bathroom notes

We had a guest speaker in service yesterday; Jeremy Kingsley. He challenged us to think about the true identity of "greatness" and who we allow to define it. What the world tells us is "great" (i.e. money, cars, fame, looks) is the complete opposite of what Jesus Christ has shown us that which is "great". We can look at his entire life and see the unexpected contra our expectation. We think that a savior, a king, a messiah should be the one who comes down to earth with a great precession; born in the Hilton's presidential suite with 85 doctors taking care of all the needs of each individual involved. The local symphony and choir playing on the side as Mary gives birth to the coming King but the reality is that Jesus was born in a "Jiffy Lube bathroom". There was used toilet paper on the floor, urine on the seat, bacteria piles on the corners...this was the locale of the magnificent birth of Christ. Born in a manger or a troff where animals eat and use the restroom at the same time. How in the world is Jesus, our savior, born in a troff Christ-like?

Maybe we are going to see "greatness" in who Jesus hangs out with. The upper class participants, politicians, doctors. Jesus hung out with the poor, lepers, prostitutes, children, the marginalized, the unwanted. Why?

ok ok...maybe His ultimate take-over will occur when He enters Jerusalem. Here we will see the "greatness" revealed in our King. Instead, He decides to ride in on a small, dirty and used donkey.

What is "greatness"? Is it what the world is trying to promote or is it in the love and humility shown in Christ? If it is in Christ, He came not to be served but to serve others. In our individuality and uniqueness we are created to be ourselves and to serve others. This is greatness. It is loving Christ so much that we are infused with His love and are able to serve in the depth demonstrated throughout Scripture. How uncommon it is in Western culture to see a book on "How To Serve", "How to be Humble", "How to Sacrifice".

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all".
-Mark 9:35

Know that greatness happens when it is while you and God are working together. There may be no one there to give a standing ovation when "greatness" takes place. There might not be a victory box to stand on when "greatness" transpires. There is only intimacy between you and Jesus...it is the personal work of the Holy Spirit within that breaks hearts for those who are in need and we decide to get low to the ground and truly serve. This is not service as a means to gain. This is servant-hood. It is the secret acts of kindness that demonstrate the "greatness" shown to us by Jesus Christ. It is within the quiet atmosphere that we are challenged.

Jesus, help us to be more like you. Help us to listen to you define greatness for your people.

cell phone blog

I want to be me. I want to continually challenge my own personal limits in order to be...me. I don't want to let someone else decide who I am or who I am supposed to be. I am only one thing and that is God's child. I used to find the phrase "God's child" corny but it's true. Personal replication has become popular. We have to fight for our individuality and the respect it deserves. God decided to take time and create you with a mold made specifically for you.

I don't want to be that man who has already walked the block and passed out the same agenda. I am different. My name is not david; My name is not Scott; My name is not Jerry; My name is Spencer. What I am trying to communicate is the amazing possibility of uniqueness. We all have been created out of purpose and character that no one is able to duplicate. It is tempting to see the programs and systems and paradigms that others have created and to simply follow suit.

I want to be me. I don't want to be anyone other than me.

rookie

I'm sitting here listening to Iller Than Theirs "To Be Ill". You should check it out, its great hop/hop. Every friday i hang out with a couple guys from Anwatin Middle School in N. Mpls. We do math, geography, and Play Station. We work first, eat lunch and then either play basketball on the courts outside, turn on the PS2 or go to the computer lab and search the for ridiculous web games. So far the award goes to "Bike"; this game uses only the arrows...that lame. In the computer lab we can also listen to music with headphones. Usually the volume is loud enough for everyone to listen in. My guy, Devon was busy singing along with Chris Brown, but next to him i heard this song with nothing but drug words, sex words, curse words, fighting words, and the infamous "N" word. Honestly, it reminded me of some of the music i used to love.

When i first got my drivers license i was introduced to Master P's "make em say ughh". I thought it was amazing. From there i moved through a whole realm of different styles of rap/hip-hop with a mixture of offensive material that would make a grown man cry:) As a youth there is this pull to offensive music. Maybe because it hypes you up, it's mindless, against the rules. Maybe its because of the great bass. I can identify with the pop/addictive kind of guilty music but as i've gotten older i have realized its depreciation; a numbing of the senses. I used to abhor leaders who would question the music i listened to and now i am that leader. What's interesting is that even though i liked the music as a kid, grown men were making the music. Its a tough place to be able to cipher all of the different substances that go into a man and then justify or condemn the content but we cannot cancel all of the "music man's" responsibility.

I don't ask "is that secular music?!" I ask, "what's in that music?" As I have become much more infused with the urban life and its pursuit, i have become so sick and tired of pop*club*gangster rap. We have resorted to glorifying drugs, abuse, money, violence, and im sure a lot of its by-parts. I was reading an essay by Cornell West on Afro-American music and its influence. It was mostly directed at the subsequent genre's beginning with spirituals and ending with early hip/hop such as Grandmaster Flash. He makes a brief reference to this new form of rap that has lost its original substance. He denotes this drop due to the lack of "self-love".

