Christ Is Victorious

Most Recent Sermons from WestSide Presbyterian (Seattle) can be heard at https://www.wspc.org (4 Messages "Finding Joy in Difficult Times" Philippians & What Christ Thinks of the Church (Revelation.) Preaching Again 1/8 and 1/22/2012 Regular Posts Follow.

A Thanksgiving Meditation

 

Hear O People of God

 

Living as the People of God

 

Living As The People of God 2_

 

Pentecost-The New Wind of the Holy Spirit

 

The 10 Commandments as a the Way to Freedom

 

Stewardship- No More Needed

 

Joshua- Be Strong and Courageous

 

It Really Is All About Following Jesus

 

I Believe in Jesus Christ
 

http://www.gracehb.info/bryanburton/  (Video Link to Reformation Sunday Sermon Preached at Grace Lutheran Church in Huntington Beach, California pastored by my friend and colleague Rev. Chris Tweitmann who introduces me at the beginning of the video).

You may also listen to sermons I have preached at West Side Presbyterian Church in West Seattle where I am currently serving as a parish associate (go to sermons at http://www.wspc.org).

I offer these for my blog readers who have requested it. I will continue to post more in the near future. As one who loves preaching, I am humbled and honored everytime the invitation to preach comes to me. I have been blessed to preach to many great congregations through the years and I look forward to what lies ahead in the future.

For me, Karl Barth spoke profoundly to the call of Christian preaching when he wrote:

But, some might say, how can we theologians come to speak God’s Word in our words? Or, some congregation might say, how can we come to hear God’s Word in the words of this or that pastor who has nothing to offer us, or in the words of all pastors, none of whom we trust? … If we expected to hear God's Word more, we would hear it more even in the weak and perverted sermons. The statement that there was nothing in it for me should often read that I was not ready to let anything be said to me. What is needed here is repentance by both pastors and congregations…. This does not mean that congregations must say Yea and Amen to all the words of their reverend pastors. Pastors are sinners. They are unprofitable servants with all their words even though they do all that they are under obligation to do (cf. Luke 17:10). Nevertheless, they are servants of the Most High (cf. Dan. 3:26). They speak in his name. They carry out his commission, which is a reality even today. No matter how well or how badly they do it, this in the presupposition of listening to them…. They know fear and trembling whenever they mount the pulpit. They are crushed by the feeling of being poor human beings who are probably more unworthy than all those who sit before them. Nevertheless, precisely then it is still a matter of God’s Word. The Word of God that they have to proclaim is what judges them, but this does not alter the fact – indeed, it means – that they have to proclaim it. This is the presupposition of their proclaiming it.”

Karl Barth, The Göttingen Dogmatics, Vol. 1, 33-35.

PCUSA Evangelical Identity: Yesterday and Today Guided by JI Packer and NT Wright

 In light of all that is going on in the denomination of which I am ordained, the PCUSA, I sat down and read with great interest ANGLICAN EVANGELICAL IDENTITY: Yesterday and Today by JI Packer and NT Wright. My reason for engaging this text was to ask the question as whether there significance as to how the Evangelical Anglicans within the worldwide Anglican Communion and Evangelical Presbyterians within the PCUSA and the worldwide Presbyterian Church addressed their future. The book says that it seeks to ask: "What does it mean to be an Anglican? And Evangelical? Can these two identities be held together with integrity? Where the church seems to be fragmenting, how should we relate to the rest of the Anglican Church?" I and many others are asking the same questions in relationship to the PCUSA, especially after the gathering in Orlando last week and with so many seeking to discern what this relationship will look like in the near and long-term future.

Thirty years ago two influential Anglican thinkers, J.I. Packer and N.T. Wright, addressed these questions in short and provocative Latimer Studies. Their work remains stimulating and important, and is republished here for a new generation, with fresh prefaces from each author reflecting on recent developments. "The Evangelical Anglican Identity Problem" (Packer, 1978) addressed Anglican evangelicals who were unsure whether it was warrantable to continue as Anglicans. "Evangelical Anglican Identity: The Connection Between Bible, Gospel & Church"(Wright, 1980) builds upon Packer's study, addressing Evangelical attitudes to the church. "A Kind of Noah's Ark?" (Packer, 1981) had in view clergy and laity who were baffled and discouraged by the continually broadening spectrum of tolerated unorthodoxies within the Church of England, and in particular the hesitations felt by young men called to be pastors who were unsure whether it made sense to pursue their vocation as Anglicans. All three pieces were thus tracts for the times, but are astonishingly relevant today. J. I. Packer is Board of Governors' Professor of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is one of the most important evangelical theologians of the last fifty years. N. T. Wright was the Bishop of Durham and now professor at St Andrews University in Scotland, and a highly respected New Testament scholar, publishing at both academic and popular levels.

