Life is Hard

In the words of the classic television show, Boy Meets World, “Life is hard; get a helmet.”

It doesn’t take long to realize that life is hard. If you live long enough, you will face suffering. Whether it is death, sickness, betrayal, divorce, or something else, it’s bound to happen.  And it sucks.  When we are faced with suffering, we are faced with two choices: we are either run away from the suffering or we lean into it.

The most natural response that we all tend to prefer would be to run away.  We try to minimize, control, or get over the pain.  But the problem we face in our suffering is not that we need to figure out how to get over the pain, it is that we need to learn to see Christ in the midst of the pain.  The natural response to pain and suffering is to run.  And so we look for a series of tips on how to cope or try to find ways to just, “have more faith” in hopes that God will remove our suffering or we even try to figure out the reason behind our suffering as though we might find some hidden will of God that will make our pain stop being painful.

But when we look at the Scriptures and we encounter pain and suffering, what do we see Jesus do?

He weeps.

His friend Lazarus dies, and he starts crying.

Jesus doesn’t begin consoling friends and family with a sermon and encouraging them that “It was their time” or “God has a reason for everything.”  He doesn’t begin to explain that there was some bigger picture going on.  No, he’s honest.  He cries.  He cries because it sucks.  His friend died.  And his friend’s family is upset.

And Jesus does the same in the midst of our suffering.

He weeps with us at the graveside.  He cries with us as we sign the papers.  He sits alongside of you as you mourn the broken heart.  And he stands next to you as you hear the bad news.  This is why it is so significant when Jesus says, “And surely I will be with you always.”

Because he is with us always.

In the joys and the pains.  At the celebrations and the funerals.  At the births and the deaths.  In the good and the bad.

Being with us doesn’t remove the suffering.  But it gives us hope in the midst of it.  Hope that even in the midst of the pain and with a lack of answers you are not alone.  Hope that God is with you in the most difficult moments of life.

Life is hard.  But remember, you’re not in this alone.

Religion of Thinking

We live in a day and age that has more access to information than ever before.  Yet our problems don’t seem to be lessening. In fact, at times it might even seems that our problems are even worse now than before.  Lack of information is not the problem.

Information is not transformation.

And being a Christian is not about our intellectual ascent to knowing the right things.  Being a Christian is not simply about knowing that an event happened in history, but it’s knowing that event in history is also present reality.  It’s knowing that the death and resurrection of Jesus not only happened, but death and resurrection happens daily.  You die to your sins and are brought to life in Christ because we have faith in the death and resurrection that happened.

But sometimes it’s easy to let our minds get the best of us.  We think, “That couldn’t be possible.”  Or “Is that really true?”  Maybe even, “Well the scriptures didn’t say that…”  We often let our minds get the best of us.  We trust our own thinking and reasoning; sometimes even putting our hope in our own thinking over anything else.

The Whore Named Reason

Martin Luther said, “Reason is the devil’s greatest whore.”

Our minds are a good thing, but let’s be clear about what serves what.

In quoting Deuteronomy, Jesus teaches love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.  But the temptation comes in when we begin to elevate our thinking beyond the point it should elevated to.  The temptation is to trust our own thinking and reasoning over what God has revealed to us.

Our minds are a gift, but they are not to be the place we put our trust.

In the dialogue leading up to the story of the Good Samaritan, we witness an expert letting his mind get the best of him:

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”   He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.  "You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”  But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” - Luke 10:25-29

The expert in the law, when he realizes that he does not do what he’s supposed to do, he tries to justify himself.  He says, “Well, neighbor doesn’t really mean neighbor.”

This is the temptation for us, that we try to justify ourselves.  We use our thinking, and we play mental gymnastics to try to say, “Well, this doesn’t meant this,” or, “The Bible really says this,” or, “God really wants me to do this,” or, “God’s telling me to do this.”  We trust in our mind and not what God has said.

Our minds seek self-justification.  Our minds want to make us feel right about what we do. And the problem with relying on  self-justification is that although it might make you feel better, it won’t make you better.  Although you can play tricks with the words, that does not remove your guilt.

Knowledge is not our problem.

The problem is we need transformation.  We need the Gospel to do it’s work on us.  To give us a need heart.  To change the inward bend of our heart.  To redirect our faith from our own minds to the person and work of Christ.

Good Theology Should Produce Good Art

There was a day when the church was known for its artists.  Da Vinci famously painted the Last Supper, Michaelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, and J.S. Bach wrote music influenced by his Christian faith.  In not quite as distant history, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien wrote classic works influenced by their Christian faith.  Unfortunately, when we think of the church in today’s culture, we do not likely think of art.  And this is not about the buildings; because although our building may no longer be painted or built the same way, our churches are still full of music, design, film, performance art, and writing.

In the 21st century, art in the church tends to get associated with mediocre music, preachy films, or copycat designs.

This shouldn’t be.  Our life-changing theology should lead to art that is not simply “Good for Christian art” but instead just “Good, period.”  Christians should be making the best art, because we have the most compelling story to tell.  Our theology clings to the divine story of redemption and that should inspire the best art.

The stories we tell.

Academia likes information and speaks to the mind.  Art prefers a compelling story and speaks to the heart.  And both of these are important.  It is important that we are able to have a systematic theology and understand the complexities of our doctrine, but it is also important that our doctrines are interwined with the divine story.

A friend of mine said, “Stories are equipment for living.”

