It's never enough.
The holidays make it all too clear for us. The ads come out and we inevitably line up to buy something else that we can't live without.
“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo..."
Mixed drinks lure us in. They mask the punch of an undiluted shot of scotch and increase the sex appeal with fancy colors and garnish. Theology is no different. We can mix in teachings, trite sayings, and bible verses in a way that can mask the punch of a word of law or add a bit of condemnation to a liberating word of grace.
I'm not sure what age most of us get our first hit, but it seems evident that by the time we become teenagers, most of us have become full-blown addicts.
We've become experts at hiding our real lives. We hide our real lives behind a facade of filtered photos, cropped profile pictures, and answers that rarely speak the truth. In the words of Carrie of Portlandia, "people are just cropping out all the sadness."
Early on in conversations about my upcoming ordination, my wife accidentally referred to the day as my "coronation."
The sociologist John Robinson is known by his colleagues as "Father Time." He has dedicated his career to researching how people use their most valuable resource, time. In the book Overwhelmed he makes a crazy statement regarding his research about time:
There's a lie that most Christians have been taught - either blatantly or indirectly. The lie that many of us have taught and many of us believe is that grace is the work of God that gets us in, but our own work is what changes us.
There's this scene in Exodus when Moses notices a bush that is on fire and it isn't burning up. So Moses walks up to the bush to find out what is going on and if the fact that the bush wasn't burning up wasn't enough, the bush starts talking.
The pure, undiluted message of the Gospel is intoxicating. Grace is the unmerited favor of God for corrupted, broken sinners. The death and resurrection of Jesus meets sinners where they are and offers life, forgiveness, and salvation.
In the coming weeks, months, and year, I have a variety of new projects that I have in the works that I want to update you on. I’m super excited about the potential of these and want to make sure you’re in the loop.
Theology is primarily seen as the activity of professors and pastors, and occasionally a world that is entered into by normal people on Sunday mornings. But theology isn’t primarily an academic exercise and theology isn’t primarily about Sunday mornings. Good theology matters on Monday morning.
Our culture is enamored with the next big thing. And I know that I’m no exception. I’ve stood in my fair share of lines for the newest iPhone, have spent time reading blogs for rumors of the latest technological advances, and have contemplated how to upgrade an old device for a newer, slightly faster version.
There’s this odd conversation that Jesus has in John 16 in which Jesus encourages the disciples as he talks about the work of the Holy Spirit. What makes this so odd, is what we understand about the life of the disciples for the past three years.
What do you do when you’re a leader and you have nothing left to give?
What happens when you are the pastor, the parent, or the friend who has hit a season where you are frustrated, burnt out, and ready to give up?