I agree that everyone's voice should be heard and its all well and good to talk about what you are going through. I think there's a difference in the communication style of sharing what you are going through contra glorifying what you do. I can say, "i did what i had to do to make things work due to my environment" or i can say "Look at how cool i am because of my pursuit of ignorance and i don't care if you are affected or not" Do you hear the difference? In light of the first response i agree with. Get your voice out there, talk about the grimy experience, tell me how it has made you a better person, give me true emotion and pursuit, but it becomes extreme and skewed to place sickness onto a victory box. Let's promote change, positivity, survival with an up-ward tonal note. Im trying to get at the heart of what makes diseased music sick. Its the wrong mentality.

We make this music because we have done a poor job in promoting self-pride...mostly black-pride. There are white rappers out there who didn't grow up in blighted areas who jump in the pool of 'hard-knocks' but lets leave them out today. If you don't know, America has a history of racism, segregation and oppression; all of which are still present. I think we have got to do a better job with exemplifying not just black history but black-pride and self-love. What does it mean to be african american? It is priceless. We need to get to a place where all of us equally appreciate our own and each other's heritage. A month for black history and 200+ years of european or what is now anglo teaching material and text-books? Are we doing a good enough job leveling historical appreciation? I don't have any answers right now but i am thoroughly distressed at what to do with urban revitalization and the conditions of its popular music. We can talk about rural music and its shortcomings in a different blog. There are a lot of possible tangents within this discourse but try to stay focused.

Crutches hurt!

Have you ever twisted an ankle or broken a leg? If you have, you might need crutches. the crutches you get from the local drugstore that must have been hand-crafted in 1921. The wood kind that need two hand towels wrapped around the armpits for comfort. If you have any experience with crutches they begin to hurt and to hurt bad.

It is easy to use situations in our lives as crutches. Crutches that we lean on so we are able to puff ourselves up or stand a little straighter. Even to the point of thinking that we are better than others. Isn't it true? "I endured this_________...have you? I didn't think so." "I'm going through this_________...U? That's what i thought." Instead, we are to be humble in our actions and our thoughts. How much more does it mean to someone after you have been around someone for some time to THEN hear about a particular characteristic or experience that person has been through that causes verification of who they are.

I was walking over to the library and I began to ask God to give me a thankful heart. My thoughts then moved to why am i asking God for a thankful heart? Shouldn't i just be thanking him instead? So i began to thank God for all that he has given me. From the experiences in life to the shoes on my feet. Thank you God for allowing me to be a part of your life. Thanks for your love for me that gives me breath in places i would otherwise lay dormant. Thank you God for the food that i eat and the friends i have. For my family that you have given me.

If all of us walk around with truly thankful hearts, there is no room to boast. There is nothing that can stand in the way of humility. We have become thankful for all that God has given us and are not competitive, envious or prideful.

Give us thankful hearts...or...Thank you God for providing. Let us practice the latter of the two.

Saved by Grace...then what?

So i just finished a sermon brief on the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. While researching I found a website that had addressed the church's giving today. So here is the statistic found at empty tombs, inc. you can google it and look around, but here's what they say.

It would cost 30-50 billion dollars to meet most essential human needs around the world.
If church members gave 10% of their income they would raise $65 billion. Today the average giving per member is 3-4%.

We are saved by grace, yes, Martin Luther writes 95 theses and dismantles church authority and paying money for salvation and forgiveness ridding of "justified by works."
I hear this Scripture:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast."

It is by grace that we have been saved...and grace alone. Otherwise I am able to take credit for the work of salvation through Christ. I am able to be the provider and distributor of my own salvation. But what does Scripture say after the previous verse we read?

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do"

So there is an after-party. Something follows justified by grace.

In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the audience was a group of Pharisees who saw wealth and riches as blessings for obedience and Jesus was showing the holes in this belief system by painting the picture of an ill and dying man who had just had dogs licking his oozing sores being carried to heaven. The rich man dies, is burried and ends up in hell. (note: this particular parable does not have any eschatological weight.) The rich man asks for water on his tongue. Abraham (father of all Israel) delivers the message of his irreversible fate. So, the rich man realizing his paralysis pleads for Abraham (God-figure) to send Lazarus back to earth to tell his brothers about this and prevent them from sharing in his pain.

This is the interesting part:

The rich man says,
"if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent." Repent? repent from what?

Abraham answers,
"If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."

The rich man realizes that the way he has lived was wrong. He saw Lazarus out in front of his house dying and hungry and had no compassion. For this he is talking about repentance. Isn't it interesting the word "faith" is not mentioned? The message is pointed sharply toward the idea of stewardship and how we use our resources.

So we are justified by grace but "Grace" is a condition. If there are no symptoms of grace then there must be no condition present in our lives. Symptoms, in this story, specifically toward wealth and selfishness.

So what kind of things are mentioned in the law and the prophets(Old Testament)?

"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land."
-Deuteronomy 15:11
There is a lot more in the Old Testament in regard to Social Ethics but I would need a lot more room to discuss this. So for now, Deuteronomy 15:11 i think is ok.