Stories help give words and life to the theology that we carry with us into everyday life.  And since good theology is interested not simply in our Sunday mornings, but our Monday through Friday too, stories become deeply important.  Good theology always has a story to tell.

The theologian C.F.W. Walther spoke of the doctrine of Law and Gospel as an artist when he said, "Rightly distinguishing the Law and the Gospel is the most difficult and the highest art of Christians in general and of theologians in particular. It is taught only by the Holy Spirit in the school of experience.”

This is fascinating, because Walther describes something that I’d never consider art as an art form.  He somehow sees his pastoring as an art.  Just as an artist decides which colors to use, which words to write, and which scenes to cut, so also the theologian has to determine which stories to tell, which words to say, and which scriptures to teach.  The theologian will always be an artist because the theologian must be a story-teller.

So the question then becomes, is he a good one?

Is the theologian telling a compelling story when he re-tells the divine story?  Is he showcasing this story with beautiful art?  Is the preaching, writing, music, design, and film showcasing this same divine story?  We are all theologians, we are all story-tellers, and the story we tell should inspire beautiful art.

And whether or not we see ourselves as artistic, our theology should absolutely inspire our desire to share the compelling story to those around us.  And if we are sharing this story with those around us, we are artists.  Because as artists, as we decide what to share from our own story and from the divine story, we are deciding what colors will go on the canvas and what colors will be left out in order to paint a picture of the God we know and love.

What’s your art?

Repentance Requires Sight

I have bad eyes. I have since high school, maybe longer.  I’m also stubborn, so although I have trouble seeing things at a distance, I still don’t wear glasses or contacts.  Having bad eyesight creates some problems.  In school, it created a problem seeing the board.  That was actually how I discovered I had bad eyes; my classmates could clearly make out the dates in history class while I struggled to figure out what was being written down.  I can see well enough to drive safely, but if I have to pick out a street name in an area I have never been, it is not an easy task.

As humans, we all have a sight problem.

Sin is a problem that runs deep in our hearts, yet is also a problem that we ignore.  As humans we sometime do not see this problem of sin clearly.  Our vision gets a little blurry and we start to think that something else is the problem.

We forget it.

We ignore it.

We look the other way.

Imagine if this was something like heart disease.  Imagine having heart disease and your life was at risk, yet you were completely unaware of it.  If you were a walking heart attack yet you don’t realize that there is any problem, you would not be very successful in dealing with your disease.

Because if you don’t know there is a problem, you are not going to seek healing.

The Way of Repentance requires sight.

Paul writes in Corinthians, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”  Ignoring a heart problem is certainly dangerous.  Ignoring sin is even worse.

Repentance requires seeing clearly.

“Godly grief has sight.” - Thomas Watson

Because of our sight problem sin often gets overlooked.  And when we overlook sin, when our vision gets blurry in matters of our sinfulness, it is a matter of life and death.

The path of godly sorrow and repentance is a path of life, healing, salvation, and no regrets.  Worldly sorrow on the other hand is a path towards death.  When God gives us sight, two things become very clear.  We see clearly the problem and we see clearly the promise.

In repentance we see things clearly.  We clearly see what the law makes known.  We are sinners.  In repentance we also cling to the promise of the Gospel.  We are assured that our sins are forgiven by the death and the resurrection of Jesus.  We are called both saints (the promise) and sinners (the problem) at the same time.  Although we have been marked and scarred by sin, we also have been marked by Christ.

Martin Luther actually believed that all of the Christian life should be repentance:

“When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

As Christians all of our life centers around seeing clearly both the problem and the promise.

God Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle

There are certain phrases and stories that within Christianity often get treated as though they were Scripture.  Like the story of the footprints in the sand… it’s awful (and by awful, I just mean it's cheesy)!  But Christians everywhere know it.  It’s treated as though the footprints in the stand story comes in the appendix of all our Bibles and is expected to hang in at least one office in every church.  Sometimes these phrases can be helpful in helping us understand and remember core aspects of our faith.  But other times the phrases themselves can actually be a disservice to our faith.  They can actually teach something contrary to what the Bible teaches.

One of these phrases:

“God won’t give you anything you can’t handle."

I’ve heard this a ton from well-meaning people who are either trying to encourage someone else in a moment of pain or trying to make through a situation they are in.  The problem with this phrase is that it gets twisted into something that isn’t taught in the Bible.  And the theology of the phrase itself is inaccurate and dangerous.  Now, this phrase probably didn’t come out of nowhere, there is something like it in the Bible.

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” - 1 Corinthians 10:13

This is the closest thing we have to “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” So if we are talking about our temptation, that God won’t let our temptations go beyond what we can handle, the statement is accurate.  But if we are talking about the difficulties, the suffering in life, this statement is a poor application of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

Do you really think you can handle it?

If God really doesn’t give you more than you can handle, who is the hero?  Because when you’re dealing with a death of a family member and “God didn’t give you more than you can handle,” God doesn’t seem like the good guy in that scenario.

Cancer?  Can you really handle cancer?  No one can.

When we believe that God doesn’t give us what we can’t handle, we are the heroes.  We are the ones who deserve the boasting.  We are the ones who are strong enough and can make it through.  We are the ones who can handle it on our own.  When we believe that it’s up to us to handle it, we are left relying on our own strength and our own fight.

When things get difficult, the best thing we can do is not convince ourselves that we can handle it.  Instead we need to be honest about what we can and cannot handle.  God may allow us to face things that we cannot handle, but he can handle it.  It is in those moments when you don’t think you can make it another moment that God promises to be with you.  And he handles it.  He suffers with you. He listens.  He weeps.  He is present.

