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Robert at Lent: Week 2
03.02.10
In Luke 13:31-35, the passage from Sunday, Jesus makes some distinct statements. “I finish my work.” which is obvious that Christ has a plan and he is going to carry it out. That plan is confidently against Herod, that “fox”, who is trying to subvert him. Not only is he confidently speaking against Herod, but Christ is standing firm on his goals to protect and save the people of God, longing to gather his children. He is demonstrating an attitude of commitment that I should be mimicking as his follower.
As we are entering the Second full week of Lent, I am asking myself how I usually respond when faced with distraction or trouble. I am already seeing my fickle ways. I am seeing that my experience can become gray, but Christ is calling for something more black and white. Christ longs for me to stand firm on my commitments to this Lenten journey. I want to walk out this road without fail.
Yet, when little fires begin to pop up around me in the barnyard, I am already trying to figure out my own ways of fixing things. I have that tendency to do things on my own. Instead I should be running under the shelter of the grace of Christ to sustain me through these little temptations.
I know that my plans will not suffice. I don’t want to do this life on my own. I want to grow in submission and reliance on Christ and the things that he has to offer me.
Christ is calling all of us to stand firm on our commitments under his protection. Then we can be a mark of his truth and finish out the work that he began in us. Sometimes this can be difficult and scary, yet we know “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” It’s never too late to turn back and find solace under the shelter of the Lord.
Robert at Lent: Week 1
02.24.10
I am beginning to realize my Lenten tendencies this year. A couple of days before Ash Wednesday, I go back and read some old journals trying to remember Lent in years past. I get excited at the idea of another season when the Church can engage in discipline; when I can cut out unnecessary things in my life and refocus. By the time Lent rolls around, I’ve tweaked my fast and have decided on what’s appropriate this time around. There are some variations from one Lent season to the next, but as I listened to the sermon this week I realized that in many ways Lent continues to be the same.
Each year on Ash Wednesday I remember that I am dust, and to dust I shall return. It is a humbling reminder of my mortality, my depravity, and my ultimate need of salvation. I get marked in recognition of the beginning of the fast, and mark my allegiance to Christ in the form of a cross on my forehead. Ash Wednesday is always intense, the beginning of the journey to the cross.
And then I am confronted with Christ in the desert, tempted by Satan. Every year I remember those forty days are important to the story of God, just like the Israelites and Christ, I too am entering a wilderness of my own.
I am still at that optimistic, energetic point of the fast: a few days in, where temptation hasn’t really come yet. But Luke 4, the scripture for this past Sunday, is clearly confronting what every Lent confronts - our desires.
During the first week of Lent, I must own up to my passions and desires. I must join with Christ and submit them to the Father. I must confront my quick fix, short-cut natural penchants and commit to will otherwise. I purpose to change and forfeit my plans in order to draw near to God and join in his plans.
It might seem strange to talk about temptation so early on in the journey but I know, temptation will come. It will get hard. I will want to give up and give in.
Yet, I have this past Sunday to reflect upon and remember my opposition to instant gratification, and my commitment to a long road of obedience, that same wilderness that Christ was in. I can remember that Christ knows where I am weak, and that He is mighty to save me from any strife, struggle, anxiety or temptation. Only He can carry me through.
Lazarus Moment by Alli
11.18.09
A couple of weeks ago Old Navy was having a sale on coats. I have been needing more professional coats to fake out people at meetings and mislead them into thinking I am professional. I was able to get a great bargain on the coats, I went home and I followed my usual procedure.
To ensure I do not hoard as I get new things, I give away. I was looking through my jackets and there was one that was particularly cute, a faux leather jacket with lining. I had not worn it in awhile, so I decided that this was one of the jackets to be given away.
This past Sunday, I was at Lazarus with the Sunday team. I remembered I had the jacket in the trunk and laid it on top of the car to see if I could give it to someone. This gentleman named Joshua had just come up to get some toothbrushes for his kids. I asked him how old his kids were figuring maybe a high schooler or someone slightly smaller could use it. He looked at it and said "Are you really giving this away? Could I give it to my wife?" I said " of course" (not thinking much of it). He teared up and said how discouraged his wife was (his wife and four kids are staying at a local shelter while he stays in their truck nearby). He spoke about how this was going to bring her hope. That this was going to be a reminder that God is there - something tangible. He was so emotional that I about teared up. I could tell that it did something for him to have found it and to provide it for her. I remembered leaving and being deeply moved.
I paid about 10 dollars for that jacket at Charlotte Russe in 2002; such little money and effort. But today, it was a lifeline of hope to someone who was in fact sinking in despair. You never know how God can use the little you are offering in a big way.
