Philemon 8-21

TEXT Fake it 'till you make it Like many other people I first heard this slogan at an AA meeting. The words bothered me. How could a support group based on honesty suggest that someone, especially a newcomer, fake it? The setting caught my attention. Here was a "business professional" in a tailored suit and loosened tie using this slogan to convince a social outcast to get up off his "bottom" and try again. The social outcast wanted to give up. The business professional was telling him it didn't matter what he wanted, what he did (coming to another meeting and confessing his relapse) would save him. Silk ties and ratty t-shirts faded into ambiguity as they dropped tears on each other's shoulders in a brotherly embrace. One blogger put it this way. Now, what AA's slogan taught me is that your whole heart does not have to be in an act from the very first moment in order for that act to be authentic. We may have an intent for something to be true and then bring it to life in our behavior; giving intention momentum through action. The letter to Philemon carries a similar message. Paul most likely renames Philemon's slave. Onesimus means useful. It would seem Paul hopes to change Philemon's view of Onesimus and perhaps Onesimus's view of himself. Paul presents a strong case to Philemon for accepting Onesimus back without punishment and for receiving him as a brother. It is not difficult to read the persuasion between the lines. But it is not selfish manipulation. Paul believes that people can overcome their sinful impulses by choosing to do the right thing even when they want to do the wrong thing. Self-denial, fasting, regular prayer, daily Scripture reading, these can all be done with a false heart. But, doing them when we would rather not does not necessarily make us hypocrites. We can't leave behind the decision to do what is right and healthy and good, even if we don't feel like it. Philippians 4:8-9

Colossians 3:1-17

TEXT The Lord of Outbursts If that title makes you nervous, skip this blog. Colossians 3 describes two ways of living: 1. under control of the parts of us that belong to the earth, or 2. submission to the spiritual reality of our citizenship above. Paul asks us to seek and think about the things above. Then he orders the execution of the parts of us that belong to the earth. In verses 8-13 he expands a clothing metaphor. The key phrase in verse 8: put off all such things (NET). We imagine taking off our anger-pants, slander-shirts, and lie-ties. Then we pull on compassion-slacks, humility-shirts, and patience-hats. Unhappily, many seem to want to dress without first undressing. We feel good about a God who wants to dress us up. But only a politically-incorrect God would criticize someone's old clothes. Verse six disquiets us. We avoid sermons about the "wrath of God." Next time you do a study on the "names of God" notice the one in 2 Samuel 5:21. David describes God as Baal Perazim. The Hebrew translates to Lord of outbursts. David uses that description again in the very next story. Here's my thought. Do we want a "kind" God who is tolerant of evil? When a malicious man slaps around his children, do we want God to look the other way? Or, do we want God's holy anger to burn against injury of the innocent, lies that lead to injustice, and slander that starts wars. Hitler's vilification of the Jews began as ethnic jokes in the pubs. Perhaps when we understand that, we will be ready look in the mirror ask the Holy Spirit to help us kill off whatever belongs to our earthly nature. Then we can dress in the all the clothing we can't leave behind.

Hebrews 2:1-18

TEXT

I am sitting in the waiting room after Ron's surgery and the people and noise are a little distracting, so I don't have lot to offer this afternoon. I am reading a book by Scot McKnight entitled "A Community Called Atonement" and so I have had atonement on the brain for about week as I swim through this great book.

So I ask this question: What does "atonement" mean to you?

(I went to Webster's Dictionary first and then to the theological dictionary to start my mind down the right track)

Joshua 24:14-28

TEXT

This is somewhat of a hopeless passage for me. While I respect the people for wanting to make the "right" choice by choosing God, don't they know they will fail? I wonder what it would be like to read this passage without any knowledge of what follows. Do they really choose God? Have these desert wanderers really straightened up? I know what happens and so I wonder why they even chose God to begin with. Some people say that there are only two things that are certain: death and taxes. Can I add failure to that list? We are destined to be failures. That may seem a wee bit defeatist, but I really think we have to recognize the fact that we will fail. The people in the story are so proud and want so badly not to "forsake" God, but what if they had realized their humanness and accepted the fact they could not keep the promise of Joshua 24? I have a poster in my office that at one time I read every day and believed it! Then, somewhere in the last few years, I decided failure wasn't an option and it became a nice decoration. Maybe I need to read it again:

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 3000 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Michael Jordan

God,

Open my eyes to my own humanness. Help me accept me for…me. And out of that acceptance may I truly know the love you have for me and amazing grace that you give.