God handles it; you don’t have to.  And based on what we read in scriptures it doesn’t seem like you want to be the one who handles it on your own.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being[d] might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” - 1 Corinthians 1:27-31

God chooses the weak.  He chooses the despised and the foolish.  He chooses those who can’t handle it themselves.  And in doing so there is no one that can boast in themselves, but instead they must “boast in the Lord.”

And he handles it.  You don’t.  It’s his power, your weakness.  It’s not about you handling anything, it’s about your God handling what you are completely unable to handle on your own.

Theological Conversations Require Everyday Language

Theology is often seen as something reserved for academics and seminarians.  Part of the this is simply a misunderstanding of theology, but part of is also because of the way that Christians tend to talk about theology.  As soon as we venture into theological topics, the conversation becomes lofty and out-of-reach.  It quickly requires extensive biblical knowledge, a vast theological library, and excellent proof-texting abilities.  The problem is this isn’t the way most of us want to think or talk about God.

It’s not that most of us don’t want to think theologically about God (this is logically impossible).  Most of us simply want a theology that is not out-of-touch with reality.  When theology is only for the classroom, we are missing out on the theology that the Scriptures teach.

Theology, Plain & Simple

Our theology is something that we carry with us into our homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces it also needs to be in the language we speak.

Martin Luther said:

“To preach plain and simple is a great art: Christ himself talks of tilling ground, of mustard seed, etc; he uses altogether homely anad similitudes.  Cursed are all preachers that in the church aim at high and hard things, and neglecting the saving health of the poor unlearned people, seek their own honor and praise…When I preach, I sink myself deep down.  I regard neither Doctors or Magistrates, of whom, are here in this church above forty; but I have my eye to the multitude of young people, children, and servants, of whome are more than 2000.  I preach to those.”

This should be true in our preaching and in our conversations.

Our theology should be rich, deep, and life-changing but also plain and simple.  When we make our theological conversations complex, we end up speaking a foreign language in a culture that cannot understand the Good News that we are talking about.

None of us would dare go into a foreign country ignorant of the language, the culture, and practices of the people we were visiting.  And if we are going in as missionaries, this would become even more important.  We would pay careful attention to how people talk, the nuances of their language, how people dress, and what things are and are not important in that culture.

As Christians, part of our calling is to bring the message of the Gospel (our theology) to the people in the language of the people.

And I’m not speaking of dumbing down our theology; absolutely not.  I’m simply stating that the richness of our theology needs to be spoken in a language that people understand.  And when it is taught in the language of everyday life and connected with implications for everyday life, our theology becomes mobile.

It moves with us from church to work to home.

What’s a theological concept that you know is important but is often difficult to put into everyday language? 

6 Things to Remember When Hollywood Makes a Movie Based on the Bible

We are in a season where movies with biblical themes are being released like crazy.  Son of God just got released.  Noah is being released this week.  Exodus is also going to be made into a movie and another will be made about Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Hollywood all of the sudden realized that there is significant money to be made in the Christian audience.

This can be both good or bad depending on how the production of these movies go.  Because Noah is coming out this week and also has already been the center of all kinds of controversy, I wanted to gives us something to think about related to when Hollywood makes a movie based on the Bible.

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6 Things to Consider When Hollywood Makes a Movie Based on the Bible

1. If you’ve read the book, the movie will never be as good.

This is always true whether it’s Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, or the Bible.  People who are passionate about the original story are going to notice every point in which the film deviates from the original work.  This is just the way that films are; in order for Harry Potter to be made into a movie, the screenwriter had to decide how to best tell the story on the big screen and unfortunately that means some things change.  In order to make a movie like Noah, the screenwriter has to make some decisions about how he will tell the story.

2. It’s not going to be 100% accurate.

Some things are simply going to change as Darren Aronofsky had to adapt his story to make sense on the big screen.  Noah was 600 years old when he built the ark; I’m pretty sure Aronofsky wasn’t able to cast a 600-year-old in the making of the film so it’s inevitable that the story on the screen will deviate at least slightly from the original.  This isn’t meant to say it’s good or bad that it deviates, just the reality. Whether or not the deviations will harm the telling of the biblical story is yet to be determined.

"The film completely accepts the text, the four chapters in Genesis, as truth – just like if I was to adapt any book, I'd try to be as truthful to the original material as possible. It's just that there's only four chapters, and we had to turn it into a two-hour long narrative film.” - Darren Aronofsky 

Update: Aronofsky also calls Noah the "least biblical movie ever made."  This being said, he still says things like the previous statement.

3. A Biblically accurate movie can’t replace conversations.

Let’s say your unbelieving friends do decide that because of all the hype surrounding the new Noah film that they’d like to check it out.  Even though they’re not into the whole Bible thing, the action of another end-of-the-world type film seems intriguing to them so they check it out.  No matter how biblically accurate the film is, your friend isn’t becoming a Christian because of the movie.  The story might be compelling, intriguing, raise important questions, and might even accurately portray the story of Noah, but it is not going to have the conversations that you need to have with your friends, neighbors, and co-workers about Christ.  And if the movie isn’t biblically accurate, well, you’re going to need have conversations anyways, so why not have a starting point to the conversation.

