Faith – Love – Hope

In the wake of a momentous time in Minnesota history, I feel it necessary to say how happy I am to be able to live in a state that is one step closer to equality.  I don’t really follow politics and have little interest in doing so.  However, I do believe that government has its purpose and that rules and laws were put in place to protect people and our freedom. But, when the government restricts love, in any form; it really isn’t doing its job. 

We all have our own thoughts and beliefs, and we don’t have to agree with how people live or act, but regardless, whether you approve, disapprove, or are indifferent about the new bill allowing gay marriage, what I think really matters, it that we are striving to be the best people we can be, by showing love, compassion, integrity and respect for each other. 

Throughout my faith journey, I am constantly reminded how Jesus Christ went out of his way to make sure people were treated with love and respect, and then commanded them to show the same love and respect to others.  And though, I am not well versed in biblical history or theology, I can assure you that the lifestyle choices some people were making were not totally liked by Christ, yet he still felt love and hope for all people. By showing people unconditional love, he felt confident they would pay it forward.

As I raise my two young children, my goal is to give them a foundation centered in Christ, filled with love and respect, confidence and hope for the future, and an open heart to accept others as children of God.  Whenever my son doesn’t know the answer to a question, his default answer is “Love God”.  I think that pretty much sums it up.  In order to “Love God”, we have to show respect and compassion to everyone.  Have you ever tried to have an argument with someone who is calm, cool and respectful?  It is extremely difficult, not to say frustrating, to remain angry.  I think this is a simplified example of what those two words “Love God” mean.  How can you possibly not spread God’s love if that is what you are putting out there?

-Lora

Imagine there's no Heaven...

I was driving yesterday and came up behind a ford ranger with a ridiculous amount of bumper stickers, most of them religious in nature, one posing the question “If you died right now would you go to Heaven or Hell? Reading this question I wondered what the hope in posing this question is, is it that an unbeliever would reflect on the question and in a panic, flee to a local church to find out how they might go to Heaven? I’ve worked in the church for almost ten years and don’t ever recall a panicked person rushing to the church office, in the hopes of buying “fire insurance.” And if they did, what kind of Christian does this fear tactic produce?

I do however, remember going to a church play in High School called “Heaven’s Gates, Hell’s Flames” the play was a series of scenarios in which the actors’ portrayed troubled youth being tempted by Satan, and committing an assortment of sins sending them to Hell. At the end of the play, a similar question, as that written on the bumper sticker, was asked. “If you died on your way home tonight, where would you go, Heaven or Hell?” this was followed by an alter call in which hundreds of panicked teens and adults rushed to the front of the church. One of which was a close friend of mine, who was an unbeliever. He proclaimed that he had given his life to Christ, and of course I was excited for him, and praised God that this lost sheep had been found. However, despite my challenges, his life didn’t change, he didn’t seek a relationship with Christ, but was convinced that he was going to Heaven, because he had said a prayer.

Are we Christians, do we go to church every Sunday, do we love our neighbor, just so we can go to Heaven? I challenge you in the words of John Lennon:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

I’m not suggesting theirs no heaven or hell, in fact I believe in both. What I am suggesting is that we should accept Christ, worship God, and love our neighbor, because we desire a relationship with Christ and that since God dwells within us, we should desire nothing but God and work towards sanctification.  

I want to end this post with Hassidic story that I heard on a debate about the afterlife (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjKJ92b9Y04) the Rabbi in this debate, tells a story about the Kotzker Rebbe, in which he walks by someone’s home and sees a woman so poor that she can’t afford a Shabbat meal. So he prays that she magically has a Shabbat meal bestowed upon her, she receives the meal. The Rebbe then hears a vision which says because you has intervened in the affairs of this world, you have lost your place in the world to come… He starts to dance, and when asked why he was dancing he says “that for the first time I’m able to serve God without expectation of reward.”  

The Lost Sheep Behind Bars

I have an app on my computer that puts a scripture verse on my start-up screen daily, and as I read this familiar verse, I was convicted as I have fallen short.

The verse was Matthew 25:41-45, ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ ⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ ⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Sure, I have cared for a stranger, fed the hungry, distributed cloths to those in need, and visited the sick, but I have never visited a prisoner, nor have I ever been involved in prison ministry. This conviction comes with some baggage as I have seen the cruel hand of our penal system, where after a drug conviction of a loved one, a saw a range of discrimination in public benefits, employment, and social neglect, in which the criminal was ostracized and distrusted by their community and some members of their family.

Michelle Alexander’s book, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” (a book which I highly recommend) argues that after the successes of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, criminals, as opposed to black Americans, emerged as the new underclass. Jesus said “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” Might I suggest that prisoners, have and are “the least of these” and Jesus speaks to us as clearly as he did to the disciples, serve, minister and visit prisoners.

I am interested to hear any comments from those who are or have been involved in prison ministry and how one gets into prison ministry, as I am sure you don’t just show up at your local prison asking to visit prisoners.

