Crowd Sourced Questions: Life and Church

We wanted to know what questions people are really asking.  For about two months, we asked our people to turn in their own questions and to poll their friends.  I even put my writing class students to work on this through homework assignments.  Today, we'll try to answer as many questions as possible in a rapid-fire two minute answer format.  

Previously, I posted the first two sets of questions: Questions about Theology and Questions about the Bible.   Here is the final set: Questions about Life and Church.

Feel free to offer up your own answers or questions in the comment section.  I'll try to post the audio of our Q and A time after we do it.  But for now, it may be helpful just to take a little refresher course on what questions people are actually asking - not just what questions do we think others should ask.

 Why are there so many denominations? Is this bad? Just preferences?

Should Christians drink alcohol?

Does God really expect people to wait until marriage to have sex?

What do we believe about women in ministry?

What about marriage roles? Should women submit to their husbands?

Why are Christians so judgmental or hypocritical?

Crowd Sourced Questions: Bible

We wanted to know what questions people are really asking.  For about two months, we asked our people to turn in their own questions and to poll their friends.  I even put my writing class students to work on this through homework assignments.  This Sunday, we'll try to answer as many questions as possible in a rapid-fire two minute answer format.  

Yesterday, I posted the first category of questions: Questions about Theology.

Here is the second category: Questions about the Bible. 

Feel free to offer up your own answers or questions in the comment section.  I'll try to post the audio of our Q and A time after we do it.  But for now, it may be helpful just to take a little refresher course on what questions people are actually asking - not just what questions do we think others should ask.

What is the mark of the beast?

What did they do with all that meat sacrificed at the temple?

What is a Nazirite, and how is it related to a Nazarene?

How was the Bible formed?  What about the Gnostic gospels?

Why is the God of the OT so different from the God of the NT?

Nazarene General Assembly - Day 5

Sunday was the traditional celebration of holy communion during the morning worship service.  Jesse Middendorf preached the promise of Pentecost and told the moving story of when he lost his 5 year old son in an overcrowded amusement park on the 4th of July.  His family and park security looked for little Jim for 3 hours.  Finally, when they found him, they discovered that Jim had been blissfully skipping to the front of the lines and riding every ride in the park.
This story drives home three truths into our lives.
1) At no point did Jess say to his wife, "Well, we have 2 out of the 3 kids we came with, that's pretty good.  Let's just go home."  Every single child of God is immensely important.
2) Some people are out there riding all the rides of life, and they don't even know that they are lost.  But God still loves them and desperately longs for their restoration to his family.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #73 - Taylor Ford and Community Art at Church

Last week, I preached on Ephesians 3, and I asked Taylor Ford to do some art work depicting this beautifully image-rich passage - especially the prayer "may you be rooted and established in love."  She didn't finish in time to use it on Sunday, but here it is now:

Last year, we preached a series on Exodus during Lent, and each week we showed similar art from people in our church.  Taylor was a regular contributor.  Check out those drawings, collages, poems, and photos here:

• Exodus 1 (God hears the cry of the oppressed.)
• Exodus 2 (Moses is born.  Ash Wednesday)
• Exodus 3 (Burning Bush)
• Exodus 4 (It gets worse before it gets better.)
• Exodus 6 (Now you will see what I will do.)
• Exodus 7-11 (The Ten Plagues)
• Exodus 12 (The Passover)
• Exodus 15 and Isaiah 25 (The Exodus. Easter Sunday)

Lenard Cohen's "Hallelujuh" Remixed

Check out this incredible remix of Lenard Cohen's classic song, "Hallelujah."  Kelley Mooney has rewritten the lyrics to correspond with the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Baptized - Lenny Kravitz

Don't let the picture scare you.  This is a pretty awesome Christian song - by a 4 time Grammy winner. I want to sing this in church!

Summer Worship

This summer, we’re studying 1 and 2 Samuel, which mostly tell the story of David, Israel’s greatest king.  David was a man deeply flawed and yet also “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14).  

David gives us hope in an ironic sort of way.  We’re all just as broken as he was, and yet God loves us and - if we will allow it - God slowly remakes his own heart in our hearts.  Two parts of David’s life stand out as possible examples of how he embodied God’s heart.  

