Category Archives: Current Events

Current Events

Peace: It’s Who You Know

peace 2What do you think of when you think of peace? Miss USA saying they want world peace? Perhaps the absence of conflict?

Google defines “peace” as:

  • Freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility.
  • Freedom from or the cessation of war or violence.

Both definitions are ‘from’ something. We want “peace and quiet”; we want calmness…. Yet if we look at the Greek word for peace – εἰρήνη (pronounced: ā-rā’-nā ) – we finds a different meaning:

  • a state of national tranquillity
  • peace between individuals, i.e. harmony, concord
  • security, safety, prosperity, felicity,

The Hebrew word for peace, שָׁלוֹם or shalom, carries with it the same focus as the Greek word:

  • completeness, soundness, welfare, peace
  • completeness (in number)
  • safety, soundness (in body)
  • welfare, health, prosperity
  • quiet, tranquillity, contentment
  • friendship

Peace, in other words, is not just the absence of conflict, but a state of being. There is tranquility and contentment in life; a sense that all is well.

Prince of Peace

Peace, as defined by the Bible, goes even deeper than just living. One of the names for God in the OT is “Yahweh Shalom” or God of Peace (Judges 6:24). This name was also given to Jesus:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  (Isaiah 9:6)

Peace, therefore, is less of an absence  of something (noise, problems, troubles, etc.) and more of ‘who you know’” You [God] will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal. (Isaiah 26:3-4)

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

Cuddling Up

One of the cool things about being a father is having my son come up and try to cuddle. He could have had a rough day full of disappointments (as only a 4-year old can have!). But the moment he craws into my lap or I pick him up and hold him, there is peace. All is right with the world, Dad is there.

That is the way it is with us and our Father in Heaven:

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

We can crawl into God’s lap and have that peace – the wholeness that comes with being with the One who Made Everything. We have security and safety in His arms. This is why St. Paul, a man who was beaten, whipped, shipwrecked and ran out of more towns then you and I – a man who in the process of being sentenced to death in Rome – could say:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)

God’s peace is not depending on our situation; it is only depended on Him. This is why a young teenage girl named Mary could withstand the looks, words and problems that came with becoming pregnant out of wedlock. Everyone thought she had broken her vows to Joseph, her fiancé. Even Joseph thought she had slept with someone else. But Mary knew she was pregnant not by human will, but by the Spirit of God.

God Himself choose her as a friend and servant to give birth to Jesus the Messiah. And the only way Mary was able to keep going was become of the peace that comes through knowing the One True Lord. The same is true for us. The only way that we are going to be able to live this life is through knowing the One True Lord, the Prince of Peace, the Lord of Peace,  Yahweh Shalom

Salvation of Peace

As we remember the First Advent (or Arrival) of our Lord and Savior Jesus, we must remember that it was an invasion into this Present Evil Age. Jesus came that we might have life and salvation for our souls and life. He came that day long ago in Bethlehem to destroy the works of the evil one.

To have His peace, we must bow our knees in submission to Him, giving Him complete control over our lives. We have to repent of our evil ways and desires and ask for His forgiveness – saying that we are ready to stop trying to gain peace on our own. We must say that we are ready to start living with Him as His friends and children

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  (Colossians 3:1-17)

Advent Prayer

[box]

God of the watching ones, give us Your benediction.

God of the waiting ones, give us your good word for our souls

God of the watching ones the slow and the suffering ones, give us Your benediction,

Your good word for our souls that we might rest.

God of the watching ones, the waiting ones, the slow and the suffering ones, 

and the angels in heaven, and the child in the womb, give us your benediction,

your good word for our souls, that we might rest and rise in the kindness of your company.[/box]

Current Events

Celtic Advent Prayer

celtic_christmas_nativity_artworkGod of the watching ones, give us Your benediction.

God of the waiting ones, give us your good word for our souls

God of the watching ones the slow and the suffering ones, give us Your benediction,

Your good word for our souls that we might rest.

God of the watching ones, the waiting ones, the slow and the suffering ones,

and the angels in heaven, and the child in the womb, give us your benediction,

your good word for our souls, that we might rest and rise in the kindness of your company.

Current Events

Hope: An Advent Post

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hope 2The word “advent” means “coming” or “arrival.” It is a time in which the church celebrated both the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history.  It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God.  That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate.

In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and a congregation, as they affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power.  That acknowledgment provides a basis for Kingdom ethics, for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live “between the times” and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as God’s people.

