What might God say to the IRON MAN?

Confession: I loved comic books growing up. Not simply an awareness of them but collecting them, bagging them, boarding them, knowing their value in various conditions, reading various strength levels and super powers in Marvel Universe almanacs etc. Not sure how that happened but I still have a box of them in my attic. I think I enjoyed them because they develop interesting characters; characters you follow and watch develop over many issues and many years. In light of this I have been a full supporter of the comicbookization of Hollywood.  Seeing the Marvel Universe come to the big screens has been more than a little fun for me.  Not sure if my old favorites Powerman and Iron Fist are ever going to make it to the 3D screen, but who knows.

I say all of this to comment briefly on a scene from Marvel’s new movie The Avengers.  Now, before you judge this film, you should see it.  Sometimes a movie everyone likes is good and everyone likes it because it is good. That is for my film snob friends reading.  I saw the Avengers twice in its opening weekend. Why? For the children of course. I had to see it with my wife on Friday (my day off) to grasp why it had its PG-13 rating to decide whether my daughters could see the film.  After we determined the girls could go, Sunday night we hit the show on a Daddy date.  Tommy would be freaked out and afraid of the Hulk so he is not seeing it any time soon.

One scene that got quite a bit of traction in the trailer and is important to two of the main characters flows as follows.  For Avengers newbies, Tony Stark is Iron Man and Steve Rogers is Captain America.  Stark is a spooky smart guy who has invented some killer high tech weaponry and has a history of womanizing. Rogers is a super soldier from the early 20th century who got frozen in ice. His values are old school. Here is the short dialogue:

• Steve Rogers: Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?
• Tony Stark: Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.
• Steve Rogers: I know guys with none of that worth ten of you

So after thinking for a moment about this intense exchange between super heroes, I paused and asked what God might have to say to the IRON MAN:

• Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 ESV
• And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15 ESV
• “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28 ESV
• “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:1-4 ESV

Is there something deeper that Captain America is getting at? Is there something bigger, more important going on in life that our “external suit”, our abilities, what we have and do? Jesus asked the following questions and I think asking them today would be good for you:

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?

One of the great story-lines in the Avengers film is what takes place in the relationship between Cap and Iron Man…this dialogue isn’t the end of it so I recommend the movie to watch the rest of that story unfold.

Judgment and Grace

Sent this to my friends at Jacob’s Well today, thought to share here on the POCBlog as well:

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Last night I had a great privilege to see another part of our great state. At the request of some young troublemakers up in Hoboken, I was able to spend the evening proclaiming the Gospel with a group of students from the Stevens Institute of Technology. Which, by the way, is the Alma Mata of our own Manoj Thomas.

I was asked to speak on Matthew 7:1-5 and Jesus’ command to “Judge not, that you be not judged.” Certainly he does not mean that we should make no moral evaluations in life or no decisions about truth or falsity in the world. Yet there is a hypocritical way in which Christians can judge other people as if we were God. I’m always reminded by the great truths of the Bible when speaking on such topics. First, that I am a sinner in great need of grace and forgiveness. I have but one judge and that is God’s appointed one Jesus Christ. I know that God, in Jesus, has forgiven me and given me a new life and such grace ought to be extended to others in his name. Second, a hypocritical judgmental posture with others, is actually harmful to our witness to the Gospel. So many times people look at the church as smug, self-righteous, without much love, with nothing but condemnation to speak. I’ve always found Jesus to be quite different than the rest of humanity. He never congratulates people for their sin and calls us to repent. Yet he does not condemn us and is in fact willing to take the penalty for sin on himself.

The hypocritical judgment that is in view in Matthew 7 is so clearly illustrated by our Lord. In fact his illustration is actually hilarious. Read his words:

3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

I think the ridonkulous nature of this illustration is evident to all. Should we not deal with the huge two by four sticking out of our face before we go hunting for specks of dust in the eyes of others? Yes, we should. The great path that we have to walk is neither to use our freedom for license and sin nor forget that we need grace from God in Jesus.

Jacob’s Well, let us become the kind of people who are living gospel centered lives of repentance and faith. My prayer for all of us is that we would live among the people of this world in such a way that they might see something beyond ourselves. Our prayer is that as we extend hope through the gospel, people would see the holy and loving God who died to forgive sinners of which we are foremost.

As you follow him today, I hope that you taste and see that God is good whatever circumstances may be before you. The hope that we have is eternal and the grace that we experience is ever present as a gift purchased by Jesus.

I love you guys and I’m so thankful to serve with you for the glory of God and for the good of the people among us, by extending hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ. There’s so much before us but the most important thing is the one who must stay forever in our view. The living King is the one who rose from the grave and today is making intercession for us and leading us in his mission. We rest our hope in Him.

If you need any encouragement and you missed last Sunday, fire up the sermon where we looked at the case of a man losing his head in a dingy dungeon long-ago. Such happy thoughts are sure to brighten anyone’s day. Actually, if you missed it is important in understanding our lives following him. Flashback and Foreshadowing, Trouble Makers for the Glory of God.

If you are new to the Jacob’s Well community, or have friends or family who are interested in our church, have them hit up the Discovery Lunch on May 6 from 130 to 3 PM at the Jacobs Well offices. Registration is here.

