Instead of a Show

I hate all your show and pretense
the hypocrisy of your praise
the hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show

Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when your
singing ‘em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood
of justice
An endless procession of righteous
living, living
Instead let there be a flood
of justice
Instead of a show

your eyes are closed when you’re praying
you sing right along with the band
you shine up your shoes for services
but there’s blood on your hands

you turned your back on the homeless
and the ones that don’t fit in your plans
quit playing religion games
there’s blood on your hands

Ah! let’s argue this out
if your sins are blood red
let’s argue this out
you’ll be white as the clouds
let’s argue this out
quit fooling around

give love to the ones who can’t love at all
give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
stand up for the ones who can’t stand up at all
instead of a show
I hate all your show

Jon Foreman

This is adapted from Isaiah 1:11-17.

psalm 8

God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name.

Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.

I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?

Yet we've so narrowly missed being gods,
Bright with Eden's dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us lords of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
Whales singing in the ocean deeps.

God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.

The Message

lame...

OK, so I know that I've been a totally lame blogger for the past few months and I've probably lost all my fan base (like I ever had any), but what can I say? Life happens...I have lots to blog about and this is just the start.

I just caught this story on PBS tonight and really enjoyed it. It really sparked some thinking. Check it out and let me know what you think.

an interesting article...

I thought this article was interesting. It is good to see that young Christians are not blindly following any political party, but breaking apart, wrestling with and analyzing the issues and then making educated decisions based on their faith convictions.

Enjoy...

buy shoes. save lives...

I know I blogged before on Toms, and this is similar, but this is really cool and they are manufactured in Iraq by hand.

Check it out...

Buy Shoes. Save Lives

my wife rocks!

This blog has been pretty quiet lately as things in our house have been pretty crazy. My wife is finishing up her last few weeks of nursing school, 29 days to go to be exact. After having gone through architecture school and having to pull all-nighters every other night and practically living in the studio, I can feel her pain. Although, I did that when I was single with no commitments and could do what I pleased. My daughter and I are trying to support her as best we can and give her the dedicated time she needs to finish.

Each week that she gets closer to her graduation, she has more papers and tests, as if that was possible! She's been pretty much locked in the office for the past few weeks and it will probably be more of the same these final days.

This is simply a shout-out to give some love to student nurses. My wife participated in an academic decathlon of sorts a few weeks ago and received a shirt that proclaims, "student nurses rock!" I can certainly vouch for that. Although, my student nurse rocks the most!

I'll be blogging again soon. I've had some thoughts brewing for a while that I need to get down...

the God of the living...

Luke 20
36bThey are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection. 37But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' 38He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

Praise God!

Sabbath day...

Genesis 2
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

John 19
30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

It is striking to me that just as God rested after he had "finished" the work of creation, Jesus rested on the Sabbath after he finished the work of the cross. In fact, in reading through each of the Gospel accounts of Jesus' death and burial, only Matthew makes any comment about what happened on that Sabbath day. I have the excerpt listed below:

Matthew 27
62The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."
65"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

So here we have the Pharisees who had called Jesus out for healing and picking grain to eat on the Sabbath, in a most hypocritical display, lobbying Pilate to further ensure that their hold and power over the Jewish people is not jeopardized by the possibility of a resurrection story. So, on the Sabbath, rather than resting and observing the day of rest as God commanded, the Pharisees are still plotting and scheming to put down the uprising of Jesus followers.

I hope you enjoyed this day and had a chance to rest. Not just physical rest, but spiritual rest...

Ponder the sorrow and pain and confusion that Jesus' disciples felt that night after observing the Sabbath...

With the next dawn came new life! In the words of the angels at the tomb, "He is not here; he has risen!"

He has risen indeed!

letter from new orleans...

I read an article today in Metropolis magazine about the project that Brad Pitt started in New Orleans called Make it Right. It's fascinating to me because it reminds me of the work that Architecture for Humanity is doing around the world. I loved this quote so much that I had to share it. Andrew Blum, a journalist for Metropolis quotes Steven Bingler, founder of Concordia Architecture & Planning, in New Orleans as saying, "If somebody designs a building that people don't want to live in, then I would argue that it's sculpture. And maybe that gets to the point about architecture's role in the twenty-first century: Are we going to continue to create monuments to ourselves, or are we going to start listening? Are we going to develop a different kind of respect?"

