“My God, my God, why…?”

Posted on December 16, 2012 by theoldadam

from  Pastor Mark Anderson’s Daily Devotional blog site

_

December 15, 2012

_

Someone once said that in any community you can name there is enough suffering going on to “freeze the blood”. Suffering, after all, is an all-purpose word that covers everything from toothaches to the Holocaust. When the sum total of all forms of suffering are considered, it is too much to contemplate. Most of the time, for the sake of our own psychic survival, we manage to keep the sheer magnitude of the suffering around us out of mind. Most of us, for example, do not walk around fixated on the fact that more people die in a single day in Africa from starvation and Aids than all the casualties on 9-11.

But every so often the questions of suffering and evil, which always lie close at hand, are forced upon all of us in a way we cannot ignore. 9-11 forced the question upon us as Islamic terrorists unleashed their hatred. Most recently we have been confronted with the slaughter of innocent school children together with some of the adults who worked with them. As the story unfolded we learned that the young man responsible had also taken the life of his mother. When it was over he had also taken his own life.

In a world of interrelated suffering and where global communication makes us all participants, how are we to speak of God’s involvement in this interrelated web of suffering? Why doesn’t God do something? And if intervention is not going to be His way, then why not just obliterate the entire planet and put us all out of our misery? These are questions being discussed this morning, world-wide, as I sit here writing. 

These questions of human suffering and evil will accompany us to our last day. At the same time our Christian faith does not leave us completely in the dark where the ‘why’ question regarding God is concerned. We do not receive iron clad answers, but we do receive the material with which we may profitably struggle with the question, for struggle with it we must.

The Book of Genesis tells of the flood which destroyed a sinful humanity. When it was over, God made a promise that He would never take such action again. In other words, God imposed upon Himself a restraint, a limit. No matter how evil humanity was, God’s way with the world would not be to overpower it with force. The innocent suffering and death of Jesus are the clearest expression of God’s intent to enter into and participate in the suffering of the world. This way of facing suffering and evil, the Bible tells us, has broken the power of evil, anticipating the end of suffering. Still, human freedom will be misused and abused and certain kinds of suffering will be the result.

The ‘Why’ questions that come out of such suffering do not all run in the direction of God. Asking ‘why’ can also serve to mobilize human efforts to address the conditions and circumstances that resulted in such terrible suffering and death. For there are many instances of suffering that have little mystery attached to them. The causes may be discerned and solutions reached. This latest episode will undoubtedly cause us to examine many issues: school safety, the responsible care and use of firearms, being alert to those who exhibit the symptoms of anti-social, destructive behavior, and so forth.

There is also the question of what we do with suffering. How do we handle it? Do we simply shake our fist at the heavens, lamenting in grief and bitterness? There is a place for that, no doubt. At the same time, suffering can take us outside of ourselves and into the suffering of others. Suffering can make us more aware of the fragile, vulnerable character of life and motivate us to stand with others in their suffering while seeking ways to alleviate it.

There are no risk-free zones in this life. Suffering can, and will be a companion. As we ask the tough questions of God and of ourselves it may be helpful to look again at the Cross and the man there who also cried out, ‘Why?’ For there we see not only a fragile man who walked in faith with God, we also see a fragile God, who walks in faith with men and women and who, in the deepest sense, knows and participates in our suffering.

 _

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

_

______________________________________

_

Thank you, Pastor Mark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_

 

Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson's blog | Leave a comment »

“I can’t wait ’till Christmas is over!”

Posted on December 14, 2012 by theoldadam

3066583897_5f419fe36b_z

_

With all the hustle and bustle and pressures of the Christmas season, we might want to look at the opportunities that may lie just around the next line for the cashier:

_

click > “I can’t wait ’till Christmas is over! “

_

_

_________________________________________________________

_

Thank you, Pastor Mark for your midweek Advent sermon for 12-12-12.

_

And thanks to flickr and Lindsay_NYC, for the photo.

_

Filed under: Advent, Pastor Mark Anderson, Sermon | Leave a comment »

Baptism as a ticket to Heaven

Posted on December 11, 2012 by theoldadam

3636622066_a03cecf986_z 

_
Is your Baptism a ticket to Heaven?