Also, I’m also now an assistant soccer coach…which feels so very weird. My kids think it is funny and I am now known around the house as “Coach Reid” and our family as “a 100% soccer” family according to Tommy Reid.  Oh good grief what has happened to me!?!? Prayers appreciated. ;-)

Pastor Reid

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Locks of love and my Sweetie Ky

I’m so proud of this little girl. Tomorrow, of her own idea and accord, Ky is giving her hair to Locks of Love to help kids with cancer.  I took this picture of her this morning.  Pray for Ky as she goes to have her hair cut tomorrow afternoon.  She LOVES her hair so this is especially precious for me to watch. Anyway, thankful for my little girls and how they lead me and show me a glipse of the love of Christ.

One of the things we have appreciated about the kids’ school is that they value not only academic excellence but also service in Christ’s name. I’ll have some after pictures tomorrow when she’ll be my short haired little sweetie ky.

Wilberforce Girls for World Vision

Greetings!

We are the girls of Class 4 at The Wilberforce School in Princeton, NJ. We want to share with you something exciting we are working on for our third trimester project. Our school is named after a man named William Wilberforce who combined his Christian faith with his academic and leadership abilities in order to see the slave trade abolished in the British empire. Each year one of our projects involves either active service to others (those in need) or helping the created order (the environment) of which we are called to be stewards.  We are excited to share with you our project for the spring and ask you to be a part of it. We are pretty excited so we want to begin with our story.

Bookmarking our Story

Earlier this year some of us began drawing handmade bookmarks. We think they look pretty cool. Many of the kids from our school liked them so we began making custom bookmarks for them. It became a pretty well known thing at our school. In thinking about our project for the spring, we thought it would be good to sell them for a quarter a piece to the kids at our school and donate all the money to World Vision. This is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. In thinking about this project, we decided to take it up a notch and sell our bookmarks online to everyone in order to help other kids in another part of the world.

So what we came up with was an idea to learn some things and try to help out in a big way. The kids at our school have given their quarters; they do add up you know.  We are now asking kids young and old to join us in this project and buy a few cool bookmarks in the process. Let us share with you what we hope to learn.

Things we hope to learn

There is much to learn in our world today about how a business works.  Many today are beginning to see how their businesses have the ability to do good with the money they make.  We hear running a business is hard work, but hard work can bring a profit (Proverbs 14:23).  So instead of making a profit for ourselves, we figured we could learn how to make a profit and give all that money to World Vision. Pretty cool right? We think so.  So here are some of the things we hope to learn:

• E-commerce and selling on the internet.
• All the technology involved in that like electronic payments, secure web sites, order placement etc.
• Viral marketing through things like blogs, twitter, Facebook and a community selling store. We are using Etsy and it is so cool!
• Product design, inventory management and order fulfillment. One of our Dads has told us this could create a bunch of work for us if this goes big. So we hope you give us a ton of work to do: printing, cutting, addressing and stuffing envelopes and mailing bookmarks out to you.
• We want to learn about entrepreneurship and doing good for others through such efforts. 

How we want to help

We selected World Vision as the organization we want to give all the proceeds from our bookmarks. We chose them because our teacher shared about them with us.  We like that they are working in nearly 100 countries around the world, serving all people. They are a Christian organization seeking to reflect the love of Jesus to others. We also like that they are financially responsible and accountable and most of the money will go directly to help people.

How you can help

Your part in this project is simple. Just buy a cool bookmark! Maybe buy one for yourself, your kids, your family members, the family dog, etc. The more we sell the more we give away. We have some capital investors who are helping us with materials and printing so we can give away all the profit we make from selling our bookmarks. The price you might ask? Just $5 plus shipping.

With this low price you will help us gain valuable experience and give generously to others.  And of course you will receive one of our five bookmarks specially selected for this project.  Great deal right!? We think so, so all you need to do is head to our brand new Etsy Shop called “The Wilberforce Girls”

Load up those Etsy shopping carts and put us to work!

Thank you and God Bless!

The Wilberforce Class 4 Girls,

Oh, and one more thing…we have Twitter and Facebook accounts for this project. So if you want to help spread the word, like us, share, follow and “retweet” away.

Why I take vacations with my wife

Posted this today to some of my Jacob’s Well brothers…

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Men,

Tonight I am heading out for a week with Mrs. Kasey Monaghan and the kiddos are staying with the grandparents here in NJ while we go have some fun. I wanted to share why I do this really quickly as I have been thinking about it some today.

#1 - My wife is fun, fly and fantastic

Remember, why you married that woman? You liked her a whole lot when you popped the big question. Marriage can take its toll on marriage without investing in your friendship and love together. I like my wife. I enjoy her company. I really don’t want to forget this over time as we raise kids, work jobs, go to bed exhausted day after day. Going away with Kasey without my kids allows me to focus on her heart, her joys, her longings, her soul. I think she is fly so we go enjoy one another.

#2 - I love my kids

I love my kids so much that it is painful. My baby duck Kayla still crawls up in my lap to snuggle even those she is about as tall as me. We love intellectual conversation and learning together…and don’t mind a few sporting events on the TV either. My sweetie Ky constantly makes me laugh, dazzles me with her cute artiness and fierce spirit. I am soft towards her - she makes me teary eyed happy. I want to crush anyone who would hurt her. My little buddy is a dynamo, clear thinker and master of Legos. He is quick witted and always up for kicking and wrestling with me. When they are with me all of them want my attention. When I take Kasey on vacation I don’t want my attention on them - so because I love my kids, I take Mom away without them. They probably have parents with a better marriage as a result as well.

#3 - I have a great family

Over the years of our marriage (we are on lap 16 around the sun now) my Mom and Kasey’s parents have served us in incredible ways to allow us to get away. Their sacrifice of time to let us break free is amazing and so appreciated. I think they have seen the fruit of this in our relationship and my hunch is that they love those grand kids as much, if not more, than we do. Win-Win. Kids get time with the grandparents (none of our family lives close by in NJ) and the grandparents get time with the kids. We can start telling them “no” again once we get back.

