Here's some random stuff I thought I'd link today. Not much in the way of Christmas/Advent info, but oh well. I guess, in the spirit of Christmas, I'll at least try to make them sound like they fit the season:
*My mom has become a seasoned blogger, for which I'm quite proud of her (especially because hers looks a lot cooler than mine). Recently she blogged about materialism and what matters most. If you don't see the connection between that and this season, I don't even know what to say...
*Unfortunately, my mom isn't the only person to pick up blogging. I guess they'll let anybody get on and start spouting a deadly mixture of arrogance and ignorance, because Tom Delay has started blogging. Just like Christmas in America, Delay is a great example of Christian tradition with Christ sucked out of it.
*Pat Robertson is the antichrist. Or at least an antichrist, depending on your method of reading scripture.
*The Barna group just realeased their 12 Most Significant Religious Findings of 2006.
*NPR's This I Believe series is always a great listen. A couple days ago, though, I heard the best one yet. Listen to Richard Rohr and be happy there's somebody like this getting at least a couple of minutes of air time.
*A better Transformers trailer! That's all I wanted for Christmas!
*Miroslav Volf recently wrote a great article for the Christian Century on forgiveness. A must read.
I feel like I could add links forever, but I'll stop now. I don't know if I'll be blogging much in the next 10 days, so if I don't see you, have a great Christmas and thanks for stopping by.
Matt
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Some Christmas Thoughts from Isaiah 42
This weekend I am sharing very briefly on Isaiah 42 at a church service. They are making me write out exactly what I am saying, so I thought it'd be fun to publish it here beforehand to see what you thought of it:
The following is from the 42nd chapter of the book of Isaiah:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight.
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets…
I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles.”
We live in a world of noise.
And holidays can be the worst.
At large Christmas parties, you can typically find me hiding in the corner.
It’s just too loud. There’s too much action going on.
And the only way to be heard is to be loudest.
It’s similar to the way our world works.
To be heard in our world you need to be loud or powerful.
And although they didn’t have the noise of cell phones, cars, pagers, e-mail, YouTube, landlines, iPods, airplanes, car stereos, home stereos, television and instant messenger, the people of the ancient world were still busy.
There was still the noise of neighbors, workers, travelers, and animals.
There was still a lot to do and little time to do it in.
And just like us, the only way to be heard over the noise was to be loud, or to have power.
But in this season, as Isaiah reminds us, we worship a God who does not use noise, nor power, at least not in the way we understand power. And yet he changes the world.
He is referred to as a servant who does not cry out or raise his voice… This is Jesus.
In a backwoods town, in a forgotten Roman territory, a powerless baby is born to poor, common peasants.
Surely the God of the universe would incarnate himself as the next Caesar!
Surely he would show up with heavenly music cranked so everybody notices!
But he doesn’t.
The birth of Jesus is quiet and everyday. It is momentous for a few people, but unnoticed by most.
And this is how Jesus’ ministry works as well. It is subtle, disguised as the commonplace, and easily missed by those looking for something loud and powerful.
After all, what did people see in Jesus as an adult? A man who preached in the countryside to peasants. A poor, homeless man. A man who was neither a zealot nor loyal to Rome. A man who performed outrageous miracles and then said, “Don’t tell anybody about this.” A man who died at the hands of the powerful.
In the meantime, Rome continues to take over the world; Caesar conquers and kills, progressively dominating the world, all the while claiming to be God.
In Isaiah’s time, it was Babylon.
It seems there is always another loud, powerful person or group of people in the world. They make all the noise. They have all the strength.
But on Christmas we remember a quiet, powerless infant and recognize that he really is “a light for the Gentiles.”
After all, Rome is no more. Babylon is long forgotten.
But the Jesus movement is spreading like wild fire.
It’s spreading through South America and Africa so fast that most scholars believe these areas will soon be the new centers of Christianity!
In New Zealand and Australia, people are rediscovering what it looks like to live for and worship God!
Meanwhile the bamboo curtain continues to rise from China, revealing a church that is not afraid of the powerful rulers who can take their lives, but never their hope, and we see a church that thrives under persecution!
