tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19370293355883817122024-03-16T23:53:42.111-07:00Roots & WingsFrom the southland to the nationsAlan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.comBlogger315125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-11908561871874677762023-09-08T20:29:00.005-07:002023-09-09T07:50:34.842-07:00God's Methodist Moment: reflections on the Asbury Outpouring<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv-6xXWtqPUHZnRTWu52edc7GoLKdGUPdbuisjE1ENxkZi0B9n5htvsSoJlf0CiuWUP7AO1t-m9NU5cR38zijio7X-65nKqAabviQKN3jlxnifUHatijF2CpMEh8L6_PdcCqLF0GVzRxsSfq9wQ0WKPL24UA3eTMMJxLz3SmTRUQaoZ0i9_b_boQKqSQ1U/s1280/Asbury-revival-1280x640.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv-6xXWtqPUHZnRTWu52edc7GoLKdGUPdbuisjE1ENxkZi0B9n5htvsSoJlf0CiuWUP7AO1t-m9NU5cR38zijio7X-65nKqAabviQKN3jlxnifUHatijF2CpMEh8L6_PdcCqLF0GVzRxsSfq9wQ0WKPL24UA3eTMMJxLz3SmTRUQaoZ0i9_b_boQKqSQ1U/w640-h320/Asbury-revival-1280x640.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">I was raised in a Methodist church, shaped by the <i>Wesleyan holiness</i> tradition. My parents have been immovable pillars in that Methodist church for some 50 years. The great legacy of the Wesley brothers - magnificent hymns, revivalistic preaching and deep piety - is gratefully mine. But the emphasis on personal holiness drained my soul of the assurance I craved as a young believer. I have vivid teenage memories of kneeling at the altar to take communion and sticking my fingers through the communion cup holes to grip the altar rail as I confessed my sin, terrified I'd lost my salvation. It took me until my 30's for the doctrines of grace to anchor me in gospel assurance. I also longed for an environment of greater openness to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. </span><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">So, a year after getting married in that church, my wife and I left it for a church that met those longings.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Several years after leaving, I found myself pastoring in a large church that put a lot of effort into the quality of its music, media, lighting and sound on Sundays. If something went wrong with these production values, our team leader would would say, "Well, that was <i>a bit of a Methodist moment, wasn't it</i>?" This was his way of saying, '<i>That was a bit clunky and old-fashioned</i>.' We would laugh and make sure it didn't happen again. I am actually not against high production values, but looking back, I cringe a little at how smug we were and also that I didn't speak up and say, "<i>Hey, that's my parents' church you're talking about!</i>" But I didn't. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">So, you can imagine my surprise on hearing two decades later that there was an outpouring of the Spirit on a small Methodist college campus in Wilmore, Kentucky called Asbury University. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">What began as a standard students' chapel on February the 8th, 2023, with a local pastor preaching a <i>no-better-than-average </i>message, led to sustained repentance as students knelt at the altar rail. Zack Meerkreebs recalls, “<i>I called my wife after my message, told her I had preached a stinker and cancelled my two afternoon meetings so I could go home and take a nap. But after a couple hours of worship and repentance I realized Jesus had something else in mind</i>.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Such was the heat and weight of God’s presence in that chapel, the President of the university emailed all students and faculty at 9 pm that evening, encouraging them to go to Hughes Auditorium and told them that classes were canceled until further notice. That chapel service morphed into a 16 day continuous prayer meeting that attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors to Asbury and touched millions online around the world. Eight months later, Asbury has become something of a revival catalyst, with fires of gospel awakening flickering on many college campuses across the USA. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">After a group of us led by my friend, Todd Proctor, visited with faculty, student and pastoral leaders who stewarded the outpouring this past week, I can only conclude that the Asbury Outpouring is <i>God's Methodist Moment. </i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">By this, I mean that on the surface, there was absolutely nothing flashy or produced about what was going on there. Zero hype. It was unpolished - even a little clunky at times. The worship and the preaching were biblical and heart-felt, but unspectacular. There were multiple authentic testimonies of miracles, but they were told in understated ways. There were no big names attached to the outpouring. No book deals or record contracts thus far. In fact, the leaders had an aversion to celebrity culture. And yet despite this, perhaps because of this, the veil between heaven and earth felt paper thin. It felt like what the Celtic Christians called, a thin place. There was a kind of naive purity about it all that I hope will remain unspoiled. Jesus was the only spectacular attraction.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmqU5C_cn6PZyQGRSygH_2zElTwvm1NgmjAFESio2ypUw_odCxuYONaEpjaiF76-CH6ZI3Dws2q-O2plKhFtqRJvZ0LG3P4tAmtPHZ2mGKkDoGDZ3jJhAfwNwQo-iqf46AzBqddZDMyoqFx1oL9aJ02y368AV2wvS0ZvMEhA7n6eZsg0eaSHmAsjw3CIC6/s2423/IMG_7632.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2269" data-original-width="2423" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmqU5C_cn6PZyQGRSygH_2zElTwvm1NgmjAFESio2ypUw_odCxuYONaEpjaiF76-CH6ZI3Dws2q-O2plKhFtqRJvZ0LG3P4tAmtPHZ2mGKkDoGDZ3jJhAfwNwQo-iqf46AzBqddZDMyoqFx1oL9aJ02y368AV2wvS0ZvMEhA7n6eZsg0eaSHmAsjw3CIC6/w640-h600/IMG_7632.jpeg" width="640" /></a></span><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Make no mistake though, the leaders there carry some wise values that left a deep impression on me. </span><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">I would describe them as follows:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><b>Consecration</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">The four words emblazoned above the Hughes Auditorium stage at Asbury University -<i> Holiness unto the Lord</i> - best describe what I encountered when meeting with the leaders there. </span><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">What left the deepest impression on me was the sense of consecration among them. The repeated theme of </span><i style="font-family: Oxygen;">repentance</i><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Oxygen;">dying to self</i><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"> marked every conversation. One lady described the Hughes Auditorium as </span><i style="font-family: Oxygen;">a beautiful graveyard where I crucified my old self and buried it</i><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">. Worship leaders and preachers would rush to pray in the </span><i style="font-family: Oxygen;">consecration room</i><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"> before getting on stage to crucify pride, confess weakness and declare dependence upon the Holy Spirit. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">David Thomas, the pastor/theologian described by the group as the man who fathered people through the outpouring, insisted that repentance came from kindness rather than severity or manipulation. “</span><i style="font-family: Oxygen;">People were so enraptured by the beauty of Jesus that they were only too glad to be rid of their sin. Holiness was no longer a set of behaviors. Holiness became a Person</i><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">The consecration looked like genuine humility and hard work on relational unity. Impressive. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">For me personally, returning to my childhood environment of consecration with my soul more tethered to the grace of God, was beautiful and needed. As I knelt at the altar God’s presence reminded me of C.S Lewis's description of Aslan the lion when he peeled off Edmund’s dragon skin in </span><i style="font-family: Oxygen;">The Voyage of the DawnTreader. </i></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">“<i>The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I’ve ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. " </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Grace is not permission to sin. Grace is the power not to sin. </span><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">And this grace was available through an atmosphere of consecration.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><b>Leadership Courage</b> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">I heard repeatedly about the courage of the University’s leadership to allow the outpouring to interrupt the normal rhythm of their institution. This went further than merely suspending classes for two weeks. Dr. Kevin Brown, the President of Asbury, insisted that all giving buttons be turned off during the outpouring on their website so as not to leverage it for financial gain. One student leader told me the university had also refused to leverage the outpouring as a marketing ploy to grow their student body. Both President and Vice President were integrally involved in the prayer ministry during the outpourings too. They were <i>ministers</i>, not just administrators. Dr. Brown explained, </span><i><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Asbury has a revival history, so if there is an outpouring, we are a riverbed that means the water knows where to go.</span></i><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">His institutional courage acted like a river bed for the outpouring channeling it purposefully towards consecration and mission. Imagine the courage it took to interrupt normal academic rhythms for 16 days, allowing hundreds of thousands of revival seekers to inundate the campus? Imagine the courage it took to bring the prayer meeting to an end after 16 days when it was still in such full flow?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">I wonder if there have been hundreds of other chapel or church services that have experienced a deluge of grace but there was simply insufficient institutional courage to welcome the interruption?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><b>Lingering Worship</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"> The third virtue was lingering worship. Perhaps the small town affected this, but nobody was in a rush. Planning center was nowhere to be found. Worship was unhurried, uninterrupted singing; congregational in nature, theologically true, but more adoration than description about God. I am all for rehearsing rich gospel truths in our singing, but if worship does not lead to adoration of Jesus it can be a theological exercise. Do we have such an environment in our churches at some point in our calendars?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><b>Travailing Prayer </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">David Thomas taught a profound message of travailing prayer, from the Old Testament prophets, to Jesus to Paul to the '<i>Spirit who intercedes with groans too deep to express.</i>" (Romans 8:26) He warned about the American Churches' affair with casual prayer, calling Biblical prayer<i> a language of tears. </i>Here is a link to his book on <a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/Travailing-Prayer-and-Awakening-with-David-R-Thomas-Podcast/B08KYYGT83">Travailing Prayer</a>. I believe leaning in to travailing prayer is going to be a mark of awakening in our churches and on our campuses. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><b>Generational Risk</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Finally, the generational risk was impressive. Asbury was primarily an outpouring <i>for Gen Z led by Gen Z</i>. Included in the leadership team who met with us was an 18-year old freshman who preached, and a student in her twenties who single handedly directed the 4 prayer rooms that operated adjacent to the main auditorium. The 24-hour worship was co-ordinated by a young white woman who was married to an African American man who led the gospel choir. Their willingness to be mentored and coached by older leaders was remarkable. But the older leaders' willingness to have them take the lead was beautiful. Our church has hundreds of Gen Zers and I returned intent on taking more risks with them as leaders.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">So, I'm considering these values deeply and crying out for God for a <i>Methodist Moment</i> in our church and the college campuses we serve. Won't you join me?</span></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-59316658611907485042023-08-05T12:50:00.014-07:002023-08-06T16:50:27.367-07:00The Revival Nobody Wanted: untangling the mess of church leadership scandal<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXARqWq-79rE4nGNLVQ6ictO7Wk-zYfGbxUr-_ljJK0hsmrrbvcTaXZzPa6KYY-9v6IplHncGQLqCgKsGlol7OWfQj3UCYni91a9KD-vg9m0A3N_CLIduozhooaIUvGAEG45yWV2jzhYBteiQnB7zxs1fK2g53EQUtnw_PuZIhNiCkSdgLW6AZjXjLQwDX/s1920/messy%20tapestry.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1281" data-original-width="1920" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXARqWq-79rE4nGNLVQ6ictO7Wk-zYfGbxUr-_ljJK0hsmrrbvcTaXZzPa6KYY-9v6IplHncGQLqCgKsGlol7OWfQj3UCYni91a9KD-vg9m0A3N_CLIduozhooaIUvGAEG45yWV2jzhYBteiQnB7zxs1fK2g53EQUtnw_PuZIhNiCkSdgLW6AZjXjLQwDX/w696-h448/messy%20tapestry.webp" width="696" /></a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I count myself among those who long for Jesus to revive his people.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I love to read about revival and remind people to live expectantly for it in our day. I am often asked to teach about revival and work closely with my friend, Oscar Merlo, who is the Director of Biola's Center for the Study of Revival. Our church spends significant time praying for it and I've co-written a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rend-Heavens-Primer-Revival-Prayer/dp/B08TZ7HM5H">primer </a>on revival prayer. I am taking some of our pastor's to meet the leaders of the Asbury Awakening this month. I celebrate the thousands of baptisms that took place at Pirate's Cove in Newport Beach this past month that hint at a new and desperately needed move of God coming to California. All this to say, I am more of a revival enthusiast than a revival skeptic.</span></p><p><b style="font-family: helvetica;">Man-manufactured or God-orchestrated?</b></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But I took heed of Francis Chan's warning a few years ago that we need to be able to discern between man-manufactured 'revival' and God-orchestrated revival. He compared a wave machine in a wave pool that manufactures a predictable pseudo-wave to the beauty, power and unpredictability of a genuine wave. One of the marks of true revival is unpredictability. Men cannot start it, control it or end it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Which brings me to a recent conversation that I had with a wise friend about the tragic leadership scandals in the Evangelical/Charismatic Church these past years. From Bill Hybels to Ravi Zacharias, from Mark Driscoll to Carl Lentz and Brian Houston, from Mike Pilavachi to Alan Scott, I have looked on with utter dismay at these gifted, high profile leaders who have either fallen morally or been accused of spiritual abuse.</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> The last two names give me a pit in my stomach as I type them. They are men who I know personally. One of them leads a church less than 5 miles from mine. The other has stayed in my house and ministered in every church I have ever pastored since 1997. My daughter was an intern in his church for a year in London. And while the investigations into these two men are not yet complete, it's safe to say that Church leadership scandal has come far too close to home this past year. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>An Unlikely Revival</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As my wise friend and I tried to make sense of the tragic deconstruction of faith and disillusionment with the Church that is understandably taking place in the wake of these leaders' scandals, he suggested, "<i>Perhaps this is a strange and unlikely revival? Perhaps God is cleaning house for the sake of his glory</i>?" </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This is in no way meant to minimize the painful trauma experienced by so many people through sexual, emotional or spiritual abuse at the hands of these leaders. I am so heavy-hearted hearing of the appalling treatment of so many people at the hands of church leaders. I am learning to listen carefully and walk tenderly with some of those victims who are close to me. Justice must also take its course and I am all for that.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But if we are able to view these repeated tragedies through the lens of God's mysterious providence, perhaps we could glimpse God at work orchestrating the revival that nobody wanted in His Church. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">One lady in our church this week told me, "I saw a</span><i><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> giant broom. God was cleaning house. He was sweeping out the dust to prepare His house for another wave of His glory.</span></i><span style="font-family: helvetica;">" The sobering warning from the Apostle Peter that, "</span><i style="font-family: helvetica;">Judgment begins with the house of God,</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;">" reminds us that while Jesus is gracious to forgive us of our sins, He holds those who have tasted of His grace to a higher standard. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">So, what if these painful scandals were about purifying God's leaders from using God's people to serve themselves? What if they were also about God purifying His people from being overly reliant on charismatic leaders to mediate between them and Himself? </span></p><p><i style="font-family: helvetica;">What if this was a revival God was giving that nobody wanted?</i></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>So, what now?</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">If this were so, what would an appropriate response be? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Without being over-simplistic, deep and lasting repentance would be a great place to start. Genuine revival is always marked by genuine repentance. An example of this is Ezra's prayer. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">"<i>As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice....But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery." (Ezra 9: 3-9)</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Leaders, let's be lead repenters. Let's repent of sexual sin. Let's repent of greed. Let's repent of using people to serve us. Let's repent of micro-managing. Let's repent of emotional abuse and gas lighting. Let's repent of confusing bravery with bravado and courage with always getting our own way.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I don't want to rob you of courage. Leaders desperately need courage these days. Leadership in the church is an almost impossibly difficult task. People have become more difficult to lead. They have become more sensitive and less co-operative. But it is still possible, with the help of the Spirit of Christ, to maintain courage and compassion as a leader. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In the midst of calling out injustice in the Church (and we must), let's all repent of having an easily shaken faith that was overly dependent on gifted, charismatic leaders. <i>Our faith is not theirs to shake</i>. Let's honor the gift of leadership without idolizing it. Let's repent of wanting a king, like Israel. Let's esteem good leaders who care for us more highly than great leaders who don't even know us. Let's resolve to have no King but Jesus.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I bet you this kind of repentance would precede a wave of genuine revival.</span></p><p><b style="font-family: helvetica;">God treasures up His bright designs</b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As humans with limits on our wisdom, we view life and especially suffering, as if looking at the back side of a tapestry. All we see is a tangled mess. But God is at work making something beautiful of this mess on the other side of the tapestry. Every now and then He flips it over and gives us a glimpse of His grand design. But one day we will see face to face, and we will realize He makes all things beautiful in His time. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As William Cowper, the hymn writer once wrote, "God<i> treasures up his bright designs, and works His sovereign will</i>.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Or as Joseph, the abused brother and slave once said,"<i>What man intended for harm, God intended for good, for the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20)</i></span></p><br /><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-69258075844434011832023-03-17T21:49:00.004-07:002023-03-20T09:13:32.511-07:00Learning from the Church in Asia <p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_37vURU85fYz63ncOD8st1s09MU8JU4pGjLj9PWVFKwa2Z7G3QiOKSTW-md2Hdeq1e4LQGZnm05652ffJSb-Qz3ZZIAZ7skG6hGQD-ONFvpbug_CyDblhSkL6A_rPLLJQxsKOVm-wociFFAsmg8b6B7kDtIpbV73Pr90S7Rf0cx8EpmXB4t2ZndzuIA/s4032/9B6B41F7-351D-475F-944B-FDF296768720.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_37vURU85fYz63ncOD8st1s09MU8JU4pGjLj9PWVFKwa2Z7G3QiOKSTW-md2Hdeq1e4LQGZnm05652ffJSb-Qz3ZZIAZ7skG6hGQD-ONFvpbug_CyDblhSkL6A_rPLLJQxsKOVm-wociFFAsmg8b6B7kDtIpbV73Pr90S7Rf0cx8EpmXB4t2ZndzuIA/w480-h640/9B6B41F7-351D-475F-944B-FDF296768720.heic" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Flying somewhere between Seoul and Bangkok, I began counting the number of international ministry trips I've done in my lifetime to pass the hours - a bit like counting sheep to fall asleep. I started flying internationally in 1990 and worked it out to be around 100 trips by 2023, not including the many times I've driven across international borders. This is not a flex. It's a confession. While I love the nations, international travel has lost its novelty for me. My body is not designed for it. My soul does not long for it. Long haul flights in particular, make me feel every year of my age. I can no longer shrug off jet lag like I used to. It hovers around like an unwanted visitor who has overstayed their welcome. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">So, why do I still do it? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Very simply, I do it because I believe embodied visits impart something to churches that videos, zoom calls and books do not. The Apostle Paul, in his inestimably great letter to the church in Rome, wrote that he longed to be present with them so that he might impart some spiritual gift to them to make them strong, that they might be mutually encouraged by each others faith. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">I do believe that in some way Rynelle and I impart something to churches when we travel. I also know for sure that we always gain some mutual encouragement from being with them. Having just returned from our 10 day trip to Asia where we spent time with our dear friends at One Light Church in Thailand and Redemption Hill Church in Singapore, though my body is tired, my heart is full. Despite my travel complaints above, both visits were a real joy, re-kindling treasured friendships and strengthening gospel partnerships. So, </span><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"> I waned to share some of the encouragement I have received from being with them. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Of course, Asia is not monolithic. It is vast and wonderfully diverse. Thailand and Singapore themselves are vastly different from one another, both culturally and economically. But collectively they have something to say to us, so I am reflecting on the gift of the Asian Church broadly to us as the American Church broadly. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">What does it have to teach us? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><b>A Minority Faith is a Robust Faith</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">First, it teaches us that a minority faith is a robust faith. Thailand is just over 1% Christian, while Christianity has slightly more influence in Singapore at 11%, but in both nations, Christians are a vast minority. Bhuddist monks are so revered in Thailand that they have special seating for them in airports and Bhuddism is by far the majority religion at 94%. The spread of religions is more even in Singapore, with Bhudddism at 31%, Islam at 15% and Taoism at 8%, while 20% of the population identify as having no religion. Overall though, the religious rights of Christians in Asia are fragile to non-existent. Churches live at the mercy of watchful and mostly suspicious government authorities who fear that their growth may disrupt the religious and cultural status quo. People who become Christians are often viewed as betraying their families, their faith and their culture, so there is a significant cost to following Jesus. Yet, this minority faith reality serves to forge an astonishing common bond among Christians. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">While the debate rages on about whether America is or should be a Christian nation, there is no debate for me as to the quality of Christian that is forged in a minority faith context. It is simply a more robust faith because there are no social benefits to becoming a Christian, so believers count the cost of following Jesus in more sobering ways than do Christians in the U.S. Does this mean that we should wish that Christianity becomes a minority in the USA in order that it should flourish? <i>Certainly not. </i> But neither should we fear the fact that we are living in an increasingly secular post-Christian reality. It creates more robust Christians, while a majority Christian nation tends to create more nominal Christians. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo--HfI7LmI9rE3u6zJUlDBG0mL8fbWKgNlzyhA8QKAI52-Q_jXRMSbTeKX-T8N41i5xL9BAyxfuTKXYaAtlRW5FlWfNBFuGahvQv-7tC0W2GPcQCn7-YK7HMKjjRKm3AqUxnsN_9QxiZbrpzJOCpVTyz5_rh5QpCoEQVHtI6sy0rwe8ut40ZlQGYP3g/s1440/840505E8-B61E-4857-B809-EFE07ABDB921.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo--HfI7LmI9rE3u6zJUlDBG0mL8fbWKgNlzyhA8QKAI52-Q_jXRMSbTeKX-T8N41i5xL9BAyxfuTKXYaAtlRW5FlWfNBFuGahvQv-7tC0W2GPcQCn7-YK7HMKjjRKm3AqUxnsN_9QxiZbrpzJOCpVTyz5_rh5QpCoEQVHtI6sy0rwe8ut40ZlQGYP3g/w640-h640/840505E8-B61E-4857-B809-EFE07ABDB921.jpeg" width="640" /></a></span></p><p><b style="font-family: Oxygen;">An Embattled Gospel is a Treasured Gospel</b></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">While Christians live lives that are embattled by hostility to the gospel in Asia, there is a treasuring of the gospel that is marvelous. I spoke to a man in the Singapore church who was from Malaysia, which is a strict Muslim country. He personally knew of people that had been imprisoned or killed for trying to convert Muslims in his home country. He was sensing a call to leave the relative comfort of Singapore and return to Malaysia, but was wrestling with the danger of the call. As he talked you could see that despite real fear, the love of Christ was compelling him. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"> If you compare the last words of Bhudda to the last words of Jesus you will understand why Christians from primarily Bhuddist nations treasure the gospel. On his death bed, Bhudda's last words to the monks around him were, "<i>Monks,</i> w<i>ork hard to earn your salvation</i>!" In contrast, </span><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Jesus last words to those who surrounded him at the cross were, "</span><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><i>It is finished</i></span><i style="font-family: Oxygen;">!"</i><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Christ finished the work of redeeming humanity from slavery to sin, paying our debt in full with his own life to set us free. While grace calls us to worshipful effort in serving God, it is opposed to earning of our salvation. Asian Christians treasure the grace of God in Jesus that has freed them from slavishly having to earn merit with God. There is a palpable relief and joy because of the gospel. Make no mistake, they are generally sacrificial and highly disciplined. But they treasure the gospel. You can hear it in their voices as they sing. You can see it in their faces as they speak. You can hear it in their earnest prayers. An embattled gospel is a treasured gospel.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGaYUbHcrW0tIncxASlEZQmZ8sRmCHQIvJwiDj0e17xVrPYilPb0B1yhcqlIG0ven12555a8su293mgtLhRCweq_zGQ3tZ0E72UJMnuw6BjKv_7D6T-a5zkTESNiIjYtNw61OQgVnzpz3wmGhV3W7rv8QjgZBWW2YTAajbOIGkONlWLgoeKKOVHv75A/s1397/8D8AF610-2F5C-4449-8A1E-4718BD890792.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1397" data-original-width="1397" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGaYUbHcrW0tIncxASlEZQmZ8sRmCHQIvJwiDj0e17xVrPYilPb0B1yhcqlIG0ven12555a8su293mgtLhRCweq_zGQ3tZ0E72UJMnuw6BjKv_7D6T-a5zkTESNiIjYtNw61OQgVnzpz3wmGhV3W7rv8QjgZBWW2YTAajbOIGkONlWLgoeKKOVHv75A/w640-h640/8D8AF610-2F5C-4449-8A1E-4718BD890792.jpeg" width="640" /></a></span></p><p></p><p><b style="font-family: Oxygen;">A Communal Christian is a Healthier Christian </b></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">The communal nature of Christianity in Asia is compelling. The idea of being a Christian who is not part of a church, just doesn't make any sense to a Christian here. For a start, culture is far more collectivist, less individualistic. But also, following Jesus without the encouragement of other Christians and godly leaders is just too hard. We should take our cue from them. A Christian walking alone is a Christian in walking in danger. One Light Church in Thailand builds community by feeding their whole congregation a simple lunch after their morning service. Nobody rushes off to their favorite restaurant. It's more important to be together. RHC in Singapore is a bigger and busier church with 5 different congregations so there is no after-church lunch, but still, people linger after each service in their rented hotel ballroom, chatting at length and praying for one another. Both churches have facilities that are solid but minimal - no high end coffee shops or playgrounds to get people to stay around. (I am for both of these, by the way!) And yet, there is a profound priority on an unhurried gathering that weaves a strong communal fabric within the church. While both churches do Christian counseling and community groups it seems as though much of the disciple making and counseling is happening organically and relationally, rather than programmatically and professionally. This makes for a more healthy Christian.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><b>A High Carb Diet is the Best Kind of Diet!</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">Not really. But seriously! Lots of walking, 5 small meals a day, lots of carbs, and very few overweight people. <i>What are we missing</i>? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;">You may think I am idealizing Asian Christianity. Make no mistake, there are many qualities of Christianity here in the USA that have resourced the Church in Asia. Our music, our books, our seminaries, our innovation and our generosity have fueled the mission of Christ in Asia in remarkable ways. But let's not fall into thinking that the resourcing is a <i>one way street</i>. Far from it. The Church in Asia has so much to teach us, and in the years to come I believe the American churches that are humble enough to learn from our brothers and sisters there will be noticeably stronger than those that don't.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"> I'm forever thankful to God for Asia and particularly, the Church in Asia. </span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: Oxygen;"><br /></span></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-6139854464643157842022-12-24T11:37:00.003-08:002022-12-24T12:07:37.757-08:002022 in the Books<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwomBebVYqsgPIewWjgAOOLbWmOarK3jqkM6kkV-X6JEt9gNfq89CcYJm6y95jw2TN0PR_PfmQQ8OZATi5c6dY1v5B9nLzSZjx1Lk44s8MlXIuTqfleK9cJmwW5FFTmO9_iTkv_dbWzJRklc1CiW45lt3z0gyXULF9zUeYQHWPED2ucDgngPNR0L3Wmg/s4032/2022%20books.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwomBebVYqsgPIewWjgAOOLbWmOarK3jqkM6kkV-X6JEt9gNfq89CcYJm6y95jw2TN0PR_PfmQQ8OZATi5c6dY1v5B9nLzSZjx1Lk44s8MlXIuTqfleK9cJmwW5FFTmO9_iTkv_dbWzJRklc1CiW45lt3z0gyXULF9zUeYQHWPED2ucDgngPNR0L3Wmg/w480-h640/2022%20books.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p>I know these <i>'</i></span><i style="font-family: helvetica;">Books I've read this year'</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> lists can come across as a literary flex. Or even worse, they can serve as a guilt trip for those who feel they haven't read enough. I hope this list is neither.</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> I hope it serves as a recommended list for you if you're looking for something to read over Christmas or into the New year. The truth is, in a year when I finished writing and releasing </span><i style="font-family: helvetica;">Psalms for a Saturated Soul</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;">, I assumed I would not get much time to read beyond that. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Happily, I was wrong, f</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">or two reasons. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">First, I co-lead a morning book club with about 20 men from ages 14 to 71. It may be my favorite time of the week. It forces me to keep reading myself and it's been a joy to see relationships and faith deepen as we've journeyed together. Second, while I prefer reading books in print, leaning freshly into Audible this year meant a good deal of travel was spent listening to books rather than podcasts. That was time well spent and some books, like Bono's 'Surrender,' are actually better in Audible because of the musical interludes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Some books were hard work. Others I enjoyed so much I didn't went them to end. A couple of books on the list are as yet, unfinished, but still recommended. Here are a few lines on each one of them, in three categories.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>A. Non-Fiction</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">1. <b>The Gospel in Genesis</b> by Dr. Martin-Lloyd Jones </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I returned to read this little gem of a transcript of sermons from the good doctor as we entered our Genesis series at church. While I would not include some of the heavy-lifting commentaries that have been required reading during the sermon series, this is an easy and insightful read with timeless truths and fascinating Welsh anecdotes. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">2. <b>The Secular Creed</b> by Rebecca McClaughlin</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">McClaughlin is a British author and Christian apologist living in the USA. This work is a brief but insightful engagement with the secular creed through the lens of Scripture. She asserts that Christians tend to take a hammer to the secular creeds, 'Black Lives Matter, Love Is Love, Gay Rights Are Civil Rights, Women's Rights Are Human Rights, Transgender Women Are Women,' either hammering them into their lawn in full endorsement or breaking them up in pieces in complete rejection. Instead, she argues that if we engage them through Scripture, we can take a highlighter pen to the aspects that are Biblical, while critiquing the aspects that are not. Her writing is clear, concise and Biblical and the book equips believers to engage thoughtfully with friends, family and neighbors. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">3. </span><b style="font-family: helvetica;">Prayer</b><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> by Timothy Keller</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This is probably my 5th time reading this timeless classic with a group. Who knew that a book by a Presbyterian New Yorker would become my all time favorite book on prayer. Keller is one of my heroes, not just because he is so wise, but because he has lived faithfully for so long. His secret sauce is his prayer life.His chapters on the Jesus' intercession and the Spirit of adoption in prayer are mind blowing, as well as his summaries on Calvin and Luther's prayer lives. You will not regret praying through this book.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">4. <b>God's Treasured Possession</b> by Terry Virgo</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">During a July month long break I read this journey through the life of Moses as a devotional. It was both refreshing and consoling. The author has become something of a father in the faith to me, so I could hear his voice through his writing. Like Keller, Virgo has a remarkable track-record of faithfulness and fruitfulness over almost fifty years of ministry. This matters more than ever to me against a backdrop of common failure among high profile Christian leaders. Terry's faithfulness to the Scriptures mixed with his deeply personal relationship with the Spirit, yield a kind of insight into God's character that has the reader going, "I never saw that about God, but it was there all along, hidden in plain sight." A devotional gem.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">5. <b>Heaven and Nature Sing</b> by Hannah Anderson</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Anderson lives with her family in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. Her husband is the pastor of a small town, rural church and she is an acclaimed author and speaker, particularly focussing on the intersection between nature and theology. This is a stunning Advent devotional, providing insights into the coming of Christ from the Scriptures and God's creation. My wife and I have read it together for a devotional this Advent. Not yet completed, but highly recommended. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">6. <b>Psalms for the Saturated Sou</b>l by Alan Frow</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This is cheeky, I know, but I did actually read this book with my book group this year, which was a most gratifying experience. I didn't realize how it would work in a group, but it was so warmly received that I am taking some time off to write a group work addendum to each chapter which will be re-released some time in February. I'm still surprised and grateful and at how God has used this little book to help people find emotional health from the Psalms.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>B. Fiction</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>1. Screwtape Letters by </b>C.S. Lewis<b> </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We have just completed studying this series of letters as a book club and while some of the 1950's Oxford Don's language and context needs translation, it is brilliant satire written from the perspective of an uncle demon called Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood, as they strategize to tempt and trap a new Christian.There is really no other work I know that gives such a profound glimpse behind the curtain into the dynamics of spiritual warfare in the Christian faith.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">2. <b>Hannah Coulter</b> by Wendell Berry </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This book is a sequel to Jayber Crow, the small-town barber from Port William, Kentucky, which first turned me on to Berry's remarkable writing. You have to read him slowly. Every page is a masterpiece on the young widow who lost her husband to the second World War. It is not what you would expect of a traditional novel - far less about the dramatic arc of a story-line and far more about a testament to the mysterious beauty and brutality of life. The characters are reflected upon in a way that is empathetic and prophetic -a most surprising gospel art-piece.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>C. Autobiographies</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">1. </span><b style="font-family: helvetica;">As Many as the Stars in the Sky</b><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> by Robert Glover</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I stumbled across this inspiring autobiography because Robert's son, Josh, is part of our church. It is the story of a British social worker who senses a call from God to facilitate the adoption of one million Chinese orphans into families. In obedience, he moves with his whole family to Beijing and God begins to open doors of favor to those in authority in astonishing ways. While the book title comes from God's call to Abraham about his many descendants, Glover's story is more like Joseph - an outlandish dreamer with a common touch who is at home with the poor and the powerful alike. The remarkable thing is that the vision has been accomplished and Care for the Children continues to grow in other nations. Beyond the beauty of adoption taking place on such a grand scale, the story is one of ordinary people being obedient and witnessing God's extraordinary hand on their obedience. Because of the book, we were able to have Robert come and share his story in person at our church and now it is a privilege to partner with his organization, Care for the Children. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> 2</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">. </span><b style="font-family: helvetica;">I think therefore I Play </b><span style="font-family: helvetica;">by</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> Andrea Pirlo </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I'm a fan of sports autobiographies, and this one about the Italian genius who brought such a magical quality to his soccer, was an absorbing read. Pirlo continued into coaching after his acclaimed playing career, and as I've followed him with Italian super-club Juventus, he will surely enjoy similar success in that realm. Pure, enjoyable escape for me. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">3. <b>Greenlights</b> - Matthew McConnughey</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This book was better listened to than read, because its author, the charming,Texan rogue, is such a great actor. The man has jam-packed 5 lives into his fifty-plus years. He is an American icon with an insatiable thirst for adventure, risk and fun. His story-telling is superb and his love of Southern sayings is winsome. I would say that his story-telling is better than the conclusions he comes to about life. I was disappointed by two things in particular. First, his soft stance on promiscuity and drug abuse are irresponsible. Just because he has escaped its ravaging consequences to some degree does not do justice to the fact that countless others have not. Also, his syncretism is regrettable. He claims Christianity as his faith. He has a pastor and a local church. And yet he seems to believe as strongly in the power of luck and Voodoo magic as he does in Jesus. A sad window into our cultures' affinity for a <i>create your own hybrid</i> religion.</span></p><p>4<span style="font-family: helvetica;">. </span><b style="font-family: helvetica;">Everything Sad is Untrue</b><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> by Daniel Nayeri</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This was the most unique book I<br /> read this year. I have enjoyed it so much that I am saving the last chapters for vacation reading. It is the true story of the author's family as they flee from Iran as religious refugees to the Oklahoma because of their Christian faith. It is written in the style of an adolescent - heart-breaking, hilarious, awkward and hopeful. It is both irreverent and deeply reverent all at once. A needed window into the plight of the Global persecuted church that is such a brilliant literary work that it has received multiple mainstream awards. </span></p><p>5<span style="font-family: helvetica;">.</span><b style="font-family: helvetica;"> Surrender</b><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> by Bono </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As a life-long fan of the band U2, whose songs were the soundtrack of my 20's and 30's, I have gone through a decade of disenchantment with Bono. I have felt that his music has suffered from his philanthropy, and I've longed for the band either to pack it all in, or do the hard work to produce another album with great songs. But this book reveals a man who is both brilliant and self-aware with a deep Christian faith and a consuming drive to change the world for the better. Every rock star has an ego problem, and Bono is no expiation but I respect the fact that he has allowed God to use his fame and wealth for good. So, here's to one more great album!</span></p><p><br /></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-89749566115547010682022-12-12T10:08:00.013-08:002022-12-12T18:30:29.657-08:00Building with Redwood: a metaphor for Vision 2067<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Dosis;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh207Y8i_GAWy1bEaswjvTz3YtFJPMEAAYYnHzp5wjz9lDOTWqtLrBrOT7lkvlk7Ee2szZZy_VtQtN7KVz_pc4VgcpjAUG6KwXKDhxp6VNdmowS4xbt9R5mwv0i92dlXPHbrJ5Ori2HcSeTM06U8JX2nIueNHS6UYwFCjZbx5Xrtp2fyzqrVwtkVDdILw/s4032/davieshouse%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh207Y8i_GAWy1bEaswjvTz3YtFJPMEAAYYnHzp5wjz9lDOTWqtLrBrOT7lkvlk7Ee2szZZy_VtQtN7KVz_pc4VgcpjAUG6KwXKDhxp6VNdmowS4xbt9R5mwv0i92dlXPHbrJ5Ori2HcSeTM06U8JX2nIueNHS6UYwFCjZbx5Xrtp2fyzqrVwtkVDdILw/w480-h640/davieshouse%201.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Dosis;"><br /></span></span></div>The Davies House was built in 1900 in downtown Fullerton, name after it's original owner, Mr. Davies, who was a well-known Welsh greengrocer in the burgeoning little city. In 1981 it was moved lock, stock and barrel on a flat-bed truck up onto a hill a few miles north of Fullerton in a leafy suburb overlooking Hillcrest Park by its new owners. We discovered her there for sale in 2011 and promptly fell in love with her wrap-around-porch. She was a fixer, for sure, but her bones were beautiful. The city recognized her dilapidated beauty by calling it a historic landmark property.</span></span><div><p></p><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: medium;"><p>Part of our purchase of the house required a termite report. Little did we know, that the guy who did the termite report was none other than Matt Holmes. Matt and Adri would join our church four years later. They would become dear friends of ours who would travel around the world with us doing ministry and Matt would become one of Southlands' elders. God must have been chuckling back then when I just saw Matt as the Termite Guy! Anyway, Termite Guy had a strange report for me back then. The 111 year old house had no termites, whereas the double garage, built in 1981, had plenty. "<i>What's up with tha</i>t?" I asked, mystified. </p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Dosis;">Matt's response was poignant. "<i>The old house was built with Redwood, so she's fine. The newer garage was built with Douglas fir. It's cheaper but far less resistant to termites. Thats why it's half the price." </i></span><b style="font-family: Dosis;">Materials matter, you know. </b><span style="font-family: Dosis;">We're still thankful that Mr. Davies didn't cut corners, choosing instead to build with sturdy materials that would outlast him. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: medium;">This has become a metaphor for us in the way we are trying to lead Southlands. I believe one of the wisest ways we can live and lead is to have a vision that will outlive us, To build with materials that will outlast us. We want to build with God's enduring Word, Christ's eternal gospel and His indwelling Spirit. We want to hear Jesus and obey Him like the man in Jesus' parable who built his house on the rock that stood firm when the storms came. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: medium;"><i><b>Materials matter</b></i>. We don't want to cut corners and have future generations lament that we left them a termite-infested house. We must build with Redwood instead of Douglas fir. </span><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: large;">It seems to me that many church leaders in California are in survival mode. I understand that to some degree. There is such uncertainty around the future, such volatility in our culture. Many people are scanning the horizon for easier building conditions in other States. It results in building under the </span><i style="font-family: Dosis;">tyranny of the urgent </i><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: large;"> in a way that will cause the next generation to lament our decisions. We simply must come back to God's covenant to bless his people and make them a blessing from generation to generation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: medium;">This is where our Vision 2067 comes in. Southlands is 55 years old. By God's grace, she will be 100 in 2067, unless Jesus returns before that. She may have a different name by then and she will certainly have different leaders. But I believe she will exist as a family of churches in many nations by then. What would it take for us to build now, for Southlands to be faithful and fruitful in 45 years time? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: medium;">Vision 2067 aims to invest financially in church planting, in raising up the the next generation of leaders and in the Global persecuted Church. (both strengthening and being strengthened by them) Here is a short video shot on the Davies House porch with myself and Matt Holmes talking about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-WhDf4N9Y4">Vision 2067</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: medium;">We are so thankful for so many who have invested themselves and their finances into God's call on Southlands. </span><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: large;">We want to ask that you would prayerfully consider investing into our future together by clicking on the </span><a href="https://southlands.net/give/" style="font-family: Dosis;">Southlands giving link</a><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: large;"> with the Vision 2067 giving tab. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: medium;">Yours in grateful hope, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Dosis; font-size: medium;">Alan </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Dosis;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Dosis;"><br /></span></p><p><b><br /></b></p></div>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-71983159819070616092022-11-05T16:18:00.010-07:002022-11-05T20:23:02.667-07:00California Voting: a pastoral guide <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqWGpMZOIcqC69UJ2gNDcff-KKRGYViCBCrN4G_QgNYevbwneFP79NCueyAdnbLw05SjI8qMCX2sfimvLatrTX7ECtgGhjx8Ggc6w9te3Kw7D6PhsDb3JGOMf3-n-YHRRrDK1yt40hMGdu39e18yLCz4pa4UI5vEY66cgINYUzK35JgHTzD9oC61SuQ/s1122/California%20Claaing%20JPEG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="1104" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqWGpMZOIcqC69UJ2gNDcff-KKRGYViCBCrN4G_QgNYevbwneFP79NCueyAdnbLw05SjI8qMCX2sfimvLatrTX7ECtgGhjx8Ggc6w9te3Kw7D6PhsDb3JGOMf3-n-YHRRrDK1yt40hMGdu39e18yLCz4pa4UI5vEY66cgINYUzK35JgHTzD9oC61SuQ/w394-h400/California%20Claaing%20JPEG.jpg" width="394" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;">It's mid-term election season in California. Every time elections roll around, whether state-wide or national, I am asked by someone in our church why we aren't telling people what and who to vote for. My response usually goes something like this. "</span><i style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;">My job as a pastor is not to tell you how to vote. It is to teach you to think Biblically about everything and then to vote accordingly." </i></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>I stand by this statement</i>. Over the last 12 years our church has <i>by-and-large</i> managed to avoid partisan politics by focussing on the gospel, teaching the whole counsel of God and celebrating diversity around disputable matters. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">But I also realize that this may be a cop out; a refusal to step in to the land-mine infested field that is partisan politics. You see, we live in a moment of fierce political polarization. Politics has become a religion for so many Americans. Our political convictions are our<i> creed</i> and our political party is our <i>tribe</i>. We often feel more identified with our tribe than with other Christians who may vote differently from us. Therefore people are more willing to leave a church based on perceived political differences than they used to. All this means that there is a temptation for pastors to stay further away from politics than they should out of fear.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>So, with that in mind, I</i></span><i style="font-family: arial;"> offer some simple pastoral guidance around election time</i><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">1.<b> Vote faithfully</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Vote faithfully, recognizing that living in a democracy is a privilege, citizenship is a responsibility and your vote does make a difference. Even if you feel like you are in the minority, your vote still has value. Voting can change history for good. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Glenn Scrivener writes about the powerful combination of preaching and voting in Christian History in his book, </span><i style="font-family: arial;">The Air we Breathe.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> "</span><i style="font-family: arial;">Consider three social transformations in Christian history: the end of infanticide, gladiatorial games, and the slave trade. They’ve come through preaching and politics. It’s both—but in a particular way. On infanticide, Christians saved babies from exposure and raised them long before Valentinian I made laws that parents must raise their offspring and forbade the killing of an infant. Preaching and politics. On gladiatorial games, Christians didn’t only preach against blood sports. What reportedly moved Emperor Honorius was the martyrdom of Telemachus. The monk entered the arena to stop a duel, was stoned to death but his witness changed Honorius’s mind and Rome’s laws.On the slave trade, abolitionism was a religious movement first and last. Preaching won hearts but without the Imperial power to change the laws, and diplomatically spread abolitionism to Catholic and Muslim lands, the evil would have remained."</i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Preaching and voting are a powerful combination. </span></p><p>2<span style="font-family: arial;">.</span><b style="font-family: arial;"> VoteThoughtfully </b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Voting Biblically does not mean we check our brains at the door. We need to discern between clear Biblical imperatives, more complex Biblical ethics, conscience and preference as we vote. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">The propositions facing us this week include abortion, gambling, arts in education, climate control and the selling of flavored tobacco. Not all propositions are created equal. They require thoughtfulness. For instance, there is really no clear Biblical text that can help us to decide whether schools should, or should not, have an arts program. As a musician who taught the arts, I am for it, but this is simply a preference of mine. While I believe it is socially and culturally beneficial for schools to have an arts program, it has no clear connection to the Biblical text. (</span><i style="font-family: arial;">Although you can find a Bible verse for anything if you try hard enough!) </i><span style="font-family: arial;">It's a matter of preference.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Then there are propositions that have a Biblical ethic but are more complex. For instance, the proposition about electric vehicles. Clearly, care for the environment is in God's commission to us in Genesis. I find it sad when Christians deny that the Bible speaks to creation care. However, one may accept this and dispute the degree to which climate change is taking place. Or one may not see electric cars as the best solution to our environmental issues. To say that to be Christian is to ignore the environment because it is a liberal agenda, is absurd. Equally, to say that to be Christian is to drive an electric car, is simply first world naïveté. (<i>Sorry Elon</i>) </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Creation care is clearly a Biblical ethic while its solution is disputable. It requires thoughtfulness.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Then there are those propositions that cut right to the heart of what the Bible says about God's image and morality. The Scriptures' clear and repeated teaching about the sanctity of life in the womb means we should do everything we can to protect the most vulnerable image bearers of God on the earth. Even as we hold the tension of honoring the image of God in women, particularly mothers who were victims of abandonment or sexual abuse in their pregnancies, we are not free to sanction violence against the most vulnerable image bearers - the unborn. Instead we are to give ourselves to the dignity of mothers who feel overwhelmed with their pregnancy through adoption, foster care and support of those who choose to raise their children. While this issue is politically volatile, it is not Biblically disputable.</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">3.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Vote Unpredictably</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">If we are to vote both </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Biblically and thoughtfully we may find ourselves voting less predictably. Less tribally. Less <i>on brand</i>. These propositions in particular, allow us to vote in a way that may depart at times from one party line. So for instance, a Republican who would vote against late term abortion might feel compelled to vote for electric cars because of a biblical conviction about care for the environment. Unpredictable. Or, a Democrat who would typically vote to care for the environment, might also decide to vote against late term abortion because of Biblical conviction. Unpredictable. Perhaps both would vote against the selling of flavored tobacco to teens. How marvelously unpredictable. </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">4. Vote Worshipfully </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Finally, Jesus words should ring in our ears as we vote. "<i>Render to Ceasar what is Caesar's. Render to God what is God's</i>." Remembering that only Jesus is King will help us to avoid deifying those politicians we vote for and demonizing those politicians we vote against. It will help us remember</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> that no politician, party or policy is perfect, and sometimes we have to vote holding our noses, for the lesser of two evils.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Refuse to give politicians or their parties the kind of allegiance that belong only to Jesus and His kingdom. Politicians are of some consequence, but they are not Sovereign. While some politicians and their policies are better than others, they and their policies are all flawed. As we vote worshipfully, we are able to treat those with whom we differ with dignity, instead of demonizing them. Our King told us to love our neighbors and our enemies, after all. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">John Wesley gave some wise advice to his congregation about how they should view those who vote differently from them on </span><i style="font-family: arial;">October 6th, 1774.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>"I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>a. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>b. To speak no evil of the person they voted against, and</i></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial;">c. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side."</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">250 years later this is still good wisdom for us</span><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">By God's grace, voting faithfully, thoughtfully, unpredictably and worshipfully, it's possible!</span></p><p><br /></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-38252824613569470992022-07-22T08:03:00.004-07:002022-08-09T10:55:44.906-07:00The Overhanging Fruit of the Gospel : remembering the unforeseen benefits of the Good News.<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN_v-Jw2sghoSZ8lyKDaGRuO3RErdOu6eDHCOndwQlXMK94UWV_aR_LdflL7dXo9Ol83JwHyH3NVOeQu7qS-bsRlBk17vD0Po3j-4uGOGQS-Wd-I6PAzbuu94cON4HCNKl-CJgcqP3dIv4UGtgIjrdmEqskb-v-nhRw5eVEGL7GrRLZEUE6paZxKKLPA/s1374/IMG_4804.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1374" data-original-width="1101" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN_v-Jw2sghoSZ8lyKDaGRuO3RErdOu6eDHCOndwQlXMK94UWV_aR_LdflL7dXo9Ol83JwHyH3NVOeQu7qS-bsRlBk17vD0Po3j-4uGOGQS-Wd-I6PAzbuu94cON4HCNKl-CJgcqP3dIv4UGtgIjrdmEqskb-v-nhRw5eVEGL7GrRLZEUE6paZxKKLPA/w512-h640/IMG_4804.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><p><br /></p>I have a generous neighbor with a prolific orange tree, as one does in Orange County. Its branches hang over our fence, heavy with fruit in season. He has told us that they have more oranges than they can eat themselves and that we are welcome to pick as many as we can reach from our side of the fence. So, we enjoy the abundance of the overhanging fruit from a tree we did not plant or water. <div><br /><div>A kind neighbor, an irresistible metaphor. <p></p><p>It's made me think about the unforeseen benefits of the gospel that we have enjoyed over the last twelve years leading at Southlands. </p><p>Believe it or not, we've been at Southlands almost fifteen years, but three of those years as members of a leadership team led by Chris and Meryl Wienand. In their last couple of years of leading, God began a gospel re-awakening among our team. It's not that the gospel had been absent. It was that it had drifted out to the margins of our life together, displaced by other centers. We visited it every now and then when we gave an altar call or took sporadic communion, but the gospel was not where most of our traffic was found. A theologian from Kenya named Michael Eaton admonished us around this time about what had become central in our church. "<i>You guys are experts at preaching your model of church, but you're novices at preaching the message of Christ,</i>" he said. We felt <i>gut-punched. </i>But the gut-punch became a gift. </p><p>Convicted by the Holy Spirit that our <i>model</i> had become more central than our <i>message</i>, we resolved to make Jesus and his gospel the blazing center of our church. From then on, we began to say, "<i>If Southlands was a town, Main Street would be the gospel</i>." Thankfully, this resolve was not just a catch phrase or a passing phase. I still believe we are called to <i>preach the gospel as of first importance, </i>and let everything else be shaped by that center. (1 Corinthians 15:1) We would not only preach the gospel to the lost. We would beat the good news into our own heads every day until it became the best news again, to paraphrase Martin Luther. As we did we began to experience new life again at the foot of the blood-stained cross and at the mouth of the empty tomb. We felt like we had been born again, <i>again.</i></p><p><i>"But surely Jesus should be the center?" </i>you may protest. <i>Absolutely.</i> I think most churches would say that Jesus is their center, but that can mean many different things to different people. It could mean Jesus and politics, Jesus and social justice, Jesus and miracles, even Jesus and morality. I mean, all these were part of Jesus' ministry in some way, weren't they? But the apostle Paul told the church in Corinth that when he came to visit them he <i>resolved to know nothing among them except Christ and Him crucified</i>. (1 Corinthians 2:2)<i> </i>In other words, nothing else really matters if we don't know Christ and Him crucified. This is the essence of gospel centrality. It seems almost too simple, doesn't it? But there is powerful beauty in its simplicity. Since then, the term Gospel-centered has risen to popularity and then began to go out of vogue, carrying some cultural and political baggage. But it's not a passing phase for us. </p><p> By God's grace these past twelve years, we have grown steadily and multiplied fairly rapidly because of the gospel. We've also baptized hundreds of new believers and are so thankful to God for every person who has come to find and follow Jesus. The ways in which we have seen the gospel transform people, marriages and families is breathtaking. The gospel is still the power of God to those who believe! Still, gospel sowing and reaping can be painstaking work at times. Some seasons have felt like slim pickings. </p><p>But in retrospect, keeping Jesus and His gospel central has produced some unforeseen fruit. By this, I mean it has produced some unexpected benefits there for the picking where we did not plant. A bit like plucking overhanging fruit from your neighbor's tree. </p><p><b>Here are eight benefits that I never saw coming.</b></p><p>1<b>. It's kept us from developing a Savior complex </b></p><p> I believe the finished work of the cross propels us towards the unfinished work of the kingdom. There will always be unfinished work to be done until our Savior returns. Sometimes longing for the Kingdom to come in a broken world can be heart-breaking because it often comes more slowly<i> </i>than we would like. The gospel has given us reason to rest in the midst of what is unfinished. We can rejoice that Jesus' saving work, which is the most important work, is already finished! We've been redeemed and our names are written in heaven! We are not the saviors of the world. Jesus is. This has given us buoyancy as we long for the Kingdom to come that has kept us from despair and striving.</p><p><b>2. It's protected us from the tyranny of novelty. </b></p><p>The gospel has set us free from what C.S. Lewis called <i>a horror of the same old thing</i>. We live, work and play in California, a hive of creativity and new ideas, and while I enjoy many aspects of this innovative spirit, it comes with its own pressure to always be about the<i> new thing</i>. I call this the tyranny of novelty. Essentially, the gospel has helped us to keep the gospel<i> the main thing </i>amidst a tyranny of novelty<i>. W</i>hether it's<i> </i>Hollywood-styled celebrity church, or Disney-styled theme park church, the temptation to build around novelty crouches at our door here. More subtly, the novelty of faith deconstruction, fixation with politics and social justice, charismatic sensationalism - all have their own allure. While we have tried to learn from new ideas and movements that seem to have God's fingerprint on them, keeping the gospel central has kept our people from getting whiplash because we haven't taken sharp turns down novel side roads that become <i>cul-de-sacs</i>. By-and-large, we've stayed on the Main Street of the gospel, learning to <i>contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints</i>' (Jude 3). We've become less concerned with novelty than we are with fidelity, and that's produced good fruit.</p><p><b>3. It's given us a category for suffering as we've pursued the power of the Spirit</b></p><p> The gospel is the good news that God has justified us through Jesus' death and resurrection. This is stunning. It is also the good news that God has reconciled us to Himself through His Son. Once exiled enemies, we are now welcomed into His presence as friends. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit to help us live in the reality of God's presence. His gifts are a manifestation of God's desire to dwell among His people in power. We are not<i> cautiously charismatic</i>. We've tried to obey God's command to pursue love and eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit. (1 Cor 14:1) We've seen God do many miraculous things as we've pursued the Spirit's presence and power. But the gospel has also given us a category for a sovereign God who sometimes mysteriously allows us to go through disappointment and even suffering. The gospel teaches us that if such great good came to us through Christ's suffering, then God can also do great good in and through us when we suffer. We have found, to our delight, that one of the ways in which God has answered prayer is by giving us sufficient grace to suffer well for His glory rather than sulk because our supposed miracle was denied. It's been remarkable to see people persevere through trial and suffering with grace while trusting for the Spirit of God to break in with power at any moment. </p><p><b> 4. It's given us grounds for unity in a divisive age</b></p><p>This last decade has been the most divisive I've ever lived or led through. I've watched heart-broken as disputes about race, politics, sexual ethics, viruses, masks, vaccines, end-time theology and conspiracy theories have divided the Church. I've watched believers become so zealous about their political ideology of choice that it becomes their <i>new gospel</i> and their preferred politician of choice becomes their <i>pseudo-Savior. </i>Thankfully, I've also had a front row seat to the gospel of reconciliation that has empowered people of different views on all of these disputable matters to engage with humility and civility, love one another in their differences and stand on the higher ground of gospel unity. I've watched our own leadership team apply the gospel to their differences with great relief, joy and a pinch of fatherly pride. The gospel has become our holy ground of agreement amidst disagreement. And this has provided a space for people of different cultures and convictions to feel at home with us. </p><p></p><p><b>5. It's taught us a different way to lead.</b><i> </i></p><p>It's relatively easy to lead people with a carrot or a stick. The first way motivates through the promise of reward, while the second motivates through the fear of punishment. Each one of us has tendency to use either carrot or stick because it produces quick results, but doesn't produce healthy disciples. Of course, the Bible does talk about rewards for obedience and consequences for disobedience, but the gospel calls us to a deeper core motivation. Jesus said to his disciples, "<i>If you love me you will obey my commands</i>."(John 15: 1) The apostle Paul wrote to Philemon and said, "<i>I could command you but I prefer to make my appeal out of love</i>." When we motivate people with the gospel we are saying that Christ's obedience has already given us a great reward and rescued us from punishment. So when we obey, we do it out of love and gratitude towards Him. "I urge you, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice." (Romans 12:1) This motivation has sometimes produced slower results but it has also produced far more secure disciples. </p><p><b>6. It's shown us a better way to preach the Bible. </b></p><p>The Gospel has given us a more cohesive way of preaching the Bible. Instead of preaching it as a book of morals and heroes to be emulated, we have found that Jesus is the Bible's One True Hero, to be trusted, emulated and adored. In the words of Sally Lloyd-Jones, "<i>Every page whispers His name</i>." The storyline of the Bible is that God's good creation, corrupted by the sin of Adam, is being redeemed and restored by the Second Adam's saving work. All of the law and the prophets are fulfilled in Jesus, the Great Redeemer. We have learned to search, uncover and magnify Christ and His gospel story in all of Scripture and our people have developed an appetite for Christ-exalting preaching through Books of the Bible. Topical preaching is tolerated from time to time, but there is an appetite now for walking slowly through books of the Bible. I think we've become better preachers because of this, and our people have grown in their love for God's Word. Seeing them liberated from moralism and self-help theology as they learn to trust the Jesus of Scripture, has been thrilling. </p><p><b>7. It's given us language to fight for family </b></p><p>Amidst a cultural drift towards individualism, the gospel of adoption has given us language to express the communal essence of Christian faith and to fight for church as family. Through Jesus being forsaken<i> </i>on the cross, Christians have been adopted by God the Father into a forever family of brothers and sisters. As we've continued to emphasize the priority of this diverse family purchased by Jesus' blood from every nation tribe and tongue, we've begun to see many who walked in isolation and independence, find the warmth and sanity of a local church family. The gospel has empowered us to repent when we have hurt a family member, forgive when we've been hurt and aim for reconciliation. It's given us tools to cut down offense and dig out roots of bitterness. </p><p><b>8. It's helped us to become better local missionaries</b><i> </i></p><p>Finally, gospel centrality has protected our church from being an inward-looking family that exists for its own benefit. It has shaped us as a people living on mission. In the midst of Californians generally disenchanted with their own State, we have asked what it means to live as <i>sent ones </i>here, like Jesus, becoming flesh and dwelling among the people where God has placed us. This has shaped a church that serves its city faithfully. It has meant that our global church planting vision has been better earthed in local faithfulness. We are learning to make disciples of Jesus on our own zip code.</p><p>No, we are not in revival. Not yet. We still long to see a great harvest of souls in our day. We are laboring and praying with other churches in our region to that end. But by God's grace, we have harvested where we have not sown. This is not a humble brag about how faithful we've been. Our faith has been feeble at times. But God has been faithful where we have been feeble. I am writing this as a reminder to avoid being forgetful about His gospel. God forbid that we boast in anything save in the Cross of Christ. </p><p>Let's resolve to keep boasting in the Cross! <br /></p></div></div>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-22336944041302704762022-06-29T11:08:00.007-07:002022-06-29T23:34:00.877-07:00A Legacy and a Liturgy in a Land of Famine. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVNOE9CpHcFhmS2Jp4pE2Durx63Mo_RvtLOy0ZAa8C9FA_-6mQnjHS8_bcoqPFWQRa6h6bGfAHK9DN073VS0F-EOpDaKJ7ncx5Eac_Wpf-S0jOD8lJTl9AwKepnTg9ZaReqVs09CUEvxdOzIjBcyARH1Y0KNI6lAhvRopbc5S78d-UKUdqiL1W-W4MHA/s1023/ein%20gedi%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="1023" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVNOE9CpHcFhmS2Jp4pE2Durx63Mo_RvtLOy0ZAa8C9FA_-6mQnjHS8_bcoqPFWQRa6h6bGfAHK9DN073VS0F-EOpDaKJ7ncx5Eac_Wpf-S0jOD8lJTl9AwKepnTg9ZaReqVs09CUEvxdOzIjBcyARH1Y0KNI6lAhvRopbc5S78d-UKUdqiL1W-W4MHA/w640-h458/ein%20gedi%20.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Oasis in Ein-Gedi, Hadorom, Israel.</div><p> </p><p>It was the summer of 2010 and I'd been asked to take the role of leading our team of elders. I was full of hopes and dreams about the future but daunted by the financial situation I'd inherited. We were still emerging from a national recession, had an eight hundred thousand dollar lawyers' debt from a law suit we'd had to defend, plus we were down about twenty thousand dollars a month. The whole situation weighed on me heavily. Out of the blue I received a phone call from a man called Mike Hanchett who was a friend of the church with a proven prophetic gift, asking if we could meet. Over coffee he said he felt God had given him a word for our church. It was profound in its simplicity. He quoted from Genesis 26:12. "<i>Isaac sowed in a land of famine and reaped a hundred fold</i>." He reminded me that God enabled Isaac to open wells in a drought so that he could plant a crop and yield a harvest, and proceeded to tell me that God wanted us to <i>sow our way out of financial famine</i> through teaching and modeling generosity. </p><p></p><p>At this stage we had been doing a good job of cost cutting. I thought we could <i>save our way out of financial famine</i>, but the idea of increasing our giving as a church seemed counter-intuitive. Still, Mike's prophetic word brought faith to me and consequently to our team, and that was exactly what we did, looking for ways to give beyond ourselves to the poor and to other churches. I figured that even if we didn't reap a hundred-fold, his counsel lined up with the words of Jesus that <i>it is more blessed to give than to receive. (Acts 20:19) </i>We continued to be thrifty, but rejected being stingy. I did a few weeks teaching through Genesis 26 on Biblical principles of generosity. Quite quickly, things began to change. </p><p> Within months we began meeting our monthly budget as a church. Within three years we had paid off our lawyers debt. Our elder team decided around this time to start putting our personal tithes into a church planting <i>war chest</i> instead of using them for the running of the church. Soon after that we were given a second church property and school which we now use to house Southlands Chino. God is faithful. Mike Hanchett's prophetic legacy lives on in our church. Sadly, Mike passed away recently after battling illness, but I wanted to let those who knew and loved him know that his faithful obedience was pivotal for our church. He also never asked me for a cent when his prophetic word came to pass. He was a <i>not-for-profit </i>prophet!<i> </i>A rare breed indeed. I honor both his prophetic accuracy and his prophetic integrity. </p><p>Twelve years later recession threatens us again. Inflation is at a 40 year high, interest rates keep creeping up and it costs me $150 to fill up my truck. Crazy days<i>!</i> Many fear the threat of financial famine. Of course, we are all looking for ways to cut our spending, and this is wise. But I want to exhort us again to consider God's counter-intuitive ways. He calls us to keep sowing in famine as we remember His faithfulness. He is the one who opened up wells in the desert for Isaac, so that he could sow and reap a hundredfold in famine. I don't buy into the prosperity gospel. But I do buy into the Biblical truth of sowing and reaping as we live in the abounding grace of God no matter the season.</p><p>The apostle Paul reminds us of this same principle : "<i>The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." </i></p><p>God is able to make financial grace abound to us, not so that we can get rich, but so that having sufficiently what we need, we may abound in every good work. Good can make financial grace abound to us so that it can abound through us.<i> In all things and at all times</i>. Even in famine. Even when it takes $150 to fill up my truck!</p><p> Of course, I write this as a pastor who lives on what my flock gives to the church, so I may be easily accused of having mixed motives for writing at this time. So be it. I do want our church to keep being able to meet budget. But hear me out, I also write this as a husband and a father, and owner of an Airbnb business, who is looking with you towards an uncertain future. I feel the anxieties that many of you feel. Still, Jesus' teaching that our Father, who clothes the lillies and feeds the sparrows is able to feed and clothe us, because we are worth more to Him than sparrows, ring louder than my anxieties. These truths anchor my soul in peace and in generosity and I want them to anchor your soul too.</p><p>Every time I send off our monthly tithe or give to some kingdom cause, it is a faith declaration of three truths that Rynelle and I have lived out over almost 30 years. First, that God is our Provider. Second, that money is not our God. Third, that sowing into eternal things, even in the midst of our material needs, will reap an eternal reward that we will never regret in heaven. Tithing and giving makes no sense apart from the reality of these truths. But when done in faith, it is a sacred liturgy, one that we have seen God confirm abundantly even in this life.</p><p>So, to our dear Southlands family, thank you for your faithful generosity. You have been extraordinary. Let's keep it up. For some of us, let's step it up. And let us trust God together for a harvest as we sow in famine.</p><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-49144756538316205632022-05-23T22:20:00.007-07:002022-05-24T07:56:40.934-07:00Making More of Church Gatherings<p><span style="font-family: Abel;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMFM00psS45m4rQ1s0sgDu-dNjZC_gz4F_NjTmd-PTyBdVUafIWmee8S5XPTXtj2ywvVKpRiozdB75YsK1QT43M4zzWn4TnzT5cYmCbmrCfPNAb9XRTMmxgagml4LaOSIZpKgA1YGHLv3DbR-zTlXRUBE008DnGppOUKwI7WA96h7txS42TuvfiA7b_w/s1440/7C6567A3-A4D2-4FCF-B943-AA51C10B4C62.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMFM00psS45m4rQ1s0sgDu-dNjZC_gz4F_NjTmd-PTyBdVUafIWmee8S5XPTXtj2ywvVKpRiozdB75YsK1QT43M4zzWn4TnzT5cYmCbmrCfPNAb9XRTMmxgagml4LaOSIZpKgA1YGHLv3DbR-zTlXRUBE008DnGppOUKwI7WA96h7txS42TuvfiA7b_w/w640-h640/7C6567A3-A4D2-4FCF-B943-AA51C10B4C62.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Abel; font-size: medium;"><p><span style="font-family: Abel; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Abel; font-size: medium;"> Martin Luther once said, “<i>History is like a drunk man falling off a horse into a ditch on one side, getting back up on it and falling off the other side into another ditch</i>.” (credit Andrew Wilson) </span>We are forever over-correcting and over-balancing, living in drunken reaction to the extremes. </p>For instance, before the Reformation, the Church had fallen into a ditch of legalism, preaching a salvation through penance and piety. The Reformers, affirming the 5 Solas, got the Church back up on the horse of salvation by grace through faith alone and for that we are forever grateful. I am over-simplifying, but in the years that followed, the Church over-reacted and fell into the ditch of license. The Council of Trent convened in 1545 with the aim of getting the Church out of the ditch and back on the horse, by helping it to see that true saving faith is shown by good works. John Calvin emphatically stated, “<i>It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone.</i>” In other words, <i>stay on the horse! </i>The ditches of legalism and license are still there for us to avoid today, but in the West, our license presents itself especially through individualism. We are not just<i> law-breakers</i>. We are a <i>law unto ourselves</i>. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Abel; font-size: medium;">We dare not underestimate the role of individualism in our cultural moment of Church Deconstruction. Certainly, the hypocrisy of leaders whose moral failure was exposed rather than confessed, the horrific abuse of countless congregants covered up to preserve power, the megachurch pursuit of celebrity and wealth; these have all produced an understandable mistrust towards leadership and the institution of the Church. The vital need of the hour is to distinguish between the church that man is building and the Church that Jesus is building, and to some degree, this will require deconstruction. But let's not be so naiive as to think that all deconstruction is done in good faith. Much of it is an expression of rampant individualism that resists the gospel's call to sacrifice for God's covenant family, that claims to love Jesus but scorns his Bride. If I can dismantle God's household, nobody can call me to come to the table. Deconstruction too often seeks its own convenience. We've fallen off the horse and into the ditch again. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Abel; font-size: medium;">The writer to the Hebrews has this in mind when he gives this exhortation. "<i>Consider how we may spur one another on to love and good works, not neglecting the gathering of the believers as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching</i>." Hebrews 10:25</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Abel; font-size: medium;">Apparently, some Jewish believers, having been set free from the ritualistic legalism of temple sacrifice, and having realized that Jesus made a sacrifice once, for all and for all time, had climbed on to the horse of grace and fallen over into the ditch of neglecting gatherings altogether. It was not just that they took the odd Sunday off to go to the beach. <i>They were in the habit of</i> neglecting gatherings. Church gatherings were in their planner in pencil and everything else was in ink. If something better came along church gatherings were erased and replaced. <i>Ring any bells?</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Abel; font-size: medium;"><i>What had they misunderstood about the gospel that caused this neglect?</i> The writer to the Hebrews argues that while the blood of Jesus gives each one of us confidence to enter into the presence of God at any time and in any place, that <i>Jesus is a high priest over the house of God.</i> (v 20) He is not just a high priest for us as individuals, but a high priest over God's house. And God's house is not a brick-and-mortar place in the New Testament but a gathered people. His presence is experienced among his people in ways that it is not experienced when I am by myself. There is an encouragement that is peculiar to worshipping Jesus in his <i>house</i>. There is a <i>spurring on</i> that is peculiar to gathering with Jesus' people in God's house. I can encounter the presence of God by myself on a mountain, but I won't be spurred on to love someone that's not like me, or to serve someone that can't serve me back. That only happens in the gatherings of God's house in its various shapes, sizes and places . </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Abel; font-size: medium;">It seems from this passage, even with our <i>helter skelter </i>schedules, that gathering with the believers does not get less important the busier our lives get. No, it would seem that as the Day of Christ's return approaches, discouragement from the world, the flesh and the devil will intensify, and so the need to find encouragement from other believers will increase. "...but encourage one another,<i> and all the more </i>as you see the Day approaching!<i> </i>" <b>All. The. More.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Abel; font-size: medium;">So this summer, enjoy a vacation, by all means. Don't fall into the ditch of legalism by thinking you can't be in God's presence on the beach or at the river. But stay on the horse of prioritizing the gathering of God's people. Put the gathering of believers in ink in your planner. Let other gatherings be in pencil, for the sake of your encouragement and the encouragement of your brothers and sisters. They need you more than you know! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Abel; font-size: medium;">Below is a link to the full message I preached on <a href="https://subsplash.com/southlandschurch/media/mi/+m2s823n">Making More of Church Gatherings.</a> It's about 10 minutes longer than I normally preach, but there it is. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Abel; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-66755408814142934962022-04-27T10:18:00.004-07:002022-04-27T10:22:01.733-07:00Chapter 1: The Saturated Soul<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzd4Aimi6ck4aEs7CXrZ-uMsHOybp9l0IpAavhPYm0ynYkzBBfweYp00NmxRGna6eLCfl7DbRLDv2zEjSSp-x9-ZpCTvi9kBMZFOIRt3HkCadTEEGO4WiLLcW-RkcpeUPN50Dok3mrFo9VTgf-yf7KUJI0BLZe_2H-yXgli3jKtuSPpJsI9UuVxoHdHA/s1944/PSS%233.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="1296" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzd4Aimi6ck4aEs7CXrZ-uMsHOybp9l0IpAavhPYm0ynYkzBBfweYp00NmxRGna6eLCfl7DbRLDv2zEjSSp-x9-ZpCTvi9kBMZFOIRt3HkCadTEEGO4WiLLcW-RkcpeUPN50Dok3mrFo9VTgf-yf7KUJI0BLZe_2H-yXgli3jKtuSPpJsI9UuVxoHdHA/w426-h640/PSS%233.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? - Psalm 42:5a</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Burn-out. Exhaustion. Workaholism. Those are a few symptoms of my generation一a generation that spent the 80’s and 90’s addicted to Prozac, donning power suits with shoulder pads, and launching multi-million dollar tech startups from their parents’ garages. Yuppie flu (a euphemism for chronic fatigue) infected us with pandemic-like potency. </p><p><br /></p><p>Naively, we wore burn-out a bit like a badge of honor. The cool kids lived at work and lived to work. Everybody was red-lining on reserve, burning the midnight oil, chasing the next deal. Business was booming. Revenue was up. But emotional and physical health was in the gutter.</p><p><br /></p><p>Today, work-life balance is a treasured topic, and I’m grateful for that. I’m also encouraged that churches are reemphasizing a theology of sabbath, because of course, burn-out is still prevalent. But it’s not the hot topic it was 25 years ago. Today, our lives are not stretched thin as much as they’re weighed down. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>So Full, We’re Empty</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Sometimes we’re thirsty because we’re too full of the wrong things. You can eat loads of salty popcorn until you’re stuffed, but all that sodium will make you unbearably thirsty. In the same way, our souls can be so intoxicated with things other than God that they need detoxing before we can drink from God’s river of life. This is what I call a saturated soul and I believe it is a cultural pandemic.</p><p><br /></p><p>Our souls are saturated with nonstop news cycles that bombard us with calamities around the clock and around the globe. Our souls, designed by God to empathize with the hurting, are burdened beyond what they can bear. It’s little wonder we feel numb. The circuit breaker of our souls trips. We shut off to survive. Callousness isn’t our goal一it’s a survival tactic. </p><p><br /></p><p>Our souls are saturated with entertainment. Endless streaming services claw for our attention and wallets. When one episode ends, within seconds another starts automatically. Binging is touted as “taking a break,” but really it’s breaking us. The title of Neil Postman’s 1985 classic, Amusing Ourselves to Death, proved to be prophetic.</p><p><br /></p><p>Our souls are saturated with online connectivity一a slew of mile-wide, inch-deep acquaintances replace the deep, embodied intimacy our souls crave. We try to be known using platforms that isolate us. Rather than friends around the table, looking each other in the eyes, we’re loners peering into the glow of screens. </p><p><br /></p><p>This world offers a feast of technology and information, but ironically, the more we gorge ourselves, the more hungry we become. Oversaturation promises satisfaction while slowly starving us. Could it be that we’ve fire-hosed our souls into an emotional drought?</p><p><br /></p><p>I find this paradox at work in my own life in perplexing ways. God alone can satisfy the human soul, as Augustine writes: “Almighty God, You have made us for Yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” I have experienced such deep satisfaction and comfort from God’s presence in my soul. </p><p><br /></p><p>But sadly, like the well-known hymn, I’m prone to wander from the God I love. While my soul thirsts for the living water of Christ, I still stoop to drink from the bitter waters of Marah. C.S. Lewis sums up humanity’s disallegiance well: “Human history is the long and terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah warned Israel about the dangers of seeking life outside the Lord: </p><p><br /></p><p><i>For my people have committed two evils: </i></p><p><i> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>they have forsaken me, </i></p><p><i> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the fountain of living waters, </i></p><p><i> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>and hewed out cisterns for themselves, </i></p><p><i> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jer 2:13)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>I can be a real sucker for broken cisterns, how about you? Broken cisterns not only let precious water leak out, but they also let dirt in, which contaminates any water that’s been conserved. But these self-made cisterns leave us feeling overfed-yet-underfed, gorged yet grasping, filled but famished.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>A Psalm for the Saturated Soul</b></p><p><br /></p><p>In Psalm 42, we meet someone caught in this same dilemma一thirsty for God’s presence but oversaturated with the things of the world. In the first verse of the psalm, he expresses the dryness of his soul and his longing to be quenched by God’s presence:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>As the deer pants for streams of water,</i></p><p><i>so my soul pants for you, my God.</i></p><p><i>My soul thirsts for God, for the living God</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yet, despite his thirst the psalmist’s soul is also overflowing with turmoil. Verse four says: ‘These things I remember as I pour out my soul.” In order to drink in God’s presence, he must first pour out his soul. Psalm 42 is not a quick-fix formula for our thirsty souls. It points to a process of emptying, investigating, reconnecting and speaking to our souls in the hope of God’s promise to refresh us more fully than we ever dared dream. Like the psalmist, to fill our souls with God we must first empty our souls of all else. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Too Full to Feel</b></p><p><br /></p><p>One of the dynamics of the saturated soul is that we are too full to feel. Like a child scribbling too many colors on a page, the barrage of emotions in ourselves and others clash on the canvas of our souls, and the end product is the dull gray of numbness.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you’re like me, you know the wretched feeling of wanting to feel, but being unable to. You sit listening to someone you love tell you an amazing story of answered prayer. You celebrate with them cerebrally, but not emotionally. You watch another devastating crisis on the news and you feel unable to empathize. Like the Rascal Flatts song, you “feel bad that you don’t feel bad,” or at least not as bad as you think you should feel. You know that it’s right to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, but it feels forced. You listen to a powerful sermon or song, knowing you should embrace the wonder of it, but instead you feel indifferent. The guilt of not feeling is almost worse than the numbness itself.</p><p><br /></p><p>We get so desperate to feel again, we’ll actually harm ourselves to revive our emotions. Pink Floyd’s 1979 hit, Comfortably Numb, describes fighting numbness with narcotics:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>There is no pain, you are receding</i></p><p><i>A distant ship smoke on the horizon</i></p><p><i>I have become comfortably numb…</i></p><p><i>Just a little pinprick</i></p><p><i>There'll be no more, ah</i></p><p><i>But you may feel a little sick.</i></p><p><i>I have become comfortably numb.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Others fight numbness by self-injury. The Mayo Clinic explains the rationale of cutting or burning oneself: “People so badly want to feel something when they are otherwise dissociated and numb.” Feeling pain becomes better than feeling nothing. But mutilating your flesh doesn’t solve the problem in your soul. Like narcotics, they offer temporary relief, followed by painful emotions like guilt and shame. They push people into a life of secrecy and denial. No doubt, self-injury is one of the saddest symptoms of a saturated soul.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Freedom to Feel</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Still others normalize numbness, as if it’s a virtue. We justify our stoicism with various mantras: “I’m too strong to feel,” or “I’m too grounded in Christ to let emotions push me around.” There’s certainly validity to emotional resilience, but many of us who grew up in the church were taught to ostracize our feelings in unhealthy ways. </p><p><br /></p><p>As a teenager, my father sat with me at the kitchen table and drew a picture of a steam train pulling some carriages. On the train he wrote the word “Bible” and on the carriages he wrote the words “feelings.” The message was: Let God’s Word lead and your feelings follow, not the other way around. It was wise counsel for an emotionally stormy young man, and thanks to my Dad, I’ve learned to ground my fickle feelings on the unshakable foundation of God’s Word. Emotions are a wicked master if we’re slaves to them.</p><p><br /></p><p>But emotions are also a profound gift from God, and too often my pendulum swings toward emotional denial. I’m unduly suspicious of my feelings. I’m stoic where I should be soft-hearted. Honestly, really happy people tend to annoy me and really sad people tend to exhaust me. More concerningly, my stoicism distances me from Jesus himself, who scripture calls a “man of sorrows, acquainted with suffering” (Is 53:3), and also “a man anointed with joy above his fellows” (Heb 1:9). If Jesus sounds too emotional to me, something’s wrong.</p><p><br /></p><p>Rather than check our emotions at the door, we’re to use them for God’s glory. It’s noteworthy that the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 have an emotional dimension: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control (Gal 5:22). The Spirit-filled person is an emotionally healthy person. The incarnation, in which Christ exercised the full range of human emotion, proves that we’re meant to feel. God’s love isn’t just his willpower, exercised impassionately through gritted teeth; it’s his affection and passion. </p><p><br /></p><p>Christ gives us freedom to feel fully, and wisdom to feel rightly. He teaches us to pull negative emotions out from under the rug, into the open, where we can process them in a safe environment of grace. In the next chapter, I’ll unpack how to do that, using Psalm 42 as our guide.</p><p>You can purchase <i style="font-weight: bold;">Psalms for a Saturated Soul </i>by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Psalms-Saturated-Soul-Ancient-Emotional-ebook/dp/B09YFXF8Y7/ref=zg_bsnr_8917436011_2/135-9703613-2200219?pd_rd_i=B09YFXF8Y7&psc=1&fbclid=IwAR0vtIkXzgDWDB-UHoCms_22KDZT7j8sBbIaO6bqB6eOltKnHLQLleswf1M#customerReviews">here</a>.</p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-32246162390315087602022-04-07T20:57:00.005-07:002022-04-18T08:21:38.701-07:00Psalms for a Saturated Soul: An Ancient Guide to Emotional Health<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn467N2E0X_4Fe6oHnjgY9ONUsdEW7uGkjW7ULaX8WB4DakQjYI_yM6vv2YlaCjYY_ThNlRzklaj-Rqia8ayVOtAjZTj0nA6hmRbsOJoVwp-FIn8LKEc2qHg6GnW_lZYAFRFDjSe9E0ccW8mMBdzhWvmeokY7ABfJFAGd_vggiNWMTDOPCouDCYOhwmA/s1944/PSS%233.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="1296" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn467N2E0X_4Fe6oHnjgY9ONUsdEW7uGkjW7ULaX8WB4DakQjYI_yM6vv2YlaCjYY_ThNlRzklaj-Rqia8ayVOtAjZTj0nA6hmRbsOJoVwp-FIn8LKEc2qHg6GnW_lZYAFRFDjSe9E0ccW8mMBdzhWvmeokY7ABfJFAGd_vggiNWMTDOPCouDCYOhwmA/w426-h640/PSS%233.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></p><p><b style="font-family: verdana;">Introduction: A Perplexing Paradox</b></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Maybe, like me, you’re a bundle of paradoxes. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">On one hand, I bear God’s image. I have a marvelous capacity to cultivate beauty, experience intimacy, invent solutions, make promises, show mercy, resist evil, build culture, and encounter wonder. On my best days, God’s glory is profoundly displayed in my life. Humans can be quite magnificent, really一just a little lower than the angels.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, I have this inescapable sense that I don’t reflect God as I should. The mirror of my life gets smudged and tarnished. I have a dreadful capacity to corrupt beauty, shatter intimacy, create problems, break promises, exploit the vulnerable, be tempted by evil, destroy culture, and become jaded with wonder. Humans can be quite awful, really一just a little higher than the devils.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is a fickle fragility in my soul. I flit back and forth between peace and anxiety, joy and sorrow, obedience and disobedience, forgiveness and bitterness. Like termites in a wooden boat, my inconsistencies gnaw holes in my soul一then as I frantically bail water to remain buoyant, discouragement gushes over me. Can you relate?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">What do we do about the frustrating duality of our souls? Proposed solutions abound.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Moralism says effort is the solution. If we can be good enough一through religion or neighborliness or parenting or profession一our positive behavior will outweigh our bad behavior. But this places an oppressive burden to perform that’s easily squashed by our next messup (which is likely imminent). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mysticism says contemplation is the solution. But meditation isn’t medication, and sometimes silence makes our failures scream louder. Mindfulness plus good Karma minus bad Feng Shui does not equal zen.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Psychology says that healing from trauma inflicted by others is the solution. This is immensely important and can be instrumental in helping someone heal. Counseling has certainly been of great help to me. But secular psychotherapy has no category for the biblical doctrine of sin, which scripture names as the greatest threat to human flourishing. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The most experienced psychologist or observer of human nature knows infinitely less of the human heart than the simplest Christian who lives beneath the Cross of Jesus. The greatest psychological insight, ability, and experience cannot grasp this one thing: what sin is. Worldly wisdom knows what distress and weakness and failure are, but it does not know the godlessness of man. And so it also does not know that man is destroyed only by his sin and can be healed only by forgiveness. Only the Christian knows this. In the presence of a psychiatrist I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother I can dare to be a sinner."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Individualism posits “being yourself” as the solution, as Polonius advises Hamlet: “To thine own self be true.” If nothing else, this mantra exasperates our sense of duality. Much of the time, we’re unsure of who we are or who we want to be. In response, individualism sometimes celebrates the paradox within, blurring the lines between right and wrong. But impropriety leads to insecurity, leaving us with the burning question: To which self should I be true?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Psalms: Formation not Formula </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Enter the Psalms一the hymnbook of God’s people. The psalms don’t offer simple formulas to solve the paradox of our souls. Instead, they employ the language of formation. They give us permission to be in flux, while simultaneously pointing us to the unchanging stability of our Creator. The Psalms let us rant and weep, sing and scream, laugh and lament一all with an eye to heaven, knowing that our help comes from the Lord (Ps. 121:1). As a trellis prods a vine sunward, so the Psalms turn our souls God-ward. In real life, confusion and confidence often go hand-in-hand, thus the Psalms speak powerfully to the intricate anatomy of our souls.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As you read the Psalms, it’s immediately obvious that God doesn’t want His people to pretend. The God of the Bible wants His people to be brutally honest with themselves and with Him. He’s not interested in platitudes or pseudo-peace. Religious charades might fool others, even ourselves at times, but God sees our souls as they truly are.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Souls of the Saints</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the modern world, we often think of the soul as the immaterial part of you that flies off to heaven when you die. But in biblical theology, your soul (hebrew: nephesh) is your whole person, including your will, mind, emotions, and body. Thus the Psalms speak directly to our souls, expressing the vast breadth of human experience, as Calvin notes:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"<i>I have been wont to call this book not inappropriately, “An Anatomy of all Parts of the Soul;” for there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror.</i>"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">When reading the Psalms, we discover we’re not alone. We suddenly realize, with a sigh of relief, that the path we’re on is well-worn by the saints before us. Our bloodied knees don’t make us freaks; they merely signal we’re on the path of formation. Satan would have us believe that, because we struggle, we’re unworthy of Christian fellowship. The Psalms retort: No, these are the normal growing pains of a child of God. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Walter Brueggemann says that when we read the Psalms, the experiences of the psalmist interacts with our own experience:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>"The work of prayer is to bring these two realities together一the boldness of the Psalms and the extremities of our experience一to let them interact, play with each other, and illuminate each other.</i>"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In other words, we don’t just read the Psalms; they read us. They unlock the prayers, petitions, and laments of other faith sojourners, revealing the sacred solidarity of saints from every age. They have found God to be both present and good, even when their souls were disoriented or faint. They testify that indeed there is hope for you and I, because God is good and ever-present.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>A Community of Souls </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The church is a community of souls, therefore it’s not only about individual health, but the collective health of the entire bride of Christ. The church I lead and the family of churches I am a part of are not as fluent as we should be in the language of the soul, and it has hurt us. We are fairly fluent in the language of Christology, ecclesiology and missiology. But there is a hesitancy around psychology and sociology because they can be so subjective. “Let’s stick to gospel truth,” we tend to say. But in protecting the gospel (which is right), we’ve neglected how it applies to soul care. After all, Christ is the great physician who gives rest to our souls (Matt 11:28).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The past year has provided a rude awakening about the consequences of neglecting communal soul health. In November 2021, I sat with six other leaders from our church network. There was a furrow-browed sobriety around the table that day. Two of our dear friends and leaders in our movement had just stepped down, in part, due to patterns of emotional and relational unhealth. Though relieved we had escaped the spectacular moral scandals so prevalent in the headlines these days, we were nonetheless heartbroken. How did we get here? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">We felt blindsided by a threat we didn’t know existed. Like the quiet-footed foxes ruining the vineyard in Song of Solomon, emotional unhealth had covertly crept into our leadership team. We didn’t notice until it was too late. We often do wolf-checks, but rarely fox-checks. Foxes seem less destructive than wolves, but left to their own devices, they’re just as deadly. Maybe we looked the other way because of the giftedness of these leaders. Fruitfulness can cover a multitude of foxes. Until it doesn’t. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the past ten years, we’ve seen the gospel advance in encouraging ways through our family of churches, yet we concluded around that table that Jesus was using this crisis to lead us away from hubris towards humility, away from a self-confident swagger towards a God-reliant limp. We resolved to self-audit our souls more seriously and to build a sturdier culture of accountability. With sage-like wisdom, my friend Rigby Wallace articulated our conviction: “In this next season together, the gospel must advance along two frontiers: to the outermost parts of our world and to the innermost parts of our souls.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The writing of this book was commissioned out of that conversation. This isn’t for church leaders only; it’s for anyone who longs for their soul to thrive, not merely survive (3 John 2). This book is for those who believe the gospel impacts all of life一the Savior who forgives sins is also the Good Shepherd who restores souls. This book is for those whose unstable emotions ache for the commanding calm of Jesus’ words and Spirit. This book is born out of some teaching I’ve done from the psalms, but more importantly, it’s a book born out of God’s work in me. Into my paradox, he continues to bring peace. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">May the gospel advance not only to the outermost parts of our world, but also to the innermost parts of our souls. </span> </p><div><br /></div><div>You can purchase "Psalms for a Saturated Soul by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Psalms-Saturated-Soul-Ancient-Emotional/dp/B09XZMC4LP/ref=zg_bs_12366_42/135-9703613-2200219?pd_rd_i=B09XZMC4LP&psc=1">here</a>.</div>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-3827678812765386132022-01-10T19:46:00.004-08:002022-01-10T21:36:25.378-08:00Preaching to the Choir: rehearsing the wonder of the truths that form us.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBvRPNruTAXQeLLfcb13_33fP5IxWSBfUTDirzE9n8YwVNgLNJQgZcFt3vCYaNvtbR9vdtqKHYREwi51B8K_0dxvtZJKvuabM75eZSOrDIFAAKu7J_yOov-lG6o66mYRKNzyVrfuIclAPf_dP5MmXsPfw9xfjrOmMA4z5usmFJmaihpdFdCeqElvhJ3w=s1920" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBvRPNruTAXQeLLfcb13_33fP5IxWSBfUTDirzE9n8YwVNgLNJQgZcFt3vCYaNvtbR9vdtqKHYREwi51B8K_0dxvtZJKvuabM75eZSOrDIFAAKu7J_yOov-lG6o66mYRKNzyVrfuIclAPf_dP5MmXsPfw9xfjrOmMA4z5usmFJmaihpdFdCeqElvhJ3w=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /> Sometimes, when we've been around church for a while, the simple truths that saved us can get dusty and cliche' for us. "<i>You're preaching to the choir</i>!" we may protest if we hear them again from a pastor, a parent or mentor. "I've<i> already heard that a million times before!</i> <i>Tell me something I don't already know</i>!" <p></p><p>Because we are curious creatures with more access to new ideas than ever before, we can lose confidence in the truths we loved at first for fear that they are too simplistic to make sense of the complexity of life. While curiosity and a willingness to wrestle with our faith are virtues, we make a dangerous assumption when we think that new ideas are necessarily true ideas. And in these days of turmoil and uncertainty, what is needed most is the tested truth of the gospel that anchors us in the tempest. </p><p>What we get wrong in our<i> post-truth</i> age of relativism is this. Just because we get bored with the truth or doubt the truth does not make the truth <i>untrue</i>. The Scriptures tell us the same gospel that <i>saved</i> us is based on the historic fact of Jesus' resurrection from the dead and is still powerfully at work <i>forming</i> us. What we need then, is not necessarily <i>new</i> truth as much as a deeper grasp of<i> old</i> truth. We need to hear it again with new ears and a soft heart. The apostle Paul said it like this in his first letter to the Thessalonian church. "<i>Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.</i>" We need the Holy Spirit to remind us of the power of the gospel again so that we believe and obey it's message with full conviction. </p><p>My point is that s<i>ometimes</i> <i>the choir needs preaching to because it forgets! Sometimes the choir needs preaching to because it loses the wonder! Sometimes we need to rehearse the truths we first believed until they sing in our hearts again! </i></p><p>Martin Luther was famously quoted as saying to his apprentices<i>, "Teach the gospel as the central doctrine of Christianity. Beat it into people's heads every day!"</i></p><p>GK Chesterton, in his excellent book <i>Orthodoxy, </i>wrote about the child-like gift of repeating the same activities with wonder. He called it <i>exulting in monotony. </i></p><p><i> </i>“<i>Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.</i>”</p><p>Join us this Sunday at Southlands Brea as we journey through Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, rehearsing the wonder of the truths that form us. </p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-10562612855417539652021-12-28T18:25:00.021-08:002021-12-29T08:50:10.148-08:00The Best is Yet to Come : Cruel Cliche' or Solid Joy?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGSpvTGrb8nf59Odqgvi--RWo36TkbSCcsrz3NzhTWng6LzdDfLSmygRaS0df8i6etMAiZ5y-TfY1EPh-7r4s4YJeQSbP8G14DLqXjftZfQZRcrTctd55fd574iAlqx02YEXufXlPdNQ7FL5uCEJ8aHGtA18nqTzjz2K-K3Ele3AEZBZPc0nWasRTubw=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGSpvTGrb8nf59Odqgvi--RWo36TkbSCcsrz3NzhTWng6LzdDfLSmygRaS0df8i6etMAiZ5y-TfY1EPh-7r4s4YJeQSbP8G14DLqXjftZfQZRcrTctd55fd574iAlqx02YEXufXlPdNQ7FL5uCEJ8aHGtA18nqTzjz2K-K3Ele3AEZBZPc0nWasRTubw=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> I saw Jim at one of our Christmas Eve services for the first time in two years. He was bent over in his wheelchair when I greeted him, seated next to his wife, Maggie. Jim did not recognize me when I took his hands and greeted him, even though he has been a fellow pastor for many years and like a grandfather to our children. Jim's mind and body have been ravaged by Alzheimer's disease. Maggie has suffered in similar tragic ways. They are one of the most godly, gentle couples I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Jim's favorite farewell in his Irish brogue was always, '<i>The best is yet to come!" </i><p></p><p>This is hard to believe looking at him now.</p><p>Ben Rector is a singer-songwriter with a particular talent for holiday songs. His Christmas album is excellent and his Thanksgiving song captures the feeling of my favorite American holiday with poignant beauty. So, I was pleased, but not surprised, when Ben came out with a song for <i>New Years Eve</i> last week. It's called <i>The Best is Yet to Come. </i>A Bruce Hornsby meets Coldplay mashup of soulful piano and soaring melody backed by a children's choir, it's a modern take on <i>Auld Lang Sine </i>that could well become a standard for New Year's well-wishers<i>.</i> It's both reflective and honest about the '<i>wildest menagerie of unfortunate crazy things' </i>this passing year, yet <i>unsinkably buoyant</i> about the one to come. </p><p><i>'So raise up your glasses for brand new beginnings, and don't shed a tear for the things that are ending, cos' tomorrow will bring us a new morning sun, friends I believe that the best is yet to come</i>.'</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pZlYMD-RIeQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="pZlYMD-RIeQ"></iframe></div> <p></p><p> While the lilting hope of the song strikes a chord, it's sunny optimism jars with the minor-key melancholy of our moment. I so want to believe it to be true. I just don't know if I can after looking at Jim's vacant eyes and a myriad other sad people with sad stories. How can one's expectations not be tempered by the <i>wild menagerie of crazy unfortunate things that was 2021</i>?' </p><p>Perhaps one's expectation should rather be something like, "<i>It's going to be hard, but God will be with us and will get us through.</i>" Not as lyrical, I know, but certainly more livable? And yet, do the Scriptures not invite us to trust the God who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine? Surely this means more than merely <i>He will get us through</i>? </p><p>My question is this. Is the oft-quoted, <i>the best is yet to come</i> just a cruel cliche' that will leave us with a Champagne hangover on New Year's Day? Or could it be a solid joy that carries us through the darkest of years when rightly understood?</p><p>Reading Jonathan Edwards essay on<i> Christian Happiness</i> has made me land firmly on the latter. The theologian who became president of Princeton University was best known for his revival preaching during the Great Awakening. A deeper Christian thinker you would struggle to find, yet Edwards was relentlessly hopeful. In his essay, he distills the secret of Christian Happiness down to three truths. </p><p><i>"All our good things cannot be taken away. </i></p><p><i>All our bad things will come to pass. </i></p><p><i>All our best things are yet to come."</i></p><p>If we look at Edwards' statements through the lens of Romans 8 we can understand they are solid statements, not empty cliche's. The Apostle Paul writes that our adoption as God's dear children cannot be taken away; that absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of our Father in Christ Jesus. <i>All our good things cannot be taken away.</i> </p><p>He insists that God is working in all things - even the worst things - for His glory and our good if we are His. Even our weakness is working for our good as the Spirit groans in intercession for us. One day we will see <i>all our bad things will come to pass</i>. </p><p>He argues that our momentary sufferings cannot compare to the weight of glory that awaits us. In fact, he writes, all of creation groans in anticipation of the glory that will be revealed to us and through us. Our groaning will turn to rejoicing on that day.</p><p><i> In short, the Apostle Paul and Jonathan Edwards would concur with Jim and Ben.</i></p><p><i> Our best things are, in fact, yet to come.</i></p><p>This does not mean that the New Year necessarily brings a brand new day or even a brand new you. It means that God is making all things new and if we are in his hands we will be included in His grand renovation project. This is no cruel cliche'. This is a solid joy for a New Year, even if that year carries with it another <i>wild menagerie of unfortunate crazy things</i>. </p><p><br /></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-84793165745319636652021-08-14T23:27:00.003-07:002021-08-17T00:04:15.522-07:00Striking Malchus : On the Perils of Prayerless Militancy<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBntSWMWxndAGvy-9GTexlBOgMh1teq9QsGWjJM52L1omBHAXDVvEiUq0ztYwddYRKmTCBXh3mFESKSl-tRhFpJv7CS4Y-FduL62ONNF3rfXh0MB_flc1lBtGEG7urwnuoRv4Kv-omL8aw/s738/tissot-the-ear-of-malchus-482x738.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="482" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBntSWMWxndAGvy-9GTexlBOgMh1teq9QsGWjJM52L1omBHAXDVvEiUq0ztYwddYRKmTCBXh3mFESKSl-tRhFpJv7CS4Y-FduL62ONNF3rfXh0MB_flc1lBtGEG7urwnuoRv4Kv-omL8aw/w418-h640/tissot-the-ear-of-malchus-482x738.jpg" width="418" /></a></div><p></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>"Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?</i>" John 18:10-11</p><p> The arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane after his betrayal by Judas, is for me, one of the most tragic scenes in Scripture. It's interrupted by a curious little scuffle between Peter and Malchus, the high priests servant, which brings some brief comic relief to the tragedy. </p><p>Either Peter was a poor swordsman or Malchus was good at ducking, but I doubt Peter was aiming for his ear. Jesus rebukes Peter, tells him to put his sword away and promptly heals the servants' ear. I have some questions about this scene. Was there a brief search for the missing ear? Did Jesus clean off the blood and mud before sticking it back on? Did it fit on properly or a bit skew? I'm curious. </p><p>Whatever the case, while Peter's intentions may have been noble in protecting Jesus, his approach was as poor as his aim. He was tone deaf as to what Jesus actually needed him to do. Jesus did not need a militant bodyguard at this time. He needed Peter to be a resilient disciple <i>who would support him in his resolve to drink the cup the Father had given Him</i>, and follow him in the way of the cross. Instead, Jesus had to clean up Peter's militant mess. </p><p>Until recently I had never made the connection between Peter's inappropriate militancy and his sleepiness just hours before in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus had warned his disciples to, "<i>Watch and pray so that you do not fall into temptation</i>." He had not asked them to pray for Him. He had asked them to pray for themselves. Three times he had returned from his own prayer to find them sleeping, Peter included. Isn't there such a stark contrast between Peter's spiritual passivity and his inappropriate militancy in the Garden of Gethsemane? He has done exactly what Jesus had warned him about. He has fallen into temptation and acted rashly in the flesh because of his prayerlessness. Peter must have been so disappointed at the healed ear and the rebuke. After all, he was just trying to serve Jesus! </p><p>Now I want to draw a parallel between Peter's inappropriate militancy and what I have seen in the Church these past two years of social and political upheaval. I am going to make a statement that is clearly a generalization. I want to qualify it by saying that there are some notable exceptions, but by qualifying I do not want you to lose the force of my conviction in the statement. Here it is. </p><p>I have found, that by and large, the most causally militant Christians tend to be the most spiritually passive. They tend to be immature, lacking in spiritual disciplines like prayer, reading the Bible and fellowship. They are generally poor at receiving counsel from leaders or mature disciples in the church. They are hard to mobilize to service and mission. Yet suddenly, from this place of spiritual passivity, they are awakened to swashbuckling militancy in the Name of Christ. They think they are serving Jesus, but it actually results in a bloody mess that Jesus then has to clean up!</p><p>The cause differs. Some get militant about masks. Others about no masks. Some get militant about their chosen political party. Others get militant about their chosen conspiracy theory. Some get militant about getting the vaccine. Others get militant about not getting the vaccine. But almost without fail, the most militant people I know around these causes are some of the most spiritually passive. Their militancy is not a calling birthed out of prayer. It is a temptation birthed out of prayerlessness. It is a militancy marked by outrage and unreasonableness. Like Peter, their militancy may mean they are just steps away from a complete denial of Jesus. </p><p>Please note, I am not suggesting that we should not have strong convictions. All of us need to wrestle our way to conscience and conviction around masks, vaccines, race, politics and a whole slew of other disputable matters. I am also not saying that there are not just causes to fight for. However, unless our just causes are birthed out of prayer with other disciples we will get into the flesh and strike Malchus again.</p><p>The historic connection between justice and prayer in the Church is intriguing. William Wilburforce and his fight to abolish slavery, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his fight against Nazi Germany, Martin Luther King and his fight to end racial discrimination; all had different and just causes. However, all their movements had one thing in common. They were birthed and sustained in prayer amidst authentic Christian community. </p><p>Let's beware of striking Malchus out of prayerless militancy. </p><p>And let's not be tone deaf to what Jesus requires of us which is to follow Him in the way of the cross.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-75396275737387723872021-08-12T19:06:00.012-07:002021-08-13T23:25:58.657-07:00Trigger Warning : exploring the popular use of a loaded saying<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8q-oyf8XUSIlQmZi7-Q2dGUmDGMwBKjFQD51f2B-aE5M1rrDzvFo-HbcjaZVRnjYKGW-qlgvzNARub8RecsP5-mS1NMwmWhIXnPzmeqDMsTgrZ0Z1W05hShjlNGK0WovWiHHWoOKnzAZG/s1632/revolver.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1001" data-original-width="1632" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8q-oyf8XUSIlQmZi7-Q2dGUmDGMwBKjFQD51f2B-aE5M1rrDzvFo-HbcjaZVRnjYKGW-qlgvzNARub8RecsP5-mS1NMwmWhIXnPzmeqDMsTgrZ0Z1W05hShjlNGK0WovWiHHWoOKnzAZG/w640-h392/revolver.