While it must be admitted that there are obvious differences between the Anglican and Presbyterian situations, the book raises some excellent points for discussion and further engagements. From the outset, the more recent reflections by Packer and Wright have great import for us as Presbyterians. Packer argues that the two main issues which have brought us to this point in our respective histories seem to be around the issues of sexuality and the convergence/plurality/relativism of all religions. For him, the future lies in "thinking globally rather than domestically" and secondly in "thinking of the future rather than the past" and thirdly in "thinking theocentrically/christocentrically rather than institutionally." Wright takes a totally different approach and suggests that Evangelical Anglicans and other Evangelicals within mainline churches should first appreciate their "membership in a worldwide fellowship"; secondly, that there is a need to understand that the issues evangelicals face have shifted and particularly around the issues of theology and ethics; thirdly, that the unifying factors of evangelicals in the mainlines that once kept us together have eroded and disappeared, particularly around the styles and modes of public worship; fourthly, that there has been a significant shift away from how leadership has been viewed in Anglicanism (the role of bishops) and Presbyterianism (whether representative (presbyterian) or populist (congregational) democracy centered upon elders/presbyters). Wright concludes that "we need to pray and seek an Evangelical Anglicanism/Presbyterianism Identity that is "rethought once more around the Bible, the Gospel and the Church, always rooted in prayer, and always should be. God is God. Jesus is Lord. The Holy Spirit is powerful and unpredictable" and that "the only identity that really matters is that of the humble Christian holding the world and the church before God in earnest and fervent prayer and ready then to work when, where, how and with whom God directs."

Packer and Wright then go on to explore THE EVANGELICAL IDENTITY PROBLEM. First, Packer's perspective. He calls evangelicals to take seriously its attitudes towards doctrine and the church by reminding us that we need to have a deep commitment to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to the Church of Jesus Christ. Secondly, that we are committed to a practical, pure, unifying and rational witness which reflects our fundamental convictions of the supremacy of Holy Scripture, the majesty of Jesus Christ, the Lordship of the Holy Spirit, the necessity of conversion, the priority of evangelism and the importance of true Christian fellowship centered upon the triune God.

Then Wright speaks of "the connection between Bible, Gospel and Church in relationship to the problem of evangelical identity" within the mainline church. He speaks of a tale of two circles as to how evangelicals within the mainline churches perceive themselves. First, is that of Dogmatic Exclusivistswho see themselves as separate entities in relationship to the denominations to which they 'belong'. Second, is that of Establishment Inclusivists who see themselves as one party within the denomination. Third, is that of Idealistic Constitutionalists who see themselves (in the case of Presbyterianism contra Anglicanism) as Presbyterian Evangelicals rather than Evangelical Presbyterians. Fourth and lastly, is that of Contemporary Realists who see themselves as being "in the denomination but not of the denomination".

After engaging several issues between evangelicals and their place in the mainline, Wright returns to ask the question "Evangelical, Anglican/Presbyterian...and Confused?"Wright says that it is absolutely necessary for evangelicals to engage in the issue of how "the Biblical Gospel is to be rethought creatively by every generation of Christians, not to undercut what we already know but to develop and mature our understanding of it [and that] our aim will be to encourage our fellow [Presbyterians] to join us in a continual reformation so as to grow into the full truth of Bible, Gospel and Church in such a way that the [Presbyterian] circle may be enlarged and re-centered."

Packer concludes the book with the question "A Kind of Noah's Ark?: A Commitment to Comprehensiveness" which I found to be fascinating if not at times troubling as to the future of being an evangelical within the PCUSA, where he seeks to define Evangelical Identity within the category of Anglican/Presbyterian Comprehensiveness and in terms of "Virtue or Vice? A Likely Story? and The Hard Made Decision." Here Packer says that evangelicals should "see themselves as holding in trust for the rest of the church a heritage of truth and insight, perceptions of reality and duty, and traditions of stockpiled wisdom and spiritual experience which form part of the wealth laid up in Jesus Christ for all."

Packer saying that the fundamental truths to which evangelicals are identified and defined are:

1.) The Supremacy of Scripture. 2.) The Majesty of Jesus Christ. 3.) The Lordship of the Holy Spirit. 4.) The Necessity of Conversion. 5.) The Priority of Evangelism and Mission. 6.) The Fellowship of Faithful Believers.

He then asks whether or not evangelicals should pursue  an "unlimited comprehensiveness" within the mainline (Can we just not all get along?) or a "withdrawal" (come out from them and be separate). To answer this within the Anglicanism he looks to Charles Simeon (1759-1836) and JC Ryle (1816-1900) both of whom valued the evangelical witness within mainline Anglicanism.