4. Hollywood usually puts out garbage; this is a step in the right direction.

Magic Mike was a box office hit; Fifty Shades of Grey is sure to be at the top of charts when it comes out.  And Noah… Paramount studios is putting a butt-load of money into promoting this movie so that it can be one of the best.  Compared to Magic Mike or Fifty Shades of Grey is it really that bad, even assuming it’s not 100% accurate?  Let’s even assume that it isn’t biblically accurate; a movie is raising spiritual conversations in an entertaining way and not just adding to the garbage already out there.

"Whatever extra-Biblical elements there are in the film, that doesn’t overcome the fact that Paramount Studios is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to produce and promote a Bible story.  This will be a national conversation that millions will participate in, and Noah will be water cooler conversation for the next 6 months. What an opportunity for the Christian community! Instead of condemning it outright, let’s join the conversation. Rarely does an event come along that begs us to present our side of the story. But if we don’t see the movie, we’ll be wasting the opportunity.” - Phil Cooke, Hollywood Producer

The only way I could see this not being a step in the right direction is if the film is so off in the theology that it presents something that is completely contrary to the message of the Bible.

Update: I still haven't seen the film, but have heard a variety of opinions already.  Here are a couple posts that seem to speak to whether or not this is indeed a step in the right direction.

• 4 Things I Liked and 3 I didn't about the new Noah Movie
• Is the Noah Movie actually Gnosticism? 
• No, Noah is not Gnostic

5. Christian films aren’t exactly good either.

While the Christian film industry doesn’t put out garbage like Magic Mike and Fifty Shades of Grey, it is not exactly known for creating great films.  On most days, I would rather take a Hollywood produced, high quality film based on a story from the Bible, over a poor quality, mediocre Christian film that teaches poor theology.

6. We should always be checking our sources anyways.

This isn’t just true of the movies we watch, but it should also be true with the books we read, the sermons we listen to, and the pastors we listen faithfully to.  When the Apostle Paul taught the Berean Jews, how did they respond?  Acts 17:11 says, "Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”  This is the Apostle Paul we are talking about.  He wrote most of the New Testament.  And the Jews check their source to make sure what he was saying is accurate.

We should do this too.  We should always be checking what our pastors say, what the popular authors are saying, and what the movies are teaching when they claim to teach the Bible.  If you’re finding the inaccuracies in the movie, good… that’s what you should be doing if you are are a Christian.

What other thoughts come to your mind when thinking about Hollywood making your favorite Bible stories into films? 

The Sabbath and Healing

A friend of mine runs what are called ultra-marathons.

When I hear ultra-marathon, I just hear a lot of pain.  I’m not sure any human should put themselves through something like that.  An ultra-marathon is basically anything more than a traditional marathon.  Not being a runner, I naturally have a lot of questions when it comes to trying to wrap my mind around training for something like this.  My friend actually ran a 24-hour marathon and so I asked him some questions about what it takes to do this kind of marathon.

One of the questions I asked about this kind of running was, “What is the most difficult part in running a 24-hour marathon?”

My expectation was that I’d hear something about the difficulty of the length of time or the toll a race like this puts on your body.  Or maybe the 18 hour mark, when you are 75% done but still know that you have 6 hours remaining.  I thought maybe the discipline of getting your body to do what your mind was telling you not do would be a huge challenge.  But when I asked Mark about his 24-hour marathon, he said the hardest part was the two-weeks before the marathon.

What happened in those two weeks?

Resting.

In training for a marathon like this, like other kinds of athletic trainings, your body not only needs to be pushed to its limits but it also needs a period of recovery.  So you push and push and push and then the body recovers and rebuilds.  In training for the 24-hour marathon what would happen for Mark is that he would train and push his body to the limits and then in the 2 weeks before the run, he would have to stop training in order to allow his muscles to rebuild.  So in order for him to actually run the marathon, he had to not run.

In order to run, he had to rest.

And you can only imagine what goes through your mind when you are in the resting and rebuilding phase.  Did I push myself enough?  Did I put enough time into it?  Will I be able to to make it that many hours?  Maybe I should’ve set different goals?  But the problem is if he quits resting, all his training and hard work is ruined.

Healing in the Resting

There is healing in the resting.  The body heals as we rest.  We see this same kind of language when the Bible talks about the Sabbath.

In Exodus 31:17, "It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”  God enjoys his creation and it’s refreshing.  The resting is life-giving.  One of my professors said it brilliantly when he said, “We are refreshed when we attend to the work of God in creation and in redemption.”  In the Sabbath, as we are connected to the work of God, we find healing.  Because there is healing in the resting.

Jesus gets in trouble a few different times in his day for breaking the rules of the Sabbath.

Notice what he’s doing when he gets in trouble though…“Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.” (Luke 13:14)  Talk about missing the point.

What is Jesus getting in trouble for on the Sabbath?  Healing?  Healing, which gives life.  Sabbath, a day of rest that gives life. It’s quite ironic that Jesus gets in trouble for healing on the Sabbath - which is ultimately what the celebration of the Sabbath is all about - being refreshed and given life by the work of God.

Healing is in the resting.

This isn’t because by stopping our working we have found some way too unlock spiritual points.  Healing is in the resting, because in resting we stop doing our work and let God do His work.

In resting we trust that God says, “It is finished.”  In resting, we run to that which gives life - the work of God, both in creation and in redemption.  In resting we find healing as Jesus says, “Come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.”

Who Was St. Patrick?

