Are you broken?

Because, beloved, we are born into a broken world. And it will not let us pass through without being broken along the way.

So we are left with the decision to take up and bear the cross we are offered, or to let it fall on us and pin us down. We can bear it's weight; wrap our arms around it and embrace what has been designed by the world to kill us. Funny how the very thing God will work redemption through feels like the only thing we don't think we can survive. Well, that might be the point. Some part of us--the awful, hurtful, demon- in-training inside of us--isn't supposed to survive.

So, my dear, have you been broken? Does it hurt like hell? Are you going to hold onto it, stroke it and love it; find your identity in it as it consumes you? Or are you going to let Him heal you? Cause here's something else to chew on: our cross isn't our final destination. Our place of brokenness isn't our final destination. It wasn't His either. He promised to finish what he started.

Just have to do it.

If you aren't reading Stuff Christians Like start now. HI-larious. And Smart. And true. And funny. I dig the side-hug tee's and will admit I scored an 86 on his Surviving Church as a Single Scorecard. Yes. 86.

Traveling Music

I rarely feel as close to God as when I Embark. Traveling music calls my heart to worship in a totally unique way, and I thrill at the prospect of hearing God say "go to the place I will show you."

Here's the song I've had on repeat for weeks now.

And when I listen to it, I just can't wait to GO.

The way Fuller puts it

THEOLOGY AND THE ARTS FORMAT

The theology and the arts format is designed to prepare students with a strong background and/or interest in the arts to work as practicing artist/theologians or as those able to navigate the intersection between theology and the arts. The goal is to produce graduates who will be shapers/interpreters of culture and/or theologically grounded artists. Those who wish to pursue work as practicing artists, teachers, workers in related fields, or those intending further study will gain the historical, theological, biblical, and cultural preparation that will enable them to work as practitioners/theologians.

Quote of the day

"The purpose of political science is to allow the whole community to live together. If we erect these religious barriers of alienation, we will tear the social fabric. We need to be able to recognize that it is the whole society we have in mind, not a particular part of it, and the society as a whole is not in covenant with God. Although it is clear that Christian principles have heavily influenced our society." from a lecture on the forms of love, while discussing the posting of the 10 commandments in public. Dr. David C Jones, Covenant Theological Seminary

Bible Study Begins Tonight!

Tonight we kick off our 10 week study of Esther, ala Beth Moore. I am excited, because I think we'll have a fun and unique group. I'm also excited because this is, hands down, my favorite Old Testament book. Why? Not because our protagonist is a woman (although that is refresing). Esther is written without direct reference to God--he's never mentioned by name, and is never mentioned as having specifically intervened any way throughout Ester's story. In fact, this has brought the book under scrutiny in the past, with some historical critics claiming that it shouldn't be considered part of the Bible. But I think that the subtlety of God's presence throughout the book is it's brilliance.

How often do you hear a narrator, like Harold Crick, over your life story saying "and then God did this..."? How often do you literally wrestle with angles, encounter burning bushes or see Jesus walk through the wall of your living room? Esther's story reads a lot like how we experince daily life. God's hands are all over it, there's no doubt, but the book is devoid of the dramatic biblical devices that we equate with God's involvement yet hardly encounter in our own lives. I think sometimes when we read stories in the Bible recounting the unbelieveable, we do actually find them unbelieveable. Our familiarity with these stories allows us to categorize them with fairy tales we were told as children. It's not that we don't believe God parted the Red Sea, we just don't think that's the same God we encounter today.

Well folks, it is. And Esther's story--a story that happens right in the middle of a whole lot of unbelievable activity--that reminds us that God is present in our life too; even if we can't hear a narrator tell us so.

Oh Americainty!

Oh MY!

I recently coined the term "Americanity" in conversation with a friend. I was looking for a term to apply to the faux-christianity that seems so apparent through our culture. Where people call down on a benevolent mystery-god who will take care of them, and reward them in the afterlife for having been a good person. This god is always on your side in a fight, cares that you have a lexus with leather and seat warmers, and doesn't really care if you don't care about the homless, widows or orphans. He is appeased becasuse we put the phrase "In God we trust" on our money, and by our self restraint in traffic, when we don't chase down that jerk who cut us off and beat the living crap out of him--even though he really deserved it. The god of Americanity is faintly aquainted with the God of the Bible, and has little use for the name of Jesus (unless you've hit your thumb with a hammer). But the gospel? Oh my goodness no. To the god of Americanity, the gospel of Christ is devisive and judgmental. It calls people to actually put something else before themselves, and that can't be good, right?

But now I see that I had only half the picture. Americanity is coming into sharper focus. I realize that there are what we might call liberal and conservitives in the religion of Americanity--and the conservatives have published their own version of the Bible! Yes, the christian nation of America is here to save the world; but first we must save ourselves.

This does bother me, I hope you know. I've never been a big supporter of hyper-patriotism/supreme nationalism. I love quite a bit about our country, am grateful for the freedoms I enjoy, and hold the men and women who fought and who died for those freedoms in high regard. They deserve more than respect. But all this still comes in second to my true nationality, as a citizen in the kindom of Christ. If Jesus was concerned about policial supremacy, he really missed his chance 2000 years ago. Bummer.