Countdown Day 36
Would any like to assert that both they and Jesus are equally right? True, many are quick to claim and proclaim their rightness in relation to other Christians – Calvinists know they are right when compared to Arminians, Catholics when compared with Protestants, Pentecostals compared with non-Pentecostals, Evangelicals compared with liberals, and the Orthodox compared with the non-Orthodox, and vice versa. But who would be so pristinely arrogant or demonically naïve to claim to be right on par with Jesus? (26)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
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Countdown Day 37
Or those who can claim … that their institutions or movements alone capture the spirit and mission of Jesus? What televangelist can make this claim? What Pentecostal storefront church, what headquarters in New York or Middle America or Canterbury or Rome or Lagos? (26)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
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More on Gaza from people who know …
A friend sent this link to a blog from friends of his who (like the links I've given over recent days) capture something real about the disaster happening in Gaza - while the media seem to present political theater that makes me think "news" is more like a "reality show."
This morning I prayed that our new administration will surprise the world and find a creative and effective new approach to helping stop "the vicious, viral, downward spiral" that's going on in Palestine (a line from my song "Let's Confess It").
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For doubters and strugglers …
Last night I was thinking about some old friends whom I'd like to see in 2009, and I thought of Michael Kelly Blanchard, a wonderful songwriter and good soul from Connecticutt. I went to his site and caught up with the CD's he's released since I last saw him.
"The Other God" is one of those songs all of us need some times ... you can listen here.
(Scroll down to the CD "Good Grief.")
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Happy New Year, Everyone!
I've had a wonderful last day of 2008, spending most of the day studying the Gospel of John and seeing things I've never seen. My heart is full of love for God, reverence for Jesus, and gratitude for his good news of life, life to the full, life of the ages. All of this will make its way into my next book.
As I look back over this last year, I can't thank you all enough - friends, readers of this blog, readers of my books, people I've met in my travels around the country and around the world. Today I feel so blessed to be able to be a student, writer, speaker, and colleague with all of you in the movement and mission of God in our world. Nobody knows what 2009 will hold, but we know that God will be with us through it all. Thanks be to God!
I wrote this six-minute meditation on "God with us" around Easter 2008. Maybe it will be of some encouragement to you as 2009 begins.
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