We ask God a lot of questions.
· “Why do bad things happen?”
· “Why is there only one way to heaven?”
· “Why are some people who follow you hypocrites?”
· “Why don’t you make it more obvious that you are God?”
God invites questions. These questions haunt some. For others, the questions create confusion and stall their faith journey. For others, these questions deepen their faith as they wrestle them through with God.
But the line between us and heaven is not one way.
Did you ever consider that God might have questions for you?
How the West became pagan—again: Derek Rishmawy says, “When you think about your average non-Christian today... It’s far more likely to be someone who never went to church, checks her astrology chart, likes nature, takes an interest in breathwork because it connects her to reality, and maybe believes in the simulation theory.
Our sorrows keep getting more sorrowful and joys keep getting more joyful: Christopher Ash says, “ Far from the life of faith, gradually steadying to some calm mid-point between sorrow and joy, the sorrows deepen, and yet are infused with stronger joys. It gets, if I may put it loosely, both worse and better.”
Trauma is everywhere. One in four women and one in six men will be sexually abused. At least one in seven children have experienced abuse or neglect in the past year. More than one in four abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children.
Psychological research continues to demonstrate the tentacle-like nature of the impact of trauma. Effects include dissociation, panic attacks, hyperarousal, loss of sleep, low self-esteem, grief, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and substance abuse.
We tend to associate trauma with those who were assaulted or were involved in military combat,
Soul is making a comeback: Wyatt Graham begins, “Everything seems to suppress soul. We live to catalyze efficient products. Our labour is counted, quantified, and measured. Human resource departments view us as human resources. They measure our performance by mechanical standards, and our salary relies on whether or not we have added value to a corporation. Work commodifies humans as resources; it is why HR departments exist. You are coal to be mined.”
Gen Z women struggle to find their way in Christian faith and community: A recent Barna study reports, “Currently, young adult women report the lowest rates of Bible reading, prayer and church attendance among their peers.”
Shame has power.
Shame is one of the most destructive forces on this earth. Shame is harmful because it attacks our spiritual and emotional life. Unlike guilt, shame can come from actions that aren’t even wrong. People experience shame over their body and over their family of origin. Shame is a visceral and physical experience that can manifest itself in depression and self-medicating. Shame tells us totalizing truths about ourselves, often truths that cannot be remedied. “You’re always,” “you will never” shame whispers.
Shame is different from guilt in that where guilt is connected with our actions, shame is connected to our identity.
As we prepare for Christmas, we are diving into one of the most theologically rich Christmas carols ever written: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
December not only brings the celebration of our Lord’s birth, it often brings sickness. Just this week our daughter got hit with the flu. It’s appropriate that many of us might be a little needier this time of year as we are reminded that Jesus alone can bring healing. Do you need healing today? Does someone you love need healing?
Saint Nicholas is our guy: Clarissa Moll interviews Ned Bustard, “There’s a story of Nicholas battling Artemis, the goddess of the city in which he served as bishop. He prayed against the goddess, and her statue fell over, kind of like Dagon in 1 Samuel 5. How much of these stories are true? We don’t know, but we do know that he really did exist and has this reputation for being generous.”
Mama, you don’t have to save Christmas: Staci Eastin says,
Everyone loves Christmas! And what would Christmas be without its carols? In 1739, one of the most theologically rich carols ever was penned: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Its author, Charles Wesley, an itinerant evangelistic preacher and brother to John, was one of the most masterful hymn writers in history. In his lifetime, he wrote 6500 hymns (averaging more than two per week!). The lyrics we sing today are identical to Wesley’s original text in 1739, with one notable exception. His first line read, “Hark, how all the welkin rings.” Welkin means “heavens” or “sky.”
This week, while many celebrate Halloween, Protestants reflect on a much more significant holiday: the start of the Reformation. In commemorating the Reformation, we don’t merely look back at an event that took place 500 years ago, but consider the spirit of reformation that we pray remains in us as followers of Jesus Christ. Ecclesia semper reformanda est: “The church must always be reformed.” It is the unofficial motto of the Protestant church.
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his document, the 95 Theses, to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg. For that reason, October 31st is still celebrated as Reformation Day by Protestants.
Last week, on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11, Charlie Kirk was assassinated. The founder of Turning Point, USA, Kirk was an outspoken Christian conservative.
On Sunday, before our sermon, we prayed for our country in light of the assassination, the religiously motivated shooting in Minneapolis, the racially motivated murder in Charlotte, and the school shooting in Denver. We kept the rest of the service as planned. We preached on the planned text in 1 Corinthians 7 and shared the same announcements that had been planned.
On Sunday afternoon, I spent an hour and a half with a family member processing their upset that their church spent most of their Sunday service focused on Kirk’s murder.
Monosyllabic.
Inflammable.
Abbreviation.
Phonetically.
Every one of these words are ironic. Monosyllabic means one syllable but contains five syllables. Inflammable means “easy to catch fire,” but looks like it means the opposite (not flammable). Abbreviation is not an abbreviation. And don’t phonetically should be spelled funetically, don’t you think?
Perspicuity means clarity or “ease of understanding” and yet isn’t very easy to understand. We’ll return to that later.
Roman Catholic theologians during the Middle Ages argued that the scripture was not perspicuous. Scripture was too veiled and obscure for the average person to understand, they contended.
How Christians can inadvertently moralize unpleasant emotions: Brad Hambrick asks, “’What percentage of our unpleasant emotions are accounted for by sin and how much by suffering?’ The simple answer is, “We don’t know.” If anyone says with confidence that most unpleasant emotions are caused by one or the other, they are merely revealing their bias.”
Everything matters: Christa Threlfall says, “It’s not enough to eliminate the “big sins” that other people can see; Jesus wants every part of our being to belong to him.”
What was David’s worst sin? Every Sunday School child knows the answer to that question: his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah (2 Sam. 11-12).
There’s no doubt that David’s double sin against Bathsheba and Uriah is heinous. Following David’s sin, his family begins to implode. David’s son Amnon rapes his daughter, Tamar, Absalom murders Amnon in response and then attempts to overthrow his father and is ultimately killed. David’s sin was a direct violation of two of the most sacred moral laws: adultery and murder, and his family or reign would never be the same.
Many today take pot shots at religion. Everyone seems happy to claim spirituality, with few willing to claim religion. “I’m spiritual but not religious,” is the only “denomination” that appears to be in favor. Even Christians often insist that Jesus is about a relationship, not a religion.
Religion isn’t all bad. Our declaration that we are “spiritual but not religious” means that we pave our own experience with God. Can that be done? Do we, the creature, get to dictate to the Creator the structure of our relationship? We are foolish if we think that we can make our own way to God.
A theology of leisure: Reagan Rose with an important piece. She says, “Many Christians have unthinkingly adopted a view of leisure that sees rest time as synonymous with me time. But this is a historical anomaly.”
The church’s unsung hero: the persevering Sunday School teacher: Can we get an amen to Trevin Wax’s post? God bless our amazing faithful teachers! “Committed Sunday school teachers are a big part of what makes discipleship effective. Yet how often do we let weeks and years go by without lifting up their example or celebrating their faithfulness?”
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