I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way. But man, are we in the minority.

Hotel Rwanda clip

I watched Hotel Rwanda last night and this scene has stuck with me. Joaquin Phoenix's character's comment cut me to the core and I've been struggling with it ever since. I hate that I have been so desensitized to atrocities such as this. The scariest part is that strangely similar events continue to take place in Africa from Sudan to Darfur to Kenya to the Congo. Africa has been on my heart for sometime through books I have read, movies I have seen and the project I am working on.

My heart goes out to the people of Africa and I continue to pray for peace. This is one spiritual thing that I can do. I struggle with the question of what I can do physically.

In reading a book recently, The Way of a Worshiper, a phrase by the author, Buddy Owens, jumped out at me: "and it is through your body that God reaches out to the world around you."

I pray that God uses me to reach out to the people of Africa who weigh heavy on my heart.

my baby girl is six today...

Wow! It's really hard to believe...

I remember my wife and I were scared after the September 11th attacks five months before our daughter was due. We had conversations about what a different world it would be in a matter of months after the attacks. I remember how unsafe we felt at that moment and how scared we were to be bringing a new child into the world. Then came her birth and as we witnessed that beautiful miracle, I felt a new joy and love that I have never experienced before. Six years, brings a lot of firsts. From the first smile, to first words, to first steps she changed our lives and our world. My daughter and I formed a special bond and there is nothing like having daddy's little girl. My favorite times have been hiking together and driving together. We have deep conversations. She has an inquisitive nature about her. God blessed us with her birth six years ago, and he's blessed us with six wonderful years of her life. I couldn't be more grateful. I pray he blesses us with many more...

I Have a Dream Speech...

i'm back...

Wow! It's been a while. Here's a summary of some things that have happened in the last three weeks:

I am now beardless (to my lovely wife's liking)

I am back online after the internet and email fast. In some ways, it was easier than I expected. In other ways it was more difficult. I was "obligated" to check in on work email to prevent emergencies and I realized how internet dependent I have become.

We visited Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem, PA for the first time. It was a lot of fun.

I now have a GPS. This is sweet. A great gift; something that I now use constantly but never would have purchased for myself.

I surprised my daughter and wife with a trip to New York City to see the Mary Poppins show on broadway. It was a great show (extremely well done), a great day and a great time.

I got to spend lots of time catching up with my family. Here's a pic of my brother and I.

I have also been reading/listening to some great books. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah and The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman. These are two extremely interesting and profound books. I will review each in the coming weeks.

I thank God for the amazing blessings in my life and the opportunity to begin a new year refreshed and refocused. I'm excited to see what He has in store for 2008. Please join me in praying for the people of Kenya, particularly in the slums of Nairobi, as violence still breaks out in the aftermath of the election. You can get local news and updates here.

merry christmas!

The Word made Flesh, God with us, Emmanuel in the form of a helpless baby who came to save the lost and reconcile them to Himself. It is unbelievable, unfathomable and awesome. He was born under the shadow of King Herod's rule and the announcement of His birth was made first to peasant shepherds. This is the story of a different kind of King. One who came to turn the world upside down and in the process redeem and reconcile all of His creation to Himself. I pray that you enjoy the truth, joy and peace of Jesus this year.

internet & email fast...

Starting Monday, I am proclaiming an internet and email fast. This means no access to email or the internet for a week, until the following Monday. The reason I am doing this is because I was talking with a friend tonight about how much I complain about being so busy yet I waste hours most evenings surfing the internet or obsessively checking my email. Since I have the next week off, I am now ensuring that I spend it playing with my daughter, hanging out with my wife and catching up on some reading.

advent challenge...

