Transformation > Transportation, or, Thoughts on Christ and Peter

Reading through Luke this morning it hit me--I want to be like Peter.

What glowing example does Peter set in Luke 22:31-65? Let me recap for you: 1) Peter overreacts and slices of a Roman soldier’s ear, and 2) Peter denies Christ three times on the night of the crucifixion.

“And you want to be like him because…?” Rewind with me for a minute to a discussion I had with Kyle recently. He was preparing to teach on boldness and his main text was Acts 3-4. In this passage, Peter and John, well, read it yourself and you’ll see what Peter and John do. The point is, this bold new Peter is the same guy who was too much of a wuss to admit that he was a follower of Christ back in Luke.

Sure, it's easy enough to read the gospel narratives of impetuous Peter and think, "Gosh, what a dweeb!" But honestly, I am equally impetuous and dweebish in my attempts to follow Christ. What hit me while reading Luke was the transformation that occurs in Peter after the resurrection.

In Luke, Jesus tells Peter that after he gets over denying Christ he is to “strengthen the other disciples” (v. 32, GWT). In Acts, we see Peter boldly proclaiming the good news of Christ--boldly associating himself with Jesus—and leading the believers in a prayer for God to strengthen and embolden them all.

I have screwed up. I have sliced off some ears and ran out of some courtyards. But I am not a radically different person because of my encounters with the risen Christ. Not, at least, as radical and bold as, say, impetuous Peter.

The same Jesus who restored Peter and transformed him also transported him. He was not the same person and he was not in the same place. He was changed; he was moved.

I thank God for the story of wuss-man-Peter. It’s a story that offers me hope—despite my denials and lack of faith/understanding, God desires to restore me and to use me restore others. My prayer is that I will be transformed and transported. I want to be a new person living in the new place that He has for me.

Interactions

Transformed by Praise: The Message and Meaning of the Psalms
Mark D. Futato | ISBN 0875521908

The following are snippets of interactions with others in my MWS501 class.

On the laments etc. of Psalms
Futato seemed baffled at how some Psalms go from the depths to the heights without a break. Instead of confusing me, this point validated my own experience and made me feel less schizophrenic!

I am finding myself disappointed that with all the pain I have been in recently, it hasn't thrust me into the deep worship that I am used to finding when I am in a hard place. I am not sure why that is; in the past I have been known to pray for hard times because they keep me so dependent on God.

On torah meaning "instruction" vs. "law"
I am still realizing what a little moralist I have been conditioned (or predispositioned?) to be. It is very freeing to step away from the term law and all the baggage that goes along with it and see Torah as instruction.

My parents gave me very few rules as a child, but lots of instruction. I am not used to thinking of God in these terms. Not that His instruction isn't authoritative... ACK my Calvinistic little heart is being greatly stretched and reshaped this semester!!!!!

It's still sinking in just how good God is...

My God... SINGS?

Transformed by Praise: The Message and Meaning of the Psalms
Mark D. Futato | ISBN 0875521908

MWS 501 – Post 2

Hello. My name is Jennifer Cadle, and I'm slow. Really slow.

As I was reading through Futato I was hit over the head with the realization that Jesus probably sang. Futato was commenting on how Jesus recited part of a psalm from the cross. I knew that. But I have never considered that Jesus is quoting lyrics from a song. And, well, it could have been a song Jesus actually sang at some point. Maybe even from the cross.

I know that the Lord rejoices over us in song, but as I sat and thought about the possibility of a physical Jesus singing, it just impressed and overwhelmed me. I don't know why it is so natural for me to see Jesus as super-human and equate that with being supra-emotional, supra-artistic, etc. There are Gnostic tendencies hiding out in my soul-- help! I need a recovery group!

How beautiful that God became flesh and dwelt among us. The Creator redeemed every aspect of creation when He became human. WOW!!!!!!

Intertestamental days are here again...

The Drama Of Scripture: Finding Our Place In The Biblical Story
by Craig G. Bartholomew, Michael W. Goheen | ISBN 0801027462


MWS 501 – Post 3

[Yes, the jingle from the Wal-Mart commercials is ringing in my head.]