_

Listen to Pastor Mark’s class where he discusses this notion and what Baptism actually is, and does:

__

_

click > Baptism as your ticket into Heaven

_

__________________________________________________________________________________

_

Thank you, Pastor Mark.

And thanks to flickr and sbengineer, for the photo.

_

Filed under: Baptism, Baptism as a ticket to Heaven, Pastor Mark Anderson, Pastor's class | Leave a comment »

1st Peter 3:18

Posted on December 8, 2012 by theoldadam

680c60_4e8345b43e57450b679f111543962d18

_

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God,”

_

December 7, 2012    From Pastor Mark Anderson’s Daily Devotional blog site

_

The great offense of the Christian faith is this: there is no other God than the crucified man Jesus. The meaning of the word God for the Christian faith means one thing and one thing only, the person of Jesus. For human beings Jesus is the final word of self-revelation, self-definition and self-affirmation of God. If God is the subject, the Crucified Jesus is the lone predicate.

The current wild objections to this run all the way back to the jeering bystanders who stood and watched Him die. “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” He didn’t, of course, and this was proof enough for them that all God talk where Jesus was concerned was bunk. It never occurred to them that the deepest, clearest revelation of God for humans was right there in the ripped flesh, blood and death. It also hasn’t occurred to many in the churches.

Much of the onward and upward religion of today has ruled out this stark definition in favor of what people have always clamored for: an onward and upward, positive, uplifting, fulfilling and glory-filled God. Churches everywhere are throwing ladders against the walls of heaven, scrambling to free themselves from the bondage, suffering and confusion of the world, storm the halls of glory and grab a piece of divinity. But all this does is diminish God’s very self-revelation, the place where He wants to be known, and render the cross of Jesus useless. 

The Crucified Jesus must be the singular point of contact for us. This because there is no pre-existing point of contact in us, no free will that desires God, no spark of divinity which God fans like a sad ember into a roaring flame of faith. We must be met where we actually are, in the utter deadness of sin with no possibility in ourselves, I repeat, no possibility in ourselves at all to regain life and freedom from the powers of sin and death. God must become sin and death for us in order that He may be life for us.

This means that the Christian life has nothing whatsoever to do with the glory and praise religion of God seeking. In this life there will be no heaven ahead of time. Jesus did not die between two gilded candles on an altar, or in the midst of a hyper-ventilating praise band. He died between two criminals like you and me. That is still where he wants to be found, in the company of real sinners distinguished only by the knowledge of their great need.

For the Gospel of the crucified God grounds the Christian in the real world of hurts and hopes with our eyes wide open to things as they are. The Gospel of the Crucified God releases us from delusional spiritual pursuits that we may be what we were intended to be; creatures who are content to be engaged in the practical affairs of daily living in that radical cross-carrying faith that is content to entrust the things of God, to God, expecting nothing, as we await with Advent longing the future that God has promised.

 

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

_

____________________________________________________________________________________________

 _

Thank you, Pastor Mark.

_

Filed under: 1st Peter 3:18, Pastor Mark Anderson's blog | 2 Comments »

(continued) Part 2 – Baptism, and some ways to speak about it out there, in the culture.

Posted on December 7, 2012 by theoldadam

7075086097_a25e1078cd

_

Here’s the 2nd part of Pastor Mark’s class on Baptism, and how to speak with people about religion in a way that hits home for them.

Some very good ideas here. Love to hear your thoughts on what is presented, and if you have some ideas, as well:

_

_

Click here > Baptism frees from the self-justification project

_

________________________________________________________________________________________

_

Thanks, Pastor Mark.

_

And thanks to flickr and RYCF, for the photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_

_

_

Filed under: Baptism, Pastor Mark Anderson, Pastor's class, speaking Hope to the culture | 4 Comments »

Baptism. And connecting with a culture that does not value the things of God.

Posted on December 4, 2012 by theoldadam

 29739172_cacfc1ff5a_z

_

Pastor Mark teaches on Baptism.  And speaks about why so many in society, AND in the church, do not value it. *

_

This 1st part of the class highlights some of the existing challenges. The next part (that I will try and put up within a few days) focuses more on what we can do about connecting with a culture that does not want what we have to offer.

_

_

 Click > Baptism. And talking to people about things that really matter.

