The short answer is that we consider the time when we are not meeting as a congregational to be intentional space left open for kingdom activity.  We are not a program-heavy church because we believe most of the work of reaching in and reaching out with the gospel happens more effectively outside of church meetings than within them.  

For example, we like to keep the church calendar reasonably light so that you have time to be discipled by a more mature believer or to disciple a younger believer; so that you can spend time in your front yard and build gospel-sharing relationships with your neighbors; so that you can invite acquaintances into your home to experience the way the gospel shapes your family or friendships; so that you can visit the same coffee shop or park or library each week and engage others in conversations about life, death, and the gospel.

In other words, our church schedule is intentionally light so that you have time for intentional kingdom work.  The New Testament’s vision of the time we do spend together is for church leaders “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12).  

So why even bring up this question?  Because we do not, by nature, live intentionally.  Our natural inclination is to waste time rather than invest it.  We knew this as a family regarding the time my completion of seminary afforded.  I am terrible at wasting time, and the only reason I have not squandered everything that has been freed up is because Rachael and I planned out how to use that time for investing in our relationships within the family and in seeking to be a blessing to others.  We have tons of room to grow, but the last two months have been rewarding because of a small degree of intentionality.

Now that we are in the swing of summer, perhaps it would be a good time to pray through this question with your family or close friends: “God, what would you have me to do with the free time I have outside of church?  What are you equipping me to do to share your gospel with other believers and non-believers?”  You may even decide to set goals for the next two months: how many more hours per week should you be investing to nurture your intimate relationships?  How many non-believers would God have you invite over for dinner?  How much time should you be spending to encourage younger believers or pursue more mature believers?

My prayer is that the intentional space we leave in our church calendar would free you toward an intentional summer for sharing in Christ more deeply with family and other believers and in building relationships that will enable you to share it with those who do not believe.

Pastor Chris

Such questions present more material than one brief article can address.  Yet enough significant differences exist between slavery in the ancient and American contexts that we can at least clarify what Paul is and is not saying underneath his advice to slaves.  Here are some of the major distinctions:

–Unlike the American version, slaves in the ancient world had the opportunity to purchase their freedom, typically around the age of 30.  Paul alludes to this common practice in the verse above, and the church at Corinth was likely comprised of many former slaves.

–Treatment of slaves in antebellum America was by no means uniform, but could be generally described as ranging from unkind to inhumane.  In the ancient world, however, slaves had a wider and often more positive range of experience.  Certainly some were treated cruelly and worked nearly to death.  But many were taught and practiced law or accounting or medicine, and continued in these professions as freedmen once they purchased their freedom.

–Politically speaking, the United States had a democratic system in which the people could change a system like slavery through elected officials.  The Roman Empire, under the Emperor’s rule, had no such structure, rendering protest movements largely powerless.

–While Paul does not decry the institution of slavery outright, he speaks plainly against many of the practices associated with American slavery, for instance, calling “kidnappers” or “slave traders” sinners under God’s judgment (1 Timothy 1:10).

If Paul had been an American in the 1850’s, would he have argued for abolition?  Many evidences suggest that the answer is yes.  Though we must guess at how Paul’s views may have worked out in a different scenario, we do not have to guess at how he saw the gospel changing everything within the existing structure of slavery.  He urged Philemon to release his slave Onesimus for the sake of kingdom labor, viewing him “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother” (Philemon 1:16).  And as we saw on Sunday, he saw the gospel reversing the perception of slave and free.  “He who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord.  Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ” (1 Corinthians 7:22).

Biblical scholars point out that this gospel-informed view of slavery could only lead to the demise of the institution as the gospel spread.  Paul’s radical vision of God’s people unified in Christ would not allow for distinctions based on male/female, Jew/Gentile, or slave/free.  Let us continue to apply this vision of community to our current context that Christ’s gospel might be on full display as we experience life in him together.

Pastor Chris

This connection came into focus for me earlier this week when my morning prayer and evening reading converged in an unexpected way.  In the morning I was meditating on the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, especially the phrases regarding God’s kingdom: “Your kingdom come…” and “yours in the kingdom and the power and the glory.”  I have a general idea about what those kingdom references mean, and was praying accordingly.  