I have never really studied the intertestamental period, though I have wondered what it would feel like to have lived during that time. I found that B&G’s Interlude gives great insight not only into that span between the Old and New Testaments but also into much of the Evangelical culture I have been immersed in these past few years.

The “already, not yet” reality I have seen fleshed out in the lives of my dispensational brothers and sisters is very much like Intertestamental times. They live as if we are sandwiched in time between A) the life, death and ascension of Christ and all that preceded it, and B) His glorious appearing. Fundamentalists in this camp could also be compared to the nation of Israel, which during this time “seethes with anger, and dreams of one day throwing off the yoke of oppression” (113). While Israel longed to be set free from bondage to the Roman Empire, dispensationalists long to be set free from the confines of this physical, evil world.

Many in the Jewish nation longed for a messiah. The intertestamental time is a time of groaning and aching. But when the Messiah came, they did not recognize or receive Him. They are still waiting, longing and hoping for their messiah to come. Jewish people are still stuck in Intertestamental times. In my own life, I realize that I have missed the Messiah. I have missed the setting up of His Kingdom on earth. I have spent years waiting for His return, stuck in this season that isn’t even worth its own book! But the Kingdom of God is here among us. The Messiah has come. Yes, there is so much more to look forward to as Christ returns and consummates all He has begun. But Christ has set us free from the curse and bondage of sin. I/we need to stop sitting around waiting for the King to return and get busy doing the King’s business now. Not just the business of winning more souls, but the business of holistically cultivating His kingdom and creation on earth.

At least I know something...

The Drama Of Scripture: Finding Our Place In The Biblical Story
by Craig G. Bartholomew, Michael W. Goheen | ISBN 0801027462


MWS 501 – Post 1

It may be rather ironic that I am going to comment on a minute detail I picked up on in a book that’s largely about seeing the big picture, but I can’t help myself. In the words of Justin Clemente, I hope this isn’t too much of a bunny trail. B&G make the following statement in the Prologue: “First you need to know something of the beginning, middle, and the end of a story. Only then can you understand any one episode in it” (16). When I read this, the following engines of thought began departing from the station:

1. What does the Bible provide us? Something. It does not provide the complete story in that it does not provide every detail of every thing God has done; it is not 100% comprehensive. Just as we don’t have every parable or teaching that Jesus spoke on earth, the Bible does not contain everything there is to know about God or many lesser subjects. Again, what does the Bible provide us? It provides us with something of the beginning, middle and end—not with everything.
   
2. We often operate under the assumption that we need to know everything in order to know anything, and that the Bible offers us everything. If it seems like there are some loose ends or gaps, we fill them in by imposing systematic theologies that help us account for and decipher the bits of information that aren’t immediately evident in Scripture itself.
   
3. We expend so much time and effort trying to fill in the gaps of the story that we never let what we do have of the story impact us. We don’t engage in the story, we stand outside of it and critique and dissect it.
   
4. God didn’t have to chose the medium of story. We can assume that God intentionally chose story because it would communicate in the way He desired better than other methods of communication. He could have deviated from the completetion that is story: He could have provided us with information of the beginning and end, and left us clueless as to what to do in the middle. He could have given us a clear beginning and middle, but left us without the hope, perseverance and purpose that comes with knowing something of the end. Instead, He created and chose to reveal Himself through story.
   
5. 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We don’t have everything nor do we need everything, but what we have is what we need to appropriate. We have something of the beginning, middle and end.
   

I am challenged to stop striving after knowing everything and settling down to really digest the something He has provided. To begin to live out of that something really IS everything.