_

Pastor Mark’s blog post for today, dovetails nicely with this class:

http://www.lightofthemaster.net/apps/blog/galatians

___

__

*This is not to say that we believe that those Christians who do not value Baptism are not Christian. 

_

____________________________________________________________________________________________

_

Thank you for the class, Pastor Mark.

_

And thanks to flickr and Elvert Barnes, for the photo.

_

__

Filed under: Baptism, Connecting with a culture that does not want us, Pastor Mark Anderson, Pastor's class | Leave a comment »

What would you tell someone ‘about your church’?

Posted on December 3, 2012 by theoldadam

962967597_72037ccd59_z

__

What would you say to people?  To those out there who are being had by the world, the flesh, and the devil ?

_

Pastor Mark has a few suggestions for us in his 1st Sunday in Advent sermon:

_

(under 18 min. in length)

_

  Click >  Tell us about your church

_

_

_________________________________________________________________________________

_

Thank you, Pastor Mark.

_

And thanks to flickr and worsum 1968, for the photo.

_

_

Filed under: Advent, Pastor Mark Anderson | Leave a comment »

The Reformation’s truly radical understanding of the Christian faith

Posted on November 30, 2012 by theoldadam

__

This is an excerpt from Pastor Mark’s class this last Sunday.

__

Good stuff.  To any newcomers…hang onto your hat!

_

Listen > The radical nature of the reformer’s understanding 

(it’s only 16 minutes long)

Or…

_

_

_______________________________________________________________________

_

Thanks, Pastor Mark.

_

Thanks to flickr and Jon Wu, for the photo.

_

__

Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson, Pastor's class, Reformation radicality | 1 Comment »

“The Wounding Church” by Howard Nowlan

Posted on November 29, 2012 by theoldadam

_
__
“We limp in faith from the bed of our death, through the blood of the cross, to the the joy of Christ’s resurrection”.   Robert Capon Farrar.
_
_
_I watched a two-hour long documentary last night on the growth and teaching of the emergent church. The analysis was telling, not only in its accuracy with regards to where the likes of this phenomenon has departed from orthodox theology and practice, but equally, if unintentionally, as to why so many have made such an exit from mainstream Christianity. Amidst the sharp critique of some (not all) of those defining the painful declarations of de-constructive spirituality, was a clear adherence to the kind of theology which internally wounds the church as much as any external intrusion of alien (non-christian) approaches to God.It’s usually pretty easy to unmask teachings which present a God or faith which is contrary to the character and relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to His handiwork, but what is equally, if not far more dangerous, is those welcomed within the very fold and ministry of the faith who are effectively tearing down the very core of God’s redemptive work in Christ (justification by Grace alone through Faith alone) by a seeking to re-establish the place of the Law over and above the Gospel.Sometimes this happens simply out of ignorance. I recently attended a service where a young student minister was preaching in such a fashion, that I don’t  think he was even really aware of what he was doing. It made my blood boil to hear it, but I know that there are others in that church who will work hard to take and keep people beyond such folly, so that is something (and quite rare right now), but watching the documentary made me realize afresh why it is that so many have been so scarred and bruised amidst Christianity- not by Christ, but by the church- that they have had to go elsewhere to try and find something better! The reason why such movements begin and grow is because of the great numbers of people who have gone to ‘orthodox’ churches and been thrashed again, and again, and again by nothing but a ‘gospel’ of law which has been emptied of the riches of Christ and God’s unmerited mercy and love towards us.When the Gospel is ‘clipped’ of this primary, essential message of the redemptive work of God in Christ, then all religious belief and practice becomes nothing more than our seeking to be valid before a god of our own making, and most certainly not the living God who justifies the wicked.We can indeed become grieved when men profess a faith which denies Christ as seen in His own words or those of His Apostles and Prophets, and rightly so, but should we not be all the more deeply anguished when, in those very churches which deem themselves to be genuinely ‘christian’, the life-giving bread of the Gospel, the person, of Jesus Christ, is not broken and shared, but in truth withheld from the very souls which are there to feed upon Him – to meet with God with a broken and contrite heart and to eat of His grace in their time of need? Is that not the greatest evil of all – to leave men and women outside of that mercy and fellowship when that is why we are here… to hold out that word of life?