In the Middle East, in a world torn apart, Christians continue to meet and pray and love their neighbors, despite the fact that most have no voice or power!
In North America and Europe, people are asking tough questions and reremembering this man named Jesus and the life he has called us to! The church is going through a rebirth right here in our own country!
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has reached and continues to move forward even right here in Whatcom County changing lives, families, institutions and power structures.
Not bad for something that begins with a quiet, powerless infant in a forgotten town, in the middle of nowhere, with nobody parents.
Of course, it actually begins with a prophet, speaking hope to an exiled people.
And of course we really know that it begins with God, whose creative love found yet another way to express itself; in the form of a child.
Peace,
Matt
The following is from the 42nd chapter of the book of Isaiah:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight.
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets…
I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles.”
We live in a world of noise.
And holidays can be the worst.
At large Christmas parties, you can typically find me hiding in the corner.
It’s just too loud. There’s too much action going on.
And the only way to be heard is to be loudest.
It’s similar to the way our world works.
To be heard in our world you need to be loud or powerful.
And although they didn’t have the noise of cell phones, cars, pagers, e-mail, YouTube, landlines, iPods, airplanes, car stereos, home stereos, television and instant messenger, the people of the ancient world were still busy.
There was still the noise of neighbors, workers, travelers, and animals.
There was still a lot to do and little time to do it in.
And just like us, the only way to be heard over the noise was to be loud, or to have power.
But in this season, as Isaiah reminds us, we worship a God who does not use noise, nor power, at least not in the way we understand power. And yet he changes the world.
He is referred to as a servant who does not cry out or raise his voice… This is Jesus.
In a backwoods town, in a forgotten Roman territory, a powerless baby is born to poor, common peasants.
Surely the God of the universe would incarnate himself as the next Caesar!
Surely he would show up with heavenly music cranked so everybody notices!
But he doesn’t.
The birth of Jesus is quiet and everyday. It is momentous for a few people, but unnoticed by most.
And this is how Jesus’ ministry works as well. It is subtle, disguised as the commonplace, and easily missed by those looking for something loud and powerful.
After all, what did people see in Jesus as an adult? A man who preached in the countryside to peasants. A poor, homeless man. A man who was neither a zealot nor loyal to Rome. A man who performed outrageous miracles and then said, “Don’t tell anybody about this.” A man who died at the hands of the powerful.
In the meantime, Rome continues to take over the world; Caesar conquers and kills, progressively dominating the world, all the while claiming to be God.
In Isaiah’s time, it was Babylon.
It seems there is always another loud, powerful person or group of people in the world. They make all the noise. They have all the strength.
But on Christmas we remember a quiet, powerless infant and recognize that he really is “a light for the Gentiles.”
After all, Rome is no more. Babylon is long forgotten.
But the Jesus movement is spreading like wild fire.
It’s spreading through South America and Africa so fast that most scholars believe these areas will soon be the new centers of Christianity!
In New Zealand and Australia, people are rediscovering what it looks like to live for and worship God!
Meanwhile the bamboo curtain continues to rise from China, revealing a church that is not afraid of the powerful rulers who can take their lives, but never their hope, and we see a church that thrives under persecution!
In the Middle East, in a world torn apart, Christians continue to meet and pray and love their neighbors, despite the fact that most have no voice or power!
In North America and Europe, people are asking tough questions and reremembering this man named Jesus and the life he has called us to! The church is going through a rebirth right here in our own country!
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has reached and continues to move forward even right here in Whatcom County changing lives, families, institutions and power structures.
Not bad for something that begins with a quiet, powerless infant in a forgotten town, in the middle of nowhere, with nobody parents.
Of course, it actually begins with a prophet, speaking hope to an exiled people.
And of course we really know that it begins with God, whose creative love found yet another way to express itself; in the form of a child.
