Welcome to Your World

Dear Baby Jesus (said with the accent from Talladega Nights),
       Welcome to your mess ... I mean world. It is beautiful, and horrible. It is hopeless and full of hope.
       On this Christmas please hear my confession and my hope:
* I confess that our material and consumer selves are a human obsession which draws us away from what is most important in life;
* I confess that we have de-mystified your incarnation, often reduced it to platitudes;
* I confess that many "Santas" compete for my time, attention, and devotion in our non-second 21st century.
* And yet I hope ... I hope deeply and am confident in you, Jesus. I hope for and see tiny signs of your Shalom in your world;
* I hope that as you enter our mess in 2012 you will do the miraculous - that Jew and Muslim and Christian will worship the One True God, who is you.
* I hope that we your people will be faith - full. That is, focused and determined in the right directions, that your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So welcome to the world, dear baby Jesus.

A Great Video

This is the promo video for the Cru Christmas Conference in Denver. Really well done.

"Does God cause the Broncos to win because of Tebow?"

Oy vey! Christian America is just goofy. Last night I am sitting in a TGIFridays and a guy at the table next to me comments, "The Denver Broncos are winning because of Tebow's faith in Jesus." God is calling the shots in the NFL these days I guess. I wonder if He has money riding on the game also.
       It raises all sorts of questions for me that God might be on Tim Tebow's side on the football field:
* If I pray that the Denver Broncos win and my Christian friend Troy prays for the Bears to win (since Troy is from Chicago), who does God listen to?
* If the Broncos lose a game later this season, is it because Tim Tebow did not pray enough or read his Bible that week?
* If I say that God is not involved in determining the outcome of sports, then what else is He not involved in? Is this the slippery slope to Deism?
       We all love formulas that we can figure out and determine what God will do. The "Tebow Formula" is one of those - Tim loves God so God causes his team to win. Ugh!
       I respect Tebow - largely because of his humility and not calling attention to himself. He honors his coaches and teammates. He articulates that football is just a game and it is not the essence of life.
       And I appreciate that Tebow knows that God is not primarily about the Broncos winning or losing a game! How refreshing.

Returning to The Gospel of the Kingdom

I get distracted easily. I love to multi-task and sometimes that gives me blurry vision. Yet by God's grace I often refocus and ask what is the gospel of the Kingdom to which I am called? THAT is the question.
       Thanks to theologian George Eldon Ladd the phrase "gospel of the Kingdom" is a lot more understandable to day than it was a generation ago. The gospel of the Kingdom is the message of Good News that Jesus has inaugurated the Kingdom of God on earth.

       This coming Thursday we will launch the Isaac-Ishmael Initiative website and Facebook page, thus officially going public with this movement to promote Shalom in Jesus toward Jews and Muslims.
       The gospel of the Kingdom is at the very heart of the Initiative. It is about the People of God as the agents of announcing the gospel of the Kingdom, and Jesus Christ as its King.
       George Eldon Ladd put it this way toward the end of his book, The Gospel of the Kingdom:
       This is the mystery of the Kingdom: Before the day of harvest, before the end of the age, God has entered into history in the person of Christ to work among men, to bring to them the life and blessings of His Kingdom. It comes humbly, unobtrusively.
       It comes to men as a Galilean carpenter went throughout the cities of Palestine preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, delivering men from their bondage to the Devil.
       It comes to men as his disciples went throughout Galilean villages with the same message. It comes to men today as disciples of Jesus still take, the Gospel of the Kingdom into all the world.
       It comes quietly, humbly, without fire from heaven, without a blaze of glory, without a rending of the mountains or a cleaving of the skies.
       It comes like seed sown in the earth. It can be rejected by hard hearts, it can be choked out, its life may sometimes seem to wither and die. But it is the Kingdom of God. It brings the miracle of the divine life among men. It introduces them into the blessings of the divine rule. It is to them the supernatural work of God's grace.

Extravagant Generosity "Run Amok"

In the New Testament book of Acts there is a verse we tend to "wink at," sort of saying, "Well that's a great example, but we're not supposed to do that today!"
     The verse says: "And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met." (Acts 2:44-45, The Message)
       I have pastored in a number of contexts - from Geneva to Amsterdam to Denver - and my churches have prided ourselves on giving a tithe (10%) of all contributions to mission. When we met that goal we felt like we had "arrived" as a church.
     Acts 2:44-45 challenges this attitude. Personally I would LOVE to be part of a Christian community which turns this formula on its head - that the community would give away 90% of all the gifts provided by the people. Every month we would pray and dream about how God would have use give, give, give His resources provided through the community.
     My hunch is that we would then be closer to an Acts 2:45 community.