Peterson: Engaging with God

Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship
David Peterson | ISBN 0830826971


MWS 501 - Prof. Eric Bolger - 15 February 2006

It seems that there is an almost limitless variation of definitions for what worship is. Different time periods, churches, and individuals all seem to associate closely with some particular definition; they then proceed to use the definition they accept as a standard by which to judge the value or acceptability of the worship offered by others. What is the answer to this confusion and division? Fortunately, we are not the arbitrators of what worship is or is not. It is not the place of the worshipper to decide what worship is; it is the place of the One being worshipped to determine what is acceptable to Him. In Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, author David Peterson describes the kind of worship that brings honor and glory to God by surveying the biblical texts. God, out of His grace and compassion, has not left us in the dark to try our luck at finding the right way to worship Him but has revealed in His word the Who, what, when, why and how of the worship He both deserves and desires.

WORSHIP AS A LIFESTYLE

While many today use “worship” to refer to that portion of a church gathering where singing takes place, the Bible uses many different terms for worship that denote not merely an event, but a life orientation (17). Worship is not exclusively or primarily an activity done at church. It is a holistic, life-encompassing way of doing everything for the glory of God.

In the Old Testament, God entered into a relationship with the nation of Israel by revealing Himself to her and calling her to respond to, or engage with, Him by being set apart in almost every area of life. At Mount Sinai He initiated a relationship with “terminology [that] suggests that the engagement with God at Sinai was to inaugurate a total-life pattern of service or worship for the nation” (28). He then provided a visible symbol of His presence with Israel through the Tabernacle and later the Temple. The strict regulations concerning these holy places were a reminder that God could only be approached on the terms He Himself set (32). God also gave specific teaching on how sinful Israel could worship a holy God. Peterson notes that “the sacrificial system was the means by which God made it possible for a sinful people to draw near to him, to receive his grace and blessing, without desecrating his holiness and so incurring his wrath against them” (49).

In the New Testament, the concept of worship as a lifestyle made possible by the initiation and provision of God is further described. Peterson shows how New Testament worship terms frequently indicate specific postures or gestures that reflect respect, adoration, acknowledgement of God’s presence, devotion, response to a revelation of the person or work of God, belief, dependence, submission, and thanksgiving (57ff). Another group of worship terms connect with the Old Testament concept of service as worship: by serving God not only within the church service or building but through edification of believers and proclamation of the Gospel to the world (i.e. the call to become a worshipper of God, a call made possible through the sacrifice of Christ), Christians are to live a life of service to God directly and indirectly through serving others and encouraging them to continue serving God themselves (discipleship and exhortation) or inviting them to serve as well (evangelism).

Peterson makes it very clear that just as the covenant, Tabernacle and Temple, and sacrificial system of the Old Testament were provisions from God to Israel so that they might respond to Him, Christ is the fulfillment of these Old Testament foreshadowings and the ultimate provision from God for people of all nations to be able to enter into a relationship with and response to God. God provides Christ as the only sufficient and efficient New Temple, Priest and Mediator, and Sacrifice to make us holy so that we may enter His presence. Our ability to offer God worship that is acceptable is not based on our own merit or ingenuity, but solely upon the finished work of Christ. As the suffering servant, He modeled a perfect lifestyle of worship.

WORSHIP IN COMMUNITY

With the foundational understanding of worship as something that is incorporated in all of life, not just an event or church service, it may seem that the gathering of believers is unnecessary or at least unimportant for worship. Peterson, however, emphasizes the significance of joining together in times of corporate worship.

Just as the presence of God was among the Israelites as made manifest in the Tabernacle and Temple, the presence of Christ is among believers in a special way as they gather. Jesus taught that when believers are gathered in His name He will be in their midst (92). God has made His dwelling with gathered believers through Christ. The community of Israel met at the temple to hear the revelation of God, for purification, and for sacrifice. The Church meets together to hear the revelation of God through His Word, to exhort one another to further holiness and sanctification, and to remember the sacrifice of Christ through the preaching of the Gospel and the service of the Eucharist. These acts of worship are made possible not only by the sacrifice of Christ, but also by the continuing work of God the Holy Spirit among His people (143). Corporate worship further includes the idea of corporate responsibility; to worship God rightly is to embody to His Church and then to the world His grace, love, compassion, and provision of physical needs (159).

