It Takes A Church...

Advent and the Christian Year

Mark D. Roberts has provided us a nice introduction to the Christian year (that STARTED with Advent).  This is helpful, easy reading for those of us who are liturgically-challenged.

C.S. Lewis and Mother Kirk - Books & Culture

An interesting article on C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church is good reading and food for thought. As an ex-Catholic Presbyterian with tremendous amount of pro-Catholic sympathies, I appreciate Lewis' respect for the the "Mother Kirk" without leaving Protestantism behind. Link: C.S. Lewis and Mother Kirk - Books & Culture.

Tomorrow morning, more on Advent, Community and The Incarnation inspired by Hootie and the Blowfish.

Better Living: Thoughts from Mark Daniels: The Power of Encouragement, Part 1

Mark Daniels is starting a new series with a great perspective on encouragement. I "encourage" many to take a look...

Link: Better Living: Thoughts from Mark Daniels: The Power of Encouragement, Part 1.

Each of these three outstanding teachers were demanding and stern, in their ways.

But they also all had some other things in common. They cared and they encouraged each of us.

They did these things not with compliments or hugs, both of which can be used appropriately to bring encouragement to people. But it was in their stringent demands for excellence that they showed how much they cared and by which they encouraged us to do our best. For a person like me, prone to a lack of self-discipline, their styles were hugely encouraging. Their approaches to us expressed their belief that we could do better than any of us might dream possible.

What if God was one of us?

For most of us who regularly populate church pews, hearing that God “became flesh and dwelt amongst us” as it says in John 1:14 is pretty standard Christmas fare.  If you listen closely to many a Christmas carol playing everywhere from your car radio to the local Starbucks you’d think everyone believes it, too.   We sing with gusto and without thought, the words of Hark, the Herald Angels’ Sing: “Veiled in flesh, the Godhead See, Hail the Incarnate Deity.  Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel.” 

But every now and then it might occur to us that this whole notion of the incarnation of the triune God into a first century Jewish craftsman is actual quite a thing to believe. 

God became a human?  Really? God walked on this planet and had chapped lips and sore feet, bad breath and a tension headache?  God had siblings to get along with, and chores to do, and had to make a living?  God hung out with friends and made a few enemies and had people who liked him and some who didn’t?  God was really one of us? 

Several years ago, Joan Osborne wrote a song titled exactly that—“One of us.”  It’s now the theme song for the TV show, “Joan of Arcadia,” (where a teenage girl keeps meeting God in the form of a different person) and the song asks a haunting question:

What if God was one of us

Just a slob like one of us

Just a stranger on the bus

Trying to make his way home?

Put in today’s terms, it does seem a bit hard to believe, doesn’t it?  In fact, no other religion dares assert such a thing. 

On occasion, a religion will assert that a human became a god, but the idea that the One True God became one human being?  Blasphemy most good people of various faiths would say.  Superstition and sentiment most secular people would say.  Legend or metaphor even some Christians would say. 

Before we write them off (and with them our own nagging doubts and earnest questions) let’s consider just a couple of philosophical issues that if nothing else pose some thorny problems.  Like,

• When God came to earth and was being breast-fed by Mary, who was keeping Mars from slamming into Earth? 
• When the incarnate God, Jesus, went out in the night to pray, who heard his prayers?  To whom was Jesus praying to?
• If God by definition is perfect and unchangeable and then takes on human flesh, doesn’t that mean that he became imperfect and changed?  Is God now less God because of becoming human? 

Now, before I cast you into a doubt-filled despair let me assure you that all people of strong faith have had to wrestle with the incarnation.  Some for philosophical reasons like the ones I just mentioned (and which I will address through out the next few weeks), but mostly for a more specific religious conviction: Gods are gods, humans are humans and never the two shall be confused, they say.

So while affirming that there is a “Supreme Being,” most of these folks insist that Jesus be considered a truly good and inspiring person, a moral teacher, a social prophet, even a religious revolutionary.  But not God. If there is a God, that God by definition is not a human.  God is what a human is not. End of story, they say.

But, what if?

That’s what Christmas is all about and Advent is the season of time where we focus in on the profundity of that reality. 

What if God did become a human being, as the Bible says happened? 

What if God was one of us? 

So what?  What should we believe?  What should we do?  How should we live?  That is exactly where we will pick up tomorrow. 

Re-reading with Hugh...(Update!)

Hugh Hewitt has thrown down the gauntlet trying to identify great modern novels worthy of reading twice. Link: HughHewitt.com.

Let me add my two-cents worth and challenge a few others to join the fray (Dimestoreguru, Craig Williams and Jeff McCrory, whaddya say?)

Some of mine are like Mark D. Roberts (we tend to share book suggestions quite often): Susan Howatch, Glittering Images.
Chaim Potok, My Name is Asher Lev. C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia.

I also share two favorites with Hugh:
Stephen Pressfield, The Gates of Fire (originally referred to me by a friend who is a USMC Recon Major as about the most accurate military novel ever.) C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce. And I have Wallace Stegners, Crossing to Safety on the bedside table but have yet to start it, I must confess.

