Click on this link to see what World Vision is doing to rescue street children in Cambodia.
Weekend Wanderings
One of the interesting things about having church on your back porch is watching neighbors a few doors down getting into a loud shouting match in their front yard. Someone called the sheriff and two cars came. It was quite entertaining. The school year ended on Thursday, and the summer has officially begun. I’m driving a shuttle bus for a local camp every morning and evening, and will be busy with summer basketball this month. It will be a nice change of pace and should keep me busy enough to stay out of trouble.
Here are the links:
Glenn Hager on shame.
Isn’t it part of a parent’s job to embarrass their children?
Arthur Sido wonders about raising our children.
Chaplain Mike on the Ascension.
Check this out (HT: iMonk).
A good post from Adam McHugh.
Alan Knox with a lesson from carpentry.
Ronnie McBrayer on eating.
Choices (HT: Scot McKnight).
What about the coming generations?
Have a great week!
World Vision Wednesday
In many parts of the world, women dying during childbirth is a common occurrence. In the Philippines, one woman overcame the odds and is now fighting maternal deaths. Read her story here.
Weekend Wanderings
The school year is winding down. We have four days left, and then the summer break will begin. I don’t know who is looking forward to summer more, the students or the teachers.
On to the links:
Pam Hogeweide on asking questions.
Ethan Bryan on play.
Alan Knox on serving without programs.
Arthur Sido on ministry.
Have a great weekend!
As It Turns Out, Love Does Win
No, this isn’t a post about the recent book that has some corners of the blogoverse all a-Twitter. Sunday morning, we were talking about following Jesus in 21st Century and how to convey the idea of Christ as King and Lord to a culture that knows nothing about kings and masters. We live in a country where we elect our leaders, and we can vote them out if we don’t like the way they lead us. How do we talk about a ruler to people who cherish democracy and hate being told what to do?
As I thought about this question, I realized that a possible answer lies in the type of kingdom Jesus established. Jesus came in the midst of a world that had much experience with kings. Kings who established their kingdoms by overthrowing others. Kings who ruled by force and fear. Jesus came to inaugurate a kingdom based on love, a kingdom begun by a king who submitted to a cruel execution at the hands of the Roman empire. Jesus kingdom later turned that empire upside down. By love.
When you think about it, our world really isn’t that much different than the Roman world in the first century. We elect our leaders, but how many of us obey the laws of our land because we love them. For the most part, people obey the law because they don’t want to face the consequences of breaking that law. Just notice all the brakelights that come on when drivers on the highway see a state trooper on the side. Most people live lives full of fear. They fear the opinion of others. They fear the future. They fear being seen as they really are. There is force as well. The force of public opinion, the force of things that control us, the force of religion dictating how they live their lives.
As the early Christians did, we have a message that can free folks from their chains of fear and force. We are part of a kingdom, economy, world, family (whatever you want to call it), in which love rules. The reason we are in this is the love of Christ for us. Because Jesus loves us, we love. We love the Father, and we love his children. We also love those around us. We do what we do because of love. It is love that shows the world around us that we belong to Jesus, not the force of our moral or theological arguments. It is love that makes us different, not a set of behavioral rules. It is love that takes us to serve the least of these rather than expect them to come to us. It is love that lets us forgive when everyone else says we should get our revenge. It is love that allows us to lay down our lives for others when the world tells us to look out for number one. Love is the foundation of Christ’s kingdom, and it is by love that his kingdom will conquer.
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)
World Vision Wednesday
After the historic vote for independence in South Sudan, many refugees returned to their homeland looking forward to freedom. Instead, they have become part of a humanitarian crisis. Many are homeless, unemployed, and sick. Read this to find out what World Vision is doing to help.
Weekend Wanderings
It’s starting to get warmer here in the sunny South. In a couple weeks, school will be out and the easy, breezy days of summer will begin for some. Others will just have to deal with the heat. It’s been a good week, although it didn’t end the way some thought it would. Maybe folks will finally be convinced that Jesus meant what he said in Matthew 24:36.