Please continue to pray for Joshua and his family, for a job and place to live. Pray for the Spirit to equip Lazarus volunteers to assist them in an ongoing way.
Stuart's Story
07.16.09
Lately, many of the lectionary texts have centered around healing in its various forms. We have been challenged to patiently sit with pain, to allow our troubles to be acknowledged, to express our grief and confusion, to resign our safekeeping to a Good Creator, and to be healed or reconciled. This story follows the remarkable diagnosis, treatment and physical healing of our dear friend Stuart. He has given us permission to share his blog which chronicles his journey with an aggressive form of Lymphoma. It is a powerful testament to God's sovereignty in the face of uncertainty.
To follow Stu's story click this link.
Drew's Story
07.07.09
Diane and I just celebrated our one-year anniversary (actually it was in February, but who’s counting?) of moving into the neighborhood of Vine City and it has caused me to reflect back on what God has done this year in our hearts and in the neighborhood around us. We moved here from Peoplestown, which is a neighborhood with a similar socio-economic landscape of Vine City located just south of Turner Field and one of the biggest reasons we decided to move to Vine City from Peoplestown was the opportunity to live in an inner-city neighborhood alongside other Christians. To be perfectly honest, we had gotten lonely in Peoplestown and missed the body of Christ. There were so many needs that we could clearly see, but as two people, we were unable to even come close to meeting these needs. There were other Christians doing great things in the community, but there was a deep lack of people living in the community and seeking to love their neighbor. Also, we wanted to intentionally engage in community with Christians who had a heart to be the hands and feet of Christ to their direct community. I could feel myself becoming hardened and quickly forgetting that the motivation to love can’t be mustered up, but must come from realizing my own need for Jesus and we needed people who were willing and able to push us back to God’s love and repentance.
So, we made the plunge and bought a little Werther’s (or in my wife’s words, “puke brown”) colored house on the hill on Sunset Avenue, right in the heart of Vine City. There was already a couple, Joel and Carol George, living down the street and in the few months following our move-in, more folks from Trinity, as well as believers from other churches, also bought or rented houses nearby. Since moving in, our prayers for a deeper community with believers have begun to be answered in an overwhelming way. Just a few days after we closed on the house, we had a “paint party” and for 3 days our home was filled with friends and family painting practically every square inch (including the scary black and red room that my little cousin seriously suggested we should just board up and forget about) beautiful shades of blues, greens, yellows, and browns. Since moving in, we have been able to walk to friends’ houses and share meals, pray together, confess struggles with, and live life alongside each other and it has been a glorious thing. We have had the opportunity to meet and become friends with amazing folks from the neighborhood, some of which have lived here for 40+ years! They have welcomed us into their homes and we have shared meals together in our house as well.
There have been plenty of ups and downs, joyful moments and heartbreaking situations, but God has continued to give us our “daily bread” and this is more than enough. We have been overwhelmingly humbled by how welcoming folks from the neighborhood have been. Most of our neighbors were living in Atlanta, some living in Vine City, during the Civil Rights Era and endured an unbelievable amount of hate from white people who looked a lot like me. They have shown so much grace and love to welcome us into our neighborhood to the point where our next-door neighbors, whose kids grew up playing with Dr. King’s children, refer to us as their “grandchildren.” We look forward to taking walks in the evenings to visit neighbors as they relax on their front porch. God has been gracious to provide so much relational trust between us, as well plenty of other folks from the church, and the people from Vine City.
One of the most exciting parts about the past year has been how God has connected folks from the neighborhood to Trinity. Soon after we moved, some of our neighbors became interested in coming to church with us, but we had a difficult time organizing a carpool. Therefore, we got together with some other people from church and decided to hold a weekly pancake breakfast at our house and invite anyone from the church or the neighborhood who wanted to come. This has proven to be a great avenue to relationally connect people from church with Vine City and it has been amazing to watch people from the neighborhood (primarily youth) become a part of Trinity. Just last week, I was coming back from a softball game with one of the kids and he looked at me and said, “I love church, I feel like I get to see all of my friends every Sunday!” This made me so thankful for the opportunity they get to hear the Good News of the gospel every week in kid’s church and to be welcomed into the family of Christ by the church. Through the hard work of Katie Rigby and Cheryl Case, a mentor program has been set up and a number of the youth from the neighborhood have been paired with a guy or girl from Trinity who is relationally invested in the neighborhood. It has been a joy to watch the kids’ faces light up when they talk about their mentors and see God’s love lived out in the commitment these mentors have to the children of this neighborhood and their families.
We are so thankful for the opportunity to live in Vine City and see the church connect to the neighborhood, understand the needs of Vine City and then seek to effectively meet those needs. There have been plenty of hardships (tough relationships, heartbreaking family situations, burglaries, etc.), but God has consistently reminded us of his commitment and love for us and this is what spurs Christians on to love and remain committed to seeing “His kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven.”
