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Last evening, our Trustee board did something I consider quite amazing: they discussed and passed a “board covenant”.  The “board covenant” states the board’s commitments to each other and the congregation in how they do business and what business they do.  It also acknowledges the accountability structures present in the congregation and deals with a few issues of discipline.  In fact, I’d like to share it in its entirety with you.  It follows in the “read more” section below.  Feel free to comment.

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Yesterday, I attended a meeting with some of our congregational leaders in a town about an hour’s drive away.  We gathered with leaders from 3 other churches to discuss how we were progressing in congregational transformation.  I was able to give a report as to how our congregation was making great strides in becoming more missional in our community. 

Looking back over the three-year process we’ve been going through, we have really come a long way.  God has transformed many lives - and of course, for the better.  Now we hope to solidify that momentum as we continue to structure ourselves for discipleship and mission. 

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the day-to-day life of ministry that we lose sight of this.  I’m grateful for these kinds of opportunities for telling the “Good News” of God’s work in our congregation.  It helps me to remember the good stuff.

— via Jesus:

The following are passages relating to Jesus’ perspective on the Sabbath:

• Matthew 12:1 - 14, (15 - 21): Jesus’ disciples pluck grain on the Sabbath; the Pharisees gripe, so Jesus tells them that David ate the bread of the Presence when they were hungry.  He further states that the priests break the Sabbath by their duties in the Temple.  He declares himself to be greater than the Temple and then Lord of the Sabbath.  Next, he heals a man with a withered hand (i.e., unable to work), in response to their inquiry about healing on the Sabbath.  Then he gives them an illustration about rescuing a stuck sheep.
• Matthew 28:1: Jesus is in the tomb on the Sabbath.
• Mark 1:21 - 31: Jesus casts out the demon in the synagogue and heals Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever.
• Mark 2:23 - 3:6: A shorter version of grain on the Sabbath with the man with the withered hand.
• Mark 6:2 - 6: Jesus is rejected at Nazareth on the Sabbath.
• Mark 15:42 - 16:1: Jesus is in the tomb on the Sabbath.
• Luke 4:16 - 39: Jesus is rejected at Nazareth, and uses “physician, heal yourself”.  He casts out a demon in Capernum on the Sabbath.  He heals Simon’s mother-in-law.
• Luke 6:1 - 11: Luke’s version of the grainfields and the man with the withered hand.
• Luke 13:10 - 17: Jesus heals a crippled woman on the Sabbath.
• Luke 14:1 - 6: Jesus heals a man with dropsy at dinner on the Sabbath.
• Luke 23:54 - 56: Jesus is in the tomb on the Sabbath, and the disciples keep the commandment.
• John 5:1 - 18: Jesus heals the man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath.  The man gets in trouble for carrying his mat.  Jesus asserts that he is still working because his Father is working.
• John 7:19 - 24: Jesus asserts that his healing of a man is greater than circumcision, which is performed even on the Sabbath.  He also says that circumcision is healing, somehow.  Ouch.
• John 9:13 - 17: The Pharisees assert that Jesus cannot be from God because he healed on the Sabbath.
• John 19:31 - 37: Jesus is removed from the cross before the Sabbath.
• Hebrews 4:1 - 13: The author of Hebrews urges his readers to enter God’s Sabbath-rest.

The rest of the NT references to the Sabbath are in Colossians 2:16 - no condemnation in festivals or Sabbaths - and in Acts where Paul and his companions meet with the Jews on the Sabbaths to teach about Christ.

Today is Ascension Day, forty days past Easter.  My brother put up one of those icons of Jesus getting swooped up today, complete with footprints on the rock. 

The more I study the Ascension, the more I realize that, at least in the eyes of Paul and the Gospel writers, the Resurrection and Ascension were two parts of the same event.  (In John, Pentecost’s there, too.)  How many times does Paul say something to the effect of “Jesus was raised and seated in authority over everything else”?  It’s quite frequent.  See Ephesians 1:20-23, especially.  Jesus gained the authority, it seems, over everything in his death and resurrection, and then came into his throne at the Ascension.  Thus, in our discussions of the Resurrection, we naturally must flow into the Ascension for our theology of the Resurrection to be complete.  And of course, an Ascension without a Resurrection is just nonsense - at least as long as the crucifixion did its job. 

This means that Jesus the Messiah’s victory over death, sin and the devil was part and parcel of his rule over all powers and authorities - “not only in this age but in the age to come” (Eph. 1:21, NRSV).  This is the day we can declare his kingship over all the other authorities in our lives - governments, families, the weather, etc.  He’s not just ruler over the age to come, but he has been made ruler over this present age as well. 

For us, this means that the world is even more in out-and-out rebellion against him, and we are to be responsible participants in his new way of life. 

Praise God for the Ascension!

As you have probably already seen, I’ve been working on a new discipleship curriculum for our church - a curriculum which I am hoping to publish eventually.

The second chapter of the curriculum is an introduction to Christian lifestyle and commitments.  Thus, I am working on a basic summary of the Ten Commandments, taken from the perspective of Jesus.  Therefore, two of the Ten have become rather complicated.

