Christ the Lord is Risen Today… A-a-a-a-a-a-amo-o-re

Wow.

Thoughts on Church, part 6

If you read the previous post by my wife, then you know that our life has been pretty hectic lately. It’s about to get a lot more hectic, but I want to wrap up my series of posts on the Church. Since its been a week or so since the last post, let me begin this post by stating a few points that I’ve made (or tried to make) that will help intoduce my final post (maybe)

1) Salvation is not an individual experience – its corporate. This is the point of church… its where salvation is found.

2) Individualism and subjective personal experience have infiltrated and dominated our modern era churches.

3) There are symbols that mark the identity of the church and her relationship to Christ. These symbols are not just powerless signs pointing to some reality… they are the reality. Just as a intimacy is a symbol within a marriage that strengthens the marriage (when done rightly), so the symbols of the church help to strenthen the body.

4) There is room for creativity within the worship service, but there are definate boundaries.

5) The modern era church, for the most part, has neglected these boundaries and formed the church into something that is foreign to Scripture.

6) The Bible not only gives us the proper symbols for the church, but also gives us a proper model for worship.

In a previous post I gave a couple of New Testament verses that described worship in terms of “sacrifice.” I then made the link to the sacrificial system found in the Old Testament. This might seem odd to many of you, and I think there’s a good explanation – one I’ve hinted at already.

How do we normally translate this idea of sacrifice in the New Testament? Well, I submit that we translate it according to our own presuppositions of worship that our tradition has given us. In this case, our American, individualistic, subjective worship experience. We already perceive worship to look like “Exhibit A” so we define terms like “sacrifice” to fit within our system of worship. Therefore, “sacrifice” means giving our all in worship; having that emotional experience where we connect with God – either through powerful music or preaching. Or maybe we don’t even associate sacrifice with worship at all. As I’ve mentioned before, our worship today seems to be a reaction to what Christ has done for us… not a participation. So in that case, sacrifice finds it’s meaning in our daily, individual lives: witnessing to a co-worker, giving up watching the game in order to work in a soup kitchen, getting up an hour early to have quiet time, etc.

This is not the proper way to define biblical terms and concepts. My point here is not to describe the history and intricacies of biblical interpretation, but I do want to point out one basic rule: use scripture to define scripture. For example, if the New Testament uses the word “sacrifice” to describe worship, it is important for us to find out what “sacrifice” means. The best way to do this is to find other uses of “sacrifice” in the Bible.

As a side note, there is a lot to be said about the poor practice of biblical interpretation that occurs in our churches today. For instance, many churches have a low view of the Old Testament. At best they view it as tales of morality, at worst they view it as obsolete. These churches mistakenly view themselves as “New Testament” churches. I say “mistakenly” because their view of the New Testament is in error based upon their Old Testament views. The only way you can interpret – and therefore live – according to the New Testament is with a proper understanding of the Old Testament. At the very least this means that the Old Testament is vital to interpreting the New Testament, and vice versa. I’ll put this another way: It is heresy to believe that the Old Testament has nothing to do with the New Testament, and it is highly erroneous to view the Old Testament as ”LAW” and the New Testament as “GRACE” – as if they were two separate books or Bibles.  

Well, I lied. This post is too long, so I will continue on another post, hopefully tomorrow.

In 30 days…no really like 2 weeks!

In the following 30 days, our life will dramatically change.  I look forward to seeing why God has ordained us to move from our home here in B’ham and relocate to Nashville, TN.  Why do I say ‘ordained’? Simple, we have fervently prayed as many of you have done as well and He has answered.  Where two or more are gathered, He is among us and hears us!

1. Brian has been hard pressed to get good paying work here. He got a 2nd job- working now about 70hrs/week. We prayed…

2. Among others, Brian applied for and has been offerred a job in TN- a GREAT job, mind you.  He starts 2/29. We prayed…

3. What about our house? We prayed… ummm… are you sitting down?  The first one to look at it, made and offer and we accepted.  The second one to look at it wants it too and is on standby in the event that the first doesn’t work out.  Both deals within $100 of each other and want us out by 2/27. Any idea that God is listening? I think so!