Exponential 2013

I just got back from the 2013 Exponential Conference, the largest church planting conference in the world, last night.  It was a great trip with awesome information.  I heard a great quote from one of the speakers' "Does your Fruit grow on other peoples trees?"  Meaning, does your kindness, generosity, peace, patience, gentleness. faithfulness, self control, and love show through the people around you?  The people you have invested in.   I am pumped up about a lot of what I learned and at the same time sad, as we as a congregation just don't get it.  I long for the day that the rooms around the building and every table is filled with people mentoring others, reading the bible together, praying together, and discipling each other.  That is a long way from committee meetings, potlucks and who gets the kitchen when. None of those things multiply the Kingdom.   We forget what Jesus taught us; To go and make disciples. Our weekly goal should not be to make sure we get to church.  Church is here for support while we ourselves minister to others.  Our weekly goal should be to GO... teach... and heal... and love like Jesus loved.    Who are you investing in? Does your fruit grow on other peoples trees?  How are you making disciples?
-Emily Wise

Praying to “Grilled Cheesus”

I was talking to a friend this week who is a Muslim, I asked him about the second pillar of Islam, prayer. I’ve always been intrigued and impressed at the devotion of Muslims, praying five times a day, usually without exception or excuse. This led me to reflect on prayer in Christianity, how do we view prayer, and how is prayer viewed in our culture. When I look at our popular media, we see Christian prayer expressed in comedies like “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuAUI_0knfk) when Will Ferrell’s character prays to baby Jesus, thanking him for his “smoking hot wife” and asking him to win more races. Or “Meet the Parents” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DlNF_ukr0I) when Ben Stiller’s character stumbles through grace before dinner. And just recently, I watched an old episode of Glee, I know embarrassing, when Finn has an existential experience when he believes he sees the face of Jesus in his grilled cheese sandwich, which, of course, prompts him to pray to this “Grilled Cheesus."

Treating it much like a genie, asking to win a football game, to get to second base with his girlfriend, and reclaiming his position as starting quarterback.
When did prayer become such a joke… if these jokes are just exaggerated projections of people’s perceptions on prayer, then we have come a long way from Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray. But are we any different than the disciples? Much like us, they knew what prayer was, but yet when they see Jesus praying they see something different, so different, that they ask Jesus “teach us how to pray,” they see something different in the way that Jesus prays, and realize that "we must not be doing this right." When I look at popular media, and see the perceptions of prayer, I can’t help but think, we must not be doing this right.

“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

A place at the Table

“Times are a chagin,” in the past when people were looking for community they either went to one of the many churches, found throughout town, whether it be Lutheran, Methodist, or Baptist or they went “where everybody knows your name” the local watering hole. And though communities at the local bar still appear to be thriving, church communities are not as strong as they used to be, gone are the glory days of Awana and the United Methodist Women. Today communities are built digitally, communities powerful enough to topple governments, and as small as a group of stay-at-home moms who want to get together to share recipes and parenting advice. Churches that are growing, that are being intentional and staying relevant are ditching newsletters and group emails and are creating groups and pages on facebook, uploading sermons to YouTube, setting-up linked-in accts, and tweeting discussion questions to their congregations. We are in the social media revolution, and if the church doesn’t jump aboard this high-speed train, it will be left at the waste side and continue the decline in attendance and relevancy.

If it is the job of a pastor to help create vibrant community, then their best tool is only a keystroke away… social media! I have been looking into a social media platform for Northern Light. This new resource is called tableproject (http://tableproject.org/) The Table is a relational, online web application, custom-tailored for the churches.

 

 

They aim to engage the community, empower leaders, and move people beyond the pews and into authentic, life-changing friendships. This is a free resource, and being used by many large churches in the area (Bethlehem Baptist, Substance Church, etc.), it appears to be a great platform, and tool to build community in our church. If anyone has any experience with this platform I would love to hear about it. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Can I get a Testimony!?!

Recently Northern Light Church conducted a sermon series called “MyStory,” a five week series in which each week a speaker presents the gospel by telling the church his or her testimony.

 

In the final week, I had the honor of telling my story, and after hearing the testimonies in the weeks prior, I was struck with the power of a testimony, stories of how God changed and shaped theses peoples lives. Stories told with brutal honesty, and the audience responding with tears and laughter. And I knew that I had to wrap up this powerful series with something equally powerful. And so I thought about this idea of Testimony, I went on the internet and found a couple viral videos of people giving their testimonies (Why I hate religion and love Jesus, The Internet is my Religion”). Given the task of writing my own testimony, I couldn’t help but contrast giving my testimony in real life to a small group of people, and someone giving their testimony to literally millions of people on the web. Millions of people... these two men didn't even know, people they never met. Yet they connected and are impacting millions of people?
How did they do it?   ...They told stories that were real, struggles of real people, “I was addicted to pornography”, “I was diagnosed with cancer,” all told with gut wrenching honesty. These testimonies went viral because even though these men didn’t know their audience they connected with them, they connected with them, based on a human need... the desire to connect with our creator. My task was much easier, for I only need to connect with a small group of people, yet the principles is the same. Be relevant, be honest, and speak to the human condition, and the desire to know our creator.