As for my own suggestions:
James Clavell, Shogun (my all time favorite)
Mario Puzo, The Godfather (close second)
David James Duncan, The River Why?
William Goldman, The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure (The 'Good Parts' Version) (It makes even the quite classic movie pale in comparison.)
Christopher Moore, Lamb: The gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood pal  (Irreverent, even offensive at times, but hilarious and not at all heretical. A zany achievement in my book.)

Gotta add one more (thanks View from the Holy Coast): Michael Shaara, Killer Angels

So there is my list...off beat as it is...

Incarnation Implication: God is a Covenant Group

How do a 15th century Russian icon, a TV show about a teenager who sees God, a "Hootie and the Blowfish" riff, a plastic surgery makeover show and some German theologians help us have a better Christmas? 

Well, stay tuned over the next few days as we look at the implications of the incarnation.  First, the icon.

If you read my opening Advent post yesterday, you had the opportunity to glimpse at Andre Rublev’s Icon of the Holy Trinity.  In my book, It Takes A Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Lives, I use Rublev’s icon as a starting point for comprehending the triune nature of God.  Allow me to offer you this excerpt from chapter 4:

“In the fifteenth century icon, “The Holy Trinity,” painted by Andrei Rublev, three divine figures gather around a common table, each holding a staff in his left hand, each with his head gently inclined toward the others, right hands pointing to a chalice filled with wine at the center of the table.  Unlike so many icons where the Spirit is portrayed as a dove or a light, the Trinity is depicted as three persons, all equally sharing rule (symbolized by their staffs), in loving communion (symbolized by the inclined heads), and joined together by a common table and a common cup.  The table symbolizes the shared fellowship and hospitality they share and, ultimately, offer.  The cup symbolizes the “sorrows” and “suffering” which they share and offer with the haunting words of Jesus to his disciples: “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?” (Matthew 20:23). Because of the two-dimensional nature of the icon, the prayerful believer finds himself or herself as the fourth person seated at the table, drawn into the fellowship and intimacy of the Persons, as well as the cup of sacrificial love they drink. 

This icon serves as an evocative starting point.  The Godhead as Persons, equally sharing rule, equally involved in redemptive suffering for the world, equally and intimately united to each other invite the believer into their fellowship of intimacy and suffering love.  The believer finding the comfort of fellowship with the Triune God, becomes a partner in comforting ministry (2 Cor 1:3-7).  It is a communion that is grounded in love, expressed in mutuality, intimacy and hospitality and then is demonstrated in its ministry in the world…

But before we can undertake that task, we (must first) truly understanding what philosophers call the ontological reality of the Trinity.  That is, the way that God is in God’s being.  The way God really is….(to put it bluntly) God is a covenant group.” 

Over the next few weeks we will explore some implications of the Incarnation staring with this one: In the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ we see God as God really is.  From God’s action in Jesus we come to know definitively God’s character and mission:  The God who is a Divine Community became a person so that persons could experience and express life within the Divine Community.

Tomorrow, Joan Osborne, Joan of Arcadia and the Slobs on the Bus...

(If you find yourself interested in the practical implications of the doctrine of the Trinity for helping Christian communities become truly life-transforming, I hope you'll consider my book, It Takes a Church...)

Veiled in Flesh the Godhead See

It's the first Sunday of Advent and I am off to lead worship and give the message at three services. Tomorrow I will begin some advent reflections on "The Incarnation Then and Now".   But to prime the pump, let me offer you some words from Hark, The Herald Angels Sing and a favorite icon picture (as featured in my book, It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Lives. In short, both point us to consider the most profound Christmas mystery: How a divine community became an individual, so that individuals can become part of the divine community.

First, the words to the carol: 

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail th’incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus our Immanuel.

Now the icon (a picture being worth a thousand words):

Happy first day of Advent

Some More Must Reading for Thanksgiving Weekend

Besides the previous post that offered a link to some good Friday Food Films, let me also offer two piece of "food for thought" appropriate to the holiday.  Jeff McCrory offers a great reflection on thanksgiving from a Hebrew perspective.  As Jeff writes, "The word todah, which we translate 'thanksgiving,' actually means 'to bring something with our hands.'  ...What I am getting at is this. Biblically, thanksgiving is about doing something with our hands. It is about concrete acts of giving, not about sentimental thoughts of well being." I highly recommend reading Jeff's short but meaningful article.

Also, just last night, Mark D. Roberts posted a great letter from General H. Norman Schwarzkopf to his family the night before the start of the Gulf War.  It is an inspiring letter about what his family means to him.

Enjoy these two resources from two great pastors.

Flicks to watch while in a Friday food coma

My friend, Steve Wright (Porch Ponderings blogger) offers a nice set of film recommendations for the Friday after Thanksgiving.  While checking it out, cruise through Steve's site and read some of his other musings on missional churches.  He is a thoughtful church planting pastor and truly good guy. 

Happy Birthday Bro!

Among the things for which I have to be thankful, today is my brother Scot's birthday.  A fine man and the real writer of the family.  He's actually a lot jollier than this picture suggests.

Scot is the editor of the Ashland Daily Tidings and has published a cool novel.

Happy Birthday Scot.

Love, Tod