I want to first thank all of you that have prayed with us over this.  We have truly loved living here in B’ham.  We are sad to leave our new friends and church home.  Our long term goal has been to end up in TN so it was a bit of a surprise for the details to work out so soon.  With our God, anything is possible.  He has been so clear to us when it was time for us to know.  We had said at one point that if the only thing holding us back was the issue of selling our home, we couldn’t hold back- even though the market is so crazy.  Any old timers remember what happened when we were getting ready to move to KY?  All the open doors came within about 30 days of us having to leave.  So this past Thursday when we were told of the two contracts coming on our home and the dates, I asked Brian ‘Can you believe this, and the timing?’ He said ‘as a matter of fact, I can!’  I will be packing now.  And then I will be unpacking. So if you don’t hear from me for a bit, do not be dismayed. Please continue to pray that things will work smoothly and may we all find comfort in this answered prayer and give God the glory He deserves. 

Tag, you’re it!

A friend tagged me just as I had been reading about these and wondering how it works.  Here goes nothin’ 

1. How do you take your coffee? I’m not too picky here…unfortunately I will drink the leftovers the next a.m. to avoid ‘wasting’. Please don’t boo. I won’t serve it to you!  I like about an inch of cream with some kind of nutty flavoring and then pour in the hot stuff. I go back and forth about this being a crutch in the mornings for me!

2. What is your restaurant genre of choice?  Italian

3. If you had to eat the entire cake, what kind would it have to be? New one now! The C.Mansfield chocolate lovers cake! Better than a brownie!

4. What kind of cook do you consider yourself to be (i.e. gourmet)? Creative, when I have time.  I am a Martha Stewart/Food Network junkie.  Although, my favorite is when I find a recipe that uses up things that have been sitting in the cabinet at allRecipes.com

5. Eggs for breakfast? Yes and for supper occasionally.

6. Are you an adventurous eater? I would think so, Yes.

7. Would you consider yourself a food snob? Nah, although when I am creating a meal I am particular about the presentation.  I can appreciate it when someone else goes through the trouble.

Now it’s your turn: DeeDee, Laura Sue, Michelle, and Erin

Thoughts on Church, part 5

A couple of posts ago, I made the analogy that a Christian’s relationship to Christ is like a marriage – the symbols of the relationship actually fortify the relationship. Using this marriage analogy, I want to compare and contrast the typical individualistic view of Christianity with what I believe to be the biblical view.

First, I think its important to look at the “defining moment.” Obviously for a marriage that would be the wedding. This is the ceremony where two are declared one. Where a Mr. and a Miss become Mr. and Mrs. But what is the defining moment of our relationship to Christ. Many would say its our conversion experience… but I think this is wrong. Our “conversion experience” is too subjective… it’s like saying a marriage began “when I first saw her face…. ahhh.” Besides, what is a conversion experience anyways? And for that matter, which one (I know I’ve had a few in my life)? No, the Bible teaches us to look to a particular objective event for our identity. Just as a wedding gives you you’re husband/wife identity, baptism gives you your Christian identity.

But this is not it. While baptism is the moment/ceremony that we are to look back upon for our identity in Christ, it is also true that this would mean nothing if we weren’t united to Christ in our daily lives. In other words, a marriage has meaning because of a wedding ceremony, but also because a husband and wife form a relationship… a covenant. It could hardly be called a marriage if they never saw each other, talked to each other, touched each other, or listened to each other. The actual covenant relationship is what defines the marriage. The daily symbolic acts that strengthen the relationship. It’s the same way in our relationship with Christ. Our baptism into Christ is only part of it. We have the name “Christian,” but it wouldn’t mean much if the relationship wasn’t cultivated on a regular basis. But what does this look like?

In a marriage the symbols are pretty similar, although God gives us a lot of freedom to be creative with these symbols. For instance, kissing is a symbol. But it may be a long passionate kiss after a romantic dinner, or it may be a quick peck on the cheek before leaving for work. Another symbol is a wedding band. As any guy can attest to, you can go crazy trying to pick out the right color, clarity, and cut for the perfect ring. But there are boundaries. Symbolically, the ring goes on the ring finger of the left hand. And kissing another woman does not strengthen your marriage. OK, so maybe my analogies are starting to break down at this point… but you get the idea. The point is that there are designated symbols in our Christian life – with room for creativity, but with definite boundaries.

As far as Christianity goes, though, it seems as if the emphasis has been on the creative side with the boundaries becoming neglected. I think this is due to the focus on individualism that I spoke of earlier. Think about it – if entrance into a relationship with Christ is deemed to be a “conversion experience,” and the cultivation of this relationship is seen as an individual journey, then it’s only natural that the church has transformed into a service of man-made symbols: bowing our heads and closing our eyes in solemn prayer, emotionally driven pop-songs, motivational speeches, walking an aisle, saying a sinner’s prayer, etc… while at the same time neglecting the biblically ordained symbols of our relationship with Christ: confession, baptism, communion, preaching of the Word, reading of Scriptures, singing of the Psalms, uplifting corporate prayer, etc.

So now the question might be “where in the Bible are these biblically ordained symbols of worship” and “what would a church service look like with these symbols?” Well hopefully I’ll get around to answering that in my next post, but until then I would direct you to this post.

Thoughts on Church, part 4

I think one of the mistakes we’ve made in our Christian growth – especially in America – is the development of our “Christ-likeness.” In other words, how do we become more like Christ? The typical approach begins with the individual. We have a moment of salvation and we proceed to mature individually from that moment on. Church is a tool to help us along in our spiritual quest, but the empasis is placed on quiet-times, prayer life, reading the Bible, and becoming a better person. The more mature we become, the more of an assett are we to our community, especially our church community. So even in our pulpits, the emphasis is usually on becoming a better individual – either by “7 steps to becoming a better husband,” or by becoming more doctrinally sound (head knowledge leads to heart change). This last one is popular in reformed circles. In fact, when I was in seminary, the “spiritual disciplines” were more emphasized than any other type of spiritual growth technique. This is why the puritans were held in such high regard – many of them were the princes of piety and left many excellent “how-to’s” for us to read and emulate.

I think this is backwards, though. Now, don’t get me wrong, spiritual discipline (quiet times, prayer closets, piety, etc.) are all great… they’re just not the foundation for our spiritual development. So what is?

Church.

If we are to become more Christ-like, the best way this can happen is for it to flow out of a healthy church life. In fact, I would put it in this order: church, family, individual, community (although I think its more of a case of one flowing out of the other, rather than 1,2,3…).

But this sort of leads us back to a previous question I asked – What makes church so important? Is it the things we do in church? Is it what we do for God? Is it what He does for us? In my previous posts I’ve given a few clues as to my answer. But that’s for another post

Handy Manny Let Me Down

This morning I let Denise sleep in (Lucy has a cold and woke mommy up a few times last night), so I got the girls up, dressed them and sent them downstairs for breakfast. While I was cooking their eggs I let them watch some cartoons. First they watched Little Einsteins (which is my personal favorite) and then Handy Manny came on.

This seems to be a pretty good show with a big focus on helping people. The main character is Manny the handy man and his anthropomorphic tools. In this particular episode the goal was to install new lightbulbs in the grand marquee for the movie theater’s grand opening. Unfortunately, Rusty the wrench accidently broke all the lightbulbs by being careless. Instead of owning up to his mistake, though, he lied. Needless to say, the owner of the theater was disappointed because it appeared they would not get the marquee fixed in time for the grand opening. Manny made Rusty confess to the owner and this is what she said: “You know, Rusty, I learned a long time ago, that if you always tell the truth, you probably won’t get in trouble if you make a mistake.” This is what I tell Molly and Katie all the time – Always tell the truth! If you make a mistake, chances are you won’t get disciplined if you tell the truth; but if you lie, you will ALWAYS be disciplined…in the strictess sense.

So, I thought it was great that Rusty had to confess to lying, but then Molly pointed out, “well, he didn’t get in trouble.” She was right. But considering what the owner said, I figured he would be disciplined at some point in the show – maybe at the end after the work was done. Alas, I was wrong. Despite the speech from Manny and the theater owner, Rusty was never punished for lying, and Molly picked up on it right away. Darn cartoons!