Posts with the category “elemental-season-2”

Psalm 13:2  “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts  and every day have sorrow in my heart?” If you have found this series difficult, I have a  Bible character for you to consider. Heard in children’s story sound bites, his  life is easy. He’s a pillar of the faith chosen by  God. His large family is a fulfillment of God’s  promises. He is wealthy and loved and part of  the lineage of Christ. Bu...  Read More

1 Corinthians 5:20 “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as  though God were making His appeal through  us.” So, I’ve been thinking. If human beings are  so much better off living in a community  of faith and we’re called to love others well,  shouldn’t we place a high priority on inviting  others into this family? Isn’t it an incredible  act of selfishness to live with such benefits  without at...  Read More

John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are My  disciples, if you love one another.” There is something genuinely wonderful  about capping our rebuild with the umbrella  of love. What is more important than hearing  that the Creator of heaven and earth is head  over heels in love with us? It gives me more  patience with my faith when I realize God’s  devotion and risky commitment to us.  Bu...  Read More

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.  Bright copper kettles and warm woolen  mittens. Brown paper packages tied up  with strings. These are a few of my favorite  things.” —The Sound of Music Have you considered that you are one of  God’s favorite things?  I enjoy thinking about favorite things.  My favorite color is blue. My favorite holiday  is Christmas (a snowy one). I prefer fall and  ...  Read More

1 John 4:8  “God is Love.” I’m not a huge puzzle guy, but there is one thing  I have learned about putting them together. The picture on the box is critical. I can’t fathom  the evil required to wrap that rectangle with  a misleading photo just to toy with puzzle  enthusiasts. That would be messed up. On the rare occasion I put a puzzle together,  the box stands propped at the head of the  table, ...  Read More

“Then He chose twelve of them to be His  apostles, so that they could be with Him.” Mark 3:14One of Jesus’ most common opening lines is,  “Follow me.” Not, “Act like me. Change your  behavior. Start by being perfect,” but, “Follow  me.” Listen to this invitation in basic terms.  He’s asking that we spend time with Him,  rearrange our lives so He fits, help Him create  a community. Jesus throws thi...  Read More

The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.  Read More

Matthew 10:40  “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes Me…” Caryl Lynn and I always wanted children.  So over eight years, we had three and our lives filled with joy. We were young, and there were diapers and onesies, Playmobil® sets and  Legos, tea parties and trampolines. We loved  our time together at summer camp, Ocean City,  and Christmas at Grandma and Grampy’s. There  were always lights on at our...  Read More

Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill  the law of Christ.” I’m fascinated by Jesus’ healing of the paralytic  man in Mark 2:1-8. He obviously can’t get to  Jesus by himself. Four friends carry him. My  mind builds the picture of a group of five that  drew close as children. Did they give each other  nicknames? Did they call him “Quick” because  of his wit? Then, in our story, w...  Read More

Proverbs 27:17 “Just as iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen  the minds of one another.” We’ve identified significant rebuilding  blocks as we sifted through our thinking  of the past. First, there’s Jesus. Every block  we handle, every idea considered, if it has  anything to do with God, it has Jesus in it. In the  New Testament, sure. In the Old Testament?  Surprisingly, yes. In nature, our frien...  Read More

Luke 22:20 “…after the supper he took the cup, saying,  ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood,  which is poured out for you.’” So, what is in this “cup of God’s wrath,” and  who made it? We have all the clues to  figure it out.We know Jesus died from our sins on the  cross of Calvary. (1 Corinthians 15:3) In fact,  1 Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in  His body on the tree…” So when...  Read More

Hosea 11:8 “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can  I let you go, O Israel?” There are two cups highlighted in the New  Testament. The second one is called “the  cup of God’s wrath.” You’ll remember we read  about it in Revelation 14 yesterday. Appalling.  Are we seriously tasked with telling people  about this? Are we supposed to wander around  warning the public that God is getting really  an...  Read More

Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” There are many things I treasure about having grown up in the Seventh-day Adventist faith community. There are a few I don’t. I’ve always found it irritating that groups like ours begin to feel closed over time. No one intends it. But slowly, fluidly, we develop a culture that feels less than welcoming.  Read More

The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.  Read More

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1One of the complaints I occasionally hear about God is that He is fixated on rules, do’s and don’ts. Some will say, “Religion and God are an entrapping construct. If you follow God, you’ll be asked to relinquish your freedom.”In my younger days, I though...  Read More

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in…” Revelation 3:20Jesus and I agree that freedom is essential. It’s elemental. Apologies if I’ve made myself sound equal to Jesus here. But we both have a say because I’m free. In fact, it’s Jesus who made my voice equal to His on this subject.  And so I snap another Lego block onto my faith reconstr...  Read More

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19As a high school chaplain, I found the rhythms of a senior’s year predictable and interesting. They would return to campus the stars of...  Read More