The fourth commandment, that to keep the Sabbath, is difficult to work out, but here’s my general drift so far: in light of Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath and pretty much his out-and-out provocation of the Pharasaic approach to the Sabbath, it seems that God is commanding Sabbath so that his people will have time for healing, restoration and rest.  It’s not so much a commandment against work - it’s more a commandment to genuinely rest and experience God’s restoration and sustenance.  Jesus’ healings, occurring as often as they did on Sabbaths, are somehow very significant for his interpretation of the Sabbath, and I know I’m missing something here.

The fifth commandment is also difficult for us.  First of all, this commandment was written as much to adults as it was to children - if not more so.  The adults are the ones to be honoring their parents, not just the children.  Only secondarily is this taught to minors.  That’s the first thing we have to get straight in our interpretation of the commandment to honor parents. 

But the big question for our day and time comes from the context in which I minister.  Many teens and young adults - as well as many other older adults - come from families that are just plain dysfunctional.  How do you honor a father whose presence in your life was over before the cells that became you were even fertilized?  How do you honor parents who are verbally (or otherwise) abusive?  How do you honor parents who are acting like total fools? 

Understanding an “honor and shame culture” such as the Old Testament might shed some light - but it’s hard to describe this commandment negatively.  We could write it “Do not shame your parents” instead of “honor your parents,” and that could lead us to understanding, but does it still miss the point?  For in the OT culture, honor and shame were opposites - and there was no middle ground.  If you do not shame your parents, that makes some sense, even for this culture. 

I’d appreciate some dialogue and feedback on these two commandments, since I think they have deep significance for being truly Christian in our culture.  I don’t want to see us go back to even the Pharasaic laws of the 19th century Christianity that kept the world shut down on Sundays.  That doesn’t make any sense to me at all.  Then your doctors and other emergency personnel have to break the Sabbath to heal - and that seems to go against Jesus’ own practice.  And we all need to find ways to honor parents - even when they’re totally disrespectible.  I don’t know how to deal with that: I grew up in a (relatively) sane family and my parents are pillars of the community, honorable on all fronts.  Yet somehow this “honor one’s parents” must speak both to me and to the fatherless kids I deal with regularly. 

Help?

I listened to a talk today by NT Wright on Jesus and the Kingdom, in which he said a very profound thing:

There is a profound difference between seeing Jesus as having good ideas and having Good News. 

What do you think?

Today, I spent some extensive time writing on the Vital Faith Discipleship Curriculum.  The first chapter is almost completed.  Chapter 1 of Vital Faith is an introduction to Christian faith and belief.  Using the Nicene Creed as an outline or summary of Christian teaching, this chapter of Vital Faith is sub-divided into 12 parts, each 2-4 pages in length (on standard letter paper with default margins).  Each part is sub-divided into 3-5 sections for even easier digestibility.  The curriculum is framed so that parts and sections can be mixed and matched, extended or shortened, depending on the particular situation. 

My natural writing style is at the collegiate level, so I will need to find persons willing to test and edit my writing for other audiences.  The Nicene Creed is used in an attempt to create continuity with the Church throughout time and place, rather than creating an outline so contemporary that it must be changed frequently to keep it fresh.  In other words, it takes Webber’s Ancient-Future approach to discipleship.  In the use of the Creed, I have deliberately avoided entering into the conflicts and discussions of the fourth century and after.  This should be particularly obvious in the notorious filioque clause: “We believe in the Holy Spirit… who proceeds from the Father and the son (i.e., filioque).”  Because I am using it as an outline to teach basic Christianity, sometimes I downplay the main sense of the phrase of the Creed in favor of a greater didactic purpose.  Moreover, this means that I use the analogies handed to us by the Creed - those of begetting and proceeding, in particular.  For instance, I use the post-Nicene analogy of the Father speaking the Word by means of the breath of the Spirit as a means of describing the one ousia in three hypostases without using the Greek.  It is by no means an appeal to modalism. 

This chapter is intended to be used in the context of reading the Bible together - disciple(s) and mentor.  Whether this reading is working through one of the Gospels, as I recommend in my introduction, or focusing on some other reading rubric, it is intended to run inside a greater ecclesial setting.  The sections may be read by the disciples/students and then discussed, may be read together with the mentor/discipler, or may be used as notes from which the mentor can place the faith in the context of the disciple’s life.

In reflecting upon the the use of this chapter, it seems best to be a part of the process of discipleship in which people decide to be baptized.  Then, as that decision is made, it is possible to begin to teach the Christian Discipleship lifestyle in depth.  That is the content of chapter 2, which is now in outline form.

I intend to complete the draft of chapter 1 tomorrow and release it to those willing to edit and test it.  Stay tuned.

Our Church’s leadership team began to look at the draft of a new set of by-laws tonight.  While there was some initial confusion as to the purpose and scope of a set of bylaws or Constitution, I believe the discussion went well.  We made it through three of the ten pages in the time allotted.  We will look at it again in two weeks.

Our primary concern is to create structures for our congregational life that will empower us to be disciples of Jesus Christ and live out the Great Commandment (love God, love others), and the Great Commission (make disciples).  So far, we think we are achieving that end. 

Please pray for us as we continue to work through this process!

Churches breed passivity. Over years, congregations have newsletters thrust into hands, visions spoken over their lives and the Bible dictated to them. It’s a lazy form of Christianity that breeds passive consumers.

Thoughts?

Listen to Louie Giglio’s presentation of a really great sermon illustration.  I hope to see this tied to Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12.

via TallGrassWorship.