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Seasons of our lives

Here’s the newsletter article I did for our church for October.

October 2007

I love autumn. It is my favorite season. I enjoy those wonderful sunny autumn days when the air smells and feels crisp. The sound of marching bands echoes through the land signaling football season. The sights and sounds remind me of elementary school where I played football with friends on Friday nights at the Varsity games, or of pumpkins carved into Jack-O-Lanterns, piles of leaves ready to be burned, apple cider, cool nights for good sleeping, and the beautiful colors of Michigan.

As the fall progresses I am often reminded of the seasons of life. Winter tends to do that to me. I notice the hummingbirds leave and that makes me sad. I vividly remember a beautiful, large spider in Kentucky that made fantastic webs outside our house. I remember after the first hard frost that spider didn’t show up again. As the fall progresses I am reminded that winter is coming, and winter is a time when nature sleeps. Towards the end of Autumn I tend to get more introspective. It gets colder and darker. Continue reading “Seasons of our lives”

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Pavarotti and beauty

Luciano Pavarotti died today. I’m not knowledgeable of opera at all. However, I have listened to Pavarotti sing “Nessun Dorma” over and over. In fact, I bought it from itunes. I just think it’s a beautiful song and he sings it beautifully. As Christians we are to have a special appreciation for beauty because it comes from God and I think it reflects something of God’s character when we encounter beauty. When Pavarotti hits that second to last note it brings tears to my eyes.

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Worshipping with kids

firebowlThis is a picture of firebowl at church camp. One of the things that strikes me most about church camp with the elementary kids is the intensity of the worship, especially at chapel. Firebowl is usually pretty cool as well, but it’s nothing like the jumping and excitement of morning chapel. There is something to be said about intense worship of God. It says something about who we are worshipping.

There is a cumulative affect of worshipping every day. It becomes a part of your routine and a part of your life. That combined with being in the woods, away from many distractions, helps me to think about and focus on God in a way that I don’t outside of camp (at least most of the time).

Where do you find worship of God comes easiest? What sorts of things help you to focus on God more often and more consistently? I think of the monastic lifestyle with its order and routine and although things could become too routine and taken for granted, there is also the opportunity there for a real intimate relationship with God. I wonder what changes we could make in our daily lives that would affect our worship gatherings on Sunday. It’s something to think about I suppose.

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Fasting

As we enter the season of Lent, I want to briefly examine a spiritual discipline that you may or may not be familiar with. As we begin our look at fasting, I’m going to put in some scripture that deals with fasting for you to read.

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might deny ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and cavalry to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king that the hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him. So we fasted and petitioned our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. Ezra 8:21-23
When I heard these words I sat down and wept, and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Nehemiah 1:4

But as for me, when they were sick, I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting.
Psalm 35:13

Then I turned to the Lord God, to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. Daniel 9:3

Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Joel 2:12-13

He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.
Matthew 4:2

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:16-18

Hopefully you noticed a few things as you read through those verses. These are not the only Bible references to fasting, but there are enough here for you to get a picture of what is going on. The first thing to notice is that it is an old practice. It has been done since Old Testament times by prophets and followers of God, as well as by kings (I didn’t include those references). Jesus fasted and gave us instructions for “whenever we fast.” In the big picture of the story of God’s people, then, it would appear that fasting is a normal practice for those who are following God, not a strange extreme measure practiced by a fringe group.

Continue reading “Fasting”

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Was the tomb empty?

The news this week will be full of stories about the upcoming documentary about the discovery of the tomb and bones box of Jesus and his family. This is, of course central to our faith so I just wanted to put up a post with some links to resources in regards to this story. I want to point out myself something that should make you take this new information in with some hesitancy. This tomb and the 10 bone boxes were discovered in the 80’s and a BBC documentary aired in Britain over a decade ago. The information then was criticized not only by clergy, but also by archeologists. Since the DaVinci Code there is a popular trend to undermine Christianity for a lot of money. So, keep in mind how carefully orchestrated these press releases have been, and how they coincide with the release of a book and a documentary to be aired this Sunday. There is money to be made. In the “documentary” the Israeli archeologist that oversaw the project thought the claims were a stretch and he was not included in the film. Along with that there are many other problems that these links will point out.

I hope these help to answer any questions you have.

Associated Press article, Dr. Witherington’s blog post, Jerusalem post, A good article by a Christian apologist

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Where your treasure is…

…store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:20-21

These words from Jesus’ teaching in Matthew come from the Sermon on the Mount, a great section of teaching from Jesus, and a very challenging section of scripture. Many times these verses above are connected with storing up monies or wealth or stuff here on earth as opposed to treasures in heaven. And, while this connection is a good one to make, I wonder if there isn’t much more to it than that.
The Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday includes some portions of Matthew 6, namely verse 1-6 and 16-21. In these verses Jesus instructs his followers on things such as fasting, and alms giving. He is giving them basic instructions on piety, and he says in verse 1 that we should not practice our piety in front of others in order to be seen by them. In fact, he says, “beware” of doing that, because then you won’t be rewarded by your Father in heaven. So, what is going on here? Is it as simple as God’s not liking show-offs, so God won’t reward you if you do? Perhaps, but that seems a bit trite I think. Maybe there is something else going on. Continue reading “Where your treasure is…”