Ever since I started preaching at FBC Warren at the beginning of April, I have been using the (Revised Common) Lectionary as the source of my sermon texts. This has simplified the preaching process somewhat, giving me a limited menu of texts to choose from every week, rather than having to come up with them off the top of my head each week. In each text, I have found a way to tie it in to the life of the congregation and to what I have preached already.

This week, however, the Lectionary is providing me with a frustrating experience. This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost. Given the options for texts, I chose Matthew 28:16 – 20, a text I have preached on previously, but not at Warren. This sermon will have a different focus than the previous one on the same text. The earlier sermon focused on the entire passage; this one will focus on the role of the Trinity in the passage.

The problem is that I’m preaching on the Trinity, one of the most neglected topics in pulpits everywhere. There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which are the following: 1) we really don’t know what we’re talking about, 2) the Trinity is seen as dry and boring and academic, something we don’t want to be, and 3) we have trouble making sermon illustrations that will make the topic accessible without diving into historically verifiable heresy.

I’ve fussed and fussed with this topic this week, and I still haven’t found a good “handle” to bring this topic to life. The only way I know how to explain the Trinity is to walk through its historical development in the Nicene Crisis. That takes us all the way back to the early fourth century, to philosophies and perspectives that I find downright fascinating, but which will not be accessible to those who need to hear from God through Matthew 28:16 – 20 about his Triune nature.

I was conversing with my predecessor-once-removed last night, and this topic came up. I think he gave me something to work with: the Trinity was first and foremost an expression of the Christian experience.

Kyrie Eleison (Lord, have mercy!)

Today I arrived at my office to an unbearable stench. Ever since I moved my furniture around on Thursday, there has been a foul odor in the room.

This morning, we traced the olfactory intrusion to a section of carpet that had formerly been under the plastic chair mat (no, not the chair mat). Evidently, the roof had leaked into the office some time prior to my arrival, and this leakage had caused seepage into the carpet. For whatever reason, the wet spot had remained covered by the plastic chair mat for upwards of a year.

Upon moving the chair mat, we exposed the rotten carpet to the air.

Ergo, today I was excused from the use of my office after the carpet disinfectant people treated the source of my sensory discontent with an even more odoriferous concoction intended to evict whatever living organisms might be abiding in my floor-bound monochromatic tapestry.

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 69% Postmodernist 56% Fundamentalist 38% Romanticist 31% Existentialist 19% Idealist 19% Modernist 13% Materialist 0%

What is Your World View?
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This post is a part of the Pentecost Grid Blog ::

This morning we read the Pentecost Passage (Acts 2:1 – 21) in four different languages. We read in Romanian, Spanish, Ancient Greek and English. When I set up this part of the service, I hoped that we could be able not just to hear the scriptures read, as we do every week in the service, but to experience the scriptures as they were read.

As we started to experience the scriptures read in multiple languages, an unspoken question arose within the congregation that by the end of the service was screaming itself out: is it possible for us to actually experience the life people experienced in the scriptures? Our situation seems so far removed!

After the service, several of us discussed what our lives as a congregation could be like. The answer came out in these conversations over and over again: the same Spirit of God who dwelt in the believers at Pentecost is dwelling in us. This God, who has at his disposal all the resources of the entire creation (and then some) has called us to experience that kind of ministry together and he will provide whatever resources are necessary to do the work to which he as called us.

And that’s good news.

Every once in a while, as we reflect on the scriptures, we discover an application so powerful and so direct that it shakes us to the core. For me, over the last five weeks, I have started to realize how powerfully Romans applies to our congregational life.

One of the challenges that faces our congregation is to reach out in ministry to people in our community in a way that incorporates people who are in many ways very different than we are. Our congregation has an elderly, traditional personality. It is rooted in our community – we have been a part of the life of our town for over two hundred years. Those who are members of the congregation are, in large part, families who have been members of the church for generations.

Now we face the prospect of integrating a large number of new members into our congregation who are new believers in Jesus Christ as our one path forward in ministry together as a congregation. These new believers come from a culture that is very different from those who are already members. They do not know the story of faith in the same way that the original members do. Their perspective on the world is very different from those who have been raised in the faith.

Romans 1 – 4 speaks strongly to this issue: (more…)

Sermon 15 May 2005
Pentecost Sunday, Year A
Acts 2:1 – 21

“Watch Your Language�

Awful and Artificial

In 1666 London was all but destroyed by a city-wide fire. One of the great losses in the fire was the old cathedral of St. Paul in downtown London. A few years after the fire, the King commissioned architect Christopher Wren to rebuild the once-glorious cathedral.

Wren’s new cathedral was designed on a grand scale. Its dome is still a feature of the London skyline. Many remarked on the beauty and grandeur of the building. When the building was complete, Queen Anne took an official tour of the cathedral. At the end of the tour, Queen Anne remarked that the building was “amusing, awful and artificial.� The story goes that Wren was deeply moved by this compliment, and bent down and kissed her hand. http://www.executive-speaker.com/spkib003.html; http://www.word-detective.com/050404.html; http://www.denison.edu/publicaffairs/pressreleases/class_06_convo.html

Amusing, awful and artificial – not a compliment I’d want on the average day. (more…)

Occasional Music is music that is written for a specific purpose or event (i.e., an occasion). George Frederick Handel wrote quite a lot of it. The most notable occasional pieces by Handel are “Music for the Royal Fireworks” and “Water Music.” In fact, these pieces often are bundled together on a CD.

This weekend, I experienced both “Music for the Royal Fireworks” and “Water Music” and composed some of my own occasional music, “Sitting under a tent in the rain with a guitar Music.”

I’ve often told people that my life has a soundtrack. That explains why weird stuff happens to me more often than others: I’m in a movie, after all.

Last night, after a month’s worth of phone tag, I finally got ahold of someone to help take care of some business related to one of the three weddings I’m going to be in this summer. And that is where the adventure began. The phone rang during a quiet moment at the Warren City Relay for Life (an event to raise money for cancer research). I decided to take the call.

I escaped from our tent on the high school football field/track complex and exited the stadium to talk on the phone. I saw a nice clear spot out in the practice field, so I walked out there, away from the people. It was dark, and I walked a ways out into the field.

Next thing I know, a professional fireworks display starts up not less than 25 yards from where I was standing. (more…)

Some people have asked about this… “ye ask, and ye will receive.”

No, it was not carjacking. It was car-jacking. Just to be clear.

Yesterday I decided that I wanted to make my new church office more comfortable, inviting and a better work environment for me and my visitors. So… I started by rearranging my desk. Since I am 187 cm. tall (6′ 2″), I don’t fit well under the average desk (especially one made in April 1950, as the underside of my desk is stamped). I removed the lap drawer to give my knees appropriate room.

It was still too low. For me to sit at proper posture, I needed just a little more height on the entire desktop. I asked L. if we had any bricks or 2×4′s or something to put under it. We had bricks. We found 6.

Now we were faced with the challenge of getting the bricks under the desk. I’d already moved my desk into the corner of the room, and it was going to be hard to remove the desk, place the bricks in the right locations and then place the desk down on top of them again. So I lifted the desk and started trying to lift with one hand while shoving a brick under with the other.

A sore shoulder is about all the progress that was made there.

L. came in, and she lifted the desk while I slid bricks under the legs. Except she couldn’t quite get it high enough.

So I said, I’ve got an idea: I’ll be right back.

I went out and got my car jack. It worked wonderfully for elevating my desk in a stable way while placing the bricks under it. I said, “Creativity is often defined as the use of a tool for something other than its intended purpose to do a job it is fully equipped to handle but one for which it is not designated.” (or something to that effect).

Ok, so people who like Star Wars have to see this.

Then again, people who like Star Wars and LEGOS have to see it as well.

Or maybe just people who like LEGOS.

Anyhow… Check it out!

Oh, and Mom, be glad we didn’t ever take on anything that ambitious!

We who are followers of Jesus Christ call ourselves “the Body of Christ.” This is more than just a fancy name for “church.” When we state that we are “The Body of Christ,” we indicate that we hold life in common. Far beyond any theoretical spiritualizations of “Body,” our life as followers of Jesus Christ has become a component part of all those who have followed Jesus Christ – our contemporaries, and those who have gone before – and will be a component part of all who will follow.

In short, our common ministry, our common experience and our common call join together to show us that to live lives as believers in Jesus Christ, we must “do life together.”

To that end, throughout the ages, believers have founded their common life on at least 10 principles – as alive and active today as ever. John O’Keefe of Ginkworld summarizes them in his post on “old ideas, new visions”:

the “10 vows” set forth by vineyard… are centeral to a community, no matter the style.

simplicity – a frugal and focused life.
community – a shared and stable life.
worship – a God-centered life.
study – a transformed life.
work – a productive and creative life.
service – a generous life.
hospitality – a welcoming life.
justice- a socially active life.
sabbath – a renewed life.
celebration – a joy-filled life.

As we follow Jesus Christ, we will discover the necessity of committing ourselves to these things. These are the values of communities of believers that are living out what it means to be truly Christian.

Agios Andreas, Greece, May 12 – A pastor in Lesotho urges his congregation to get tested for HIV infection. A Nigerian activist has counseled Roman Catholic priests with AIDS. An Anglican minister who is HIV positive speaks of how the pandemic in Africa may help reclaim Christianity’s spirit of compassion.

Link via Beliefnet. Emphasis mine.

Later on in the article, Greek Theologian Athanasios Papathanasiou is quoted equating the current AIDS crisis to the New Testament leprosy crisis.

So, if AIDS = Leprosy, and Jesus spent time with, touched, healed and comforted lepers, where would Jesus be today?

Jesus will be with those suffering from AIDS. Jesus will be with the drug users and drug dealers. Actually, if I read the New Testament right, Jesus will be with just about everyone except the self-assured church people who like things just the way they are.

Let that be a warning to us all.

Oh yeah… this is for real.

A Mount Pleasant congregation is dealing with the loss of their church after they say some one broke the locks off a trailer and stole it.

(more…)

Link Via Church Marketing Sucks

I mean, I’m sorry for the people and their loss and all that but there’s something really funny about this too… stealing a church?

John shows off NASA’s new find:

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has discovered a new moon orbiting within the rings of Saturn. This link has the NASA article plus an image of the moon and movie of it traveling through the rings. You can see how the moon has an influence on the structure of the ring…it’s really neat!

Once again, that NASA link can be found here.

Chris Erdman quotes one of his students, writing on leadership:

In my initial leadership reflection, I focused on servanthood. I continue to believe that this is a major element to effective leadership; however, I have realized that often times I seek to be a servant as a tool to “keep the peace.� In other words, a major goal of mine in leadership was to avoid conflict, or at least to prevent it from happening. “Keeping the peace� is not what God has called us to do. Instead, God has called us to seek shalom – wholeness – and to help our church to seek shalom. If we are to find this wholeness, growth is essential. And as I have learned this semester, conflict is essential to growth. Rather than avoiding conflict, I need to allow it to help our leadership team, our staff, our church to grow closer to shalom.

Shalom is the peace of God: This peace transcends a mere lack of conflict to reconcile us to one another and to God in practical, everyday ways. Conflict will occur in groups of people; that is part of the process of growth. The pursuit of Shalom does not eliminate that, nor does it try. Rather, Shalom takes us deeper in to the life of the Kingdom of God, where we all find our roles as participants in God’s new creation.

What My Mother Taught Me

The Senility Prayer

On Balls And Uteruses

The easily offended should not read the third one. They’re all really funny, though…