So, as the church celebrates God’s inbreaking into history in the Incarnation, and anticipates a future consummation to that history for which “all creation is groaning awaiting its redemption,” it also confesses its own responsibility as a people commissioned to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Historically the Advent season starts on the 4th Sunday before Christmas. In keeping with this  tradition, we will be posting an Advent post each Sunday from now until Christmas. I pray that you will use this time to push into the story of Jesus and the invasion of God into human history.

Hope

The focus today is on hope. Hope is a powerful concept which by definition means:

  • Noun: a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen
  • Verb: want something to happen or be the case.

It is a desire for a certain thing to happen…waiting, patience….hoping….trusting in something you can’t see or yet experience. Hope can keep you going even when things are tough.

Hope for Justice

There is a yearning for deliverance from the evils of the world, first expressed by Israelite slaves in Egypt as they cried out from their bitter oppression. It is the cry of those who have experienced the tyranny of injustice in a world under the curse of sin, and yet who have hope of deliverance by a God who has heard the cries of oppressed slaves and brought deliverance!

It is that hope, however faint at times, and that God, however distant He sometimes seems, which brings to the world the anticipation of a King who will rule with truth and justice and righteousness over His people and in His creation.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.  (Romans 8:22-25)

The Hope of a People

The “it” that we patiently wait for is the blessed hope of a new earth and a new heaven – the day when Jesus will come back and restore everything. On that day, justice will be done, things will be set right and pain, evil, sin, death will be destroyed.

Oh what a day that will be!

The Messiah

Sadly there are many ‘messiahs’ in the world today – many people and things, many stars and many passions and concepts that can take our eyes off of the things of God. We are pulled so many directions.

This is why we celebrate the Advent season. We MUST remember that God step into human history. This is what Christmas is about: God becoming man to redeem us from our own sins and the chains of the evil one.

No other religion claims this. True, the Greeks said that their gods came down to earth. Only they came to indulge their own desires. Our God came as a sacrificial lamb to be crucified on a cross so that we might be set free and live.

And since He came once, we know that He will come again! We have been sealed with the Spirit of God, a promise that He will return!

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.  (Titus 2:11-14)

Advent Prayer

[box]

God of the watching ones, give us Your benediction.

God of the waiting ones, give us your good word for our souls

God of the watching ones the slow and the suffering ones, give us Your benediction,

Your good word for our souls that we might rest.

God of the watching ones, the waiting ones, the slow and the suffering ones, 

and the angels in heaven, and the child in the womb, give us your benediction,

your good word for our souls, that we might rest and rise in the kindness of your company.[/box]

Current Events, Vineyard Movement

Help the Local Sierra Leone Vineyard Churches Fight Ebola and the Food Shortage Caused by the Virus

Pastor Patrick Obumselu, Vineyard Lagos in Nigeria
Pastor Patrick Obumselu, Vineyard Lagos in Nigeria

Over the weekend, Vineyard’s i-61 Ministries published a cry for help from two Sierra Leone Vineyard churches who are in the middle of the battle against Ebola. Interestingly enough, the biggest problem isn’t the Ebola virus itself… no, the biggest problem is that the Ebola quarantine has created a shortage of food, clean water, and other health-related needs such as being able to look for protective masks and procure them for the both the infected and uninfected.

“The situation in Sierra Leone is so desperate that most people are not even allowed to leave their homes, being severely quarantined in a government effort to stop the spread of the virus. There are today as many people dying from starvation, malaria and other diseases as are dying from Ebola due to this quarantine, something the West is little aware of. People are not even allowed to leave their homes to visit farms outside of Freetown, the capital, in order to obtain food to eat. When people die in their homes, even the corpses are not allowed to be removed!”

Patrick Obumselu, a 50-year old bio-vocational Vineyard pastor in Nigeria, has stepped up to the plate and is trying to help folks in Sierra Leone, whom he has known for over 12-years. According to him, the greatest needs at the moment are:

  • Food and lots of it
  • Sanitary products: sanitary napkins, diapers, and other personal hygiene products
  • Baby formula and food. Many babies have had both parents die from Ebola and are in desperate need

How to help

Vineyard Missions USA is currently taking donation to fill a shipping container with food, sanitary products, and medical supplies that will then been shipped to the Sierra Leone churches. Shipping containers are a great way to ensure that large quantities of donations can reach an intended destination without getting damaged. However, to ensure that the donations arrive safely, the charity might also have to purchase a ramp and other shipping container accessories from a shipping container website similar to Conexwest. Above all, a shipping container ramp should ensure that all donations are able to be safely packaged and offloaded. If you want to join this effort, please donate online or mail your contributions to:

Vineyard Missions USA
112 North Harvard Ave. #265
Claremont, CA 91711

In addition to donating funds, Patrick has also asked plead for folks to pray for the people of Sierra Leone, their survival, and the removal of any roadblocks that may keep food containers from arriving by Christmas.

If you want to know more about i-61 Ministries involvement in the Ebola crisis, check out their post here. You can also read a letter from the Vineyard Makeni in Sierra Leone about the crisis and what God is doing there.

Current Events, Vineyard Movement, World Missions

Time To Do Something

I know I have talked about i-61 Ministries before…but I just can’t stop sharing their videos and articles as I think they are on the right track. As Tri says in the below video, it is easy to get overwhelmed when looking at the state of the world today – poverty, environmental decline, spiritual decay, etc., and etc…

However we have to start somewhere doing something.

Just like Matthew West states in his song “Do Something”:

I woke up this morning
Saw a world full of trouble now
Thought, how’d we ever get so far down
How’s it ever gonna turn around
So I turned my eyes to Heaven
I thought, “God, why don’t You do something?”
Well, I just couldn’t bear the thought of
People living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So, I shook my fist at Heaven
Said, “God, why don’t You do something?”
He said, “I did, I created you”

If not us, then who
If not me and you
Right now, it’s time for us to do something
If not now, then when
Will we see an end
To all this pain
It’s not enough to do nothing
It’s time for us to do something

 

So, what are you going to?

Current Events

Timber Butte Fire

The sky was on fire Saturday evening when I returned home from a wedding… it seemed that sometime that day a fire had started on the butte a few miles above the town I live in. The Sweet volunteer fire department joined with fire departments from around the area to make sure no houses were destroyed. Six other structures (barns, sheds, feedlots, etc) were destroyed along with 7,600 acres of grass – which will put a big financial pressure on the ranchers in the area. =/

Below are some pictures of the fire along with a video from inside the cockpit of plane which dropped fire retardant on the fire.

night time

 

fire

timber butte fire

http://youtu.be/EUdJr0tQG20

 

Current Events

Lollypop Moments

A friend sent me a TED video today by Drew Dudley about “celebrate leadership as the everyday act of improving each other’s lives.” During the talk, Dudley tells a story about a gal who came up to him and told him that he made an impact in her life. The crazy thing was that Dudley didn’t know this gal nor could he remember handing out the famed lollypop which was the catalyst in changing this gal life.

From this experience, Dudley realized that leadership is not just about changing the world (i.e. big, huge important stuff) but about improving each other’s lives through small actions in everyday life. Accordingly, we all should be celebrating and sharing our lollypop moments with each other and those whose lives have impacted our own.

As I reflected on this video I realized that I had a lollypop moment last month.

I was at the office working away when I received a phone call from a number I did not recognize. Answering it, I found myself talking to an old family friend whom I had not talked to in 17 or so years. He used to teach at a small country church I attended in high school and was good friends with my step-father… but as happens, we all moved away from that small Texas town and lost touch with each other. Recently, however, this gentleman was remembering those days with his son and decided to look up both myself and my parents – hence the phone call.

The crazy lollypop moment happened in the middle of the phone call when he mentioned that his son vividly remembers me and that I had an impact on his son’s life. I was blown away as…well…to be perfectly honest… I didn’t really remember this guy as he was friends with my parents and his son was five years old at the time…

Yet as it turned out, his 5-year old son was watching me, a 17-year old high school student worship God and serving in the church…the son also remembers riding in the car with me as we all car pooled from the church to some unknown location… somehow those simple, everyday acts that I don’t recall made an impact on this child’s life – so much so that he still remembers them 17 years later…

Crazy lollypop moments…

So….yeah… your daily actions DO matter a TON!

[ted id=1355]

Current Events

Church of England Approves Having Women Bishops

Church_of_EnglandGeneral Synod of the Church of England voted yesterday to allow women to become bishops within the Church of England (CoE). This vote comes 18 months after a similar measure failed to get the 2/3 majority in the House of Laity. Apparently the pro-lady-bishop camp went to work and changed some folks view points – granted it helps having an Archbishop in support of the measure.

It should be noted that the CoE has allowed women priests for about 20 years now. Ladies just couldn’t be bishops, which has always struck me as odd and inconsistent. At least now they are on track to have this changed.

oh, by the way, below is the vote tally for those who are interested. As you can see, not everyone in the CoE liked the idea…which means that it is going to be interesting in the C0E for a while (i.e. are the ‘no’ votes going to stay in the C0E or leave?).