Well, my wife started us on a family challenge to not eat out for a week, so I guess that got me in the challenge mood. Either that or I'm just bored; maybe a little bit of both. Honestly, this is an idea that I got from a bunch of guys at Mars Hill. I have committed to NOT shave for Advent (Dec. 1 - Dec. 25). This may sound kind of goofy; it probably is, but I am always looking for an excuse not to shave. So here's the challenge for me and anyone interested in joining me. I figure I save 10 minutes each day by not shaving, so for each minute saved I will set aside 10 cents for a worthy cause. This works out to $1.00 a day. So by Christmas, I will have set aside $25.00. This isn't that much, but my thought is that if more people are interested in participating or sponsoring me, we can raise more. To me, it's not so much the amount of money but it's an opportunity to intentionally prepare for Christmas and celebrate the greatest gift ever, the gift of a Savior, by giving a little back. So when I see my scruffy face each morning, hopefully it will remind me of the blessings God has given me and His desire for me to use those blessings to bless others.

So what's the cause?

Some acquaintances of mine have teamed up with the Mission Society and they are working to provide aid to orphans in Egypt and Lebanon by building new orphanages. Because of the sensitive nature of this work, I encourage you to contact me directly for more details.

Here's a pic of me a few days in...

Here's the update. Updated image: 12/18

the gods aren’t angry, but the people are…

(WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD)

Another warning: If you are planning on seeing Rob Bell on his current tour, you may NOT want to read this as it summarizes his teaching.

I went to see Rob Bell speak at the Electric Factory on Monday night as part of his “the gods aren’t angry” tour. First off, I should note that all the net proceeds of this speaking tour are going to the microfinance program that Mars Hill is supporting in Burundi. So, the first thing that impressed me is that there was no fluff on this speaking tour. It was stripped down and raw. It was basically Rob on a stage with a headset microphone and a small stone altar set. No high tech video or music. This all equals more money for Burundi.

Rob is an amazing communicator. He held the sold out audience’s attention without any distractions for about an hour and forty-five minutes without any notes. Some music prefaced Rob’s stage entrance, but the music was quickly silenced as he immediately began teaching.

I came to this event having heard Rob teach at Mars Hill numerous times as well as having watched most of his NOOMA DVD’s. Rob catches a fair amount of criticism in many Christian circles for not presenting the whole gospel message clearly; particularly for emphasizing too heavily social justice and not enough of Jesus. I respectfully disagree (I can say that since this is my blog). What I know is this: God has used and continues to use Rob in amazing ways and unconventional methods to reach those who would not otherwise know Jesus. Rob’s teachings in the NOOMA series along with his books, Velvet Elvis and Sex God have influenced me heavily in my walk and have drawn me closer to God by kindling my passion for God and His Word. God has shown me, through Rob, the value of historical and cultural context and the layers that it peels away from God’s Word when understood more fully.

Back to Rob’s teaching…he began speaking about the early caveman and cavewoman and how through plants growing, hunting animals for food and their own reproduction, they recognized that there was some force at work behind everything. He continued to explain that humans began to associate this force or power with gods. He went through a rather thorough explanation of gods in various cultures (Sumerian and Greek to name a few) and how humans began to offer sacrifices to these gods in order to please them. The idea was that this would ensure the gods were happy. When there was no rain, they offered sacrifices to please the gods to bring rain, when there was an abundant season of crops, three times as much as usual, they would offer more sacrifices to the gods. Since they never really knew what would appease the gods, they kept offering more and more. Rob tracked this process through its development into worshippers of Baal cutting themselves to show their devotion, the sacrifice of children to Molech, etc.

It was at this point that Rob made a great statement about the Bible. He stressed how the early Jewish Torah grew out of oral tales from the people. It did not just mysteriously drop out of the sky. He went on to explain how Abram (or Abraham) grew up in the midst of Sumerian culture and was exposed to this process of worshipping many gods. He is approached by the One True God who tells him to leave his family and his land and go into the land that God will show him (Genesis 12). Rob talked about the significance of this in that Abraham was not only being called out of his culture and land, but out of his world view into a new way, a new world view with a God who is intimately involved with His people, not distant. The previous cultures had always reacted to the effects of their gods, whereas in the case of this God, He walked with and among His people.