#4 - Having my wife feel like a lady

Kasey is part time taxi driver, teacher, soccer coach, domestic engineer and coordinator, friend and mentor. She carries a heavy load. I want her to drop all that for a week and get out and play a bit. We save money for this, we use tax refunds for this and we use a certain credit card (pay it off every month) to build up points for this. She is worth it. I want her to know that because I don’t always show it in all the ways I should.

#5 - Lovemaking (no elaboration here - none of your business)

Over the years we have done simple trips together when we just didn’t have any money. We have saved to take more vacation like vacations when were were able. Either way, because I like my wife, love my kids, have great family that helps and want my wife to feel special…we take vacations without our kids.

Yes, we do stuff with the kids as well, but I prioritize Kasey with the good trips.

Reid

PS: Full family vacations are awesome (ask Clark Griswald) and I am not advocating against anything. I am saying that getting away with just our ladies might be a good idea to stay close, connected and in deep friendship with our wives.

The timidity of truth in our time

I am in a class this week that is touching on the epistemological issues involved in doing theology and pretty much believing anything.  This morning’s discussion reminded me of a quote from my favorite dead Brittish author GK Chesterton:

We are on the road to producing a race of men too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table. We are in danger of seeing philosophers who doubt the law of gravity as being a mere fancy of their own. Scoffers of old time were too proud to be convinced; but these are too humble to be convinced. The meek do inherit the earth; but the modern sceptics are too meek even to claim their inheritance.

GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1908.

I do think that things have gotten a bit worse since Chesterton’s day some 100 years ago. I think the big fella, if alive today, would rend his garments to see a generation so passive and timid about the mere possibility of truth. I wonder if he knew that this gangrenous passivity would come to so infect those who claim to follow the one who once prayed “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” John 17:17-19 ESV

Truth as a categorical reality is indispensable to all of life, without it we perish in a thousand unqualified ways. 

The Virtues of Advent...

The virtues of Advent that we are celebrating together through, hymns, history and song are not “givens” in the world. In fact, if you look throughout history there have been many civilizations and societies with quite different sets of virtues. The Roman legion sought honor, power and glory and the 3rd Reich of Germany certainly had no place for Kings in humble mangers. Other cultures see the highest virtue as a renunciation of the material world and value the extinguishing of the self into a mystical oneness of being.  No, the gifts Jesus brought to the earth are universal and human - but they are distinctly of divine origin. 

His coming into the manger was also a stamp of endorsement upon the value of this world and individual human lives. His gifts of hope, love, peace and joy through the gospel are indicative of divine grace operating in people and culture.

Let us never grow weary of the glory of God become flesh and God with us…Emmanuel.  For in this person is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in a face (2 Cor 4:1-6).  The face of a baby, a face grown into manhood, a face marred and beaten and unjustly executed like a common criminal.  Yet that face and its glory shined ever more brightly when it triumphed over even the grave itself.  This world, with all of our sin and all of the mess in which we still travel, is the place where God still meets us today.

The Word was made flesh and we beheld its glory; at Christmas and at the Cross.  Today, as we read the story with our families, celebrate his goodness at Christmas and seek to be generous to others, let us never forget the grace we have been given in the gospel.

Light a candle in the darkness of winter my friends to loudly say that Jesus wins. Don’t forget this at Christmastime this year.

Dragons

In the old world dragons were mythical beasts of menace to be fought off and slain. In today's imagination we see them as misunderstood and train them and make them our friends.

We moderns do the same with sin. We are then puzzled that dragons still bite, breath fire and eat our children. Our solution, logically, is to give better care to the dragons. Nice dragon...you stay right there...ok?

The Generous Welcome

Great love gives life to friends
As creation began, so it will end

Life instilled, the greatest gift
Life restored, from greatest rift

Restoration…Redemption…Hope
Through many fogs we grope

Never forsaken, never alone
Through greatest sacrifice…

Welcomed home

How I ended up with an iPhone this week (yes, sigh...an iPhone)

My friends who know me will realize what a momentous title this blog carries. Over the years I have had not a small bit of fun with the clone phone carriers who stoop to pay homage at the alter of Steve Jobs. I still type this on a PC so there is no fear of a complete conversion, yet something a bit strange happened to me this week. Now, don t get me wrong, I am a technological diversity champion using a Dell XPS laptop, Palm Pre (original/Sprint) and the family having a couple of i devices from the fruit company.

As I am somewhat on vacation this week (though working from the road, preaching this Sunday) I thought I would share a bit of my heart in what happened to place this iPhone at my side today. This week I am in Memphis, TN with my three children visiting aunts, uncles, cousins and having the kids stay at Grandmas house. On Monday we went downtown to do a few things and my son was climbing all over me and apparently, inadvertently, stepped on my pocketed Palm Pre phone. After realizing the touch screen was not working I noticed a spider like crack in the screen. This of course brought both sadness (I LOVE web OS) and a bit of a dilemma. I had planned on making a smartphone decision this summer in June but alas it was now thrust upon me.

The Story

Seeing that we have no home phone and I am a guy that uses his phone daily for just about everything I do, I went right over to the trusty (um, well maybe not) Sprint store to get a replacement. The following sad story is unfortunately true.

