Over the weekend I was talking to my 10 year old about fasting during Lent. She’s given up using Yahoo email and I’ve given up listening to the stereo in the car. I asked her, “What do you think about instead of doing email?” I told her that a good thing to think about is how much Jesus gave up for us and how much we try to substitute other things for knowing Jesus. But it was hard for her to understand, although I have to give her credit for actually keeping her fast.
I’ve been suggesting fasts from activities as well as fasting from food as legitimate ways to fast during Lent. But I’m realizing that there’s something very human and essential about fasting from food that’s missing when I fast from an activity. Being hungry is a basic human experience, something built into us by God. And when I fast from food I’m participating in something that Christians have done since Jesus. (The Lenten fast is patterned after Jesus’ 40 day fast in the wilderness right after his baptism. And Jesus’ fast was based on a spiritual practice that had existed for centuries in Jewish spirituality.) Jesus fasted from food regularly as part of his prayer life and endorsed it for his followers (Mark 9:29).
So although fasting from an activity like watching a favorite TV show or from using your Blackberry an hour a day does help to remind us about how much other things are taking the place of God’s voice in our lives, I think I’ll get back to fasting from food.
Monday, March 16, 2009
what to say
What is the essence of the Gospel? There aren’t too many of us who enjoy talking to other people about our faith. Part of the reason the topic doesn’t come up in conversation much is that we’re not sure what to say after the topic is brought up (by us or by others).
Part of the reason I was thinking about this is that the Nominating Committee is starting the process of finding candidates for the leadership team (elections are this May). I asked the current LT members to submit a brief description of the what it’s been like for them and what the challenges are for Grace Community over the next couple years. One member spoke of the challenge of getting back to a focus on personal evangelism, i.e., sharing the Gospel with people we know.
Jesus said that his message was that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” That message is in our name, Grace Community. Anyone is invited into God’s Kingdom because of God’s grace. You don’t have to do anything except to trust in God’s invitation through Jesus.
What does the Kingdom of God look like? Jesus has shown us that through his life and teachings. His death takes the penalty for our sin so that we can enter the kingdom, and his resurrection proves that he can give us a Kingdom life, i.e., a life as God designed it (free from things that dehumananize us). And that's pretty much it.
Life as a church community can get kind of complicated. I’m constantly sorting through expectations and programs aimed at us and at me. But when it comes right down to it, the whole point of being a church community is proclaiming and living out “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
Part of the reason I was thinking about this is that the Nominating Committee is starting the process of finding candidates for the leadership team (elections are this May). I asked the current LT members to submit a brief description of the what it’s been like for them and what the challenges are for Grace Community over the next couple years. One member spoke of the challenge of getting back to a focus on personal evangelism, i.e., sharing the Gospel with people we know.
Jesus said that his message was that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” That message is in our name, Grace Community. Anyone is invited into God’s Kingdom because of God’s grace. You don’t have to do anything except to trust in God’s invitation through Jesus.
What does the Kingdom of God look like? Jesus has shown us that through his life and teachings. His death takes the penalty for our sin so that we can enter the kingdom, and his resurrection proves that he can give us a Kingdom life, i.e., a life as God designed it (free from things that dehumananize us). And that's pretty much it.
Life as a church community can get kind of complicated. I’m constantly sorting through expectations and programs aimed at us and at me. But when it comes right down to it, the whole point of being a church community is proclaiming and living out “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
carried
My kids love to be carried. Piggy-back is a favorite, but there’s something comforting about being in your parent’s arms, too. The thing about piggy-back is that you can see where you’re going and if you don’t like it you can say something about it. So even though they’re being carried, my kids like to tell me where I’m supposed to go.
As I was driving to worship yesterday, the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd carrying a lamb came to mind (since we were using it as the image for our time of examen and confession). The difference between the lamb and my kids is that the lamb isn’t trying to tell the Good Shepherd where he’s supposed to go.
Jesus told Peter that part of following Jesus is going where you don’t necessarily want to go. Peter protested, but Jesus simply repeated, “Follow me.” (John 21:18-22)
The image of Jesus carrying the lamb was chosen for this week’s theme (the third Sunday of Lent) of facing the brokenness of our self-reliance. As a follower of Jesus, I find that I’m like my kids and Peter, always wanting to tell Jesus where he’s supposed to be taking me. The paradox is that in Mark 13:13 Jesus tells us that if we are to “stand until the end” we are to lean completely on him whose “words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31).
As I was driving to worship yesterday, the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd carrying a lamb came to mind (since we were using it as the image for our time of examen and confession). The difference between the lamb and my kids is that the lamb isn’t trying to tell the Good Shepherd where he’s supposed to go.
Jesus told Peter that part of following Jesus is going where you don’t necessarily want to go. Peter protested, but Jesus simply repeated, “Follow me.” (John 21:18-22)
The image of Jesus carrying the lamb was chosen for this week’s theme (the third Sunday of Lent) of facing the brokenness of our self-reliance. As a follower of Jesus, I find that I’m like my kids and Peter, always wanting to tell Jesus where he’s supposed to be taking me. The paradox is that in Mark 13:13 Jesus tells us that if we are to “stand until the end” we are to lean completely on him whose “words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31).
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