Marty's Story
06.30.09
The Blessing of Pain
Our dear Bella complained of pain in her "tummy". We thought it was the usual stomach bug, but when a little vomiting did not relieve her woes and she did not sleep even one hour for over 24 hours because of the pain we took her to the doctor. He did the usual battery of tests and decided it was a stomach bug and sent us home with the advice that her pain and fever would subside in a day or so. The symptoms made sense, except for the pain. I have not ever seen any of our kids in such misery, writhing on the couch uable to pay attention to the cartoons. We did not sleep the following night for the same reason as before. Her pain would not let her be at peace. Then she had white stool. That is never a good sign. I called an ER doctor friend who advised me to take her to the ER (this is where the long-story will be short).
The ER doctor said that she really does have the simple symptoms of a stomach bug, but did not understand the pain she was experiencing. Mind you, at this point she is no longer in pain and actually able to walk around. Oh, did I fail to mention she was unable to walk due to the pain? While they drew blood, etc. I called my ER doctor friend to let him know what was going on. He was adamant (he is never adament) that they x-ray her abdomen. He knew something was not right from the pain and the white stool. I went back in our room and spoke with the doctor until he agreed to do the x-rays. It turns out that our sweet little girl had a tumor on one of her ovaries and it needed to be removed. They operated several hours later and found out that her ovary was twisted and had been for a few days by the looks of it. The great news is that we caught it in time so she is now completely healed from the ordeal and in tip-top shape. Thanks be to God.
Once again I am reminded that pain is not something to avoid, but rather something to explore. It tells us that there is something not right. Something somewhere inside is out of place and not only needing to be restored, but asking. Pain is a form of communication that I have spent a great deal of time and energy throughout my life trying to ignore or silence with noise and busy-ness. It is a dialect that I am trying to understand so that the things that are twisted and broken and dying for life inside of me can be heard. Now to learn the right response.
Andy's Second Story
04.28.09
In the few weeks leading up to Easter, my wife and I realized that we had a bird (or a few birds) living on her car. We came to this realization because of the amount of bird poop that started accumulating on the car. Trust me, it was embarrassing. On the roof, doors, side review mirrors, hood, everywhere.
I started asking friends what I should do. Some solutions were actually very creative. Things like putting black pepper on the car, and even buying a fake owl to be place on the car to produce a “scarecrow effect” (I guess it would be “scareowl effect”). I actually tried parking the car on the other side of our house, but it didn’t work.
Then, when I had kind of given up, the bird went away. No more droppings. Awesome, I thought, but we weren’t quite done with our little friend yet.
Forward a couple of days to Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful sunny day, and Kris said we should all go outside for a bit and enjoy the incredible world God created. My wife decided to follow up on the recommendation, took the kids outside for a few minutes and found the scene below (see pictures) in the tree that lives right next to the spot where her car is parked everyday.
Funny thing is that leading up to Easter, I felt like God had been pressing on me that if I just look forward towards the hope that awaits me, I can get through all kinds of things in life. I was awakened to the fact that Jesus himself was only able to get through His suffering on the cross because He knew that life and redemption awaited Him on the other side of it.
It is no different with us. Sometimes God lets us go through some crap (in this little case, the crap was literal) to show us something beautiful in the end. If we just keep that in mind, we will be able to make it through the suffering, and see the value in it.
All this because of some bird poop on a car. Don’t you love how God can be so creative in teaching us lessons? I sure do.
Resurrection Sunday Baptisms
04.17.09
Easter Sunday was an incredible day for our church. We celebrated the risen Christ in baptizing sixteen from our congregation. Sixteen came through water into cleansing and newness of life. Sixteen were baptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We had people who were thirty and we had children who were six. Children as young as six passed down into the death of Christ and up into resurrection life of Christ. Each of them renounced Satan, the world and the flesh. Each of them embraced Christ as both Lord and Savior, entrusting themselves to his grace and love. And then each of them shared a short testimony of why they had come to these waters.
You can see the joy of this day in the pictures. You can hear a few of the stories that were recorded. If you have been baptized, you can join with them in your renewed commitment to Christ. When we are baptized, even more than going under the water, we are placed under the safety of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If you have been baptized, then you have been claimed. You belong to Jesus Christ. He is your strength. You are a child of His Kingdom. Alleluia. Christ is risen.
Daniel's Story
03.27.09
If you are anything like I have been most of my life, you had no idea what Lent is, except for maybe something in your belly button. Perhaps you have more than the vague awareness of Easter and a familiarity with what this day means, but for me, it was simply one of the two days a year that my family might feel mystically compelled to go to church. As such, it's been really important for me since my investigation of this Christianity thing began to try to understand rightly what this season and day commemorate and what powerful implications they have in the present.