Part I - The Joy of Sprint Store

• Act I - We can t give you a loaner phone cause you are from out of town
• Act II - We can t give you a new Palm Pre Minus as we are not carrying replacements for them any longer
• Act III - You can buy a new phone, let me see when you are eligible for an upgrade. I knew this was coming very soon as I am almost 2 years on the original Palm Pre bought on launch day. 
• Act IV (mental act) - I felt sad as I don t want an Android phone and did not like the Win Phone 7 coming out on Sprint.
• Act V - Oh sir, you are not eligible for an upgrade for another 1.5 weeks (yes, weeks). 
• Act VI - Can you just let me upgrade today and get a new phone? Let me check with the manager. Manager - no, you need to wait. 
• Act VII - I must admit that I was now flabbergasted. Really?!? Yes, really. 
• Act VIII - But there is a Verizon Store almost right next door, do you guys want me to have to go get a phone there? Sir, you have to do what you want. Exit Sprint store.

Part II - Seeing Red

• Act I - Wow, Verizon people are friendly and professional
• Act II - Explain their plans (yes, a little more money that Sprint)
• Act III - I love the apps on iPhone/iPad - they are quality devices and particularly love ESV+ and Logos Bible Software. OK, lets do this
• Act IV - transfer number to Verizon
• Act V - have phone, have problem solved

Part III - Leaving on a Red Plane

• Act I - Tell Sprint guy I need to cancel my line, and scale down our plan for wife’s phone
• Act II - Sprint guy, texting while talking to me, says O you have to call customer service to do that 
• Act III- Can’t YOU do this? No, you have to call, just dial *2 on your Sprint Phone! But what if your Sprint phone is broke. Dials store phone and hands me a handset - I have to do this myself.
• Cost me 50 bucks to cancel last 3 months of my contract. Worth it.

So, after this sad story, I ended up with Verizon and the best phone out on their network today - iPhone 4. After using this phone for a couple of days I have to say I dearly miss my Palm Pre. With the Sprint likely not getting the HP Pre 3 this summer at least I might have the option to move back to webOS and give my wife the iPhone once her contract with Sprint is up.

My Impressions

iPhone Pros - I love the screen, the speed, the sturdy feel of the hardware (though I fear dropping this thing). Video looks great and the basic phone functions work well enough. Of course, the best thing is all the apps and their quality. The fact that my iTunes account has all apps we have purchases as a fam on iOS the fact that I did not have to repurchase any apps was really cool. I also like the iPod integration and I can truly now roll with just one device.

iPhone Cons - I absolutely hate the keyboard so far. Other than this the Cons have to do with webOS and its superiority to iOS on several fronts. I miss the integration of all my contacts and being able to just start typing someone s name to text, call, email them. Too much in and out of multiple apps on iPhone. I miss the wonderfully elegant multitasking and the notifications of webOS. iOS just feels clunky on these fronts. I also really, really miss my slide out hardware keyboard.

The Road Forward

Over the summer I will watch the phone space as iPhone 5 and HP Pre 3 will launch. I am guessing both will be on Verizon. If I want to head back to webOS I can pick up the Pre 3 and give iPhone 4 to Kasey once we get her off of Sprint. If I continue to grow in appreciation for iPhone we can pick up the new one this summer with the new contract price. $199 isn t bad for iPhone.

Perhaps the one thing that may cause me to fully drink the iKoolaid is FaceTime. Yes it is gimmicky, yes its only on Wifi, yes it is proprietary Apple tech/branding but I gave my kids an iTouch not too long ago and it is a delightful thing to FaceTime with the kids when on the road. I look forward to my April trip to Brown University to try this out from the road. Last night a same house test session at Mimis was a HUGE success.

I feel like I have switched allegiances in some way and I m not so sure I’m comfortable being an iPhony yet. But the journey has been interesting so far and perhaps I have been predestined to end up with an iPhone all along. I suppose God only knows.

St. Anselm's Prayers

Fast Facts on St. Anselm of Caterbury

• Lived: 1033-1109
• Calling: Bishop in England
• Remembered for:  Works in philosophy and theology, particularly for an ontological argument for God’s existence and meditations on the incarnation and the atonement. 

In reading St. Anselm’s The Proslogian over the last ten years of my life I have found myself returning to several of his prayers in my devotional moorings. These prayers continue to hold influence in my life.  The prayers of chapter one in particular have pushed me forward towards God in a really good way. Here is a sampling.

UP now, slight man! flee, for a little while, thy occupations; hide thyself, for a time, from thy disturbing thoughts. Cast aside, now, thy burdensome cares, and put away thy toilsome business. Yield room for some little time to God; and rest for a little time in him. Enter the inner chamber of thy mind; shut out all thoughts save that of God, and such as can aid thee in seeking him; close thy door and seek him. Speak now, my whole heart! speak now to God, saying, I seek thy face; thy face, Lord, will I seek (). And come thou now, O Lord my God, teach my heart where and how it may seek thee, where and how it may find thee.

Maybe its my background in amateur wrestling that makes me love talk like that. Get up little man! His calls to himself to get up and get to prayer and deep meditation before God have both convicted me and encouraged me deeply.  Anselm’s prayers are particularly helpful for those who either love or hate theological reflection. Anselm serves as a great example to us in that we can indeed think deep thoughts about God, yet maintain a burning heart for God. The doing of theology, philosophy and categories of biblical doctrine can be pursued, yes should be pursued, with a pious zeal for God. 