First, David prayed ... and prayed ... and prayed.  73 of the Bible’s Psalms are his own prayers.  But these aren’t clean, simple, “churchy” prayers.  This is a man pouring out his heart to God - all of the pain and all of the joy.

Second, when the Arc of the Covenant - the symbol of God’s presence with Israel - was being carried to Jerusalem, David let loose in celebration.  He danced “before the Lord with all his might.”  

Could it be that the essential part of having God’s heart formed in us is total openness ... unhindered worship ... holding nothing back ... going all out with God? 

As we talk about kings and kingdoms, we will continually return our focus to the King and the Kingdom.   Let’s go all out for our King and hold nothing back - in worship full of life and in lives full of worship.

[By the way, the art above is from Rebecca Brogan's great spiritual art at John the Baptist Artworks.]

Psalm 1 - Sons of Korah

My friend Sarah Bean just introduced me to a really cool band called Sons of Korah.  They're 6 guys from Australia who play psalms - as in from the book of Psalms - in the Bible.  They put these prayer psalms to contemporary music in a variety of musical styles.
We're going to use this rendition of Psalm 1 in our worship service this week.


I also really like Psalm 100.

Community Art Project: Exodus 12

12:1 While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the Lord gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron: ² “From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you.

It's Bigger Than We Thought ...

When God sets you free,

It's not just a "new day;" 

It's a whole new calendar.

----------

   ³ Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household.

  ⁴ If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood. Divide the animal according to the size of each family and how much they can eat. ⁵ The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects.

We Will Rejoice - Isaiah 25:6-9

One of our texts for Easter Sunday is Isaiah 25:6-9.

⁶ In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will spread a wonderful feast
    for all the people of the world.
It will be a delicious banquet
    with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat.
⁷ There he will remove the cloud of gloom,
    the shadow of death that hangs over the earth.
⁸ He will swallow up death forever!
    The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears.
He will remove forever all insults and mockery
    against his land and people.
    The Lord has spoken!

⁹ In that day the people will proclaim,
“This is our God!
    We trusted in him, and he saved us!
This is the Lord, in whom we trusted.
    Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!”

We might use this video to help proclaim this passage.




What do you think?

Community Art Project - Exodus 5

 ¹ After this presentation to Israel’s leaders, Moses and Aaron went and spoke to Pharaoh. They told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go so they may hold a festival in my honor in the wilderness.”

Community Art Project: Exodus 4

 ¹ But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The LORD never appeared to you’?”

 ² Then the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

Burning Bush

I walk barefoot across the earth

On holy ground with every step.

I warm my hands

At the blazing furnace of azaleas.

I bask and tan my skin

Before the noonday sun of golden bells.

I shiver under the snowy glory 

Of cherry blossom flurries.

Potted pansies shine as stars

In the grey concrete skies.

Bleeding roses stir my blood

Upward as they upward climb.

Magnolias tenderly woo my heart

Unfolding beauty like young lovers.

All the world a burning bush

Whispering the fiery call to worship.

(I wrote this Sunday as Exodus 3 was read in the worship service.)

Community Art Project: Exodus 3

 ¹ One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. ³ “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.”

 ⁴ When the LORD saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
   “Here I am!” Moses replied.
 ⁵ “Do not come any closer,” the LORD warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. ⁶ I am the God of your father ... "

Community Art Project: Exodus 2

This was our Ash Wednesday text and art.  We missed having these in the worship service, but I want to share them here.

 Exodus 2
²³ Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. ²⁴ God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵ He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.


DELIVERANCE
I did not know that petulance would smolder into searing loss, nor that flames of
     earthly sorrow rampage beyond the flesh and torch the soul.
I did not know that soul-fire can condense all human anguish into one consuming
     cry for You, Lord. Only You.
I did not know, but God knew.

And in His presence, peace and hope and comfort wrap me, hold me in divine
     embrace. On wings of music, healing light - More than delivered from,
     delivered to.
I did not know! But God knew.

This one was too large to scan as one file.  Hopefully, you can still get the idea.