We all know about St. Patty’s day, but very few of us know anything about the history behind the holiday.  For most of us, our knowledge of the Saint Patrick’s day rarely extends beyond green clothing, lepurchauns, green beer, some Irish music, and the occasional shamrock shake.  But, believe it or not, behind all that makes this holiday popular is a holiday rooted in Christian faith.  Saint Patrick’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a celebration of the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.  And more specifically, a celebration of the missionary, Saint Patrick.

St. Patty’s day is a day to celebrate missions.

I am a servant of Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. ~ Patrick

Who was Saint Patrick?

Despite his widespread popularity and the desire to celebrate the day that honors him, many of us haven’t the slightest clue who this guy is.  Saint Patrick is technically not a saint; he’s never been canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.  He’s also not Irish, but British.

Patrick was born into a Christian family, his father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest.  According to the Declaration, he was captured at the age of 16 and taken into slavery by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking the family estate.  In Ireland, Patrick spent six years in captivity working as a shepherd.  It was during this time that Patrick’s relationship with God changed.

But after I had arrived in Ireland, I found myself pasturing flocks daily, and I prayed a number of times each day. More and more the love and fear of God came to me, and faith grew and my spirit was exercised, until I was praying up to a hundred times everyday - and in the night nearly as often. So that I would even remain in the woods and on the mountain in snow, frost and rain, waking to pray before first light. - St. Patrick

One night during Patrick’s captivity, he believed that he heard a word from God during his time of prayer.  He believed that God was telling him to run away from captivity in order to find a ship to sail back home to Britain.  Patrick successfully escaped captivity, traveling 200 miles on foot in order to find the ship he was looking for.

On a mission.

After escaping to Britain, Patrick believed that he experienced another vision from God - this time an angel telling him to return to Ireland as a missionary.  Patrick soon began his religious training, and 15 years letter would be ordained as a Priest. Patrick would then go back on mission to Ireland with the goal to spread the message of Jesus to the pagans in Ireland.

The Roman Catholic Church had given up on converting such “barbarians” deemed beyond hope. The Celtic peoples, of which the Irish were part, were an illiterate bunch of drunken, fighting, perverted pagans who basically had sex with anyone and worshiped anything. - The Resurgence

As St. Patrick went on mission into the culture of the Irish, he did so in some unusual ways.

St. Patrick not only went into the Irish culture with the message of the Gospel, but he also spoke the language of the culture.  He utilized the languages and customs of the people in order bring them the message of Christianity.  Instead of trying to eliminate all the native Irish beliefs, St. Patrick sought to redeem those beliefs and use them in a way that honored the message of the Bible.  For example, the Celtic cross comes from St. Patrick’s blending of the Christian cross and the Irish symbol of the sun.

St. Patrick did not do everything right.  His practices caused several conflicts between the Romans and the Celtic Christians.  There are certainly things he said and taught that were not right on.  And there may have been places that we feel like he even compromised too much in embracing culture.

But what we cannot argue is that St. Patrick was a missionary who was committed to do whatever was necessary to share the message of the Gospel with a people that most others had ignored.  And that’s something worth celebrating.

Photo Credit: John Cooke

Additional Reading:

• History.com - Who Was Saint Patrick?
• The Resurgence  - St. Patrick: One of the Greatest Missionaries Who Ever Lived
• Wikipedia Entry on Saint Patrick’s Day

The Christian Church Looks a lot Like Detroit

The Christian Church looks a lot like Detroit.  Detroit is a city that to most of the world appears dead and dying.  The buildings are abandoned, the windows are boarded up, and the yards are left unkept.  The city may have once had its day of influence, but those days are long gone as the city has now declared bankruptcy.  Detroit may have been something, but those days are past.  People still like to talk about Detroit.  The media will still send reporters into the city, filmmakers will come and showcase the city, and photographers will be excited to photograph the abandoned buildings.  But while people are interested in talking about Detroit, far fewer are interested in making their home in Detroit.

The Church is seen the same way.

Christianity is seen as a dead and dying religion.

There may have been a day when Christians had influence, but those days are gone.  Christianity may have, at one point, been important, but it is now ancient and irrelevant.  Our churches are seeing as worthless and out-of-touch with reality.  They might as well be boarded up and left to rot.  People still love to talk about the Church.  The media loves to showcase stories about the Church, especially when somebody represents the Church poorly.  But while people are interested in talking about the Church and spiritual things, nobody is interested in making their home in the Church.

"The spiritual temperature has changed very suddenly in the United States. For many years, the None population was small  — a mere 5 to 7 percent. Then it exploded quickly. This is very different from what happened in Europe. There, unbelief warmed up slowly, as if in a Crock-Pot. In the US, unbelief has warmed up as if in a microwave. While unbelief is heating up, belief is cooling down. The percentage of Christian converts is not keeping pace with our growing population as unbelief overtakes Christianity.” - Mark Driscoll, A Call to Resurgence

Which leads Driscoll to ask the question, “Will Christianity have a funeral or a future?"

Not Done Yet

An interested thing happened around the time that the city of Detroit declared bankruptcy.  While the outside world looked in at Detroit and saw a city dying and broken, a group of young people saw something different.  A group of people believed that the city of Detroit was not done yet.  A group of people, with the desire to bring the X-Games to Detroit, passionately created a movement of young people who believed that there was still hope for the city of the Detroit.  A group of people who believed that creativity, innovation, generosity, and generosity was not done in the city of Detroit.  And so while people all over the country watched a city in ruins, a group of people said, “This is our city.  And we are not done yet.”