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><i><b> "I feel so triggered right now."</b></i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This has become an all-too-common saying in our time and place, one that describes a visceral reaction to something or someone. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While the concept of <i>triggering</i> has therapeutic roots, it has become so popularized in this cultural moment that we have lost the true weight of its origin. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">It is one of those great American colloquialisms that subtly shapes our ways of thinking and being. It is even used in a derogatory way when people seem too fragile to see or hear something of an extreme nature. You may hear something like, </span><i style="font-family: helvetica;">"Trigger warning for snowflakes</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;">!" </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While I can appreciate the term, it has become for me, a <i>loaded saying </i>that trivializes real trauma and rationalizes retaliation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50);"><span>Sarah Holland, a clinical psychologist with the Viva Center defines the concept of <i>triggerring</i> as follows.</span> "</span></span><i style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-size: 16px;">When we experience a traumatic event, our brains activate the more primal parts of our nervous system. This initiates our “fight, flight, or freeze” reactions, heightening our senses to help us survive; heart rate and breath quicken, the stomach clenches, and the body shakes. This animalistic, emotional part of the brain overrules other brain processes in favor of survival. We stop processing information and storing it in our brains as linear memory. Rational thought halts as the body readies for action</i><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-size: 16px;">."</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: helvetica; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px;">Think of a veteran who suffers from PTSD hearing an explosion, triggering a reaction where they dive for cover. Consider an abuse survivor who watches a movie depicting similar abuse and experiences flashbacks or dissociation that causes them to relive their trauma. Triggering is real and in this sense the term proves helpful category that creates empathy for people's otherwise inexplicable reactions. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50);">Trivializing Trauma</span></b></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">More recently though, the common use of <i>triggering</i> has trivialized real trauma, taking on a meaning more akin to being upset, offended or disgusted. I've found it being used so easily by friends, colleagues, and have found myself using it myself from time time, in a way that is not actually true. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In the situations I'm thinking of, it would have been more true to say, "I found myself reacting more angrily than I expected to your words," instead of, "<i>Your words triggered me</i>."</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Or, "That movie scene caused a surprising fear in me," instead of "<i>That movie triggered me</i>." </span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: helvetica; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px;"><i>Am I being pedantic</i>? In some senses I can understand its common use. The past two years have been traumatic for everyone in a sense. We all feel a bit triggered somehow. But there is a danger in the popularization of feeling triggered. </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-family: helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Allow me to explain my caution with the term. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Weaponized Emotions</b></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-size: 16px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px;">In our culture of outrage, we can easily weaponize our emotions when we use the term <i>triggered</i>. By so doing, we rationalize retaliation. </span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif">I mean, the very nature of the word <i>triggered</i> implies some kind of violent reaction. If a loaded gun is triggered, a bullet flies out of the chamber. To be triggered is not merely to feel something deeply, it is all too often to say or do something in reaction to that feeling. </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50);"><b>An involuntary reaction </b></span></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50);">Moreover, because the term <i>triggered</i> is used in the passive form, it implies an <i>involuntary</i> reaction. </span></span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif">Rather than say, "<i>I was hurt so I retaliated</i>," which accepts some responsibility, it implies that this reaction was something over which I had no control, much like the reflex of a nerve that has been touched. If I am <i>triggered</i>, I am therefore absolved of responsibility for my reaction, especially if it is retaliation. </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif"><b>A hall pass from healthy discourse</b></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif">Beyond retaliation, being triggered can rationalize our desire to <i>take flight </i>from people with ideas that make us feel uncomfortable. In his book, <i>The Coddling of the American Mind, Jonathan Haidt </i>explores<i> </i>the mental fragility fostered by our education system that has disabled students from interacting with those who hold different ideologies from them. The concept of feeling triggered gives students a <i>hall pass</i> from healthy civil discourse that would otherwise build mental resilience. </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I'm afraid that until we start to take responsibility for our triggers instead of rationalizing them, there are going to be a lot of bullets flying around followed by avid claims of innocence. There may also be a lot of people retreating to hide in their ideological trenches. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif">So, perhaps we need to find some practical ways in which to put our </span><i>triggers on safety? </i></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif">This is not to <span style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50);">suppress</span></span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif"> our emotions or ignore unjust treatment towards us</span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50);">. It is to take responsibility for our reactions even while we acknowledge what may have caused them.</span></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b> I recommend a few ways to put on our emotional triggers on safety.</b></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span face="Roboto, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50); font-family: helvetica;">Use the term more sparingly. If everything is a trigger, nothing is a trigger.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Before you use it, ask whether your motive is to absolve yourself of responsibility for retaliation.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Be more aware of your levels of emotional resilience. Are you more sensitive to things at some times than others?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Give a few trusted friends permission to call you out if they see you becoming over-sensitive or <span style="caret-color: rgb(50, 50, 50);">reactionary.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Resolve to <i>sleep on it</i> before responding to a potentially volatile situation. Most things can wait a night.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Pray through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in which he calls us to turn the other cheek and pray for our enemies. Ask him for Him grace to do be a non-anxious presence.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Sit with the example of Jesus' betrayal and denial by his friends, His false accusation at his trial and mockery at his crucifixion and ask for His Spirit to strengthen you in the face of treatment that would tempt you to retaliate.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Let's be gracious to those who are genuinely suffering from PTSD and triggering experiences. </span></li></ul><p></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 24px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-86784491140656684772021-07-10T09:13:00.005-07:002021-07-10T13:01:34.268-07:00God's House never comes Turnkey <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtmJeqQe0TxhrXNI2K6mz6NMAPWtlAadauEbduDNxdcec8EE3TED3opwqQxBNprWax3dvtUzztErzOgLHNKw3ROC70PfgVaTuz5PuzfXAVMi4o-HNRMcnYWzj4kY3EZT4nPltgUjIdFr0V/s966/fixer+upper+.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="966" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtmJeqQe0TxhrXNI2K6mz6NMAPWtlAadauEbduDNxdcec8EE3TED3opwqQxBNprWax3dvtUzztErzOgLHNKw3ROC70PfgVaTuz5PuzfXAVMi4o-HNRMcnYWzj4kY3EZT4nPltgUjIdFr0V/w640-h426/fixer+upper+.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>We've bought and sold a few properties over our twenty-seven years of marriage as we've moved from city to city and nation to nation. A couple were smaller apartments or condos that came <i>turnkey</i>. The term <i>turnkey </i>is realtor speak for <i>brand new</i> or <i>move-in ready. </i>No restoration or repairs needed. Simply<i> turn the key </i>and start living. </p><p>Two of the properties though, were serious <i>fixer-uppers, </i>larger homes that needed plenty of work. They both had <i>good bones,</i> as they say,<i> </i>with great potential when viewed through a restorer's lens. We never had the money to get them to move-in ready<i> </i>condition up front, so we just got the keys and moved in, <i>ready or not</i>. </p><p>My wife and I watch <i>Chip and Joanna Gaines</i> shows just shaking our heads with envy, wishing we'd had some experts like them to get our <i>fixer-uppers</i> <i>turn-key</i> before we'd moved into them. What a rush it must be to have that<i> before banner</i> rolled back and see the immediate <i>after result</i> of their craftsmanship? But our aim was always to gradually restore the homes to their former glory and even improve on the originals, in order to enhance their beauty and value. </p><p> Our experience has become a powerful church metaphor for us. </p><p>In our experience, <i>God's house never comes turnkey</i>. </p><p>It's <i>move-in ready or not. </i></p><p><i>It's a</i> <i>fixer-upper's</i> dream with no Chip and Joanna Gaines in sight. You're living on a perpetual building site. It's messy and uncomfortable. But the progress is beautiful and the end product satisfying because God keeps restoring His house. </p><p>The Bible describes God's people as <i>living stones</i> in His house. "<i>You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ</i>." <i>(1 Peter 2:5)</i> This infers that God is always doing renovation projects on his house and that he moves His people around as <i>living stones</i> in order that His Spirit may indwell His spiritual house. This requires a sacrifice on our part, because <i>each of us</i> has been saved and set apart as priests by Jesus' to serve in His house. Mixed metaphors by the Apostle Peter, perhaps, but<i> suffice to say that living stones</i> have to be flexible and <i>priests</i> have to be <i>sacrificial.</i> I think that's Peter's point here. </p><p>When we remodeled the kitchen in our current house we had to move our fridge and microwave into our dining room for three months. It felt horribly confined but so worth it in the end. Sometimes God will close down a part of his house and have us squeeze together in a more confined space while that room is being restored. People who expect their church to be <i>turn-key </i>tend to get disgruntled when God decides to do some remodeling and move the walls and the furniture around. But if we co-operate with our Great Architect we get too see His house more glorious than it was before. </p><p>Every metaphor has its limits, of course, but this is one way to understand what is happening at present in the part of God's house called Southlands. While God graciously enabled us to <i>extend</i> a wing during Covid through the planting Southlands Santa Ana in January, our Whittier congregation endured numerous setbacks over the Covid season. These included more stringent limits on in-person gathering, the loss of their Sunday morning venue, the obvious challenges of online church as well as numerous key members leaving the LA area. They remain a healthy and faithful community, but we have felt that they have needed both strengthening and a viable morning venue in order to be effective in their mission.</p><p>So, last Sunday we welcomed Southlands Whittier back to Brea for a season of refreshing and what we hope will be a relaunch in the Fall or early 2022. In the meantime, Kevin and Shannon begin a 10 week sabbatical to rest and recalibrate after 6 years of faithful leadership. The congregation will continue doing small groups and outreach in Whittier and will also gather to worship in Uptown Whittier on the third Sunday of each month at 5pm at Disciple Church. However, on Sunday mornings they will join with us at Brea. Let's make sure they feel like we are a <i>home away from home </i>for them. We also want to encourage people from other Southlands congregations to come out and bolster their monthly evening gatherings with faith and presence. </p><p>In the mean time, we stand with so many churches around the world who have felt confined, displaced and discouraged in this season. God promised that He would restore His house not just to former glory, but to greater glory.</p><p> <i>"The glory of the latter house will be greater than the glory of the former house</i>." (Haggai 2:9)</p><p>This promises is an anchor for our soul as we stand amidst the rubble of God's restoration project. </p><p><i>Because God's house never comes turnkey.</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-65537695995228728752021-06-10T10:19:00.002-07:002021-06-10T10:27:49.556-07:00Umfundisi wenjabulo : a tribute to Elliot 'Bafana' Sonjica<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBEFpqXIQPoCN1hZGL6RRwia4dqcSy8piGb_zxfFQ2o0kki7MT3-IErDphRZW1vesZKFZ86VicQRSsIhn62sWHpMHfDgVUS_o9YFCKn-f6IuRa6Q_RLyB7TDvzSrDoEwLOZUGoneDdzt4s/s1080/Elliot+Sonjica.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="1080" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBEFpqXIQPoCN1hZGL6RRwia4dqcSy8piGb_zxfFQ2o0kki7MT3-IErDphRZW1vesZKFZ86VicQRSsIhn62sWHpMHfDgVUS_o9YFCKn-f6IuRa6Q_RLyB7TDvzSrDoEwLOZUGoneDdzt4s/w640-h496/Elliot+Sonjica.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I heard today that Elliot Sonjica's life here on this earth stopped suddenly yesterday. Dreadful Covid-19 claimed another victim. This is devastating and we are heart broken for Dolly and Grace and their families, as well as their Hilton Christian Fellowship family.</p><p>We can rest assured that Elliot woke up in the presence of Jesus. For those who die in Christ, death has lost its sting. Death will be like waking up from an afternoon nap with the sun streaming in through your bedroom window. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. </p><p>But for those left behind, there are storm clouds of grief that obscure rays of resurrection hope. This <i>grief-hope</i> storm is a God-permitted weather pattern. This too will pass, but we cannot <i>will it</i> to pass. With hope, we must walk slowly through valleys of grief because of the huge gap a man like this leaves in our lives. We grieve exactly because he was a ray of resurrection of hope on this earth, that is now gone.</p><p> One of God's common graces in grief is to celebrate a person's life in tribute, as we bless the One who gives and takes away. In the next week, the tributes will pour in, I know, letting Dolly and Grace and their family know of the giant faith legacy of Elliot <i>Bafana</i> Sonjica. I wish to add my voice to the chorus, if I may.</p><p><b>A Shepherd of Joy.</b> Elliot was to me, <i>Umfundisi wenjabulo, </i>a shepherd of joy<i>. </i>The photo above, posted by his daughter Grace, captures that remarkable smile that would light up a room and chase the shadows out the door of any soul. A deep belly laugh was always just below the surface in the man and it didn't take much to get his feet going with his M<i>adiba moves </i>in worship<i>. </i>He had serious rhythm and soul, even though he couldn't sing quite as well as Dolly or Grace!<i> How he managed to do that with our</i> <i>white-boy</i>-<i>worship-music</i> that had so little African groove is a miracle<i>, but he did! </i> Elliot's life reminds me of simpler times. Simpler joys. Not a life of uninterrupted happiness, mind you, but a steadfast trust in His God through every season that produced contagious joy. </p><p><b>A Gentle Giant</b>. Elliot was a big man with a small ego. He was humble to the point of being self-effacing. That is a rare virtue for a man from the proudest most powerful tribe in Sub-Saharan Africa. He always underplayed, and most likely under-estimated, the giant influence he had on so many sons and daughters as a spiritual father. </p><p>You need to know that he is something of an urban legend at <i>Southlands</i>, the church I pastor here in Southern California. Over the years we have hosted many conferences where people visit and minister from different nations. During one such conference, Elliot and Dolly were part of the ministry team and were hosted by a family in the area. The strange thing was that this particular family were not actually in the church. Their son had just got radically saved and so he asked his Mom and Dad to host a couple visiting from South Africa. This <i>salt-of-the earth </i>family had always been hospitable, but they had no idea what was about to hit them as Elliot and Dolly arrived on their doorstep. The Sonjica's faith and love made such a dramatic impact on them that by the end of that week the <i>salvation dominoes</i> had begun to topple in remarkable ways<i>.</i> Within weeks of their visit, the Mom and Dad, brother and sister were all saved and added to the church. They still see Elliot and Dolly like a spiritual father and mother to this day. Nobody else I know has made such a deep and lasting impact on our church in such a short space time. And not from behind a pulpit, mind you, just from around a dining room table. </p><p><b>The Boy who Believed.</b> Elliot <i>Bafana</i> Sonica. <i>Bafana</i> in Zulu, means <i>boys</i>, but not in a disrespectful way. In essence, it means, <i>one of the boys!</i> It is the name used for South Africa's national soccer team. I'm still not sure whether this was Elliot's actual middle name or just a nick name. Whatever the case, it stuck, because it was true. He was <i>one of the boys,</i> a man with a noble bearing who had such a common touch. Who could forget the way he wore his jaunty tweed flat cap with such style? But <i>bafana</i> also speaks to me of Elliot's simple, child-like faith. At the end of the day this gentle giant was simply a son of the Father who believed in Jesus with all his heart. I remember a message he once preached at a conference in Bloemfontein on faith and obedience almost twenty years ago. It was so simple, yet unforgettable, because it was spoken from a life of integrity. He believed God and obeyed and was therefore believable. </p><p>Amidst so much ugliness on social media, there is the beauty of having a record of your interactions with the people you love and may lose. I went straight to my interactions with Elliot after hearing of his death. The last one was brief, yet affectionate. It was a message saying he hoped to visit us in the USA. It was a visit that sadly never came to pass. He ended with the simple words, '<i>I love and miss you,</i>' and I believed him. Even his Facebook profile says, "<i>A man with few words and I love my God and my family</i>." The thing about about the man, was that his life, his faith and his few words were just so believable. Perhaps this was Elliot's most precious gift to us. Perhaps this is what God would most want multiplied through his life into ours, in our current faith famine of integrity.</p><p>So, <i>Bafana</i>, we salute you as you receive your crown from your King! </p><p><i>Ndabezitha isiZulu</i>! </p><p><i>Hamba kahle, umfowethu!</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-89566154646846050822021-02-08T16:29:00.007-08:002021-08-09T10:26:31.540-07:00California Calling: Reclaiming a Theology of Place for the Golden State<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBPbHgUFCdj_ksw0BZ0EQ56ZTFGdKUeda6Bq9PJjpPDa_hVAw5k5TxaPzT6FL7EYJWb2mShWiXjR1Qdm7ozCRa-jQr3lza6PxFgUaj8nyit9YPBv6n0tr_C3afnCe6K19U4khxUChMBVz/s1594/California+Claaing+JPEG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1594" data-original-width="1125" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBPbHgUFCdj_ksw0BZ0EQ56ZTFGdKUeda6Bq9PJjpPDa_hVAw5k5TxaPzT6FL7EYJWb2mShWiXjR1Qdm7ozCRa-jQr3lza6PxFgUaj8nyit9YPBv6n0tr_C3afnCe6K19U4khxUChMBVz/w452-h640/California+Claaing+JPEG.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><span style="text-align: center;">I'm told that U-Haul in California can't keep up with the demand from people hiring their trucks and trailers to pack up and leave for greener pastures. That trend hasn't been helped by two recent and very public departures of two very influential Californian residents; Elon Musk and Joe Rogan. Musk, the South African born CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is one of the wealthiest men in the world. He's also one of the most vocal and was never going to leave quietly. </span>In a series of tweets in May 2020, Musk threatened to move the company's headquarters to Texas or Nevada, where shelter-in-place rules were less restrictive. "<i>Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately</i>," Musk tweeted. A few months later he sold two of his homes in Silicon Valley and announced he was moving to Texas and building a new plant in Austin.<p><span style="text-align: center;"> Popular podcaster Joe Rogan of </span>“The Joe Rogan Experience” cited overpopulation, traffic, and “the need for freedom” as the reasons he has been persuaded to move from his current home of Los Angeles to Texas.<span style="text-align: center;">“<i>I just want to go somewhere in the center of the country, somewhere it’s easier to travel to both places, and somewhere where you have a little bit more freedom,</i>” he explained on his podcast. </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></p><p>Officially, California added 21,200 people from July 2019, to July 2020, increasing the state’s population a paltry 0.05% to 39.78 million people — still by far the most of any state. But the bigger news is that 135,600 more people left the state than moved here in that period. It’s only the 12th time since 1900 the state has had a net migration loss, and the third largest ever recorded. * </p><p>That's peculiar when you consider the many positive things California has going for it. Historically, people have flocked to the Golden State for its prosperity, its beauty, its creativity, its diversity and its weather. </p><p><span style="text-align: center;">So, what are the primary factors people are giving for leaving the Golden State? I'm no expert, but I would suggest at least 5 Big factors. </span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Cost of Living</b> - the high price of housing and taxation is driving people to cheaper States</li><li><b>Progressive Politics</b> - California has been a Blue State for years and that doesn't look like changing soon, which makes Conservatives especially, feel controlled, labelled and claustrophobic. </li><li><b>Erosion of Morality</b> - Many people have a fear that raising kids in a culture that has lost its moral compass is not worth all the beauty and opportunity that California has on offer.</li><li><b>De-Urbanization</b> - Covid has swiftly reversed the pull that the urban centers of Los Angeles and San Francisco have had as major companies have allowed their employees to work remotely. Why live in expensive cities when you can earn the same and live in a small town in another State?</li><li><b>Zeitgeist</b><b style="font-style: italic;"> - </b>This one is harder to put your finger on because there's no stat you can point to. But it's in the air. It's where the mind tends to go and where the conversation tends to flow. It's a pervading mood. Basically, it's become fashionable to <i>hate on the Golden State</i>. </li></ul><div>I've written about this extensively before, but Californians by nature, tend to be less rooted and more transient than other people from other places. John Steinbeck, the California native, called it '<i>an incurable virus of restlessness. The urge to be</i> <i>some place else.' </i>The five factors above have simply made our latent virus of restlessness more contagious and it seems like we are at some kind of tipping point. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's against this bleak backdrop that we find ourselves fasting through the Book of Joshua as a Church this week. There is a promise from God to his people before they cross the Jordan river into Canaan that, <i>"Every place you set your foot I have given to you. Only, be Strong and Courageous." </i>Of course, there are giants in this land flowing with milk and honey. They have already caused the ten spies' hearts to melt with fear. But God calls Joshua, Caleb, and the people to walk in a different spirit of faith and courage. </div><div><br /></div><div>There are significant parallels between Canaan and California. A land flowing with milk and honey and with many giants. There is a great need for the Church in California to recover a theology of place if we are to continue to make disciples of Jesus faithfully in the face of increasing hostility to the gospel. Our call is not to conquest, but to cultivation of gospel fruit in this revival-rich soil, even as the giants loom large. </div><div><br /></div><div> Perhaps our State has lost some of its <i>California Dreaming</i> allure? What is needed then is for the people of God to recover a sense of <i>California Calling</i>. Jesus is still deadly serious about His people fulfilling His Great Commission in this place of promise. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>I see California Calling working itself out in a few different ways.</i> </div><div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>It should involve people calling on the Lord in prayer to awaken and revive California again</li><li>It should involve Californians consecrating themselves to God's calling on them to make disciples and to '<i>seek the peace and prosperity of the place where He has carried us into exile</i>.' </li><li> It could involve calling people from other States and nations into the mission field of California. </li></ul></div><div><b>California Calling</b> should be an ethic that operates in an opposite spirit to California pessimism<i>. </i></div><div>Why not amplify the beauty, diversity, prosperity and opportunity that is on offer in the Golden State while being discerning about the reality of spiritual and moral giants in the land? Why not change the narrative by speaking well of the place God has called us?</div><div><i>California Calling</i> ultimately amplifies Jesus as the Golden hope of this Golden State.</div><div>There is no God forsaken place on the planet unless God’s people have forsaken it.</div><div><i>Who's with me?</i></div><p></p><p><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></p><p>https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/16/californias-growth-rate-at-record-low-as-more-people-leave.htmly</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-49515465735899004562021-01-29T17:09:00.028-08:002021-02-02T14:05:41.386-08:00Turning the Tide on Wednesdays: Revival in a Time of Upheaval <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjku_TWdimHq49iez7SSSChLJOqZQB0POo1h5Gp_EkbiWLoR4e_xagf54LiB7IryD0wA2aEp2eT_HJNeUylukYy3Lth3FX3GxPiwj9NbL_vDQhjPyiT-twe_RV4mplFvEX581YxfryMoldH/s2048/IMG_1986.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1408" data-original-width="2048" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjku_TWdimHq49iez7SSSChLJOqZQB0POo1h5Gp_EkbiWLoR4e_xagf54LiB7IryD0wA2aEp2eT_HJNeUylukYy3Lth3FX3GxPiwj9NbL_vDQhjPyiT-twe_RV4mplFvEX581YxfryMoldH/w640-h440/IMG_1986.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /><br /></span></div><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Someone should write a book called "The Four Wednesdays." </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>That's what my wise friend, Jonathan Shrader said today. Jonathan is a church planter, but in his past life he was a press secretary on Capitol Hill during the Bush administration. That gave his words had a lot more weight. What he was referring to, of course, was the massive upheaval caused by four consecutive Wednesdays in January 2021. </span><span face="-webkit-standard, serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>It began with<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>insurrection on Capitol Hill</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on the first Wednesday, the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>impeachment of President Trump</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on the second, the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>inauguration</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of President Biden on the third and the<b> <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/reddit-makes-amc-gamestop-stock-go-wild-this-insane-ponzi-scheme-is-a-train-wreck/">Game Stop</a> Stock Market Surge</b><i> </i>on the last. These four seismic Wednesdays sent shockwaves through America's political, economic and cultural landscape. </span><span face="-webkit-standard, serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>I am not writing to make commentary on these four Wednesdays or to catastrophize these events. There has already been enough of that. What I want to do though, is call out the sense of upheaval that they have brought to our already uneasy times.</span><span face="-webkit-standard, serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>They have caused a rising tide of fear among us. The sense of faith that God is at work seems to have drained from God's people. Many people are in survival mode<i> </i>just<i> </i>longing for some respite from the relentless wave after wave of bad news. Most<i> </i>pastors I talk to are also in survival mode. They are doing everything in their power to gather the scattered, comfort the grieving and piece together some semblance of unity in congregations that have been shredded by the ripe tide of Covid dissension and political tribalism.<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span>Churches are generally hanging on <i>by the skin of their teeth</i> and they expect that 1 in 4 will close in the USA because of these tides. </span><span face="-webkit-standard, serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><b>So why call our church to study and pray through</b></span><span><b> a 10-week Primer on Revival then when so many are fighting for survival</b>?<b> Isn't that insensitive? Isn't it expecting a bit much?</b> </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think it all depends on how you think about revival, really. Most Christians have been taught to think of revival as a kind of crescendo of spiritual fervor, in which the strength of the Church and the favor of the culture blend in perfect conditions to create the perfect wave. Yet, if we study the history of revivals we find that they generally occurred when the tide of God's presence was at at its lowest ebb and the tide of culture threatened to engulf the church. Think about it. The very word revival infers that something is about to die and needs to be resuscitated back to life.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Historically, revival starts when a remnant, finding their lives at this low ebb, begins to experience renewal as they cried out to God in desperate faith. This renewal then grows to become a contagious awakening to the presence of God. At some point, by God's mercy, the tide begins to turn and swells to become a tidal wave of God's presence that crashes into a world in upheaval bringing hope and healing.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In that sense, there's never been a better time than now to pray for revival. </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We have been gathering weekly around the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TZ7HM5H?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860Rend&fbclid=IwAR12zRTBh29ogt1GI9RUWWFVvYrwV4Ty79s83r7UnIu85nQVCOyEtHkt2RI">Rend the Heavens</a> revival primer in 24 groups humbly asking God to revive us and turn the tide through us. Our group meets in our back yard on Wednesdays. It wasn't planned that way, but it has been so encouraging to sense a rising tide of God's presence despite the waves of upheaval taking place every Wednesday in our world.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This primer is aimed to help small groups of people to pray for revival with both faith and wisdom. It explores ten examples of revival in the Bible and connects them with similar contemporary examples in history which will stir people to pray, "Do it again, in our day, Lord!" It is designed with practical prayer prompts and questions for group discussion. We encourage you to gather in any one of the 24 groups on different nights of the week, or perhaps to begin a revival primer group in your church.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We cannot manufacture revival. It is a sovereign act of God. But we can prepare the conditions of our hearts to be ready as the tide begins to turn. We believe that this primer will be a catalyst for a tidal wave of God's presence and healing to flow through the Church and into a world of upheaval.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TZ7HM5H?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860Rend&fbclid=IwAR12zRTBh29ogt1GI9RUWWFVvYrwV4Ty79s83r7UnIu85nQVCOyEtHkt2RI">Rend the Heavens: a primer for revival prayer</a> is available now on Amazon.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj-Q8_6ipQZhhNXhcLkghxWwg-E_-9d4C3IkGPdXy3Et_3kbc0q5O5gtGnDnQVnS7n-DeF7Lbst36vhgtLD_7Zjd7SJdNIZzwPu6snH1np4p_WrzlbKF9UAF6VvqC6GeUDjYlZbjjhrXye/s2000/5BF3B58A-94BE-4C6A-B566-9DEBEA6A04EF.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1125" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj-Q8_6ipQZhhNXhcLkghxWwg-E_-9d4C3IkGPdXy3Et_3kbc0q5O5gtGnDnQVnS7n-DeF7Lbst36vhgtLD_7Zjd7SJdNIZzwPu6snH1np4p_WrzlbKF9UAF6VvqC6GeUDjYlZbjjhrXye/w360-h640/5BF3B58A-94BE-4C6A-B566-9DEBEA6A04EF.jpeg" width="360" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><div><br /></div><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.75in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-43719635168497271882021-01-19T08:22:00.103-08:002021-01-25T10:03:49.874-08:00Fresh Winds and False Winds : discerning when to go and when to stand.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIPmI2loTprsMom8JGEj__tAliHNSoIqbS0VJJTJEmU9SYBy6TWJmTdPWg9MtEhssbLetO1gIlLaXnMdRmASqh0qLi96DBeGpy_AZk6z8zQqmWoVFlXiCEEyKKCG4kQQphu1UF_QHnwxlR/s2048/fire+pit.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIPmI2loTprsMom8JGEj__tAliHNSoIqbS0VJJTJEmU9SYBy6TWJmTdPWg9MtEhssbLetO1gIlLaXnMdRmASqh0qLi96DBeGpy_AZk6z8zQqmWoVFlXiCEEyKKCG4kQQphu1UF_QHnwxlR/w640-h640/fire+pit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Yesterday was the last Sunday of gathering to worship in the open air. By this coming Sunday we should be meeting under a big tent, which will protect us from the elements and allow us to put up a stage and TV screens. But yesterday it was blazing hot and blowing a gale and we were exposed to it all; so much so that umbrellas were blown over and people had to stand at each corner of their easy-ups to keep them from blowing away. Meeting outside has definitely brought a new robust grit to our church, for which I'm thankful. <p></p><p>It seemed appropriate, as we commissioned our Southlands Santa Ana launch team, to do it while these hot <i>Santa Ana winds</i> were blowing. In the midst of these forceful winds I thought of the ways in which the wind can be both disruptive and constructive. The same wind that picks up an umbrella and blows it over can also pick up a seed and carry it to fertile soil where it lands and grows into a tree. </p><p>Jesus, when explaining to Nicodemus what life would be like for those who followed Him said, "<i>The wind blows wherever it pleases. So it is with those born of the Spirit</i>." (John 3:18)</p><p>When God blows with the wind of His Spirit, it is both disruptive and constructive. Among the Santa Ana launch team, people have allowed God to uproot them from one place to be planted in another for the sake of gospel. They have invited the disruption of moving house or changing jobs and saying gospel good-byes to friends they love. They've done this because they realize the disruption will be constructive as the wind carries the seeds of the gospel to grow and bear fruit in a new city. </p><p>It's no use resenting the disruption when the wind blows. I mean, this is a crazy time to be planting a church. Most churches are fighting for survival and here we are sending valuable people out to start a new congregation! It's a risk, of course, but we have been praying and planning into this risk for over year now. And we sense the fresh wind of the Spirit blowing. So it seems best just to hoist our sails and allow the wind to carry us along. If we are to allow God's wind to do constructive things at this time we have to allow it to be disruptive. In Acts 8, the winds of persecution caused a scattering of disciples which caused a spreading of the Word of God. The disruption was constructive. </p><p>Of course, we should not be carried along by every wind. Some winds are not constructive at all. They are <b>destructive false winds</b>. We must brace ourselves against them so that we are not '<i>tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine</i>.' (Ephesians 4:14) There are <i>destructive false gospels</i> blowing across the Church in these days. We must discern them and stand against them. The winds of <b>Progressive Liberalism</b> will likely blow more strongly with the upcoming change of president and government. We must find grace to honor and pray for our new President, whether we voted for him or not, to bring unity to a divided nation. We can do this while resisting the likely erosion of religious liberty, Biblical sexual ethics and the sanctity of marriage and life in the womb. On the other hand, we must also stand against the winds of <b>Christian Nationalism</b> that seek to co-opt Jesus for their political ends. This is a subtle but violent wind that is carrying many Christians away as they reduce Jesus' kingdom to their vision for the nation. This article by PJ Smyth on <a href="https://www.pjsmyth.com/blog/a-newcomers-guide-to-christian-nationalism">a-newcomers-guide-to-christian-nationalism</a> is helpful. We have to avoid both political extremes as Christ followers. As C.S. Lewis wrote, "<i>The devil always sends errors into the world in pairs--pairs of opposites...He relies on your extra dislike of one to draw you gradually into the opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them</i>." No doubt, we must also keep standing against the winds of <b>Nominalism</b>, with its false doctrine of cheap grace and vision of Jesus as Savior, but not Lord. These winds must not blow us off track. We must stand our ground against them as we '<i>contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.</i>' (Jude 24) </p><p>Finally, we must remember that the wind has the power either to extinguish or energize a fire. For many of us, the winds of adversity have almost extinguished the flame of faith and passion for Jesus. But God promises that '<i>a smoldering wick he will not snuff out until justice is led to victory.</i>'(is 42:6) He is more than able to energize the flickering wick of our souls that once burned brightly with the fresh wind. God is mercifully on the move, reviving His Church when it is at it's most feeble! This is a time to allow the fresh wind of God's Spirit to 'fan into flame the gift of God that is within us through the laying on of hands.' ( 2 Tim 1:6) </p><p>As Keith Green sang all those years ago, </p><p><i>Oh Lord, please light the fire, That once burned bright and clear.</i></p><p><i>Replace the lamp of my first love, That burns with Holy fear</i></p><p>I also love this more<i> </i>recent song called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by7wT7jxwgI">Fresh Wind</a> around the same theme.</p><p>As we begin our 9 week focus on praying for revival by signing up for a micro-revival group, let's pray together that God's fresh wind would help us to fan into flame the smoldering wick of our passion for Jesus that would lead to a blazing fire of revival. </p><p>May His wind be a friend to our fire. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-14989543002595087612020-12-06T22:20:00.013-08:002020-12-07T14:06:03.174-08:00 Some Guiding Convictions coming out of Covid-19 Quarantine<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw79YzeZQYalrYVV6J7KzgF0isBJEGp2walRxklJWMUjaTNA71h21tzvh3f-4B1DSPkCty1Mr6nFoJjBViAclWunDRvuDMTa6T7QGS1S-MqS-ZVjwFMghRQlNcuaWouT_V1NRunPyU30n3/s2048/advance+west+hub.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw79YzeZQYalrYVV6J7KzgF0isBJEGp2walRxklJWMUjaTNA71h21tzvh3f-4B1DSPkCty1Mr6nFoJjBViAclWunDRvuDMTa6T7QGS1S-MqS-ZVjwFMghRQlNcuaWouT_V1NRunPyU30n3/w640-h640/advance+west+hub.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">I tested positive for COVID-19 after experiencing flu-like symptoms about 12 days ago. Rynelle and Sophie tested positive a few days after me. Thankfully, our symptoms have been relatively mild. We are over the worst and grateful for people's concern, care and prayer. </span></div></div><div><br /></div><div>As I write this I'm beyond my official quarantine period, but am remaining in isolation for another few days, wanting to make sure that our whole family is in the clear before we come out. I'm coming out of quarantine with some guiding convictions that are clearer and stronger than before I'd contracted the virus, having had some time to reflect. I write these not as a medical expert, (although I have consulted experts extensively) but rather as a father and a pastor trying to guide a family and a church through a very strange pandemic, especially in light of the new <i>stay-at-home </i>orders that we face in Southern California. <p> <b>1. This Pandemic is Real</b></p><p> I've been wary of the fear-mongering that seems so rampant in our culture at this time and have wanted to lead the church with courage, even as we've taken necessary precautions around gathering. But courage need not be reckless. Courage certainly should not be denial. All of us now have close friends or family who have suffered from this virus. Some of us have tragically lost loved ones. It is no longer '<i>the disease out there</i>.' It has come near, and if hospital ICU rates are below 15% it means that many people are not getting over it <i>just like a flu bug</i>. Of course, we may suspect the numbers are exaggerated and that the government has overreached in the way it is trying to control infection rates. But let's not allow our suspicions to deny that we have a problem on our hands. That would be neither wise nor loving. This pandemic is no joke. </p><p>The fact that my symptoms have been mild has not made me cavalier. I know enough people who have experienced severe symptoms to realize the virus is random in the way that it affects folk, even young, healthy people. What has made me more respectful of it is realizing how contagious it seems to be. Even though I worked hard to isolate from my family, my wife and daughter caught it in the couple of days before I had tested. It's highly contagious. If you have watched a loved one suffer or lose their life, or if you have suffered yourself, you will attest to the fact that it can be brutal. So, let's mask up, maintain social distance, wash our hands, stay home if we have symptoms and pray that the vaccines work effectively. </p><p><b>2. Social Isolation is also a Pandemic.</b></p><p>Held in tension with my conviction that the pandemic is real, is the conviction that social isolation is also a pandemic. I've taken time during isolation to read up on statistics around depression, addiction, anxiety, unemployment and suicide rates. The statistics are dizzying, but suffice to say, they have all sky-rocketed during this pandemic. Someone said that we are essentially battling two pandemics; the disease and the <i>dis-ease</i> brought on by social isolation. Sadly, I've had a front-row seat to the effects of isolation on those I lead, even upon my own children. It's evil. While some have enjoyed quality family time and working remotely, I'm concerned about the long term effects on social distancing and <i>stay-at-home</i> orders. necessary though they may be. I already see an alarming trend of people <i>cocooning</i> amidst growing social anxiety<i>, </i>even as restrictions ease. We are becoming reclusive and anti-social and it is ravaging our souls and our social fabric. </p><p>About three months ago I was praying for wisdom on how to fight social isolation in the midst of the danger of a pandemic. I sensed the Lord speak to me about cancer in a body. If someone has cancer in their body they will willingly subject it to the danger of chemotherapy or radiotherapy in order to heal it from the greater danger of cancer. Gathering in-person has some degree of danger associated with it. But it is less dangerous than the cancer of social isolation to us, and also to Christ's Body.</p><p>As J.D. Greear, president of the SBC recentlywrote, "<i>COVID is real. So are the devastating effects of isolation, loneliness and the inability to make life work. Both should be taken seriously. We have to keep these things in tension. Pray for our government leaders that they would be able to do this wisely</i>."</p><p>We are communal creatures, created in the image of a communal Creator. It is not good for humans to be alone. I am adamant that we are to continue to fight for community, even in this second wave of <i>stay at home</i> orders. This means that we will keep taking precautions, but will keep emphasizing the healing power of in-person worship and small group gatherings, even as we continue to serve and care for our online community. </p><p><b>3. The Future of the Church is not Digital.</b></p><p>We've loved investing in ways to serve our online community, many of whom have very good reasons to be staying home. We've loved experimenting with ways to foster digital community and have been so encouraged by people's response and commitment. We've also been pleased by the growing digital footprint we've experienced through the various social media platforms. I and my family have been personally blessed these past two weeks being able to worship online and join the post-sermon chat. Our online crew is doing a phenomenal job! I refuse to make our online community feel like second class citizens when many are serving on front lines, are <i>immuno-compromised</i> or elderly. If the risen Christ moved through walls to meet his disciples, he can certainly move through media platforms to meet his people today. We will continue to use online forums for the foreseeable future. </p><p> However, I do not believe the future of the church is digital, as some have said. There are still real limitations to building community and making disciples digitally. Congregational worship, communion, prayer, nuance, atmosphere and relational depth are severely limited in an online forum. So many of the New Testament's <i>one anothers </i>require embodied presence<i>.</i> Thus, while we will remain agile in ways of meeting, we will continue to emphasize the call people to embodied gatherings. </p><p><b>4. God can use unjust laws and leaders to refine His compromised Church.</b></p><p>Some of us may feel that all these restrictions are an unjust infringement on our freedom of worship. I empathize with these feelings. As you know, we have exercised civil disobedience on occasion and may do so again if we feel we must. I do desire consistency from government, and am concerned when churches are treated as less essential than casinos, for instance. It is not about meeting in a specific building. It is about churches being able to gather in-person in some way to worship, and I am heartened that there is current provision made for this. This is why we are investing a significant amount of money in a tent. We sense that there is still a significant season of out-door worship and we want to help keep people sheltered from the elements. <i> </i></p><p><i>Is having to meet outdoors when we have a perfectly good building, unjust?</i><b> <i>Perhaps</i></b>. But we have seen some amazing gospel dynamics at work as we've gathered in this way. Our visitor engagement and the curiosity factor from outsiders has increased. We've grown in boldness and flexibility as a church because of it. We also see in Scripture that God often used unjust leaders and laws to refine His people when they had become compromised. I am persuaded that God is at work in these difficult days to produce more rugged, agile and sacrificial disciples of Jesus who bear greater resemblance to the first disciples of Jesus. If this is what He is doing, then I'm all in! Can we be all in, together?</p><p>The Class of 2020 is going to produce formidable disciples, I'm sure of it. </p><p>So, let's not shrink back, be strong in His grace and receive His reward for faithfulness. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-49764787828434788912020-11-23T23:07:00.012-08:002020-11-23T23:30:05.904-08:00 Living with Holy Uncertainty<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrxz8qJse7uzUtnwcFU-k1kaq1WzYoSdxMWhA0TU8VKcvOhm5ytRZidWhAF_L-3n_pil872MUfYt00Cpmtvr8wD3HflLVqRzbUAqdMW8Ghe5oNidS-hgaZP1htb4Ijah5woLvMZDGvQRZv/s2048/FF99DAFF-6DBD-4908-A8FD-A2FF575354B4.