Have you heard about the Afghan Christian who was arrested for being a Christian and was supposed to be put to death? The link below is part of his story. Thankfully, Italy has offered asylum, otherwise, it seems that the Islamic clerics would have lynched him themselves.
We really have it easy here in America. So many Christians around the world have not a notion of what complacency or apathy is, and we're having worship wars and most of the people in our churches are there to consume religion. Cryin' shame.
Persecution may be the only way the church in America will ever understand what it means to follow Jesus.
Here's the link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-03-29-convert-asylum_x.htm
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
Beauty
V For Vendetta is a great flick. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes to think.
My friends know me to be a lover of lists. My journals are full of lists: top ten songs, top five movies, top five favorite places. There's a list coming up.
I've been thinking a lot about beauty. I think nature is beautiful. I love art and good music. My family is where I see beauty most, in my wife and children, particularly my wedding day, the births of my kids and how I view my wife after significant healing in our relationship took place a few years ago. After them, here's a list of five beautiful things I've experienced, it's impossible to come up with the top five, so this is just a sampling:
1. The love of life of a group of orphans outside Sofia, Bulgaria
2. A sunrise in late June 2003 over the Alps in Grenoble, France
3. Both guitar solos by David Gilmour in "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd
4. "Spirit of Autumn" -- a painting by George Inness
5. The movie "Hero"
Beauty is unique in that I don't think it can be counterfeited. Beauty is beauty and to counterfeit it is to remove the beauty. I love how the Psalms speak of God in reference to beauty:
"For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever"
"God looms majestic in Zion, He towers in splendor over all the big names. Great and terrible your beauty: let everyone praise you! Holy. Yes, holy. Strong King, lover of justice, You laid things out fair and square; You set down the foundations in Jacob, Foundation stones of just and right ways. Honor God, our God; worship his rule! Holy. Yes, holy."
"Bow before the beauty of God, Then to your knees--everyone worship!"
"I'm asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I'll contemplate his beauty; I'll study at his feet."
God is beautiful, but I think a lot of us miss out on what that means. The list above makes me respond with emotion. Interacting with my family fills me with emotion. I think a lot of us have no idea what it means for God to be beautiful because we've never emotionally connected to Jesus and really looked Him in the face.
Here's the most beautiful thing about Jesus: grace.
My freedom is because of His grace. My joy is because of His grace. My peace is because of His grace. My hope is because of His grace. My redemption, His grace. My faith, His grace. My righteousness, His grace. That sunrise, His grace. That painting, His grace. That music, His grace. Those children, His grace. That movie, His grace. My family, His grace. Our church, His grace. His beauty is everywhere.
So how can you and I be beautiful? We can be full of grace. More about that next post.
My friends know me to be a lover of lists. My journals are full of lists: top ten songs, top five movies, top five favorite places. There's a list coming up.
I've been thinking a lot about beauty. I think nature is beautiful. I love art and good music. My family is where I see beauty most, in my wife and children, particularly my wedding day, the births of my kids and how I view my wife after significant healing in our relationship took place a few years ago. After them, here's a list of five beautiful things I've experienced, it's impossible to come up with the top five, so this is just a sampling:
1. The love of life of a group of orphans outside Sofia, Bulgaria
2. A sunrise in late June 2003 over the Alps in Grenoble, France
3. Both guitar solos by David Gilmour in "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd
4. "Spirit of Autumn" -- a painting by George Inness
5. The movie "Hero"
Beauty is unique in that I don't think it can be counterfeited. Beauty is beauty and to counterfeit it is to remove the beauty. I love how the Psalms speak of God in reference to beauty:
"For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever"
"God looms majestic in Zion, He towers in splendor over all the big names. Great and terrible your beauty: let everyone praise you! Holy. Yes, holy. Strong King, lover of justice, You laid things out fair and square; You set down the foundations in Jacob, Foundation stones of just and right ways. Honor God, our God; worship his rule! Holy. Yes, holy."
"Bow before the beauty of God, Then to your knees--everyone worship!"
"I'm asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I'll contemplate his beauty; I'll study at his feet."
God is beautiful, but I think a lot of us miss out on what that means. The list above makes me respond with emotion. Interacting with my family fills me with emotion. I think a lot of us have no idea what it means for God to be beautiful because we've never emotionally connected to Jesus and really looked Him in the face.
Here's the most beautiful thing about Jesus: grace.
My freedom is because of His grace. My joy is because of His grace. My peace is because of His grace. My hope is because of His grace. My redemption, His grace. My faith, His grace. My righteousness, His grace. That sunrise, His grace. That painting, His grace. That music, His grace. Those children, His grace. That movie, His grace. My family, His grace. Our church, His grace. His beauty is everywhere.
So how can you and I be beautiful? We can be full of grace. More about that next post.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Reality TV
I'm fascinated by reality TV. Birthed by MTV's "The Real World", this avenue of entertainment is truly a key cultural component to our current world.
My fascination begins with the name "reality TV". It's a paradox. There's no possible way that can even be close to being true. It's like "jumbo shrimp" or "country music". It's just not possible for the two to go together. The second you put a camera in front of someone, they cease being themselves. I think the reason for this is because our relationships define who we are and how we behave. None of us can be truly defined in a relational vacuum. The problem with a camera, especially in the realm of television, is that the person behind the camera is unknown. Therefore, we cannot be truly defined or truly define relationally.
I think reality TV is great entertainment. I'm secure enough in myself to say that I dig American Idol and The Apprentice. But honestly, it can't be reality. There's casting calls, producers, artificial environments, editing and terrible acting.
My biggest problem with reality TV is this (I made this term up myself): surrogate virtues. Americans love reality TV because it is ordinary people living what they view to be an extraordinary experience and they are more than pleased to allow those people on the screen to feel the things they were meant to feel.
For example, take Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. A small group of beautiful people with unlimited resources (place Sears product label here) take a pathetic situation and make it all better with a bunch of material possessions. It looks and feels so right, so much like justice. And the network execs are exploiting those peoples' pain all the way to the bank. This show is not about helping people, it's about ratings and advertising. The moment it stops getting ratings, it will be off the air.
But we love it. We surrogately experience love, hope, peace, revenge, justice, connection, romance, and a host of other emotions and virtues. But especially love and hope. In the back of our minds is the thought, "Maybe one day something like that will happen to me. Maybe one day I will be extraordinary."
The hole that is created in our hearts by lack of these things is a hole that only Jesus was made to fulfill. But we willingly extract the seed of hope or love from our souls, place it in vitro into the womb of network television, and what is birthed is hopelessness. Because the bottom line is this: you're not going to be on TV, and if you do get on TV, it's not going to make you happy. You're not going to win the lottery, and if you do, it's not going to buy you what you are missing. Getting my house remodeled for free will not answer my kids' questions about why they have CF. Living in a sweet spread in a remote location with six other strangers for three months and then riding that "celebrity" for another ten years will not answer your deepest, darkest questions.
Reality TV connects with me because I love watching people achieve their dreams. I can definitely do without the drama, but watching underdogs overcome is great (I guess that's why I like Idol and Apprentice). But in reality -- real reality -- reality TV fails to answer this question: What does it profit someone if they gain the whole world but lose their own soul?
The answer to that question is as real as reality gets.
My fascination begins with the name "reality TV". It's a paradox. There's no possible way that can even be close to being true. It's like "jumbo shrimp" or "country music". It's just not possible for the two to go together. The second you put a camera in front of someone, they cease being themselves. I think the reason for this is because our relationships define who we are and how we behave. None of us can be truly defined in a relational vacuum. The problem with a camera, especially in the realm of television, is that the person behind the camera is unknown. Therefore, we cannot be truly defined or truly define relationally.
I think reality TV is great entertainment. I'm secure enough in myself to say that I dig American Idol and The Apprentice. But honestly, it can't be reality. There's casting calls, producers, artificial environments, editing and terrible acting.
My biggest problem with reality TV is this (I made this term up myself): surrogate virtues. Americans love reality TV because it is ordinary people living what they view to be an extraordinary experience and they are more than pleased to allow those people on the screen to feel the things they were meant to feel.
For example, take Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. A small group of beautiful people with unlimited resources (place Sears product label here) take a pathetic situation and make it all better with a bunch of material possessions. It looks and feels so right, so much like justice. And the network execs are exploiting those peoples' pain all the way to the bank. This show is not about helping people, it's about ratings and advertising. The moment it stops getting ratings, it will be off the air.
But we love it. We surrogately experience love, hope, peace, revenge, justice, connection, romance, and a host of other emotions and virtues. But especially love and hope. In the back of our minds is the thought, "Maybe one day something like that will happen to me. Maybe one day I will be extraordinary."
The hole that is created in our hearts by lack of these things is a hole that only Jesus was made to fulfill. But we willingly extract the seed of hope or love from our souls, place it in vitro into the womb of network television, and what is birthed is hopelessness. Because the bottom line is this: you're not going to be on TV, and if you do get on TV, it's not going to make you happy. You're not going to win the lottery, and if you do, it's not going to buy you what you are missing. Getting my house remodeled for free will not answer my kids' questions about why they have CF. Living in a sweet spread in a remote location with six other strangers for three months and then riding that "celebrity" for another ten years will not answer your deepest, darkest questions.
Reality TV connects with me because I love watching people achieve their dreams. I can definitely do without the drama, but watching underdogs overcome is great (I guess that's why I like Idol and Apprentice). But in reality -- real reality -- reality TV fails to answer this question: What does it profit someone if they gain the whole world but lose their own soul?
The answer to that question is as real as reality gets.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Thoughts From Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen, at one point in his life, was dean of Harvard School of Divinity. He left that prestigious position at a call from God to work at L'Arche, a home for the mentally handicapped. I've tried to read most things that he has written. These quotes come from my favorite book of his, "In the Name of Jesus". I read this book (it's short and has a huge font) once a month on my day of silence. It always speaks good, hard stuff to me. In the book, he parallels the temptation of Christ (Matthew 4) with the post-resurrection challenge by Christ to Peter (John 21). It's some really good stuff.
"We have to hear that question ['Do you love Me?' John 21:15-17] as being central to all of our Christian ministry because it is the question that can allow us to be, at the same time, irrelevant and truly self-confident."
"Knowing the heart of Jesus and loving Him are the same thing."
"Dealing with burning issues without being rooted in a deep personal relationship with God easily leads to divisiveness because, before we know it, our sense of self is caught up on our opinion about a given subject."
"When spirituality becomes spiritualization, life in the Body becomes carnality. When ministers and priests live their ministry mostly in their heads and relate to the Gospel as a set of valuable ideas to be announced, the Body quickly takes revenge by screaming loudly for affection and intimacy. Christian leaders are called to live the Incarnation, that is, to live in the Body, not only in their own bodies but also in the corporate Body of the community and to discover there the presence of the Holy Spirit."
"If there is any hope for the church in the future, it will be hope for a poor church in which its leaders are willing to be led."
"The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on a cross."
"We have to hear that question ['Do you love Me?' John 21:15-17] as being central to all of our Christian ministry because it is the question that can allow us to be, at the same time, irrelevant and truly self-confident."
"Knowing the heart of Jesus and loving Him are the same thing."
"Dealing with burning issues without being rooted in a deep personal relationship with God easily leads to divisiveness because, before we know it, our sense of self is caught up on our opinion about a given subject."
"When spirituality becomes spiritualization, life in the Body becomes carnality. When ministers and priests live their ministry mostly in their heads and relate to the Gospel as a set of valuable ideas to be announced, the Body quickly takes revenge by screaming loudly for affection and intimacy. Christian leaders are called to live the Incarnation, that is, to live in the Body, not only in their own bodies but also in the corporate Body of the community and to discover there the presence of the Holy Spirit."
"If there is any hope for the church in the future, it will be hope for a poor church in which its leaders are willing to be led."
"The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on a cross."
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