So for some years now the church I attend has been observing the season of Lent. I learned quickly that Lent is the season in the liturgical calendar that at once recalls Jesus' 40 days of being tempted in the wilderness and also prepares the hearts of believers for the day of Jesus' resurrection at Easter. Lent is a time for praying, fasting, and repenting; a time for sharing in the suffering of Christ before sharing in the newness of life that burst into the world upon his death and resurrection.
That all sounds well and good, but what does it mean? I think for a lot of people, Lent means a time of giving something up out of some dutiful responsibility without thinking twice about why. I've heard Christians and non-Christians alike talk about giving up drinking or giving up weed or giving up coffee for 40 days, but only out of curiosity to see if they can or out of vain obligation. They do it to challenge themselves or to better themselves, which, although these can be good things, are not what Lent is ultimately about. Giving up M&Ms for 40 days while never thinking about the Lord doesn't change anything, it merely proves that you can do it (or not, depending upon your success or failure). Now I am not saying that this is intrinsically wrong, but for the Christian believer, it is not what God intends fasting or the season of Lent for.
Lent is the time when we are confronted with our own sinfulness, when we look our sin in the face and come to God asking for forgiveness so that we may draw closer to Him and share in the mission that He began over 2000 years ago. I've been doing it for years with varying degrees of success, and I still don't have it perfect, but I've learned that Lent is not a time for giving up bad habits or sins; that should be something we're doing year round. That's why a few years ago when I "gave up alcohol" for Lent but I was really trying to give up drunkenness, I didn't achieve much.
Instead, Lent is about giving up GOOD things as an act of the will to participate in the ways Jesus went without, to engage actively in the suffering of Christ. Jesus tells us that, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." That's just what Lenten fasting does; it's a tangible way in which we say no to ourselves and yes to Jesus, bearing the weight of our sinfulness and walking after him. It is not meant to be a way to punish ourselves for our sin, but a way to remind ourselves of the places where we don't yet fully reflect God's glorious image and to take practical steps to draw closer to Him and closer to bearing that reflection in the world.
This ties in closely to the mystery and the power of Easter. With Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection the entire world changed forever. Not only did he bear our sin and shame upon the cross, but he traveled through death and out the other side to a new, radically transformed, bodily life. He is the first to go through this miraculous journey, but by no means the last. His resurrection powerfully linked heaven and Earth together forever. With his resurrection, the kingdom of God began to shine in a brand new way into a dark world through a window that will continue to get larger and larger until all creation sparkles in that light.
In the book of Romans, Paul tells us that, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." God's good creation (everything He has made, our world, and us in it) was marred by sin but with Jesus' rising from the grave, God began the work of recreating everything that has been hurt by the power of sin and death. God says in Isaiah, "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." The hope of this new life, this new creation where God's space (heaven) and ours (Earth) are forever joined together which began so long ago with Jesus Christ, should live in the heart of every believer.
Again in Romans we are told that not only heaven and Earth, but we ourselves shall be transformed in just such a way. "And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us." God does not want to scrap His good creation because it has been wounded and broken, but He wants to take what He has made and redeem it. The hurt and pain we feel in this life because of sin, He is in the process of burning away and transforming us just the way He did His very own Son. For as Christians, we share in the sonship of Jesus himself.
This, then, is what Easter points to. We share in the suffering of Christ now to share in the joy and newness of life that comes with his resurrection. Those who believe in Christ for salvation already have a seed of this new bodily life within them where heaven and Earth are linked and God's glory shines brightly on all. Conversion and baptism are the outward (or inward, depending upon how you look at it) symbols of Christ's Spirit coming to dwell within us and the beginning of God's redemptive work in us that will be complete when Jesus returns and all of creation, and us with it, is transformed and resurrected as Christ himself was.
So we observe Lent. And we rejoice at the work that began on Easter. And we celebrate God's mission to redeem and resurrect His good creation with Christ at the helm, triumphing over sin and death and decay and evil for all eternity. We invite Jesus' Spirit in to begin transforming us now into the people we shall be when the kingdom of God comes on Earth as it is in heaven. We intentionally build for the kingdom of God in the present by loving each other, by taking care of the planet God put man as steward over, by forgiving others, by producing art that reflects God's beauty and truth, by advocating for justice for those with no voice, by feeding the hungry and helping the poor. Because we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain. God began a redemptive work on that cross and with Jesus' resurrection that changed the world forever. And we groan and wait and share in Christ's suffering now, that we may see resurrection life shock and change us and all creation some day. And it begins here and now.
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