That evening I read in 1 Kings 2 about the transition of rule from David to Solomon.  Here is the nutshell: dying David warns Solomon about everyone who “done him wrong” (Southern version), like Shimei the son of Gera, and after he takes the throne, Solomon has all those people killed.  It was a challenge to glean spiritual insight from political vengeance, at least, anything more than “Thank you, God, that I will never have to do that.”

The following morning, the connection between the previous day’s prayer and reading hit me like a Mack truck.  I went back to 1 Kings 2 and read again the bookends of Solomon’s score-settling: “So Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established” (1 Kings 2:12).  “So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon” (1 Kings 2:46).  Solomon’s acts of establishing his kingdom were tantamount to his kingdom “coming,” so that Israel could say of him, “yours is the kingdom.”

This association between Solomon’s executions and the Lord’s prayer was disturbing, to say the least, especially when other New Testament texts regarding the final establishment of the kingdom of God flooded my mind.  Paul says that Jesus “must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” at which time “he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (1 Corinthians 15:24-25).  In John’s Revelation we read of Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords who will lead the armies of heaven, wielding a sharp sword “with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron” (Revelation 19:15).  

In other words, when we pray “your kingdom come,” the end result of our request is the vanquishing of all God’s enemies.  And this does not simply mean a handful of egregious offenders, like Solomon did.  God will bring final, eternal judgment to all who refuse to bow to him as King.  This is a terror-filled prospect.

Our response to this frightening prayer is not to avoid it, but to supplement it.  Along with our prayer that God would conquer his enemies on the final day is our prayer that God would have mercy on his enemies now, making them his friends.  We do not want our family member, our co-worker, our neighbor to be as Solomon’s enemies when he took his throne.  We want them to be reconciled to the King.  So we plead for mercy, and we proclaim the good news that mercy is available before the King comes, for the conquering King first came as a suffering servant to offer clemency to all who would trust in him.

Trembling before his justice and his mercy,

Pastor Chris

As we think about how to address this reality, I thought I would share insights I received from two ministry veterans in this area as well as an update on what God is currently doing in our outreach ministry to the neighborhood.

First, the insights.  In the last article I mentioned a city-sponsored event I attended for faith-based organizations, where we were blessed to hear from Noel Castellanos, CEO of the Christian Community Development Association.  Afterwards I was able to speak with Noel about our desire to address the twisted perspective of men and violence that our neighborhood children have.  Noel, who is Latino, took a deep breath and said that changing such perspectives is a matter of long-term, discipling relationships.

Not surprisingly, this is exactly what Kit Danley had told me a few hours earlier.  Many of you know Kit, who has been working with children and families in low-income neighborhoods for more than 30 years.  I’m sure she could talk about ministry strategies for a week straight, yet her simple, big-picture words were the same as Noel’s: long-term relationships.  Both confessed that this is not easy, but it is the only way to see the gospel make lasting change.

What are we doing now toward this end?  In answer to many prayers, God has assembled a group at Whitton who are ministering to adults each Tuesday night through English language learning.  Typically more children than adults show up, so there is also a handful of Whitton folks who feed, play with, and teach the gospel to these children.  I see these two groups as having ministry beachheads for the development of long-term, discipling relationships.  

Regarding the adults, Tomas Barrera leads a Sunday evening time of worship in which the 4 to 8 adults who gather sing praises to God and hear from God’s word as Tomas teaches.  I have the privilege of meeting regularly with Tomas, and am excited about the work God is doing in and through him.  If we are to build long-term, discipling relationships with our Spanish-speaking neighbors, meetings like the one Tomas is leading will always be necessary.

Regarding the children, God has graciously brought 8-10 children who will show up to any event we have, even a graduation open-house!  These children seem to feel more at home at Whitton than anywhere else, and we should be deeply thankful for that.  A small handful of women are currently investing in these children through extra-curricular activities, whether trips to the museum or Peter Piper Pizza.  In light of the tumultuous waters ahead for these pre-teens, such consistent investment is essential if they are to break the tragic cycles of their older siblings.