To-date, the X Games have served as a rallying point for us, and we imagined that upon winning the X Games they would be a medium through which we could express and perpetuate the ever-growing vitality of our city in front of a global audience. - Kevin Krease

And later on their twitter, the three simple words:

Not done yet. - @AssembleDetroit

I believe the Church is not done yet.  I believe that while the Church may not be popular or cool, the Church still carries the message of the Gospel that is needed in our world.  And while Christians may be seen as out-of-touch, I believe that the Gospel is never out-of-touch with broken, sinful people.  The church is not done yet, because God is not done yet.  And so America may not be a Christian nation, but the Gospel was not given to a nation, it was given to the Church.

And so the world might see Jesus as irrelevant, old-fashioned, or juvenile.

But I believe He is not done yet.

Photo Credit: Rick Harris

16 Kisses that are Better than 20 Strangers Kissing

Have you seen this video yet?  It currently has over 16 million views on youtube and that number will probably be even higher by the time you read this.  It’s odd, strange, and intriguing to say the least.  Tatia Pilieva, a filmmaker, captures 20 complete strangers - gay, straight, old, and young - sharing a first kiss.

As this has gone viral, it’s been seen as inspiring, beautiful, and compelling.  Time said, "What could have been intensely uncomfortable throughout was strangely romantic.”  Perhaps the beautiful people wearing trendy clothes made this compelling.  Or maybe it was the quality of the filming.  Or maybe it’s the soundtrack for this short film.  Please note, the video shows this variety of couples making out and it may be offensive.

[tentblogger-youtube IpbDHxCV29A]

I won’t argue that it isn't interesting to watch the awkward moments of this first kiss.  But I would hardly call it beautiful or compelling.  I think there’s better that we can be inspired by.  Some of these come from experience, others come from observation.  So to name a few...

16 Kisses that are better than 20 Strangers Kissing:

1. The first kiss with your eventual spouse. I hardly remember the first time I kissed my wife.  I remember the first attempt, which was also a failed attempt.  But there’s something special about the kiss that is the first among many.

2. The kiss that accompanies, “I do.”The promise that commits to a lifetime together. It’s not a contract that says, “If you keep me satisfied, I’ll stay with you"… it’s a promise that says, “We are in it for the long haul. No matter how much crap we face.”

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’  So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” - Matthew 19:5-6

3. The kiss that happens even though life is falling apart around you.  Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time for everything.”  Our marriages will have seasons of great joy and laughter.  And they will also have pain, struggle, and heart-ache.  The kiss that says, “I still love you,” in the midst of those difficult days is a beautiful kind of love. It’s a love that isn’t just about attraction, but a love that is abound friendship and commitment.

4. The kiss that says, “I’m sorry.”  Marriages don’t work without repentance.  Unless we learn to use these two words and go to our spouses with a kiss and an apology, we are not going to make it very far.

5. The kiss that says, “I forgive you.”   Just as marriages won’t work without repentance, they also won’t work without forgiveness.

"Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." - Colossians 3:13

6. Kissing your kids for the first time.  I’ll never forget the moment I first held and kissed my kids for the first time.  The love that a parent has for a children is unbelievable.  And that first kiss with my son and my daughter are both something I will never forget.

7. Watching your kids kiss each other. I recently got to watch my son become a big brother.  There is nothing more heart-warming than to see my son reach out his arms, say, “I want it,” and then give his baby sister a kiss as he holds her.

8. The kisses that led to kids…and the ones that didn’t lead to kids too.  Do I really need any explanation?  

9. This kiss that makes you feel uncomfortable - your mom and dad kissing in front of you.  I definitely plan on doing this when my kids are older.  And while it is uncomfortable for the kids who have to witness it, it is also something that we all hope is in our future.

10. The kiss that sends your daughter down the aisle.  I haven’t experienced this and don’t want to think about the day I will.  But I have witnessed several dads do this and know the love that my wife and her dad share.  There is something special about a daddy and his baby girl and no one else can share that special moment when daddy kisses his baby girl before she becomes a wife.

11. The kiss that embarrass your kid on their first day of school.  When your kids hit a certain age, there’s a day when your kisses will embarrass them.  Kiss them anyways.  It might be embarrassing, but they’ll get over it when they realize they have parents who actually love them and care about them.

12. The kiss on the scrapes, bruises, and bumps.  Right now, I’m pretty sure that any injury my son has can be fixed by his mama’s kisses.

13. The kisses that comes after kids.  Kids don’t mean the end of intimacy. And if the marriage is done right, it just keeps getting better.

14. The good night kiss that happens every single night. Every night next to the same person.  Night after night.  Week after week.  Friends, lovers, spouses getting to do life together.  That’s something to strive for.

15. The kiss after praying for your spouse.  Prayer is an intimate thing.  Prayer for your spouse and pray with your spouse.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” - Phil 4:6-7

16. The 50th anniversary kiss.  What more beautiful, what more compelling, and what more inspiring that seeing the couples who grow old together?  What better picture of the faithfulness of God than a marriage that has remained faithful for 50 years?  Faithful through good times and bad.  Faithful through the fights and the celebrations.  Faithful through the deaths and the births.

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” - Ephesians 5:25

Strangers kissing might certainly be intriguing, but I think we can do better.  Something more beautiful.  Something more compelling.  Something more exciting.

Do you have any that you’d add to the list?  Add them in the comments.