It is Packer's challenge in the last paragraph of the book that is most telling..after speaking of being an "Anglican by choice" and recognizing the "ongoing doctrinal conflict" and a deep "sense of proportion" and perspective ("By God's mercy the Church though disorderly is far from dead and there is no solid reason to suppose that those who contend for the historic Gospel are fighting a losing battle.")...he concluded that "The argument that I have been using to justify the hard-made decision of allegiance is one of principle, namely that the way in which tolerance obliges you to cope with the doctrinal disorder is, though taxing, the best way both for you and the Church as a whole; and this argument does not draw any of its forces from rosy hopes for the future...particularly on the the doctrinal/ethical front I do in fact entertain rosy hopes [for] all 'reduced Christianities' will no doubt always be with us and it is not my though that a good heave now would rid us of them for all time. I simply urge that the way of dealing with them which has been described will continue to be the right and proper/faithful way, however angry and upset their existence makes you feel and whether the Church seems for the moment to be gaining doctrinal/ethical purity or losing it. The motto of Oak Hill Theological College [in England where Packer once taught] is "Be Right and Persist" and that is the practical summons to which, as it seems to me, is the right one."

Much to think and pray about. Again I am grateful for those who have fought the good fight and sought to live out a Christian Faith seeking Understanding and being faithful to the evangelical, ecumenical and orthodox faith of Christianity in its Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant forms. Would value your insights either from within or outside Presbyterianism.

 

A Prayer for The New Year 2012

As we head into a New Year, I was grateful to receive the following prayer from Leighton Ford. I wanted to share it:

Lord, give me I pray:
A remembering heart for the things that have happened
An attentive heart to what I have learned
A forgiving heart for what has hurt
A grateful heart for what has blessed
A brave heart for what may be required
An open heart to all that may come
A trusting heart to go forth with You
A loving heart for You and all your creation
A longing heart for the reconciliation of all things.
A willing heart to say “Yes” to what You will.
Leighton Ford

Just When I Thought the PCUSA was Bad...Check Out the Orthodox Priests Fighting at The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

Friends,

I thought things were really bad among us Presbyterians in the PCUSA, but the Orthodox Church has even greater problems as the following link shows...REALLY? Christian Priests fighting at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

 My friends in the PCUSA, there is hope for us yet! Check this out as it has been shown all over the world. What does this say about the unity of the Church?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvGmPsYmcpI

Can anyone say/pray John 17? Your Thoughts are welcomed?

A Presbyterian Appreciation for Pope Benedict XVI Christmas Homily

 

 

After offering several reflections during Advent and the sermon I preached on Christmas Eve at WestSide Presbyterian Church here in Seattle, I was deeply appreciative of the homily Pope Benedict XVI offered as well. The text I offer here for your encouragement and benefit, as it spoke deeply to me as well this Advent Christmas time.

Dear Brothers and Sisters! The reading from Saint Paul’s Letter to Titus that we have just heard begins solemnly with the word “apparuit,” which then comes back again in the reading at the Dawn Mass: apparuit--“there has appeared.” This is a programmatic word, by which the Church seeks to express synthetically the essence of Christmas. Formerly, people had spoken of God and formed human images of him in all sorts of different ways. God himself had spoken in many and various ways to mankind (cf. Heb 1:1 – Mass during the Day). But now something new has happened: he has appeared. He has revealed himself. He has emerged from the inaccessible light in which he dwells. He himself has come into our midst. This was the great joy of Christmas for the early Church: God has appeared. No longer is he merely an idea, no longer do we have to form a picture of him on the basis of mere words. He has “appeared”. But now we ask: how has he appeared? Who is he in reality? The reading at the Dawn Mass goes on to say: “the kindness and love of God our Saviour for mankind were revealed” (Tit 3:4). For the people of pre-Christian times, whose response to the terrors and contradictions of the world was to fear that God himself might not be good either, that he too might well be cruel and arbitrary, this was a real “epiphany”, the great light that has appeared to us: God is pure goodness.

Today too, people who are no longer able to recognize God through faith are asking whether the ultimate power that underpins and sustains the world is truly good, or whether evil is just as powerful and primordial as the good and the beautiful which we encounter in radiant moments in our world. “The kindness and love of God our Saviour for mankind were revealed”: this is the new, consoling certainty that is granted to us at Christmas.

In all three Christmas Masses, the liturgy quotes a passage from the Prophet Isaiah, which describes the epiphany that took place at Christmas in greater detail: “A child is born for us, a son given to us and dominion is laid on his shoulders; and this is the name they give him: Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace. Wide is his dominion in a peace that has no end” (Is 9:5f.). Whether the prophet had a particular child in mind, born during his own period of history, we do not know. But it seems impossible. This is the only text in the Old Testament in which it is said of a child, of a human being: his name will be Mighty-God, Eternal-Father. We are presented with a vision that extends far beyond the historical moment into the mysterious, into the future. A child, in all its weakness, is Mighty God. A child, in all its neediness and dependence, is Eternal Father. And his peace “has no end”. The prophet had previously described the child as “a great light” and had said of the peace he would usher in that the rod of the oppressor, the footgear of battle, every cloak rolled in blood would be burned (Is 9:1, 3-4).

