One of the things I love about the gospel writers is their unanimous decision to include the socially-awkward moments in Jesus’ ministry. When you crack open the New Testament you run into your fair share of laugh-out-loud scenes. For instance, take this one from Mark’s gospel:
“And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.” [Mark 14:51-52] Read the rest of this entry »
How someone can read the Bible and walk away with the notion that the point of Christian faith is to “play nice” is beyond me. There is nothing more terrible or tragic in my opinion than a Christian without a proper fight. Nevertheless, for years now I’ve listened as men and women have promised and preached a Christian faith free of enemies.
Sadly, I’m fairly certain they’ve made good on this promise. Read the rest of this entry »
Many thanks to my good friend Guy Oekerman for sharing this photo with me. I think we can all learn a few important life-lessons through this:
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” [Gal 1:6-8]
According to the Apostle Paul, there were basically three kinds of people in the churches he wrote to: Distorters of the Gospel, Deserters of the Gospel, and Defenders of The Gospel.
Distorters of the Gospel:
Distort the Gospel to fit their own purposes.
Deserters of the Gospel:
Desert the Gospel because of fear, false teaching, lack of faith, or a desire to fit in.
Defenders of the Gospel:
Defend of the Gospel out of a deep sense of delight for what God has done for us through Christ.
“Our task as image-bearing, god-loving, Christ-shaped, spirit filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to a world that has discovered its fallenness, to announce healing to a world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to a world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion…The gospel of Jesus points us and indeed urges us to be at the leading edge of the whole culture, articulating in story and music and art and philosophy and education and poetry and politics and theology and even–heaven help us–biblical studies, a worldview that will mount the historically-rooted Christian challenge to both modernity and postmodernity, leading the way…with joy and humor and gentleness and good judgment and true wisdom. I believe if we face the question, ‘If not now, then when?’ if we are grasped by this vision we may also hear the question, ‘If not us, then who?’ and if the gospel of Jesus is not the key to this task, then what is?”
[N.T. Wright]
My wife and I were introduced to John Daker last night through Justin Taylor’s blog. Having just posted a bit on the resurrection entitled “startled stupid by joy” this week, I feel it’s appropriate to share Daker’s no nonsense tribute to the resurrection with you.
Apparently this guy is a big deal in some circles.
The fact that John re-mixes Christ The Lord Is Risen Today with That’s Amore is remarkable. What worship leader hasn’t thought of mixing in a little Dean Martin…right?
Daker is clearly in his sweet spot from the start. However, the video enters another dimension of humor entirely at about the 1:35 mark…listen for the “whoop”.
Don’t bother with the lyrics.
Daker doesn’t care about lyrics.
It’s all about eyebrows.
It gets funnier the more you watch it.
What sermon do you preach on a day dedicated to “Love You Babe” balloons, bears holding love pillows, and heart shaped candies? At church today, I preached on confession.Enjoy the sermon: Click here.
Happy Valentine’s Day,
Christopher
“We begin to notice, besides our particular sinful acts, our sinfulness; begin to be alarmed not only about what we do, but about what we are. This may sound rather difficult, so I will try to make it clear from my own case. When I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the day, nine times out of ten the most obvious one is some sin against charity; I have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed. And the excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation was so sudden and unexpected; I was caught off my guard, I had not time to collect myself. Now that may be an extenuating circumstance as regards those particular acts: they would obviously be worse if they had been deliberate and premeditated.
On the other hand, surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.”
[C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity]
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