On to the good stuff, since we’re still around to enjoy it:
Dan Edelen says farewell.
Don Miller on partnering with God.
Chaplain Mike talks eschatology.
Lynne Hybels says that love wins (HT: Scot McKnight).
John Armstrong on thinking.
Musicians on their favorite Bob Dylan songs (HT: iMonk).
Arthur Sido says that Sunday is just the start.
Wayward Son wonders what we do now.
Have a great week!
Church: First Century and Twenty-first Century Part 2
On Tuesday, we looked at the first two things to which the church in Acts 2 was devoted. To sum up, the early believers were committed to Jesus Christ and to each other. Today, I want to discuss the other two things that had the church’s devotion.
The Christians in the first days of the Church were devoted to the breaking of bread, according to Acts 2. Breaking bread meant something far greater than taking communion together, especially the way it is done in many churches today. I believe that this goes along with fellowship. In those times, to break bread with someone meant to share a meal with them. Sharing a meal meant that person was accepted as an equal, as someone who was valued. When the Apostle Paul gives his instructions concerning the Lord’s Supper, he is talking about more than just passing a few crackers and cups of grape juice around. The early church met together for meals, and it seems that “communion” was a part of those meals (Someone who has more knowledge than I do can feel free to correct me). Table fellowship is an important part of living life together. It is around the table that conversation flows, and folks get to know each other. It is around the table that the relationships so vital to the body are formed and strengthened.
The last focus of the church was prayer. When the early church prayed in Acts 4, the place where they were was shaken. Their prayers shook buildings and empires. Today, we have reduced corporate prayer to something that happens on one night of the week or when there is an emergency situation. I wonder if one of the reasons we don’t pray as a church is because we don’t know each other. If we aren’t devoted to the life together, we aren’t going to feel comfortable letting each other know what our real needs are. So, our times of prayer as a body can tend to be very shallow. Our personal prayers for each other can also become flat, if we aren’t able to be open and honest with each other. Prayer may be the single biggest thing missing in churches today. I think that lack may be tied to the lack of devotion to Christ and to each other.
A great deal of negative rumors were spread about the first Christians, but the one statement that no one could deny was, “Behold, how these Christians love one another.” I pray that statement once again becomes the truest thing that people can say about us.
World Vision Wednesday
The recent storms in Alabama left a wake of devastation not seen in decades. Many lives were lost, and large numbers of those who survived lost everything. World Vision is in Alabama, serving those touched by this tragedy. Read this to find out more.
Church: First Century and Twenty-first Century
In Acts 2, Luke gives us an account of the first days of the early Church. Verses 42-47 describe what the earliest believers did as a group:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
I don’t believe that the accounts of the practices of the first century churches are prescriptive. Many of the things they did would not fit in another time or another culture. However, I do believe that the attitudes that the first Christians had, and the actions driven by those attitudes, are necessary for any group to be vital and show Christ to a watching world. This is especially true in smaller fellowships where it is not easy to get lost in the crowd.
Notice verse 42. The early followers of Jesus were devoted to four things. We’ll talk about the first two in this post, and the next two in another post. The first was the teaching of the apostles about Jesus Christ. They were committed to learning how to follow this Lord from the ones who had spent three years as his disciples. They weren’t learning how to be a better ____________________. Somehow in the last 2000 years, we have drifted away from that original teaching and replaced it any number of teachings that could easily pass for motivational lectures, or sermons that betray the speaker’s desire to control the lives of his listeners.
The second thing they were committed to was fellowship, or as The Message puts it, “the life together.” Again, we have drifted away from the original. Fellowship now means a covered dish supper or some other type of special event where church members get together. To the early church, fellowship carried the idea of living life together, of being involved in one another’s lives, of having an intimate relationship with their brothers and sisters and fellow members of the Body. There was a bond that they were committed to.
You could say that the first century Christians were devoted to Jesus Christ and to each other. In a later post, we’ll look further at the devotion of our spiritual forerunners.