These ministry beachheads have been possible because of consistent outreach ministry from past years.  I believe God wants to use these as segues into a new season of long-term, discipling relationships in our neighborhood.  Pray for the gospel to penetrate the lives of these Spanish-speaking adults and their English-speaking children as we point them to Jesus.  And pray for how God might call you to join in the work he is doing in our neighborhood.

Excited to see God’s work expanding,

Pastor Chris

“Yes.”  

“I have never hit my wife.  Why would I ever do that?” 

“Because she talks mean to you…because she doesn’t cook your food right.”

This was the conversation taking place in my van on Saturday as I drove some of the neighborhood children to and from a local museum.  It all started when I asked these 4-12 year olds what their favorite music was.  The name they repeated was Chris Brown, the pop singer who in June will stand trial for allegedly punching, biting, and choking his then girlfriend, pop singer Rhianna.

“But how could you like someone who beats his girlfriend?” I asked.  “Because it’s cool” was the reply.  “Would you think it was cool if somebody beat you?”  “Yes!” the pre-teen girls answered in unison.  “Don’t you think it would hurt?”  “No,” they replied.

After telling them what I would do if I ever heard about a young man hitting them, I proceeded with the question about my relationship with Rachael.  The fact that they assumed the pastor of the church beats his wife-for messing up dinner, no less-left me incredulous and heart torn.  There are enough effects of poverty to grieve already, as the children who come consistently to our church are often sleep-deprived, unattended, and undernourished.  But the relational poverty they experience-living in homes and attending schools where all types of abuse are normative-shows us how much work is ahead of us in calling our neighbors to be disciples of Jesus.

What can we do?  What is our response to the relational poverty these children experience?  That is the million dollar question which requires more than a simple article.  But as this conversation with our precious neighborhood girls has churned through my heart over and over since Saturday, there are two things I know for certain: first, we must have healthy, safe, gracious, nourishing, gospel-centered individuals and families in our church.  And second, we must find ways to include these children into our families and communities of friendship.  

This was reinforced to me on Tuesday when I attended a “Faith-based Summit” sponsored by the City of Phoenix.  The keynote speaker expounded Jesus’ interaction with the poor in Luke 4-5 and stated, “The poor don’t need another program-they need relationship.”  This must drive the way we approach our neighborhood.  The answer to the physical, relational, and spiritual poverty of our neighbors is gospel-drenched individuals and families who will commit to being in the lives of these children.  This will likely take place through programs like our current English language class, but the aim is long-term investment into their lives that will pave the way for Christ’s transforming power.

So what can we do right now?  We can hold fast to the gospel.  We can come to grips with our own poverty and grapple with “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).  And as this gospel shapes us into grace-rich individuals and families, we can pray as a church, “God, how would you have our families and communities of friendship share your grace with the families in our neighborhood?”  I expect God will give us some big answers to that question.

Please pray for our neighborhood, especially the children,

Pastor Chris

The other class that meets is our Adult Sunday School class, which meets in the Fireside Room.  The brothers who teach this class have embarked on a crucial study of the attributes of God.  I could not recommend a better course of study.  Everything we hold dear at Whitton, from warm fellowship to missions to worship to the gospel finds its origins in the character of God.  But instead of writing an extended plug myself, I thought I would share from a prophetic voice in American Christianity of why this study is so indispensable.  The following is from A.W. Tozer’s book The Knowledge of the Holy, which he wrote in 1961. 

The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.

The only way to recoup our spiritual losses is to go back to the cause of them and make such corrections as the truth warrants. The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is.

Whether we are pursuing gospel-centered parenting or the knowledge of our God, may he reveal more of himself to us that we might better reflect his glory in our world.

Learning with you,

Pastor Chris

Due to the sheer breadth and intricacy of the Lost mythology, it is not worth giving anything more than a broad description of what happened on the season finale to make my point (I know I appreciate it when Star Trek fans keep their mythology to themselves).  In short, a revelation was made at the end of this fifth season that changes the way one understands all the other seasons.  One could-and no doubt, many will-begin from the first episode of the first season and re-watch the previous 101 episodes with entirely new eyes, understanding events and individuals in a much fuller light.

