Recovering Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday

I am a pilgrim. I am a learner and an apprentice. Most of what I have written about in this edition of the Gospel Mission blog is what I hope to incorporate in my life. If you are encouraged by what you read and over time find it helpful then give God the glory.

7 Things WE can do to Recover Holy Week and the Resurrection from Secular Society!

1. Thoughtful Living

·         Church seasons and the Church Calendar – too often we are afraid of reaching back into Christian tradition and using ancient wisdom because we simply don’t understand it and we tend to fear what we don’t understand. Yet for many centuries the Church practiced “thoughtful living” through employing a seasonal approach to their faith. By doing this, it allowed them to anticipate how one aspect of their faith would lead to another. Although the words may seem strange to us it doesn’t mean that we should treat them as strangers. Having a life-liturgy ordered by the seasons of our faith would help us recover Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday because they would be culmination of our year instead of a blip on the screen of church activities. So here is a suggested way of approaching the church season/calendar.

-          “Pentecost Sunday” – May 27, 2011 The week leading up to Pentecost Sunday should be spent thinking about the work of the Spirit and personal examination concerning how your life is being lived in the Spirit.

-          “Ordinary Times” – June 3/ November 25, 2011. The focus during this season is on the mission of the church (the presentation and proclamation of the gospel). This is the season for you to be more actively engaged in the mission of Christ for His church and the world.

-          “Advent” – November 27/December 18, 2011. The time of quietness and preparation as you reflect on the incarnation of Jesus. The advent season prepares us to receive Jesus Christ who came in the flesh as the fulfillment of God’s promises.

-          “Christmas” – December 25/January 5, 2012. Not just one day but twelve days to give the love of God with others in tangible and meaningful ways.

-          “Epiphany” – January 8/19, 2012. The word Epiphany means "to show" or "to make known" or "to reveal.” The idea is that we “show and tell” through examining what it means that Jesus came to earth. Reflecting on the gospel (especially the sermon on the Mount) is a valuable way to consider how we can reveal His kingdom that is among us. The last Sunday of Epiphany is generally celebrated as Transfiguration Sunday.

-          “Lent” – February 22/April 6, 2012. This is the season for prayer and preparation leading up to Resurrection Sunday. This was traditionally reserved as the time to instruct (catechize) new Christians (those who were brought to faith during the previous seasons) about baptism and church membership.

-           “Holy Week” – April 1 – 6, 2012. To reflect and commemorate the suffering of Jesus from Palm Sunday to Good Friday.

-          “Resurrection Sunday” – April 7, 2012. Sunrise services, baptizing those who were instructed during the Lenten season, lively singing and renewal are part of the Easter service. But remember, we do not celebrate Easter on just one Sunday but fifty-two Sundays. Every Sunday the church should celebrate our resurrected life in Jesus Christ.

You can see how one “season” leads into another and could help us recover the deeper realities of the gospel connections between the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord. But what else can we do to recover Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday? Here are the other NINE ideas….

2. Connect the Cross with the Empty Tomb – We are very well versed in the amazing truth that our sinful shame, guilt and condemnation were dealt the death blow through the death of Jesus Christ. But what did the empty tomb (the resurrection) accomplish? Connecting the two together will give greater hope and confidence in our relationship to God in Christ. Read regularly 1 Corinthians 15 to see more clearly how we have hope, victory and confidence through the Resurrection Reality.

3. Be thoroughly Gospelized – to be “gospelized” is much more than knowing the gospel. It is being transformed by the gospel. Reflect on the Power behind the transformation and begin to talk about it in N.T. terminology – Philippians 3:8-10; Ephesians 1:18-21; Colossians 2:9-12.

4. Resist the Urge to Over-Emphasize Christmas at the Expense of Holy Week and Easter – secular culture has such a powerful sway within the church. Because of the tug of “conformity” we spend considerable amount of resource (time and money) on Christmas and think very little about Holy Week and Easter. My encouragement is to resist the idea that Christmas is the most important event in the Christian community and spend more time  talking with our families in preparation for Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday. This is where the “seasonal” approach to our faith would be an asset as each season leads us closer to the cross and empty tomb.

