Jesus: the man

I had put together an Advent sermon series that was going to talk about 5 different aspects of the person of Jesus...and then our son Theo decided to begin his arrival on the 1st weekend of Advent which forced me to rework by series a little as I missed the first 2 weeks of Advent. Over the next week or so you will see a condensed version highlighting 3 aspects of Jesus: his humanity, his divinity and him as a baby. Right now we'll focus on the humanity of Jesus.

You might recall a story from back in the day about a group of people called the Israelites who spent about 40yrs camping in the wilderness? It was during this time that God really wanted them to know that they were His people, He was their God and that His presence would be with them. So He told this guy named Moses to get the people to build a place where He could dwell among them and so they built Him a tabernacle. Fast forward hundreds of years later...

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt (tabernacled) among us (John 1:14)

In "church" language we call this the Incarnation, the union of humanity with divinity in the person of Jesus. About this Carlo Carretto (who is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors) writes

The Incarnation brings the world his presence. It is a presence so complete that it overshadows every presence before it.
God is made human in Christ. God makes himself present to us with such a special presence, such an obvious presence, as to overthrow all the complicated calculations made about him in the past.
“The invisible, intangible God has made himself visible and tangible in Christ."

~From The God Who Comes by Carlo Carretto

As we continue on this Advent journey toward the manger I think it is important we keep in mind the significance of the humanity of Jesus. The idea that God came in real flesh and blood in the form of Jesus changed everything and we cannot afford to miss weight of this event in human history.

I find it meaningful that Jesus as a human...

...faced temptation. (40 days of fasting in the wilderness being tempted by the devil himself and still not giving in, as a human being)

...suffered. (The events surrounding His crucifixion are enough to turn anyone's stomach, all of which He endured and experienced as a human being. Can you even begin to imagine that pain?)

...experienced death. (He died as a human in order to conquer death as a human so that all of humanity might live. Hebrews 2:5-18)

...has empathy. (This is the Christmas story of hope, joy, peace, love because we know we serve a God who can empathize with us, who has been there and done that. Hebrews 4:14-16)

...understands. (I am reminded of how upset Jesus was at the death of His friend Lazarus. He understands what it is like to feel pain and hurt, to suffer loss as a human being. John 11:17-36)

...connects humanity with the Divine. (If Jesus was not truly human than this whole thing is pointless but as a human He gives humanity a chance. Romans 8:3)

The Launch of 'Renovate'

We officially launched our Saturday Evening Contemporary Service under the name of Renovate. It took us a while to come up with a name but I'm glad it did because we are liking the one we've got. We received lots of different ideas and suggestions, which we are very grateful for but eventually decided on this one. On August 14th we launched (still with little to no outside marketing at this point due to trying to nail down a logo) our service with a free concert from 1000 Generations to follow. Numbers were OK for the service, 150 showed up so that's not awful. Here is a little of my sermon from that evening.

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"Renovate"
faith :: community :: culture

The word renovate means:
1 : to restore to a former better state (as by cleaning, repairing, or rebuilding)
2 : to restore to life, vigor, or activity : revive, renew

This process of renovation is just that, a process. Similar to how our faith is a process. Constantly being restored and renewed and maybe even revived when it feels like its been dead for a while. Like the writer of Hebrews talks about "running the race with perseverance" (Heb. 12:1-3).

This is what we're hoping for through this service, that the process of renovation might either begin or be encouraged to continue on to completion (Philippians 1:6). To the point where it begins to impact not only one's faith, but community and culture as well. Like the wise man who built his house on rock (Matthew 7:24-27), we hope that Renovate is just one way in which individuals might build a solid foundation of faith as they find additional ways to connect with the community of Castleton UMC. It's more than simply attending a service, it's about allowing the Spirit to work in you and through you to bring about renewal. If you haven't already, this might be something worth checking out.

Thoughts for Lent Part 3

Hoping that your journey to the Cross and empty tomb is proving to be meaningful for you. Here are a couple resources and thoughts you may find interesting along the way.