This is, of course, the dynamic that was strikingly prominent in the early church, only it was real.  For 2,000 years the Jewish people lived with the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac.  They lived in a sacrificial system where the blood of another covered their sins before a holy, righteous God.  They had God’s presence with them in a central tabernacle or temple.  They experienced kings with varying degrees of faithfulness to Yahweh and thus varying degrees of national peace.  And at the core of this was a sense of national destiny, captured in the original promise to Abraham that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

Jesus fulfilled these pieces of Israel’s story in his life, death, and resurrection.  As he helped his disciples understand this following his resurrection, he showed them how this fulfillment affected not only their future, but their understanding of the past.  “He said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:44-45).

Andrew and Thomas and James and the others must have had their minds swirling as Jesus walked them through the entirety of Israel’s story beginning with “Season 1.”  He put the pieces together, unveiling new meaning in their history in light of what he had and was continuing to accomplish.  For a sampling of the disciples’ understanding of this new meaning, read Peter’s early sermons in Acts.

As I reflect on this, I am deeply thankful that God has written us into that story.  I am thankful that the experience of being part of something bigger than ourselves is not relegated to a clever but fake story produced by an American television network.  Because of Jesus we are part of a story authored by God himself, the story so brilliant that all others, from War and Peace to Lost are but echos of God’s master weaving.  

Living in the story with you,

Pastor Chris

Waldman (born in 1964) turned to the example of abortion, stating that her mother’s generation labored so fiercely to have abortion legalized that it was important for them to use certain language, such as referring to the womb-dweller as a fetus or embryo or clump of cells.  She continued, “But to women like me who have grown up in the age of the ultrasound, we now have 3-dimensional ultrasounds of our babies from the very beginning where we can actually see their features-recognizable features (you can see them suck their thumbs)…For us, the idea of abortion and the fact of abortion has become something very different.”

This “fact of abortion” factored heavily in Waldman’s decision to abort her third child when she and her husband discovered that the baby had an ambiguous chromosomal defect that could result in him being mentally retarded, predisposed to kidney defects, or completely normal.  After an arduous decision process, Waldman and her husband decided to have the abortion in the second trimester.

Describing the dilation and extraction abortion her “incredibly generous, gentle doctor” performed, Waldman again contrasted her mother’s ideological fight with her own wrestling with the “fact of abortion.”  Whereas her mother’s generation avoided the details of the procedure, Waldman told Terry Gross, “I needed to know exactly what was happening.”  So she explained, “The baby is extracted in pieces from your uterus….It’s horrible.  The photographs that you see, that the right-to-lifers show, they’re real photographs.  That’s really what it’s like.”  Why was this important to know?  Because Waldman, as pro-choice as her mother before her, said “I can’t support a woman’s right to choose unless I’m willing to look at the darkest side of it.  And that was the darkest side of it.”

Thus she had one non-negotiable request to her doctor, that he “make sure that the baby didn’t feel anything.”  She explains, “That was really important to me-that he be dead, essentially, before that grim process took place.  And the doctor promised me that he would give an injection that would make that happen.” 

What is unmistakable in this interview is that Ayelet Waldman came to grips with the fact that a doctor killed her son four months after he was conceived.  In fact, she fell into a deep depression following the abortion, haunted by that thought that “I had killed a baby because I was a coward.”  During this time her mother tried to comfort her by saying, “This wasn’t real; this wasn’t a baby.”  Such words rang hollow for Waldman, who kept the ultrasound pictures and continued to refer to her son as “him” rather than “it.”  (Incidentally, Waldman said “It was only when I got pregnant again [five months later] that the depression lifted.”)

So what about this interview gives me hope that abortion will one day be unthinkable?  Because I have some glimmer of optimism that our society cannot live with such cognitive dissonance for generations to come.  Somehow Ayelet Waldman can call abortion murder and advocate it.  I do not know how, and regretfully Terry Gross did not press her on this issue.  But perhaps her children, who nicknamed their aborted brother “Rocket Ship,” will grow up in a generation that grapples enough with the fact of abortion that this horrible practice finally becomes unthinkable.

Praying toward this with you,

Pastor Chris

You can find the interview mentioned online athttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103794433

1.  The words, “I love you, daddy” melt a father’s heart, even if they are not fully understood.

My fellow FOP (Fathers of Princesses) can attest that few things in the universe touch our emotional depths like the words, “I love you, daddy,” especially if they come with a kiss.  Accompanying this delight is the awareness that Sophia does not fully understand what she is saying.  She does not know who daddy is in all of his weakness.  She does not know what love is in all of its breadth and implications.  But that does not matter; her understanding will grow into her heart’s expression.

This gives me comfort to know that when I cry out to God, “I love you, O LORD!” (Psalm 18:1) that my heart’s expression can bless God’s Father heart even if my understanding of him is at toddler level.  Certainly he wants me to grow in my understanding of him, but what he wants the most-and commands first-is a heart that loves and trusts him.

2.  The things I think are important may not be very important in the grand scheme of things.

Sophia is in a phase where she is deeply concerned about things being a certain way.  The prime example is that, before we come downstairs from a nap or getting the boys up, all the upstairs doors must be closed.  The look of purpose and seriousness on Sophia’s face when she is closing the doors is priceless and serves as a fascinating mirror of our adult priorities.  What does my small mind deem so terribly important that I will throw an adult tantrum if I don’t get it?  Is getting cut off in traffic really that different than being told, “We don’t have time to close all the doors right now”?

3.  I am God’s child who still sins.

Sophia is my little princess.  And Sophia sins.  While much of our interaction with her is sweetened by snuggles, kisses, endearing words, and laughter, there are also continuous reminders that she has a fallen nature that often places her own desires above love for her brothers or obedience to her parents.  Yet we do not define Sophia by her sin but by the fact that she is our beloved daughter.

While the parallel is not precise, since Rachael and I cannot redeem Sophia, there is a broad similarity in my relationship with God.  I am God’s beloved child because I place all my trust in God’s eternally beloved Child, Jesus.  This is my identity.  Yet I still sin and do things that hurt others and buck God’s authority.  As we do with Sophia, God disciplines me and calls me to ask for forgiveness.  Yet this is all within the context of being his beloved child; indeed, that relationship defines why I want to grow in holiness: because it means experiencing more of my Father’s love.

I pray that you will join me in learning from our little ones more about our relationship with our Father in heaven.

Pastor Chris

My initial reaction to this product was an increased amazement at human accomplishment.  It was less than 150 years ago that humans even figured out how to record or transmit the voice.  When one considers the scope of 6,000 years of recorded history, the advances of the last century and a half are staggering.

After my heartbeat returned to normal over this technological advance, I pondered a question that I didn’t see posited in the nerdy articles I read: what might God think of Google Voice?  It would be presumptuous of anyone to give some definitive answer to that question, but I think a few considerations from God’s word might help us understand how we should view the progress of human tools based on how God does.

The first consideration is the Bible’s teaching that God made Adam and Eve in his own image.  In Genesis 1-2 we read of the responsibilities and privileges God gave our first parents-naming animals, ruling over the creation, filling the earth with God’s glory, and working the land.  These were all expressions of God’s own rule over his creation, making Adam and Eve vice-regents of God’s kingdom.  

So as we consider how God might view Google Voice, there is one level on which he must be pleased with the way his image bearers are displaying his creativity and wisdom in the area of communication (which God, whose Son is the Word, deems very important).

However, there is another level on which God must be having a good laugh.  We are so thoroughly impressed with the sophistication of our communication system while God needs no such system.  Not one of the articles I read about Google voice included, “As impressive as Google Voice is, let us remain humbled as we consider that God the Almighty is all-present and requires no technology to communicate universally.”  

Throughout the Bible, God scoffs at man’s prideful gloating in technology.  He confused the language of humans to squelch the building of the tower of Babel.  He consistently defeated Israel’s enemies when his people had inferior military technology or none at all.  On the communication front, God told Elisha the military plans of the Syrians, causing them to wonder who was spying for Israel (2 Kings 6:8-23).  

