Daniel Rose: The Pastor Next Door

If you’re like me, silence is uncomfortable. Sometimes it is almost unbearable.

When I studied in college I needed noise, so the TV was always on. When I was in grad school, I needed noise, so I studied at the coffee shop.

Now that I’m a pastor, I feel like I need the quiet. But I really struggle with knowing how to be quiet and embrace silence.

These words from Eugene Peterson really struck me this morning,

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

How do you experience quiet?

historical-nonfiction:

Most of us are aware that sports, while supposedly an honorable contest of skills, is often anything but. WWE, for example, is a well-orchestrated show. And they’re just the most obvious about it. Well fixing matches is nothing new. The very first known bribery contract was found in a papyrus dated from the year 267 CE, which was salvaged from Oxyrhynchus, Egypt in 1905. The transcription has been recently deciphered, and as expected the content is quite licentious.

The papyrus details the ‘arrangement’ between two young wrestlers Nicantinous and Demetrius for a grand bout that was to take place in the city of Antinoopolis along the Nile bank. According to the evidence, Demetrius openly agrees to lose the match for a handy bribe of 3,800 drachmas (which was oddly close to the price for buying a donkey)!

Man, I feel like this needs to be an ESPN 30 for 30!

twloha:

“The stigma surrounding mental health boils down to one thing: that if pain can’t be measured or seen, it doesn’t exist. People believe that illnesses that cannot be detected with medical equipment can do no harm. But that one dangerous concept has a variety of stealthy disguises.

‘Smile! Others have it worse.’

‘Your life is great!’

‘But you always seem so happy.’

‘If you ignore it, it will go away.’

Sentences filled with salt for our wounds.”

- Sammy Nickalls, “Believe Us When We Say We’re Hurting”

A good friend asked me this question the other day. It might be the most important question that we can ask ourselves. 

With the Antioch Movement we are starting something called Huddles. These are high invitation and high challenge discipleship groups of 3–5 individuals or couples. We are looking to delve into kairos moments (kairos moments are those moments where we experience God breaking in..) in our lives to discover what the Father is inviting us into. How is he challenging us? In what ways is he calling us to step out in faith? 

So really the question is, “where’s my heart?” We keep asking and asking because as we wrestle with this question we find that we have kairos moments all over the place and miss them, usually. It is amazing what happens when you begin to try and see them. They are everywhere!

*Where’s my heart?* I am looking at my heart these days through a triangle matrix of up, in, and out. First, “out”. This is my heart towards people who are not followers of Jesus. At no time in my life have I ever been so comfortable and happy to be around people who don’t know Jesus. A number of years ago if I were to look at my life and see the world within which I now live, I don’t think I would have believed it. Most of my time is spent with people who are far from God and it fills me up. The conversations we have are deep and meaningful. As a result I can’t wait to hit the ground running every single day. 

Second, “in”. The community of the Antioch Movement — Ypsilanti is amazing. The people who call AM home are beautiful people who love well. We are able to do life deeply together. We fight and argue. We forgive and receive forgiveness. My heart towards believers has experienced a revival or renewal these last number of months as I see this authentic community growing up around me. There is honesty and humility. But most of all there is love. It is overwhelmingly beautiful. 

Finally, “up”. It’s a struggle these days. I am going through a bit of a dry period and it’s really hard. Ever since we moved to Ypsilanti, about 12 months ago, I have been struggling to really find an ever deepening level of intimacy with Jesus. I connect with God through the study of the Scriptures and I have found over the years that I needs large chunks of time. When I was serving at Grace Chapel, I had a wonderful study where I could close the door and get lost in the Scriptures. For the last year that has alluded me. My heart aches to write this and I long for time and a space. It’s been a strange experience because I am blown away by God’s great faithfulness and care in all things. He keeps showing me how awesome he is through our community. Yet, there is a lack of intimacy. It’s that feeling of longing you have when you haven’t seen a close friend for a period of time. My “up” needs some work.

So, I’m living in a kairos right now where I am longing for more of God. It’s a good place to be but my heart is heavy as a result. I can’t wait for one of those days where I get lost in the Scriptures for 3 or 4 hours. It will be amazing.

In The Beginning…
I have been thinking about this post for a few days. How do you begin a 28 day blogging experiment? You begin at the beginning and the beginning is…

Why?

A friend, Todd Waller, has said that anything worth doing must begin with the an answer to the question, “Why?”