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…” Luke 17:6I’m amused by passages of scripture that contain an apparent contradiction. In the eighth chapter of his book, John told the story of a woman entrapped in a compromising sexual encounter and brought as a case study to Jesus. The religious leaders and legal experts hoped to catch Him being more gracious than the law permitted. Side note: I lo...  Read More

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13Hey, writer of Ecclesiastes… What is this you say has been heard?Well…The book of Ecclesiastes is, to be frank, very depressing. It begins with a simple premise, “Everything is meaningless… a complete waste of time.” (1:2) If you think it will s...  Read More

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” John 3:8One day at Andrews University, I passed by the football field on the way to the cafeteria for supper. Stopping to watch some of my friends in an intramural game, I noticed the girl I liked was there watching, too. Caryl Lynn and I hadn’t dated yet. But we were on the same...  Read More

The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.  Read More

“Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror. Later we will see him face to face.” 1 Corinthians 13:12I love my wife. More impressive? She loves me. I’m still a tiny bit surprised when I think about it. Maybe it's because of my self-image during the teenage years. I thought of myself as being on that rung on the ladder just above ugly—not quite to the level of the cuteness of a ...  Read More

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” Psalm 42:1 You survived the first two rules: 1) I’m wrong about stuff, and 2) I don’t know which stuff. Now, let’s address rules three and four simultaneously.  Read More

“From out of a storm, the LORD said to Job: Why do you talk so much when you know so little?”  Job 38:1-2Agnosticism [ag-nos-tuh-siz-uhm]The belief that the answers to the basic questions of existence, such as the nature of the ultimate cause and whether there is a supreme being, are unknown or unknowable.I spent a few years as a chaplain in secondary education, teaching junior and senior religion...  Read More

“God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.” Luke 18:11Timeout. I have an honest question. Who gets to decide what it means to be a Christian? In this day and time where everything gets labeled (ADHD, LGBTQ+, PTSD, SDA, SBC, SAU, you get it), how do we maneuver labeling problems?When one Christian believes a person can be born gay ...  Read More

“My people…have forsaken Me, the spring of living water…” Jeremiah 2:13It’s a well-known story with at least one missed detail. Maybe you never overlooked it. But for the longest time, I did.Another story from the audacious life of Christ: John tells of a trip Jesus took to visit a very specific woman. He went out of His way. He crossed a border He shouldn’t have and embraced the criticism that ac...  Read More

“…we had hoped He was the one…” Luke 24:21Everybody’s theology is just one good crucifixion away from collapse.We don’t know much about these two men except one of their names and the town where they lived. We do know that, somewhere along the line, their spirituality, likely dry and dutiful, came alive. They met Jesus.Were they in earshot the day Jesus prayed a blessing over a basket of loaves an...  Read More

INTRODUCTIONThe following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPENShare a time when you experienced growth. What did you learn that was new and helpful? What did you let go of that seemed to not work for you anymore? What was that process like?HEADRead Psalm 46:10; Isaiah 5...  Read More

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27Jesus was a deconstructionist. He reorganized culture, reinterpreted scripture, and broke the rules. Nowhere is this more evident than in the stories of His behavior on the Sabbath. The Hebrews of Jesus' day had built their identity around rule-following. Under the direction of the Rabbis, the ten commandments slowly grew to 613, mo...  Read More

“[Jesus] is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:17Every once in a while, I field concerned questions about how much focus a faith community places on Jesus. It usually sounds something like, “They only preach Jesus there, right?” The implication is that too much emphasis on Jesus avoids the meatier subjects. It’s as if we understand that the immature probably need...  Read More

“…choose for yourselves this day… But as for me…” Joshua 24:15Let’s admit something. As we start reconstruction by grabbing a meaningful brick and looking for a foundational keystone, we are not equals in this conversation. I’m the writer, controlling which blocks we look at, the sequence, and priorities. You, the reader, decide if I’ve shared anything of value. We each have choices to make. But I...  Read More

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Psalm 119:105I love this verse of scripture. But my reasons have changed over time. Initially, I read this as a promise of certainty and clarity. I considered this God’s way of saying that reading the Bible was a sure way of sorting out questions about right and wrong. God was saying His desire for me was to have absolute doctrinal clarity....  Read More

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9Regularly, throughout my life, I have prayed for clarity. I could boldly follow God if the pathway seemed clear. At times, I have been confident that God has answered my prayer. But there are other times when I don’t see the path, hear His voice, or feel assured about wha...  Read More

Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God…”Be still. Calm down. Exercise some patience—all words we need to hear at this point in the journey. The chaos of deconstruction causes most of us to squirm. Overwhelmed by the instinct to “fix it,” we gravitate to five-point plans, old formulas, and confident teachers. But hold on. This might be the perfect time to slow down and sit in the rubble.When...  Read More

We have just come off a tricky series regarding the deconstruction of our faith. So it might behoove us to spend a little time in Scripture, studying from some books that dealt with conflict, unity, and a singular spirit hoped for in the Christian Ecclesia (community).These little letters are called that because they are relatively small, they use straightforward language to transfer profound theo...  Read More