Peace,
Matt
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Somalia
We seem to have forgotten this country that dominated our news a decade ago. Apparently they think God has as well, and with all that is happening to them and will probably continue to effect them for the next year, I can't blame them. Drowning, eaten alive, losing homes to floods, starvation, cold nights, malaria, war, instability, and the obvious fact that they have been forgotten by the world... What do we do, as followers of Christ, in the midst of hearbreaking, catastrophic amounts of death and pain everywhere? We cannot fix everything, so I guess the better question is, how do we remain faithful in the face of continual humanitarian crises' that rarely even make our evening news, let alone anybody's daily conversations?
Peace,
Matt
Peace,
Matt
Mega Church Ecclesiology
To be honest, I know nothing (yet) about this person or their blog, but I borrowed the link from Jordan Cooper and really enjoyed these questions concerning mega churches and their ecclesiology. Of course, the biggest problem typically seems to be that large churches don't really think theologically at all... Oops, did I say that out loud?
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: The Man Called Cash by Steven Turner. Funny how different a biography is from an autobiography. I love Cash, but apparently he had some memory lapses over certain details of his life in his autobiographies. Dan Allender once said that autobiography is the same as fiction, and I would have to agree. Billy Graham's autobiography would be included in that category as well, in my opinion.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: The Man Called Cash by Steven Turner. Funny how different a biography is from an autobiography. I love Cash, but apparently he had some memory lapses over certain details of his life in his autobiographies. Dan Allender once said that autobiography is the same as fiction, and I would have to agree. Billy Graham's autobiography would be included in that category as well, in my opinion.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Being Manly in the Church
As much as I keep hoping the Church will either move on or find better answers to its questions, the search for true Christian manliness has popped-up again. And it has the same stupid answers again. Wild at Heart seems to have either disappeared, or at least lost a lot of its steam. And though Mark Driscoll's church is growing with its blatantly male-centered, "we're 1,000 years behind the times" attitude, people seem to be realizing the truth behind his postmodern fundamentalism.
But apparently Nashville and Brad Stine have something (not) new to offer for the macho Christian male. You can read all about it in this LA Times article. These men have discovered a truth that I wholeheartedly agree with: Jesus was no sissy. Of course, they take it to a different place than I would. Apparently, Jesus' non-sissiness means he would have swore a lot, bossed women around, watched football, and basically be a stereotypical American male. I guess he'd go hunting and fight in the military also...
Of course this is just another attempt to make Jesus look more like us: specifically Americans in the 21st century. Jesus was brave and wild. But he was brave and wild for the kingdom's sake, not to have fun, fulfill his testosterone-driven desires, or to look tough for his friends. The bravest thing to do is to be meek when you have the power to do otherwise. A real tough guy takes up his cross and follows Messiah to the foot of Calvary, choosing the way of Jesus over the way of Barabbas. Or, to put it in John Howard Yoder's words, "Jesus rejected the way of Barabbas, not because he was a revolutionary, but because he wasn't revolutionary enough." In the same way, I reject the way American Christian manliness, not because it is all about being tough and brave, but because it is neither tough enough, nor brave enough to equal what it means to follow Christ.
Peace,
Matt
But apparently Nashville and Brad Stine have something (not) new to offer for the macho Christian male. You can read all about it in this LA Times article. These men have discovered a truth that I wholeheartedly agree with: Jesus was no sissy. Of course, they take it to a different place than I would. Apparently, Jesus' non-sissiness means he would have swore a lot, bossed women around, watched football, and basically be a stereotypical American male. I guess he'd go hunting and fight in the military also...
Of course this is just another attempt to make Jesus look more like us: specifically Americans in the 21st century. Jesus was brave and wild. But he was brave and wild for the kingdom's sake, not to have fun, fulfill his testosterone-driven desires, or to look tough for his friends. The bravest thing to do is to be meek when you have the power to do otherwise. A real tough guy takes up his cross and follows Messiah to the foot of Calvary, choosing the way of Jesus over the way of Barabbas. Or, to put it in John Howard Yoder's words, "Jesus rejected the way of Barabbas, not because he was a revolutionary, but because he wasn't revolutionary enough." In the same way, I reject the way American Christian manliness, not because it is all about being tough and brave, but because it is neither tough enough, nor brave enough to equal what it means to follow Christ.
Peace,
Matt
National Youth Workers Convention: More to come...
This is my note to self to post some more on the NYWC: bare minimum, I plan to at least blog about Tony Jones and Shane Claiborne, as their sessions were very helpful/thought-provoking.
I've been much more intentional about this blog lately, though I'm not sure if many people are looking at it these days. I guess one of the things I've learned is that that just isn't as important. What is important for me is to get some thoughts out of my head and to use this as some sort of spiritual/mental discipline. It keeps me going in a lot of ways.
This morning I have added even more links. They are everywhere. Check 'em out! There's some good stuff over on the right side!
Peace,
Matt
I've been much more intentional about this blog lately, though I'm not sure if many people are looking at it these days. I guess one of the things I've learned is that that just isn't as important. What is important for me is to get some thoughts out of my head and to use this as some sort of spiritual/mental discipline. It keeps me going in a lot of ways.
This morning I have added even more links. They are everywhere. Check 'em out! There's some good stuff over on the right side!
Peace,
Matt
Sunday, December 10, 2006
This Year's Nobel Prize
In case you didn't see it for yourself, a Nobel Prize was just given to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen bank. They have been giving out small loans to people who are too poor to prove that they can pay it back or put anything down in case they don't. Yunus had a lot to say about the East/West divide, terrorism, poverty, and how they are all linked. And I think he's right. There are some big issues in there concerning power and wealth. But I guess it's easier to just divide everything into us/them, good/bad, since that provokes a lot less guilt within us. All I know is that while rich Christians in the West work to kill off more and more poor muslims, some muslims in the East are taking big risks in the name of helping the poor and disenfranchised. Hmm...
Peace,
Matt
Peace,
Matt
Friday, December 08, 2006
National Youth Workers Convention: Tony Campolo
Tony actually spoke twice at the convention, but I only was able to see him once. His second message was titled Becoming Red Letter Christians, and I bought the CD's, which I plan to listen to very soon. I think it will be great to listen to these, though I'm pretty sure what he's going to say. And honestly, I know I'll probably just agree with it. But onto the message I did hear.
Campolo spoke for one of the general sessions, which means this: he stood up in front of thousands of Southerners and, to summarize in my own words, "what part of love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you do you not understand?" He talked about the way we treat homosexuals, our support of Middle East domination, and torture and how all of these things are contrary to the teachings of our faith.
What I especially appreciated was a few words he brought up about situational ethics. You know the questions: if somebody is about to ________ (something horrendous), and you can stop them by killing them, isn't it the Christian thing to do? Campolo was blunt as he crushed this kind of thinking down, asking us how our faith has gotten so far off track that we can start entertaining questions of situational ethics rather than simply listening to and following Jesus. Oh, I just wanted to make everybody in my entire church listen to it! Tony Campolo really is a prophet speaking to a people who have moved away from the God they claim to follow.
More than learning anything as far as information is concerned, I learned from Campolo that I can be bold about what I know God desires for myself and his American followers. We are so far off track, and I for one do very little about it when it comes to my preaching and teaching, because quite honestly I'm usually too afraid. That is BS. I keep losing my male students to the military and I somehow think that being "subversive" and trying to give them different dots that lead up to a correct answer will work, but it never does. Yesterday there were people literally outside my office door singing "God Bless America" and I just keep working at a place where the idolatrous cocktail of worshipping God and Empire together is stirred and drank to the dregs on a daily basis. Enough. There is another way, and I realize that I have to follow.
Peace,
Matt
One quote from Campolo: "Maybe we should start getting our eschatology from Jesus rather than Tim Lahaye."
Reading: I'm way into The Other Journal, which I've added a link to. Check it out!
Campolo spoke for one of the general sessions, which means this: he stood up in front of thousands of Southerners and, to summarize in my own words, "what part of love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you do you not understand?" He talked about the way we treat homosexuals, our support of Middle East domination, and torture and how all of these things are contrary to the teachings of our faith.