Dragging my bones to Shabbat

It is Friday and I slept 5 hours last night, having arrived back in Denver late from Indianapolis due to a delayed flight. Today I am dragging my bones around the office, eagerly awaiting the beginning of shabbat.

       A group of us (25 or so) meet once per month on Friday evening to celebration the sabbath with a meal and a short liturgy. Tonight is the night, and I cannot wait for it!
       For one thing it is just casual and relaxed and we are all there to remind each other that there is a "time to work and a time to rest." And tonight begins the weekly rest.
       Another reason I enjoy it so much is because the people who gather are REAL, trying to figure out the rhythms of life with God and in community and they are not perfect at it either. I feel in good company with them.
       For my birthday in October Susy made me an incredible piece of pottery (see photo). It is a ceramic scroll she hand-crafted and then fired in the Raku style (thus it looks cracked).Then she made the Hebrew letters to spell Shalom. I have the image on my desk in the office and also on my iPhone. A gentle reminder of God's call to practice sabbath and shalom on a regular basis. Can't wait.

Black Friday Must Go

The Associated Press wrote this about Black Friday in America: "Pepper-sprayed customers, smash-and-grab looters and bloody scenes in the shopping aisles. How did Black Friday devolve into this?"
       What has it devolved into? For one thing it is a competition to be the first in line to buy an item you probably don't need. It is the ultimate statement of American individualism.
       Second, it is about greed. In the name of gift-giving, Black Friday is all about consumption and having more stuff. In the simple world of my friend Lisa on her blog, it is GROSS.
        Third, it is about loss of something transcendent. That is to say, for many people the sales of Black Friday are an idol, a sort of god. My hunch is that Christians are just about as infected as non-Christians. I guess a $288 TV for the first 25 customers in Walmart is just too tempting.
       Many of us "religious" people become quite upset at specific social ills - homosexuality, high taxes, health care reform - to name a few. We then lose our voices on Black Friday and become part of the insanity. I just don't get that.

Susy's Pottery

Susy is doing her first pottery show on the weekend of December 9-11 here in Denver. In preparation for that she has a new website at:

snewmanceramics.com

     You can check out her work there. I have also posted a few of her newer pieces below. Some amazing items!
     If you live in or around Denver please stop by our house on Friday evening, December 9 or Saturday morning, December 10 for the show.

The People of God - Grateful

I love Thanksgiving each year, because it challenges me to reflect on what I am grateful for at the moment.
       This year I am grateful for the "regular" and very good things - my wife, Susy, my kids, Carly and Steven, my extended family, etc.
       But here is a new wrinkle in where my heart goes on this Thanksgiving Day. I marvel at and am thankful for this very unique group called The People of God. I am thankful for what is supposed to characterize them in every culture:
1. Diversity rather than homogeneity: I am grateful to God that He intentionally calls us into social, economic, political diversity and asks us to follow Jesus and to serve others as the People of God. It is humbling and enriching;
2. Corporate Faith: I am thankful that God does not ask me to follow Jesus individually and individualistically. He calls His people to have faith together (which often cuts against a culture where individual rights are central);
3. Generosity: Thanksgiving is a reminder of God's abundance in our lives. Many of us have feasts and remember how much we have been given and how good life is in many ways. For me the issue is not one of abundance, but rather what we do with that abundance. I call it the generosity quotient. The People of God are marked by their astounding generosity in response to God's astounding provision for us.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

Tebow: Faith meets sport meets faith

Tim Tebow is the talk of the town in Denver these days. In case you have been visiting Mars or some other place, Tebow is the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos of the NFL.
       Last night Tebow led his team to a come-from-behind win over the New York Jets. It was an amazing win. A New York newspaper this morning had the headline, VicTIMized! Yes indeed.
       And did I mention that Tebow is a committed Christian, and is not ashamed to speak about his faith. And he is demonstrative about honoring God as he competes (kneeling down to pray after scoring a touchdown, for example).
       I'm a Tim Tebow fan - for one main reason: his humility. He has been scrutinized and mocked for his faith, and yet Tebow has not reacted. He "turned the other cheek," which seems distinctly Jesus-like!
       I wonder what would happen if an athlete who is a Muslim or a Jew was outspoken about their faith? Would they be scrutinized as Tebow has? And if they had been mocked for their faith, what would be the outrage be in our culture?
       Like I said, I am a Tim Tebow fan ... not because he is a great football player, but rather because he is attempting for his FAITH to meet his SPORT and in turn for his SPORT to meet his FAITH again.