Having a zeal which is according to the knowledge of God is indeed a biblical concept. By the negative way we find this idea in Romans 10 where Paul speaks of Israel having a zeal which is NOT according to knowledge.  As one who loves theology I need to learn to neither lose God in the books nor give way to a non-thinking piety. The former grows dry and cold while the latter stops short of the hard work of integrating gospel thinking throughout all of life.  To cease doing this hard work of theological integration or to lose a rich love for Jesus in the gospel will leave God’s people disconnected from his mission in the world.  We will be steeped in an irrelevant ignorance or not walk in the spiritual vitality from which Paul could say “be imitators of me as I am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) 

Anselm shows me that both “head” and “heart” matter in our love for God.  Afterall, was it not Jesus who taught us to love God with all that we are? 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Yes, all that we are was made by him and for him.  So let us have both mind and heart drawn upward and be set ablaze by our communion with God.  Afterall, the prayer above is proceeding a work in philosophical theology; a matter that hardly seemed boring to the old archbishop of Canterbury.

Athletes in Action Northeast Winter Retreat

This past weekend our whole fam was able to get away with some athletes from all over the Northeast. I was teaching a series of four messages about Jesus from the gospels and was also able to lead a Q&A discussion on some varied subjects theological and biblical. 

I wanted to link to a few of the seminars given during the weekend here on the POCBlog

• Student Body - some reflection on a Christian theology of our physical bodies by David Buschman - AIA leader at Princeton University.
• Sharing the Gospel - some reflections on evangelism by Jarrod Lynn, leader of AIA at Brown University. 

A few relavant links to some discussions that came up during my teaching and various discussions

• On family worship - an article for the young guys in the Q&A who want to begin thinking now about spiritually leading a family.
• Jesus - Fully God and Fully Human - for a discussion flowing out of Jesus’ true identity as compared to various non biblical cults.
• Twisted Gender: Male and Female According to Scripture and Culture - booklet on male/femal stuff
• Historical Understandings of the Lord’s Table - an essay relevant to a Q&A discussion about the meaning and realities of Communion. Also, some brief thoughts here about preparing to receive the supper. 

Many thanks to all the staff, volunteers and students at the AIA Retreat. Athletes in Action is a spiritual home of sorts for Kasey and me.  It was great to have our kids - 9, 7 and 4 around the sort of environment I grew up in spiritually as a college student and one that Kasey and I served in full time from 1996-2004. 

Christmas Letters for the Kids

Men,

I wanted to share something that I am doing at Christmas for my kids. Grandparents and relatives are kind and very generous with our kids at Christmas so Kase and I have never really given our kids presents. It was not some intentional thing we just never did with the first kid and so we just kept the practice of blessing them on their birthdays and not giving them any presents at Christmas. Anyway, this year I was praying about how I could give a piece of me to my kids as I dearly love each of them.

On Christmas Eve morning I got up early and spent some time writing each of them a personal Christmas letter. I read about this somewhere or heard about this practice from someone but I honestly cannot remember where. The letters included things I enjoyed doing with them during the past year, things I appreciate about their character, things about Christ and a little exhortation for areas I wanted to challenge them in.  I also put some custom graphics on the page that relate to nicknames/themes I have with them (a baby duck for Kayla, a piece of candy for my Sweetie Ky and a Knight for Sir Thomas).

I printed the letters and placed them in a large clasp envelope and personally addressed them to the kids. On Christmas Eve I placed them within the branches of our Christmas tree and they were giddy with excitement and wondering what they were. Kayla of course said, I bet they are letters from Daddy! Kylene said it could be artwork! One, I cannot recall which, said “It could be money!” I asked Kayla before bed if she would rather have money or a letter and she said “a letter of course” - I winked at her and we went to bed. 

It was such a delight to write them but it was even more of a delight to open them Christmas morning.  I had all of them climb into my lap and I read them one at a time to each child as the others listened. The moment was one of the sweetest I have had with the kids and I think they will remember this for a long time. At least until next year - as we agreed this is now a family tradition. 

I thought about posting a pdf of the letters here and then decided against it.  Those were for two little princesses and one little Knight and I think we’ll keep it that way :-)

How can you give yourself to your kids in the holiday season? Think it through and come up with an idea, maybe this one, that you can do together as you turn your hearts toward your children. 

Using web stuff

In light of the below Christmas Eve rant, I thought it would be good to share how we use various social media and web stuff.  If you are on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, various bloggin stuff, I would love to hear how you use each.  Here is the way I use em.

The Facebook

I use Facebook very sparingly and for a relatively small range of functionality.  I post photos and videos I want friends and family to see - my smartphone does this in an integrated fashion making the process easy. I also interact with friends just sharing small likes and comments along the way.  I update my Facebook status from my Twitter feed but don’t do that on the FB site.  I do not do any games, applications which I have to join, etc. etc. If you ask me to take quizzes, surveys, play Zynga games I will simply delete those requests without any thought. I spend a very small time online with Facebook but utilize the site daily. 

The Twitter

I am ambivalent about Twitter. I used to read RSS feeds in a feed reader but I find myself rarely doing so these days do to browsing my Twitter feed.  I use Twitter to read news from various sources, read links from interesting people and to interact with friends in a fully public way. As mentioned above I update my Facebook status from Twitter so I do tweet basic life stuff from time to time. I also use it to announce stuff, post links to resources and throw up pics through my webOS twitter app.  I follow only a few people I do not know personally. If I do not know them I usually follow if they have some expertise in some field in which I am interested.  I sometimes want to converse with people on Twitter and interact with stuff people tweet. I find Twitter terrible for such interaction and better for just blasting stuff out to the masses. I spend too much time each day reading my Twitter feed.  I’m not proud of it and it has messed with my reading habits.

