“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.
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.
“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.”
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 Jazzwas 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.
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?
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.”
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…
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…
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.
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!
The picture is from the front page of the Detroit News website. Two shootings, one day, two different parts of the country.
The question that I see in my Twitter feed is simple: What’s wrong with the world?
The answer to that question is simple too: We live in a sin soaked world that is broken.
Does that answer sound trite? It’s not. You see living in a sin soaked world means that we should be surprised when good things and not the bad. We typically think of sin as a simple moral act of doing wrong.
Sin goes much deeper though.
It corrupts everything it touches. It makes all things broken.
Do you notice that we are appalled?
Think about it, we live in a world where we are surrounded by brokenness the way a fish lives in water, and yet we are shocked by these kinds of things. I think that’s because we experience the common grace of God on a moment by moment basis. This means that we experience the fact that God is with holding most of the evil in the world.
Occasionally evil is allowed to occur.
When it does we are shocked.
When it does we ask questions and we doubt.
We pray.
We think.
C.S. Lewis wrote in The Problem of Pain, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
Pain is the result of evil.
Evil is the reult of sin.
What do we do with sin?
Nothing.
It’s been dealt with for us. Jesus, lived, died, and resurrected to deal with sin, the results of failing to live in covnenantal relationship with God. He is the culmination of the story of God’s people where we find redemptive grace and reconciliation.
Today’s shootings are a reminder that we live in a broken and sin soaked world. They are a reminder that we need to deal with this sin. They are a reminder that we need to be in relationship with grace soaked redemptive God who is speaking through pain.
I am a Daddy of a Princess. She is the apple of my eye. I love her desperately and want more than anything to protect her and keep her from crying. When I look around the world and see the standard of beauty that she is expected to live up to it makes me sick. Below is a great video that gives significant wisdom and insight.
If you know a female of the species, you should watch it.
In our community at Grace Chapel we are currently studying through the Revelation of John. It’s a fascinating letter that challenges believers to remain faithful and true to the gospel until Jesus returns. A significant piece of the message is that the follower of Jesus will experience suffering. Life will not be all roses and puppies.
I have experienced suffering only as a child. My parents divorced when I was nine and that was painful. My grandmother, Mimi, died suddenly in a car accident the summer after my freshman year in college.
Those things were hard.
Now as an adult, who is a parent, and a pastor, I am learning that the admonitions about suffering in the Scriptures are real. This week God has seen fit to enroll Amy and I into Suffering 099.
It’s a remedial course. No credit given.
The frustration that comes from the deep seated selfishness that is present within me is ugly. Thankfully we are only dealing with pneumonia. It will pass.
Here’s to the hope of suffering well in the small so that when the big comes along we are ready to honor King Jesus in the midst of it.
There are few shows that speak to the human condition as regularly and poignantly as Fox Television’s Fringe. The most recent episode, “Wallflower” is a parable on the human need to be known.
Spoiler Alert — If you have DVR’ed the episode stop reading and come back.
The Fringe team has to investigate mounting murders around Boston. Murders that are apparently being done by an invisible man. They find that there is a man, Eugene, who has a rare genetic disorder that has made him invisible. He has figured out how to take people’s pigment from them so that he can be visible.
Eugene had gone through his entire life with nobody seeing him.
Could you imagine? Never being seen.
Alive, but not seen.
We all desire to be seen. Every kid at every sporting event, play, or performance scans the crowd looking for Mom and Dad. They want to be seen. My home reverberates with, “Daddy, watch this. Mommy, watch this.”
To be seen is hardwired into us.
Why do you think social media is so powerful? It helps us to be seen.
I love that Jesus tells us that he sees us and he notices us. He promises that God cares. We are not invisible and never will be. Because the one we can’t see, sees us.
