Pastor Mike's Blog Page

A Blog for Blogging's Sake

2010-12-30T13:38:00.001-08:00

This is probably very self-centered of me...assuming that my thoughts are so important that I should bother blogging with my new HTC EGO 4G.

I love this phone so very much.

Jesus is probably "tsk-tsk"ing me from the right hand of the father. Possibly he is quoting Isaiah, "my thoughts are higher then your thoughts....

...SO STOP TYPING WITH YOUR THUMBS!"

ok so Isaiah never said that latter part.

But what if I DID think like God? What would be the main difference?

Aside from being perfect and Holy, I think that my thoughts differ from God's thoughts in this way;

God doesn't just think. God DOES.
There is no disconnect between God's loving thoughts and God's loving action.

Lord, may it also be with me. Let me not be a man divided into segregated heart, hands and mind, but let me serve you as wholly one, o Holy One.

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You Can Take The Guidos and Guidettes Out of Jersey, But You Can't Take Jesus Out Of Anywhere...

2010-10-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is the back of none other than Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino's head. Really, his haircut should come as not surprise. Look how often you see the cross hanging from the necks of the stars of MTV's Jersey Shore. The boys especially wear rosaries quite often (which I understand to be a no no for Catholics?) and Ronnie of course has a HUGE black tattoo of a cross on his back.

I'm going to be bringing up Jersey Shore and its cast in this week's sermon. Of course this means I'll be yapping on about the absurdity of "reality television" and the ridiculous ideals, values and behaviors that shows like Jersey Shore promotes and propose as how reality should be understood. I'm also just a wee bit off-put by the continuous presence of the cross of Christ in the show, and the continuous absence of Christ-likeness.

Or so one might think.

Whether I mention it in the sermon or not - I need to point out one aspect of Jersey Shore that I love (apart from the rest of it that I love as a guilty pleasure).

Every Sunday night it seems, the entire crew gather as a family at a big table and share a home-made meal together. Regardless of whatever spats have occurred or whatever resentment remains, they still come together and share a meal. And at that table you often see forgiveness, reconciliation and (dysfunctional though it may be) love. Remind you of another table? If not, then you haven't been paying attention at Communion - cause that's what's supposed to happen there. The Church, since the beginning has gathered around a meal, for the past millennia plus celebrated in a simple two-courses; bread and wine.

And really, should we look down on Mike, Ronnie, Snookie, Jenni, Pauly, Sammy, Vinny or Angelina? Is this group of sinners really that different from us - just another group of sinners that gather around a table and find forgiveness and love? (Yes, even Angelina...)

I'm just waiting for one of the Jersey Shore girls to bring home some strange middle-eastern lookin' dude to that dinner table - and watch him grab the garlic bread and tear off pieces, pass them around and say "take, eat, this is my body..."

A Meaningful Christmas

2010-10-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

So I'm already thinking about worship for this Christmas. It's actually a big deal because when I say "for Christmas" I'm mean the four Sundays of Advent and Christmas Eve.

I love most of the things we do at Christmas time.

- the lighting of the Advent wreath

- candlelight Christmas Eve service

- familiar Christmas songs

- familiar Christmas scriptures

But I want to make sure that we don't fall into simple sentimentalism here. Christmas should be meaningful! I mean this is the celebration of Jesus' Birth - and given our theology, that's a BIG deal!

Remember who we Christians say Jesus is? Yeah...he's God in human flesh. The first Christmas was a universe-shaking event, it literally changed everything. This is the day that God became human - for us, for all creation. God became a living, breathing, cooing, drooling, pooping baby boy named Jesus.

That's pretty meaningful. Christmas says so much to us about a God - OUR God - who loves his creatures so much that He was willing to become one of us. This isn't a God that stays remote up in heaven, not caring, not involved - our God became one of US.

So to commemorate this...we buy crap.

Seriously, we (and I include myself here) buy stuff we don't need, that really has no use but to satisfy our own lust for material possessions.

And I know - a pastor ranting against materialism at this point is old news. Churches have been seeking to combat what Christmas has become in our secular culture with what Christmas should be about for like...ever. But t-shirts saying "Jesus is the reason for the season" doesn't do much. And it seems that the Church's activity has only become a part of this big meaningless Christmas. All the candles and decorations and music points to Jesus Christ - but we've sentimentalized it all.

How can we have a MEANINGFUL CHRISTMAS that truly truly celebrates the coming of Jesus - that reflects the love of our God who came to US as one of us to save us?

Worship Update - Holy Humor Sunday

2010-04-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we had our two memorial services here at Faith UMC.

Thing is, for some reason memorial services and funerals tend to be some of the most moving and meaningful worship experiences. I think the solemness of our reason for gathering (the death of a loved one and concern for those still alive and grieving) resets us.

What I mean is...while not in the best place, we are in a better place to really allow God to enter into our hearts.
...we are vulnerable...
...we are in desperate spiritual need...
...our everyday worries are cast aside, our human pain has cast them out of ourselves.

And I think for alot of us - we really open ourselves to the work of God's Spirit in such a time.

So not only was I wary of doing a "Holy Humor Sunday" that week because of our church'es grief - I didn't want to cheapen the meaningfulness of the encounters people had with God in any way.

Not to mention I was in no mood to be jolly. On top of two memorial services, it's finals season for me and I have a ton of papers and projects to do. On Wednesday, my Father in law had a heart attack too. He's okay though.

Well, we did it anyways.

And we were silly.
our choir director wore her pajamas (all the better for my sermon, right?)
another fellow came in a straw hat and running shorts
funny hats were abundant!
no one brought whoopie cushions though...probably a good thing...wouldn't want some confused soul think that we were promoting the real thing...it gets hot enough in that church...

And during our joys and concerns, when the congregation lifts up their prayers of joy and concern (was that redundant?) and on this sunday, jokes as well - one man, the gentleman who was widowed the past week, stood up and gave a moving testimony. I mean moving. Not a dry eye in the house, but plenty of smiles.

And ya know what. It was a reallt beautiful and meaningful service.

Silly? Heckz yeah.

But really beautiful, somehow. I doubt I will ever forget it.

Peace and Love in Jesus Name!

Two Funerals and Humor on Sunday (or "God's Really Bad Joke")

2010-04-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

If you read my previous post, you see that by my decision and design - Faith UMC is going to have a "Humor Sunday" this coming Sunday. Again, the point is to experience joy - joy because Christ Is Risen!

And to lift one another up by making each other pee our pants laughing.

Well... God sent me a few stumbling blocks in the form of the deaths of two members of our church. So we will be having two memorial services, one on Thursday another on Saturday.

Two services where people will be faced with the reality of death.

Two services with mourning and crying that will not stop when i say the dismissal and blessing.

So should I have Humor Sunday still? Is it appropriate? Will I offend? Will this sully the memories of these dear people? I'm conflicted. I mean - even beyond my concern for the congregation and those who loved these people - I'm mourning too! Can I pull off leading a humorous worship service? Should I?

Humor Sunday!

2010-04-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the picture above is just...not right. I mean I think Jesus smiled and laughed -he was human and those are some of the best parts of being human! And he is also God - and I do believe that God has a deep sense of humor. BUT - Jesus was not a used car salesman or the Fonze either. (Hey! Pick up your cross and follow me! Eeeehhhhh!).

The above picture is not anything like what I intend for this upcoming Sunday - which we have announced as humor Sunday. Yes, I told the congregation to bring funny hats and clothes, noisemaker and yes...even whoopie cushions (i'm wondering if that was a good idea...)

But we are not going to turn Jesus into a joke. The point is to lift each other up with humor - to encourage one another with laughter - and to experience joy together as a church. After all we are in the season of Easter - what better time to experience joy.

I'm still not sure how I'm gonna pull this off...

Worship Updates

2010-04-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

Seeing how it's been a while since I've posted - I'm just going to offer some refelctions on some of the worship that we've experienced at Faith UMC lately, highlighting parts that were particularly meaningful for me.

On Wednesday, March 31st - I preached at Shiloh UMC in Indian Head, MD. Faith is involved with a group of churches along the 210 Corridor and we join together during Lent for Wednesday night worship - we have different churches host on certain nights, and another church provides the worship experience on those nights. Any-hoo, what was neat for me was the chance to use a projector and screen (I want one! I want one!). The scripture was from Matthew, where a leper comes to Jesus asking to be cleansed. Jesus in his compassion, reaches out and TOUCHES the man (which was a no no in the ancient near east) and heals him. See the first chapter of Mark in your Bible for the whole story. We projected a picture (that I think i posted on this blog a year or two ago) of a person stricken with leprosy holding a flower. The sermon was meant to confront us with the fact that we are all spritual lepers - and in the need of Jesus healing touch - and that we, now bearers of this touch of Jesus, should withold it from no one. The downside? The podium I used wouldn't hold my manuscript - and I kept loosing my place and essentially had to make it up as I went along. God worked it out (thanks, Lord).

On Good Friday we had a small service at Faith in the early afternoon, after food pantry. We used a big wooden cross I built last year and went through the gospels - telling the story of the crucifiction. Meanwhile the cross was adorned with a crown of thorns, nails and finally a balck cloth draped over it to signify death. I made the mistake of not instructing the congregation effectively and I think they felt a little lost, and it distracted from the depth that the service could have had. But maybe I'm wrong...God judges hearts...not me (okay, I DO - but I'm not supposed to and when i do I'm often wrong.)

