Advent

As November drifts into December, it's time once again to prepare our hearts for Christmas through the Advent season. During our corporate gatherings at Reality, this means wreaths, candles, colors, readings, symbols, and other means to dive into the rich stories and symbols of Christ's birth. However, in an attempt to connect the meaning of Advent to our life as servants and missionaries in everyday life, here is a great resource worth trying.

25 Days of Giving - Reality LA

Creepy Hand

Ever since REALITY moved into our new location almost 3 years ago (and our sign became a bit more prominent in downtown Olympia), I have heard a variety of people's reaction to it. Generally speaking, it is never good.

I have had many kind souls offer me a educational seminar on the historical facts of the crucifixion- that the Romans nailed people to the cross through the wrist and not the hand. I have had people call it the "creepy hand" and blog about the mysterious church in the Carnegie Building. And I have even had one woman yell at me that I should be ashamed of myself for displaying a "violent, graphic, and offensive" image. She suggested that we should go after a much more loving image than someone being brutally killed. I tried to explain to her that the crucifixion marks in the hand of Jesus is actually the most loving image I know. She didn't like that so much. So, you can only imagine why I typically brace myself for some heated conversation whenever the topic gets brought up.

I tell you all that because of this...

Last Thursday, a woman came to the church building during the middle of the day asking to talk to a pastor. She had recently moved to the area, was in the process of securing work, and had a number of significant challenges facing her and her almost teenage son. After letting her talk and hearing her story for quite a while, I finally asked the question, "If you just moved here, how did you come to find us? Do you know someone that is part of our church family?" Then she replied, "Well, you are never going to believe this" And with that she started to search through her pockets to show me something.

Initially, I wasn't sure what she was going to pull out. Being downtown has prepared me to expect just about anything. But, after checking a few pockets, she pulled out her cell phone and she showed me a picture she had taken. She said, "Back in March, when I used to live in Arizona, I took this picture and felt as though there was something very special about it." Then, as she turned the phone to show me, I saw that it was a picture of a hand with a shadow of light directly in the middle of the palm. She then went on to say, "I was walking downtown one day and I came across your sign. As soon as I saw your logo, I knew that I had to come check it out and that it would be a good place."

As I heard that, I chuckled and thought, "Score one for the 'creepy hand.'"

4 Questions

As we have been re-visioning the direction of REALITY over the past few years, we have come to find these four identities to be central to who are as a church: Family, Servants, Disciples, and Missionaries/Ambassadors. Instead of tethering our people to core values (which are usually only spoken of and rarely lived) or a catchy mission statement (which may change and people tend to forget), we are calling our church body to live out the identities that Jesus has secured for us on the cross. These are not just ideals that we strive to attain- these are realities that Jesus has already accomplished on the cross. By His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, we ARE His children (family), we ARE His servants, we ARE learners who follow in His way, and we ARE a sent people to declare and demonstrate Him in the world. (Thanks to Soma Communities for helping bring us back to Scripture on that).

The only problem is that we fail to live out the fullness of who Christ has made us to be. What I have found in my own missional community and in the those of our church, there is a need for constant course correction in these as we tend to excel in 1 or 2 of these identities while neglecting the others that are most uncomfortable for us.

Here are some questions to help you see where there might be a need for some gospel correction in your life and community:

1. To Whom Do You Belong? Who knows you? Who has a right to call you out in your sin? With whom do you practice the "one another's" of the Bible? Who knows it is their job to remind you of our Father's love, grace, and affection? To whom are you accountable?

2. With Whom Do You Learn? Who do you process the truth of Scripture with? Who can you safely ask questions to and find solid answers from? Are there people in your life to make sure that you are a "doer of the Word" and not just someone who has made learning an end in itself? Are there people who are helping you be a disciple who makes disciples?

3. For Whom Do You Live? Who is on the receiving end of your time, talent, and treasure? Is the majority of your life built around yourself or specific people that you can bless? What do your conversations, calendar, and checkbook reveal?

4. To Whom Are You Sent? Are there people who do not know Jesus who are a regular part of your life? Who is the Spirit leading you to intentionally engage with the truth of the gospel both in word and action? Who are you making disciples of right now? Will they be able to make disciples of others?

If you can't name specific people, chances are you missing out on a dimension of healthy spiritual living that God has created you for.

The Goal of a Sermon

Recently, I have been reading through a book that I picked up a while ago but haven't gotten the chance to make much headway in it- Preaching & Preachers by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones. Here's a thought that I am continuing to work out into practice.

Any true definition of preaching must say that that man is there to deliver the message of God, a message from God to those people.... In other words he is not there merely to talk to them, he is not there to entertain them. He is there- and I want to emphasize this- to do something to those people; he is there to produce results of various kinds, he is there to influence people. He is not merely to influence a part of them; he is not only to influence their minds, or only their emotions, or merely to bring pressure to bear upon their wills and to induce them to some kind of activity. He is there to deal with the whole person; and his preaching is meant to affect the whole person at the very centre of life. Preaching should make such a difference to a man who is listening that he is never the same again.... It does something for the soul of man, for the whole of the person, the entire man; it deals with him in a vital and radical manner.

This is the kind of approach that Tim Keller describes as "Preaching to the Heart." And, if I am honest about the evolution of my own preaching, it is something that I have been mindful of for only the past 3 years or so. When I go back and listen to some of my old sermons (which is torturous for any pastor), I find that I often relied upon moralistic imperatives that sought to induce change by leaning hard on the will (3 reasons why sin is bad and you need to stop sinning).

Now, if this becomes the goal of preaching- preaching to affect the whole person at the very centre of life- then my points, my stories, my alliterations lose significance for they have no inherent power to change people in the heart. Often I hear pastors lament that their people don't remember their points a week after they are preached. If I am honest, I don't remember them either, and I am the one writing/saying them. But, if in the preaching event, the truth of the gospel is brought to bear and people are changed on the spot by the power of Jesus, then the exact phrasing a week later is really insignificant.

In fact, I agree with Keller when he says that he knows the Spirt is really working in his sermons when people put down their pens and stop from their note-taking. It is a good sign that the person has just moved from the transmission of information to a moment with God.

Next time you listen to a sermon, I hope it results in transformation that leaves your soul changed.

Back From the Dead

As of late last night, I am officially trying to do the impossible: bring this blog back from the dead. For the longest time, I have been locked out of this site because I had forgotten my password and had set up the account with an e-mail that I no longer have access to. But, after exhausting a long list of possible username/password possibilities, I cracked the code and regained access.

So... here's to a little "resurrection" of Resurrection Living.