Acts 18

Acts 18 tonight. We looked at the last leg of Paul's second missionary journey. We had great conversation tonight, so let's continue that here. Here are the thoughts that we discussed:

When Paul tried really hard, he often didn’t have the best results. When he allowed God to take over, the results were usually enormous. Are we seeking control, or are we allowing God to guide us in His plan?

It appeared that Paul would be persecuted in spite of God’s promise of protection. Have we doubted God’s promises in our own lives? When will we learn that His promises always stand?

What do we learn from the encounter between Apollos and Priscilla & Aquila regarding confrontation and correction?

There were great thoughts and sharing on the first two points. I'm sure there are other ideas on those. We never really got to the last point, though. Thoughts???

Acts 17

As we continue our walk through the book of Acts, we pick up in chapter 17 with the continuation of Paul's second missionary journey. In this chapter we see Paul share the story of Jesus with three different groups in three different ways, yet it's the same message. Here are some of the jumping off points that we opened up for discussion:

Some view faith as a nice and neat packaged faith as compared with real life with doubt, question, and struggle. Paul writes the additional letters in the NT b/c it’s not all roses for the churches. The Lord is adding to their number in the midst of conflict and trouble and yet there is still faith.

The Jews were “neat and tidy.” Greeks were “don’t know don’t care”. Our world is predominantly similar to this, and yet God is calling us to live in the tension between these two just as Paul & Co.

The Epics and Stoics and Jews essentially cloistered themselves so that their debates only went so far. Evaluate your own experience of church to see if there are places where there is cloistering and whether we have contributed to it.

Are we going and sharing as the example that we are given by Paul?

There were some good comments during the dialogue time tonight. If you have more thoughts, please share them with us all...

Acts 16

Last night we looked at Acts 16 which begins the second missionary of Paul & Co. Give it a read...good stuff. Here are the discussion points that we talked about last night:

Are we being led by the Spirit in our day-to-day interactions as Paul & Co. were?

Have we experienced times where doors seemed to close, yet God was creating a different way for us all the while? What has been our reaction and what should our reaction be?

As we have talked about in past discussions, our reaction to circumstance is often more important than the circumstance itself. Taking the example of Paul and Silas in prison, after wrongful arrest and beating, what is our reaction when bad things happen to good people? Are we able to keep proper perspective? Are we able to pray and sing in the midst of persecution.

What other questions does this raise for you?

Awesome discussion last night! Let's continue that conversation here...

Acts 15

Our text on Sunday night was Acts 15. It's a bit of an odd text that doesn't get much teaching in church, but it's a hugely pivotal part of the development of the church as recorded in the book of Acts. The snippet (but I recommend reading the real deal instead of the Trevor paraphrase) is that there are Jews who have become followers of Jesus. There are now also Gentiles (non-Jews) who have become followers of Jesus. Some Jews thought that the Gentiles should have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian. The Apostle Paul says, "nope." Pharisees who are Christians say, "yep." Thus the controversy. Enter the church council in Jerusalem. They put their heads together. They come up with a compromise that entails a few requirements but forgoes the circumcision issue.

All of this was really an attempt at church unity so that the family of God could be expanded. It also made it possible for people of differing cultures to gather at the same table without too much controversy or argument. Here are the jumping off points of our discussion from Sunday:

Here is great good news for us: this is a gospel that recognizes diversity yet enables harmonious living based on a higher unity, our identity in Christ.

What “do’s and don’ts” do we unjustly enforce on others for entrance to the kingdom of God?

James's proposal teaches us three things about life together in a culturally diverse church: 1) We must say no to any form of cultural imperialism that demands others' conformity to our cultural standards before we will accept them and their spiritual experience; 2) We must say yes to mutual respect for our differences; and 3) We must live out that respect by using our freedom to forgo what is permissible for us in light of the needs or struggles of others.

So that's where we started our conversation. Please share some thoughts with us...

Acts 14

Tonight we looked at Acts 14 and the continuation of Paul and Barnabas' missionary journey. At one point we saw the convergence of three religions in the area of Lystra. We saw the concept of developing leadership in the church. We saw the love, or lack of love, behind sharing faith with another. Etc.

There were no specific questions that we dealt with, but it's free and open to be discussed further.

One thing I found interesting was the fact that the Jews cared less about the Greeks and their faith than they cared about what the Christians were doing. The didn't want the Greeks to know God or be Jewish. They simply didn't want them to be Christian. Do we see that anywhere today? Are we guilty of that ourselves? What are our motives in sharing the story of Jesus with others?

