazy, emotional fireworks, just the basic work of bringing situations, memories, and feelings to God and asking him to actively speak into them today.

Sometimes our picture of God gets in the way of what he's actually doing and what he's actually like. We need, however, to be open to let him move in the way he wants to, even if he chooses to act in simple, straightforward ways.