We simply cannot deal in many of our churches today with the manner of ‘Lordship’ evidenced in Christ Himself in the upper room at the last supper – removing His clothing and girding Himself in a towel (dressing Himself as a slave, as the Living Bible so succinctly puts it) to wash the feet of those who were His friends – those who, in spite of all the failings and denials, He loved totally, and would give His life to save just a few short hours later. 

This gospel means we totally and entirely saved “not by our successes but in and through our failures… Our so-called ‘successes’ cannot be saved – they are nothing but suits of obsolete armor, ineffective moral and spiritual contraptions we have climbed into to avoid facing the thing which can save us – our totally naked vulnerability before Jesus, for it is the person He lives and dies for, not the suit we contrive to wear” (Farrar – Parables of Judgement).

Is this the God with whom we have to do in our Sunday services, our bible studies, our daily lives, because if we are not focused upon this God, seen in the incarnation and life of His only begotten Son, then we really have nothing to say  – THAT is the reality.

The pain of the emergent church is great, but that is primarily because it shouts so loudly regarding the failure of mainline Christianity to ‘speak’ the truth in love, evidenced in God’s reconciling work in Jesus Christ. Because of that failing, many of us who, miraculously still attend a church, know only too well of such wounding, and can only hope and pray that even as such bruised reeds and smoldering flaxes, we can seek to point to true grace in these days of such great need.

__
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_
Thank you, Howard.
_
Howard’s blogsite is Rebel by Nature, Righteous by Force
__
_
___
__

Filed under: Howard Nowlan | 7 Comments »

How is the musical form, the ‘fugue’, like ‘the Cross’?

Posted on November 26, 2012 by theoldadam

__

From  Pastor Mark Anderson’s Daily Devotional blog site

__

_

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

       –  1 Corinthians 2:2

_

November 26, 2012

_

Johann Sebastian Bach is known for his mastery of the ‘fugue’, a musical form built around one, recurring theme. Bach’s  ‘Art  of the Fugue’  is a collection of brilliantly constructed fugues that exemplify the form. So much so that they can be played by virtually any instrumental combination with satisfying effect. These fugues can be quite complex. At the same time they never lose sight of that one, central theme.

 

Bach offers an insight into the nature and purpose of theology, of the Christian witness. Like the winding counterpoint of the fugue, the great theme of the Cross may be amplified in any number of voices. Indeed, it should be. But if that theme is broken or lost, the composition wanders aimlessly. The composition is disharmonious and ultimately pointless. 

 

One can sense today the widespread confusion regarding the Christian faith. There are many voices but the counterpoint often lacks harmony and focus. When the message of the Cross falls out of the center of the Christian witness disharmony results. St. Paul was among the first Christians that we know of to tap the podium in an effort to get the attention of the members of the orchestra who were wandering off into themes of their own making. He heard, as we can today, elements of the church that were losing their voice for the Cross. 

 

This is not to say that the Cross is not widely talked about today. But much of that talk “spins” the Cross to be a moment of divine identification with us poor victims of whatever injustice we feel has come upon us. Poor Jesus was a victim, too. So He can relate. He can identify with us and we with Him. But this is not the message of the cross. This is not the theme  The fact is that the Cross reveals that no one was interested in identifying with the gracious God in Jesus. He died alone and despised. “Weep not for me”, Jesus said,. “but for yourselves and your children.” 

 

This, then, is the great fugal theme of the faith. On the Cross God seals the exits so that there is only one way out. That way is the crucified and Risen Lord Himself. The Cross does not identify with us. It indicts us. At the same time, the great theme of the Cross rings with the sound of pure grace. “Father, forgive them”, he said. If the cross indicts us in our godlessness, even more does it reveal God precisely where He means to be found, in the suffering and dying Jesus where God moves against us and for us. 

 

The Cross is where the Truth is told, revealed, where God is known, where godless ones like you and me are brought to an end and invited, commanded to resin up our bows, break out the trumpets, xylophones, clarinets, electric guitars, kazoos or whatever voice we have and join the theme! Plumb it to the depths, soar to its’ heights with the madness and reckless abandon that can only come from those who know they are as good as dead, and yet so very much alive through our Crucified and Risen Lord!

_

 

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

_

_

_____________________________________________________________________________

_

Thank you, Pastor Mark Anderson.

_

__

_

Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson's blog, The central theme of the Cross | Leave a comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »