So comforted by these words today. We are KNOWN fully, even if we do not yet KNOW fully.
"Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears...For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Cor. 13:8-9, 12)
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Deeper darkness
Some very wise words from Ravi:
"Calling for gun control and then entertaining the masses with bloodshed is only shifting the locus from law to entertainment. Do our entertainers ever pause to ask what debased values emerge from their stories? The death of decency is audible and visible in what passes as movie entertainment and political speech..."
"Calling for gun control and then entertaining the masses with bloodshed is only shifting the locus from law to entertainment. Do our entertainers ever pause to ask what debased values emerge from their stories? The death of decency is audible and visible in what passes as movie entertainment and political speech..."
Monday, December 17, 2012
We are needed.
The heartbreaking tragedy that occurred in Connecticut this past Friday shows us that this is the time for those of us who are followers of Christ - His Church - to step up. More. We are needed.
Yes, there need to be stricter gun laws. And through this situation, as well as through situations closer to me in my own life, I've seen how crucial it is that there be more education and assistance around mental healthcare.
But there also needs to be more of an acknowledgment that personal, unresolved issues, broken families, and our broken, violent culture contribute to tragedies like we saw on Friday.
I'm reading more and more about the divorce of Adam Lanza's parents and how hard it was on him, about his brother who hadn't talked to him in two years, about his fascination with his mother's guns.....and all this shows how NEEDED the Church is. It is the Church that can bring the peace, redemption, and healing of Christ to broken individuals, families, and entire cultures - preventing future tragedies from occurring.
There are deeper things going on than the need for more gun control (although again, that is an important discussion that needs to be had as well). But we as the Church NEED to help our culture address these deeper issues. We need to talk with those around us about the devastating effects of broken families and violent media; we need to more actively love our neighbors, involving ourselves in the brokenness, providing the community and support struggling parents might need, talking about and being an example of the wholeness God desires for us.
And we as the Church can also feed the deeper longing that all people have - a desire for a greater world, one without pain or injustice or violence. In Christ we have a hope that WILL be realized - He created us with a longing for something better because He wants to give it to us. In Christ we not only can experience healing now, but our hope in something better can be realized - as this season of Advent reminds us, Christ came for us and IS coming again someday to make all things new. He will walk with us and establish His peace and justice forever. He will one day put the world completely to right again.
This is why the Church must lead the way in our broken culture, bringing Christ's healing to the deeper issues that perpetuate the violence, and bringing the hope of the Kingdom that will come.
Yes, there need to be stricter gun laws. And through this situation, as well as through situations closer to me in my own life, I've seen how crucial it is that there be more education and assistance around mental healthcare.
But there also needs to be more of an acknowledgment that personal, unresolved issues, broken families, and our broken, violent culture contribute to tragedies like we saw on Friday.
I'm reading more and more about the divorce of Adam Lanza's parents and how hard it was on him, about his brother who hadn't talked to him in two years, about his fascination with his mother's guns.....and all this shows how NEEDED the Church is. It is the Church that can bring the peace, redemption, and healing of Christ to broken individuals, families, and entire cultures - preventing future tragedies from occurring.
There are deeper things going on than the need for more gun control (although again, that is an important discussion that needs to be had as well). But we as the Church NEED to help our culture address these deeper issues. We need to talk with those around us about the devastating effects of broken families and violent media; we need to more actively love our neighbors, involving ourselves in the brokenness, providing the community and support struggling parents might need, talking about and being an example of the wholeness God desires for us.
And we as the Church can also feed the deeper longing that all people have - a desire for a greater world, one without pain or injustice or violence. In Christ we have a hope that WILL be realized - He created us with a longing for something better because He wants to give it to us. In Christ we not only can experience healing now, but our hope in something better can be realized - as this season of Advent reminds us, Christ came for us and IS coming again someday to make all things new. He will walk with us and establish His peace and justice forever. He will one day put the world completely to right again.
This is why the Church must lead the way in our broken culture, bringing Christ's healing to the deeper issues that perpetuate the violence, and bringing the hope of the Kingdom that will come.
Monday, December 3, 2012
What does being "pro-life" really look like?
The following is a post I wrote for The Expectations Project.
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)
In American politics – and especially coming off of the frenzied presidential election season – the faith community gets played by all sides. And almost no phrase is used to court or manipulate the faith community more than the phrase “pro-life.”
Over the past couple years, I’ve had several experiences that have caused me to reflect on what it means to be pro-life. I’ve seen that being truly pro-life does not mean simply advocating for the reversal of Roe v. Wade. I’ve come to believe that I cannot be comprehensively pro-life unless I also choose to continually advocate for the lives of those children after they are born. I must ensure they will have the chance to live the full lives God desires for them. If we are to call ourselves pro-life, we must be pro-life in every area of our lives.
