Check it out!
This is the first (that I know of) magazine (online and print) devoted to the multiracial church — racial diversity in the Body of Christ. It isn’t limited to just racial/ethnic issues, but includes gender, generational, socio-economic and educational diversity.
Good stuff!
Good job, Art (publisher and a pastor at Sunrise in Rialto, CA).
living out faith is hard
These words resonate with me,
Take away the extreme examples, and look at the ongoing, normal, everyday life of the local church, century after century. It is not a bright example of evil, but merely good intentions in a coma. Institutional. Programmatic. And full of people whose lives look anything but transformed. Churches time and again, in culture after culture, look like they are composed of nothing but sinners. We are kidding ourselves if we think, finally, our generation will turn things around.
The author continues,
The fact that everything we undertake will fail to produce the results we hope for is not a reason to do nothing. Far from it. The mistake we sometimes make is doing only those things we imagine will make a difference. When that is the case, our motive—the thing the drives us—is change. If change doesn’t happen, or happen in the way we expect, we have no recourse but to fall into a funk. But there is a more excellent way.
That is the way of love, or more particularly, loving obedience. Jesus doesn’t call us to make a difference in the world, let alone to transform the world.
Perhaps the reality of our Christian life is the day-to-day relationship we have with Jesus over the magnitude of impact we can make as the organized, local church. While it is true and significant that we can achieve a great deal and usually more when we, as believers, work together, the discouragement of not making an impact shouldn’t prompt us to be down on ourselves and/or leave the local church (for better environs).
The full article can be found here.
Race Matters
Is being colorblind really a good thing? (The thought on this started with the story of a Christian publishing company pulling a book because of racial insensitivity.) You can observe a dialogue over this here, as well.
A common comment I’ve heard and read is that we should just be colorblind with regard to race and ethnicity. While I understand and appreciate the notion behind this statement, it really misses the bigger picture. It is an easy comment to make and skims over deeper theological issues.
I would suggest there are two significant reasons why race matters. (There is a distinction between race, ethnicity and culture, but this is a discussion for another time.)
1) How people experience Christ varies according to a person’s race. One’s upbringing and cultural milieu inform and shape a person’s need for Christ. Our sin (the love of self) may be the same, but how this brokenness reveals and manifests itself, and addressed by the Grace of Christ is influenced by our race, ethnicity and culture. Race contributes to how we meet and experience Jesus. The value of race is seeing Christ through the lens of a different perspective.
While Christ transcends and unites races, ethnicities and cultures, He makes Himself known through these differences. These differences are like facets of a diamond, they are necessary for us to be able to see and appreciate Jesus for who He is. Every single person in Heaven will have eternity to tell their story of how they know Jesus. These tales contribute to a tapestry of who Jesus is while only scratching the surface of who our eternal Savior is.
2) Because racial, ethnic and cultural differences give rise to conflict, how we encounter, resolve, reconcile and restore broken relationships is of vital importance. I am convinced that only through Jesus is it possible to fix relationships that are so broken that virtually everyone has given up.
Race matters because the inherent conflict that occurs because of differences gives us the opportunity to see our personal need for Christ and make the healing work of Christ known. God not only reconciles Himself to mankind through Jesus, but peoples are reconciled to one another.
The “proof” of the power and presence of Jesus can be shown by how He heals us and our relationships to others.
what does an evangelical look like?
I’ve always enjoyed Yancey’s work — provocative and thoughtful. He pens has “last” article for CT and talks about what an evangelical is/can be. What do you think?
Here’s a story that gives a picture of what this can look like — as lived out by a musician and his family.
What’s in a name?
An interesting discussion about being a “Christian” and/or a “Christ-follower.” The blog discussion is based on this article originating out of Newsweek — “A Christian by Any Other Name.”
What do you think? Do you have a moniker you prefer?
facebook – part 2
A criticism that has been made about Facebook is that it can reduce face-to-face interaction, depersonalizing relationships. While I can understand this potential impact, Facebook doesn’t have to be seen in a negative light, either. In contrast, it has the potential to close the gap on the compartmentalized life many of us live.
It can achieve this because as we “friend” people we know, we begin to blend our various networks together — the past with the present. Furthermore, it can merge the separate areas where we live our lives — work, hobbies, family activities, school, etc… Our coworkers or classmates can discover the things that are important to us. FB has the potential to allow superficial relationships to go deeper, because people get glimpses into what we share with others that might not be “publicly” known.
If FB isn’t a useful way we’d bring our different spheres of influence together, how could it occur? If FB isn’t the way you would do it, what would (do?) you do?
new bible to check out
There’s a new Bible out on the market. It’s a work that is a devotional that includes, incredible artwork from the 3rd to 21st centuries from every continent across the globe. The accompanying writings span the 1st to 21st centuries from every continent and branch of the Church around the world. Both the artwork and writings follow the Church calendar throughout the year starting with Advent.
The work offers readers a bigger picture of the Church around the world and through time. Christianity involves a Community far bigger than we expect or live on a daily basis. Hearing from other believers across distance and time, can expand our view and understanding of God. (Okay, confession… I had an opportunity to participate in writing a piece in the meditation section. Apart from that, it is a very cool Bible.)
You can purchase the Bible here and if you are interested in more info or free material, go to HolyBibleMosaic.com.
I recently joined Facebook (I call it “Faceborg” because I’ve been assimilated), and find it to be a fascinating reflection of how people live.
On one hand, it is fun to discover how broad peoples’ spheres of influence can be — relationships based on hometown, education (various levels), occupation, hobbies and personal interests.
On the other, it gives a person the opportunity to be who they want to be and control what others see about them. An individual can “spin” their image by what they talk about and present.
Delete the dragon-slaying, though, and you’re left with something much more mainstream: Facebook, a vast, interconnected universe populated by avatars.
Facebook and other social networks ask people to create a character — one based on the user, sure, but still a distinct entity. Your character then builds relationships by connecting to other characters. Like Dungeons & Dragons, this is not a competitive game. There’s no way to win. You just play.
This diverse evolution from Mr. Gygax’s 1970s dungeon goes much further. Every Gmail login, every instant-messaging screen name, every public photo collection on Flickr, every blog-commenting alias is a newly manifested identity, a character playing the real world.
So, when we’re blogging, posting our latest vacation pix or tweeting, what are we telling our audience about ourselves?
the faith of a child
a couple of weeks ago, we baptized 11 kids & youth. it was a great, encouraging time. we were at Hagg Lake, no preaching done except for the testimonies of the kids. the parents baptized their own children and it was a blessing to see.
as parents we certainly hope our kids’ faith will grow and sustain them into adulthood. but how do we help that happen?
newsweek raises a similar question in an article about what kids understand about God. two things from the article stand out for me — 1) kids have a better understanding of God than adults think and 2) how people parent strongly influences what their children believe about God.
i was also struck by this comment concerning raising teens,
Teens’ need to carve out a domain under their own control is very real. And they bring their frustration with their parents to their relationship with God.
In a recent study by Clark University professor Lene Arnett Jensen, conservative Protestant adolescents had some very mixed things to say about God.
The God of Adolescents is judgmental, disapproving, and unforgiving. He isn’t very loving. His supernatural gifts are akin to those of the Devil. On the whole, adolescents seem more negative – almost hostile – to God than at any other time in their lives. (Sounds to me like their God is a cross between a parent, a popular Mean Girl, and a college admissions officer.)
as if parenting wasn’t hard enough…