God has appeared--as a child. It is in this guise that he pits himself against all violence and brings a message that is peace. At this hour, when the world is continually threatened by violence in so many places and in so many different ways, when over and over again there are oppressors’ rods and bloodstained cloaks, we cry out to the Lord: O mighty God, you have appeared as a child and you have revealed yourself to us as the One who loves us, the One through whom love will triumph. And you have shown us that we must be peacemakers with you. We love your childish estate, your powerlessness, but we suffer from the continuing presence of violence in the world, and so we also ask you: manifest your power, O God. In this time of ours, in this world of ours, cause the oppressors’ rods, the cloaks rolled in blood and the footgear of battle to be burned, so that your peace may triumph in this world of ours.

Christmas is an epiphany--the appearing of God and of his great light in a child that is born for us. Born in a stable in Bethlehem, not in the palaces of kings. In 1223, when Saint Francis of Assisi celebrated Christmas in Greccio with an ox and an ass and a manger full of hay, a new dimension of the mystery of Christmas came to light. Saint Francis of Assisi called Christmas “the feast of feasts”--above all other feasts--and he celebrated it with “unutterable devotion”. He kissed images of the Christ-child with great devotion and he stammered tender words such as children say. For the early Church, the feast of feasts was Easter: in the Resurrection Christ had flung open the doors of death and in so doing had radically changed the world: he had made a place for man in God himself. Now, Francis neither changed nor intended to change this objective order of precedence among the feasts, the inner structure of the faith centred on the Paschal Mystery. And yet through him and the character of his faith, something new took place: Francis discovered Jesus’ humanity in an entirely new depth. This human existence of God became most visible to him at the moment when God’s Son, born of the Virgin Mary, was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. The Resurrection presupposes the Incarnation. For God’s Son to take the form of a child, a truly human child, made a profound impression on the heart of the Saint of Assisi, transforming faith into love. “The kindness and love of God our Saviour for mankind were revealed” – this phrase of Saint Paul now acquired an entirely new depth. In the child born in the stable at Bethlehem, we can as it were touch and caress God. And so the liturgical year acquired a second focus in a feast that is above all a feast of the heart.

This has nothing to do with sentimentality. It is right here, in this new experience of the reality of Jesus’ humanity that the great mystery of faith is revealed. Francis loved the child Jesus, because for him it was in this childish estate that God’s humility shone forth. God became poor. His Son was born in the poverty of the stable. In the child Jesus, God made himself dependent, in need of human love, he put himself in the position of asking for human love – our love. Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity. Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light.

Francis arranged for Mass to be celebrated on the manger that stood between the ox and the ass. Later, an altar was built over this manger, so that where animals had once fed on hay, men could now receive the flesh of the spotless lamb Jesus Christ, for the salvation of soul and body, as Thomas of Celano tells us. Francis himself, as a deacon, had sung the Christmas Gospel on the holy night in Greccio with resounding voice. Through the friars’ radiant Christmas singing, the whole celebration seemed to be a great outburst of joy. It was the encounter with God’s humility that caused this joy – his goodness creates the true feast.

Today, anyone wishing to enter the Church of Jesus’ Nativity in Bethlehem will find that the doorway five and a half metres high, through which emperors and caliphs used to enter the building, is now largely walled up. Only a low opening of one and a half metres has remained. The intention was probably to provide the church with better protection from attack, but above all to prevent people from entering God’s house on horseback. Anyone wishing to enter the place of Jesus’ birth has to bend down. It seems to me that a deeper truth is revealed here, which should touch our hearts on this holy night: if we want to find the God who appeared as a child, then we must dismount from the high horse of our “enlightened” reason. We must set aside our false certainties, our intellectual pride, which prevents us from recognizing God’s closeness. We must follow the interior path of Saint Francis--the path leading to that ultimate outward and inward simplicity which enables the heart to see. We must bend down, spiritually we must as it were go on foot, in order to pass through the portal of faith and encounter the God who is so different from our prejudices and opinions--the God who conceals himself in the humility of a newborn baby. In this spirit let us celebrate the liturgy of the holy night, let us strip away our fixation on what is material, on what can be measured and grasped. Let us allow ourselves to be made simple by the God who reveals himself to the simple of heart. And let us also pray especially at this hour for all who have to celebrate Christmas in poverty, in suffering, as migrants, that a ray of God’s kindness may shine upon them, that they – and we – may be touched by the kindness that God chose to bring into the world through the birth of his Son in a stable. Amen.

What's in a Name? Advent Reflection from a PCUSA Pastor #2

 During this Advent Season I have been reflecting upon how Joseph and Mary were instructed to name their child through the word of God spoken by the Angel(s) of the Lord to each of them. I have yet again been impressed by the meaning and significance of those names so given to the One whose birth we remember and celebrate at Christmas and whose coming we anticipate and hope for in the present and future.