5. Celebrate through Baptism, the Table and the Fellowship of the Church – the most vivid and powerful reminders of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus were given to the church by Jesus Himself. He showed us the way and now we must live in His Way. Baptism which symbolizes the burial and resurrection helps us connect the cross and the empty tomb.  If you have not been baptized you are commanded to be baptized. If you have been baptized then “REMEMBER YOUR BAPTISM” as baptism is what the biblical writers called the church to remember.  The Table leads us to participate with Christ in His ongoing ministry as our Great High Priest. He lives to make intercession for us as He mediates the new covenant. The Church in community-fellowship was a gift given to us so that we may encourage each other in our resurrected lives. Imagine the power of a unified group of believers who through intentional living continually encourage each other to live in the resurrection reality. You can read about a group who did this in Acts 2:37-47 and Hebrews 10:19-25.

6. Plan in Advance to Participate in the Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday Activities – there is something impactful about coming close to the Cross in a concentrated and sustained way. The interaction with the Spirit and with each other as we think about the life of Jesus during the week between Palm Sunday and Good Friday is powerful. To rise early on Easter Sunday and gather for baptism, teaching and fellowship brings to our lives a much more vivid reality. But these things take time and we have to plan on taking part in them. Having a seasonal approach will help but we also must be willing to say no to lesser matters that will never bring the joy that we experience as the church gathered from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday. 

7. Read, Read, Read! – There many Christian books to read. Some are good and some are important. I would suggest though the some of your reading energies be reserved specifically for growth in understanding the resurrection and applying the reality of the resurrection. If you want to be a better spouse or parent. If you want to learn self control or work on your finances. If you desire to live pure as a single person or overcome anger, despair or any number of relational problems. If you want to get past your distorted thinking which leads to rude behavior. For all of this and so much more you must appropriate what Paul taught in Colossians 3:1-3 – “set your mind.” Good books on the resurrection help put into practice the resurrection reality but more importantly we must read, read and read again the gospels. As you do, make notes (mentally or in some other way) every time Jesus mentions resurrection.  Collect those notes and “think on them.” What does this mean that we are “raised up with Him?” This is why I highly recommend reading according to the Lectionary because it provides a continuity between the gospel, epistles, psalms and other O.T. books. It almost forces you to read intentionally about Jesus in the whole Bible.So what are some good books on the resurrection? Hmmmm.... I will have to get back to you on this one.

My next post will focus on some practical aspects of implementing these things and hopefully a suggested reading list on the Resurrection of our Lord.  Thanks for reading.  

Refelctions on the Mission of Christ for His Church and the World

Mission Week at Durkeetown provided me with space to reflect on this thing we so casually refer to as the "Great Commission." I use the word "casually" because too often I do see a lack of intensity as it relates to our "sentness." My hope for my own life and our congregation at Durkeetown is that a renewed passion, ignited by a renewed vision for God, would shake us to fresh obedience. After all, the eternal joy of the human community is worth begin shaken for.

Here are a few insights the Spirit gave to me during Mission Week. I pass them on to you for the encouragement of prayer and obedience. I also would encourage you to write our your reflections and include them in a response to the blog.

Francois Turcotte (Quoting David Powlison) suggested this strategy for Christ followers to use in engaging non-Christ followers with the gospel:

  *  Listen to their story - this requires patience and love


  *  Empathize with their story - this requires reflecting on your own condition prior to salvation

  *  Retell their story redemptively - this will require you being thoroughly gospelized and filled with the Spirit.

I wrote this note to myself as a way of potential practice in application: A good way to practice this is by using the three step process while you watch TV or a movie or listening to a song. You can also do it as a small group or with friends.

Francois also kept using the phrase - "love your community to Jesus." I thought about the  difference betweeen "to" and "for" because it would be normal to say, "love your community for Jesus." I would suggest the difference is found in zeal. Loving them to Jesus means that I spend my life being the "fisherman" that Jesus calls me to be regardless of the cost. I would be like the men who wanted their friend to be healed so they cut a hole in the roof and lowered him down to Jesus (Mark 2:1-5). This is more than loving their friend "for" Jesus. They loved him "to" Jesus.  