Any other thoughts. Give the scripture a read and then share some thoughts here...

Hope

I picked up a book yesterday which I dearly love. It's called "The Rabbi's Heartbeat" by Brennan Manning. I've read it two other times and I really connect with his thoughts every time. Here's a nugget I pull from yesterday's reading time:

"The mystery is Christ among you, your hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). Hope knows that if great trials are avoided, great deeds remain undone and the possibility of growth into greatness of soul is aborted. Pessimism and defeat are never the fruit of the life-giving Spirit but rather reveal our unawareness of present risenness (of Jesus)."

Wow. I needed that yesterday. And today. And most likely tomorrow. It's been a rough week already. Yet...there is hope.

Acts 13

Last night we looked at Acts 13...all 52 verses of it. As Ryan said, "52 verses of unadulterated fun!" Nice! So, yeah, we talked about Acts 13 and the sharing of the message of Jesus on Paul's first missionary journey. Here are the talk points that we began with:

The text says that Barnabas and Paul were set apart for this mission. Often saying ‘yes’ to God means saying ‘no’ to the things that keep us from fulfilling the call. What might God be asking you (or us) to say ‘no’ to to fulfill God’s call?

Some people end up rejecting Jesus because of the way He changes our relationship with other people. Some would rather hold on to their bitterness and animosity towards others than turn to Jesus and be reconciled.

We didn't necessarily stay with that thought, but feel free to respond to those. We also took side trips in discussion regarding how we go about sharing the message of Jesus. What is the approach considering what the stetting is and who the audience is? How do we go about sharing the love and grace of God? Hmmm...I can't remember what else we discussed. Feel free to chime in!

Acts 12

Man, we had awesome discussion on this evening's scripture. I wish we could have recorded it on the podcast so that everyone could benefit from hearing other peoples' perspectives. Wow! Anyway, the scripture was Acts 12 (reading it will make these points make more sense) and here are topics of discussion that were jumping off points:

Are we able to “sleep” in times of trial?

Have you ever asked someone a question only to walk away before hearing the answer? Have you ever prayed to God, hoping for an answer, but decided not to look and see what God might do? Are there answers to our prayers all around us that we have not noticed?

What is our view of prayer and our approach to prayer?

What do you think? Where are you at? Again, the discussion was great, but let's continue to dialogue on this here at the blog.

I'm gone on vacation this week. Don't talk about me while I'm gone. :-)

PC's

As I write this on my Mac, I'm sitting next to Lori's new PC. I took care of the installation for her. Now I'm ready to toss it out the window. Window's Vista...crap. Office software installation...crap. Shut down and restart 57 times...crap. Computer asking me if I'm sure I want to do what I just told it to do...crap. I tried to recover a document for Lori and as it tried to open it, it told me there was too little memory to perform the task...crap. How can a laptop that's only one day old be low on memory? It has 1 GB of memory. There were no programs open (although Windows is notorious for having 20 programs running in the background that you don't know about). Crap!

All that to say that I love my Mac and will never go back.

Acts 11

This past Sunday we talked at Journey about Acts 11. Ryan did a great job of walking us through the text. We saw the further development of the church. We saw the development of leaders in the church. We saw the contrast between the he church being open to what God is doing and not being open. Here were two of the thought s that Ryan led us toward as we embarked on our discussion time:

Barnabas knew his limits and went off to get Saul. Do we know our limits? Are you stuck in the rut of trying to be all things to all people? Can an entire church function that way and be healthy?

The believers’ prior experience told the believers that they should behave and interact one way with Gentiles; the Spirit prompted another, and it was acted on. Where are the places our previous experiences hold us back? How can we work at pushing past them and heading down the paths that God is leading down?

What do you think? Do you have thoughts on thsese questions? Where are you living in the text adn what is causing you to stop and think? Let's continue our discussion time...

Acts 10-

Last night we looked at Acts 10. The summary version of this passage is that Peter had a vision from God that entailed crossing the boundary between what was considered clean and unclean. God's message for him was that all people are "clean" and acceptable as they are created by God and that all people are welcome in the family of God. That's the snapshot, but I recommend you read it as well.

Here are the talk points that we offered as a part of our discussion time:

1. Throughout our past study of the books of Mark and Luke we saw the concept of “leveling” happening between the high and low of society. In this text we see a different kind of leveling between Jew and non-Jew. Do we recognize this leveling in our world? What does that look like today? Do we recognize that the church is for all people?

