Politics
First off-mucho apologies for not posting anything recently. I have been slammed with stuff left and right…..I will do whatever penance you deem necessary to get back in your good graces……
Secondly, I’m really sick and tired of this presidential campaign. Yet, I’ll find myself turning on the tube late at night and surfing back and forth between CNN, FOX and CNBC to hear the latest scuttlebutt from the McCain/Obama drama. I suspect I keep tuning in for the same reason people slow down and stare at traffic accidents.
But be that as it may, a McCain pollster called the church recently asking if ‘Pastor Fadness had endorsed Barack Obama from the pulpit two weeks ago?’. I got on the phone assuring her I endorsed neither Obama or McCain from the pulpit or anywhere else for that matter. She wanted to know who I was voting for. I did not tell her. She proceeded to tell me that Obama was using the book of Acts to support the redistributing of wealth and that I should preach from Acts to set the record straight.
I find myself being resentful of the whole political process. I resent the fact that Evangelicals have been linked to the Republican party. As if to say, if you are an Evangelical Christian you are by default a Republican. I am neither a Republican or a Democrat. I am a follower of Jesus Christ and I vote the way my conscience dictates in accordance with the values that I believe are closest to Jesus’ heart.
Rant over…..Comments?
g
Are Christians sinners?
Because of the very interesting dialogue on another thread, I’m creating this space to carry on. Is it appropriate to call ourselves sinners? Do Christians sin? What is sin? Is it possible to go long periods of time without sinning?
peace, g
Drinking Milk from a Christian Cow?
In the late 60s-early 70s something unique and wonderful happened in the church. The ‘Jesus Movement’ was born during days of great turmoil and upheaval in our culture. Many hippies who were crying out for peace and love found themselves coming to the Prince of Peace, the One Who is Love. Songs about Jesus were written by these young people. They weren’t ‘churchy’ sounding songs. They were written in the style that these young Christian hippies were familiar with. Most of Christendom thought it scandalous. Pastor Chuck Smith considered iti a move of the Holy Spirit. It was all very organic.
Flash forward to the 80s and 90s: Contemporary Christian music was not only accepted by the church, it became big business. Along with the ample amounts of music being put out, t-shirts, bumper-stickers and Jesus junk were selling by the truckload. The Moral Majority comes along. The Christian Right is formed. Christians are an official voting block to be wooed and seduced by the candidates. All of this has resulted in the forming of a very identifiable Christian subculture.
I’m saddened by it all. I think we’ve missed the boat. We’ve allowed our culture to pidgeonhole us. We don’t all listen to Michael W. Smith, vote Republican and have ‘I (heart) Jesus’ bumper stickers on our cars. By creating and supporting this subculture, we’ve stifled true creativity. I believe God’s people ought to be on the leading edge of music and the arts. But we’ve been relegated in large part to creating copies of the originals. If you like Brittany Spears, then you will like the Christian version. If you like Justin Timberlake you will like the Christian version.
I don’t think our awesome Creator God wants His people relegated to making copies. I say we dismantle the Christian subculture and be the Church instead. What say you?
pastor g
I Resemble That Remark….
Jake came to me a few weeks ago and said, ‘I’ve got a crazy idea. It’s probably really stupid, but, here goes….I’ve been grieved by how the media portrayed Lighthouse as picketers and Mormon-bashers and I wonder if we can’t steal back the narrative.’ Do go on, Jake. ‘Well, what if we picketed ourselves? What if we protested the fact that we’re not what we should be? What if we held up signs that admitted our struggles with sin and then pointed to Jesus as the only answer? Maybe TimesNews would cover it….’
After Jake shared his idea (which had been kicked around in his LifeGroup), I thought, ‘Either this is the stupidest thing I’ve heard….or it’s pure brilliance!’
Protesting ourselves….I love it! So I gave Jake my pastoral blessing.
The truth is, as followers of Jesus, we ought not to come to our culture in pride and arrogance, but rather, in humility and love, as people who have been rescued in spite of ourselves.
Your thoughts?
g
BTW, there was someone from TimesNews at the service……
This Little Light of Mine
Good works. Good works are, well……good. They reflect the nature of God-Who is good. We’ve been ‘created in Christ Jesus to do good works’ (Eph.3:10). We at Lighthouse are involved in a lot of humanitarian, good work efforts all over the world, from building wells in Africa, to funding cataract surgery for children in Vietnam, to providing food and education to hundreds of children all over the world (through Compassion).
And here in the Magic Valley we have people going into the jail every week to minister to the those incarcerated; we have people doing chaplain work in the hospitals; we’re helping people get free from addiction; we have people working with the Crisis Pregnancy Center; we give away food to the needy, etc., etc.
All of this reflects the heart of the Lord beautifully. But my question is this: If you could design and launch one mercy ministry here in the Magic Valley that we (Lighthouse) would get behind corporately, what would it be? What would it accomplish? What are the greatest humanitarian needs here? How could we demonstrate the compassionate heart of Jesus to our valley? What’s been on your heart to do for the Kingdom?
g
Goodbye to Main St.
Well, it’s official. We had our last Sunday service at our Main St. facility in downtown Twin Falls. I don’t know if it was just me, but I felt a very special sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit as we launched into our 242 series and then worshipped with just an acoustic guitar leading the way. I’m so grateful for all the Lord has done on Main St.
How about you? Do you have any special memories from Lighthouse Main St. you would like to share?
See you at Eastland,
g
Smoky Rooms and Crushed Velvet Jackets Or….