 

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

TEXT

I have just spent the last hour or so "chasing" blogs about a new book that was just released by one of my favorite authors, Tony Jones. Mr. Jones has written a book (found here) that is causing quite a stir! I won't bore you with details, but I spent an hour reading praises for the book as well as many criticisms. The major argument is that Tony Jones sits outside of traditional "orthodoxy" (here). I have read so many "big" words in the last hour that I have come down with a severe case of tired head. The blogs are all written by people with a lot of letters after their names and so that gives them some sort of street cred! After looking in my theological dictionary for the fourth time in an hour I decided I needed to blog about today's passage…

We get so uptight about other people. We spend so much of our time worried what others are doing and saying that we forget about ourselves. I want to learn to love the Lord, walk in his ways, and to keep his commands. I want to do these three things really well before I start to look at how well you are doing. I want to leave behind this arrogance that I have it all together and take with me my own brokenness. I want to be able to say "…the Lord is my life." (v.20)

Romans 8:18-25

TEXT Creation Groans It is difficult to read this passage in Romans 8 without hearing it through our 21st Century filters. We are surrounded by messages about global warming and how to live a "greener" life. Christians with an environmental conscience have put What Would Jesus Drive? bumper stickers on their economy cars. And little 'ol Oak Ridge has two-count-'em-TWO recycling dumpsters! We might be tempted to say that in the first century, Paul couldn't have had any of this in mind. But wait a minute. If this passage connects with the one above it (and I think it does) then Paul is certainly calling us to consider how our new spiritual nature connects with the rest of creation. Paul is plainly saying that the creation's groaning is illustrative of our own eagerness to see our bodies redeemed. Our adoption occurs in this life and the Spirit intercedes for us in this life. God seems interested in us returning to the place where he called the creation of humans "good." Could he care less about the rest of creation that he created "good." This seems like the minimal application of this text to me. God desires that as we grow in our adoption and put to death the misdeeds of our body, that selfish consumption dies too. Children of God will car pool, recycle and simplify. We will open the door for others and pick up other people's trash as well as our own. Christians can make do and repair things, avoid impulsive purchases, and downsize. "Our present sufferings" in verse 18 are not persecutions and illnesses. They are the sufferings associated with self-discipline. Perhaps self-control is one of those things we can't leave behind.

John 6:22-40

TEXT

Why?

Why can't they just believe him?

Why did they need a sign?

We are always looking for proof. We like it better when we can see for ourselves before we make decisions. Ever been to consumerreports.org? Someone has tested whatever it is that you are thinking about buying. There is proof that the product either works or doesn't. You now get reviews online for everything from hotel rooms to baby beds. Just yesterday Stacey was looking at beds online and was reading the reviews for this one particular bed…all the reviews she read were positive except for one! Guess what? We aren't buying that bed because someone didn't like it. We want a "sign" that what we are getting is worthy of us having it. One star? No way, give me at least 3.5!

Do we do this with God? I do. Sure, I don't say that I want God to show me a "miraculous sign", I usually say something like "God will open that door if he wants me to do that."

How can I be less like the people in this story and more like Abraham leaving his home not knowing what was ahead?

John 7:37-44

TEXT Living Water By the time I get to the end of a cruise you would think I'd have eaten enough. Not me. I get up early that last morning and eat breakfast like I am trying to help the kitchen clean out before the next trip. As we disembark with all our luggage I realize how sedentary and gluttonous I've been. By the time lunch rolls around all I want is a bottle of water. In our text we find Jesus in Jerusalem on the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles. For six days the people have been commemorating the 40 years of wilderness wanderings, celebrating the harvest, socializing and eating Levi's BBQ. Now the families have gathered for one more day of picnicking in and around the Temple courts or out in the fields around their campfires. Invited a guests receive a cup of water as a first sign of hospitality. In this setting Jesus stands up and offers everyone water; living water. If you go back and read the whole chapter you find a theme of conflict between Jesus and those who doubt him. His brothers poke fun at him. The religious leaders plot against him. The people are divided. Some question, others proclaim he is surely the Prophet. Some are satisfied with life just the way it is, others thirst for what Jesus has to offer. Hopefully our Lenten journey will not be one of sedentary gluttony. We pray it makes us thirsty. Jesus offers us the living water of fellowship with him. Will that water be one of those things you can't leave behind?

Isaiah 55

TEXT

It is comforting for me to read a passage like Isaiah 55, because I am so thirsty for God. It has been good today to read over and over again this invitation to come a drink with him…

"…but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

Get any minister to be 100% honest and they will tell you that they count the people in the seats. It matters to us. It matters to the people in the seats. Numbers matter. The more seats that are filled, the more successful a church is. This may or may not be true, but as a student minister I feel immense pressure to "save" a generation. Parents drop off students and when they pick them back up they are supposed to well-polished "Christians". My perception may have certainly become my reality and every parent may not think this way, but I feel the weight of this pressure daily. Can I be content to know that God's word does not come back empty? Can I be satisfied with God accomplishing what HE desires? How long before I realize that I am just clay in the potter's hands?

Psalm 63:1-8

TEXT I tried to find a blog that I wrote about 4 years ago called "Backpack God" but could not find it, the basic idea was that God was nothing more than the backpack I carry with me wherever I go. If I need something I just get it out of my backpack, use it, then throw the backpack over my shoulder and get on with my day. I never leave my house with out my backpack and wouldn't think about coming to church without it! But in all honesty I don't need my backpack to survive and it has no real impact on my life unless I absolutley need something out of it. Most of the time it sits on my floor at work or slung over a chair at my house. When I really think about it...this is how I treat God most of the time as well. I love the passion in Psalm 63. When I read words like this I can't help but envy the feelings the writer has for the Lord. What is like to "long" for God? My NET Bible uses the word yearn, have you ever yearned for God? I never feel this way about "Backpack God"...

Colossians 3:1-17

TEXT What Not to Wear It is a cold and rainy Saturday morning here in Parker County. And if you think about it, each part of that previous sentence affects the way you dress. There are exceptions of course (retired folk, people who work on Saturday, etc.) but for most of us cold + rainy + Saturday morning + Parker County = soft jeans or sweats, warm thick socks, a comfy long sleeved shirt, and if one must go outside a rain jacket of some sort. In Colossians 3 Paul calls for a change of clothes. The analogy actually goes deeper. Forget Stacy and Clinton's plastic trash bin, Paul wants us to take our old clothes out and bury them! Paul wants to make sure the Colossians remember the affect grace is supposed to have on our lives. During Lent, we reflect on Jesus's sacrifice. We consider the worldly baggage we've accumulated. We clean out our closets. If we have been wearing anger, filthy language, and lies we take them off and bury them. We stand naked before the Lord and ask to be clothed in compassion, gentleness and love. (See also Revelation 3:17-19) We can leave behind the things of this world. What we can't leave behind are the character traits of Christ.

Acts 26:2-29

TEXT Kicking against the goads. A city boy from America sometimes has trouble reading the Bible. What's a goad? Why is Paul kicking some of them? One boy asked, "Isn't a goad that round rock that has pretty crystals inside?" Ok. We have an assumption. Next the hypothesis: "He must be trying to break them open by kicking them down the road." Actually, a goad is a sharpened stick. Rural folk poke their oxen with them. That's how a 90 pound boy can get a 1,000 pound ox to go where he wants. Usually a little poke makes the point... (pun intended) and the ox responds. But, a wise ox boy uses a goad long enough to stay clear of flying hooves. Saul is being goaded. Someone wants him to go a different direction. But, Saul thinks he is sure of where he is going. He has a plan to please God. Then a blinding light. Paul forgot to ask God's opinion of his plan. If Jesus is true to his analogy here, he has been after Paul for some time. Maybe the first goad Paul ignored was the innocent eyes of Stephen. Maybe Paul has lost sleep thinking about the stories of Jesus' resurrection. Whatever led to this point, Paul made his decision here. He told Agrippa, "I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven." When does obedience come in our lives?

Luke 19:1-10

TEXT

What is it about being in the presence of Jesus that makes Zacchaeus to want give half his possessions to the poor and pay back anyone he has cheated? There is obviously more to the conversation than what Luke provides here, but I don't get the sense that Jesus ever asks Zacchaeus to this. The "ruler" from Mark 10 comes to Jesus and asks what he can do to inherit eternal life, but Zacchaeus is just trying to find out who Jesus was (v. 3). There is just something about Jesus that draws the unexpected people of his time to do some really amazing things. I'd like to think I would have been a Zacchaeus, someone who is just trying to find out what is going on and then making a drastic change in my life and following Jesus. Im probably more like the other people in the story, standing and questioning Jesus, but I want to become more like Zacchaeus…

John 9

TEXT Isn't John 9 an amazing story? It draws us in through all our senses. We start out looking over the disciples shoulders at a blind man and wondering what it would be like to live in darkness. There's the sound of Jesus spitting. One can almost feel the cool, slimy-yet-gritty mud in Jesus' palm as he rubs it into paste. There's that public-fountain-smell around the pool of Siloam just before the sound of the splash that washes away the mud. And then POW! Color is everywhere! Those of us who've had sight all our lives are seeing a brand new with him! White clouds pulse in front of an endless blue sky. Green palms accent everything. A dark red ant crawls over someone's brown toe. We're like kids on a playground. Someone points at a banana and shout's yellow! We chase a rust colored dog through the market. A merchant holds up a carpet and our once-blind-friend runs his hand over it studying the intricate interplay of color and texture. We turn and enter the synagogue. And the wise rabbi unrolls the scroll and brand new eyes gloss over with tears. Somehow they already know they are looking at holy words. Everyone's quiet. Then the hall monitors barge in! It is absolutely mind blowing that they can so focus on the crime and miss the miracle! But that's only because we see no better than they. Teachers often miss it when the playground bully stops to help a younger kid pick up the books she dropped. Restaurant managers don't always know that a regularly late employee is tardy because they drop off groceries to a shut in neighbor, who is lonely and likes to talk. Teenagers can simply be blind to the breathtaking talent of the shy, pimple-face artist in the back of the room. It is probably true that people bring most of their suffering on to themselves. But one doesn't have to have 20/20 eyesight to see that. To see miracles in messes, that takes eyes like Jesus. Peterson does a great job with verse 39. Here it is from the Message: Jesus then said, "I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind." Holy Father, who sees things as they are, and as they can be, help us see. Wash the scales of cynicism and hard history from our eyes. May holy vision be one of those things we can't leave behind. Grace and Peace be with you all,

Ephesians 5:1-20

TEXT There is no escaping the first two verses, "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love..." No matter how bad I want to skip to the list of "don'ts", I have to read the passage in order. I must first be an imitator of God and learn to live a life of love. The next 18 verses seem to stem from these two ideas. We will understand what it means to "walk as children of light" when our focus moves to these first two verses instead of the lists. Somedays I love "WWJD" and then are days when it makes no sense to ask this question. If I am living my life out of love then this questions make perfect sense to me. When I am trying to imitate God I have to ask questions like, "Was Jesus right about everything and what does that mean for my life?" So...Was Jesus right about everything?

Ezekiel 36:22-32

TEXT Im teaching the Old Testament at Weatherford Christian School to 7th-9th graders. This has proved to be somewhat of challenge because many of them have been raised in "New Testament" Churches. We think the Old Testament has some really good stuff (Psalm 23, 10 Commandments, and Creation), but the "real" stuff is in the New Testament. I had one student here at Oak Ridge say that the Old Testament was "irrelevant" and we should focus just on the New Testament. I would say that most churches, without knowing it, have low view of the Old Testament. They aren't quite sure how it relates to their lives and their churches and so we just don't ever deal with it! In class at WCS we have worked our way all the way the the book of Proverbs and soon will begin the Major and Minor Prophets. Im looking forward to this becasue of passages like Ezekiel 36:22ff. Here God tells Ezekiel to tell the people that He is about to act not because of them, but for His own sake. If God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow...what does this tell about who God is? Does God's work within this world change when we read passages like this? I love the Old Testament because I feel like I am reading about a different God than the one I learned about in church growing up!!!

John 17:20-26

TEXT In what ways are we one with the first disciples, the Father, and the Son? I just finished seeing U23D. The movie was shot at a concert in Buenos Aries and will show nation wide starting this Friday. I was at the U2 concert in Houston about 3 years ago and it was something that I will never forget. Watching this movie tonight all Icould think about was the thousands of people in a stadium singing along with an Irish band. I have the think that many of the people there that night new little, if any, English and yet the sang along with Bono and the band. There is something about their music that is unifying and uplifting to everyone. This may have nothing to do with this question or text but I had to blog about the experience. I will leave with the lyrics to one of my favorite songs and ask you to see the movie or just listen to the song... Is it getting better Or do you feel the same Will it make it easier on you Now you got someone to blame You say One love One life When its one need In the night Its one love We get to share it It leaves you baby If you dont care for it Did I disappoint you? Or leave a bad taste in your mouth? You act like you never had love And you want me to go without Well its too lateTonight To drag tha past out Into the light Were one But were not the same We get to carry each other Carry each other One Have you come here for forgiveness Have you come tor raise the dead Have you come here to play Jesus To the lepers in your head Did I ask too much More than a lot You gave me nothing Now its all I got Were one But were not the same We hurt each other Then we do it again You sayLove is a temple Love a higher law Love is a temple Love the higher law You ask me to enter But then you make me crawl And I cant be holding on To what you got When all you got is hurt One love One blood One life You got to do what you should One life With each other SistersBrothers One life But were not the same We get to carry each other Carry each other One One.

John 17:9-19

TEXT How do you understand sent and sanctified? Like I wrote about yesterday, I think that God sent Jesus to Earth to show us a new way to live within this world. At the end of his life Jesus nows sends his diciples into this same Earth to continue to show this new way of life. What is difficult to work through is that they were sent into the world and yet they were to be set apart (sanctified). One of my greatest struggles with students is to help them understand how to live in this world, but not of this world. We are sent into this world to be the hands and feet of Jesus and yet we are called to be set apart from it. If we are going to be these hands and feet then we have to be aware of the world we are in and how it works by actually living in it. To often we try and escape the world through all different kinds of ways like setting up our own "Christian Bubbles". When we do this it becomes harder to fully understand the idea of being sent. Sometimes we are good at being set apart, but struggle with being sent. Some love the idea of being sent, but have no idea what it means to be set apart. How do we do both?

John 17:1-8

TEXT What does it mean that Jesus came from God and that God sent him to us? The Incarnation is a beautiful thing. God coming down to earth to walk, talk, eat, and sleep with humanity is too much for me to fully comprehend. Why would one choose to leave the splendor of heaven for the depravity of earth? For most of my life I have been taught that this world is not my home and I am just passing through. Everything was geared towards going to heaven when you die. All focus and attention of church was about leaving the depravity for the splendor. Don't get me wrong I want to go heaven and I want you to be there with me, but when I read passages like John 17:4 ("...by completing the work you gave me to do") I start to ask why did God send Jesus? Did he just send him so I could go to heaven or was there more to the plan? If the answer is just heaven then what "work" had Jesus completed, because he had yet to go to the cross? Jesus came from and was sent by God for reasons that go beyond just making sure we "go to Heaven when we die". He was sent into this depravity to teach a new way of life. Jesus came from God to be the visible form of an invisible God...a God in whose image we are made.