On Easter we had our sunrise service at 6:45 am. It was simple, we sang, read some scripture and "flowered the cross" covering the center of it with carnations and then draping in it a white sheet. This cross was then brought into the sanctuary as the choir processed in (which i thought was kinda cool). Honestly, I can't even remember what I preached! Sad, right? Really, I feel like the beauty of the day (it was gorgeous out!) contributed more to a sense and understanding of Christ's resurrection WAY more than anything we did inside the church.

A great letter to non-believers

2009-12-05T09:07:00.000-08:00

Shaine Claiborne is the leader of a ministry called "the Simple Way". He advocated for a Christianity that is radical like Jesus in the way Christians love and live in this world. This letter is written to non-believers, specifically people who have come into comtact with so-called Christians who are more concerned with pushing a political viewpoint than being like Jesus. I just thought it was so awesome that I had to post it. Also - it's in Esquire Magazine of all places! HA!

http://www.esquire.com/features/best-and-brightest-2009/shane-claiborne-1209

enjoy!

Call to Worship Resource

2009-11-16T07:42:00.001-08:00

I don't know if anyone who serves as a worship leader or pastor in their church even reads my blog... but if you do below I have posted a link to a file I uploaded to google docs. It is all the calls to worship that I wrote during my first year here at Faith UMC (from July to December, that is). Most are based of the lectionary scriptures. There are also a few opening prayers as well. I'm nearlyt postive that I wrote all of these - but I can't say beyond all doubt. Regardless - I hope this can be a resource for others. Follow the link below.

Call to Worship - Year A (July-December)

Passing By God's Word...

2009-11-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

Driving to school today I passed by this huge truck. I glanced at it quickly and what I saw really excited me, because what I saw was the words 'TACO TRANSPORT".

HOLY MOLY! Think of all those tacos! I wonder if they are all beef...or all chicken. They wouldn't put them together I'm sure for fear of cross contamina...waitaminnut...oooooo...it says "TAC Transport".

How disappointing.
In my defense, I was tired and I it was only in that passing glance that I had the momentary hope that there would exist in this world a LARGE truck full of delicious tacos.

I think that reading the Bible, reflecting during the planning and experience of worship, prayer and pretty much any action of devotion towards God is much like this experience. We can't do it tired and we can't do it "at-a-glance". Something that has become super-apparent to me as a pastor is that I have no hope of adequately functioning in my ministry without two things: rest and time to reflect.
I wonder how much more I would get out of Scripture if I came to it with a rested mind, if I came to it unburdened by my anxieties and worries with a clear head and an enlivened heart. I also wonder how possible this is...

I suppose the fact that a "taco transport" is all it took for me to think all this reveals just how badly I need to really take time in scripture in such a way.

Worship Puzzle

2009-11-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

Have you ever worked really hard on a puzzle - let's say an intricate one that requires alot of time? You've got a good deal done...and you need a Diet Dr. Pepper fix. You rise up from the coffee table you're working on and your leg bumps it, knocking all the pieces out of place. You say a toned down "christianized" form of some curse word ("well-golly-gosh-fudge- n'-fiddlesticks!"). That's how I feel about worship planning write now. I'm a wee-bit frustrated. I've been experimenting with moving a few things around here and there.

Should the offering go before or after the sermon?

Oh but if it goes there...then it's too close to another hymn and the songs aren't stretched out evenly over the entire worship service.

Hey! where did I put the prayers of the people? Oh yeah, it get's cut out because it's included in the Communion liturgy and I forgot to put it back in....

but I moved this other thing...so where do I put it now?

and so on.

Sometimes it does feel like I'm always finding pieces and trying to put them together. I struggle to make a single whole entity out of it.

So right now, I'm meditating on the "fourfold pattern of worship". This is the basic pattern that churches for millenia have held to. It originated from the two things that used to be a part of every Christian worship: Word and Table (Scripture and Sacrament, Bible teaching and communion). Later it was divided into these four catagories

1- The Gathering: Song and prayer that brings the worshipping community together and centers them on God. It is meant to prepare us for recieving what God has to give to us in His Word and at His table.

2- The Word: Scripture is read - always. And then there is a response. For the bulk of churches that means a sermon. But I wonder - what if we did something different? How about a dramatic telling of the scripture followed by a discussion in the congregation? Or what if the sermon was more of a teaching moment - where questions were asked and discussed in worship? Or how about testimonies? I really think that the sermon as we understand it (essentially a speech) is due for a facelift...

3- The Table: It used to be that all churches practiced Communion every Sunday. That is hardly the case in most protestant churches and I think that's a shame. Nevertheless, most churches enter into a "eucharist" anyways (the word means "thanksgiving"). That is what the offering is (it is also a response to the Word, I suppose). But I love the sacrament of communion. I love offering it and I love partaking of it. I love being fed by the body of blood of Jesus - I love the presence that I feel as we take communion. I love the sharing in the community. I love that we are together, gathered around one table like a family. I just love it. (Gee, ya' think I like communion?) I'm really thinking Faith will start sharing in communion every week...

4- Finally there is the sending out into the world. Ussually it includes singing victoriously and vigorously (not always an option given the songs in our hymnals...) with a benediction that encourages that the church goes out into the world in the power of God's Spirit.

Maybe one day our worship bulletins will be simpler and reflect this more. But this is what I'm mulling over in my head as I struggle with worship planning.

The peace of Jesus be with you!

Worship and All Saints Day

2009-11-02T14:35:00.001-08:00

Ok – so I haven’t posted in a while. I guess I haven’t really figured out what I want to do with this blogging thing. I’ve tried using as a tool for sermons – that really didn’t fly (at least, not yet). And I’ve used it for general reflections as well, but I’d like to have a greater sense of purpose when writing; something more than yakking about my day. So I’ve just now decided that I will use this blog for the purposes of contemplating, planning and discussing worship. Worshipping God is one of my passions as a minister. I get excited about having churches encounter God’s word and to respond to God’s grace and to experience God in their midst in new ways and old. I want Faith UMC to be a church where worship is a genuine act of devotion that brings our community closer to God and changes lives.

So as this church strives for that goal, I am going to post about my experiences in planning, leading and participating worship. I try to be innovative and creative with worship, so I pray that perhaps my blogging may become a tool to help other church leaders (here at Faith and beyond) to plan and prepare worship in new ways. However, planning Sunday after Sunday of worship gets to be daunting and I know that I am really starting to see the effects of mental and spiritual exhaustion in my worship planning and the in the crafting of my sermons. I think the church sees the decline too. So to address that I’m also doing this as a conscious effort to reflect on worship theologically and hopefully others will join me. I pray that this might refresh me and encourage me as I continue to plan and lead worship.

I suppose I should start with this past Sunday then. At Faith UMC we celebrated All Saints day. One of the highlights of this Sunday’s worship for me was the candle-lit communion table (see pic below). I mean, its cool looking! It really spoke to me about how the light of Christ that shines from the lives of all of us really has a legacy. It spoke to me about our purpose; that we are the light of Jesus in this world, called to bring people into communion (relationship) with God.

I wish everybody could have felt what I did when I was doing the blessing over the bread and wine. We lit the candles first, calling out the names of loved ones lost in the past year and having their friends and family come up to light a candle for them. And as I was going over the great thanksgiving (being careful not to catch my robe on fire) I could feel the warmth of the candles on my hands and face. It was pretty cool. Pastor’s perk I suppose.

Thanks to Laurie Thorwart for the second picture!

Preaching/Blogging Experiment part VII: The One Church of Jesus Christ

2009-07-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

...We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins...

When we say that we believe in one “catholic” church, we mean to say that it is universal. Since the time of the Apostles, the church has spread from a tiny area in the Middle East to the entire world. We are part of this universal body of Christ that takes so many wonderfully different shapes all over the world. As you ponder that think about…
What do you think it is that all churches are called to as parts of Christ’s body? What is special about our church? What special ministry are we called to?

Ephesians 1:17-23 1st Corinthians 3:1-11 1st Peter 2:1-11

This sermon will be preached on July 26th !
Remember to comment and discuss either by blog (username - faithaccokeek --- password - faithumc) email (beib185@verizon.net) or by paper (“Q&A box” in narthex)

Feel free to comment/discuss on the questions and scriptures posted for the sermon next week. That information is still online and posted on the Narthex bulletin board.

Preaching/ Blogging Experiment part VI: The Holy Spirit in the Church: Spiritual Gifts

2009-07-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

...[The Holy Spirit] has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic* and apostolic Church...

This week we are looking at the power of the Holy Spirit in the Church, in particular we’re focusing on Spiritual Gifts; that is the special talents, abilities or passions that God has given each of us for ministry. Read the below scriptures.

Ephesians 4:1-8, 11-14 Romans 12:1-8 1st Corinthians 12

Think about your talents and passions. Think about how God has worked in your life. Think about your work in the church. Ponder for a while. What might your spiritual gifts be (they need not be those listed in the above scriptures)?