MY CHURCH EXPERIENCE

Peterson is a re-read for me, and I found it fascinating to discover how much my past reading has affected the way my theology of worship has been shaping to this day. I remember reading the Epilogue a few years ago and wondering what that type of church community would really look and feel like, not quite able to imagine it or fit it into the church contexts I had experienced. This time through I am a member of a church that is extremely intentional in planning the corporate worship time to reflect the theology of worship Peterson describes. While we are less liturgical than the illustration he uses, there is a purposeful structure to the worship services.

On Sunday mornings we begin by declaring the person and works of God through song. This is followed by confession of sin (a prayer, scripture reading, or song) and a proclamation of the mercy and forgiveness we have through Christ (also a prayer, scripture reading or song). Some combination of songs describing the character and deeds of God, the work of Christ, and our response follows. We weekly affirm either the Nicene or Apostles’ Creed (rotated bi-weekly). While we do not read all four of the readings from the lectionary or have a typical homily, the sermons are based on rich texts of scripture, usually preached exegetically with occasion topical series. At the end of the sermon a very smooth transition is made into the invitation to come with Thanksgiving to the Table. It is evident that this too is part of our worship and is a communal celebration. We are then exhorted to “go forth to love and serve the Lord” in our jobs, homes, and community. On Wednesday nights we have a three-fold, semi-monastic service that is preceded by gathering for dinner. The mid-week service is focused on praise, teaching (in various classes), and prayer, and is similarly intentional in responding to God, but less complicated or formal.

While the idea of our lives being worship is communicated throughout the services, there is definite room for growth in incorporating the kind of informal gatherings throughout the week to discuss the teaching and exhort one another. We have many activities at church throughout the week that enable this kind of interaction to some degree, but they are usually less specifically connected to further emphasizing the Sunday and Wednesday gatherings. I think it would strengthen my church to branch out into this type of small, home group atmosphere, but I doubt people would be willing to give up their other church meetings and activities for such a shift.

I am blessed to be part of a community that is honestly seeking to worship God through lives of service and dedication. As a church, we have come a long way from our original foundation in the Charismatic movement where we attempted to worship God on our terms and incite Him to respond to us, to our semi-liturgical, non-denominational present where we seek to proclaim God and walk in obedient response to Him.

Torrance: Worship, Community & the Triune God of Grace

Worship, Community & the Triune God of Grace

James Torrance | ISBN 0830818952



MWS 501 - Prof. Eric Bolger - 4 January 2006

As a worship student in Bible college, I often threw around the term “Trinitarian worship.” While worship styles and structures are negotiable, our content unwaveringly must be Trinitarian. It was not until reading this work by Torrance, however, that I began to understand what this actually means. Trinitarian worship is not simply worshipping a triune God or singing songs that make sure to name all three members of the Trinity. It is understanding how the person and work of this God in three persons informs and enables our worship.

Torrance opens with descriptions contrasting Unitarian and Trinitarian approaches to worship. The Unitarian model is characterized by the action of the one doing the worship. The focus is on me and my works; I worship God when I perform or participate in certain actions that are worship. In this model, Christ is a good example for us to follow. Trinitarian worship, on the other hand, is characterized by a realization of, response to and participation in the person and action (past, present and future) of Christ. We participate in the very ministry of Christ in and to the world, and we find ourselves guided by the Holy Spirit through Christ into relationship with the Father. In this model we do not merely mimic the example of Christ, we join Him in His work.

Out of these two models stem three prevalent theologies in churches today. The Harnack/Hick model emphasizes the individual relationship of each soul with God. Christ offers us His example of a relationship with God, but His relationship is not something unique. We can all achieve the same connection with God on our own. In the Existential model, there is a stronger Christology presented in that it is because of Christ’s work (not merely His example) that we are able to have a relationship with God. Christ accomplished something in history—at the event of His death and resurrection—that now intersects with our experience allowing us to now enter into relationship with God through a chain of events (repentance, conversion, baptism, etc.) The final model, the Trinitarian or Incarnational model, also is based on the work of Christ, but in a much more holistic and dependent way. Christ has accomplished for us what we could not do on our own. He now invites us to partake through the Holy Spirit in His own relationship with the Father. We are connected to God through Christ in the strongest and most dependent sense.

Torrance continues by further fleshing out what it is to embrace Trinitarian worship. As he describes the work of Christ as Priest and Mediator, the emphasis is once again that Christ alone is able to fill these roles and our works mean nothing. While I have heard many sermons on being saved by grace alone, Torrance repeatedly hammers covert Unitarian nails on the head. How beautiful that even repentance is not a work that conditions God’s grace towards us, but is rather an amen to His proclamation of our guilt and His provision of propitiation.

I have seen churches that proclaim “saved-by-grace” but emphasize all the worship-works we must do. I have also been in circles where people truly understand their depravity and inability to do any good works, but do not realize the glorious call to participate in the work of Christ. I am currently with a wonderful congregation that embodies grace in ways that I have never experienced before, but I still do not think we get it. This community is the closest to a Trinitarian model that I have experienced, but we still fail to recognize how this affects every aspect of our lives—every aspect of our worship. I find hope in knowing that we are all on a journey. I know that I continue to be stretched and amazed at who God is and what He has done. I continue to be humbled that He allows us and calls us to participate in what He has and is and will do. This triune Godhead becomes more real to me with each day.

Jenn’s Worship Journey

[Some time ago I mentioned posting my IWS work here, but I never followed through with it. The next series of blogs will be assignments from my MWS501 class, Biblical Foundations of Worship. This assignment was a pre-class "get to know you" posting on our class message board. Check out IWS at www.iwsfla.org.]

Music has always been able to connect with me and connect me with God. I would say that I love music, but I have been around people who truly love music and now realize that I have more of a crush on it. Oddly enough, though music was my initial attraction to worship, until recently it was also my biggest barrier in pursuing further involvement with worship ministry.

I grew up in a Presbyterian (PCA) congregation that did a tremendous job of selecting songs with deep, rich content. Even though I was a youngster, I recognized that I was learning and expressing truths of the faith through song. The only I thing I felt our church was lacking was a physical or emotional response to the intellectual truths we proclaimed. My dad would make jokes on the way home from church about how boring we were; he used to sing, “We lift our voices, but not our hands. We keep our lives to ourselves, we’re Presbyterians…”

When I was 12, my parents and I moved to Belize, Central America, as missionaries. There were two churches in the village we lived in, a Pentecostal church and a Catholic church. Picking what we deemed to be the lesser of two evils (I’m kidding), we began attending the Pentecostal church. The freedom and energy with which these people sang and worshipped was astounded me. While I thought it was a bit extreme at times, it opened my eyes to a whole new world. I was instantly enthralled by their expression and for a good while failed to realize that this fervency I was experiencing was often not out of a desire to respond to God but rather a frenzied attempt to get God to respond to us.

Somewhere down the road I sought a marriage of these two church experiences. I wanted to sing songs full of rich doctrine, and I wanted to respond to God with freedom and passion. In the depths of my heart a desire to lead others in worship was also awakening, but I was terrified. Although I loved music and had sung on various teams, I did not have the gifting or talent to lead anyone vocally or on the instruments I tinkered around with. I had some experience leading a worship dance team, but had no formal dance training and didn’t feel this quite fulfilled the longing I had anyway.

Since I was unequipped to lead others musically, I canned the idea and tried to see what else I could do. I decided to be a missionary and went to Japan for a year. While I was in Japan, I decided I needed more training to minister to people, and I returned to the US to study counseling at Trinity College of Florida. I knew deep down that I needed to be studying worship, but to be in the worship track you had to audition and there was no way I would make it, so why try and fail?

