Spiderman

As much as I absolutely hate when people ruin a good movie by trying to make it theological...I must make a comment that came to my last night when I was watching Spiderman 3. My wife made a remark regarding these thoughts before I said anything to her, so it is possibly worth a mention. Oh, if you are really interested in seeing the flick, and haven't yet...don't read this. I will give away part of the ending.

When Spiderman is fighting off the black "goo" and freeing himself from the poison of revenge, he does so in a church's bell tower. When he kills Venom in the end, he does it using the sound of the bells. (sort of) Please pardon the theological leaps that are made here, I understand the church is a community of believers, etc. I could not help but think of the way that we must get to the church, we must find our way to God to really become free from the things that poison our lives. There was still quite a struggle on the part of Peter Parker because of the way he had let it take over his life. It wasn't until it had cost him everything that he was able to recognize that it needed to go. It is so true of us as well. Sin does take us farther and cost us more than we are willing.

There is one other thing that stood out to me as well. Another sad truth. As Eddie Brock (later Venom) stood at the bottom of the tower and watched this hero, Spiderman, struggle, he fell victim too. How many times do we get caught looking up to people, only to have our own lives ruined when they struggle. Sure, Spiderman got free from his vengeful spirit, but poor Eddie Brock's life was ended because of the direct contact he had with the consumed Peter Parker and the struggling Spiderman. I wonder what would have happened if Parker would not have exploded on Brock? I wonder what would happen if our hero was the one who couldn't let us down...Christ?

Here is the point: Only Christ can free us and the only one who will never let us down is Christ. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus so you are not taken captive to the sins that are common to man. Be delivered by the power of the Spirit.

Acts 2

In my last reading of Acts 2, I really noticed what it means for the church to be missional. We so often think that it is merely going on trips, like the one to Kentucky I will take my youth on this summer, or to the city mission to serve soup. It is notable how the church added nearly 3000 to it’s number on the day of Pentecost. I think it was the church’s mission, in action.

You see, our friends were “having church” when a lot of people came strolling by. They recognized where the people found their origin and became confused at how they could be understood. You see, the tongue of fire came upon them, the wind blew and all could hear. This made no sense to the passer-bys. So often we, the church, find ourselves in this position. But it gets closer to home…they began to tease them, make jokes. “These men are drunk!” Amusing…it was 9 a.m.

Are you ready? Here is the mission in action. Peter, the Rock upon whom Christ built the church said to them. We aren’t drunk, we are merely worshiping our risen Lord who has sent upon us the Spirit promised in the prophecies of Isaiah. Let me tell you about this Lord. You see, Peter seized the moment to list the groups credentials…Christ. He then proceeded to share His life, death, resurrection. He told them “Our God lives, prophecies are being fulfilled, now just wait until God makes our enemies become our footstool!”

These witnesses did what I would do…they joined in and became a part of the “Jesus movement”. I feel shamed because of the times that I feel embarrassed because a passer by sees me worshiping and laughs. I feel heartbroken about the times that I can share Christ, but don’t because someone just doesn’t understand. Why this insecurity? Peter didn’t seem to mind.

I am embarrassed that I, a part of the church, have done missions…but not been missional.

But what does it mean?

My last blog did not answer the question of what is effective ministry. I hope this will open a discussion amongst my ministry constituents.

As I sit and think of the ministry of Christ, I admit that I am looking to plagiarize. Here is the problem – Christ preached, listened, called out, offered grace, was stern, was loving, got angry, wept, observed Law, abolished Law, healed, and forgave. Jesus was public, he prioritized privacy, he taught, he got frustrated with stupid questions, he ministered to thousands, focused on a few, even did it one on one. He healed the sick then let one die so he could raise him to life. Jesus was praised and he was hated, he spoke out boldly but then stood silent at his trial.

Here are my observations: Christ loved the people. Christ never lost sight of his calling. My only assertion at this point is that effective ministry must be dedicated and people oriented. Now I will ask the church board question – what does this look like?

Calling in Life

There have been many sleepless nights in the past ten months that I have found myself in a puddle of my own tears because of the circumstances I find my loved ones in. More often than not these are situations relative to my students, occasionally family and friends. As I lay thinking about these things there is one truth that continues to run through my mind “He must become greater, I must become less.” John 3:30.

I know this sounds counter-cultural, somewhat motivational, yet seriously impractical in today’s world. Seriously, how do you use this as an encouragement to a suicidal teen who feels abandoned by everyone who once loved him/her, a confused adolescent in midst of deciding whether to live with their father or mother, or a student who just cannot understand the equations in math, conjugations in foreign language, or retain knowledge through rote memory as is required in history causing this young person to fear failure due to unmet expectations in a highly competitive society? Sure, it is easy to tell the state championship athlete to give God glory, but what about these other students? Can we equivocate “sucking it up” to becoming less for Christ’s sake as if they are actually tantamount? And in the midst of this, how am I supposed to be an effective minister?

The startling revelation is this paradox, this counterintuitive truth – we must lose our life to save it (Luke 17:33), suffering and defeat opens the window to victory and accomplishment, and freedom comes in fulfilling our life’s calling. Moments, better yet – times, of tribulation bring us to our knees. There is no place to go when our world seems to crash down, when things go wrong, we cannot find a way to meet expectations or satisfy “the man”. However, the good news is this: through our obedience to Christ, our dedication to our call (following His perfect plan for our life) we can preserve our life for eternity.

I will be the first to say that I don’t know what this looks like for you…but I know what it means for me. It means coming home with a shoulder soaked with teenage tears, only to fill the pillow with my own. Sometimes it means in delighting in the joy of success for the sake of God’s Kingdom. At all times, it means preaching the gospel.

Wedding pictures slideshow

ipod God

I recently synced my ipod to my computer, because I had put some new songs in my itunes. Since my ipod is registered with a couple computers, it had to be deleted, then load the itunes library in order to sync. This takes a while longer, and sometimes is a little frustrating if I just want to add a song on the fly. There were some songs that I didn’t want on it, so I took them off my itunes library list. They were just old Christmas songs, who needs those in April?

So as I was waiting for my slow computer to sync with my ipod, I was thinking that this must be how God works. Slow… sometimes, but I was thinking of how when we ask to be synced, he will totally erase us and then reload what he wants. It takes a while to get rid of the songs that aren’t wanted, and even longer to load the new ones we do…but in the end it is just right.

God is faithful and just, and he forgives our sins and places them as far from Him as the east is from the west. I John 1:9; Psalm 103:12.

A mid-nights pondering

As I was lying sleepless in bed last night there was only enough light for me to see two things – the back of my wife’s head and the window. So I laid in bed staring at the window. The blinds were drawn because of the irritating flashes of the street light on the corner and the moon was casting a shadow upon them. The shadow resembled a duck holding a baseball bat. As outrageous as this seems, at two in the morning it can be quite a source of entertaining thoughts.

Eventually my mind came to think about the image of the tree that was actually the figure of the shadow. The shadow was distorted because of the obstruction (my house) standing where it was suppose to fall, and as such was not giving a true representation of the tree and was not pointing the light source as shadows naturally do. To me, the tree’s shadow resembled something completely different and ridiculous. I began wondering what it looks like when people look at my shadow. Certainly as Christ, the Light, is at work in me, there must be some type of shadow cast. Does it resemble what Christ is transforming me into or is it something absurd?

I would hope we all cast the shadow that points to the Light.