What I especially appreciated was a few words he brought up about situational ethics. You know the questions: if somebody is about to ________ (something horrendous), and you can stop them by killing them, isn't it the Christian thing to do? Campolo was blunt as he crushed this kind of thinking down, asking us how our faith has gotten so far off track that we can start entertaining questions of situational ethics rather than simply listening to and following Jesus. Oh, I just wanted to make everybody in my entire church listen to it! Tony Campolo really is a prophet speaking to a people who have moved away from the God they claim to follow.
More than learning anything as far as information is concerned, I learned from Campolo that I can be bold about what I know God desires for myself and his American followers. We are so far off track, and I for one do very little about it when it comes to my preaching and teaching, because quite honestly I'm usually too afraid. That is BS. I keep losing my male students to the military and I somehow think that being "subversive" and trying to give them different dots that lead up to a correct answer will work, but it never does. Yesterday there were people literally outside my office door singing "God Bless America" and I just keep working at a place where the idolatrous cocktail of worshipping God and Empire together is stirred and drank to the dregs on a daily basis. Enough. There is another way, and I realize that I have to follow.
Peace,
Matt
One quote from Campolo: "Maybe we should start getting our eschatology from Jesus rather than Tim Lahaye."
Reading: I'm way into The Other Journal, which I've added a link to. Check it out!
Thursday, December 07, 2006
National Youth Workers Convention: Kenda Creasy Dean
This is the first of (I hope) a few posts reflecting on my time at Youth Specialties' National Youth Workers Convention in Charlotte, NC. I haven't had the time to sit down and organize my thoughts, but knowing the way things work for me, that may never happen. So at least now I'll be able to say something, and in the process be forced to at least reflect a little bit.
I heard Kenda speak twice during the week, but want to mainly focus on just one of those, as it was much more specific and challenging. She presented some of the results of a long study that was done on teens and can be found in the book Soul Searching. More importantly, she presented her own conclusions that she came to after examining the research: while most teens believe in a "God" of some sort, the "religion" they practice can best be summarized as moralistic therapeutic deism. This deity wants them to be good people, be happy, be nice to others, and will provide heavenly residence to all of these nice people. Although Dean didn't say it, my experience with young people (and most people in general) is that this admission includes everybody except some barbaric dictators from the past and certain terrorists living in certain regions of our world today. Other than that, everyone is in. But after talking about this trend in youth religious beliefs for a little while, Dean hit us hard...
Our youth practice MTD because that's what we teach them in the church! Ouch! We present a version of God that is general, that is not offensive, that is blatantly American, that tones down the Biblical narrative and/or skips that tough stuff (you know, like selling all your possessions, dying for our faith, pacifism, etc). That's rough. Especially because it's true. Even for a self-righteous guy like myself, I had to admit that that has been me on too many occassions. But she wasn't done dishing out the pain yet...
The reason, says Dean, that we teach students MTD is because we do not want them to really practice the faith. What?! Why wouldn't we want them to practice the Christian faith? This is where it hurts folks: because if they really started living into and out of a deep-seated faith in YHWH, it would be an indictment on the American church and how we live and move and find our being. We don't want them to live it out because we practice moralistic therapeutic deism and don't want to be called out into true faith. That sucks. And it sucks because it's true. And it sucks because there were more speakers to come who only made this stick out to me even more. But for that, you'll have to wait.
So what does this mean for the way I live and teach? A lot. But it's all very scary.
Two sidenotes from Dean at the convention: first of all, she talked about Nothing But Nets. I have added a link on this page (I've actually been adding a bunch of new links lately, so check them out!) and you should look into it because it is great and I am already looking into some crazy fund-raising ideas to do for it (outside the church, of course). Some friends and I were even allowed to sit in on some focus groups put on by Princeton/the UN to help think about how youth ministries can partner in all of this. Secondly, my friends and I disagreed about who said this because I thought Dean had, and they didn't, but somebody at the conference (maybe Tony Campolo?) mentioned the Biblical challenge to pray for our enemies and how they had gathered to pray for specific terrorists. How cool is that?! Oh boy, I am gonna get into some big trouble soon!!!