That first semester at Trinity I established myself concretely as a counseling major with a heart for missions. Then somehow it slipped out that I owned a set of congas and had played for my church back home. The chapel worship leader approached to see if I would play a song with the team. I agreed and met for the rehearsal. After I got there, I was informed that the professor over worship studies would listen in to give the official okay of whether I could play in chapel or not. After rehearsal, the professor called me over and started asking all sorts of questions about my faith, musical background and future plans. Then he asked me to sing Amazing Grace with him. At the end of the song, he turned around and told me I had just completed my audition for the worship track and that I could switch majors the following semester without messing up my graduation date. I went back to my room and cried for about an hour before calling my parents and then the registrar.

The worship professor from Trinity (who is also the worship pastor at my church and an IWS alumnus) jokes that I have been “baptized in music” these past three years. While I have grown musically, I have also had my view of worship blown out of the water and see that while I may not have much to add to congregational worship musically, God has given me other gifts that He wants to use for His Body. My heart is to further understand the theology, history and philosophy of worship and to use this knowledge to plan and implement services that reflect a more holistic approach to worship. I also have a desire to promote physical expression (gesture, posture, dance) and the arts as a means of responding to God in worship.

Over the past two years I have been shaped greatly by observing the Church Calendar and celebrating the Eucharist weekly at my non-denominational Reformed church (both things I figured I would give a try for a year or so, but didn’t want to get too involved in for fear that they would become rote and lose meaning). I have read books and encountered fellow seekers that continue to challenge my presuppositions about God, the Bible, and what it means to be a Christian. I have begun a journey from an often legalistic, individualistic and works-based faith to a faith based on grace experienced and received in the community of God’s people. It has been a long journey, and I am thankful that it is one I will continue to traverse with you all at IWS and for many years to come.

Jenn’s Worship Journey

[Some time ago I mentioned posting my IWS work here, but I never followed through with it. The next series of blogs will be assignments from my MWS501 class, Biblical Foundations of Worship. This assignment was a pre-class "get to know you" posting on our class message board. Check out IWS at www.iwsfla.org.]

Music has always been able to connect with me and connect me with God. I would say that I love music, but I have been around people who truly love music and now realize that I have more of a crush on it. Oddly enough, though music was my initial attraction to worship, until recently it was also my biggest barrier in pursuing further involvement with worship ministry.

I grew up in a Presbyterian (PCA) congregation that did a tremendous job of selecting songs with deep, rich content. Even though I was a youngster, I recognized that I was learning and expressing truths of the faith through song. The only I thing I felt our church was lacking was a physical or emotional response to the intellectual truths we proclaimed. My dad would make jokes on the way home from church about how boring we were; he used to sing, “We lift our voices, but not our hands. We keep our lives to ourselves, we’re Presbyterians…”

When I was 12, my parents and I moved to Belize, Central America, as missionaries. There were two churches in the village we lived in, a Pentecostal church and a Catholic church. Picking what we deemed to be the lesser of two evils (I’m kidding), we began attending the Pentecostal church. The freedom and energy with which these people sang and worshipped was astounded me. While I thought it was a bit extreme at times, it opened my eyes to a whole new world. I was instantly enthralled by their expression and for a good while failed to realize that this fervency I was experiencing was often not out of a desire to respond to God but rather a frenzied attempt to get God to respond to us.

Somewhere down the road I sought a marriage of these two church experiences. I wanted to sing songs full of rich doctrine, and I wanted to respond to God with freedom and passion. In the depths of my heart a desire to lead others in worship was also awakening, but I was terrified. Although I loved music and had sung on various teams, I did not have the gifting or talent to lead anyone vocally or on the instruments I tinkered around with. I had some experience leading a worship dance team, but had no formal dance training and didn’t feel this quite fulfilled the longing I had anyway.

Since I was unequipped to lead others musically, I canned the idea and tried to see what else I could do. I decided to be a missionary and went to Japan for a year. While I was in Japan, I decided I needed more training to minister to people, and I returned to the US to study counseling at Trinity College of Florida. I knew deep down that I needed to be studying worship, but to be in the worship track you had to audition and there was no way I would make it, so why try and fail?