Craig Querfeld:

"Missions is moving people from their agenda to God's agenda (quoting Henry Blackaby). We had a great discussion with Craig over leadership development in the church and helping people in their discipleship embrace the mission of Christ. First priority though was praying for God to change the agenda that most people live with.

Ed Hart:

"Jesus never commands us to do something He has not enabled us to do" - Matthew 28:18-20

"The place where the gospel engages us to do the mission of Christ is that walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh" - Galatians 2:20

Ed gave us five principles for walking in the Spirit:

  *  Living the gospel is living with an earnest expectation to exalt Jesus in all things, whether by life or by death (Philippians 1:20)

  *  Living the gospel is living with an others orientation for their joy in Jesus (Philippians1:21-26)

  *  Living the gospel is living with an eternal point of view about everything in life. You cannot be any earthly good unless you are heavenly minded (2 Corinthians 4:16-18; Colossians 3:1-4)

  *  Living the gospel is living with the realization that God is sovereign over all things (The Whole Bible)

  *  Living the gospel is living in the power of the indwelling Spirit. This is normal Christian living - yielding to the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:16-26)


Pray as Durkeetown is being challenged to engage the gospel more deeply so that we live the Spirit filled life in faith and obedience to the commission Jesus has given us.

Pray specifically for the "Durkeetown Seven" - Abbie, Zeke Neigh, Cheyenne Robinson, Emily Jenks, Bekkah Neigh, Kaite Fish, Zach Prater. These seven came before the church and declared their intentions to do cross cultural missions. Pray for them and for others.

Pray for Chris Miller who is going to start a soccer ministry that he hopes will connect with Latinos in our local area.

May God help us to bring the presence of Jesus Christ where ever we go. Let us love people to Jesus.

The Battle with Self Rejection and Gospel Perception

In quoting catholic author Henri Nouwen, Dallas Willard observes: "Self rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved". Being the "Beloved" constitutes the core truth of our existence" (Renovation of the Heart - pg. 101).

There is a simplicity in that statement that allows me to consider the one most damaging and difficult issue I face in my own discipleship - "self perception." Earlier in the same chapter Dr.Willard wrote under the heading - "The First Move Back from Ruin": "As we first turned away from God in our thoughts, so it is in  our thoughts that the first movements toward the renovation of the heart occur."

There is an obvious disconnect with many Christ followers (like myself) between knowing spiritual truth and living as if we really know spiritual truth. My discipleship has been deeply challenged as of late by God ordained messengers who look a lot like people I know and sound like them as well.  My responses often begin with self rejection (I must be a failure) and end then with poor gospel perception (Why me God?)

I found a nice cure to all of this in a Psalm that WIllard suggests at the beginning of his chapter on Transforming the Mind...

                 Psalm 16:8 - I have set the Lord continually before me;
                Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken

One of the harder realities that I must admit and perhaps all disciples of Jesus should admit is just how deep our self idolatry exists. When I begin to reject myself and lose sight of my position in Christ as a "much loved son" - it is because I am setting myself before me and not setting the Lord before me. The idolatry of self is a serious matter to overcome because this particular idol is a very cruel taskmaster. It would remove God and put me in front and deceive me into thinking that I know what is best in any circumstance or in any given situation. Unfortunately, like all idols this particular idol is dishonest. While it may stroke my ego it kills my joy because if I am out in front of life - I will always be shaken.

So here is the thing I must do and hopefully you as a disciple must do: keep checking the ideas that are governing your life. I can move away from self-rejection and poor gospel perception as I become a commitment to having the Lord set continually before me. Practically that means both repentance of self-worship and an embracing of the gospel which when rehearsed reminds me that I am loved by an eternal God who not only died for me but lives for me.

Battle well the enemy and if you, like me, are barely standing, take serious the words of our brother Paul in Ephesians 6:10 - "Finally, be strong in the Lord adn in the strength of His might!"

I am really looking forward to a study- planning retreat next week in Montreal. I will be gone from February 23-25 to think about the creation and implementation of a holistic small group ministry at Durkeetown. I will also spend time in considering a very helpful article on changing paradigms in missions within the church.  I find these planning times to be useful in thinking about larger issues in my own personal life as well as the church.