Every parent struggles to decide what to name their children. Some do quite well. Others not so much. Usually they have meaning and significance not only to parents as well as extended family and friends, but of course to the child who is born. Joseph and Mary appear to have had no struggle to name their child. It is quite interesting to look at the whole of Scripture and see how significant it is when God names someone by name...

Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25) is told by an Angel of the Lord that the son to be born to Mary was to be named Jesus/Joshua/Yeshua because he will save people from their sins. Of course this name was emblazened in every Jewish parent's mind as they recalled the great Joshua, the successor to Moses, who led the people of Israel into the Promised Land. It was probably one of the most popular names that Jewish parents gave to their children in those days. Joshua was central to God's saving act of setting His People free from slavery in Egypt and leading them into the Great Promise. But the Angel of the Lord also recalls the words of Isaiah 7:14 and says that the people will call him by another name "Immanuel" which means "God with us."

Likewise, Mary (Luke 1:26-38) is told by The Angel Gabriel that the son she will give birth to shall be named Jesus/Joshua/Yeshua. Yet additionally, Mary is told that this One shall be called The Son of the Most High, The Son of God, revealing that this child has a Heavenly Father (The 1st Person of the Trinity), as well as an earthly Father (Joseph), by virtue of the mystery of the Holy Spirit in the great paradox of the Incarnation-of God becoming human and making his dwelling among us (John 1:14,18).

All of this was to fulfill The Promise to Israel and the Whole World that God would send the Messiah-the Christ and Savior. So in this season, we celebrate and anticipate the One who saves, the One who is always with us, and the One who is none other than the very Son of the Most High-The Son of God. It is worth taking the time to reflect upon this One whose name means "God Saves" and save He would. That is why when we gaze into the manger we must also do so in the shadow of the cross. It is also worth taking the time to reflect upon how God is with us even now, no matter what our circumstances, to hear Him again say "I will never leave you nor forsake you!" That God is always as close to us as our next breath. And finally it is worth reminding ourselves that what we celebrate is a profound mystery and paradox...God becoming Human. As St Athanasius of the 4th century said it "God became human so we could become as God." Ponder anew this season the Gifts of God's Salvation in Jesus Christ, God's Presence with us as Immanuel and the mystery of the 2nd Person of the Triune God becoming Human. Take time to ponder as even Luke's Gospel shares about Mary in those profound words "And Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart". May we follow Mother Mary and do the same during this Advent-Christmas Season.

Have a very blessed Advent-Christmas Season.

 May I also recommend Keith and Kristyn Getty's Christmas CD/ITunes JOY: An Irish Christmas. Great for personal and family listening or as a gift!

Advent Conspiracy: PCUSA Pastor's Reflections on Advent-A Celebration of Remembance and Anticipation #1

 Over the last couple of weeks I have had the privilege of teaching on the meaning and practice of Advent to the congregation at West Side Presbyterian Church. I have appreciated the ways in which the people there engaged. As I reflect on the Advent Season again this year, I am keenly aware of the tensions of faithfully celebrating Advent. Advent invites us to celebrate by remembering and anticipating.

Advent invites us to remember the 1st Coming of Jesus Christ while also inviting us to anticipate the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ. Both movements of Advent call us to be prepared. So much of the way we enter this season is to prepare...for family and friends who share the season with us, for the decorations, food and other liturgies of the season...and for what? A season of hurry, stress, etc. etc. When all is done on Christmas Day, what remains? Often we are more tired than renewed...more depressed than hopeful...more in debt than set free...more focused on stuff than relationships...Everyone says "It won't be like this next year...but when next year comes around we automatically just turn and do it again. Everyone knows something is wrong, but what and deeper still what can I do about it.

The early church, when it finally chose to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in the late 4th or early 5th centuries, celebrated the season emphasizing anticipation of the 2nd Coming rather than the 1st Coming of Jesus Christ in its liturgies. Why have we reversed that perspective?

I am convinced that the major barrier to celebrating the Advent/Christmas Season well is not only the rampant consumerism which has blasphemed the season, but even more so is the seductive nature of "sentimentality" around the season. We want to recapture or even worse invoke an experience of Advent/Christmas that we longed for in our younger days. Thus, in my opinion, the great enemy for God's People celebrating Advent/Christmas well is not consumerism but sentimentality. We want to (re)capture the experiences of our past Advent/Christmas celebrations rather than anticipate/hope and prepare for the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ. Yet we are called to prepare by remembering but remembering well...which should lead us to gratitude not sentimentality. And we are called to prepare by anticipating with hope a God-filled future...which should lead us to a holy dissatisfaction with the status quo of this world and to hope-filled action which bears witness to the Kingdom of God and its coming. As Christians, both remembering with gratitude and anticipating with hope are active not passive, active but not busy disciplines of the season, so we will be prepared to celebrate Christmas well and live into the future well.

So the Advent Conspiracy Movement (www.adventconspiracy.org) invites us to the following:

WORSHIP FULLY

SPEND LESS

GIVE MORE

LOVE ALL

This can be adapted to individually and corporately among Christians this season. Go to church. Give one less gift this year. Give to something that will make a real difference. Speak and act with love to someone who need to know and experience the love of God in Jesus Christ...Stay open to how God may want you to be the presence of Jesus Christ to another person in this season. Rather than focusing on what present you will give, choose to be the presence of Christ to others. Personally, continually reflect upon and give thanks for:

How Christ has come to you in the past...

How Christ is coming to you in this season (the present)..

How Christ will come to you and desires to come to others in this season and beyond (the future)...

May the Love, Peace, Hope of Jesus Christ meet you and the world in this Advent/Christmas Season.

PS: I would love to hear how God is encountering you this Advent Season or How you are celebrating Advent in your life, relationships and communities of faith...

 

Give Thanks...A Reflection for Thanksgiving in the USA and Beyond

 Last Year (2010) I posted the following, to which I have received over 1000 hits long after Thanksgiving 2010, so I wish to offer it again (The Great Thanksgiving and Why it Matters). Following this repost, I also recently received a great reflection from The Trinity Forum (Os Guinness and others) entitled "Happiness and Thanksgiving", which I thought was very insightful and so offer it here as well. Wishing all my blog readers around the world a Blessed Thanksgiving. My prayer is that God will bless all the nations of the world with the Peace of Jesus Christ and the bounty of the triune God.

First, The Great Thanksgiving and Why it Matters (Still):

This is the Liturgy of the Great Thanksgiving, recited before taking Holy Communion. As we enter into this week of Thanksgiving let us be mindful of that for which we are called to give thanks, as Christians have done for centuries. Will Willimon says that on "This week of Thanksgiving, as you give thanks to God for the gifts of religion, democracy and economy, be sure to give thanks that we are saved neither by religion nor democracy nor the economy, but rather by the work of Jesus Christ!" The bottom line: God's Grace and our Gratitude. Do not ever forget it! It is good and right to give thanks!

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing,
always and everywhere to give thanks to you,
Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.
When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.
You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God,
and spoke to us through your prophets.
And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory,
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
and to announce that the time had come
when you would save your people.
He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection
you gave birth to your Church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the spirit.
When the Lord Jesus ascended he promised to be with us always,
in the power of your Word and Holy Spirit.
On the night in which he gave himself up for us,
Our Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread
gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."

Likewise, when the supper was over, he took the cup,
gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Drink from this, all of you,
this is my blood of the new covenant,
poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ's offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died;
Christ is risen;
Christ will come again.

Secondly this posting from The Trinity Forum (On Happiness and Thanksgiving):

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

--G.K. Chesterton

During this Thanksgiving week, it is customary to reflect on, and offer thanks for, our many blessings. Recent research suggests that doing so is also a vital way to enhance our health and happiness.

Gratitude has long been recognized as a virtue, and even acknowledged as a duty. The ancient historian Cicero asserted that gratitude “is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others.” Both the Old and New Testaments encourage, even command one to give thanks “without ceasing” and “in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you” and to be “overflowing with thankfulness.”

So essential to spiritual life is thankfulness that Martin Luther described gratitude as “the basic Christian attitude” and the great Puritan theologian and preacher Jonathan Edwards argued that a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude to God was an indicator of one’s spiritual state. And moral philosopher Adam Smith devoted extensive space in A Theory of Moral Sentiments to exploring the moral claims of gratitude, and their consequences, as being fundamental to a well-ordered society.

Indeed, our celebration of this week’s holiday is itself a demonstration of our intuitive sense of the duty of gratitude, even in the midst of difficulty. It is well known that the Massachusetts Pilgrims’ original harvest celebration was held in the midst of disease, death, and deprivation. And the proclamation of this commemoration as a National Holiday took place in the midst of Civil War in 1863 – both periods of American history marked by extraordinary suffering.

It may be counted another blessing that the duty and virtue of gratitude comes with its own rewards. One of the delightful contributions of recent research in positive psychology is the compilation of empirical evidence to further confirm what has long been known by intuition and experience: the act of thanksgiving brings joy and health. Consider just a few recent findings: Gratitude and expressions of thankfulness have been found to lower stress, improve one’s immune system, enhance cardiovascular function, increase energy levels, reduce the likelihood of depression, and even improve one’s sleep.

Moreover, those who cultivate habits of thankfulness have stronger relationships, report higher levels of happiness and a clearer sense of life purposes demonstrate greater levels of altruism, and demonstrate more positive coping strategies in confronting both transitions and difficult situations. Gratitude, it seems, is good for our health, as well as our soul.

Of course, thankfulness is not an instrument to be used to secure physiological benefits; reduced to a tool, it may fail in that function. Rather, the habitual practice of thankfulness affirms a proper orientation towards the Source of our blessings, and enables one to better receive, recognize, and delight in the many gifts and graces of this life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Reality of Evil #2: A Word of Wisdom from CS Lewis in the Midst of Confusion

 I want to thank the many people who responded to my blog last month entitled "Dietrich Bonhoeffer and The Reality of Evil: A Word of Wisdom in a Church and World Living In Confusion". So many of you asked for me to go further and deeper on this topic so I am going to offer several future blogposts, informed by several excellent if not provocative works (works CS Lewis, Johann and Christoph Blumhardt, Hendrikus Berkhof, Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Walter Wink, Greg Boyd, and others) which can serve as guides for us in addressing evil. Lewis points us to the reality that much of the ways in which we think about this matter have been shaped and formed by the works of Dante, Milton and others from a pre-modern time. Yet the work of Martin Luther and the seriousness with which he took to address this issue is also significant.

Furthermore it seems to me that the Temptations of Jesus Christ in the Wilderness by Satan reveals to us the importance of what we will be reflecting upon. Additionally, the Apostle Paul's teachings on the principalities, powers and authorities along with the Apostle Peter's understanding of evil and the Evil One and the Apostle John's portrayal of these matters in the Book of Revelation must also inform our conversation.

I am so appreicative of Bonhoeffer's insight (from CREATION AND FALL and elsewhere, especially ETHICS) that the Scriptures do not clearly reveal to us how evil entered the created order, but they do reveal the means by which we may overcome it.

Our first guide will be CS Lewis from his excellent work THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS and SCREWTAPE PROPOSES A TOAST. It was a privilege to teach these works, along with THE GREAT DIVORCE, this past Monday (YES Halloween!), at Fuller Seminary. It was a delight to see and hear so many seminary students so engaged on the topic. Oddly enough the work was dedicated to JRR Tolkien with two great quotes beginning the SCREWTAPE, one from Martin Luther:

"The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn."

the other from Sir Thomas More:

"The devil, the proud spirit, cannot endure to be mocked."

Thus, I wish to first address the reality of evil by addressing the reality of the devil. I almost fully fall in line with Lewis on this one, not only as he addresses it in the satirical presentation of SCREWTAPE, but elsewhere in his writings. In the original preface he does rightfully warn us that "there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race (humanity) can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight." When Lewis wrote an updated preface some 20 years later, he stated that the most common question he was asked was if whether or not he really believed in the Devil. Lewis' answer is brilliant as he says that if people believe the Devil is somehow God's equal counterpart then the answer is a definite NO. Instead, Lewis says the proper question is whether or not one believes in the devils and to that he says "I do." As he says that while this is not a matter equal to other parts of Christendom's creeds he does believe that "such a position agrees with the plain sense of Scripture, the tradition of Christendom and the beliefs of mose men (and women) at most times in the church." He then goes on to speak of the mythological ways in which the Devil and devils have been portrayed. He then turns, quoting Chesterton to say that "Satan fell through force of gravity." [pride] and therefore "we must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance and resentment..." What he says next I love and demonstrates that we are living in hell under the direction of devils...

"I (we) live in the Mangagerial Age, a world of Administration. The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid 'dens of crime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men (and women) with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state OR the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern."

I will pick up further with CS Lewis in my next blog. Would love to hear your feedback.

Reflections from An American Visiting China (Shanghai) for the 1st Time...

  

Well we were told that our visit to China would be like nothing we had ever previously experienced in all our travels and those words of preparation were proven true on a recent trip my wife Caroline and I made to Shanghai. I had said in my previous blogpost before departing that I had a sense of "ambivalent anticipation"...a mixture of not knowing what to expect and of looking forward to the totally new cross-cultural engagement that China offers. Well my ambivalence quickly melted away into a deep sense of wonder and awe as my anticipation became reality. From the moment we arrived at the large Shanghai Pudong Airport (the newest of Shanghai's airports) on the southeastern outskirts of Shanghai to our departure nearly two weeks later we found ourselves time and again saying "wow", "fabulous", "incredible". New York City, Los Angeles, London, Paris, etc all are dwarfed by this city of 20 million+ people. We found the people to be extremely hospitable and gracious on the streets, in their homes, in the restaurants and in the church. The food was exquisite, although we really did appreciate our local Starbucks near our hotel. Yes, we ate eel, jellyfish, fish and seafood of all kinds, and various other meats, vegetables (I actually really like bachoi!), dumplings, etc. We tried everything our hosts offered! We so valued the way in which the Chinese eat meals as they often last 2-3 hours. The mixture of contemporary and ancient was evidenced many times often within blocks of each other. Our regret, often spoken too each other, was how much the language barrier effected our time there, although we were very fortunate to always have someone with us who could speak/translate for us. We also found that the younger generations, especially under 25, were far more likely to speak English with you. At any time walking on the street or standing in an elevator or riding the subway, you could hear a voice 2-3 feet below you with a smile on their face say "Hello..." Furthermore, the language barrier did not stop people from asking us "Take picture?" which we assumed meant for us to take their picture, but it turned out that they wanted to take a picture with you! We also struggled with TV as there was only one English language channel and it was the Chinese equivalent of CNN/Headline News, which also gave us a very unique perspective on the world, especially as we were visiting during one of the most significant Chinese holidays National Independence Day which lasts for a week. We did however hear alot of Western music, but as we were told, most people like the sound but cannot understand the words!

The wedding, which was our primary purpose for going in the first place, was a grand mixture of ancient Chinese customs, Christian tradition and a western-eastern mix, particularly the reception. It was truly and honor to joyfully celebrate with William and Amy, along with William's mother Mao Mao and other family and friends.

The sight-seeing allowed us to see every place one would want to visit in Shanghai...The Old Town, The Bund, Pudong, The French Concession, the museums, the restaurants, the shopping malls, the street markets, the gardens and parks, the "canal towns", the Buddhist Temples, the Christian Churches, the subways, the wild taxi drivers and even wilder rides(We thought New York City cabbies were wild...). Caroline and Mao Mao went on to Beijing after I left Shanghai and they loved the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

On Sunday we attended an incredible church called SHANGHAI COMMUNITY CHURCH (see the picture at the top of this blog and the church's excellent website [more than a few churches in the USA could take a lesson here] at http://shanghaifellowship.org/). We went to the morning Chinese language service at 10am and listened to the sermon through a translator while everything else we were allowed to sing, pray and read Scripture in English while everyone else did so in Chinese. By the way, the church pews and every space inside and outside was filled 30 minutes before the service began and the service lasted 1 1/2 hours...a fact which is true for all 4 of their services. The senior pastor is currently preaching a series on 1 Corinthians 13 on the nature of Christian love and he preached for about 50-55 minutes. I had a great and lengthy conversation with him afterwards and I came away very encouraged by the passion for Christ in their worship, their hospitality in welcoming the stranger, and the great variety of their ministry and mission locally and globally (Notice the church website's front page which shouts "The World is Our Congregation" and the words of Matthew 28 and Jesus' Great Commission as their ministry/mission statement). How I wish, hope and pray that the church of Jesus Christ here in the USA would recover a vision that says that! May I also recommend a GREAT book on Christianity in China just recently published and very favorably reviewed (written , entitled GOD IS RED: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in China by Liao Yiwu)

So the visit to China was an incredible one to say the least. I am reminded once more as to why global travel is so important to me as a human being and as a follower of Jesus Christ, namely my world becomes so much larger when you visit and engage other peoples and cultures...my world looks so small but is enlarged every time I leave my world here in Seattle and enter the world in China, Africa, Europe, South America, etc. The question I always ask after I return is this "How has going to China (in this case) transformed the way I will live?" If I can't answer that question, I think I have missed out on the greatest gift that God wants to give in these opportunities to travel. The one thing I know to begin with is that I have a far deeper respect for China, its people, its culture than I did before and several misconceptions about China have been rightly corrected. For now, I am so grateful. Full stop.

Visiting Mainland China for the 1st Time: Some Random Thoughts from a 1st Time Visitor

 My wife and I are leaving for mainland China soon. It is our first visit and the primary purpose is to perform a wedding for a very close family friend whose family and fiance's family live in Shanghai. We go with great anticipation and wonder at what we will see and experience while there. We have traveled alot through the years and have been on every continent except Asia. It has been interesting to have people tell us what it will be like...We have many Chinese (1st, 2nd and 3rd generations) offer their insights and recommendations, as well as others we have known who have visited or even worked there for a while. In preparing to go, I first had a similar sense that I had preparing to go to Africa my first time in 1996 (which was and continues to be an incredible continent to visit and minister), but the closer I have come to departure, I have a very different sense...I call it an "ambivalent anticipation"...a mixture of not knowing what to expect and of looking forward to the totally new cross-cultural engagement that China offers. The overwhelming words we have heard from all the people we have spoken to is that "Shanghai will be unlike any place you have ever been." We will be spending time in ancient, old, modern and contemporary Shanghai and beyond, SO we are ready to commence the journey. I have found several books to be very insightful in preparing:

JESUS IN BEIJING: How Christianity is Changing the Global Balance of Power by David Aikman (former TIME Magazine Bureau Chief in China)

WHAT GOOD IS GOD: In Search of Faith that Matters (PART TWO entitled "CHINA: WINDS OF CHANGE") by Philip Yancey

CHINA: The Church's Long March by David Adeney

THE RESURRECTION OF THE CHINESES CHURCH by Tony Lambert

CHINA: A HISTORY by John Keay

I will look forward to offering my thoughts upon our return. Would love to hear any thoughts you may have, especially if you have experience in China and specifically Shanghai...