Peace,
Matt
Books: I have been reading... I read Heschel's The Prophets, along with The River Why by David James Duncan. It wasn't quite as good as The Brothers K, which is my second favorite book of all time, but it was still a great read. I also read Shaine Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution, which was profoundly life-changing and will get it's own blog post, along with comments about his discussion time at the convention, very soon. Also, this morning I finished Martin Luther King's book Why We Can't Wait. What can I say, except that I feel cheated every time I think of his untimely death. And I highly doubt George W. would have honored him like he recently did, if King were still alive. Lastly, right now I am reading Jurgen Moltmann's God in Creation, which will likely take a long time, because it is rich, thick, profound, and challenging.
I heard Kenda speak twice during the week, but want to mainly focus on just one of those, as it was much more specific and challenging. She presented some of the results of a long study that was done on teens and can be found in the book Soul Searching. More importantly, she presented her own conclusions that she came to after examining the research: while most teens believe in a "God" of some sort, the "religion" they practice can best be summarized as moralistic therapeutic deism. This deity wants them to be good people, be happy, be nice to others, and will provide heavenly residence to all of these nice people. Although Dean didn't say it, my experience with young people (and most people in general) is that this admission includes everybody except some barbaric dictators from the past and certain terrorists living in certain regions of our world today. Other than that, everyone is in. But after talking about this trend in youth religious beliefs for a little while, Dean hit us hard...
Our youth practice MTD because that's what we teach them in the church! Ouch! We present a version of God that is general, that is not offensive, that is blatantly American, that tones down the Biblical narrative and/or skips that tough stuff (you know, like selling all your possessions, dying for our faith, pacifism, etc). That's rough. Especially because it's true. Even for a self-righteous guy like myself, I had to admit that that has been me on too many occassions. But she wasn't done dishing out the pain yet...
The reason, says Dean, that we teach students MTD is because we do not want them to really practice the faith. What?! Why wouldn't we want them to practice the Christian faith? This is where it hurts folks: because if they really started living into and out of a deep-seated faith in YHWH, it would be an indictment on the American church and how we live and move and find our being. We don't want them to live it out because we practice moralistic therapeutic deism and don't want to be called out into true faith. That sucks. And it sucks because it's true. And it sucks because there were more speakers to come who only made this stick out to me even more. But for that, you'll have to wait.
So what does this mean for the way I live and teach? A lot. But it's all very scary.
Two sidenotes from Dean at the convention: first of all, she talked about Nothing But Nets. I have added a link on this page (I've actually been adding a bunch of new links lately, so check them out!) and you should look into it because it is great and I am already looking into some crazy fund-raising ideas to do for it (outside the church, of course). Some friends and I were even allowed to sit in on some focus groups put on by Princeton/the UN to help think about how youth ministries can partner in all of this. Secondly, my friends and I disagreed about who said this because I thought Dean had, and they didn't, but somebody at the conference (maybe Tony Campolo?) mentioned the Biblical challenge to pray for our enemies and how they had gathered to pray for specific terrorists. How cool is that?! Oh boy, I am gonna get into some big trouble soon!!!
Peace,
Matt
Books: I have been reading... I read Heschel's The Prophets, along with The River Why by David James Duncan. It wasn't quite as good as The Brothers K, which is my second favorite book of all time, but it was still a great read. I also read Shaine Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution, which was profoundly life-changing and will get it's own blog post, along with comments about his discussion time at the convention, very soon. Also, this morning I finished Martin Luther King's book Why We Can't Wait. What can I say, except that I feel cheated every time I think of his untimely death. And I highly doubt George W. would have honored him like he recently did, if King were still alive. Lastly, right now I am reading Jurgen Moltmann's God in Creation, which will likely take a long time, because it is rich, thick, profound, and challenging.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Matt is Back!
I'm back from the YS conference in North Carolina. I want to blog a little bit about it, but until then I thought I'd at least add this little link, explaining why Mars Hill Church in Seattle is a fundamentalist church, not in fact an emerging church. 'Bout time somebody said it.
Peace,
Matt
Peace,
Matt
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