2. This text demonstrates God’s ability to orchestrate meetings for His purposes and spreading His message. How are we being open to God’s revelation of truth to us? How are we applying that truth to the situations and interactions in which we find ourselves?

We had some good conversation surrounding these points. One person pointed out that the second point doesn't happen until the first point is figured out. Do you have other thoughts to add to the conversation?

Bridge Collapse

I just read an article on cnn.com about t the bridge collapsing in Minneapolis. The article talked about a man who had already had a brush with death in his past and now almost drove off the bridge. The man's mother said, "God and the Virgin Mary saved my son, because otherwise he would have tumbled into the water with all the other cars," . I guess the same old question arises...why him and not the others. Was God looking out for this man and not the others? Was he looking out for all of them? I don't know. I'm sure it grieves him completely for each person affected. It conjures up memories of the bus crash that killed some Bluffton baseball players and left others unharmed. We'll never know. It certainly makes me cautious to say something like this woman said, though. I can't imagine that it helps anyone else in their view of God-those who lost a loved one in the event, even though it sustains her in her faith.

I'm not necessarily looking for reactions...just thinking. Whatever. Post if you want to.

Solar Power in remote villages

This is an interesting article from cnn.com. It centers around the use of solar power to bring light and technology to remote villages in India. I'm conflicted. On the one hand it presents excellent opportunities for individuals by offering lighting after dark which has never been an option for them. That's awesome. On the other hand it presents opportunities for the United States to infiltrate another region and try to westernize it. That's not awesome. The article speaks to the use of solar power to run the villages only tv and dvd player. Great. Let's dub our finest films from Hollywood and ship them over to them. Great. I wonder what Adam Sandler films might sound like in their language?!?!

I read a book not too long ago that talked about the amount of stress that we have in the American culture which translates into sleep disorders, addictions, etc. Studies and statistics actually linked this back to the advent of artificial light. Apparently artificial light throws off the body's ability to differentiate between day and night. There is a chemical in the brain which is released at sundown which causes the body to downshift for sleep. There is another chemical the brain releases at dawn (or when light is introduced following sleep) which causes the body to upshift for the day. The studies showed that artificaial light actually prevents the brain from releasing that chemical. That's why we can't sleep , there are sleep disorder clinics, and multiple prescriptions to aid in sleep. And additionally why there are "uppers" and market for caffeine to get us going in the morning. Nice cycle. Apparently the only sorts of cultures that don't deal with this are those without artificial light (bedouin tribes and those in India according to this article).

So, thanks to solar technology, these villages can look forward to the microsoft monopoly and pc world, working third shift, 7-11 and slurpees, Starbucks kiosks and Monster energy drinks, and the need for over the counter sleep aids. You're welcome, India!

Is that a stretch, maybe. Maybe not.

Acts 9:23-43

We had great discussion tonight on the passage above. Lots of discussion surrounding healing and wholeness and leading others by the hand and being led by the hand. Great thoughts everyone. Here was one of the "jumping off points" for discussion:

Barnabas took Saul “by the hand” to the Apostles to present him to the church. He spoke on Saul’s behalf. In this action, Barnabas brought about: reconciliation, guidance, forgiveness, healing, hospitality, etc.

How has someone played that role in our life?
In what ways are we playing the role of Barnabas for another?

The third story about Tabitha closely mirrors the story of Jesus in Mark 5. In both of those stories (here in Acts and Jesus in the book of Mark) there are instances of taking someone by the hand. Someone raised the issue of "who do we take by the hand" (kids and elderly...for different reasons) and what does that tell us. Someone else raised the fact that sometimes we need to be led by the hand.

If you have any thoughts to share, and to continue the conversation, please leave them here. Thanks!

Just around the river bend...

Hopefully you can imagine the title being sung by Pocahontas, but you don't want it to be sung by me. Anyway, that song came to mind for two reasons: 1) I have a 4 1/2 year old princess for a daughter, and 2) I just have this feeling that we're right around the corner from something. Have you ever had that feeling? Have you ever felt that something big was going to happen, but you didn't know what, and you certainly couldn't explain that feeling in the pit of your stomach to anyone else? Have you felt that way? Yeah, me to. Right now.

I don't know what God wants to do, or is going to do, in and through the life of this fledgling community that is called Journey. I have visions sometimes of what could be, and I just pray that they are a part of what God is thinking. We so desperately want others to experience Jesus in a way that connects with their life on a very real level. We want to reach those who are burnt out on church or burnt BY the church and just don't like the church. We want to be a home and a community for those that have not felt loved by Christians. I think God knows our heart and is going to break something wide open . I just don't know what yet. I can't wait to see.

Ephesians 3:14-20, "14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ , 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Yeah...

Acts 9:1-22

Okay. I've not been the most dedicated blogger here. I love the concept. I fail on execution. From here on out, this will be a place to continue the conversation from Sunday night. View this as a place to add comments that you wish you had made during the dialogue on Sunday night. Or a place to add a thought that popped into your head since Sunday night. Whatever the case, share those here and continue the conversation this week.

Tonight we talked about Acts 9 and the life change of a man named Saul. Here are some of the thoughts that we talked about tonight. If you are continuing to think about this and mull things over in your mind, feel free to jump in and add to the conversation...

1) "Life begins with an encounter with Jesus and we're either being prepared for it, or, we are living in the assurance of it."

2) God uses our past to His advantage for the His purpose.

3) Ananias said, "Brother, Saul..." and considered him a friend and brother instead of a persecutor and threat. Are there people in our lives who we need to offer hospitality, fellowship, and acceptance to even before Jesus transforms them? Even if they aren't transformed?

4) Are there people in our life who we have been viewing as beyond God's love, yet could be the next Saul through the transformation of Jesus? Do we realize that God can (and wants to) transform all people?

Jesus Wrecked My Life

So, I just got done reading an article in Relevant magazine with the above title. (I have copies at Journey if you'd like to give it a read.) It was pretty shaking as I read Shane Claiborne's account of the change that Jesus made in his life. It's an upside down account which makes sense in light of Jesus' message being an upside down gospel. He talks about how they took action instead of talking. He talks about how he wanted to live like a Christian instead of talking or learning about Christianity. He went to Calcutta to see Mother Theresa. He discovered God's love on the streets of Philly. It's an amazing story. Here's one quote:

"...We are about ending poverty, not simply managing it. We give people fish. We teach them to fish. We tear down the walls that have been built up around the fish pond. And we figure out who polluted it."

What a great picture. What a great image of the life of living Jesus' mission. What is Jessus meant the stuff he said? What if we meant it when we said we're following Jesus? What if? I think that's why so many people disregard Christianity...because so few people live it. I know I don't to the degree that would truly represent Jesus in a halfway decent way. I don't know too many people who take the message seriously. What if Jesus really meant it? I think he did. Now what?

Recent accident

Wow. News of the bus crash in Atlanta has rocked our area. Ryan and I went down to the university to help in whatever way we could. Many appeared to being dealing with this alright, but that was before the release of any names. I assume that grief will incresase as the details continue to be released.

The question that obviously comes to mind with this is, "why?" We know the why related to the mechanics of the accident as told to us from CNN. But our innate spiritual or philosophical side asks the question of why them, why now, why ever...I don't believe that there's an answer to that question. I don't know that God is looking for us to be able to answer that question. Of course we want him to answer it to our own satisfaction. Not gonna happen. We may never have an answer. The only thing(s) I know for sure is that God didn't cause this. He didn't want it to happen. He knows it sucks. And it's okay to tell him that it does. He wants us to know that He cries along side us. He wants us to know that He believes in the importance of life, however short or long it may be. He wants us to know that he'll take care of our loved ones for us. He wants us to know that we can grieve in whatever way we need to and it's okay. He wants us to know that He's still here...and always will be.

At this point...that's all I know.

dark and light

"Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn't as bright as it could be." -Rob Bell

I've been looking through Bell's book, Velvet Elvis, today and came across this quote again. I love it. It seems that so often we shake our fist in the wrong direction. Countless times I've received phone calls at dinner time from various Christian organizations asking me to give money so that we can...fill in the blank. It seems to always be the focus of stomping out such and such atrocity in our culture. It seems to be some battle language panic that attempts to go toe to toe with movies, culture, media, or whatever.

Why don't we spend more time being "light"? Why don't we spend more time focusing on illuminating the darkness by reflecting the light of Christ in our lives? We can't stop the darkness of this world by shouting at it. We can't stop it by giving money to lobbyists to get politicians to vote a particular way. We can't stop it by sending boycott e-mails to all our friends. But. We can be as bright a light as God enables us to be. We can be different.