This sermon will be preached on July 19th !
Remember to comment and discuss either by blog (you can use the username "faithaccokeek" and password "faithumc") email (beib185@verizon.net) or by paper (“Q&A box” in narthex)

Feel free to comment/discuss on the questions and scriptures posted for the sermon next week. That information is still online and posted on the Narthex bulletin board.

Blogging/Preaching Experiment part 5: The Holy Spirit

2009-06-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the Prophets.

Having looked at our belief in God the Father and in Jesus the Christ, we now turn our attention to the third person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

- In the Old Testament, God is called “Lord”, and we profess Jesus Christ as Lord. How do you envision the Holy Spirit as our Lord? What does that mean?
- The Holy Spirit is “the giver of Life”. How is this different from the Father being the creator and the Son being the one “through whom all things were made”?
- What do you think it means for the Spirit to “proceed” from both the Father and the Son?
- With the father and the Son, the Spirit is to be worshipped and glorified. Do you think the Holy Spirit is given enough attention in the worship and activities of most churches today? How about in ours?
- How do you see the Holy Spirit at work in our Church? Does it continue to “speak through the prophets” at Faith UMC? How so?

This sermon will be preached on July 12th !

I am also the guest musician for that Sunday - so if you can think of any song suggestions, please let me know!
Remember to comment and discuss either by blog email (beib185@verizon.net) or by paper (“Q&A box” in narthex)

Feel free to comment/discuss on the questions and scriptures posted for the sermon next week. That information is still online and posted on the Narthex bulletin board.

REMINDER: If you do not have a blogger or gmail or aol username - you can use the username "faithaccokeek" and the password "faithumc" -

Scriptures
Genesis 2:1-7 Ezekiel 37:1-10 John 15:26-27 John 20:19-23
2 Corinthians 3:17-18

The picture above is a tatoo depicting the Holy Spirit. I thought it was interesting for several reasons. It is a a picture that represents the Holy Spirit that resides not on a wall or in a stained glass window, but on a human being. Isn't that where the Spirit truly resides? In us? Also I like how the dove seems relaxed and at ease. Often we focus on the Holy Spirit as a "consuming fire"; an entity that is so incredibly active it baffles the mind. Here we may be catching a glace of the Holy Spirit as our counselor, even as God's presence with us in the midst of turmoil. I don't think I'd ever get a tatoo like this (too big), but I really like this art.

Blogging/Preaching Experiment IV: The Work of Christ

2009-06-20T17:24:00.000-07:00

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the HolySpirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

Last week we took a look at the person of Christ (who he is). Now we turn to the work of Christ (what he has done for us). The Nicene Creed gives a very short summary of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and puts it all under the heading of “for us and for our salvation”. When we speak of the work of Christ we’re speaking of how he has saved us. Whatever you believe about what Jesus has done for you is called your theory of atonement.

I’ve taken the part of the Nicene Creed that deals with the atoning work of Jesus Christ and I’ve underlined the five major statements it makes about what Jesus did.
- Do all of these events play a role in how Jesus saves us? If so, how?
- What does the creed say about Jesus’ life and ministry? Does anything seem to be missing?

How do you believe that Jesus has saved (atoned, redeemed, justified, etc.) you?

This sermon will be preached on July 5th !
Remember to comment and discuss either by blog, email (beib185@verizon.net) or by paper (“Q&A box” in narthex)

Feel free to comment/discuss on the questions and scriptures posted for the sermon next week. That information is still online and posted on the Narthex bulletin board.

Scriptures
Matthew 20:20-28 John 1:29 Romans 5:6-11 Romans 6: 1-11

Hebrews 2:7-15 Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-10 1 Peter 2:20-25

REMINDER: If you do not have a blogger or gmail or aol username - you can use the username "faithaccokeek" and the password "faithumc" -

the image above is what many archeologists and historians believe to be the earliest depiction of the crucifiction of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Preaching/ Blogging Experiment, part III:

2009-06-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

“We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made…
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and became truly human.”

The second part of the creed speaks of Jesus Christ. There are two major important facets of our understanding of Jesus Christ who he is (the person of Christ) and what he has done (the work of Christ).

For now, let’s focus on the person of Christ. Who is Jesus, what is his nature? Is he God, or just another dude? This is what the ancient church had to figure out – in fact they argued about it so much that they had to form a creed about it…

1- Take a look at what the creed says about who Jesus is. What does it tell us? Can you restate it in your own words?
2- What the heck is the difference between “begotten” and “made”?
3- We just got over talking about how God the Father is the creator…how is it then that it is through the Son that all things are made?
4- What does it mean for Jesus to be truly human?
5- Why is it significant that Jesus be both fully human and fully God?

This sermon will be preached on June 28th !
Remember to comment and discuss either by blog (link is on church website – see cover of bulletin) email (beib185@verizon.net) or by paper (“Q&A box” in narthex)

Feel free to comment/discuss on the questions and scriptures posted for the sermon next week. That information is still online and posted on the Narthex bulletin board.

Scriptures
John 1:1-5, 14-18 Philippians 2:1-11 Isaiah 9:1-7
Colossians 2:6-10 Hebrews 1:1-8

Blogging / Preaching Experiment part II - God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth

2009-06-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so maybe not as much input as I had hoped so far...
But I know you all can do it! I BELIEVE IN YOU (no pun intended).

So here is our next topic that will be preached on June 21st!

“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.”

The first part of the creed talks about God the Father who is the creator of everything.

Now there’s a lot I could say about the Father in regards to the Trinity. I’m going to skip that for now. Rather I’d like to focus on two basic questions…

1- Theologically and personally, what does it mean for us to call God “Father”?
a. If there is a special relationship between Jesus and the Father, does this have any
significance for us who also call God Father?
b. Personally, do you refer to God as Father in prayer and your devotional life? Does calling
God Father touch your heart in any special way; does it have special meaning for you?
or does the idea of God as Father disturb or upset you in anyway? Is it hard for you to
call God Father?

2- What is the significance of God being the creator of “all that is seen and unseen”?
a. Orthodox Christian belief states that God created “ex nihilo” which means “out of
nothing”. This means that God created the entire universe out of nothing. God didn’t have
all the parts necessary for the planets and stars and everything else and assembled them,
God made everything out of nothing. How is this significant?
b. The creed states that God is creator of both earth and heaven. Typically when we think
of creation, we think of the ocean, the sky and mountains, maybe even ourselves, but
what about the things we don’t see? What about the angels and heaven?
c. When we think about creation, we tend to think about the first two chapters of Genesis
(“In the beginning…”), but God is still creating. God is constantly bringing new things into
existence. Does this challenge or expand your thinking of God as creator in any way?

Another thing to consider…
- Is God necessarily male? Many well-meaning and faithful Christians have wanted to change the way we refer to God from “Father” to ‘Father/Mother God” or “Mother God” (interchangeable with “Father God”) or simply wish to remove any reference to gender in respects to God. What do you think of this?

Scriptures to ponder...
Genesis 1 – 2
Psalm 8
Isaiah 63: 7-16
Isaiah 64: 1-9
Matthew 5:43- 6:15
Luke 11:9-13
Ephesians 4:4-6
1st John 3:1-3

Blogging / Preaching part 1: “I BELIEVE"

2009-05-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

The first part of the Apostle’s Creed that we will look at are the very first two words; “I believe”. A Creed, after all, is simply a statement of belief.

So before we enter into the content of what it is we believe, let’s look at just what belief is and how it is we believe. Here are a few questions/discussion starters to get us going.

1) What does it mean to believe something?
2) Is belief the same thing as faith, or is it different? How so?
3) How does what (or who) we believe in affect how we believe?
4) How does a person come to believe in God? (How did YOU come to believe in God?)
5) Any suggestions for hymns or acts of worship?

6) Most importantly...so what? How does this have any meaning for your life, change the way you live or transform the world?

Any other questions or comments that you have – please post or e-mail or put in the question box at church.

Naturally, I'm not asking you to answer all the questions above - they are only posted to get your brains going.

Some scriptures to look at (two or maybe three of these will be used in worship)
Genesis 15:1-7, Exodus 3:7-14, 4:1-9, Numbers 14:1-11
Matthew 21: 18-23, Mark 9:17-24, Mark 16:9-16, Galatians 3:21-25,

Do you have any suggestions for other scriptures? Please let me know!

This topic will be preached on June 14th

Homiletical Blogging.

2009-05-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

Hey! Remember that thing I said I was going to do last month?
No?
Wait…you didn’t read my blog last month?
You’ve NEVER read my blog!?!?

all kidding aside, here’s what we’re doing. Yes, WE.

I am posting some general information/reflection/discussion questions about some of our basic beliefs as Christians. Soon (I’m thinking two weeks from now) I will be preaching on the subject.

However, what is going to determine the shape of the sermon and the worship are YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS.

So I either would like you to do one of the following.
1) Post a comment to this blog
2) Leave a comment in the ‘Question and Answer” box on the table in the narthex at church.
3) E-mail me your comment (my e-mail address is on the church website and printed on our Sunday bulletins)

Your comment can include any or all of the following
1) whether you agree or disagree with what I have said about the topic
2) things that you think I have missed
3) questions you have about this topic
4) hymn suggestions
5) Suggestions for prayers or liturgies or anything of the like.
6) Things you have heard from other preachers/ sermons about this
7) How this topic is relevant to your life
8) Anything else pertinent to the discussion

You need not only comment on what I have said. Read the comments of others and respond to them as well!

