This Sunday was the fifth day of Christmas, a season which lasts twelve days and extends all the way to Epiphany, the next holiday in the church calendar.  On this day, Pastor David highlights “five golden rings” from Hebrews 2:10-18, a passage that explains the connection between Jesus’s birth and death.  Listen in to this message, and allow the word of God to transform your life!

Listen now!

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19 NIV)

What if Mary, the mother of Jesus, had known the entire course of her son’s life at the moment of his birth?  What if she knew that his life and ministry would spark a religious conflict in Jerusalem resulting in his execution?  What if she could grasp the prophetess Anna’s words, “and a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:35b NIV)?  What if she could see the glory of Jesus’s resurrection, the promise of eternal life, even as he lay in her arms as a newborn?

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Born into Christian Faith?

Recently, I read an excerpt from a book recently written by Desmond Tutu, a well-known South African Christian minister.  Many of his comments are challenging and provocative, but today I’d like to focus in on one point he makes very clearly:  “the accidents of birth and geography determine to a very large extent to what faith we belong.”  In other words, where you were born and who your parents are go a long way in determining what your own religious background is.

Now, this is not to discount the possibility of real change in people’s lives.  History is full of examples of people who were raised in cultures and families hostile to Christianity but who discovered the truth and joy of a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  God is powerful enough to change the hardest of hearts – including those that are convinced that a spiritual path other than discipleship in Christ is correct.

My question is for you:  if you are a follower of Christ, why?  What’s your story?  Where have you come from?  Is being a Christian a conscious choice you have made, or is it something you have inherited from your parents or from your culture?

I was raised in a Christian home as the younger son of a Church of God pastor and his wife.  I was raised in the church; we went to church every time the doors were open.  I was exposed to Christianity from a very early age, both at home and in the churches to which we belonged.  Some might say that I am a Christian because my parents are Christians and because I was raised to be a Christian.  To some extent, that is probably right.

However, there came a time when I realized that my faith had to be my faith and not just something I inherited from my parents.  That time came for me in college, and thankfully I came to the realization that following Christ really is the best choice – something in which I can actively involve myself for the rest of my life.  I follow Christ consciously, grateful for my spiritual inheritance, but honest in my decision to follow him.

So where do you fall?  Do you believe in Jesus?  If so, why do you believe?  What is your spiritual heritage?  If you came to Christ without the benefit of family or culture, then ask yourself the same question:  why did you come to faith in him?

Our stories of faith form who we are.  These are the stories that we should celebrate, rehearse, and share with each other and with others.  These give meaning to our existence and to our walk with the Lord.  And remember this:  your story of faith is still being written; growth and maturity are still part of God’s plan for your life.

–Pastor David

Truth and Narratives

Lately, I’ve been thinking frequently about narratives – stories that inform our lives, that give our lives meaning and direction, that help us to view the world in a particular way. A narrative can be something simple like “I like how I look,” or it can take a form as complex as your family history. Narratives can be true (“my work is valuable”) or false (“no one loves me”). They can be helpful or harmful, and that is a different quality than being true or false. These stories orient us to the world in specific ways, often in ways that we do not fully understand.

For Christians, the primary narrative of our lives should be the gospel of Jesus Christ. The meaning of our Savior’s life, ministry, death, and resurrection should shape everything that we do and even how we think about the world. We should see ourselves as sinners who have been redeemed at great cost and who have been given a great commission to spread this message of redemption and new life to people of all nations. Our obedience to the Lord is a natural outworking of this narrative; because we belong to Christ, we obey him at every opportunity – or at least that is our goal.

However, this Christ-centered perspective on the world is challenged by other narratives, many of which are false and unnecessary. The world presents us with alternate stories to adopt: the value of my life is determined by my health, safety, possessions, money, and so forth; what others think of me is more important than what God thinks of me; my success in life depends on how much power I can accumulate. Many similar perspectives can distract us from the truth of our human existence.

I met with a few pastor friends this week, and we were discussing among ourselves The Shack, a recent best-selling book about a man who comes to faith after experiencing terrible tragedy in his family life. If you haven’t read this book and are interested, just let me know – you may borrow my copy! Without spoiling too much of the story, I will say this much: the main character has a vision (of sorts) in which he interacts with God and wrestles with the meaning of his suffering. One of the pastors in my meeting this week suggested something fascinating about this vision: what if this vision of God was no mere vision but actual reality?

My reaction to his suggestion was to scoff and say, “of course not – that’s just a vision.” But as we discussed this idea, I came to realize that this reveals part of my own personal narratives. Specifically, I approach the world as if I am the one who gets to determine what is real and what is imaginary. A vision cannot be real because it’s just a dream! Do you ever function in the same way?

How would we think, feel, and behave differently if we acknowledged that God determines reality? What if we adopted his perspective on the world, on other people, and on ourselves? Jesus Christ has the transformative power to reshape our false, broken narratives into stories that reflect ultimate truth, which necessarily comes from his perspective. The journey of the follower of Christ requires laying down our perspectives on life and picking up those that belong to the Lord. If we see the world through his eyes, then we will better understand how to minister to a world that is in need.