  • House of Bishops: Yes 37 No 2 Abstentions 1
  • House of Clergy: Yes 162 No 25 Abstentions 4
  • House of Laity: Yes 152  No 45 Abstentions 5

It should be noted that this vote doesn’t mean that there will be a lady bishop tomorrow. The measure still has to go through the Legislative Committee of General Synod, then the Ecclesiastical Committee of the Houses of Parliament before returning to the General Synod this coming November. If everything goes smoothly, which it is believed will happen, then the issue will go into force this winter.

Current Events

Why As A Pastor I Dislike Mother/Father’s Day

happy_mothers_dayToday is Mother’s Day.

It is a day that has been set aside in the USA to honor mothers. Across the nation, thousands of fathers are waking up their children and helping to prepare breakfast for their mothers… Billions of card stocks have been sold for this day and notes are being carefully crafted and inked inside.

And in churches across the nation staff members are preparing flowers to give away to all the mothers… pastors are preparing nice talks about the value of being a mother…. etc. and etc….

The same scenario will play out in reverse next month with fathers being the target…

sigh. and double sigh…  🙁

While I know that I may on the statistically low end, I don’t like Mother/Father’s Day. Or, perhaps a better way of stating it would be, as a pastor I don’t like Mother/Father’s Day – which is to say that I don’t mind the day as a citizen of the United States.. I even bought Mother’s Day cards for the appropriate ladies in my family – and, yes, it is kinda of cool to get a card from my son on Father’s Day.

But, for all the good that these days do, I think they do even more damage when embraced by the church.

Think about this… when a church body makes a big deal about Mother/Father’s Day they are in essence telling its members that the parenthood is the goal of a Christian. Yes, I know that the churches wouldn’t say it that way…but I do think that is the message that comes across – especially once you consider that most churches are set up to cater to the family unit.

The sad truth is that folks who are single or don’t have kids are constantly pushed aside in favor of those who have children. I mean, when was the last time you heard singleness being promoted form the pulpit? Or a single person honored for being single? Or a couple praised for not having kids?

I would guess that most of the time single folks are told to keep looking for a partner. The general church culture basically is telling single people that unless they are married, they are reckless, uncommitted, and selfish. It is like the church in general has forgotten that Jesus, St. Paul and a lot of the early church fathers were single men. The Bible even goes as far as to tell us that if you are single, stay single and passionately pursue God (1 Corinthians 7:7-8, Matthew 19:10-12).

Let us not forget those couples who are married but don’t have children (either by choice or not). For them, a lot of of the church culture is equally bad. Having been married for ten years before adopting, I felt the sigma of not being a father. It was as if folks thought I couldn’t be a mature man or a great husband unless I had a child…It was like my manhood was depended upon me getting a women pregnant…

As crazy as it sounds, there is an underlining culture within our churches that, in my mind, puts WAY TOO much emphasis on having children and being married. Yes, they are both good things (and if you are single, don’t have sex). But they are not the end game.

So what is the point of all this… the point is that why you may celebrate Mother/Father’s Day in the home, please, please keep it in the home.

The gathering of the church should be a safe place where people of all types and backgrounds came come and worship God. They don’t need to be reminded of the pain in their lives – either for not having kids, having lost kids to miscarriages or abortions, or sickness, for having a bad relationship with their parents or whatever. They need a place where they can come and just embrace God and leave all that crap behind.

And if you know of someone that is hurting today (or will be next month), please reach out to them and love them. Please pay attention to who DOESN’T come to church today – as there will be those who will chose not to go to church as it is not a safe place today – and call them. Don’t give them crap; just listen to them and love them.

For those who want to read more about this subject, I would encourage you to read Maggi Dawn’s post, “Mothers’ Day: Something is Wrong.” Maggi is the Associate Professor of Theology and Literature, and Dean of Marquand Chapel, at Yale Divinity School/Yale Institute of Sacred Music and has some good thoughts about Mother’s Day.

Current Events

Big Bang’s Smoking Gun

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The world shifted two days ago.For decades physicists have been tying to figure out how the universe spread out so fast while keeping the same temperature. The best guess they had was the theory of inflation proposed by Dr. Alan Guth in 1979.

As of Monday the world knows that Dr. Guth was correct. The smoking gun of inflation had been found by a team of scientists working at the South Pole. The below video shows a colleague telling Dr. Guth that his theory has been proven:

As you can imagine, this discovery pretty much solidifies Big Bang cosmology, which is pretty cool. 🙂