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrxz8qJse7uzUtnwcFU-k1kaq1WzYoSdxMWhA0TU8VKcvOhm5ytRZidWhAF_L-3n_pil872MUfYt00Cpmtvr8wD3HflLVqRzbUAqdMW8Ghe5oNidS-hgaZP1htb4Ijah5woLvMZDGvQRZv/w715-h494/FF99DAFF-6DBD-4908-A8FD-A2FF575354B4.heic" width="715" /></a></div><p></p><p><b>Unholy Certainty</b></p><p>There seems to be a great appetite among Americans for certainty these days. Perhaps this is because of the lack of control we all feel in these deeply uncertain times. We reach for certainty like a three-year-old reaches for his pacifier. No doubt, certainty can be comforting. This is why we tend to stay with our trusted news channels. God forbid that any conflicting narrative disrupts our secure echo chambers of reality. </p><p> I have been horrified this year at people's absolute certainty around the pandemic.<i> </i></p><p><i>It is a hoax. It is a liberal conspiracy. It signals the end of life as we know it. It is so deadly that it is worth closing down everything for. Masks will stop it. Masks will do nothing to stop it. A vaccine will change everything. A vaccine is to be avoided at all costs. Anyone who doesn't adhere to the restrictions is selfish. Anyone who does adhere to the restrictions is foolish. </i></p><p>One would think that the unpredictability of the year would have produced in us a more humble posture towards that which we cannot fully understand. Do we think we are God that we can grab this <i>leviathan</i> of a pandemic by the tail? But it seems the more illusive certainty becomes, the more we grasp at it.</p><p>This appetite for certainty extends far beyond the pandemic, of course. The presidential elections dripped with similar certitude. Political pundits, celebrity pastors and prophets all made such assured predictions about their preferred candidate. And so many of them seem to be wrong. Or are they? I cannot say for sure. Does there seem to be some inconsistency in ballot counting? <i>I think so</i>. If there is legal proof that it did not make any significant difference to the outcome of the election, would those of us who are suspicious concede that it was a free and fair election.<i> I think not</i>. That would be a terrible admission of uncertainty.</p><p>There is a kind of political fundamentalism on both sides of the aisle that amounts to<i> unholy certainty</i>. </p><p><b>Holy Uncertainty </b></p><p>What we really need then is what the ancients called <i><b>Holy Uncertainty</b></i>.</p><p>John Mark Comer, in his recent book, '<i><b>We don't know what's going to Happen and that's Okay</b></i>,' writes, "<i>Holy uncertainty is the capacity to live with a very loose grip – or no grip at all – on our plans and, more important, on the outcomes of our plans, because our security is rooted in a relational connection to God, not in a false sense of control. </i></p><p>I am no relativist. I believe in absolute truth. Still, I believe it is a virtue these days to admit, "<i>I am not confident to predict the future. I am not absolutely sure about the pandemic. I am quite confounded by the election.</i>" You may say, "<i>That lacks conviction. People only follow you if you sound absolutely convinced about the future</i>." What then do we do with the words of Jesus about the mystery of His return, especially those of us who are so certain about our end times predictions? "<i>But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father</i>." (Matthew 24:36)<b> </b>No one knows. Not even the Son! Only the Father. <i>Holy Uncertainty. </i></p><p><b>The Boy who cried Wolf</b></p><p>My point is, that those who are anchored in certainty about Jesus and his gospel should be more free to admit uncertainty about <i>disputable matters</i>. In fact, there is a real danger that if we come across absolutely certain about everything, people will not believe us on things we should be certain about. It is like the story of the boy who cried wolf. Every night he warned the village that there was a wolf on the prowl when there was nothing. Then one night a wolf did come, but the village would not believe the boy, because he had been certain but wrong so many times before. We need to learn to pick our moments and topics of certainty if people are to pay attention. If only the Church in America were as certain about the gospel as they were about their preferred political candidate, we would have revival.</p><p><b>Blood, Ink, Pencil</b></p><p>What we need then, is a <i>hierarchy of certainty</i>. Andrew Wilson, a friend and notable theologian, provides a helpful framework for us. He proposes that Biblical truth be given three categories of certainty; Blood, Ink and Pencil. </p><p><i> Blood beliefs</i> are contained in our Creeds. They are foundational to our faith. The Trinity, the Virgin Birth, the Lordship of Christ, the Atonement, the Resurrection, the Inspiration of Scripture, the Great Commandment, The Great Commission. These are examples of Blood beliefs. We must be absolutely certain about these truths. They are what it means to be a Christ follower.</p><p><i>Ink beliefs</i> are secondary truths that are still deeply held convictions. Believers who hold different convictions about these matters would generally not be part of the same church, but would still be part of the Body of Christ. They might include different understandings about what the Bible says regarding sexual ethics, creation, the end times, the gifts of the Spirit, baptismal practices, the role of men and women in church and marriage. If a believer becomes more certain about their end time theology than the Atonement, they have escalated an ink belief into a blood belief, which has the making of a sect.</p><p><i>Pencil beliefs</i> are what the Bible refers to as <i>'disputable matters</i>', in which God gives freedom for believers to exercise their conscience. (Romans 14) They include circumcision, eating meat, drinking alcohol, watching movies, worship style, dress style, voting for a political party or our response to a pandemic. Of course, politics may be much more important to us than dress style, but it is a disputable matter. Again, if we escalate pencil beliefs into blood beliefs, we lose the gospel of grace. Each person may be convinced in their own mind, but we should not try to convince others to think our way. Unholy certainty about a pencil belief ends in the sin of legalism. This is a clear and present danger for us in our political and pandemic moment. </p><p>So, let's continue to journey in holy uncertainty with a loose grip on the things that we cannot control. Let's not lose our grip on the One who holds us, our sorrows and our tomorrows in His nail-scarred hands. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p></p><p><br /></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-64672452890544859642020-09-04T18:09:00.005-07:002020-09-07T17:56:56.647-07:00March Madness and the Weakness of God: A COVID-19 Reflection<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXADWqmVA7a9cKfw-FMjO3VP74GAXUrVBvCIqE_hH9JpjwqO0IUWwkuED6ngm9t0TXtjpS_rTwIc5dozZI5Gf5C7VDLharH8Zf_9lLo6b9aYRqMX556QMA8sY34KcWRkxHdHlY3QtE_YHQ/s749/march+madness.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="749" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXADWqmVA7a9cKfw-FMjO3VP74GAXUrVBvCIqE_hH9JpjwqO0IUWwkuED6ngm9t0TXtjpS_rTwIc5dozZI5Gf5C7VDLharH8Zf_9lLo6b9aYRqMX556QMA8sY34KcWRkxHdHlY3QtE_YHQ/w625-h416/march+madness.jpg" width="625" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;">March Madness, the basketball tournament, was cancelled six months ago. In every other way, <i>March Madness</i> trudges wearily on to this day. While we’ve begun to enjoy again the happy escape that live sports can bring, the madness of the pandemic is ever-present, picking away at the fabric of our substance and our souls. Culture and community as we know it, are at best, thread bare. At worst, they are unravelling at the seams. And it wears upon us all. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I feel weary from life being cancelled by a pandemic. I feel even more weary from people cancelling each other during the pandemic - a strange <i>disease</i> of its own. I have decision fatigue as our Governor changes paramaters for life, education and worship almost weekly. I have <i>Zoom</i> fatigue and <i>homeschool-parent</i><span face=""> fatigue. I have </span><i>homebody</i><span face=""> fatigue. In a normal year I would have done 3 international trips and numerous national trips. This year.</span><i> Everything </i><span face=""><i>cancelled</i>. I’m longing for a trip to break up the monotony.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Of course, there have been some beautiful things in this six months of <i>March Madness.</i> Our family have slowed down and enjoyed time together. We’ve done some satisfying house projects. Our dog thinks she is in dog heaven. She is never left home alone. Our church has been generous and resilient and we’ve experienced some gospel surprises that have come with some risks taken. Our leadership team has been brave and agile. Life rhythms have become more simplified. <i>So, why is it then, that I feel exhausted at the end of every day?</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I think it’s because life is more intense and uncertain than it has ever been. It feels intense because people’s opinions on everything are so strong and polarized. It feels uncertain because things seem to change almost daily, and generally for the worse. Our tendency to catastrophize is very strong as a nation. Conspiracy and end-of-the world theories abound. Leading in this environment requires resilience. You have to listen to many conflicting and convicted points of view, receive criticism without allowing it to destroy you, search the Scriptures, lean into team and prayer, make hard decisions and then hold your line. Basically, it requires strength. I suppose I’m tired from having to be strong when I feel weak. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Which is why I’ve been thinking about the weakness of Jesus a lot these six months of March Madness. The Son of God, the Eternal Creator, who never grew weary or weak, willingly embraced vulnerability to and dependence on His own creation. Jesus was born and raised in weakness. He nursed from a mother He created. He lived under the shadow of her teenage-pregnancy scandal. He and his parents fled as refugees to Egypt from a murderous, tyrant-king. And then there was the humble monotony of learning a language and a trade while waiting for his ministry to be launched. When it eventually arrived, it began with baptism, a dove and forty days of temptation in the wilderness. Very little fanfare. <i>Weakness.</i> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Hebrews 4:15 describes the <i>why</i> of Jesus' weakness. “<i>For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.” </i>Jesus didn’t hold weakness at arms length. He embraced it in every way so that he could <i>sympathize</i> with us.<i> </i>Then<i> </i>Hebrews 5:2 talks about the <i>beautiful</i> <i>power</i> of Jesus’ weakness for us. <i>“He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since He is clothed in weakness.”</i> Because Jesus willingly clothed Himself in weakness, yet resisted sin, he doesn’t only sympathize with us in our weakness. He is able to help us <i>gently</i> in our <i>ignorance</i> and <i>waywardness</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The various high priests in the Old testament were <i>sinfully </i>weak. They could sympathize with people’s weakness, but not really help them overcome it. <i>Jesus was sinlessly weak. </i>Therefore He is able to both sympathize and help us in our weakness. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The word <i>help</i> here in the Greek is unique. It is the verb <i><b>boetheian</b></i>, which means to undergird or hold together. It is only used one other time in the New Testament, in Luke’s account of the Apostle Paul’s shipwreck in Acts 27. “<i>When the sailors thought the ship was going to be torn apart by the storm, they passed supports (<b>gk</b>. <b>boetheias)</b> to undergird the ship.</i>” (v 17) In other words, Jesus’ high priestly help undergirds us and holds us together when we are violently storm-tossed. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Dane Ortlund, in his book Gentle and Lowly, describes the beauty of Jesus’ gentleness like this. “<i>Rather than dispensing grace to us from high, he gets down with us, puts his arm around us, he deals with us in the way that is just what we need. His gentle restraint simply flows from his tender heart for his people.</i>” </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This virtue of Jesus has brought me tangible strength in my weakness. I pray it does for you too. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">So, if March Madness still trudges wearily on for you, Jesus invites you and I to drink deeply from the never-ending fountain of His gentleness in our weakness. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span face=""><br /><br /></span></b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><br /><br /></span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><u><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></o:p></u></b></p>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-43367973502573793422020-09-02T20:26:00.005-07:002020-09-02T20:33:51.019-07:00Beyond Racial Gridlock: A Webinar with Dr. George Yancey <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAYv3f-edE3mtEiOG30PR1J02YIIWLuUMNaru6ew_qMhoVj9fHDCRLr9zmzXtDFoUFDTwHVp9xc90A3a2zaavlakLjvs2Kz5C4Y7l119kDlW__UCkyp_PZQpm9cXGsJXyv-cGhyYOdm6fD/s670/George-Yancey-670x350.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="670" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAYv3f-edE3mtEiOG30PR1J02YIIWLuUMNaru6ew_qMhoVj9fHDCRLr9zmzXtDFoUFDTwHVp9xc90A3a2zaavlakLjvs2Kz5C4Y7l119kDlW__UCkyp_PZQpm9cXGsJXyv-cGhyYOdm6fD/s640/George-Yancey-670x350.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>If you feel anything like I do, there is both a sense of grief at our current moment of racial volatility, and also a sense of hope that the Lord is powerfully at work. I do believe He is calling His Church to engage in hard conversations that would enable us to lead as agents of racial reconciliation and transformation in the world. But perhaps the loudest voices are not always the truest voices in our day? Perhaps God is turning up the volume on lesser known, true voices?</p><p>While on vacation in July, I read a book by Dr. George Yancey called, <b>Beyond Racial Gridlock</b>, which spoke powerfully to this grief and hope.You can read it <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/a-christian-approach-to-moving-beyond-racial-gridlock-an-alternative-to-secular-black-lives-matter-and-all-lives-matter-ideologies/">here</a>. I was so impressed by Yancey's insights that I sought out a meeting with him in Texas where he lives. My wife and I just happened to be in Denton visiting our oldest son for his 21st birthday, and Yancey has lived in Denton since he became professor of Sociology at the University of North Texas in 1999. He has now moved on to teach at Baylor University, but has remained in Denton because of a love for their community and The Village Church where he and his wife are committed members. Despite COVID restrictions, I was delighted that Yancey agreed to grab a coffee and have a chat. Here is how he summarized his approach to racial reconciliation. </p><p><b>About a Gospel Approach to Racial Reconciliation </b></p><p>Much of the church has taken one of two approaches to racial issues we face in America. One is to sit on our hands and wait for things to blow over, dismissing or ignoring legitimate concerns being put forth, at times lacking compassion for our fellow man, or providing counter arguments that miss the heart of the matter. The other approach desires action, but with little Gospel foundation, this group pursues the media and "woke" crowd narrative of condemnation and guilt which also misses the mark.</p><p>Both of these approaches are secular in nature. Both of these approaches are divisive and will lead to further division in our country and the church because both of these approaches lack grace and fail to take into account man's sinful nature. Neither approach will ultimately bring about the needed change of reconciliation in our country or our churches.</p><p>Yancey challenges the church to a third way to approach these issues at hand that is rooted in the gospel. Christ is the ultimate reconciler. The church is His reconciling agent. Dr. Yancey calls the church to embrace its Christ given role in this matter showing the way forward through the tensions of our day that only the gospel can provide.</p><p> -------------------------------------------------------</p><p> After hearing him unpack his theory of <i>mutual responsibility</i> as it had worked out in his multiracial marriage, as well as his church, I asked Dr. Yancey to teach a seminar for our church and the churches we work with. He graciously agreed, and I am persuaded that this webinar will be a game changer for our churches and communities at this time. </p><p>So, I am pleased to invite you to join us to hear from George Yancey (PhD, University of Texas) teaching on a Gospel Approach to Racial Reconciliation on Tuesday, September 22nd from 4:15 - 6:30 pm PDT via Zoom. I hope you will join us. You can sign up for the webinar <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FE2jzR4vQUSoDInBndb05A">here</a>.</p><p><b>About George Yancey</b></p><p>After graduating West Texas State University with a B. S. in Economics, Dr. Yancey attended the University of Texas at Austin and received his doctorate in Sociology in 1995. He first began to study interracial romance but then was fortunate enough to work with Michael Emerson on a half-million dollar grant to study multiracial churches. A few years ago Professor Yancey began to study academic bias and now has also conducted research on anti-Christian attitudes in the United States. That resulted in some of his latest writings. In 1999 he began teaching at the University of North Texas. Then in 2019 he started working for Baylor University with a joint appointment in Sociology and Institute of Religious Studies, focusing on race relations and anti-Christian attitudes in the United States. Concerning racial issues, Dr. Yancey has developed a Christian model for race relations that can take us beyond colorblindness and anti-racism.</p><div><br /></div>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1937029335588381712.post-37101364136341503422020-08-12T09:35:00.008-07:002020-08-12T11:43:45.337-07:00Ezra Fast : Seeking God for Families and Revival<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaf0oS8m1sMG71LXbpVSV7p4kYF5YXTRszQKC_rFYQx1NzAKBF56N6bo79WW48R2rxbO3iT07EastuLIFzv4xnGB4q4MOT_Ld2ocwzaSTEoAB8lM6a7OSSLywhWFQP674iTW4GYukeYXvo/s2048/in+session.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaf0oS8m1sMG71LXbpVSV7p4kYF5YXTRszQKC_rFYQx1NzAKBF56N6bo79WW48R2rxbO3iT07EastuLIFzv4xnGB4q4MOT_Ld2ocwzaSTEoAB8lM6a7OSSLywhWFQP674iTW4GYukeYXvo/w600-h800/in+session.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /></p> As I made my morning cappuccino yesterday, my daughter popped her head out of her bedroom to ask me to be more quiet in the kitchen because she was <i>'in session'</i> on a school Zoom call and couldn't hear for all the noise.<i> Please do not disturb!</i> <div><i><br /></i></div><div>The irony. This is exactly what I've been asking from my kids these last 5 months! But this is their strange, new normal and they are understandably on edge as they navigate the start of an on-line school semester. Truth be told, we're all a bit on edge. Rynelle and I never put up our hands to be home-school parents and our kids feel sad about missing normal rhythms, friends and sports seasons. In Texas, Asher has begun his senior college year on-line while doing 10 hour-a-day football practices with the real likelihood that his football season will be cancelled. <i>It's all quite unsettling, isn't it?</i><p></p><p> Those of us who don't have children of our own can still feel the wear and tear of this season on our marriages, or with our house-mates and closest relationships. Our families and households desperately need the grace and peace of God in the midst of anxiety, uncertainty and frustration. </p><p>There is much that is not clear to me about this current season. But of this I am absolutely certain. God is teaching us to pray with greater urgency and dependence. He is teaching us what it means to reach the end of our own resources, to declare utter dependance upon Him and to find a new atmosphere of grace amidst our current circumstances.<b> </b>That is why we are fasting and praying as a Church today and gathering both in-person and on-line tonight at 6:30pm. Sign up <a href="https://southlandschurch.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/47/responses/new">here</a> to join in person.</p><p>Ezra was a priest in the Bible who called a day of fasting and prayer for families, and we are going to take our cue from his prayer. It was Ezra and Nehemiah who led the Jewish people back from exile in Babylon to rebuild the walls and temple of Jerusalem. Before they left on their journey, Ezra called for a fast.</p><p> <i>"Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children and all our goods</i>.<i> For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king,</i> '<i>The hand of our God is for good on all who seek Him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake Him.' <b>So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.</b>" (Ezra 8:21-23)</i></p><p><i>As we seek the Lord in prayer and fasting today let's pray in these ways:</i></p><p><i>1. </i><b>For Humble Dependence upon God for our good, rather than depending on ourselves or others </b><i> "I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of horsemen to protect us, for the hand of the Lord is for good on all who seek him." </i>King Cyrus had actually been very generous to the returning exiles, but Ezra recognized the limits of human authority in the protection of God's people.<i> </i>Of course, we should pray for good leadership in government at this time. But let's not put too much stock in them. Our good does not <i>ultimately</i> come from any person's hand. Our good ultimately comes from the hand of the Lord who is over all, and who responds to the entreaty of His people.</p><p><i>2.</i> <b>For Protection and Peace on our marriages, our children, our families and our properties as we navigate this season. "</b><i>That we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for ourselves, our children and all our goods." </i>Let's pray that God's peace would flow into our anxiety and conflict, that He would protect our marriages, our parent/child relationships and our closest household friendships giving us a <i>safe journey.</i> Let's pray that our families would be beacons of health and mission where the lonely could find safety and community. </p><p>3.<b> For Revival rather than mere Survival. </b>I know that this can sound trite,<b> </b>but it's here in the prayer of Ezra. After praying for protection for families, he prays, "<i>That our <b>God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery.</b> For we are slaves, but God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to <b>grant us some reviving</b> to set up the house of God"(Ezra 9:8-9)</i></p><p> Revival has historically begun at the lowest ebb of church and culture. That's why I love the description of revival as a <i>brightening of our eyes, as in,</i> a change in the way we see our circumstances.<i> </i>Prayer doesn't always change our circumstances immediately. But it changes the atmosphere of those circumstances. It injects the resurrection hope of Jesus into the most hopeless of circumstances, so that we are not crushed by our confinement. I believe God wants to brighten our eyes today by His Spirit. I believe Jesus wants to change the atmosphere of our circumstances. He wants to give us fresh vision to see that He is at work in <i>quiet miracles</i>. Revival may not look like a stadium jam-packed with thousands of worshippers in our day. It may look like a son coming to his father and asking him to pray that Jesus would break his addiction to drugs. It may look like a sceptic coming to faith because his neighbor invited him to watch his church's sermons on-line. It may look like a home school mom doing daily devotions for the kids on her street. <i>(I've seen all these things happen recently</i>) </p><p>In our seeking for peace and protection for ourselves and our families, let's not go passive or inward looking. Let's keep asking that God would <i>brighten our eyes and grant us</i> <i>a little reviving </i>so that we would be able to see his gospel spreading steadily and surely<i>.</i></p><p><i><b>See you and your children tonight in-person on the Southlands Brea patio or online on Facebook Live.</b></i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p></div>Alan Frowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13397225158817567917noreply@blogger.com0