 

Community Art Project: Exodus 1

Throughout Lent, we are inviting our extended church community to do art (of any kind) based on the Sunday texts.  Our first text is Exodus 1 for this coming Sunday (pre-Lent, since Lent actually begins on Ash Wednesday).  Each week we will put the community-crafted art on the PowerPoint for a period of silent reflection on that day's text.
Here are some of the art pieces we have so far.  (For the sake of freedom of expression, we are withholding the names of the artists.)

Here's a nice overview piece with a summary of the chapter embedded.

"Good to Me" by Craig Musseau

We just discovered this song, and I think we're going to use it during Lent.  I love how it honestly admits our need for repentance and healing but also celebrates God's grace and hope.

All Saints Day Prayer

 

 

God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

             Who lived by your covenant,

             Imperfectly but without giving up,

Make us faithful as well.

God of Adam, Moses, and David,

             Who failed spectacularly,

             Yet repented faithfully,

Make us faithful as well.

God of Rahab, Esther, and Ruth,

             Who dared much and loved much,

Make us faithful as well.

God of the Psalmists,

             Who shouted their doubts

             And sang your praises,

Make us faithful as well.

God of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos,

             Who spoke your truth

Despite great opposition,

Make us faithful as well.

Art and Worship

Part 1: “Art-Full Worship”  (Exodus 31:1-11 and John 6:47-58)
    “In the beginning, God created...”  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).  And what a wonderful, resplendent, beautiful world God created. 
From fish to flowers ...
From atoms to Alps ...
From galaxies to germs ...
Our God has created an infinitely complex world.  From its smallest to largest dimensions, the beauty and complexity of our world staggers our minds and enraptures our hearts.  Our God creates.  Our God creates flowers that no one will ever see and stars that no one will ever reach.  Our God creates bacteria and electrons and magnetic waves and thermonuclear reactions and sea currents and black holes and nebula and more species of animals than we have even discovered.  Our God creates.  Beauty and complexity, simplicity and profundity, majesty and glory ooze from God’s very Being.  God is Creator, and creation bears God’s glory.
   
    From the beginning of time, people have worshiped God through creation.  Adam and Eve joined the creative process by naming the animals, caring for the garden, and creating more human beings.  Noah joined the Creator’s mission by creating an ark as an instrument of salvation and then building an altar as a sign of worship.   Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all worshiped God by building altars to hold their sacrifices. 
    Creation and beauty have always been part of worship of the Creator.  Worship has always been art-full (full of art).  As people made like the Creator, we cannot help but to create when we express our worship of the Creator.  Our creation - our mutual display of beauty - draws us closer to the heart of the Creator. 

Scripture and Preaching

2 Questions for Discussion
When have you really felt God speaking to you through a sermon? 
What were the main points of the last 5 sermons you heard?

    Raise your hand if you could remember at least one of the last five sermon topics?  Keep your hand up if you could remember two?  Three?  Four?  Five? 
    But I expect that almost all of us could point to at least one sermon that was a powerful spiritual event for us.  Somehow, sometimes, sermons become miracles.  Reading the Bible and talking about it becomes a transcendent event when the words on the page become the Word of God for us in our hearts. 
    This is our topic today - the role of scripture and preaching in the worship service.  You can read the Bible at home.  You can listen to sermon podcasts or read them online, but something special happens when we gather to hear from God together.  What is that?  How does that work?  How can we have more of those special, supernatural, God-filled moments when we gather on Sundays? 

    Our primary text for today is in 2 Timothy.  Timothy is Paul’s ministry student.  Paul has been training Timothy for years.  In our series on 1 Thessalonians, we saw part of this training period with Timothy serving as Paul’s assistant.  Timothy is out on his own now, in Ephesus.  Timothy is the Christian leader of the island, kind of like a bishop or lead pastor for a network of house churches.  Paul is giving his final advice to Timothy, charging him with his most important tasks as a minister.  Again and again, Paul comes back to one fundamental task: “Preach the Word of God.”  Let’s read part of Paul’s advice starting in 3:14.

Chapter 3: 14 But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. 15 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.  ...



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