–Pastor David

Storytelling in the Information Age

Last week, I discussed how present-day American culture thrives on arguments and debates, especially in online forms of communication. This often affects our discussion of religious and spiritual topics in a negative way; our discussions turn into self-righteous monologues that all too easily ignore the point of view of the other person. (Even the word “debate” has lost some of its meaning: when election season rolls around again, will our candidates actually debate, or will they alternate giving monologues? Wait and see.)

At the same time, when we look at the state of Christian faith in our nation, we see a movement in decline. Young people are turning away from the faith of their parents in large numbers. Adults who were raised in the church have fallen into worldliness and spiritual apathy. Christianity feels outdated to many people, and I believe that is partially due to Christians participating in the present culture of one-sided arguments, degradation of opposing viewpoints, and self-righteousness. (Many, many comments on the blog posts mentioned last week fall into this category.)

What are we to do? How do we respond to a declining interest in Christian faith combined with an unwillingness to accept propositional Christian truths at face value? I believe we must reclaim one of our most powerful tools: the art of storytelling.

It is no accident that young people (and adults, for that matter) spend large amounts of time and money watching movies – indeed, series of movies. Many popular movies in the past several years are disconnected from reality in one way or another: Avatar, Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Wars, and so forth. Why are these so popular despite being unrealistic? Their special effects are captivating, true; however, I believe another reason for the success of these films is that they tell their stories well.

There is great power in a well-told story. It can transport both the speaker and the listener to another time and place, and it can encapsulate truth more powerfully than simply stating truth openly. Stories are also powerful tools for bringing about change in society. People don’t want to be told to change how they live, but a story told well can illustrate why a change might be beneficial. This is why classic bedtime stories such as Aesop’s Fables have withstood the tests of time: children need to learn how to behave, and these stories show them how!

Our world needs to know Jesus Christ. Many people are in need of a saving relationship with him. But the direct, argumentative, propositional route is not the best approach for today’s society. Instead, we need to tell our personal stories: how we came to know the Lord, how he has provided for us, how our ancestors lived the faith. And we need to tell our collective stories: how God provided for our church, how God spoke through the prophets of old, how God became human in the person of Jesus Christ.

There is great power in the telling of a story. Who has been a storyteller in your life? To whom have you told your stories recently? What stories do you need to study again in order to be able to communicate them to others? Here’s a hint: open your Bible!

Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” (Matthew 13:34-35 NIV)

Even Jesus used the vehicle of the story to communicate deep truths to his disciples. We too should become better students of his stories – and better storytellers ourselves – so that we can share the truth with a lost and dying generation, especially one with a low tolerance for dialogue but a high interest in hearing a good story.

–Pastor David

Faith in the Information Age

If you’ve paid attention to our culture in the past several years, you’ve probably noticed a few new terms springing up in our vocabulary: “information age,” “social media,” “blogging,” “tweeting,” “texting,” and so forth. The way we communicate with each other has changed drastically in recent years. In fact, I am typing these very words into a new blog post for our church website. After I’m finished here, I will copy and paste this article into a new note on our Facebook page, and only then, at the end of the month, will I assemble this and other articles into a paper newsletter for people in our church without Internet access.

Like it or not, the way our society communicates has changed – and continues to change – into something never before seen in human history. Rather than bemoan the loss of the way things used to be, though, I believe our response as Christians should be to find new and creative ways to spread the message of Jesus Christ within the context of the culture in which we live.

This task has become very difficult, however, on account of the system through which many people communicate today. Allow me to illustrate with one current example. In the past six weeks, two articles have appeared on the “Belief Blog” of CNN’s website. The first was entitled “The Bible’s surprisingly mixed messages on sexuality,” and the second was a response entitled “The Bible really does condemn homosexuality.” Both articles are well-written and articulate, even though the first article is not as biblically sound as the second.

You might imagine that these articles got quite a response from the public. In fact, each article has received around 4,000 comments from everyday people – and that includes the second article, which is only six days old right now. As I scan through the thousands of comments on these articles, I am struck by one important observation: no significant dialogue takes place in this online format. Everyone posts what they believe or what they feel, and they are quick to attack and find flaws in the opposing position.

This has even affected conversations within the Church of God, albeit on a smaller scale. The Church of God has its own social media site called MyCHOG, where people share ideas and discuss important issues. Even in our own sub-culture, discussions about hot-button ethical topics often devolve into name-calling and finger-pointing.

It is as if twenty-first century Americans no longer want to learn or to discuss. Instead, we want to argue and to prove the other guy wrong. Again, we should not bemoan this change and yearn for days gone by, because (a) we must work for Christ in our current context, not in the past, and (b) these “information age” changes are only highlighting human characteristics that have been with us all along.

How do we communicate the message of the kingdom of God to our lost and dying world? I propose that the solution is not found in arguments, debates, or blog comments. Instead, one potential solution lies in our ability to become good storytellers. But I’ll save the rest of that thought for next week.

–Pastor David

One year since the earthquake in Haiti

Where were you exactly one year ago?  If you had been in Haiti, you most certainly would remember.  On January 12, 2010, a very powerful earthquake shook this island nation to its core, and the world rallied to respond to desperate human need.  Even though great need still exists there today, the world has mostly moved on to other news items.  What does this say about our culture?

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