Some other items to think over and pray about will be a meeting with Francois Turcotte (director of SEMBEQ) concerning Zach's plans to work in Quebece as a cross-cultural missionary. I am looking forward to teaching another Passion Week series in April. I have a burden to expand this teaching to include a morning and afternoon teaching segment in Glens Falls and Fort Edward village. The retreat will help me confirm whether or not God wants me to expand the teaching.

One thing for sure - when vacation comes after mission week, I will be soooo ready to take the break. I am hoping to catch a baseball game at the new park in Washington, D.C.

My Scripture reading has been very timely lately as I have been in Romans 6-8. No condemnation! Wow! What a gospel. What grace. Praise God who has reconciled us to Himself in Jesus and is reconciling all things to Himself through Jesus Christ.

What to Do with the rest of the Winter

Ground Hog day passed by this week with a fairly significant winter storm. The storm allowed me the occasion to relax, reflect and remember. So let me take some blog space to relate what happened -

Relax - this is very hard for me to do. I am often reminded how hard it is for me to "do nothing" for even a brief period of time. My mind often will not stop thinking which leads me to either guilt for not being active or an anxious-anger because I am compelled to do something! Most of my relaxing comes in the form of either exercise or viewing T.V. I am still not sure whether the latter is healthy but I did mix the exercise and T.V. together so I came away feeling like it was mostly worth it. I am not sure I have ever truly relaxed in my life. Maybe I will, one day, grow up enough in faith and personal maturity to close my brain down and force myself to be still. I don't know how relaxing it will be though...

Reflect - in the space of one week I had three people die who were, in one form or another, part of my life. My first "girlfriend" (she probably wasn't aware she was my girlfriend at the time) died from cancer. My first secretary in Florida died from cancer as well. My friend here at Durkeetown, Jim Wood, also died from cancer. The three deaths caused me to reflect on how important it is to love and forgive. I am going to pray for God to help me repair all relationships that I sense are broken - even if they are only a stress-fracture. Kendra, my first girl-friend, and I were the same age. I was thinking about how I am not guaranteed another day - only the moment in front of me. Freddie, my secreatary, was in her 70's - it caused me to reflect on the reality that my parents and Rhonda's parents are aging and somehow we need to be more involved in their lives. Jim - well he was in his early sixities but the thing that I reflected on most is that the longer I stay in this place the more I am going to be saying goodbye to brothers and sisters in Christ.

Finally- I need to remember  the hope of resurrection. Just as winter is passing so life is passing. This should not lead me to despair but to hope. I am rapidly moving into the winter of my life. I have but a breath and it will be over so I need to remember to live each day to its fullest. To live out my rest of life mission so that I bring glory to God with the way I conduct my life.

So, what will I do with the rest of winter? I will do all that I can to make visible the kingdom of Jesus my Lord and Savior. Hope you will as well.

Book Review - John Mac Arthur's "Slave"

The back cover begins..."Centuries ago, English translators perpetrated a fraud in the New Testament, and it's been covered up every since. Your own Bible is probably included in the cover up." 

Whenever someone suggests that the Bible lacks credibility I usually shrug it off as anti-christian bias. After all, this has been happening since the Satan said the Author of the Bible lacked credibility.  But when a strong proponent of biblical authority, a man who believes in a high view of the Scripture says that "translators have perpertrated a fraud"  - I sat up and took notice.

I was asked to review the book "Slave" by Dr. John Mac Arthur as part of a marketing campaign by Thomas Nelson publishers. I would receive the book for free if I would read it and post a review of the book on my blog. So here goes my first review.

Overall I believe the book is useful because Dr. Mac Arthur is a faithful expositor and his work in this book is faithful as well.

My frustration with the book falls under the category of what I would call the "tabloid news tease effect." This marketing technique is used in T.V., Talk Radio, Sports Talk Radio and most advertising. It teases the viewer/reader/listener to "stay tuned" by suggesting that what is coming is so incredible that you wouldn't want to miss it.

While I put up with this in pagan marketing I was quite surprised that it would be part of evangelical circles. I believe Paul (that would be the Apostle Paul) wrote something about not 'tampering with the Word of God" for personal gain.

