From Sampler to Sower

Weekend Teaching Series: You Decide

Text(s): Genesis 4, Romans 5

Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 7 of 10, Difficulty is up, just because there was so much different this week.  None of it was especially hard, in particular because of the great services available from polleverywhere.com (more on that tomorrow), but this week was far from typical.

Message Summary: Many of our typical subject lines (sermon title, message in a sentence, even text) don’t really apply to this series.  As I told our students last week, we’re trying something new.  With a series called You Decide we’re giving our students the opportunity to determine which way we go in our teaching.  We’ve challenged them to ask questions.  If there’s something they always wondered about the Bible, ask.  If there’s an issue they are facing for which they’d like a Biblical perspective, then ask.  If there’s something that their friends are going through and they want to know how they can help, just ask.

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A person’s life is shaped by many things – among the most important are the questions she or he can’t help but ask.

Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren

So begins the second chapter in Brian McLaren’s book Everything Must Change. I’m returning to the book in the second installment in the series I began a little over a week ago with my post on “Hope Happens.” As I said before, I hope you’ll pick up a copy, read along with me, and join in the discussion either here, or on the Anderson Zone Nazarene Youth Pastor’s blog, where I will be reposting this.

Summary

In chapter two, McLaren introduces the two questions he claims are among the most shaping things in his life, “introduces” being the key word. If you’re looking for many answers, or even an in depth exploration of the questions, you’ll be disappointed. That’s coming later. This chapter is simply meant to get us thinking about these two core questions:

1. What are the biggest problems in the world today?
2. What do the life and teaching of Jesus Christ have to say about them?

These are questions that McLaren feels don’t get asked enough, especially by the church. At least according to him, the Jesus portrayed by most churches is concerned with either a) how I can get to heaven when I die, or b) how can I be more happy and successful as I wait for (a) to happen. Note the emphasis on “I”. The Christ of modern Christianity is too preoccupied with the fate of individuals to worry about the world. Or so says McLaren. (more…)

There is much to dismantle, much to overturn, much to rebuild, much to imagine and create and there are many seeds to be sown and grown.

Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren

With those words, Brian McLaren ends the introductory chapter of his book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. And I must admit, I find those words just a bit inspiring. The emerging church has been about the business of dismantling some one the self-serving concretions of Christianity that came with its establishment as one of the major centers of power in society. There’s been a lot of deconstructing, a lot of overturning.

But there hasn’t been as much rebuilding, imagining and creating as I might hope. Pockets of creative re-imagination can be found here and there, especially within the last decade, but it’s a process that is only beigning and I have hopes that McLaren’s book will carry that reimgining forward in regard to the global crises facing our world. Constructive criticism has it’s place, but in the emerging church there are times it seems like there is far too much criticism and not much construction. I suppose that too is part of the everything that must change.

In that same concluding paragraph McClaren suggests an optimal way of reading his book: “slowly and thoughtfully . . . with some friends if possible.” Truth be told, my first time through the book was none of the above. But recently a colleague of mine, Paul Ward, invited the Nazarene youth pastors in our area to read the book together. He even set up a blog where we can discuss what we read.

And so I’m embarking on my second journey through these pages – a little more slowly, a little more thoughtfully, and this time with some friends along for the ride. I’d like to invite you to be among those friends. I’ll be posting my reactions to the reading both here and on the Anderson Zone Youth Pastor’s blog. Feel free to read along and jump into the discussion in the comments below. Let’s do McLaren proud and create a little conversation.

Now to summarize . . .

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A family helped by Heifer International

I’ve been giving my youth group a Christmas gift for about as long as I’ve been doing youth ministry.  Honesty, I only vaguely remember what most of them were.  I remember having to shop carefully to find something that I could afford to give each of my teens on a youth pastor’s salary.  And I remember some pretty cheesy gifts that I hoped would have some meaning.  I remember candy canes one year (complete with a card explaining the “significance” of candy canes for them to ignore).  I remember apple Christmas tree ornaments, and an explanation of the origins of the Christmas tree tradition.  And I remember some bookmarks, though when it comes to what they said, I’ve no clue.

And while I have only vague recollections, I secretly suspect that I’m the only one with any memories at all.  My teens have long forgotten the gifts I so carefully selected.

But there are two gifts that stick out.

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Weekend Teaching Series: Write them On My Heart (A series on the 10 Commandments)

Message Title: Word Eight: No Stealing!

Sermon in a Sentence: We must not steal anyone’s stuff, livelihood or freedom.

Text(s): Exodus 21:16, 22:1, 7; Deuteronomy 5:19, 24:7; Joshua 7;

Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 6 of 10; I’m just now realizing how arbitrary these numbers are, but I went with 6 because there was one video to worry about.

Message Summary:

We began with the story of Achan’s sin.  In a nutshell, during the battle of Jericho, Joshua instructed his soldiers that anything made out of metal was devoted to God and could not be taken from the city.  Achan disobeyed, taking for himself a robe, 5 pounds of silver coins, and a wedge of gold that weighed a little more than a pound.  Burying them in his tent, he assumed no one knew.  But when Joshua sent a force of about 3,000 men to attack the small and relatively weak town of Ai, Isreal’s army was defeated.  God revealed to Joshua that it was the result of Achan’s sin of stealing.  Achan and everything he had, his tent, his belongings, his livestock, even his family were brought before Joshua.  They were all stoned until dead, and the entire lot was burned.  Finally, a monument of stones was piled over the ashes to remind Isreal in coming generations of how seriously God took Achan’s sin.

Of course it should come as no surprise that God condemns theft.  After all it is covered in the eighth command – you will not steal.

We examined the language of the eighth command, looking at the Hebrew word for “steal.”  It is ganab which literally means to take something that isn’t yours without the owner’s knowledge or consent. (See the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament).  I realize how deeply profound such a definition is.  But we did talk about the difference between gazal (to take by force) and ganab (to take by sneakiness).

But what can be ganab-ed?

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