With these considerations in mind, perhaps we could compare our technological advances to a child building a sandcastle on the beach in front of the 5-star resort his father built.  We can be impressed with our hand-dug moat and multiple towers.  We even feel the smile of our father as he sees us emulating his work on an elementary scale.  But as we sit back to look on our mansion in the sand, the pride in our work is kept in perspective as we gaze in awe at what our father can do.

Pastor Chris

I am the blow which brings you pain
I am at fault that you are murdered
I am to blame for your death
and for the shame of your punishment
I, I am the bruise of your agony,
the hardship of your torment

I indeed acted wickedly, you were chastised in retribution
I committed the deed, you were beaten in punishment
I exalted myself, you were humiliated
I was full of pride, you were humbled
I took what was forbidden, you suffered the sharpness of death
I tasted the sweetness of the fruit, yours was the bitterness of gall.

Oh Son of God, how low has your humility brought you,
where has your charity led you,
where has your love brought you,
where has your compassion taken you?
How can I repay you for everything that you have done for me,
my King and my God?

I will accept the chalice of salvation,
and I will call upon the name of the Lord
I will pay homage to you, oh Lord, before your whole people,
and in eternity will I sing of your mercy.

–Saint Augustine (language updated)

What is a Maundy Thursday service?  First it would be helpful to know that the word Maundy originally comes from the Latin word mandatum which means “mandate” or “commandment.”  On the night when Jesus shared his last supper with the disciples, he gave them a command: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).  Thus our service will have a number of components to it, including Scripture readings related to the Last Supper, a meditation from God’s word on Jesus’ command to love one another, and a celebration of the Lord’s supper.

Since this is a special service, we will take the bread and the cup in a different way than usual.  Instead of passing the elements, we will set up stations where we can come and partake in the bread and cup in smaller groups.  Our hope is that this will give another angle of what it was like for Jesus’ disciples to eat of this holy meal in the intimacy of the upper room.  As others are sharing in this meal, we will encourage you to pray for one another in small groups, and the elders will be available to pray with you as well.  This is one way that we can “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” that he gave on this evening (Galatians 6:2).

Those who have been part of the Whitton Avenue family for the last few years will be more familiar with our Good Friday service.  In my experience, this is one of the most meaningful services of the year, as we walk through the drama of the final hours before Jesus’ death through readings from the gospels accompanied by artwork depicting the events.  It is a solemn service that ends in silence, with the intent to bring us closer to the disciples’ experience of this history-shaking day.

Please plan to attend both of these special services as we seek to hold fast to the gospel, the good news of who Jesus is and what he has accomplished for us.

Pastor Chris

The explanation is based on the fact that, for the church, Holy Week is the high point of the Christian calendar.  Certainly Easter would not exist without Christmas, because Jesus had to be born in order to die and rise from the dead.  That being said, Easter is more important that Christmas in that Jesus’ birth alone would not have saved us.  Without the substitutionary death and resurrection of God in flesh, the incarnation would be a point of wonder and mystery that could not ultimately do anything for us.

Yet the most casual observer of American culture knows that Christmas is a bigger event than Easter in our country.  Easter is not even a close second; it may not be on the top 10 list of American holidays.  Other than a few provocative articles and shows exploring Jesus’ resurrection and the emergence of C.E.O. church attenders (Christmas and Easter Only), the holiday barely creates a blip on the national screen.

This is both a blessing and a curse for the church.  The downside of such a trend is that if we do not intentionally analyze our culture, we typically adapt to it.  Consequently, we make a bigger deal about Christmas than Easter because retail stores, Hollywood, and school schedules do.  The upside of this is that we do not have a lot of cultural overgrowth to cut down in order to retain the “true meaning of Easter.”  The Easter Bunny is much easier to push to the side to see Christ’s resurrection than Santa Claus is to get a glimpse of God the Son’s incarnation.

Toss all these theological and cultural and scheduling realities in a pot, and the mix gives us the reason why we are adding a Holy Week service: we want to take steps toward making Holy Week the highlight of our year.  The cultural trends mentioned above mean that, while our pursuit should not be distracted by commercialization, neither will it be buoyed by a general national excitement about “the season.”  Thus, without the aid of Hollywood or the malls, we hope to take steps over the next few years that will heighten our awareness of the gravity and magnitude of our Lord’s sufferings, death, and resurrection and all that accomplished for us.