If the kind of "cover up" that Dr. Mac Arthur says has happened, has in fact happened. And if it has had the level of negative impact on our discipleship that he would suggest, then a massive recall of the bible needs to take place immediately. We are talking about the Word of the most high God.  If companies recall toys, medicine and automobiles for safety reasons it would only seem reasonable that someone with more influence than this reviewer would get right on this and demand a recall. I assume the bean counters at the bible publishing companies would not be in favor of bearing the cost of republishing millions of bibles even if it meant getting the biblical text accurate.

Another difficulty was that Dr. Mac Arthur gives a rather negative assessment of the "contemporary evangelical movement" (pg. 74). I find this judgment more than a bit hypocritical given the way this book is being marketed. To take a slap at those whom he had in mind over their so-called "worldly methods" and "worldly music" and having no "lordship ideology" is ridiculous, especially in light of how this book is presented as that which "unveils the essential and clarifying revelation that my be keeping [me] from a fulfilling and correct relationship with God." Really??? Hmmm. It is tough to take a lecture on the compromise of  "market driven strategies in ministry" (pg. 75) from someone who tells me that his book holds the key to a correct relationship with God and that a cover up of "biblical proportions" has kept me from that relationship.

I have no doubt that Dr. Mac Arthur is correct that the word for "slave" was mistranslated and probably for cultural reasons. As a pastor I am constantly aware of the illustrations I use and the responsibility to be culturally relevant. I am grateful for men like John Mac Arthur who have bequeathed this great heritage of biblical fidelity to me and millions of others through his writing, preaching and radio ministry.

So how do we move forward in regaining the concept of "slave" as a defining reality of our discipleship in Jesus?

This is perhaps where the book was most confusing. He never really tells us how to move forward. It seems that the author's intention was to write a book about Calvinistic doctrine. My natural bent to cynicism would lead me to believe that in order to get someone to read a book on Calvinistic theology you had better have a good lure - like the one on pg. 1 when the author tells us that he realized there had been a "centuries-long cover up by English New Testament translators that had obscured a precious, powerful, and clarifying revelation by the Holy Spirit."  Now I am not much of a fisherman, but I think that is a lure.

Since I am a commitment to biblical fidelity in matters of the glorious gospel of grace, I don't mind reading a book that reinforces my need to keep living in vital dependence to that grace. The problem is that the book has no gospel well to drink from. It is a well written lecture on doctrine but not a place for grace. It would be like giving a thirsty man a lecture on the elements of water without providing for him an actual drink of water.

If I am going to appropriate the spiritual reality of being a slave what I will need is for the gospel to change me so that I embody the teaching of being a slave as well as the reality of living as a slave to Jesus. I sensed in this book the usual law-lecture instead of pointing me to see the One who as rich and yet for my sake became poor so that through His poverty I might become rich.

My desire is to have my discipleship convey the full surrender of being a slave to Jesus. I pray for grace to embody it in the way Jesus did. To the extent that John Mac Arthur's book "Slave" encourages this I am grateful. To the extent he used the alleged "cover up" to sell books and take a swipe at culturally relevant expressions of being a slave of Christ I am disappointed.

Movement

This blog entry will cover the sermon from January 2, 2011. I have included the essay by Tim Keller on "Movement." At the end of the essay you will see three questions I have added. If you interact about this essay please include your thought concerning at least one of the questions I have posed.  ~ PKP.

Ministry Movements – Tim Keller

The word "movement" is often used to describe a kind of vital, dynamic human organization, in order to distinguish it from what are called "institutions." Both of these words can have broader meanings, but for the sake of this discussion let us define them in the following ways.
A movement is marked by an attractive, clear, unifying vision for the future together with a strong set of values or beliefs. The content of the vision must be compelling and clear so that others can grasp it readily. It must not be so esoteric or difficult that only a handful of people can articulate it. Instead, it must be something that all members of the movement can understand and pass along to others. By contrast, "institutionalized" organizations are held together by rules, regulations, and procedures, not by a shared vision.

This unifying vision is so compelling that it takes pride of place. First, the vision leads to sacrificial commitment. Individuals put the vision ahead of their own interests and comfort. They are willing to work without high compensation, power, or perks. The satisfaction of realized goals is their main compensation. There is no more practical index of whether you have a movement or not. If the leader is making all the sacrifices, you don't.

Second, the vision leads to generous flexibility. Institutionalized organizations are very turf conscious. Members are suspicious of anyone encroaching on their area of responsibility. Positions and power have been hard-won and jealously guarded. This is done by slavish devotion to rules of procedure, accreditation, and tenure.  In movements, however, the accomplishment of the vision is more important than power and position. So people are willing to make allies, be flexible, and cooperate with anyone sharing the basic vision and values.
Third, the vision leads to innovativeness. Institutions are organized more vertically, where ideas from "below" are unwelcome. Movements are flatter because the commonly shared vision unifies and empowers. The vision is what matters - so anyone with a good idea about how to accomplish it is welcome to give it. Ideas flow out of the whole organization, top to bottom, which leads to greater creativity.

Finally, a movement is marked by spontaneous generativity. Spontaneous combustion means energy generated from within - a conflagration without the need for external ignition. A movement is able to generate its own resources, recruit its own new members and participants, and (especially) raise up its own new leaders. This does not mean that movements have no formal training programs. Rather, it means that first, the vision of the movement (especially as its content is disseminated) attracts people with leadership potential, and, secondly, that the work of the movement provides opportunities that reveal emerging leaders through real-life experience and then prepares them for the next level of leadership in the movement. Denominations or church networks that always have to recruit ministers and staff that were raised up in other environments, and that attract them mainly with good compensation, do not show signs of being a movement.

David Hurst, a Harvard scholar, summed up how movements become institutions this way - vision becomes strategy, roles become tasks, teams become structure, networks become organizations, recognition becomes compensation. It is wrong, however, to draw such a hard line between the two forms. It is typical in the Christian movement literature to be highly critical of "institutionalism," for good reason. But the impression is left that all authority, central control, and formal processes are bad for ministry. The reality is more complex.
It is natural for new churches and ministries to try very hard to stay informal, non-codified, and non-centralized. But part of what makes a movement dynamic is a unified vision, and that always requires some codification and control. As time goes on, to maintain the main engine of movement-dynamics - a unified vision - a ministry must adopt some of the aspects of institutions. A strong movement, then, occupies the difficult space between being a free-wheeling organism and a disciplined organization.  A movement that refuses to take on some organizational characteristics - authority, tradition, unity of belief, and quality control - will fragment and dissipate. A movement that does not also resist the inevitable tendency toward complete institutionalization will lose its vitality and effectiveness as well. The job of the movement leader is to steer the ship safely between these two opposite perils.

Application Questions from Keller Essay and Sermon on Gospel Movement by P. Ken (please note that the questions were added by P. Ken Prater)

1. “A movement is marked by an attractive, clear, unifying vision for the future together with a strong set of values or beliefs” (second paragraph, pg. 1). Allow me to suggest two applications:

·        In Romans 8:28-30 the Apostle Paul gives us the “attractive, clear, unifying vision” of Jesus for His church. This vision is going to be completed by God in such a way that He is worshiped forever by those who come to “glorification” through the power of God who works all things together for good.

·        Acts 2:42-47 illustrates how the church presently experiences a measure of the “glorification” that Paul writes about. We know that God must empower us to do this work but we also know that He expects us to do the work. In light of this consider these questions:

-         If by “a strong set of values or beliefs” Keller means convictions or principles to live by – what are ours? If movement is going to take place it must be marked by something. Can you articulate your gospel convictions? What would you say are the “gospel convictions” of Durkeetown?

2. “The vision leads to sacrificial commitment” (third paragraph); “to generous flexibility” (fourth paragraph); “to innovativeness” (fifth paragraph).

·        Re-read the third, fourth and fifth paragraphs and answer the following questions:

-         Which is the most difficult for you personally to live with? What will require the most change from you so that vision can move?

-         Where is Durkeetown (as a collective Body) most vulnerable? If we don’t make a course correction how will it impact the ability of vision to move?  

-         Where do you see “sacrificial commitment, generous flexibility and innovativeness” in the narrative from Acts 2:42-47 and 4:23-37?

3. P. Ken mentioned the movement of the gospel in the global, local and individual context. How can Durkeetown be more effective in being part of the global, local and individual movement of the gospel? Write down and share some practical ways to do this so we can benefit from your thoughts.