I have been blogging for years. However, it has been marked by fits and starts. The concept of continuity and consistency has been largely lost on my blogging experience. Some weeks or months see a good number of blog posts. Then all of a sudden everything dries up. There are no words and there are no posts. So, this blog experiment is an act of discipline for me. Writing every single day, even if it’s not very good, it doesn’t matter. I am going to discipline myself to put something out: Every. Single. Day.

The second reason is that I am intrigued by the Google+ platform. I have been reading some articles about how Google+ could be a game changer in the realm of blogging and social networking. There have been a number of guys who have committed fully to the platform and even some who have left the world of traditional blogging to blog only on Google+. They have found that engagement was significantly higher as a result. So, I am going to compare engagement at Google+ with that of the Tumblr platform. 

Finally, 28 Posts in 28 Days is going to force me to slow down, process, and create. Human beings are created in the image of God. As image bearers we only experience our full humanness when we create. I don’t paint or build things. But, I have always enjoyed the creative process of writing. I remember being in Mrs. Kramer’s fifth grade class and writing an epic science fiction story. It was the first time I remember actually creating something. Ever since then I have loved writing. So, for 28 days I will write and seek to live out who I am as an image bearer of God. 

Those are the “why’s”. I hope you consider coming along for the journey.

doubtontap:

A commenter here at the blog said that, “A human being is a poorly organized mistake that couldn’t be destroyed because matter can’t be destroyed.” Is that all we are? Is to be a human simply to be a living mistake that can’t be destroyed? Isn’t there more to being a human being than this? That’s what we explored Tuesday night at The Corner Brewery.

Read More

I told Amy last night that I was taking a break from Facebook. I will drop links and such onto my account because there are things that are linked to Facebook but, I won’t really be there. I love Facebook Messenger and the ability it provides to communicate easily with people who I can’t text. I really dig our neighborhood Facebook group, so I will check in on those.

But, the app is off my phone and tablet. I removed the quick link from Chrome.

A friend asked why?

It’s me. Not you.

One of the things I noticed happening in me this weekend was how quickly annoyed I became whenever I bounced into Facebook. I reflected a lot during the day on Sunday about this (I vacuumed the house so I could just check out to think and pray) and I realized that the problem is my own heart.

Ever since launching the Antioch Movement there have been these moments when we experience these little frustrations that seem to create more frustration than needed. They create in me an edge or angst. Stress is part of it. Being tired is part of it. I think some emptiness is part of it.

I need to be able to love people really well. I need to have my love reservoirs full and I am finding that Facebook depletes those. I know that sounds really weird. But it’s true.

Like I said, it’s me, not you.

So, if I don’t respond to your post on my wall, don’t be offended, I just didn’t see it. If your comment on that article posted goes unliked, it’s OK, remember it’s me not you. I am off to engage elsewhere where there’s a bit more flesh and blood and a bit less 1’s and 0’s.

Don’t worry cute pictures of the Beast and Princess will still come through thanks to Instagram, stuff I’m reading will find its way there through Feedly, and Foursquare will probably help you find me.

I will be writing over at http://theantiochmovement.org and here at http://media.danielmrose.com.

But, it’s time for me to take a break. We’ll see what happens in a month. Enjoy this from an album I am enjoying today, this son in particular nearly had me in tears in the coffee shop: http://youtu.be/l3YFmpSFJ40

So my Facebook friends, remember: It’s me, not you.

doubtontap:

The country is in the midst of a government shut down. The world is seemingly on the edge of multiple wars at all times. There are really big issues facing our world today in just about every aspect of life. So it is at times like this that we ask the question, “What is a good leader?”

Read More

If you desire what is right, then you can have all you want.

Matthew 6:33

Take this little quiz (don’t cheat)…

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields.

But the applause dies…

Awards tarnish…

Achievements are forgotten…

Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners….

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson: 
The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money…or the most awards. 

They simply are the ones who care the most.

h/t Kenny Rose

As we cast this vision we get many questions and many of them I can’t really answer. I have come to the conclusion that is OK. I don’t have to be able to answer every question.

Why? That’s a great question.

I think it’s OK because at some point in this process we have to yield to faith and trust. We have to believe that God is serious when he makes promises in his scriptures. He means it when he says that he will care for us. It seems to me that we have to come to the place where we can rest on the reality of his promises.

Contrary to my boy Stuart Smalley:

[youtube [www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DIETlxquzY?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=540&h=405])

I am not good enough (just ask my kids and bride). I am not smart enough (just ask anyone that hangs out with me). And, if I am really honest with myself “people” don’t necessarily like me.

No, the truth of the matter is that if any of this is to come to pass it will be because the Creator God will have lavished his grace on the community that he is sending us too. This means that faith must be our eyes.

[youtube [www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3QtKpbwGaQ?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=540&h=304])

As I enter into this new stage of life I am realizing that I am about to embark on something unique. For the first time in my life I am the one who has to slow down and listen to God to determine what the ‘end’ is and how he intends to get us there.

I think that he is saying that the ‘end’ is ‘now’.

As our family steps out into this adventure of launching a movement we will begin with the end in mind. What do we want this movement to be? Do we want a large worship gathering to be our end?

No.

We want a movement that is engaged in their spheres of influence as representatives of Jesus. We want a community of people who are multiplying their lives and launching new movements in places we have not yet dreamed of going.

Everything we do will towards this end.

Everything.

More on that some other time…

I was in a great conversation with some friends the other day talking about The Antioch Movement. One of them asked me, “So you’re the lead church planter?” I responded, “Lead movement launcher.”

The next question was money, “Why not a church?”

So if you’re planting a church the end goal is to have, well, a church. A building or something, the focus becomes the Sunday gathering. We are going to try and build a movement that is reproducible and sustainable. The end goal is not the Sunday gathering, but to launch movements into the fourth generation and beyond. The “church” is a means for the expansion of the kingdom and not an end in itself.

Everything we are going to do will be toward that end. So, I am not a “pastor” or “planter” but a “trainer” of “trainers”, if you will, and at the beginning a “launcher”.

A quality response was forthcoming, “But the Bible has words for that, church and pastor. Why not use those words instead of movement and trainer?”

Fair enough. However, sometimes words lose their meaning. I think they have. When people talk of “church” they think of a building. That is not church. Pastor, is only one of the offices laid out in Ephesians 4, apostle, prophet, evangelist, being the others. I would probably prefer apostle, but that word brings along weird baggage. These words: movement and trainer; I think, embody the concepts that Scripture teaches better. I think that we can use different words for clarity. Ekklesia is probably not best translated “church ”, it is probably best translated, “called out ones”, that is clunky, so we use church, I think movement better communicates the idea of Ekklesia. 

That’s why I use these words, very intentionally.

I am also realizing that part of why I want to use these words is to have this very conversation. When we say “church” or “pastor” everyone assumes they know what those words mean. But, the Antioch Movement wants to redefine them and restore them to the kind of radical apostolic vision that they once had. We also want to level the playing field. For too long in Western Christendom we have put men on pedestals. Men with M.Div’s and D.Mins and PhDs. We call them “pastor” or “reverend” and we the church turn over the responsibility of faithfully building the kingdom to them.

In the Antioch Movement we want to embrace the reality that all of us are members of a royal priesthood. We want to level the playing field so that men and women are leading out in faith engaging a world of people who are far from God. We want to build a movement of representatives for Jesus, ambassadors, who are imploring those around them to be reconciled to God.

I am so grateful for these guys who press me and ask these hard questions. They are bringing clarity of mind and focus to something that God has been stirring up in me. Thanks fellas!

This Sunday we shared with our community at Grace Chapel that God is calling us to follow Him to Ypsilanti, MI. It’s been a two year process of God pushing, pulling, and prodding. We have had to look, listen, live, and learn.

Ever since we joined the staff of CRU I have been dreaming about a movement in a college town that mobilized the whole community. Now, God has opened the way for us to engage in this dream.

What would it look like for representatives of Jesus to live together in community and invite people far from God to join them?

Hopefully, The Antioch Movement.

In Acts 11 we meet the church at Antioch. It goes like this,

Those who had been scattered by the persecution triggered by Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, but they were still only speaking and dealing with their fellow Jews. Then some of the men from Cyprus and Cyrene who had come to Antioch started talking to Greeks, giving them the Message of the Master Jesus. God was pleased with what they were doing and put his stamp of approval on it — quite a number of the Greeks believed and turned to the Master.

22–24 When the church in Jerusalem got wind of this, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to check on things. As soon as he arrived, he saw that God was behind and in it all. He threw himself in with them, got behind them, urging them to stay with it the rest of their lives. He was a good man that way, enthusiastic and confident in the Holy Spirit’s ways. The community grew large and strong in the Master.

I love that in Antioch we have the gospel being proclaimed to the Gentiles as well as Jews. It was intentionally inter-cultural.

But that’s not the end of the Antioch story (Acts 13)…

1–2 The congregation in Antioch was blessed with a number of prophet-preachers and teachers:

Barnabas, Simon, nicknamed Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen, an advisor to the ruler Herod, Saul. One day as they were worshiping God — they were also fasting as they waited for guidance — the Holy Spirit spoke: “Take Barnabas and Saul and commission them for the work I have called them to do.”

3 So they commissioned them. In that circle of intensity and obedience, of fasting and praying, they laid hands on their heads and sent them off.

The original Antioch movement sent laborers. They did so freely. They did so because they had heard the Spirit call them. The Antioch Movement in Ypsilanti will send laborers too.

What it look like for a movement to multiply every two to three years?

Hopefully, it will look like The Antioch Movement.

I think that Amy and I are hearing the Spirit calling us. We are going to go. We are going to dive into the life and community of Ypsilanti. Soon enough we will be trusting God to sell our home and provide a new one.

But, before we do, there is much work to be done at Grace Chapel. It’s going to be amazing and fun to push hard these next few months to continue to pour out our lives at Grace. To continue to dive even deeper and trust God for even greater things there. God is not done with us at Grace and while we are excited for the next horizon, we don’t want to miss the beauty that is present in the sunset.

“Hey Dad, why do some kids at school have ashes on their foreheads?” the kids asked.

“It’s a Catholic symbol for Ash Wednesday, the day before Lent.” I responded.

“What’s Lent?”

That’s a great question. I went on to explain what Lent is and the response quite honestly shocked me.

“We need to give something up!”

Libby, our eight year old daughter gave up chocolate. Little did we know this decision was about to transform a life.

My wife, Amy, and I are not legalists or traditionalists. We buck against kind of traditionalism and legalism. If you say we “have” to do something, odds are we won’t. Up until our kids wanted to participate in a Lenten fast it never really crossed our minds to do so.

I have been so impressed at the faithfulness of my little family. Lent has been pretty well kept in our home and that’s saying something.

However, one day at a party Libby wanted chocolate. Everyone else was having chocolate, but she couldn’t have any. She couldn’t have any because of “Lent”.

The door was opened.

Amy asked her what was Lent? Libby said something about how it’s a time to give up things before Easter. Right.

“What’s Easter?” Amy asked.

“It’s when Jesus died on the Cross and was came alive from the dead.” Libby said.

“Right, and why did he do that?”

“Because we sin and he loves us so he died for us to forgive our sins.”

“Right. That’s called ‘grace’ sweetheart. We don’t deserve it. We can’t get it ourselves. It has to be given to us. Jesus got it for us when we died and rose again. Guess what?” asked Amy.

“What?”

“He even gives you grace to have chocolate today. It’s OK. Jesus died on the cross and rose again so you have freedom to eat some chocolate today.”

“Really?!!”

“Yes, really! That’s what grace is all about. Jesus loves you and wants you to live free. You can give up chocolate again tomorrow. He knows what your heart is. He loves you.”

Grace has become something that Libby understands.

This morning I said, “Libby gets grace.”

She exclaimed, “NO DADDY! I live it!!!”

The quote below intrigues me. I think that this kind of “serial disruption” is required by churches. We must keep on “re-planting” ourselves. If we don’t then we become stale and lose our saltiness. The church needs to keep looking to the future and not allowing any sacred cows to keep us from being on mission.

emergentfutures:

“The lesson here is that a company that disrupts does not necessarily survive. Long term survival depends on the ability for serial disruption. Serial disruption is an uncomfortable state for an organization to exist in. As the story above shows, disruptions are usually enabled by “desperate” necessity. Desperation is not something management is trained to aspire for.”

—

The parable of Nintendo — Horace Dediu and Dirk Schmidt via Asymco

(via paperbits)

Hi, my name is Ethan and I learned in school that Jackie Robinson lived his life by nine values and used them to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball. This is a story about a time that I used those same values to overcome a barrier in my life.

At my school football got banned because some kids weren’t playing safely. I was very mad. It seemed unjust. I went back to my house that night to talk about it with my family. My father suggested a petition. At the time, I didn’t know what a petition was. So I asked.

He explained that a petition is like a letter stating what I think should happen. It also should have signatures of the people who think the same as me.

I decided to do it, but I was anxious. I couldn’t believe what I was on the verge of doing.

