I went to The Movement last night, like I normally do on Saturday nights. My friend Mike is the young adult pastor, and it’s always a joy to hear him preach the gospel and make much of Jesus. I had been studying the background and introduction to 1 Peter most of the day, and debated on not going out of sheer mental exhaustion. Something pressed me forward and compelled me to go anyway. I’m glad I did, because I witnessed a miracle.
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Posted in Theology
Tagged Baptism, Christ, Christianity, Church, Jesus, Miracle, Salvation, The Movement
This week is Holy Week. Today is Maundy Thursday, from the Latin for “mandatum” (commandment), for when Christ gave us a new command: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). When Christ sat with his friends and drank wine with his brothers. And gave a different commandment as he broke bread with his betrayer.
Tagged Christ, Christian, Christianity, Church, Holy Week, Jesus, Maundy Thursday, Remembrance
Sarah Bessey, a writer I’ve come across recently, shared this on Monday. It’s been pressing on my heart since then, so I thought I would share it here.
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Growing up in church, I was raised with Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday traditions. They were more than traditions for some, to be sure, but traditions they were. Plays depicting how the crowds shouted “Hosanna! Hosanna!” as Jesus entered the city riding an ass. Actors illustrating for us the righteous anger of Christ when He saw the Temple had become a “Den of thieves” instead of a house of prayer for all nations, turning over the tables – cursing the temple system. The last supper, where Christ gave the mandate of Communion, of the Eucharist, commanding that we do so in remembrance of Him. Representations of King Jesus being beaten, mocked, and whipped. Crucified and buried. Rising again. Yet, somehow, with the repetitive nature of this, year in and year out, I found myself inoculated to these performances.
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I grew up in church. I grew up seeing Felt-board Jesus every Sunday, and His friends; Moses, Noah, Peter, and John. I grew up believing in Jesus, but never really understanding the full weight of the gospel. Maybe I heard it and missed it. Maybe it was just part of growing in the Lord and closer to Him, something that happens over time. As part of all of this, my understanding of missions was reduced to once a year having different missionaries whom our church sponsored talk about what they do and where they do it. Missions was people being crazy enough to go live somewhere else and be uncomfortable while telling people about Jesus instead of doing it right here. I got the importance of it, and that it was a command, but I never got the weight of it. Not until today.
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Posted in Gospel and Politics, Life Lessons, Theology
Tagged Abortion, China, Christ, Church, Gospel, Jesus, One Child Policy, Persecution