So there we were, in one of our strategy sessions. We were trying to think through some of the issues associated with our new building at 960 Eastland Ave. The important issue of interior signage came up. Since we were renovating a former lumber yard, we thought it would be a good idea (maybe even clever) to name the various rooms, spaces, etc. with an ‘industrial’ motif. That, not to mention the fact that we feel a strong conviction that we desire our worship space to be a point of cultural connectivity (‘becoming all things to all men in order to win some’). In other words, we want our building to be inviting to people. So we dubbed the high school sanctuary the ‘Warehouse’; the junior high sanctuary the ‘Refinery’; the main sanctuary became the ‘Auditorium’, etc. Cafe Agape sounded much too……mmmm….not industrial, so we dubbed the new cafe the ‘Grindhouse’ (as in coffee grind).
Then came the toughy. The semi-round room in the foyer with the fireplace was a tough call. ‘Hearth Room’ was the initial name. It didn’t sit well. It was too…something. The ‘Fireside Room’ fell into the same category. Then it came. It was either creative genius or a really bad idea. There could be no inbetween. Someone (who shall remain nameless-at least until the verdict is in) suggested the ‘Lounge’. Hmmm. Interesting. My first thought was a smoky room with a guy in a crushed velvet jacket sitting at a piano singing cheezy versions of light pop and jazz tunes while people drink martinis and pretend to be suave. Then I thought ‘Hey, maybe that’s a generational connotation of the word ‘lounge’.’ So we discussed the name further and indeed discovered a generational divide. The older generation (of which I am a part) thinks smoky room, velvet jacket guy, etc. while the younger generation thinks something different.
I warmed to the idea. And then I had another thought that moved me further in the direction of the ‘Lounge’. Shakespeare’s profound question and answer came to mind, ‘What’s in a name? A rose by any other name is still a rose.’ To put it in the modern vernacular, it is what it is. The room with the fireplace is going to being the room with a fireplace where people gather before and after services with a cup of coffee and chat with friends or make new ones. It will be the room where lifegroups meet and prayer meetings happen. It will be a room where you go sit down on a comfy sofa or chair and crack open your bible in front of the fireplace on a cold winter day. It will never be a smoke-filled room with a guy in a crushed velvet jacket sitting at a piano singing cheezy versions of light pop and jazz tunes while people drink martinis and pretend to be suave.
So I’m betting that the word ‘lounge’ will actually shift in our collective minds to reflect what our fireplace room actually is. Just like many great rock and roll bands have had to overcome really stupid names-think ‘Beatles’, ‘Pink Floyd’, ‘Hootie and the Blowfish’, etc. Those stupid names eventually morphed in our minds to reflect what those bands actually were. So too, the ‘Lounge’ will change in our thinking…I think.
What do you think?….be nice :)
peace, g
What’s On Your Ipod?
Currently dominating my ipod is a girl from New Zealand called ‘Brooke Fraser’. ‘Albertine’ is a brilliant album filled with challenging themes and Brooke’s stunning vocals. She can be found at the iTunes store.
Anyone care to share what’s dominating your iPod (or zune, or cd player, cassette deck, 8-track, etc)?
g
Things that make you go, ‘Hmmm’
I read an interesting quote today that I thoroughly agree with: “If I should hear a man advocate the erroneous principles he had imbibed through education, and oppose those principles, some might imagine that I was opposed to that man, when in fact I am only opposed to every evil and erroneous principle he advances.”
When Christians speak against false teachings we inevitably get accused of ‘bashing’. Then when we try and say, ‘We love the person but oppose the teaching’, we are given a deaf ear.
I read another great quote today: “If a faith will not bear investigation; if its preachers and professors are afraid to have it examined, their foundation must be weak.”
Again, when Christians examine the various teachings and hold them up to the scrutiny of the Bible (as we are commanded to do), we get accused of bashing and hating. Why is that? Why are we accused of persecuting other faiths and bashing other religions? Why can’t we investigate the claims of self-proclaimed prophets and examine the doctrines of the various religions and gurus to see if they stand up under scrutiny? Why must our motives be suspect? Is it not possible for our motive to be noble? Could it be out of concern for the eternal well-being of people?
By the way, the first quote above was uttered by none other than Brigham Young in 1859 (Journal of Discourses 7:191). The second quote was uttered by Young’s first counselor George A. Smith (Journal of Discourses 14:216). I couldn’t agree more with each of them!
Why do modern-day Mormons fail to see what Brigham Young and George A. Smith saw? It makes me go, ‘Hmmm’.
Mr. Positive
Oh, how I wish we could always be just sunshine and positivity. Joel Osteen makes a handsome living that way. Oh, how I wish we could just talk about how to be successful and happy in life. Oh, how I wish we didn’t have to preach (eek! cultural bad word) the gospel to every creature. Oh, how I wish that everyone went to heaven no matter what they believed. Oh, how I wish…..
But there’s this pesky little book called the Bible. And unfortunately, it says that we have to:
-’contend/agonize/fight for-the faith once and for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3)
-’stand fast in one spirit…striving for the faith of the gospel….suffering for Jesus’ sake (because of people coming against us)’ (Phili. 1:27-29)
-Warn of false prophets who deceive people (2 Peter 2:1-3)
-Warn of different gospels (Gal. 1:6-9) and different Jesuses (2 Cor. 11:1-4)
-Be a ‘fragrance of death’ to those who are dying. (2 Cor. 2:16)
-Be considered ‘fools’ (2 Cor. 4:10)
Peter, Paul, Jude, James, John and even Jesus Himself were all such wet blankets. They were all so denigrating to other religions and doctrines-having the audacity to declare them false (and of Satan-oh my!). They were all so adamant on there being only one way to salvation. They were all so passionate about the eternal realities of heaven and hell. It’s all so……negative. And it got them all in trouble with their communities and culture and the various religious groups. Their negativity drew great criticism. They were willing to suffer for the sake of those who would be saved and for the sake of the God who called them. What about us?
Oh, I wish we didn’t have to be so negative.
Mr. Positive