When I woke up the next morning, my dad was still sleeping, so I tried to make the petition myself. It said:

Dear Ms. Lilly,

I am one of the many who would like football back. Here are some reasons why:

1. The school wants us to be active. Football is a safe-fun way to be active.
2. Without football kids get in arguments over games.
3. Exercise makes you better in school.

On the following pages you will see the signatures of the people who think the same as me.

“Yeah, I think that is good.” I said to myself.

The next day I asked my friend Jacob to help me.. Using teamwork, we got the signatures in one recess. Then we turned the petition into Ms. Lilly. I went to bed happy that night, thinking that tomorrow would be a great day. I would have a talk with Ms. Lilly and then football would be back! Well, did I get a surprise!

Days went by and no word from Ms. Lilly. I was getting pretty worried. What if she didn’t get the petition? What if she didn’t care? All of these possibilities were flowing through my head. Then, one day, during math, over the PA system I got a call from Ms. Lilly, saying that she wanted to talk to me.

Ms. Lilly said to make a committee of three third graders, three fourth graders and three fifth graders. We would meet and make the rules for football. She said, “You will contact me when it’s done.”

I left her office feeling very worried. I didn’t know any fifth graders, let alone three of them! But I had to do this. I had to do this for my school and for my friends. I was determined.

Finding kids from each grade to join the committee took a lot of persistence, but with teamwork, we got it done. Now all that needed to happen was the meeting. I couldn’t wait.

At the meeting the next day, we started thinking of rules, voted on them, and then wrote them down. Soon we had a page full of rules. When we presented them to Ms. Lilly, she said, “Great job,” and told me to speak on the announcements the next day. 
The next day, on the morning announcements, I explained that anyone who wanted to play football would need to sign a contract to follow the rules that the committee had written. Twenty-five players attended the meeting and signed their names. And that’s how I got football back for my school!

***

To get football back, I had to use Jackie Robinson’s values. I was very committed to overcoming this barrier. Using a petition was an example of good citizenship. It took courage to talk to Ms. Lilly. It took determination to find fifth graders for the committee when I didn’t know any. I had to be persistent. My friend Jacob and I used teamwork to get the signatures. My school is very diverse, and football is a sport that we all play together. Getting football back for all of them felt good. Well, I got the job done, didn’t I? That shows excellence.

One day in the spring of 2002 I returned home from a long day on campus. I was in the midst of my first year as campus director at Illinois State University with CRU.

I was tired.

In my mailbox was a little package and inside was a book entitled, Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller. I hadn’t ordered this book, it just arrived.

The next day I sat outside a coffee shop and read.

I kept reading.

I kept reading.

I finished the book in one sitting.

I read it again.

What I discovered afresh in Blue Like Jazz was clear call to gospel living. I realized that I had become more about convincing people of a worldview and winning an argument than I was about introducing them to Jesus.

This book re-introduced me to radical grace.

God used it to change my life.

The gospel stopped being “Jesus and…” and became a clear call to Jesus himself. Legalism quickly became a thing of the past and in the pages of the Bible I finally saw freedom to live life joyfully.

God used Blue Like Jazz to awaken my soul to the joy of grace, freedom, and life with Jesus. On April 13 a movie adaptation of the book hits screens. I hope that God will use it to begin conversations about these very things.

I can’t wait.

simplyorthodox:

A servant of the Lord is he who in body stands before men, but in mind knocks at Heaven with prayer.

-St. John of the Ladder

Two questions are left with me from this weekend. First, do I have room in my life for a baby in a cave or a rambunctious three year old? Second, will I Christmas all year or will I forget until next year?

[youtube [www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rga4rp4j5TY?wmode=transparent])

via youtube.com

Fairy Tales which are glimpses into our cultural psyche. They paint pictures of deeper bits of reality. ABC’s Once Upon a Time paints an interesting picture:

The town of Storybrooke is under a curse. The people there do not know who they really are because of the curse. There is one woman and a little boy who know the truth. The woman, the Evil Queen is doing everything in her power to conceal the truth. The little boy, proclaims the truth about the curse and the people’s real identities. The town thinks him crazy.

My 10 year old son said, “Dad, this is just like the gospel.”

Indeed it is son, indeed it is.

At the end of every year people write their evaluation blog posts. Kevin DeYoung has produced his where he critiques the Young, Resltess, and Reformed (YRR) “movement”. I want to take a moment and give my own critique. I would encourage you to read his post to get a bit of background and also take note of his helpful suggestions.

I think Kevin is correct in his critiques. I would however add one and that is of dogmatic clarity. I think Kevin might argue that he holds to a similar critique when he argues for folks to go deeper into their ecclesiastical traditions. I am arguing here for something a bit deeper and more specific.

Whenever conversations about YRR come up there are three terms that are used almost interchangably: Evangelical, Calvinist, and Reformed. It’s as if to be truly Evangelical one must be a Calvinist and to be a Calvinist means that you are Reformed. These words actually h

old specific meanings and while they are connected, they are by no means to be equated.

To be an Evangelical means, in its most simplest terms, that one believes in the Trinity, that the Bible is the authentic and authoritative word of God, and that to be reconciled with God one must trust in the atoning work of Jesus. To be a Calvinist, in its simplest terms, means that one holds to the soteriological position outlined in TULIP (total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints). To be Reformed means that one holds to covenantal theology as outlined in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

What are the hallmarks of the Reformed faith beyond a Calvinist understanding of soteriology?

First, it is covenantal. There are only two covenants, that of works and that of grace. The covenant of grace is revealed organically through history. This means that the Scriptures are a unified whole without discontinuity.

Second, this leads to two distinctions practically. The first is a federal form of government, often times called “presbyterian” because it is built through a connectional system of representative elders. It also holds to paedobaptism because children are clearly included in the covenant community in Genesis and are never stated to be excluded.

This means that to be Reformed is very different from being a Calvinist. Calvinism is a part of being Reformed but it does not equate. The same can be said of evangelicalism. A Reformed believer, necessarily is evangelical, but it does not go both ways.

I think that we need to begin to more clear about who we are talking about as “Reformed.” Many Calvinist Baptists are equated with being “Reformed”. This makes the dogmatic waters muddy. Michael Horton and John Piper hold to very different positions on key issues. Why? Because Horton is Reformed and Piper is not, he is decidedly Baptist. Their differneces are good and healthy because they hold to different perspectives on the Scriptures. While they are in the same camp, these brothers do not share a tent.

Where do we go from here? I think that we need to let the YRR label go. It is not properly descriptive. It’s time to clarify the positions that are being held to because they matter. These variety of positions will further the conversations that need to happen. If we can understand that there are real differences between Baptists and Presbyterians and Non-Denominationals and whoever else we will be able to have real conversations about real issues.

I am thankful for Calvinist brothers and sisters of other traditions. But we have very real differences and those differences provide fertile ground for learning, growth, and development. In the name of unity we must not set aside our real distinctions but we must embrace them and allow the distinctions to draw us closer. When this happens, it will be evidence of maturity within the movement.

Unity in diversity ought to be the hallmark of the New Calvinist (the appropriate label for the shift)movement. Not a muddy murky sudo ecumenicalism that does not take one another seriously.

There aren’t many Christmas movies as good as Elf. It’s hilarious and it is also poignant. Like most other Christmas movies related to Santa Claus the issue at the center is belief, or the lack thereof. One of the best moments is when Buddy finds ou that Santa is coming to the Mall…

[youtube [www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jyCfRHumHU?wmode=transparent])

This scene has been in my mind for a few days now. I keep thinking about it’s illustrative purposes for me as a follower of Jesus. Buddy’s excitement is overwhelming and full of passion. It is clear that he loves Santa and that he desperately wants others to know him too. Look what happens when he finds out that the real Santa isn’t at the mall…

[youtube [www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY4bUP48RE8?wmode=transparent])

These two clips paint a picture that ought to challenge us as Jesus followers. We do not know an omniscient, legalistic, elf. We know the God of the universe. We know the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Isaiah 9:6 describes Jesus this way,

For to us a child is born,
 to us a son is given;
 and the government shall be upont his shoulder,
 and his name shall be calledt
 Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
 Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Buddy the Elf loves Santa for who he is, he defends his honor, and desires for people to know the real Santa. When we think about Jesus too often we are afraid what people will think of us. Often times we shy away from challenging wrong understanding of who he is at the risk of offending others.

I want to love Jesus the way that Buddy loves Santa.

Grace111218reduced.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Here’s a link to the text: http://bible.us/Rev8.6.ESV

Here’s a nifty way to understand the letter of Revelation in a big picture:

Revelation on Prezi

See the full gallery on Posterous

Christmas is about telling stories and sharing traditions. I love hearing the Bride share stories with the Princess as she passes on the traditional sugar cookie baking. It is absolutely beautiful!