To all 3 readers left…for some reason, I couldn’t post on my blog, or even see my blog in my browser for the last week and a half…but it’s back, and so am I. I hope to come up with something to say soon…
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
I’ve been spending time reading through John 13-17 lately. I hope that one day a team of us can spend some time meditating on this in community, but for now you get my ramblings about something that I’ve found significant.
Anyone who begins to follow Jesus and is pursuing to be like will (hopefully) begin to desire to serve like others like He did. I know that as I read through the Gospel’s account of Jesus life I can’t miss how serving was a significant piece of His ministry. After reading through John 13 a number of times, I realized something that I hadn’t ever seen before…
Jesus serving is preluded by an intentional observation of John’s: that Jesus knew who he was and that he was from God. There was no insecurity present and it was out of his total security of identity that Jesus could wear a towel around his waist and ‘take the very nature of a servant’. Many times in my life I’ve found myself wanting to serve to create my identity…not because I understood my identity.
I believe that this is why service could (or should?) be a clear product of our faith…only when we are certain in who we are in Christ, and discover that we have everything that we need in Him, are we free to truly give our lives away.
I should be packing right now…or at least making coffee, but instead I found myself clicking around blogs and saw this on the blog of a friend from college…thanks Chad, didn’t know you had a blog until today!
But this is article is really funny…and should be read…if you don’t get the irony of this, please, after reading this, read the Bible more.
I’m Not One Of Those ‘Love Thy Neighbor’ Christians | The Onion
I read a lot of blogs…read is an overstatement..I browse a lot of blogs. But this post is worth reading:
The Bible and communitas : The Forgotten Ways.
If you don’t know what the heck Alan is talking about with words like ‘liminality’ or ‘communitas’ or ‘Apostolic Genius’, you should take some time to learn what they mean. They are not just buzz words for a new fad in church talk. His books do a great job of defining these things…the titles of them are: The Shaping of Things to Come, The Forgotten Ways, and a new one called ReJesus. They aren’t in a series, and I’ve only read the first two (until I get to the states and get a copy), but it’s good to read them in the order above as they build on each other.
Imagine what the church is going to be in 20 years if things continue the directions that they are heading. If we merely do more of the same we’re fooling ourselves to think that we’ll bring about the change we hope for. These books, in a gentle way, point us in a new (yet old) direction…check ‘em out.
I have often…literally often…thought about what gear The Edge from U2 uses. His sound has become legendary and nobody comes close to his sounds. I have tried…and failed miserably…and have just decided to practice more!
But here is a video that answers my questions about what the Edge plays…or better yet, what the Edge doesn’t play. Let’s just say he takes 45 guitars on tour!
Here’s the video…and if you’re a guitar player…you may need to watch this a couple of times (like I did) to get all the wonderfulness that is going on here.
Thanks to Gerry at Worship Guitar Guy for finding this!
I found this article online today and thought it made some good observations about connecting in our culture today and how Facebook plays a role in our ‘relationships’. It’s worth a read if you’re into social connectivity stuff…or just want to feel better about no one showing up at events you plan!
Well…today we had our own version of Black Friday…the day typically known as the biggest shopping day of the year in the U.S….we did spend money, but it wasn’t on gifts.
Our Black Friday contained us missing our train back to Holland by…1 minute. Then having to pay a nice sum to get on the next train, despite our tickets being fully exchangeable. Needless to say, we weren’t happy about this and what made matters worse was that our (hopefully still) good friend Nadine had booked tickets to ride up to Holland with us for a trip of her own. She made it. We didn’t. Not cool.
But I’m writing to talk about two stories that I saw on the news…both put the black in Black Friday quite well.
While the allure of good deals is always a temptation for me, I just am never dedicated enough to get up early and do the ‘first one in the doors’ game. Unlike some people at a Wal Mart in the U.S. who stormed the doors at 5 a.m. to be the first ones in and subsequently trampled an employee to death and injured four others. My mouth dropped open when reading about this…I knew consumerism was bad on the wallet and the soul, but never imagined that it could be this inhumane. Usually, our consumerism harms kids and workers thousands of miles away, not underneath our feet in the good ‘ol USofA. Here’s the article.
The second story is of two people who shot and killed each other in a Toys’R'Us in Palm Desert, California. Apparently, the two men were both carrying loaded weapons on their shopping spree and both happened to be willing to kill for the toy for their special little one. I don’t mean to make light of this at all, but this is just crazy. There are so many things wrong with this and I can’t get my mind around what would possess someone to carry a loaded gun to a toy store for kids. Or what would possess someone to shoot someone over a toy (allegedly). It’s a sad twist that they killed each other…You can read about this story here.
What a depressing post…I guess the way that I would apply this to myself is just to ask, “How do my self-centered pursuits add to the ‘black’ days of the world around me? How do I give way for the light within me to battle the darkness of consumerism and lust of junk that I carry? Am I living in a way that brings light minus shame to the world around me?” That’s all I got…I hope that my next post isn’t so…black.
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