Prayer
Lord God, you who are the source of all truth, wisdom, justice, and love, lead me through this time of worship and throughout this day of service to you. Help me constantly to rest my life upon the eternal foundations of your love and presence. Save me from haste and confusion, from wrongful desire, and the net of evil. Through the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, enlighten, instruct, and guide me all the day long. In the name of Jesus. Amen

Scripture
-Hebrews 2:1-18 (how often we forget that we have a savior who can relate to us, even to the point of sharing in our sufferings. how might your sufferings be bringing about perfection in your faith?)
-Psalm 103:1-13 (what might your life look like without Christ in it? what might your life look like with Christ in it?)
-Isaiah 55 (are you spending your time, energy, and resources on the things that really matter?)

Thoughts

The question, you see, is not to prepare but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone who is drowning in the world comes into your world, you are ready to reach out and help. It may be at four o'clock, six o'clock, or nine o'clock. One time you call it preaching, the next time teaching, then counseling, or later administration. But let them be part of your life in God--that's ministering.

~From "Time Enough to Minister" by Henri J. M. Nouwen in Leadership (1982)

In fact, if you want to find out how proud you are, the easiest way is to ask yourself, "How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or shove their oar in, or patronize me, or show off?" The point is that each person's pride is in competition with everyone else's pride. It is because I wanted to be the big noise at the party that I am so annoyed at someone else being the big noise. Two of a trade never agree. Now what you want to get clear is that Pride is essentially competitive--is competitive by its very nature--while the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.

~From The Joyful Christian by C.S. Lewis

Other Resources
-"2 Stories": A daily devotional from Asbury Theological Seminary

"Unwrapped"

Here is the text from my sermon entitled "Unwrapped" which I gave on 12/27 at our Castleton campus. Feel free to share any thoughts, comments or questions.

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Well, here we are, a few days after another Advent season and Christmas day. Many of you had the chance to spend some time with family and friends, I hope you found it to be meaningful and enjoyable. Tai and I had a chance to make it up to Holland, MI to visit with my family and over to New Lisbon, IN to visit hers. We had a good time and were reminded of how blessed we truly are. Now, two days after Christmas, here we sit and if you’re anything like me, you begin to take inventory now that everything has been opened and unwrapped. I can usually break down my Christmas gifts into three categories: things on my list that I asked for and actually got (which sometimes end up not being as cool as I thought they would be); things I asked for but didn’t receive; and the third category of “thanks?!?”.

Now, I don’t know about your family but both of ours are notorious for using boxes from one thing to put another thing in, so you're not quite sure what you’re getting until you get it unwrapped and out of the box. The classic story of this from my family is when we were all at my grandparent’s house and all the aunts and uncles were opening their gifts from grandma and grandpa and my dad starts opening his…at the time, for whatever reason, my dad was really into bowling…so unwrapping his present he reveals a shoebox with a picture of what appears to be a very nice pair of bowling shoes on the front. My dad gets excited and says, “Whoa alright, new bowling shoes”…opens the box and says, “No, I got these...” as he lifts up the work light that I’m not sure he has ever actually used.

This kind of thing happens to us all the time doesn’t it, whether it’s Christmas or not? We picture something in a certain way, it's wrapped in shiny paper with a nice bow, then we get it out of the box and realize it’s not what we thought it would be.

Perhaps it’s a job or title or degree we think will make all the difference but once we get it unwrapped we find it falling short of our expectations. Or maybe your perfectly wrapped gift is to have a family that looks a certain way, but then your kids do something stupid, your parents do something hurtful, you or your spouse do something to hurt each other or maybe you’re not able to have a family at all. The list can go on and on of things we think will make everything perfect but once we get it unwrapped we find it isn’t what we had in mind.

And then we read of this gift...
Isaiah 7:14
Isaiah 9:2-7

When we begin to unwrap the gift of God’s Son lying in a manger we see this is a gift that will not disappoint, not only this but we notice a couple things about this special gift…

It is a gift of His presence (Isaiah 43:1-3a)
-God promises to be present with us in the midst of the storms, trials and fires of life.

It is a gift of family (Galatians 3:23-4:7)
-God gives us the right to be called His children (John 1:12).
-You and I are connected as the family of God through the community of the Church.

It is a gift of hope (Hebrews 10:23-24)
-The gift of Jesus gives us hope in a world that can often seem hopeless.
-This is a gift we can and must share with others as we undoubtedly know people who abandoned, hopeless and alone.

Closing Prayer comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24:

"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it."