In conclusion: IT IS NOT THE AMOUNT GIVEN, RATHER THE CONDITION OF THE HEART THAT GIVES. WE ARE JUSTIFIED BY GRACE ALONE WITH SYMPTOMS OF Stewarship and helping the poor and needy. This is not to be confused with handing dollars to those on our street corners, it is funding projects in order to heal the root problems of social need wherever it may be.

Please go away!

Prosperity Doctrine...please go away!

Where did the theology come from that if you tithe enough money you will be able to buy a Mercedez Benz? I will tell you how Prosperity Preaching Preachers bank accounts get big...from your bank account! From the money that was "tithed". Of course you have a new house, a new boat, a motorcycle, money to shop with...because we paid you.

"From the external and visible world there comes an old adage: "Only one who works gets bread." Oddly enough, the adage does not fit the world in which it is most at home, for imperfection is the fundamental law of the external world, and here it happens again and again that he who does not work does get bread, and he who sleeps gets it even more abundantly than he who works.

It is different in the world of the spirit. Here an eternal divine order prevails. Here it does not rain on both the just and the unjust; here the sun does not shine on both good and evil. Here it holds true that only the one who works gets bread."
-Soren Kierkegaard

How is it we use a worldly standard to gauge faith? It is absurd that we use what the world uses to exemplify power. Money is to be used, yes, to live; to feed the hungry; to house the homeless; to educate; to give health; to empower; to mobilize; to bless...not to horde.

I have heard preachers talk about the financial blessings God wants to give us if we only pray and read and tithe the right amount. That your financial status and your house size is in proportion to your faith...what in the world??? Does that ring true for the countless martyrs across the world? Are you going to sit down with a believer in India who is about to be killed for their faith, their families infected with starvation, no roof over their head and explain to them that if they only had tithed enough money last offering everything would have been ok?

I tell you, whenever God speaks of "prosperity" it is linked with social justice. God provides so that we are able to give back to those who are in need. God does not give so that you can boast about that new paint job you placed on your H2.

This is my second point...

If God gives us money based on our faith...Donald Trump must have "great faith". Saddam Hussein must have been tithing a lot in order to build that palace. Money does not dictate faith.
Paul leaves the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20 with 2 things before he heads to Jerusalem nearing the end of his life:

1. "I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me"
2. "I have shown you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive"

If i knew I was reciting my last words I would make them count.

Dream

i am reading this book entitled "The Unknown American Revolution" by Gary B. Nash. I can't put the book down. The author's intent is to bring recognition to those who helped establish North America's independence as a nation.

"We cannot capture the "life and soul" of the Revolution without paying close attention to the wartime experiences and agendas for change that engrossed backcountry farmers, urban craftsmen, deep-blue mariners, female camp followers and food rioters--those ordinary people people who did most of the protesting, most of the fighting, most of the dying, and most of the dreaming about how a victorious American might satisfy the yearnings of all its peoples"
-Gary B. Nash

The names of those who did not make the cut into our history books have been short sided. It used to be "unpatriotic" to speak of other men and women who played major roles in the Revolution besides George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Frankline, John Adams, etc. But we see that when we leave out the names and exploits of the individuals who bore a great burden; to see liberty and justice be for ALL. Not just those who are in the "state of society" and not for those who didn't measure up to be included in so.

One of my favorites is a Quaker named Joshua Fisher who in his last years of life, 1776, freed all of his slaves and spent ten years traveling in order to locate and buy the freedom of any of his past slaves offspring no matter where they were geographically. Or Samuel Hopkins who was a minister at the Congregational Church in Great Barrington, where years later W.E.B. DuBois grew up. Hopkins shaped his sermons around anti-slavery and presented them to his congregation who was full of slave owners and slave traders. In 1773, Hopkins and Ezra Stiles sent a letter out to all of the New England Churches promoting a complete ban of the slave trade. Someone who stood up for what he knew was to be truth.

The list will go on and on. So why is it that these names are not brought up when talking about the "independence" of America? Why is it that we hear the great deeds of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson only? These men who owned over 100 slaves and were "treacherous in private" have become the only stories told which is unfair. Yes, these men did great things for our country but they hardly were the only ones who were fighting for independence and equality. Ben Franklin had advocated abolition yet he owned 5 slaves until he died and instead of freeing them upon his death, he signed them over to his daughter.

The question is...Who fought for liberty and freedom?...True justice, liberty, freedom and equality.

If we look at a more rounded picture of America in it's historical movement we find a magnitude of individuals who fought and died for a dream. A dream that came from the hearts of ALL of those who lived and died in America. They saw a nation that was diverse and equal and they were strong enough to do whatever it took to make it happen even if it meant death. There were so many hangings for those who had committed "treason" but in my mind i didn't see it as treason, i saw it as committing true equality. The ones who died for a good cause might have used force, but looking at the circumstances they were in I do not hold it against them when nothing but force had been experienced.

People whose names find their ways into the historical books are not the only ones who made a great impact on this nation and might not even be justifiable. So, instead of looking to do something great that might possibly make it into the history books...desire to be great. Recognize the greatness of seeing the best in everyone you come into contact with. Recognize your ability to make a difference in this country without even being admired for it. This is true greatness...Fighting for what is truth without an audience. God give us strength.