The Blog

I use my blog to write things that are longer than 140 characters and things which are more essay oriented.  If I want to share links I now tweet them.  Unfortunately I used to write more about things I read online before Twitter.  My blog has been up since 2004 and I try to use it as a place to publish written pieces on various subjects of interest…most common would be theology, philosophy, technology and stuff I am reading. Over the years I have used the following blogging platforms: Blogger, MovableType and now Squarespace.  I luuuv Squarespace. I’ll share personal stuff there from time to time but I have done that less of late. I constantly break the “rules of blogging” mainly in that I write long posts that nobody will read. I have never had a blog in order to “have a big awesome blog” but rather a place for thinking, publishing and posting writing I do for real people I know. 

Geolocation

I currently don’t play Foursquare (I did in elementary school at recess though), I don’t Gowalla and I don’t check in with Facebook Places. I know it is cool to tell the world where you roll and become the mayor of BW3s. I just have not been interested in that schmack until now. Never saying never though. 

So, how do you use online stuff? Still on MySpace? Orkut anyone? 

The Unbearable Shortness of Writing

This morning I have finally been provoked enough to write something that has been chaffing me for some time.  In the LA Times, Neal Gabler recently published an opinion piece entitled The Zuckerberg Revolution - Social media have increased the volume of our communications yet diminished the substance of them in which he discusses the effect on public discourse of our desire for communication today to be “seamless, informal, immediate, personal, simple, minimal and short.” In other words, the desire that communication be a short stream of nothingness floating by us in a feed of tweets, news and nonsense. OK, that is perhaps my bias showing already.

I will say up front that I am on Twitter, Facebook and obviously I am writing this on my own personal blog. I am in no way a Luddite nor do I disdain new forms of communication. I do however, share Gabler’s concerns that if these sorts of communications become the de facto standard for life in our culture we will loose our ability for complex thought, shaping of ideas, forming arguments and will continue on our way towards a sort of imbecility.  Gabler’s argument centers around the difference between a culture of books/print/reading and that of passive consumption of textual electronic communication. I will leave it to you to read his entire essay - surrounded by banner and Google ads of course - but before I move on from him I want to share a few of his more significant quotes - too long for Tweeting of course. 

The seamless, informal, immediate, personal, simple, minimal and short communication is not one that is likely to convey, let alone work out, ideas, great or not. Facebook, Twitter, Habbo, MyLife and just about every other social networking site pare everything down to noun and verb and not much more. The sites, and the information on them, billboard our personal blathering, the effluvium of our lives, and they wind up not expanding the world but shrinking it to our own dimensions. You could call this a metaphor for modern life, increasingly narcissistic and trivial, except that the sites and the posts are modern life for hundreds of millions of people.

…

Gutenberg’s Revolution transformed the world by broadening it, by proliferating ideas. Zuckerberg’s Revolution also may change consciousness, only this time by razing what Gutenberg had helped erect. The more we text and Twitter and “friend,” abiding by the haiku-like demands of social networking, the less likely we are to have the habit of mind or the means of expressing ourselves in interesting and complex ways.

…

He [Zuck] has facilitated a typography in which complexity is all but impossible and meaninglessness reigns supreme. To the extent that ideas matter, we are no longer amusing ourselves to death. We are texting ourselves to death. Ideas, of course, will survive, but more and more they will live at the margins of culture; more and more they will be a private reserve rather than a general fund. Meanwhile, everything at the cultural center militates against the sort of serious engagement that McLuhan described and that Postman celebrated.

…

Postman [referring to Neal Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death] was more apocalyptic. He believed that a reading society was also a thinking society. No real reading, no real thought. Still, he couldn’t have foreseen that a reading society in which print that was overwhelmingly seamless, informal, personal, short et al would be a society in which that kind of reading would force thought out — a society in which tens of millions of people feel compelled to tell tens of millions of other people that they are eating a sandwich or going to a movie or watching a TV show. So Zuckerberg’s Revolution has a corollary that one might call Zuckerberg’s Law: Empty communications drive out significant ones.

Gutenberg’s Revolution left us with a world that was intellectually rich. Zuckerberg’s portends one that is all thumbs and no brains.

Neal Gabler, The Zuckerberg Revolution, accessed 12.24.2010

For some time I have been scratching my head as to why we find it a good thing to “write short, simple things” on our blogs so that “people will read them.”  It is like we simply accepted that the kids don’t read good any more and we will play along.  Even Derek Zoolander made a stand for the kids where we seem to find no will to be counter cultural in our writing, reading and learning. 

Just yesterday I was reading a site about how to make your blog awesome, build traffic etc. One of the answers was - keep entries real short and simple containing no complex ideas and thought. I will not tell you the french words I uttered when reading that schmack.  Of course this was counsel for those who want high traffic, high readership and high dollars out of their blogs. Obviously, I do not. 

One of my passions is to serve the Christian communitity by challenging us to think a bit more. No, I am not some super intellectual guy. I did not get anywhere near a perfect score on my SAT and I am no genius of any sort at all. I do care that we think, engage God, life and mission with some serious reflection about our questions and deep truths. Some of the most popular Christian blogs have taken up the “short entries” banner these days. You can read most of the entries in less than a minute and not  have to scratch your head one time, or think through anything. I am guessing this is an intentional style to communicate in today’s culture.  But what if today’s culture is heading in a direction that is stupid? Do we just go with it? 

I know I will likely hear from some of you that we must accommodate and contextualize in order to connect and communicate today.  Of course I will agree.  But for God’s sake we must also call ourselves and one another into the deep end of life and thought even though our culture might think there is only a three foot section of the pool. Keep your floaties on kids!