Good Theology Says Nothing New

I love new things.  When I got my new Macbook, their was a sense of excitement as I opened up the box and carefully removed the plastic over my shiny new piece of technology.  Anytime an entrepreneur puts out a press release or makes a keynote announcing their innovations, I can’t help but be excited about the new possibilities.  When an internet start-up launches a new social network, I am quickly intrigued.  New is exciting.  When brands, business, and individuals create, innovate, and push the boundaries, people get excited. Because innovation and creativity are exciting. We love new.

Unless we are talking about theology.

Good theology says nothing new.

Because while new is exciting for our smartphones.  Good theology is not innovative, it simply says the things have been said for thousands of years.  It might be said in new, exciting, and innovative ways, but the content of what is said is the same, unchanging truth.

Let me be very clear.  Creativity, innovation, and pushing boundaries are important - even for theologians.  But creativity, innovation, and pushing boundaries are important in the art that flows out of good theology not in the developing of the theology itself.

We need theologians that are creative, but we don’t need theologians that are creating new theologies.  We need theologians that are pushing the envelope, but not in the understanding of scripture.  Creativity should be spent crafting art that says something old in new and innovative ways.

“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” - Andre Gide

If you hear someone teaching the Bible claiming to have found a new way of understanding the Bible, run.

A good theology will always have been said before because good theology is rooted in an ancient truths of Scripture.  It’s an old, ancient truth that has been taught in thousands of different ways, by thousands of different theologians, and in hundreds of languages. The scriptures are an ancient text that say today what they have always said.  We may find new applications for our day and age, but they mean today what they always meant.

Behind the Scenes

You may have noticed some changes at rjgrune.com over the past month depending on how it is that you choose to read these posts.  I have spent the past couple of months trying to find a way to freshen up the look of this site and also clarifying what it is that this site is all about.

Here’s an overview of what went on behind the scenes.

Simple.

It’s important to me that this site is simple.  Martin Luther said about preaching, “Stand up, speak up, and shut up.”  If having a space on the internet is standing up and writing is speaking up, the simplicity in the design and style is the shutting up.  This site has always been simple, but it’s been simplified and clarified even further than it was before.  The categories should be simple categories that make sense.  The design should get out of the way and let you read what you want to read.  And the writing should all be simple.  I want you to read great theology that has been preached for hundreds of years and for you to understand it and apply it.  This happens by being simple.  And so the writing will hopefully be simple and that will also hopefully be reflected in the design.

“Creativity is subtraction.” - Austin Kleon

Beautiful.

Good theology is compelling.  It’s beautiful.  In fact, throughout history, good theology has always produced great art.  Some of the greatest artists were also compelled by a deep, rich theology.  I believe that this is just as true today as ever before.  I’m not sculpting statutes or painting the cistine chapel, but this site shares my art.  Film.  Preaching.  Writing.  Design.  I believe that the stuff I am writing is life-changing, and I want the way that it looks to reflect the same beauty.  And that means that the images, the videos, and even the font choices should be stunning.

Everyday life.

You may have noticed in a few different places around the site or in newsletters the phrase, “Theology for everyday life.”  This isn’t really a new idea, it’s simply a way I am describing what’s been happening on this site over the past several years.  Theology is a word that sounds old, stuffy, and out-of-touch.  It sounds like something reserved for academics and dead guys.  But I disagree.  Theology isn’t for only for classrooms, theology is for everyday life.  It’s my hope on this site as we simply and beautifully share the story of the scriptures, we experience something that impacts everyday life.  I believe that the Gospel shapes all of life - my parenting, my relationship with my spouse, my friendships, my work, and so on.  That’s everyday life.  And that’s why theology is so important, because it affects all areas of our life.

Art, Stories, and Faith: An Interview with Austin Kleon

Ministry is art.  Some of ministry is what we traditionally think of as art: things like music, design, writing, and preaching.  And some of ministry is less often seen as art: things like counseling, getting to know a student, or mourning with a family who has lost a loved one.  All of these require creativity.  They require the creativity in choosing what to say and what not to say.  Creativity in deciding what stories to tell, how to tell them, and when they should be told.  This is art; we are telling stories.  We are sharing our own stories, the stories of others, and the story of Scripture.

This is the work of an artist.

I recently got a chance to talk with a brilliant artist and author, Austin Kleon and ask him some questions about art and faith and how the two interact.  I’ve been a huge fan of Austin’s work.   As a preacher and writer, I’ve been inspired by both Steal Like An Artist and Show Your Work.  Since Austin just released his new book, which has already hit the New York Times bestseller list, I thought it would be interesting to ask him some questions related to creativity and faith.  Although Austin doesn’t do his art for the church, I think those of us making art in our churches can learn a lot from Austin’s insights.

[gss-content-box color="gray”] Austin Kleon is a New York Times bestselling author.  He has published three illustrated books: Steal Like An Artist is a manifesto for creativity in the digital age; Newspaper Blackout is a collection of poetry made by redacting words from newspaper articles with a permanent marker; and Show Your Work! is a guide to sharing your creativity with the world.[/gss-content-box]

ME: There was a day when religious institutions, like churches, were known for their art.  Artists like Bach, Michaelangelo, and Da Vinci were inspired by their faith and produced brilliant work.  What do you see as the relation between faith and art?

Austin: I was watching an old Curtis Mayfield interview in which he talked about all the music in him as stemming from the church. Chris Rock has talked about hanging out with his preacher grandfather, and what an influence he was on his work. Barry Hannah has talked about the influence of The Bible on his prose. Mary Karr talks a lot about her faith.

Those are all just randomly picked from my files.  I think religion still has a major influence, if not an explicit one.

The church influenced me greatly when I was growing up. I was a member of a Methodist church, a very buttoned up, bland, harmless, business-like place, with handshakes, donuts, and coffee in the parlor. But there was a wonderful choir director there, and I sang in the choir until my voice changed and I quit. The music is actually what I remember most, and I think that's where a good deal of my love for it started.

If anyone has a direct line upstairs, it's my grandmother, and my other grandmother played organ and piano in the church. My dad has recently been saved and is singing in the choir and guest ministering. My uncle is an actual minister.

So the church has always been a big part of my life — and I'm sure it in some way, even if not consciously, runs through my work. My dad keeps telling me he hopes I become a preacher some day.

ME: Churches are sharing the same basic message every single week.  How do you share something that has been shared by thousands of different people and thousands of times in a way that is inspiring?

Austin: Well, Andre Gide said everything has been said before, but no one was listening, so we have to say it again. I think it's the same problem a novelist has: there are only so many plots, you know? You just have to constantly "make it new" as Ezra Pound put it.

ME: In your book Show Your Work, you wrote, 

“Every email you send, every text, every conversation, every blog comment, every tweet, every photo, every video - they’re all bits and pieces of a multimedia narrative you’re constructing.  If you want to be more effective when sharing yourself and your work, you need to become a better storyteller.”   

For people trying to figure out how to become good storytellers, what should they be reading, and watching, listening to?  

Austin: They should surround themselves with good stories. They should read fairy tales, myths, and novels. They should watch great films, go see great speakers, listen when they're out in the world. My mother, for example, I never realized it until recently, but she's a really great storyteller. A natural. And somehow I never noticed until I actually became a student of storytelling. But it's very, very hard to get good at, and like everything else, takes a lot of practice.  Some of the storytellers I’ve learned the most from are Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and Bruno Bettelheim.

ME: Churches as a whole in the United States are in decline. Do you think sharing art and telling a compelling story can help change this?

Austin: I honestly don't know. One of the most interesting books I've read on the subject recently is Alain de Botton's Religion For Atheists. de Botton's jist is that we should be able to steal or borrow many things that religion does well without subscribing to a belief in God. I think what churches could do is look at these things de Botton is pointing to, and to say, "Well, we already have these, and we do it well," and to emphasize those things.

I think this is why I'm interested in the practices of religion: the verbs. Singing, prayer, meditation, contemplation, service, etc. Personally, I am mostly turned off by the idea that faith is something that happens in the head and not with the body out in the world. I think what happens to a lot of artists is that they replace religion with art. A lot wouldn't ever admit that, but I think it's true. When I think of drawing or writing, I think of them as practices, or daily devotionals.

ME: One of your chapters in your book is called, “Shut up and listen.”  The reformer Martin Luther once said regarding preachers that they should, “Stand up, speak up, and shut up.”  What makes shutting up so important?  

Austin: I would imagine that listening influences their art the same way that it does everyone: when you listen, you learn. You need input so you can continue your output. There was a great quote from Richard Ford, he said, when people know you're listening, they tell you things.

Theology for Everyday Life

When most people think of theology, they think of something that is reserved for the academics or the dead guys who wrote big books a long time ago.  But theology isn’t reserved for the academics or the dead guys, theology is for everyday life.  Theology may not be a popular word, but it is something for all of us and it should flow into all of life.  Our theology should shape the way we raise our kids, relate to our spouse, and do our work.

We are all theologians.

You may not immediately think of yourself as a theologian, but you are one.  Theology is simply the study of God, which means that having some kind of thoughts, ideas, or beliefs about God make you a theologian.  Even believing there is no god is technically a theology.  So while you may in your mind picture a theologian as someone with a long white beard, several degrees, and a lot of books, you’d do much better to simply look in the mirror.  Because you are a theologian.

R.C. Sproul said it beautifully:

“No Christian can avoid theology. Every Christian is a theologian. Perhaps not a theologian in the technical or professional sense, but a theologian nevertheless. The issue for Christians is not whether we are going to be theologians but whether we are going to be good theologians or bad ones.“  - R.C. Sproul 

Good theology makes God the hero.

There are a ton of ways that we could describe what would constitute as good theology.  But for sake of simplification I want to make one simple way of describing good theology.  A good theology always makes God the hero; a bad theology makes you the hero.  Anytime you encounter a theology that tells you what you can do to make yourself right, find a path to holiness, or have all the desires of your heart….be very afraid.  A good theology is never going to make you out to be the hero, because if you are the hero we are all screwed.  Because you are never going to be good enough to make yourself right, you are never going to pursue God enough, pray enough, or have enough faith.  But when God is the hero, he is the one that makes us right, he’s the one that grants the faith, and he’s the one that gives every good gift.  This is foundational and if understood will flow into every area of our life.

Good theology matters on Monday morning.

A good theology isn’t simply something that you talk about on Sunday mornings.  A good theology has implications for how you live your life.  This is why Martin Luther’s theology was so influential for people living out their faith in their careers, families, and communities.  Because Luther taught, “God doesnt need your good works, but your neighbor does.”  The great theology that rightly taught whose work sets us free from sin also sets us free to do our work for the benefit of our neighbor.  If your theology doesn’t have implications for your normal, ordinary, every day life - than it might just be time to find a new theological framework to work within.