Courage is Contagious!

Last night ABC News did an interview with Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly. Giffords was shot in the head months ago in Arizona. Their courage as a couple is inspiring and courageous. It gives me hope.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Sabbath!

We had a Shabbat Celebration last Friday evening with about 30 people. It's a great time of sharing a meal together and doing a brief liturgy to inaugurate the sabbath. We are calling the group Shalom Village for the time being.

       Well something just hilarious happened the other day. Our friend Jim brought a HAM for the dinner. Now Jim knows very well that it's a sabbath celebration with Jewish undertones. So it was partly a joke to do this.
       When Jim went to check out at the grocery store (with a $10 coupon, no less!), the scanner did not work and they could not figure out the price of the ham. So they gave it to him for FREE!
       This is what I call a Jew's worst nightmare and best dream: Bringing a ham to the shabbat dinner is a nightmare, getting it for free is a dream come true!
       We all ate the ham happily and were grateful that we live under the GRACE of God and that the Old Testament laws certainly had and have their place. But that we could enjoy the ham! (and had a great laugh at the situation too!).

What do we SAY about Jesus, really?

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ~ 1 Corinthians 2:1-2
       I heard a speaker last week who makes the point that he does not talk about Christianity, but he only talks about "following Jesus." He's an engaging speaker, very funny. Here is some of the things I heard him saying about following Jesus:
* The Gospel is a person, not a system or a thing;
* Jesus cared for the poor;
* Jesus selected a diverse group of people as disciples, including a tax collector and a zealot who were like terrorists of today;
* Jesus told people to follow him and to become like him;
* God wants to change people's hearts to make them pure.
       I agree with everything the speaker said about following Jesus.
       At the beginning of this talk, the speaker quoted three Scriptures. One of those scriptures is 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, which says in part I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
       The very odd thing that the speaker did not talk about was "him crucified." In fact he never spoke about "crucified" or "resurrection" or other crucial realities concerning the life of Jesus Christ. It was disappointing that the speaker did not or could not talk about the MOST important Truths about the very Jesus we are called to follow! How odd! How strange!

Preparing for Shabbat

Tonight is the Sabbath, which I have looked forward to all week. I think that's how it is supposed to be. In the midst of work we look forward to the rhythm of rest and of peace, being in God's presence in a unique way and being with community.
       So this evening a group of us will gather in the upper room of a barn here in Lakewood and observe some of the traditions of Shabbat:
* Lighting candles which symbolizes that God's light has come into the world;
* The Shema which calls us back to the heart of faith - that God is God and we are to love Him with everything that we are;
* The Kiddish which is so incredibly rich with foreshadowing of the Passover and Jesus at the seder and his death and resurrection.
       What helps me the most is that I must make a choice - slow down, reflect, stop ... or blow through sabbath and continue to work. The latter is a slow death, the former is life-giving.
      So to all of you on this Friday and for whenever you slow down, Shabbat-Shalom.

A Plea to Penn State

To the Trustees of Penn State,
I would urge you to cancel the remainder of the football season at your institution, for numerous reasons:
   1) One of your assistant coaches, Mike McQueary, has received threats and will not be able to coach this weekend. McQueary testified against Mr. Sandusky before the grand jury;
   2) Your institution has more dignity than the rioting students showed at their protest of Joe Paterno's firing. Your students are a danger to themselves and to your institution's reputation;
   3) Nebraska fans have been warned not to wear their school colors at Saturday's game due to violence from Penn State fans. These conditions warrant you canceling your season;
   4) Your head coach of 46 years has refused to stand up as a leader and take responsibility for what happened under his tenure. Mr. Paterno's actions has caused irreparable damage to your football program;
   5) It is clear that your institution's football program is something of an idol in the hearts and minds of students, alumni, faculty, staff, and donors. The program's importance in the life of your school is so distorted that it has resulted in people acting in horrible ways about Paterno's dismissal while losing sight of the tragedy of young boys being abused.
   You owe it to the dignity of the people who were abused to take a step back, cancel the remainder of your football season, and grieve the incredible losses of this situation.