Some might find communication in 165 and 140 characters sufficient and perhaps it is for SOME things. Perhaps we think 22 words is enough to say something and it certainly is enough for something. But are we to be damned to only such things? No, we must not.  

Some ways forward. I’ll keep them short and in bullet form so that we all can read them good. 

• Be a hold out on the reading of books - even long books

• Write stuff that is not simple and short - ever so often attempt to say something

• Live that way with people - your family, community, church, etc.

• Think deeply about important things - life and death, God, truth, ethical lives and meaning - stuff the Bible is about.

• Think through your questions and put together your thoughts on them.

So tweet, friend and text in your life but menace your digital flickering with time for thinking, reading and learning.  Hold on to truths that cannot be said so quickly and should not lost.  We are a culture intent on living through reality TV and tweeting about the fact that we watched it. Each and every generation has cultural forms that lead us to what Ecclesiastes call a chasing after the wind; we certainly have our own. Shall we choose to live only through short and simple nothingness? No, we shall not.  Too much remains at stake under the Sun.

That is all - Merry Christmas friends! I will tweet that to all in a bit. 

The Lonely Blog

Over the last month or so the POCBlog has lay fallow.  It is not that I have not been writing, thinking, teaching and working on many things.  I actually have.  It is just that I have been writing for direct ministry and speaking quite a bit locally. 

I do plan to resume some writing here at the POCBlog in the near future and hopeful God will give me the time and grace to do so.  Until then…

Coming to the Lord's Table

Each week at Jacob’s Well we come to the Lord’s Table. We use this time for various gospel purposes in our hearts and lives together. The following are but some broad suggestions for using this time in worship to come to Jesus in the gospel.

Confess and Repent (Mark 1:14, 15; Acts 3:19, 20; 1 John 1:9)

Each week holds temptations and challenges, some which are met in victory others in set back. Confession is the Christian practice by which we agree with God about our sin. God always “knows” we confess to say to him that we agree with his truth about our sin. We need to give our sins to Jesus (confess) and then turn from them back towards restored fellowship with God (repentance). The word repent in the New Testament means to change one’s mind about sin—it is a turning back to God away from the deception and destruction of sin.

Reconnect and Reconcile (Matthew 5:21-24)

Communion is also an occasion to reconcile our relationships with one another.  Jesus taught us that when coming to worship God we should have an urgency in our hearts about being right with one another.  If you are not right with friends, family or your spouse, the Lord’s Table is a time to reflect on making things right.  Who has sinned against you that you need to forgive? Forgive them. Who have you sinned against that you need to ask for forgiveness? Apologize to them and ask them to forgive you.  You can do this at Jacob’s Well during our communion worship time. Grab your wife’s hand and say “I’m sorry, please forgive me” then come to the table together.  Grab a friend and step out in the hallway to pray—then come to the table together. Unity should be seen when we come to the table, not anger and broken relationships in the church.

Reflect and Remember (Luke 22:14-23; 1 Corinthians 11:24-26)

Central to the Lord’s Table is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Before our eyes, in our hands and tasted upon our lips is the truth of Jesus’ death for sin, shed blood to establish new covenant relationship with his people, his resurrection for our justification and his second coming for our eternal hope.  The amazing grace of God in the gospel whereby he forgoes sinners like us, defeats sin, death and the powers of Hell and reconciles us to the father.  Jesus taught us to “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19) and we must not forget that our time at the table is itself a proclamation of the gospel (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Rejoice and Worship

At Jacob’s Well we intentionally do not rush through our time together at Jesus’ table.  We include opportunity for reflection, to rejoice in the gospel and then sing together out of gratitude in worship.  At times we have been asked should our time of communion be somber and focused on our sins or celebratory and focused on Jesus’ victory over them.  The answer is “Yes!” If we forget our sinful need for the gospel we’ll grow proud and flippant before God.  If we forget the triumph of God’s grace in Jesus Christ over our sins we’ll always be bummed out.  Our counsel is repent, confess and lament if you are in a crusty place of life; just don’t forget that rejoicing in the gospel and celebrating Jesus dispels the dark clouds with blasts of joyous light.

Receive Grace in Jesus (1 Corinthians 10:16; Revelation 3:14-20)

The Scriptures teach us that the bread and cup are an actual participation in the body and blood of Christ; at the Lord’s table there is real communion taking place between Jesus and his church.  Intimate table fellowship with Jesus is promise for this age that will be completely realized in the eternal kingdom.  Therefore, the Lord’s Table is a present foretaste of eternity which breaks into the mundane of the now each week.  At Jacob’s Well we set the table before us so that we might “come to Jesus” and receive mercy, grace and spiritual nourishment by his grace.   He is graciously inviting us to come to him in the gospel and it is the privilege of every believer to repent of sin and enjoy fellowship and communion with Jesus. 

One final reminder

We do not worship the bread and wine as if it becomes Jesus nor do we “sacrifice” Jesus each week when we observe communion. Let us not forget that it is the risen and living Jesus that we worship. It is the risen one who is present with us by his spirit in the bread and cup; we do not worship the elements themselves as if they are Jesus.  To do so would amount to worshipping created elements and not the one to which the elements should lead us.  One theologian of the reformation said this well:

For what is idolatry if it is not to worship the gifts instead of the giver? Here the sin is twofold. The honour robbed from God is transferred to the creature, and God, moreover, is dishonoured by the pollution and profanation of his own goodness, while his holy sacrament is converted into an execrable idol.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4,  Chapter17, Section 36

The bread and the wine are signs not saviors and they should be taken by Christians with joy and worship.  Jesus died as a sacrifice for sin during his time on the earth and we dare not think that communion sacrifices him again and again (See Hebrews 10:1-18). Communion is a seal that connects us deeply together with our Savior and his sacrifice for us and we pray this entry helps you to observe communion as we walk together in the mission of God.