I pray that we will all enter into this little experiment and see wonderful things arise from it!

The Peace of Jesus be with You!
- Pastor Mike

Holy Week at Faith UMC!

2009-04-21T07:16:00.001-07:00

Above are several pictures detailing some notable events from Holy Week (April 9th through the 11th, plus Easter Sunday).

The first is a large wooden cross that I made (all by myself!) with some cannibalized lumber from some old bookshelves from the parsonage basement. I had a lot of fun making this, it felt good to put something together with my own two hands. I used this cross in two different worship services during Holy Week.

On Good Friday, we had a small, short and sweet afternoon service. It culminated in a time of silent confession where each person there wrote a confession of some kind (and no, I did not read any of these besides my own – so I don’t know what people wrote) and proceeded to nail it to the cross. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the passion story that we forget why Jesus died. It was for me, for you and for all. It was to save us from our sins.

2nd Corinthians 5:21 - God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We nailed our sins to the cross to symbolize how Jesus took on the sin of all humanity so that in his death all sin is destroyed.

After the service I took the cross and tried to find a place to set it during our sunrise service on Easter morning. I found a large tree stump on the side of the parsonage with a hole in it. The cross fit perfectly, but as I stuck in there I evidently chased a young blacksnake out of its hiding place and it crawled up into the azalea bush next to the stump.

That really made me think.

God has dealt with sin through the cross of Christ. In the Old Testament, a sin offering was made not to appease God, but to chase sin out of the community by placing the sins of the people on a sacrificial animal that was led away from the city and away from that community. Christ was the sacrifice that chased sin out of the community that is all creation, His sacrifice on the cross chased sin out of existence. And here I was chasing a serpent out of its hole…with a big ‘ol cross.
Hmm….

Anyways on Easter Sunday, during our sunrise service we set the cross in that stump as we burned away those “sins” that we wrote down, symbolizing God’s forgiveness. We then proceeded to “flower” the cross to represent the new life that we now have in Jesus Christ, our crucified and risen savior!

Romans 6:4 (NASB) Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

A Lenten Reflection...sweet...

2009-04-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

So I'm getting ready for Good Friday and Easter and I'm getting pretty excited!

I mean, it's my first time doing all this stuff! I pray that it all goes well.

I pray that the Holy Spirit really moves Faith UMC as we gather in worship and fellowship.

One thing that I think is a really Spirit filled activity is the Easter Egg hunt.

Yes, Holy Spirit filled.

Come on! Lil' kids running around trying to find colorful plastic eggs filled with candy?

All the while the adults are watching and laughing and enjoying one-another.

Being a community.

Dare I say, loving one-another as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ?

Any-hoo, I decided to grab some candy to put in these eggs. And as I browsed the shelves, I see why some folks are wary of the commercialization of Easter. They should be, the amount of candy on these shelves was ridiculous...and oh so tasty looking (drooooool...)

As I beheld the image that's posted above, I remembered Jesus and the disciples in the garden, and how Jesus told them "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." (Luke 22:40)

I'm diabetic, if you didn't know. So my parents had to carefully portion my Easter treats (which kinda takes the fun out of it). I'll tell you, to do the same now as a grown-up...it is an exercise in resisting temptation - - and yes, sometimes I fail to do so.

And it happened today, after I came home from the store. No, I didn't eat the candy - that's for the kiddies. It was a pastry...OK it was a Pop Tart. It wasn't even worth it! I traded my health for a cheap and tawdry Pop Tart! But it had that delicious looking strawberry icing and....

...sprinkles.

I didn't even bother to toast it.

I could hear the voice of Jesus say "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."

And I could hear my inner-voice say "quiet, Jesus! I'm too busy pigging out on a Pop Tart to listen to you!"

How should the story end? "And the Lord smoteth Pastor Mike with a diabetic coma, and it was good." or "His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your Pop Tart? Curse Kellogg's and die!" (if you know that Kellogg's makes Pop Tarts it makes that joke funnier - also read Job chapter 2)

Nope. My blood sugar before dinner was 97.

God is good. Sometimes God let's me suffer the consequences of my sin (even little ones like eating a Pop Tart). But often, I find myself reprieved. Forgiven.

I've fallen to temptation before, and to things much more poisonous and degrading than a Pop Tart. I've ignored my Lord too may times when he has said "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."

Good Friday is a day away. When I'm leading services, when I'm talking about what Jesus did on the cross. Will I remember that it's my sin he took from me and took to the cross?

Lord, help me remember my Pop Tart. In fact help me remember all the Pop Tarts. Help me remember all the cheap tawdry things I've turned to, when I could have turned to You.

Don't let me turn away from Jesus when I see him on the cross.

Give me the strength my soul needs to look at him and to listen.

God, too often I've turned away when Jesus has said

"Pray that you will not fall into temptation."

Do NOT let me turn away when he says

"Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:24)

The Forcast Is Cloudy At Faith!

2009-04-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,
Hebrews 12:1- 2a

When’s the last time you shared your faith with somebody?

I don’t mean give a sermon
I don’t mean whacking somebody over the head with a Bible
I don’t mean yelling at somebody about eternal damnation and repentance
I don’t mean exegete a passage of scripture from its original Greek in order to extrapolate great theological meaning (say what?)

What I mean is...

When’s the last time you simply mentioned something about God or Jesus or prayer, church or the Bible to a friend, family member or co-worker who you know does not have an active faith life or does not belong to a community of faith?
Heck, when’s the last time you talked with somebody at Faith (and I don’t count) about your personal faith; about your beliefs?

The Cloud of Witnesses this passage refers to is all those who have witnessed to their faith, who have shared what they believe in and trust in with others.
If we want to be an effective church, then we need to understand that we are part of this cloud. If we want to throw off the old things that hinder us from growing and thriving and instead fix our eyes on Jesus as we seek to follow God’s call to new things and new life – then we need to share our faith.
If we want to do what Jesus is calling us to do then we do need to fix our eyes on him who says things like “you’ve heard it said….but I say to you” (see the Sermon on the Mount - Matthew 5ish to 7ish). We need to fix our eyes on Jesus as he tells us “you’ve been doing things one way…but I tell you…”
How do we fix ourselves on Jesus? One thing we must do is be each-others preachers and prophets – we need to be witnesses to Jesus Christ to each other. By sharing our faith we discover how Jesus is calling us together. And by sharing our faith with the rest of the world, we invite others into this kind of life-changing community of faith where they can find new life and direction and purpose.
And this time I don’t mean sharing faith in terms of doing. Yes, we display our faith with food pantry and stuff like that. But I mean TALKING about who we believe in! Let’s together fix our eyes on Jesus and speak the truth about Him to each other and to the world!

The Apostle's Creed

2009-04-04T01:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody (like...all three people who read my blog, counting my Mom...sigh, I digress)

Had a thought and I figured I'd share it.

We never read the Apostles Creed in Church anymore.

Why? There's nothing wrong with it. It's a perfectly good statement of faith!

Is has also occurred to me that too many Christians either don't know what they believe or worse - don't bother to think or meditate on this stuff.

Theology isn't the job of the eggheads in universities and seminaries. It's the job of the church.

And we are the church!

So here's my plan. Sometime soon we're going to go through a new sermon series at Faith UMC. What we're going to do is go through all of the Apostle's Creed - line by line. We're gonna refocus ourselves on our core beliefs and try to look at some hard questions that come up.

I'm also going to post reflections on each topic every week as a spiritual discipline on this blog - and as a way to incorporate your comments and questions into the sermon.

I'm thinkin' that once school lets out in early May (for me that is...), it would be a good time to start the series.

Let me know what you think!

Peace and Love in Jesus' Name,

Pastor Mike

Oh yeah, here's a link that has several versions of the creed in it as well as some interesting history

the picture above is a mosaic of the apostles ("the original boy band")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles_Creed

2009-03-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

This picture really doesn't do justice to the gorgeous sunset I was trying to capture on film (actually, it's a digital media card). There were bright oranges blazing next to not-so-subdued purples washed in a hue of sky-blue. Words cannot describe, and neither does this picture.

I must have tried to capture those beautiful colors with my camera phone twenty times. Each time it just kinda came out like this. Much grayer.

In my sermon this week I talked about how I was such a grouch this week, about how I was in a spiritual funk. I was spiritually gray. And no matter how many times I tried this week, I couldn't get out of this dreary grayness.

Maybe this past week was a lesson for me. Maybe I needed to learn how to wait on the Lord. Perhaps the brilliant colors of joy, love and peace were around me every second of every day. Perhaps my grayness is like this picture. It's only a snapshot of my life that doesn't really do justice to the truth of what is happening.

When I look at this picture, the first thing I think of is not what I see, but what I saw with my own eyes when I took the photo. I see this rather plain picture and I immediately think of the brilliance of that sunset.

I think this is what joy is. When we look at a snapshot of our lives; when we are in difficult times; when it's been a gray day, week, month or year, we need to look beyond it. There is brilliance in our lives that is far greater than any sunset...

...because on Easter Sunday, the son rose.

Maybe all I need to do to move beyond my spiritual funk is to move closer to the cross and by doing so experience the power of Jesus' resurrection all the more.

Lepers.

2009-02-13T13:12:00.001-08:00

In my preaching class this past week we looked at Mark 9:2-9.

Here's a link to the text (in several versions)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201:40-45;&version=31;65;49;51;9;

We were to write as many sermon ideas as we could come up with. I only got 12 (one person came up with 50!). What do YOU think could be preached from this text? What do you hear God telling you in this scripture?

To inspire you a little more I'm also posting this picture that I found online. I believe this image hails from India, where resides the largest population of human beings afflicted with leprosy. This is the hand of one of those people who is being treated at a facility that cares for these men and women. I think the picture is absolutely beautiful. The caption that was below it was "Joy is more infectous than leprosy". I believe the man healed by Jesus would attest to that.

My "I Believe..." Paper for Systematic Theology

2008-12-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

What I am now posting is a MONSTER of a paper that has kept me up for a few days now. It is called a credo paper, and I had to write it for my systematic theology class. The word "credo" can be translated "I believe", and that is what this paper is about. In it I used the Nicene Creed as an outline as I described what I believe about God, Creation, Humanity and all that good stuff.
So I am opening it up to all of you; to critique, to question and to ponder. I am ready to discuss this and get into some real questions of faith and belief.

By the way, this isn't EVERYTHING I believe (couldn't fit that in 20 pages), but some core beliefs. Also this is only half the paper, the other half is written next semester...

Here goes...

Credo Statement
Michael Beiber
based on The Nicene Creed
(Taken from the United Methodist Hymnal)
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic* and apostolic Church.We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The sections of the creed in italics are the sections that have not been covered in the following paper. Everything else has either been discussed or at least has been referenced in the discussion.

“I believe…”
The Nicene Creed, one of the most widely used confessions of the Christian faith, serves as an excellent outline for one to build a statement of their own personal beliefs upon. As it is presented in the United Methodist Hymnal, each major section begins with two words: “We believe” and both of these words in this simple phrase contain so much meaning. To proclaim personal faith using the word “we” certainly illuminates the corporate nature of Christianity, that we are the body of Christ and to be the body requires unity in belief, at least to some degree. However, I will be rephrasing the statement as “I believe”, not only for simplicity’s sake, but also to recognize the fact that the community in which we have been discussing Christian belief (our Systematic Theology classroom) is comprised of a variety of people with a variety of beliefs, and some of these beliefs differ from mine. Some even are outside of the boundaries of what the Nicene Creed states. Therefore, I will only be making “I believe” statements out of sensitivity towards others in the class.
Indeed this is a credo (translated, “I believe”) paper, and to say that I believe in something merits some explanation. What does it mean to believe in something? I believe that to truly believe in something requires an active and vibrant faith. In class, we discussed faith as fides qua creditor (the faith by which one believes; the act of believing or trust) and fides quae creditor (the faith which is belief; the content of what is believed). Honest and true belief requires both aspects of true faith, what one believes in must be the subject of belief to guide our faithful responses and also must be the object that thus receives this response.
“I believe in one God…” – how it is I believe
It is notable that I say one must respond to whatever one believes in. This idea most likely finds its origins in who it is I believe in. As the creed states I believe in “One God”, and if anything, the rest of the creed as it speaks of creation, of Jesus Christ, of the Holy Spirit and of the Church, tells about how this One God has chosen to reveal God’s self. And indeed I believe that God has given us revelation throughout human history; that God desires to know us and be known by us and has taken certain steps to make this happen. Therefore, my belief in God; my faith (qua creditor and quae creditor) is indeed a response to God’s revelation.
Christian theology in particular is a response, in the form of a network of beliefs, to the revelation of God in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This then begs the question; can God only truly be known through the special revelation of Jesus Christ? Or is there such a thing as general revelation, wherein at least something of God can be known through the witness of created order and human rationality or conscious? I believe that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life; that no one can truly know God except through Him, and I am attracted to Karl Bath’s argument that since all things were created through the Eternal Word, that all revelation is specific to Christ.[1] In this view, there is no general or specific revelation, there is only revelation.
Human reason can take this revelation either towards the true God of the gospel or away from God towards other false gods, idols or complete unbelief. This statement hints towards some of my beliefs regarding other religions and the merits of human reason. I believe other religions are the result of humankind’s faltering contemplation upon God’s revelation. Therefore, while not being the truth; other religions contain some merit since they are based on the good and free action of God that is revelation. However, I do not believe that any of these religions are pathways to the deep knowledge that is relationship with the true God; that is, the God of Jesus Christ, nor are they means of coming into any type of saving relationship with God. This is a further manifestation of my belief in “one God”; that there is only one God and it is the God illuminated by the gospel.
If human reason can take us towards or away from this God, then what is it that successfully steers humanity towards God as we muddle through God’s revelation, when humanity has so often gone astray in their contemplation upon it? I believe in a God who speaks. The Bible gives witness to a God who communicates through word. We see this as God creates through speech, as God calls the patriarchs by speaking to them, we see God speaking through the prophets and “in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe” (Hebrews 1:2 NIV). The Word of God is what illuminates the gospel for us. And again, it is Karl Barth who has influenced me, particularly with his doctrine of the Word of God wherein the Word is active in three forms; revealed in the person of Jesus Christ (the Eternal Word incarnate), written in the Holy Scriptures and proclaimed in the Christian community through witness, fellowship, preaching and sacrament.[2] I believe this, not simply because I like Barth, but because it resonates with my personal experience. I have come to know the true God of the gospel as I’ve come into deeper relationship with the person of Jesus Christ, and I have done this through the reading, study and meditation of the Bible, and I have done that in the community that is the Church, where the Word of God has come to me in so many varied and wonderful ways. I truly believe that reason; that thinking about what we believe in, that testing our beliefs and ideas about God, is a vitally important aspect of faith and belief. I do not believe that simple fideism is anything close to true belief. However, there is a proper object of our belief, and it is the Word that guides us to it and keeps us there. I believe this is how we should apply our reason to our faith. Indeed it is Anselm’s idea that resonates with me most; that thinking and contemplating upon what you love is truly an act of love.[3] Therefore we should seek to love God with deep, probing thought that follows the direction of God’s Word.
I believe, and I believe in one God. This belief is not founded in myself, but is a response to the revelation of God that has been guided by God’s Word and has led me to a belief in the one God of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“I believe in One God…” – Who I believe in
There is another dimension of this belief in “one God” that is reflected in the very structure of the Nicene Creed. Regarding God, there are three major sections, each beginning with “We believe”; “We believe in one God, the father”, “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ”, “We believe in the Holy Spirit”. The triune nature of this one God in which I believe is built into this creed. I believe that God is three in one; Father, Son and Spirit. All three persons are equally God, are co-eternally God and are unified in an eternal and dynamic love relationship and therefore all three persons are active in every work of God. I believe that the oneness found in the “three-ness” of God must be attested to in the Christian witness lest we lose sight of the uniqueness of a God who is three in One.
Unfortunately, I also believe that the structure and language of the Nicene Creed deprives us of this witness to some extent. If I were to come to it without certain pre-established beliefs regarding the Trinity, then I see how I could be misled. It starts with “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty…”. The Father is one person within the Trinity, but alone is not the One God as the creed’s language and structure could lead one to believe. However, this is corrected to some degree in the next “We believe” statement that says “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.” This statement makes it fairly clear that Jesus is also God, especially where he is described as having “one Being with the Father”. However, the two statements put together are still somewhat ambiguous and confusing. Jesus is described as the Son of God, begotten of the Father, God from God. While these statements are entirely true, they so often lead people into perceiving the Father as God, and Jesus as less God, there is a sense in our reading of this of the primacy of the Father, and the secondary nature of the Son.
The Nicene Creed arose out of a controversy over the Nature of Christ. That is why there is so much language dedicated to describing Jesus Christ as God. However, the Holy Spirit was not part of that debate, and the language used to describe the Spirit’s place in the trinity is even vaguer. The creed states “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified”. Naturally we can assume that if the Spirit is worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son, then the Spirit must also be God just as the Father and the Son are both God. However the creed lacks any language regarding the spirit that identifies it as part of the Godhead as it does for the Son. Furthermore, the first thing that is said regarding the Spirit in relationship to the Father and Son is that it proceeds from them. This also is completely true, but such a description contributes to the misconceived idea of the Trinity as a kind of hierarchy, with the Father on top, the Son just below and the Spirit below both.
This misconception most likely is the result of human beings attempting to understand the relationship that is the Trinity temporally, when the truth is the triune God exists in eternal relationship. As the creed states the Son is “eternally begotten of the Father…begotten, not made”. These words were put in place to correct the heresy Arius and his followers proclaimed at the time of the Nicene Council, wherein they stated that the Son was the first of all God’s (the Father’s) creations. Indeed, the Son does come from the Father, and if we were to understand this temporally, then “made” would be appropriate, but again we are describing eternal relationships. Therefore, the Son is begotten of the Father and is eternally begotten. The word filiation can be used to describe this relationship. And regarding the Holy Spirit the creed states that the Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son”. We can use the word spiration to describe this relationship wherein the Spirit is breathed forth eternally from the Father and the Son, which is reflected in scriptures such as Genesis 2:7 and John 20:22.
Depending on the scriptures for a picture of the Trinity is a tricky thing, for the Bible never uses the word Trinity and never outright describes these relationships. Nevertheless, the Bible does give witness to the triune nature of God and the Church has taken this witness, and has traditionally understood the Trinity in the Western church and the Eastern Church in two separate ways. In the Western conception of the Trinity, the Father begets the Son and both breathe forth the Holy Spirit. For the Eastern Church the Father begets the Son and breathes forth the Holy Spirit through the Son. Both pictures of the Trinity address the concerns of the communities in which these ideas arose. However I take issue with the fact that the Holy Spirit is given a very passive role in both conceptualizations, and I do not believe that matches the scriptural witness and it certainly does not correspond to my own personal experience.
What I have encountered in my faith journey naturally has brought tremendous bearing on how I think of the Trinity. What is unfortunate is that it does not seem as if most of the people sitting in church pews today encounter the challenge that is the idea of a Triune God. Thomas Weinandy in “The Father’s Spirit of Sonship” claims that there is renewed interest in the doctrine of the Trinity, and perhaps there is in academia, but honestly, I have not seen it in the rest of the Church.[4] In the churches that I have served and visited, people seem to learn a primary trinitarianism, that is they learn about the Father, Son and Spirit through the life and ritual of the Church, but they are not encouraged to go deeper into the mystery.[5] However, I had a wonderful pastor that would not let me simply accept that God was triune and stop thinking there. What was illuminated for me, and what is at the core of my belief regarding the Trinity to this day, is that God exists in relationship. We say that God is a relational God not just because of God’s relationship with humanity, but because of the relationships within God; the bonds of love that make God One.
Perhaps this is why Thomas Weinandy’s thesis appealed to me so much. Weinandy states that the Father, in or by the Holy Spirit begets the Son, who in or by the Holy Spirit loves the Father in return.[6] To me, this pattern of relationship does not seem so linear or so finite; it seems much more circular and eternal. Also, like Weinandy, who is more Pentecostal than most Catholics, I am a bit more Pentecostal than most United Methodists. Because of this, I envision the Holy Spirit as active and dynamic, as life-giving. Even the Nicene Creed affirms the Holy Spirit as “the giver of life”. Therefore I have trouble with any idea of the Trinity wherein the Holy Spirit is passive; simply being breathed and not having any direct effect on the other two persons. I still believe that there is a relationship of spiration between the Spirit and the Son and between the Spirit and the Father. But what changes in Weinandy’s thesis is that it is through the breathing forth of the Spirit by the Father that the Father begets the Son, and the Son by breathing forth and acting in the Holy Spirit loves the Father in return. I truly believe that every action of the Triune God involves every person within the Godhead. Weinandy’s thesis corresponds to my belief since every person within the trinity is involved in each interior relationship; The filiation between the Father and the Son is within or by the Spirit which they breathe forth as they continue the eternal relationship of begetting and loving. Furthermore, I truly do believe that Weinandy’s thesis better matches the witness of the Holy Scriptures.
However, at the core of my beliefs regarding the inner life of the triune God, is intimacy. This is because my primal and base belief about God; the first thought about God that ever made sense to me; the one thing that characterizes my belief and faith in my God is this: God is Love. I had always previously understood that statement as an expression of how much God loves; how loving God is. But the words stuck with me and I knew that it meant more to say that God is Love. I understood God as a person that was somehow three people too, and that these three, or this one, or both loved me, the world and each other. The intimacy that I see in Weinandy’s thesis removes for me that perception of God as a person. God is not a person, God is three persons but One God. This God is not a singular monad, this God of oneness amongst the individualities of the Father, the Son and the Spirit is Love.[7] As I diagram a picture of the inner life of the Trinity in my mind, as I plot the arrows labeled “begets” and “proceeds”, “loves” and “breathes forth” and see them twisting and turning, pointing to one another, indicating a swirling, binding, everlasting network of relationship. I see Love, and I do not see these individual relationships as love, I see, to the best of my feeble mortal mind’s ability, what Love is. And this Love I see is God, and God is Love.
“I believe in One God, the Father, the Almighty…” – What I believe about Who I believe in
Although, I have reached the section of the Nicene Creed that begins to speak of the first person within the trinity, what I want to focus on first is the word used to describe the father; almighty, and it’s implications for how we think about God. I want to address what I believe regarding the aspects of God and the ways we try to describe God and what God is like.
It takes a great deal of mental effort to contemplate the triune nature of God. Perhaps this is why a great deal of the proclamation and teaching regarding our God focuses not on the Doctrine of the Trinity, but rather is more focused on what God is like; that which describes the character of God. At least, this is what I have encountered in the Church; preaching that tells us what God is like. I have heard this expressed in personal terms, where God is described as patient, benevolent, compassionate or is described in negative terms as angry or vengeful (I never believed the latter). I have also heard these descriptions of God in terms less personal and more philosophical; God is omnipresent, impassive, omnipotent and immutable.
The terms that describe the personality traits of God, I’ve either absorbed as true or have simply ignored. As I’ve contemplated who God is I’ve listened to these descriptions and picked out the ones that resonated with my conception of a good God who seeks out humanity and seeks to be in covenant relationship with us, a God who is Love. Therefore ideas and images of God as compassionate, of God being patient, of God as Shepherd or tender healer and caretaker, of God as being forgiving, these have stuck with me, even to this day as I put these long-held assumptions under scrutiny. And why do I put these under scrutiny? Because I’ve become painfully aware that any language, any metaphor, symbol or image that we use to portray God is terribly inadequate, as we can never know God fully enough to ever be as presumptuous as to compare God to something else in this universe that he created.[8] But such words, metaphors and images are how we identify and think about things, indeed they are really our only mode of processing anything we come into contact with (the good news is, that if we are processing God in our minds that means that we have come into contact with God – or rather God has contacted us in God’s revelation). And it has always been that way, indeed even the scriptures speak of God in metaphor and colorful language. The problem I’ve discovered is that we become over sentimental about how we describe God, and we let these pliable descriptions turn into rigid definitions. We become comforted with the idea of God as our Shepherd, but we are confronted and accosted by the idea of God as the slain lamb. And this is how we so often lose sight of God.
This sentimentality also applies to those large philosophical words that try to describe more of what God is; omnipotent, omnipresent, impassive and immutable. These are words that have either enhanced my understanding of God or have confronted me with presupposed “truths” regarding God that did not fit with how I figured God was. I have approached terms like these as I’ve heard them preached and seen them in books, with my fundamental understanding of a God who is Love, who seeks out humanity in covenant relationship. As I have done this, I’ve found that the terms “omnipresent” and “omnipotent” posed no threat to that understanding. The idea of God as all-powerful, did not conjure up an image of a threatening deity wielding power over me, but rather I’ve always understood God’s power working according to who I understood God to be, therefore I understood Paul’s words “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV). The power of God can be seen on the cross because in God love and power cannot be torn apart from each other. God’s power is not like the power that humankind seeks in order to dominate or exert oneself over others. God’s power is in God’s love.
Understanding God as a God of covenant relationship also melded fine with the idea of God as omnipresent. The constant presence of God in every corner of the universe spoke volumes to me about God as a God of relationship. I don’t think I ever slipped into pantheism in my belief, because I never thought of God as being the universe, rather I have always seen Creation as Karl Barth describes it; wholly Other. Yet I have understood God as being ever present in the whole of creation. If this idea of a God who has chosen to be present in every nook and cranny of this Otherness that this God created (and continues to create) doesn’t tell a story of God who is relational, I don’t know what does. I do not believe that God is passive in God’s omnipresence, but that the presence of God in Creation is necessary for creation to exist. For the creative forces that make every breeze, that cause our every thought, that makes the planet’s turn, come from the God who creates and brings life. Therefore, the omnipresence of God is a dynamic and diverse filling of the universe with the presence of God who has chosen to thusly be in relationship with what God has made.
If I’ve made my core beliefs regarding who I believe God is clear, then it may be obvious why the terms “impassible” and “immutable” have for a long time puzzled me and confronted my idea of who God is. Neither have I found them to be accurate scripturally. The idea that God is beyond all suffering certainly conflicts with my view of the power of God in the cross of Jesus Christ, and the idea that God is unchanging conflicts with the new and creative things that God has done throughout history as attested to in the Bible. I have come to understand where these philosophical understandings of God originated from, and I sympathize with these concerns. For instance, I do not believe that God is at all affected by the passions that so often lead humanity astray, in that sense I suppose God is impassible. And because I believe in God as a covenant-maker and covenant-keeper, I understand God’s actions to be consistent with who God is and what God has promised, in this sense I suppose it could be said that God is immutable.
When describing the attributes of God, Karl Barth describes them not in such absolute terms such as these. Rather he pairs two descriptive words side by side; one descriptive of the love of God, the other of God’s perfect freedom and creates a balanced description wherein God is not made out to be in any way limited in the exercise of God’s power, nor in the way God loves the world.[9] Thus rather than saying God is impassible, Barth might say that God’s love is vulnerable yet unconquerable, meaning that God allows God’s self to be affected by the circumstances of God’s beloved creatures yet is never overcome nor overwhelmed by such joy or suffering.[10] And instead of painting a picture where God is static and unchanging, Barth might say that God is faithful to remain consistent in the way God creates and changes things.[11] God always does new and surprising things, but God does this to be changeless in God’s covenant faithfulness.
Actually, Barth extended his use of dialectical pairs to describe “the perfections of God” beyond how I have used it. However, I do not feel I need to apply this to the ways I think of God as omnipotent or omnipresent, since I have been able to understand them in the context of God as a God of covenant, a God who is love and a God who is free. And I think context is the clue to a better understanding of God’s attributes. Karl Barth’s use of word pairs to balance God’s love and God’s freedom is a method that is firmly rooted in the understanding of the triune God revealed in Jesus Christ.[12] If we are to understand anything about what God is like, this is the context wherein we need to search for that understanding; for the greatest revelation of God is the Incarnate Word, in whom we can see our God, who is Love, who is Father, Son and Spirit.
“I believe in One God, the Father, the Almighty…” – The name of Who I believe in…
As I stated above, I feel that the structure of this first line in the Nicene Creed is misleading. For while “the Father” is indeed God, and thus making “Father” a name for God, the name “the Father” does not mean the same as “the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”; it does not identify all three persons in their unity. Indeed if there is any proper name in the whole of scripture that names the trinity, I believe it would most likely be the name that God gives to Moses; the tetragrammaton. This comes in response to what I feel is a common misconception; that it was God the Father active in the Old Testament and God the Son who is the primary character of the New Testament. This idea not only ignores the Trinitarian nature of God’s action in everything God does, but also greatly diminishes the work of the Spirit. Indeed, the idea of perichoresis, that in every act of God, every person of the Trinity is involved, is something I believe in. Therefore, the Covenant God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God who gives Moses the name of God is not the Father, but is the One God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
However, Dr. Soulen’s article “Hallowed Be Thy Name; The Tetragrammaton and the Name of the Trinity” confused the matter for me. Described therein are three “inflections”[13] of the name of the Holy Trinity. However none of these inflections mean the same thing as the tetragrammton, they only point to or are grounded in it.[14] I light of this idea; I have become reluctant to say with any certainty that the tetragrammton given to Moses is equivalent to the name of the Holy Trinity.
“the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth” – The First Person of the Trinity and Creation
I believe that each person within the Trinity is defined by that person’s relationships with the other persons they are one with. Therefore, the Father is defined as the source of the Son who is begotten by the Father and also the source of the Spirit who proceeds from the Father. Now when I say “source” I do not mean it in the same sense as the Father is the source of all creation. Rather to say that the Father begets the Son and breathes the Spirit is to make a statement regarding not a temporal relationship, but an eternal one. (In light of Weinandy’s thesis regarding the inner life of the Trinity, I would have to amend my statements to say that the Father is the source of the Son who is begotten by the Father through the Spirit which finds its source in the Father from who the Spirit proceeds.) My belief in a trinitarian theology where the relationship of begetting happens through the Spirit does not negate my belief in the spiration of the Spirit by the Father.
In the Nicene Creed the Father is identified as primarily being the creator of all that is created; “all that is, seen and unseen”. What we then need to do first in our thinking is to cast aside how far we can delve into ideas regarding Trinitarian theology and to simply let this proclamation tell us that God has created all that is. Even without further contemplation on the role of the first person in the trinity or any others, or how they are related in creation, this fact stands. And it has great bearing on how we think about and how we treat creation.
I believe that the God who is Love, and who is perfectly free, creates as an act of free grace. If everything finds its source in God, if all creation comes from God, then there is nothing that can motivate God to create since outside of creation there is nothing but God.[15] This means that the only thing that motivates God to do anything is whatever it is that God is.[16] And I have already made clear what I believe what God is. So it is the Love of the Triune God that prompts God’s creative work.
I believe that because God is creator, and everything else is creation, that means that there is a distinction between the two. God creates something other than God. What is even more remarkable is that God calls this other “good”. This is not to say that I reject the belief that this world has fallen under the curse of sin; that it is not part of the story of redemption. The goodness of creation is determined by more than God’s original decree of “very good” (Genesis 1:31). For in fact God’s act of creation is a continuing and dynamic thing. God continues to act as creator, and it is this continued action that makes creation good! Indeed, as I have already said, creation is an act of free grace, of love. Therefore the goodness of creation is determined by the loving action of God that is creation that is continuously and constantly at work.
The idea of perichoresis, which I ascribe to, would necessarily mean that in creation the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are at work. I do believe this. In Genesis, the spirit hovers over the waters and it is the Spirit that brings life as God breathes it into humanity. The first chapters of John tell of how everything was made through the eternal Word, which was incarnate in Jesus Christ. But if it is the Triune God at work in creation, how can we give the name “maker…of all that is” to only the Father as we do in the Nicene Creed? I believe that every act of the Father and of the Son and of the Spirit mentioned in the creed is indeed a Trinitarian act, a performance of God’s perichoresis. However, in certain actions there is a primary actor. In creation, the Father is the primary actor, for the Father creates through the eternal Word and gives life by breathing forth the Spirit. This is how we can bestow the Father with the title of “maker...of all that is”.
“I believe in…Jesus Christ” – what I have already said of Jesus Christ, restated and summarized.
Because I have already written so much regarding the Trinity, and because of my belief in perichoresis, I have already said much regarding my belief in Jesus Christ that parallels the Nicene Creeds statement’s regarding his divinity. The creed says that Jesus is “the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father... begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.” I believe Jesus is the incarnate Word of God. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God because of his relationship to the Father within the Godhead. This relationship is an eternal relationship of filiation where the Father begets the Son through the Holy Spirit.[17] This means that the Son is co-eternal with God as God; the Son is not a creature, but is God. And as the creed (and the Bible) says, “through him all things were made”.
“For us and for our salvation…” – the Work of Jesus Christ in the history of Salvation
The Nicene Creed continues to tell the story of the mighty acts of God in Jesus Christ; the things that were done “for us and for our salvation”. It recalls the events wherein the Word became flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit (indeed a reflection of the eternal begetting of the Son by the Father through the Spirit)[18] and lived as a human being, was crucified, experienced death and was resurrected and glorified. The creed continues to give a promise of Jesus’ return in glory as judge of the world so that he may usher in God’s Kingdom in its fullness. I believe in all of these things, and to say this merits a more detailed explanation.
The Word becoming flesh means that the second person of the Trinity, the Son, became completely and utterly human. However, at the same time he was completely and utterly God. Because of the unity of the triune God, one person is not “one-third” God, but is wholly God. Therefore the wholeness of God dwelt in the person of Jesus Christ, but God was not exhausted in the incarnation. Incarnate, the Son dwelt in the Godhead in the same unity with the Father and with the Spirit as he has eternally.
Repeatedly the scriptures offer images of God tearing open the heavens and descending to earth; into human circumstances for the sake of humankind; for our salvation (i.e. Isaiah 64:1-2). I believe that the incarnation of the Word is the most concrete and most beautiful expression of God doing just that. For in the incarnation, God entered into human circumstances to the greatest degree possible, by becoming human. This is why Jesus Christ is the greatest revelation of God to us, because in him, God became one of us.
The Nicene Creed takes a shortcut through Jesus’ life straight to his suffering under Pontius Pilate. However, it is my belief that in the life of Jesus; in his teaching, his miracles and his actions, we see the revelation of the God. The life of Jesus wherein Jesus acts in “self-communicating, other-affirming [and] communion-forming”[19] ways reflects the inner life of the Triune God who is Love. But truly, if we wish to have who God is revealed to us, then we need to look to the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. At the cross we see how God at once reveals and hides God’s self, for in the meekness and vulnerability of our crucified Lord, we see the power of God.
I believe that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world. I experience this most personally by saying “Christ died for my sins” but truly Christ died for the sin of the world for it is the whole world, indeed all of creation that is in need of redemption.[20] I believe sin is identified primarily by what it does; it takes creation out of communion with God, which is the purpose for which creation was created! It is this communion with God that provides life. So where communion is broken, there is death. This is why in the history of humankind’s covenant relationship with God there is the requirement of a sacrifice, a death, in order for sinful humanity to be in communion with God. Christ on the cross is God offering God’s self as a sacrifice to restore the world to communion with God, for it would take the sacrifice of the fullness of God to bring creation back into the fullness of communion with God. I do not believe that the Godhead was exhausted in the death of Jesus Christ, but rather that because the fullness of God dwelt in him the fullness of God was sacrificed on the cross for humanity. I do not believe that the Father and the Spirit suffered physically with Jesus, for neither was incarnate in him. However, because of the bonds of love that unify the Triune God, the Father and the Spirit suffered at the death of Christ, I believe more than we can possibly know.
This is how the power of God dealt with sin, not through wielding power like an unruly teenager, but through submission; through love. Karl Barth, in his use of dialectical pairs to describe the attributes of God, paired power with love, and this is based in the revelation of God; the revelation of God’s power and the revelation of the truth that God is Love, that we see in the cross of Christ.[21]
What’s Missing from the Nicene Creed’s Account of the History of Salvation It disturbs me to see the lack of Old Testament reference within the Nicene Creed. It is obviously a creed that evolved over Christological debates, for indeed it is the second major portion of the creed that is dedicated to the second person of the Trinity that is most detailed and the longest. And it is within this section that we find the most material dealing with the history of salvation. Indeed the line “For us and for our salvation” really reinforces the misguided idea that the salvation story really only entails the work of God in Christ. I do not believe this to be true at all.
Sadly, the “standard canonical narrative”[22] that I have come into contact as I’ve interacted with many a church-goer has been the one that starts at creation, moves to the fall of humankind in the Garden of Eden and is resolved in the death and resurrection of Christ. Others see the Christ event as more of a climax and the full establishment of God’s just Kingdom in the future as the resolution. Regardless, there is something missing in these narratives. I think I’ve made myself clear regarding the fact that I believe that God is a covenant-making (and covenant-keeping) God. The covenant relationships God has made with humanity belong somewhere in the story of sin and redemption. I believe that God’s covenant relationship with the people of Israel; the covenants made with the Old Testament patriarchs, with Moses and with David, belong within the salvation story that the Christian community proclaims.

If I have not made it clear yet, I believe that God is Love.
This is the foundation upon which I have evaluated my beliefs regarding the Trinity, the attributes of God, the actions of God in human history and who and what I believe Jesus Christ to be. Perhaps this is simple of me and perhaps I am simply afraid to think of God as being anything but love. I must admit that as I seek understanding of my faith I am constantly guided by this belief, and I seek to justify it. When it comes down to it, my belief in my God who is Love has not come to me through evaluation of empirical evidence or through rationing that is quite frankly, beyond me at times. My belief simply dwells in my heart because knowing God as Love resonates to the deepest parts of my soul. I belief and have faith in the God who is Love because this faith is a gift from that God, and that faith that comes from nowhere but God, is what drives my beliefs.

Works Cited

Migliore, Daniel L. Faith Seeking Understanding: And introduction to Christian Theology. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004.

Soulen, R. Kendall. Class Lecture. Systematic Theology I. Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C. 08 September 2008.

Soulen, R. Kendall. Class Lecture. Systematic Theology I. Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C. 29 September 2008.

Soulen, R. Kendall. Class Lecture. Systematic Theology I. Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C. 13 October 2008.

Soulen, R. Kendall. “Hallowed Be Thy Name! the Tetragrammaton and the Name of the Trinity.” Jews and Christians: People of God. Eds. Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003. pp.14-40.

Soulen, R. Kendall. The God of Israel and Christian Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.

Weinandy, Thomas G. The Father’s Spirit of Sonship: Recovering the Trinity. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994.

Williams, Rowan. Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007.
[1] Soulen, from class lecture on 9.8.08
[2] Migliore p.40
[3] Soulen, from class lecture on 9.8.08
[4] Weinandy p.1
[5] Soulen, from class lecture on 9.29.08
[6] Weinandy p.17
[7] Soulen, from class lecture on 10.13.08
[8] Williams p.9
[9] Migliore p.85
[10] Migliore p.85
[11] Migliore p.85
[12] Migliore p.84
[13] Soulen p.18 from Hallowed Be Thy Name
[14] Soulen, p.40 from Hallowed Be Thy Name
[15] Williams p.11
[16] Williams p.11
[17] Weinandy p.17
[18] Weinandy p.40
[19] Migliore p.101
[20] Migliore p.98
[21] Migliore p.86
[22] Soulen p.12 from the God of Israel and Christian Theology

My Utmost For His Highest...

2008-12-01T11:33:00.000-08:00

My favorite, and probably one of the greatest devotional books ever written is Oswald Chamber's "My Utmost For His Highest". You can get a copy for pretty cheap. But you can also get it free on this website. Here is Sunday's devotion, which I found to pretty awesome and applicable to what our church is doing and going through.

click on the below link, then tell me what you think.

http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/11/30/devotion.aspx?year=2008

Mustard Seeds

2008-11-15T15:16:00.000-08:00

Last week. Cherish (yeah, that's my wife. Awesome, right?) spoke about the mustard seed.

The scripture this comes from is Matthew 13:31-32
" 31He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

and also Matthew 17:20
"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

I personally LOVE that second scripture, because I gotta tell 'ya. Most of the time I feel like my faith is just so

small.

but that's okay! Becuase it's not about me! It's all about God and God is

BIGGER THAN ANY SIZE FONT CAN EXPRESS!

I think church people need to return to their mustard-seed-sized faith. I think we need to admit when our faith is little and as a community we can do amazing things with our mustard seeds.

However, I think churches mess up sometimes. Sometimes we get too locked up in the rituals and the "we've always done it this way" attitude. We get stuck in a rut and trivialize our faith and turn it into something else. And instead of becoming a beautiful tree our mustard seeds turn into http://www.britishfooddirect.com/images/24-65-f-american397.jpg

or if you go to a larger, possibly wealthier or fancier church... http://ninecooks.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/greypoupon.jpg

How should we see our Mustard seed faith?

First thing. We need to know just where our little mustard seeds stand.
http://stephennewell.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/mustard_seed-749409.jpg

That's right. In God's hands. God is the designer, maker and giver of our faith. The power to move mountains isn't ours; it's Gods.
Our faith isn't a tool, it isn't a means to get what we want out of church, worship or whatever. Our faith is that which allows us to enter into blessed relationship with God, and isn't that what's most important?

So let's cut the mustard (chuckle) and get to doing the bare bones work of following Christ. And maybe just one day, we'll look back and be amazed at what God has done.
http://transatlantica.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/mustard-tree_mist.jpg

remember what Paul told his Corinthian friends (1 Corinthians 3:6 - "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow)

sweet.

For those of us praying for the global economy....by Max Lucado

2008-10-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

You Have Our Attention, Lord
A prayer by Max Lucado - October 2008

Our friends lost their house
The co-worker lost her job
The couple next door lost their retirement
It seems that everyone is losing their footing
This scares us. This bailout with billions.
These rumblings of depression.
These headlines: ominous, thunderous -
“Going Broke!” “Going Down!” “Going Under!”
“What's Next?”
What is next?
We’re listening. And we’re admitting:
You were right.
You told us this would happen.
You shot straight about loving stuff and worshipping money.
Greed will break your heart, You warned.
Money will love you and leave you.
Don’t put your hope in riches that are so uncertain.
You were right. Money is a fickle lover and we just got dumped.
We were wrong to spend what we didn’t have.
Wrong to neglect prayer and ignore the poor.
Wrong to think we ever earned a dime.
We didn’t.
You gave it.
And now, tell us Father, are You taking it?
We’re listening. And we’re praying.
Could you make something good out of this mess?
Of course You can. You always have.
You led slaves out of slavery,
Built temples out of ruins,
Turned stormy waves into a glassy pond and water into sweet wine.
This disorder awaits your order.
So do we.
Through Christ, Amen

2008-10-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to figure out how to post a pdf file - but it keeps coming up funky, so i'll just give you the link.
http://www.plough.com/ebooks/pdfs/Provocations.pdf

Go to chapter 26 "Neighbor Love" - it's on page 122 (by the adobe reader's count)

This is a chapter from a book by the tile “Provocations”, a collection of spiritual writings by the Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. It talks about the command of Jesus to “Love your neighbor” – and we’ll be talking about that this coming Sunday!

I Hope you enjoy it….

Peace and Love in Jesus' Name!

Psalm from "the Future of Our Church" on Sun. 10/12

2008-10-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

Here is the "mad-lib" psalm that the youth made during the "Future of Our Church" segment of last Sunday's worship service. The parts in the [brackets] are the youth's contributions to the psalm.

Enjoy!

Psalm 3.14159265358979323846…

a psalm of mad libs

O Lord,
You are [good].
and you are [BIG].
and you always [care for us].

When [my Dad dropped me on the head],
You were there.
When [I fell asleep in my oatmeal],
You were there.
When [I learned new stuff at school],
You were there.

[Thank you, God]!
Hallelujah!

Blogs for Faith UMC?!?!?!?

2008-07-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

I know what you may be thinking; this Church doesn't even have the internet yet and a good number (if not most) of our members do not use computers. So what business do we have blogging?

Well here's an idea that I had - those of you who ARE reading this and answering my posts - how about you take these questions that I'm asking you and bring them to the rest of the congregation?

You might be surprised at the great stories you'll hear!

Go ahead and give it a try! Present these questions to some folks who you know can't get to this blog page. Send their replies to me and I'll post them.

This could be a great way to get to know more about your fellow Church members and to deepen your relationships with them!

What's Important to You at Faith UMC?

2008-07-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

Some questions for the people of Faith UMC (and anyone else for that matter...)

1) What are the top two reasons you come to this church?

2) Which of Faith UMC's ministries do you think is most important and why?

3) What would you most like to see done within the next 3 months at Faith UMC? 6 months? Year? and Why?