Rob went on to explain how the Jewish people were given Torah and directions for offering sacrifices to God. Rob suggested that God did not institute the sacrifice for His sake, quoting various passages from Psalm 50, Micah and Hebrews, but for the people so they could deal with the guilt that grew out of their sin and disobedience. It was as if God knew they had this tendency to work to please Him, so He instituted this sacrificial system to deal with it, so they could make the sacrifice and walk away forgiven. The problem was that this did not work to remove their guilt.

He talked about God’s command to Abraham to “take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you,” Genesis 22:2. Rob suggested that Abraham was not shocked by this request because this is what other gods at the time would have been given. It would not have been unusual for a god to expect someone to sacrifice their child. However, this God is different. He does not accept the sacrifice. At the last minute, with Abraham’s hand raised with the knife to slaughter his son, God commands him to stop and provides a ram to be sacrificed on Isaac’s behalf. God proves that He is different and we see again that he does not need the sacrifice and we sense that he is looking for more; trust and faith.

Rob talked about how when the Sadducees came on the scene and began to corrupt the sacrificial system by using it to get rich and elevate themselves, God speaks out against this corrupted system through Jesus. Up until Jesus’ coming, the focus of the Jewish people is on the Temple worship and the sacrifices. But Jesus arrives and says, “I tell you something greater than the temple is here.” Matthew 12:6 and he uses whip cords to drive the money changers out of the temple, John 2:15 and says “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” John 2:19. Rob said that this was symbolic of Jesus leading and drawing the people into a new world view, into a new way.

Rob talked about how the author of Hebrews says “Jesus appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:26. Rob explained that God reconciled all of creation back to Himself through Jesus and we can trust in Him and therefore be confident that God is not angry but God is love. He talked about how we are told that the entire sacrificial system in Torah was a shadowy example or picture of what was to come in the true sacrifice that Jesus made once for all.

Rob then told some powerful modern stories of people who still, in our technologically advanced world and society, live to please God by doing this and that, the same way people thousands of years ago were making sacrifices to appease the gods, not certain of what would work, and constantly offering more and more. He also mentioned a person he knew who was going to church to fulfill a quota again to appease God.

He then went back to the subject of sacrifice and spoke about how just when we think that Jesus has completely eliminated the need for sacrifice, Paul calls us to be living sacrifices. Rob spoke about how this calls us to live out in flesh and blood our trust in the reconciliation and hope of Jesus so we can be an example for those with so much hurt and despair that they just cannot believe in this idea of hope in Jesus.

Rob closed amazingly and powerfully with three stories of hope and love in an attempt to further display and communicate God’s love for us.

I had prayed before I went to the event that God would use Rob mightily and boldly to proclaim the gospel and that He would speak through Rob to me. God faithfully and graciously answered those prayers. As I mentioned earlier, I have heard and seen many criticisms of Rob regarding not preaching the blood of Jesus enough or not presenting the whole gospel. I think Rob counters those claims with this tour. What I love about Rob’s teaching method is that he uses a down-to-earth, humble style backed with thorough research and training which makes people more and more curious about this Jesus and what it means to trust and follow Him. I like that he has chosen venues that would not be used on a typical teaching tour. This goes back to Craig Groeschel’s quote from my earlier post, “If we are going to reach the unreached, we are going to have to do things that have not been done before.”

So while I have been disappointed to see the negative criticisms of Rob and his teachings, some going so far as to label him a heretic, I was encouraged to witness first hand those reached through the Holy Spirit as God uses Rob. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Looking back through the history of the Church, many who paved the way were called heretics in their day. I do, however, encourage everyone not to follow teachings blindly and to always check them against God’s Word. I pray that more will come to know the One True God through His Son, Jesus Christ as a result of this teaching tour.

Thanks for taking the time to read this (if you made it all the way through). While I did not touch on every ounce of Rob’s teaching, I tried pretty hard. This was as much for me to remember it by as it is for you.

By the way, I laugh every time I see the photo below. With the shadows and the looks on our faces, it’s a classic.

elves...

Here's something to bring you some holiday cheer courtesy of my Dad...

be patient, it takes a while to load...

thanksgiving...

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
1 Chronicles 16:34

YouVersion...

This is a great idea. The team at LifeChurch.tv just launched this online Bible program. Click on this link to check it out...