A Strange Way To Change the World

It's so hard to wrap your head around it. Of all the ways that God could have acted - a baby? Jonathan Dobson quotes Bono in a post on his blog Creation Project today.

“The idea that God, if there is a force of Logic and Love in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough.

That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw…a child…

I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry … Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable.

There it was.

I was sitting there, and it’s not that it hadn’t struck me before, but tears came streaming down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this.”

U2 frontman Bono
Excerpt taken from Bono: in conversation (New York: Riverhead Books, 2005), 124-5.

As I continue to prepare for Sunday's "You Say You Want A Revolution" message for this Sunday, for me it is the "backstory" of Christmas that fascinates me. Why then? Why there? Why them?

It was so... common.

And yet it changed everything.

Christmas TIME

Was it always this busy at Christmas?

We were talking at church last night about Christmas parties and the like, and it was very tough to even come up with a date that we could be sure we'd have the majority of people there.

This year's different for Bunny and me because of our every other week trips to Macon, which will cause us to miss the church's caroling and the party afterward. Sunday nights are usually when we hold the church-wide get together, but our older members have great difficulty with getting out at night.

Then there's the conflicts with family trips this time of year, company parties, shopping etc. The last thing we want to do as a church is to add to the frustration of people trying to squeeze 29 hours into a 24 hour day.

I think we're beginning to catch on to the idea that depending on people's leisure time (think left overs) as opposed to their prioritized time (think work and family), is a poor model. Maybe we need to decentralize more and fellowship in smaller groups across the congregation with varied times and dates, so that we don't fall victim to the "one strike - you're out!" problem we have in coordinating now. Spread it out over the month prior to Christmas with a fellowship every week but in different homes. That way we'd provide many more connections.

I wrote this today to file the thought away for later. The more connections we make and maintain, the more we share the love of Christ with our friends.

It's Almost Time

Bunny's traditional Florida Christmas Palm Tree Cookies are almost here!

Thinking and praying

It's a quiet Saturday morning here. Bunny's watching a movie, Henley's asleep on the floor, and both boys are on the road with Sean taking Adam back home to Georgia. Tomorrow our "Let It Be Christmas" series begins and I've been working and reworking the message and media off and on this week. And I'm praying now. Praying for God to bless us with His presence and more.

My hope in doing a series so out of sync with the traditional way we have approached Christmas has been that our folks would invite their friends and neighbors. That we as a church would reach out into the vast pool of people who have no relationship with God and invite them to draw closer. I have always loved Advent, and the traditions that predate my SBC upbringing. They've helped me appreciate the lives of the millions of the who followed Jesus before I was born.

But we have to find ways to communicate the greatest story ever lived to new ears.

Oh what a story it is.

My plan tomorrow is to bring people up to date with what God is doing by looking back and briefly explaining how we got to the point where we needed Christmas - unpacking the Big Story. Outlining the events - fall, exile, kings, prophets - silence... until one priest heard an amazing message.

It's not over.

There is still hope.

God can change EVERYTHING.

It is something I believe at the very core of my being - this hope.

Many many times it is where I have run to, when there was no where else to go. It was a place given to me, but not without a terrible cost. The gift of not just God's notice, but God's care. Given to me through the sacrifice of God's only son.

Undeserved.

No doubt. And yet cherished - clung to - relied on.

My heart's prayer is that someone else would receive that gift through Jesus' love tomorrow.

"Let It Be Christmas" Update

Hi guys, I wanted to go back and unpack for you what this series of messages and accompanying music by the Beatles is designed and purposed to do.

1. Lift high the name of Jesus.
2. Energize His children to tell people of His grace and invite them to worship with us.
3. Cause outsiders to consider drawing near to hear the Big Story of God's reaching out for them

I have pasted below the four week message themes and accompanying music. The idea of using secular music is not to worship using it. It's to provide a backdrop for the Light of Jesus Christ.

This will be a series of services where we will be taking on some of the questions that have been on the hearts and minds of people forever. For the last 40 years people (and really before that) have been asking themselves questions that the Beatles put to music. They are common questions, but they are important ones because they reflect the fears, worries, and helplessness so many people carry in this world. Christ can fill those needs and bring new life!

So we are going to begin a journey together looking at what God has to say about those themes that the Beatles raised in their music. And we'll show how the Incarnation - the coming of Jesus, can change everything!

So here are the messages and the music we'll use to set the tone and get people thinking.

* Week one - Nothin's Gonna Change My World (Music - Across the Universe)
* Week two - All The Lonely People (Music - Eleanor Rigby)
* Week three - I Believe In Yesterday (Music - Yesterday)
* Week four - You Say You Want A Revolution (Music - Revolution)

and Christmas Eve's theme? - Let It Be

Now, I want you to read this next sentence several times and commit it to heart.

If we let what we use overshadow what we'll be saying about the coming of the Christ child, and what that means to everyone - whether a Christ follower or someone far from God - we'll have failed.

It has to be about Jesus.

Think of this as the musical equivalent of Jesus pointing to the flowers and saying "consider the lilies of the field..." the everyday pointing to what ONLY God can do - give us peace.

If we can bring outsiders closer to people (Us) who are seeking to worship God and love their neighbors, and testify to them with words and expressions of love - and see the Holy Spirit draw them to Him... HE WINS!!! Glory to God in the Highest!

So pray with me.

David

Advent Conspiracy

This is one of those great ideas that is gaining attention and a voice. Churches who covenant with each other to seek to do everything they can to make a difference around the world in Jesus' name at Christmas.

New Hope has adopted five families locally and will be supplying food and some gifts during the holiday season. Our hope is that we can show the love of Jesus to people who may not know Him, and that by doing so, that love will grow in us.

I am convinced that one of the best things anyone can do to grow spiritually is to serve others in Jesus' name. So we are serving and will continue to look for ways to do more, and partner with other organizations to extend our arms toward others.

Small church with a big heart for God and for their neighbors = New Hope