Next week I will write more regarding the nature of the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services.  For now, please mark your calendars for the evenings of April 9th and 10th as we celebrate the most wonderful time of the year.

Looking to Jesus with you,

Pastor Chris

First of all, while “concert” can mean a performance, its more basic meaning is the unification or harmony of many different parts, as in, “they worked in concert with one another.”  It is a fancy way to say that we are coming together to pray together, and that will take many different forms-speaking our prayers out loud, silent individual prayer, prayer in groups, and prayer led by one person.  

The more important feature of this evening’s time is what we are praying.  Most of us know the Lord’s prayer by heart and could pray it in 30 seconds or less.  Yet this model prayer-Jesus’ primary teaching on how we should pray-is much more than a mantra.  It is an entire paradigm of how we approach God, what we ask of him for ourselves and others, and what the point of our prayers is.  

So instead of repeating “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” for an hour, we are going to break the Lord’s prayer into six sections and press the pause button after each section.  “Our Father in heaven,” PAUSE.  Then we will hear scripture texts about God as Father, focus our prayers on this reality, make sure our hearts are in a position of submission and trust toward him for his fatherly care, and enjoy the privilege of calling him Father through song.  “Hallowed be your name…” PAUSE.  

I hope you will join us this evening as we pray like Jesus taught us, only with a pause button.  If God is pleased to meet us during this “Concert of Prayer,” I would venture to say that this will be the highlight of your week.

Praying with you,

Pastor Chris 

I recognize that most people do not share this drive toward comprehensive viewing.  For that reason, I am reluctant to transfer my viewing habits to my ministry of the word and assume that everyone wants to know everything I did not have time to say on Sunday morning.  That being said, for the second week in a row I am eager to share a few “deleted scenes” from the application portion of Sunday’s sermon.  I will try not to make it a habit.

In 1 Corinthians 2:14-3:4 we gathered enough data to see Paul define a “spiritual person” as one whose life is increasingly transformed by the Spirit as he illuminates the gospel.  The point of application we worked through the most was how this speaks to our relationships within the church, especially as we see Paul confronting the Corinthians, “But I, brothers [and sisters], could not address you as spiritual people” (1 Corinthians 3:1).

I see two further points of application flowing from Paul’s definition of spirituality.  The first involves our relationship with non-believers, particularly in evangelism.  In the sermon I mentioned two conversations- the nature-loving waitress and the pornography-toting guy-where I was told, “I am a very spiritual person.”  At the time I did not know what to do with that.  But now, armed with Paul’s definition of spirituality, I think my follow-up to that claim would include questions like these: “When you talk about being spiritual, what spirit are you referring to?  Is it your own spirit, or a spirit outside of you?  How do you communicate with this spirit outside of you?  What types of things does it or he or she communicate to you?”  And then I would ask them if they would allow me to talk about what my spirituality looks like.

The second point of application concerns the way non-believers view us as “spiritual people.”  In 1 Corinthians 2:15, Paul says, “the spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.”  What this very clearly does not mean is that believers have some special immunity where no one is allowed to call their life or speech into question.  First Corinthians is Exhibit A for calling errant believers into question.  So what does it mean?  

Here’s what I think Paul is reasoning.  As a person in increasingly transformed by the Spirit to see the eternal riches that God has prepared, his or her decisions are motivated by eternal realities rather than temporal realities.  So she might decide to quit her job and focus the rest of her days on sharing this spiritual wealth with those in an unreached people group.  He might decide to turn down the lucrative job in the prestigious law firm to fight human trafficking so that prostituted women might experience the mercy and justice of God.  What will non-believers say of this?  “You’re crazy!”  If their only frame of reference is this age, if they don’t see anything being real after death, then they will not be able to discern or judge the motives of spiritual people.  

I hope this sparks even more arenas in which defining spirituality helps us make more sense of our pilgrimage on this earth.  May God continue to shape us through the way he defines the world around us.

Pastor Chris