Coming to the Scriptures

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. 2 Timonthy 3:16

Hear—Read— Memorize—Study—Meditate

Hearing

• We need to be in the community of God’s people where the Scriptures are preached and where we respond together to the Word.  We need to gather with the church.
• Audio/MP3 Bibles can be great on commutes to listen to the Scriptures read aloud.  Hearing the Bible read is a long practiced rhythm of the church.
• Podcasts and other audio/video recordings can serve as great secondary ways of hearing the Bible preached.

Reading

• Start the day with the reading of Scripture, read passages with your family at dinner, reading at bed time with the kids is a great flow as well.
• Where to start? If you are new to the Bible start with Jesus by reading Mark and John.  Then books like Romans and Ephesians in the New Testament and Psalms/Proverbs and Genesis in the Old Testament are great places to explore.
• We are a community that opens the book; it should be very easy to read along/ahead on Sundays. 

Memorizing

• Putting Scripture to memory helps guide the soul day to day in the complexities of life.  Make memorizing passages a part of your MC. Do it with a friend or two.  Pick something from the passages our community is teaching
• I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

Studying

A few principles to help you dig deeper

• Study key words— in English, in the original languages using a Lexicon. If a word is repeated in a text, it might be important!
• Note the context — literary, historical, geographical, and cultural.
• Cross reference — use a concordance to see what this book, the NT/OT and Bible as a whole says on this subject.
• Consultation — look at what other godly people have said about this passage using study notes and commentaries.  In every series introduction we do at Jacob’s Well there is a bibliography. Further, the site bestcommentaries.com is an excellent guide to resources for studying the Scriptures.

Some Useful Tools

• A Good Study Bible (ESV Study Bible is great), Concordances, Commentaries, Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, Greek and Hebrew Lexicons.
• A few web sites
  • Logos Online: bible.logos.com
  • ESV Study Bible Online: esvstudybible.org
  • Christian Classics Ethereal Library: www.ccel.org

Meditating

The following are some simple recommendations to help you slow down and meditate, chew on, sacred Scripture.

• Select a passage—something you read that struck you or something the church is teaching.  We actually provide community meditation questions each week. The Psalms are great places for mediation as well. Many times they are meditations!
• Read it out loud slowly and ask God to impress his truth upon you. Repeat giving emphasis to different parts of the passage. Note words or phrases that strike you deeply and connect to your soul.
• Repeat the Passage or Verse in your own words.  Where does it converge with your current circumstances.
• Ask questions. The following may be helpful: Is there an example to follow? A command to follow? Sin to repent of? Temptation to say no to? Promise to claim? What does this text say about God’s saving work in the gospel? How does it point to Jesus?
• Speak with God about the passage, ask him to be your teacher.  If you have studied the passage in depth, seek intersection with your life not simply knowing the facts.  Let meditation flow into prayer.

Thankful for my Son

This week my wife’s Mom (lovingly known as “Nana”) decided that all the girls were going to DisneyWorld - thankful Kasey and the girls could go have some fun together. Thanks Nana.  This was to leave me home alone with my 3.5 year old son Thomas all week. So instead of chillin at home all week we went to visit my Mom (lovingly known as “Mimi”) who lives just outside of Memphis.

Thomas and I have had quite the adventure going through TSA screenings together and struggling with the answer “why do we have to take off our shoes.” Usually I just tell my kids the clear truth about everything when they ask “why” questions but “because some people might put combustable or explosive materials inside their Nikes to blow up a plane” just didn’t feel like the right answer this time. So I reverted to “because Daddy is taking off his shoes too” and we moved on. We had a great time in Memphis and have fought light saber battles, transformed little toy trucks about a million times and have laughed quite a bit and discussed life and God on a 3 year old level.

I have prayed our man words over him at night (courage, truth, valor) and he has enjoyed the time almost as much as I have. Yes, it is a bit of a challenge juggling a three year old and yes my preparation for Sunday (sermon, notes, slides) has been a bit interesting this week.  Yet overall, I am thankful for taking a little vacation time to spend with my boy and go see family.

As Thomas is shaped into a little man over the next ten years or so I do pray that I always take the time to read with him, answer his questions, transform his toys for him and model biblical, servant oriented masculinity with him. We always talk about how he and I are knights…knights of the old code. Praying this week that our lives would be spent well serving Christ and being on the wall for other people.

Last night we went to Pizza Hut and both confessed that we “missed the girls.” Yes, we miss the rest of the Monaghan home team, but I have been thankful for the time spent with little Tommy Reid. A couple more days of courage, truth and valor before the fam reunites on Saturday evening.  The wisdom literature of the Bible teach us that the father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.  Whether Tommy ends up wise will be seen in time; today though…I am indeed glad in him.

Reports from Haiti

Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel just returned from a jump into Haiti to assess the needs of the church in the devastated island nation.  Some accounts were posted on USA Today’s Faith and Reason blog.  I read with a sober mind and saw a heavy reminder of the sinfulness of humanity.

These guys, who are similar theologically, not identical in church culture, are pulling together a web site dedicated to helping churches help churches down in Haiti.  Little Jacob’s Well is already on board and we are looking forward to seeing how we can do more. Please pray for churcheshelpingchurches.com and the rebuilding of lives and communities that will preach the gospel and serve their neighbors in Haiti.

Video from Pastor MacDonald below: