Thoughts and Reflections

The Da Vinci Code

2006-04-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been quite a long time since I posted. I was not sure if anyone was really reading this. I have also felt like I have not had anything to really write about over the last month and a half. I was made aware that there might be a few people out there that visit so I decided to start up again.

I have received and been reading The Da Vinci Code. My sister gave it to me as a birthday gift just a couple of weeks ago and I have nearly read the whole thing just this week. It is quite an intriguing book that is difficult to put down. Dan Brown is a talented writer that keeps you wanting to read more. One of his other books, Angels and Demons, is also an exciting thriller. It has not received nearly the same amount of press as Da Vinci, but it is a very exciting read.

I would recommend the book just because it is an interesting piece of fiction. I stress fiction, because that is exactly what it is. However, we should not dismiss the claims it makes about Jesus, the Bible, and orthodox Christianity. I can see how many people could buy into the claims that it makes in such matters. With the movie set to come out on May 19th, more and more people are going to be asking questions about its claims.

I regularly read a blog by Mark Roberts, , and he gave a series on The Da Vinci Code. You can read that series by going here and then clicking on "My Da Vinci Code Series" on the left of the page. I would highly recommend this series to get a grasp of some of the issues that The Da Vinci Code brings up surrounding such things as Jesus' supposed marriage to Mary Magdalene, Gnostic gospels, and a number of other issues.

Church sign increases attendance by 300 percent?

2006-03-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

Our church receives a catalog that has advertisements for such things as buildings, chairs, tables, signs, etc... It claims to help you with the "business" of ministry. There is just something about putting the words "business" and "ministry" together that turns me off. I know that in reality the church has to deal with things like budgets and buildings, it is just not my favorite part of church ministry.

On the back of this catalog is an ad for church signs. Now, I have nothing against church signs, but the Pastor of this particular church claims that their sign is the number one reason for them growing from 200 to 800. This pastor says this,

"To date, we're up over 300 percent. The Robson sign by far is the number one reason."

What about the work of the Holy Spirit? What about the power of the gospel? A sign is what makes a church grow? To me, there is just something wrong with that claim. Having a nice church sign is a fine thing, but lets not give it the credit for the "success" of your church.

Maybe I am being too critical, but I just found the ad interesting.

The Imitation of Christ

2006-03-02T07:04:00.000-08:00

There is a book written by a Catholic monk back in the 1400s by the name of Thomas a Kempis called The Imitation of Christ. I have been aware of this book for some years now and have always had good intentions of reading it, but just never have. I have heard that it is the second most widely read spiritual book after the Bible. So, I have decided to read through and reflect on this classic during this Lenten season.

I simply tell you this to maybe encourage you to do something special during Lent. I will also share from time to time a particular quote from this book. There are many works of classic devotional literature out there that some may not be aware of. I hope this will introduce you to one.

Here is an excerpt that I read this morning that I would like to leave with you.

There is no lesson so profound or so useful as this lesson of self-knowledge and of self-contempt. Claim nothing for yourself, think of others kindly and with admiration; that is the height of wisdom, and its masterpiece. Never think yourself better than the next man, however glaring his faults, however grievous his offences; you are in good dispositions now, but how long will they last? Tell yourself, "We are frail, all of us, but none so frail as I."

Fat Tuesday

2006-02-28T06:24:00.000-08:00

As you may be aware today is what is known as "Fat Tuesday". I have just recently found out that "Mardi Gras" means "Fat Tuesday". If you have followed any news today you have noticed that Mardi Gras is receiving even more press than it usually does because it is the first Mardi Gras after Katrina. I also just learned that "Fat Tuesday" or "Mardi Gras" has Christian origins. Fat Tuesday is the last day before lent. People would use up their fats and other rich foods (hence the name "Fat Tuesday") on this day that they would be giving up for Lent which begins tomorrow, Ash Wednesday.

Although I am a pastor I must confess that I am not very familiar with Lent (growing up I just knew it meant my Catholic friends had to eat fish on Fridays). My church tradition does not seem to stress the Lenten period as much as other traditions, which I think is a shame. It seems to be a great chance for people to reflect on their relationship to Christ. My friend Jason on his blog (www.post-methodist.blogspot.com) is going to be providing some lenten devotional thoughts focused on the Sermon on the Mount. I am looking forward to following his blog during this time (you might want to do the same).

Many people are "living it up" during Mardi Gras, focusing on temporary pleasures. Today, we may be tempted to seek out happiness in the temporary pleasures of this life. In the fleeting moments of "Fat Tuesday", a life of hedonism may seem like the best way to live, but tommorow is Ash Wednesday when we are to reflect on our mortality and realize that temporary pleasures do not truly satisfy the hunger in our souls. Only Jesus satisfies as he said as recorded in John 6:35:

I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

Poverty

2006-02-23T07:41:00.000-08:00

I regularly read a blog by a pastor named Mark Roberts. During the last week or so he has been commenting on this thing called the ONE campaign, which is basically a proposal to get the U.S. government to give one percent of its money to help alleviate poverty around the world. You can read more about the ONE campaign at his web site, www.markdroberts.com.

His thoughts have caused me to think more about what it means to help the poor. I often feel guilty that I do not do enough or sacrifice enough to help the poor. I also think a lot of times that the American church should be sacrificing more to give to those that are in desperate need. What if instead of constantly building new and more elaborate buildings, buying plush chairs or fancy video and audio equipment we used that money to help missionaries that struggle with getting their basic needs met or invest that money in helping the poor? What if we were willing to give up our precious "personal space" so that someone else may be able to eat and survive? I know that many Americans our generous and American churches give a lot of money to causes that help the needy and poor, but could we be doing more?

I do not consider myself to live in luxury, but I do live very comfortably. I wonder if I could give up more. I honestly struggle with this. I do not have the answers and do not know where the balance is. However, I do know that we as individual American Christians do need to critically evaluate the lifestyles we are living. The American church also needs to critically evaluate how it is using its resources. The poor seems to have a special place in God's heart, so they should in ours as well.

My desire in writing this is not to make people feel guilty (however, it may cause some guilt feelings, it does in me), but to remind ourselves to evaluate our priorities and lifestyles.

Poverty is a serious problem. What am I going to do about it?

Jesus- our model in relating to Muslims

2006-02-21T09:01:00.000-08:00

As I posted a few days ago, we had an expert on Islam come share with us this past Sunday. As he told us, he was only able to scratch the service with the few hours that he had to speak to us. Although he was only able to cover some of the basics, he provided some very good insight in to how Christians should relate and view Muslims and the Islamic faith. He challenged us to get rid of the prejudices we may hold that are based on what we see and hear in the media.

One thing that he did that was interesting was to say that Jesus lived and ministered to Muslims. How is that so? Well, it was not Muslims exactly but the Jews of Jesus' day were similar (not a perfect match) to Muslims of today. The Jews of Jesus day focused on externals, the law, were strong monotheists, intertwined religion and politics, and the idea of the trinity would have been mind-blowing to the Jews of that day (the trinity is a difficult concept for Muslims, they see it as being polytheistic, or having more than one god). Interesting parallels, I thought. The way Jesus ministered to such people was through meeting people where they are, telling stories, and giving people time ("converting" Muslims to Christianity is not simply a matter of presenting a nice and neat gospel tract).

He preached a sermon on Romans 10:1-4 that I found interesting. He substituted "Israelites" with "Muslim" in verse 1 so it read like this;

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Muslims is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Through the sermon he told us in relating to Muslims (these can apply to our relationships with all people) we need to be people of integrity by not overstating our case, having humility, and being truthful; taking great pains to be sure our attitudes are correct; and by being a people of prayer.

He also mentioned that Muslims respond very well to visions and dreams. Most American Christians (I am generalizing here, which I admit is not always fair or correct) seem not to respond to receiving visions from God in dreams. Muslims, on the other hand, have a strong belief that God speaks to people in dreams. In fact, I believe he stated that 70-75% of Muslims that have converted to Christianity received some sort of vision or dream (I think that is right).