Both of our kids have nightlights in their rooms. I'm amazed at how dark the room is when we first turn off the overhead light, yet in a short moment the friendly glow of the nightlight makes it possible to see across the room. A little light goes a long way. A lot of people being the light of Jesus goes a long way also.

I bet the world would actually "come around" if we'd stop being so focused on fighting the dark of the world and focus on reflecting the light of Jesus. "Why isn't the light as bright as it could be?"

OT from the other side

I've got to post a link to one of my friend's sites. Michele is a great writer a knack for seeing things that others don't. Here's a re-print of the post with her permission and here's Michele's blog:

"i'm just gonna warn you, this thought has the potential to be very long....
so, because i'm shoulder-deep in hebrew and i went to a shabbat service this past saturday, and spent some time in deuteronomy this week, i've been thinking. i've been thinking about the law, the OT, what it meant to God and what it was to the people who followed it. this is by no means a scientific or even exegetical analysis. just more of a question.

many times, especially using Paul's letters in the NT, the law gets this horrible repuation. it's rules to follow, ways of earning salvation, meaningless... but i think that's kind of a conceited way of looking at it. while christians don't want to be constrained to follow OT law, they make their own up... don't drink, smoke, dance, play cards, wear hats indoors, run in the sanctuary, watch R rated movies, or forget a coster when drinking a cold drink on a wooden surface. it doesn't matter what it is, as humans we make rules as ways of governing the way we should live.
so i was thinking about why God was so direct in his "rules" for living in the promised land. and here's what i came up with: it was his way of saying, "this is what life should look like". now, you say, "what???" let me explain as if God and the israilites were having a conversation.

God: i love you

Israel: we love you!

God: i'm going to make a covenant with you. because i love you, and not because you earned it, i'm going to promise you you'll be a great nation, a blessing to everyone. and i'll protect you, and i'll give a land filled with good things.

Israel: wow! thanks God! that's amazing! (however, in the back of their minds, they're wondering how this will really happen).

God: now, this place is such a good place, and i want to live with you, so i need you to to live a life that is holy.

Isreal: holy. ok. got it. what is entailed in "living holy"?

God: well, really, it comes down to loving me with everything you have and are. and as part of loving me, you love your neighbors.

Israel: right... love. got it.

God: really, it's like because I'm a part of your life, i'm going to reset your default settings. instead of being greedy and selfish, you'll want to live in love with everyone.

Israel: right. love. no selfish, no greedy..... uh, God.... this is new. since the creation of the world we really don't have a lot of examples of what that looks like. so, when you say "love me with everything you are and have", what does that look like exactly? what does it mean to love your neighbor?

God: well, for instance, when you harvest your fields & vines, don't go over it twice. i know that yes, you were the one to pay for the seeds, plant and care for your crops, but if you didn't get it the first time you harvested your field, leave it there, because there are people that need it more than you. that's how you become less selfish and love your neighbor.

Israel: oh, ok.

God: and if someone owes you something, and you have to remind them by taking their coat as a "pledge", that's okay, unless they're poor and that's all they have. if that's the case, you need to give them their coat back at night because they'll be cold. they need it more than you.

Israel: oh, ok.

God: and if you really love your father, you won't sleep with any of his wives. and if you love your uncles, you won't sleep with any of the their wives.

Israel: oh, ok. say, God. can we make a list? maybe write this down? so we don't forget?

God: well, you can, but it's going to be a long one. if you want to write down these many ways of loving me and your neighbor, you're going to have to have a big stone (because i have not created one of you with the way to make paper yet).

so, what if to God, it wasn't about a list, but about showing us what it means to live in love? what if it was we humans that keep wanting to quantify it, put it to a list. i was on wikipedia again (God bless that site) and saw the Jewish Mizvot (613 rules they keep).... it's a lot. some of it might seem crazy, but maybe it was all they knew how to do to try and live the way God wants.

and maybe that's what we do all the time. we try to make a list so we can make sure that we act the way God wants us to as He lives among us....

so another question... is who we are a result of what we do, or is what we do a result of who we are? because wow, if we could work on having the character of a loving person, who sought to live in a way that God was trying to describe in the Law, then we wouldn't have to worry about memorizing the right and wrong. if we walked in the Spirit, then that would lead us in the way of life that God desires.

just a thought."

Great insights and thoughts. So, the OT and the Ten Commandments are really out of love rather than spoiling fun. There you go!