That first semester at Trinity I established myself concretely as a counseling major with a heart for missions. Then somehow it slipped out that I owned a set of congas and had played for my church back home. The chapel worship leader approached to see if I would play a song with the team. I agreed and met for the rehearsal. After I got there, I was informed that the professor over worship studies would listen in to give the official okay of whether I could play in chapel or not. After rehearsal, the professor called me over and started asking all sorts of questions about my faith, musical background and future plans. Then he asked me to sing Amazing Grace with him. At the end of the song, he turned around and told me I had just completed my audition for the worship track and that I could switch majors the following semester without messing up my graduation date. I went back to my room and cried for about an hour before calling my parents and then the registrar.

The worship professor from Trinity (who is also the worship pastor at my church and an IWS alumnus) jokes that I have been “baptized in music” these past three years. While I have grown musically, I have also had my view of worship blown out of the water and see that while I may not have much to add to congregational worship musically, God has given me other gifts that He wants to use for His Body. My heart is to further understand the theology, history and philosophy of worship and to use this knowledge to plan and implement services that reflect a more holistic approach to worship. I also have a desire to promote physical expression (gesture, posture, dance) and the arts as a means of responding to God in worship.

Over the past two years I have been shaped greatly by observing the Church Calendar and celebrating the Eucharist weekly at my non-denominational Reformed church (both things I figured I would give a try for a year or so, but didn’t want to get too involved in for fear that they would become rote and lose meaning). I have read books and encountered fellow seekers that continue to challenge my presuppositions about God, the Bible, and what it means to be a Christian. I have begun a journey from an often legalistic, individualistic and works-based faith to a faith based on grace experienced and received in the community of God’s people. It has been a long journey, and I am thankful that it is one I will continue to traverse with you all at IWS and for many years to come.

Lent

Sorry to disappoint you, but this post will not be about laundry.

I don't know how many of my blog readers know about or participate in the season of the church year known as Lent. I had never even heard of it until 2-3 years ago myself, being ignorant of most of church history. The past few years, however, I have been introduced to and walking through the church year. The experience-- the journey-- has shaped and influenced my spiritual life more than I would have ever thought possible.

The past few weeks I have begun praying about what to do this year for Lent. I have fasted from some things in the past or made a concentrated effort to add something to my days. Yesterday I ran across something I'm pretty darn excited about. It's a group that encourages you to take the money you would normally spend on something (say, a daily cup of joe) and as you fast from said thing (in this instance, caffeinated beverage) to save the money up and at the end of Lent, use it to provide needy families with basics like clean water, toilets, etc. How cool is that?

If you're like me, you have a heart to reach the needy and impoverished with the love of God. I'm not talking about handing them a gospel track; I'm talking about modeling and pouring the gospel out in action. But if you're like me, you do this way too infrequently. As we approach Ash Wednesday, the Lenten season, and the culmination of Holy Week and Pentecost Sunday, let's try to follow the path of Christ not only by observing the church year, but also by embodying the Gospel to a needy, hurting world.

Check out Significant Sacrifice, a mission of Lifewater International!

Sing Me to Heaven

If you would comfort me
sing me a lullaby

If you would win my heart
sing me a love song

If you would mourn me
and bring me to God
Sing me a requiem

Sing me to heaven

Back

So, I got back into town yesterday and find myself in somewhat of a daze. IWS was incredible... it truly defies description. I want to process it more and then perhaps share some of what I have learned/am learning here. For now, I feel very much like the Pevensie children at the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: over the past week I have been on this incredible journey taking me to new and strange places, and now I am falling out of the wardrobe and back into a life that hasn't moved on or changed at nearly the rate of the magical land where I've been.

Gone

Current mood: geeky

I am gone... to grad school. I leave on what is officially today (yikes, I should be sleeping!). For those of you who don't know, I will spend a week on the physical campus and the rest of the semester on the virtual campus of The Institue for Worship Studies. I'm so excited...

So that's it for now. Over and out. 10-4 little buddies.

Currently reading:
Worship, Community & the Triune God of Grace
By James Torrance
Release date: By August, 1997