Can I Get a Witness?

 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,  who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.  Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. -Revelation 1:1-3

So there was this time when I was a kid, I was nosing around in some letters that somebody had written my mom over a decade before. They were talking about a future visit and what they would be able to do when they were in town together. It was a letter about people being reconciled after a long time apart, and they were coming soon.

As we read through the book of Revelation, we would do good to remind ourselves that this letter isn’t written to us, at least not directly the way we think about it. It was first written to Jesus followers who lived in the world ruled by Rome. They were misunderstood, for the most part they lived in poverty and on the margins, they were beginning to be hated and persecuted, and so God gives John a vision for them.

He shows John life in the Heavens, he opens up the curtain between Heaven and earth and John sees Jesus coming in the clouds with trumpets with a sword and blazing eyes. And I guarantee you whenever this  little church that was gathered around listening to this letter being read,  when they got to this part, they began to whisper it. Because everybody in that day knew what that language meant.

That was how they talked about Caesar.

Caesar was, after all, indisputably the most powerful person in the world. He ruled the world from India to England and he did it with an iron first. However, you need more than just military might to rule that much land, you need faith. So Caesar needed people to believe he was divine, the son of God, and the Prince of Peace (all titles applied to him). When he was going places, they would say that Caesar came in the clouds and was preceded by trumpets. He was a force to be reckoned with, and these seven little churches (probably, for the most part, just a handful of peasants and slaves) were just a fly on his windshield that he could easily flick off. He had done that plenty of times before.

But…. READ MORE

More Than Civil

So this video was filmed right in the middle of the African-Americans starting to do sit-in’s on southern eating establishments. They were breaking several unjust laws, and forcing the issues of racial prejudice and injustice back into the forefront of the American white people. African Americans were being arrested right and left, and so Dr. King, as the leader of this national strategy, was brought onto the Meet the Press show to give the rationale behind this movement.

He was 31 years old.

Which is convicting in itself for me. That just happens to be my age. By the time Dr. King had lived as long as I had, he had a command of national issues, a passion for justice, and a strategy that was starting to pick up steam. I’m realizing I just might play too much Xbox.

But here in this video, Dr. King is taking quite a bit of flack, he’s being asked some hard questions by some white reporters who seem to be feeling some anxiety associated with the spirit of that age (not to mention some poor fashion sense). And Dr. King never loses his calm, he never responds belittling or with anger. Heck, he never even mentions that thing that the woman reporter is trying to pass off as a hat.

Now there is a couple of observations in here for us. For all the reporters logic, and sense, they seemed to be unaware that they were speaking squarely with the voice of the status quo. Their imaginations had been captured by the spirit of the age, and they could not see it. It’s always a danger that when God sends a prophet people won’t be able to even consider the possibility that they could be wrong and he or she could be right. We build monuments and bridges for Dr. King today, but in his day, in many of the circles that celebrate him today, he was considered as favorably as a turd in a punchbowl. There is a real danger of not doing a fearless self-inventory when we hear someone who disagrees with us, or calls us to something beyond what we currently think

The second thing that stands out about Dr. King in this video is how he treated these people, and how he responded to the face of some pretty insidious seeming questions. He was extremely civil. In our day, these kinds of conversations would have been filled with graphics, sound bytes taken out of context, and lots of yelling and red-faced name calling. It makes for some great entertainments, and some horrible people.

But that wasn’t what Dr. King’s dream was. READ MORE

Revelation and “The End of the World”

So when I was a teenager growing up in Arkansas, we had a guy from India, Simran Gujral (a Sikh) come live at our house for many months. Sikhs, as your might know, never cut there hair, and are known for wearing a turban. Simran was close to my age, and we fought and loved each other like brothers. In fact, I see him every couple of years, and I still consider him family. He is my Indian brother.

One day, we were having one of our many conversations about faith, and Simran told me that he knew when the world was going to end. He told me stories about Nostradamus, and Mayans, and predictions that only had a few short years before they came true. And I believed him about all of it. He was, after all, wearing a turban.

Since then I’ve changed my mind on what I think happens when the world (as we know it) ends.

But I don’t read Revelation like that any more. It’s ironic that Revelation is a book that is used by so many to incite fear, when that’s really not what John is trying to do. The book of Revelation is actually all about hope. It’s the book where God makes some of the most deep promises to His people in the whole Bible. It’s where we find out that no matter what life looks like around us, God is always with us, and watching.

And Revelation is not actually about the end of the world, but the transformation and renewal of it.

And since so many people these days are talking about the end of the world, I thought it might be nice to blog through the book of Revelation for the next few weeks. Because what blog couldn’t use some dragons from time to time? But first a couple of things you should know about Revelation. READ MORE

May I Recommend from 2011

One of the best benefits of being home schooled was that my mother let me read all the time growing up. My curriculum for a year or two  consisted of my parents dropping me off at the Benton Library and leaving me there all day. It was kind of a dream education. It almost outweighed the whole  being terrified of girls and social situations.

All that to say  I like reading a lot. And I thought I’d share with you some of the best books I read from 2011:

1. To Change the World by James Davidson Hunter. This book was my favorite from last year. It’s heady and a little verbose, but it is entirely worth it. Hunter takes on the way politics have infiltrated the Jesus movement in the West, and why the only way to save the Nation, is to stop Christians from talking about it the way we do. Whatever politics you hold dear, rest assured that Hunter will step on your toes. It’s seriously one of the most helpful books I’ve read in years.

2. Jesus, My Father and the CIA. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. It’s up there with Tattoos on the Heart for me. It’s warm and profound and hilarious all at the same time. Ian Cron writes as someone who has wrestled with God and has found words to speak about it well. It’s a great memoir!

3. Simply Jesus. I have begun to pray for N.T. Wright’s health, because I am pretty sure as long as he’s alive and writing, I will never have a problem with coming up with ideas for preaching. Great book about the historical context of Jesus and what He thought he was doing in his ministry, death and resurrection.

4. The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons. This book is one of the best books I’ve read to help understand the younger Christians. I found myself resonating with every page. It would have been easier to underline what I didn’t want to remember.

5. With by Skye Jethani. I really like Jethani’s writing. Jethani addresses some of the dark sides of the missional impulses that some of the younger Christians have. It was a convicting and healing read. READ MORE

The Glory of God

This is my final post for this year. Thanks for all the conversation in 2011, I look forward to more in 2012 (at least until the world ends).

This picture is one of the graffiti prophet Banksy’s newest. It’s called “Shop till you drop” and they have no idea how he did it. But I sure am glad he did.

So earlier today I went to the mall with our two kids, Eden and Samuel, to do some last minute Christmas shopping. Three days before Christmas, and I was there without Leslie and two kids under the age of 4. We were a train wreck. It’s in moments like this that you realize just how much you need your spouse.

I forgot to bring diapers, bibs, water cups, strollers, basically every single thing that human children need, I forgot. It got so bad that at one point, we were at lunch at the mall Pizza place, and I overheard the woman sitting at the table next to us say, “And that’s why I will never have children.”

I’m not kidding.

There are so many levels of irony about the way we celebrate the Christmas story. God gives up everything to be among us, and we have made greed synonymous with celebrating his sacrifice. God comes in subtle unassuming ways, and we have all but turned Christmas into one big Macy’s day parade.

Now I’m all for Christmas parades and lights and celebrations, and I actually think that Christmas can help form the people of God in ways that help us learn how, and what, to celebrate. But it is possible in the middle of all the glitter to lose sight of exactly what Christmas reveals about God. READ MORE

The Tears of Christmas

It’s been one of those weeks. The kind that come along every now and then in life, where creation seems to be screaming more than groaning.

This week, a child with Leukemia who we’ve prayed and fasted for, has taken a turn for the worse. A friend and co-worker at Highland just had his mother pass away, and for reasons that I am not ready to go into today, Leslie and I spent a good part of this week in a hospital room, grieving our own personal stuff. It’s was just us and the sounds of an occasional intercom and much waiting.

As a pastor, I’ve spent a lot of times in Hospitals, and a few of those times it was due to something personal, sometimes those are great joys and sometimes they are not. This time was not.

I’ve referenced over the past couple of weeks that USA Today said that, on some level, a fourth of Americans battle with depression around Christmas time. It’s when our American expectations for a happy life are amped up and we find the discrepancy between the ideal and the real. So we think about lost dreams and hopes, what our lives could have been, and then we look in the mirror and realize what they have become.

Or maybe it’s for more than that. Maybe this is the first (or fifteenth) Christmas without her. And that inside joke that you always shared together, just isn’t possible any longer. And that table that you’ve shared for a lifetime of celebrations now has an empty chair.

On the front cover of a National newspaper a couple of weeks ago, there was a letter to Santa written by a 10 year old boy. But this letter wasn’t for the latest PSP games, or a new bike. It was for his dad to get a job. The article went on to say that this year more than any other there will be present-less families because there are job-less parents.

I was talking with someone a few days ago about some of the personal stuff that I am going through right now, and as I talked I had this profound realization that perhaps this isn’t actually that bad of timing. If the Jesus story is true, than Christmas is actually the best time to suffer. Sure it might be more difficult because all of the lights and smiles seem to ignore your pain. But the one who we are actually celebrating is the one who knows what Christmas means the best.

God enters the mess. READ MORE