Yes, there are several verses in God’s Word where He speaks about knowing us in the womb (and that is a wonderful, miraculous thing). But there are also hundreds of verses that talk about God’s love for His children once we are outside the womb. God makes it very clear to us what it means to be pro-life by His standards:
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9)
So if we advocate for the voiceless in the womb, but when they are born to a mother who does not want them – or who is not equipped to love and provide for them the way God desires – and we are not there to advocate for them then, can we truly call ourselves pro-life, by God’s own standards?
God has called me into a situation this past year where I’ve learned more of what it looks like to live out my pro-life beliefs according to God’s standards. I’ve gotten to walk with a woman through the darkness that almost resulted in her terminating her pregnancy, I saw how it was God working through our relationship, and the community of support our church provided her, that led her to keep her baby. I’ve gotten to see God’s life-giving power begin to change her life – again, mostly through the community of people from our church taking the time to invest in her and love her. Just recently I got to hold her little baby in my arms, look into his face, and reflect on God’s amazing grace, lived out through a few truly pro-life relationships, that got him here. It was not simply saying we were pro-life that brought him to us. It was God’s love lived out in our lifestyles, in our willingness to enter into the tough, often exhausting relationship that has helped both mother and baby begin to enter into the full life God has for them.
And being pro-life does not stop here. This is just the beginning. It is through continuing to invest in her and her little boy, being present in their lives, advocating for them, supporting them, walking with them, teaching them, and learning from them, that I am able to truly call myself pro-life.
Which is why I firmly believe education is a pro-life issue. One of the most powerful and effective ways I can advocate for my friend is by helping to ensure that her children attend schools that give them the support and education that will help them break cycles of abuse, neglect, and poverty (the kind of poverty that causes children to have almost no quality of life, that makes abortion seem like the best option for a poor woman facing an unexpected pregnancy). Through receiving a quality education, through having teachers who invest in them, through having a school that meets their needs, my friend’s children will have the chance to live more of the full life God intended for them – and the full life my friend might have had growing up if she had had more education advocates.
I keep thinking about the schools she went to – what if there were programs in place or a couple teachers who had the time, training, or resources to invest in her – how different her life might have been. I believe that through our schools, we can provide what my friend needed when she was 12 – we can provide that mentor, that teacher, that coach, that program that will catch others like her and give them a chance to live up to their God-given potential.
The Church is able to be pro-life in a way the rest of the world can’t. We are able to bring a deeper understanding of the value of the life of every child. We are also able to bring a deeper understanding of the true, full Life found in Christ, and the passion and commitment the knowledge of this Life brings to our work. We must not let ourselves be restricted to a narrow vision or what being pro-life looks like – rather, we must be present in our schools, and use our voices to advocate for the public education reform these kids and families desperately need. If we don’t, I do not think we can truly call ourselves pro-life.
the preview Advent gives us
Jesus shows us what being a true King, a true leader looks like. He shows us a new way, a way opposite of the world - He shows us the way God intended our leaders to be:
"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth…the wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox…they shall do no evil or harm in all my holy mountain, says the Lord….Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness I the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is his name by which he will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’” (Isaiah 65:17, 25; Jeremiah 23:5-6)
In addition to this prophetic vision, the way in which Jesus lives radically alters the human understanding of kingship. For, the earthly ministry of Jesus was not one of power, military might or oppression. Indeed, Jesus turns the whole concept on its head.....
For those who care to see and hear in a new way during this season of Advent, Christ, the King Sunday points us to King Jesus who did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of humans. It is before the rule of this servant-king that one day all will bow. (http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=45b75085e6ab57e339ea89d67&id=5c816f522e&e=edebcd0bee)
Someday the world will be made right again and we will see our beautiful King ruling with justice, love, and peace. Let this season of Advent fill us with deep JOY as we think about a world with no more corrupt leaders, no more pain, and no more hurting. And let the joy and hope of Advent's reminders spill out of us to the world around us, so we help make it a little more the way God intended it - until the perfect King comes and makes all things new.
until then.
can't wait.
"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth…the wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox…they shall do no evil or harm in all my holy mountain, says the Lord….Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness I the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is his name by which he will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’” (Isaiah 65:17, 25; Jeremiah 23:5-6)
In addition to this prophetic vision, the way in which Jesus lives radically alters the human understanding of kingship. For, the earthly ministry of Jesus was not one of power, military might or oppression. Indeed, Jesus turns the whole concept on its head.....
For those who care to see and hear in a new way during this season of Advent, Christ, the King Sunday points us to King Jesus who did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of humans. It is before the rule of this servant-king that one day all will bow. (http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=45b75085e6ab57e339ea89d67&id=5c816f522e&e=edebcd0bee)
Someday the world will be made right again and we will see our beautiful King ruling with justice, love, and peace. Let this season of Advent fill us with deep JOY as we think about a world with no more corrupt leaders, no more pain, and no more hurting. And let the joy and hope of Advent's reminders spill out of us to the world around us, so we help make it a little more the way God intended it - until the perfect King comes and makes all things new.
until then.
can't wait.
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