One of the finally lessons he shared with us was that Muslims need to see Jesus' victory in the lives of Christians. Often we are good at talking the talk about how great it is to know Jesus, but our lives do not reflect that victory. They also need to experience Jesus' power in their own circumstances (dreams, visions, prayer), and then they can appreciate the truth about Jesus.

These are some of the highlights of the sessions that I walked away with. One thing we also need to remember is that not all Muslims are fundamentalists and not all fundamentalists are terrorists. The Islamic faith is just as diverse as the Christian faith. A very small group getting a lot of press can give the whole religion a bad name (I think we have seen this with Christianity as well).

Wheel falling off

2006-02-20T10:24:00.001-08:00

So, I finally took my 1994 Honda Civic into the shop today after about three weeks of it making a terrible grinding noise whenever I turned. I was hoping that by ignoring it that the noise would go away, but of course it did not. So, taking the advice of my fiance, I had it looked at. They told me that basically if I did not get the problem fixed that my wheel could fall off at any moment.

I thought about this in terms of life, how we hope by ignoring problems that they will simply go away. It could be that financial difficulty you find yourself in or that conflict in an important relationship, ignoring the "squeak" hoping it will go away. It may seem small at first, but it gets louder and louder and if the situation is not remedied your "wheels fall off". You may find yourself deeper and deeper in debt or find that the relationship is broken beyond repair. So, if there is a "squeak" or "grind" in your life, do not ignore it, address it before your "wheel falls off". It may be difficult at first (I am not looking forward to paying for the repair) but it in the long run it is worth it.

Islam

2006-02-18T10:04:00.000-08:00

Tommorrow at the church that I work at we are having a special speaker come and share with us on Islam. He is an expert on Islam and a professor at a nearby seminary. Hopefully, this will be a great learning experience for our church and others in the community that decide to come. He will be talking with us on Jesus and Muslims, Ministry to Muslims, and Responding Positively to Muslims.

I know that Islam is a hot topic these days. Christians definetly need to be aware of this growing religion and how to appropriately respond to it. I plan on providing a couple of posts next week on what I learned and maybe some further questions I have.

Giving yourself away

2006-02-16T07:38:00.000-08:00

A small group that I have been participating in has been reading Rob Bell's book, Velvet Elvis. Last night we discussed the final chapter. He makes this statement in the book that I have been thinking about:

"I am learning that the church is at its best when it gives itself away."

I have been wondering if the church asked people to give themselves away and told them they will most definitely not get anything in return what the response would be. Is the church called to simply give of itself without the agenda of converting people, making more money, or even making better followers of Jesus because we are called to love and serve?

Giving yourself away without expecting anything in return. Giving to the church without the expectation that the church will "feed" you in some way.

I am seeing many churches and many people that are giving themselves away without expecting anything in return and I am encouraged and challenged by them. I am optimistic about the church and its service to this world. I think most Christians are good people and genuine care about others. So, lets continue to be the church and be willing to give ourselves away without expecting anything in return.

Thoughts on Praying Together

2006-02-15T06:47:00.000-08:00

I struggle with prayer. It is true, even as a pastor, my prayer life is not always strong and abundant. It is hard work for me. Sitting still in silence and focused prayer is not something that I am naturally good at. I get fidgetty, my mind wanders, and I forget what exactly it was that I was praying about. I start thinking about what I am going to do later that day or what I am going to eat... There has also been times in my life that I have wondered if praying really makes a difference.

The senior minister and I where I serve as an associate decided to set aside one day a week this year to spend in corporate prayer. Tuesdays have become that designated day. We have set aside several times during the day in which people can come out to the church building and spend time together in corporate prayer. We start at 6 a.m. and our final session is at 8 p.m. We always begin each time with some Scripture reading, usually a praise Psalm, and voice prayers of thanksgiving and praise. We then move on to praying about a few specific areas in the life of the church and the community. Our desire has been that we move beyond praying about illness (which is not necessarily a bad thing to pray about) to praying about such things as the spread of God's kingdom and people hearing and receiving the gospel of Christ.

One thing that I have discovered about praying corporately is that my personal prayer life has improved as well. Sure, I still get fidgetty at times and lose concentration, but corporate prayer has helped me move beyond myself, out of my own world and concerns. I feel more connected to my brothers and sisters in Christ and are confident that others our praying for the same things that I am, things that I believe are God honoring.

It is good to pray together. If you are struggling with your personal prayer life, one thing that may help is to be active in praying with a small group of people. I know it may seem awkward at first and I know many people are uncomfortable praying out loud, but give it a chance.

And, by the way, it does make a difference.

Reflections on Love

2006-02-14T05:18:00.000-08:00

Well, today is that day- the day of Romance, Valentine's Day. We have set aside this day to celebrate this thing called love. I have been thinking a lot about love lately. It is probably do to the fact that I am preparing for marriage in a few months and have been considering what it means and what it looks like to be a husband that loves and cares for his dear wife. I have known and have been taught for some time that a marriage cannot survive on romantic love alone. That a marriage must be based on more than emotions because your "loving" feelings will come and go and there will be times when you do not "feel" like you are in love. I am most definitely in agreement with this. The type of love that a marriage must be based on is one of commitment, covenant, service, sacrifice, and must be "for better or for worse." I do believe that the highest type of love is one of charity, sacrifice, and service, or agape.

I do not think that marriage and a love relationship was ever intended to be a drudge. God seems to have given man with this intense desire for romance. Just because romantic feelings sometimes lead people to do unwise things, does that mean it is always wrong? All the good gifts of God can be and are abused, but that does not mean that they are inherently wrong. Romantic love is a gift from God and is a beautiful thing when understood and used within the paramenters that God has set. Read the book of Song of Solomon (or Songs) and you will see many expressions of romantic love shared between two lovers. When romance is shared in a commited relationship that is grounded in covenantal, sacrificial love, it is a wonderful thing.

My encouragement to anyone who may be reading this who is in a love relationship, particularly husbands and wives, is to celebrate romantic love today. Sure, you may think that I am simply young and naive and do not know about the realities of marriage (which may be true), but I pray that God keeps me naive if it means the ability to celebrate and express romantic love.

Does romance have to disappear? I hope not.

Blogging Pastors

2006-02-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

I have been turned on to the world of blogs. I am a reluctant blogger for many reasons, but I have noticed that many pastors are using blogs as a place to communicate and develop ideas, offer words of advice and encouragement, and raise good questions. I know that blogs have been around for a few years now, but it is just recently that they have gained my attention. A friend of mine, a United Methodist pastor, has just recently started a blog (you should check out his at http://www.post-methodist.blogspot.com) which increased my interest in the world of blogs. For a long time I thought the only pastors that blogged were those that are young, hip, trendy, and "emerging". I may be young, but I do not consider myself hip or trendy and do not know if I am "emerging". What I have discovered is that many seasoned and thoughtful pastors are blogging as well. Many of the blogs that I have started to visit regularly have been encouraging and thought provoking.

So, I have decided to become a blogging pastor myself. I do not know what is going to come of this or if anyone will be interested in reading what I have to say. My goal is to offer some thoughts and reflections on life and various issues that may be helpful and encouraging to those that visit this site. I will also share from time to time my own struggles, pains, and failures (as appropriate) and also share with you my successes and joys. By maintaining a blog I also hope to enhance my own creative thinking, communication, and writing skills.

Initially, I hope this blog will be most beneficial to those people at New Horizon Christian Church where I serve as Associate Pastor. It has been great getting to know, serve with, and minister to you these last 5-6 months. It is my desire that this blog will be another opportunity for me to communicate with you.

I am excited and also a little unsure about this new endeavor-that of being a blogging pastor. I hope that you are patient with me as I learn how to best share my ideas and thoughts through this medium. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read what I have to say. I would also invite anyone that has comments to post them. However, I would ask that everyone be gracious and loving in whatever they have to say. If you do not wish to leave comments, that is fine too, feel free to simply read. I pray God's blessing and peace to all of you out there in the blogosphere.