My Part of the Conversation

So, the docu-drama of the year came out last weekend. I made sure to record it, along with the critical examination forum hosted by Ted Koppel. I found the whole thing very interesting and extremely frustrating.

I found this interesting:

THE number 1, most respected “biblical” archeologist, William Dever, sat across from the filmakers, shrugged his shoulders, and said it had not real grounding in science. He didn’t get upset or angry. He didn’t call out each individual detail. He simply said it was bad and mentioned the men he knows personally that they misrepresented.

I found this interesting:

The “mathematical probability” of it being Jesus’ tomb was based on countless assumptions. You know what happens when you assume?

I found this frustrating:

Christians can’t seem to enter the conversation without looking stupid.

Yeah, this is nothing new. It frustrates the fire out of me. The 3 people involved in the critical look had nothing interesting or meaningful to say. The couldn’t add to the conversation, or provide reasons to dismiss the film they had just seen. All the could do was talk about how it didn’t make a difference to them, but that Christians should “think” (which I found to be quite ironic).

Here’s the deal people:

Allegedly finding the bones of Jesus does not call the resurrection into question. It calls the ASCENSION into question. At the very least, it calls the nature of the ascension into question.

Paul himself makes it clear that our faith is meaningless if there was no resurrection. No doubts about that.

But, how important to us is it that Jesus body ascended to heaven? If he did ascend, at what point did his soul leave his body? Heaven does not exist on this plane, so did he transport his body to heaven, or leave it, or did it simply burn up in the atmosphere? Did he float up from the ground and his soul leave his body, letting his body fall to the earth? In some of these cases, physical remains would be left. Just a few questions.

Either way, we are still left with our need for faith in whether or not we will place our hope and trust in the fact Jesus rose from the dead, so that we too, might live a new life.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of my all-time favorite authors and heroes in the faith.  I recently read this quote, and thought to bless you with it today:

“Calling is the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s deepest hunger meet.”

Are you answering your calling?

I just recently started a class on the book of Revelation.  I have to confess, I don’t know a lot about the book.  I’ve learned a few things over the years, but I don’t feel like I’m any kind of expert to be teaching from the knowledge I have.  So, I have had to do a lot of study to learn it well enough to teach in a meaningful way.

I’ve been struck by how God is portrayed throughout the book.  The presence of God is always portrayed as immensely holy, with lots of movement and worship going on all around him.  Angels and worldly leaders are all in a constant state of worship around him.  While those are probably not actual physical descriptions of what it’s like, a strong feeling is communicated: God’s presence is a holy place.

You wouldn’t walk into that throne room and say, “What up, God?”  You wouldn’t stroll in, plop a seat in a chair and kick back your feet.  You wouldn’t dance for him.  You’d hit the floor (much like Isaiah did) in fear.  The holiness and omnipotence would be too much for us.

In seeing much of this, I’m reminded how much we talk about God’s love for us, and how Jesus loves us.  I believe that’s true, however, there’s something that makes his love so much more meaningful- his divine authority and power.

My draw to follow Jesus has never been his love for me.  I’ve never been able to connect with the “Jesus is my boyfriend” books that fill the shelves of your local Christian bookstore.  However, I do connect with an Almighty God who calls me to follow him.  A God who sent his Son to save me, but who also requires that I make myself a disciple of that son.

Maybe I’ve just been blessed with so much love in my life.  I’ve always had a family that truly loved me, some friends that truly loved me, and now a woman who loved me so much she wanted to spend every day for the rest of her life with me.  I know what it is to be loved, and I have buddies.

But what I need is not a buddy.  I need a Lord.

Hudson said his first prayer tonight.

Kate read him a story, turned out the light, kissed him, and I walked in the room to say goodnight.  I knelt down next to his bed like I always do, and started to pray.  But, before I could say anything, I heard Hudson whisper, “Goodnight, God”

I Couldn’t imagine a more beautiful prayer.

Wow.

Once again I find my head reeling from what I have learned and experienced over a short week.  We took a group to take part in JINO- Jesus In New Orleans this year.  It’s a week-long work camp where we serve the city of New Orleans during the day, and have worship and lessons in the evening.

We were there all last week, Sunday through Sunday.  Sorry that I didn’t tell you checked for new posts several times. (Thanks for coming back, though).  We slept on the floor of a high school gym in Mandeville and traveled over the lake to New Orleans every day, since there wasn’t a place for us to stay in New Orleans.

To be honest, I started off the week with a bad attitude.  I was frustrated I was going to have to spend another week away from my precious family.  I was frustrated that I couldn’t get more teens to go or more parents behind it.  It’s amazing how much opposition exists when I finally am doing something that is exactly what Christ intended for us to do.  But, I got over that early on and focused on reaching out to those in need and taking care of the 5 teens that did come.  They were joined by 300 others from all over the US.

We helped people gut out thier houses, a huge and nasty task considering they had water in them 9 months ago and many hadn’t been opened since then.  We went door-to-door to the few people that were in the city and prayed with them.  We picked up trash and cleaned up parks so kids would have a place to play.  We helped at an outreach center and a food bank.  God used those 300 teens in amazing ways.

It was a complete learning situation.  They learned about Jesus intellectually at night, but learned about who he is during the day by being his hands and feet to the community.  We were instruments of peace, hope, and compassion.  It was complete, teaching the whole person and not just the intellect.  Even more than that, it wasn’t about the teens.  They knew it and we knew it.  And it was powerful.

The theme was “Anointed” and we used this verse from Isaiah 61:1-6.

 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, ^[a]

 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

 5 Aliens will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

 6 And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.

Jesus reads this same passage when he returns to Galilee in Luke 4.

Read it yourself.  Have you been anointed?