more God sightings

Would Jesus go into a bar?

In the latest issue of the Covenant Companion (the Covenant's award-winning magazine) there are several articles of God sightings in places we might consider unusual: two articles were about finding God in bars, another about God's presence being felt at a funeral, and there was an article about how God is at work in the science of robotics. God was sighted by 2 pastors in bars (one pastor does sermon preparation there every Friday, maybe because he figures no one from the church will bother him there), by a friend at the funeral of a male prostitute and by the former director of the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute.

I just came from visiting two new parents in the hospital and had the privilege of seeing their newborn and praying with all three of them. I suppose we would consider that a typical place for God to show up: in the midst of the wonder of his creation of new life. But as I was talking to the (exhausted) new mom, we joked about my earring and how I was crossing some stereotypical boundaries for pastors. We agreed that Jesus would have no trouble going into a bar because that's where people go to look for support and respite. Often what they find in the bar (and in the church) are stereotypes they feel they need to maintain and so they keep things bottled up inside. But Jesus would have had no trouble challenging the stereotypes so that he could bring hope and healing wherever it's needed.

So maybe we need to start looking for God in unusual places. And maybe he's waiting to go to those places with us.

speaking of sex...

I've been pleasantly surprised by the reaction to my preaching on the topic of sex. I've finished 3 of the series of 8 sermons. I've gotten both verbal and email responses saying that people have appreciated my broaching the topic.

This is a hard topic to preach. It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's that there are so many ideas in my head from all my reading it can be hard to figure out how to present the info in a way that's interesting and helpful while being thoroughly biblical. Oddly, one of the hardest things to do is to use the Bible as more than a proof-text. We talked about this in the "Serving the Bread of Life" class (on preaching), that the temptation is to put one's own story into whatever text you're studying rather than letting the Bible speak for itself and help to order all the stuff that's in one's own head/life.

Sorry if I lost some of you with that last sentence. My point is: pray for me because I want this to be a series that is both biblical and relevant. I don't want to wag fingers or give legalistic advice. I want the proclamation of the Word to be a way for God to work in all of our lives, i.e., top be a means of grace. So thanks for your prayers and encouragement. Now back to studying for this Sunday...