Human Condition

A Brief Statement on the Providence of GOD

2017-04-18T07:03:00.001-07:00

The deepest answer that resurrection declares, and the only answer for the Christian believer, is a solid, underlying belief in the providence of the GOD who is there and who is not silent. If we can somehow relinquish our dreams and struggles into GOD's hands -- the GOD who resurrects -- trusting that whatever happens in this life can be taken into the power of providential creativity and turned into the accomplishing of divine design — becoming part of His story — then we will be able to see through our dreams to a deeper angle and to their innermost aim. Then we will be able to see an opening of hope within the darkness of disillusionment.

In his little book, "Into Your Hands, Father " Wilifrid Stinissen reminds us that if we are troubled by what is occurring in our life “we do not see things that happen in the right context, namely, as material in GOD's hands.” Material in GOD's hands? Well…yes…think of Jesus, for example, his suffering, death and resurrection. His life was material in GOD’s hands. And yes, the events of our life — both good and bad – must be daily offered in allegiance to the living, risen Christ so we can seen them transformed by GOD’s providential power into the stuff of GOD’s plan and GOD’s will — material in GOD’s hands.

What must also be discovered is that this daily offering, in truth, is the primary practice of discipleship. This daily offering is actually what it means to live as a follower of the Christ, even as we struggle and suffer. Remember, at the moment of our faith in the Christ our life ceased to be our own. That is to say, we folded our story into GOD’s story. At that moment the direction of our life became his direction; the purpose of our life became his purpose. That is why at the outset we are told to count the cost (Luke 14:28) because discipleship means we acknowledge through all we have and all we are that we were bought with a price, and therefore, daily, we willingly decide to glorify GOD in our lives and not ourselves. (1 Corinthians 6:20)

Unity In the Body of Christ, A Conversation In Two Parts

2016-08-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

The Church must formulate some sort of Christian response to the nations current catastrophic course of division and violence, a response beyond politics and prose, a response of action. In this two part conversation Pastor Mark challenges Unity Church to see Christian unity as the most meaningful long-term action.

Unity In The Body Of Christ: What It Means

Unity In The Body Of Christ: Why It Matters

Finishing Well -- A Video Devotion from Acts 20:17-27

2016-05-19T07:50:00.002-07:00

St. Paul's interaction with the leaders of the Ephesian church is seen as an opportunity, in this latest video devotion from Pastor Mark, for present day disciples to focus on finishing well.

Hope In GOD - Psalm 43

2016-05-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

Devotion From John 16:20-23

2016-05-05T13:08:00.002-07:00

Abiding In Christ

2016-04-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

Finding the Jesus-Way

2016-04-20T08:51:00.000-07:00

A Video Concerning

Finding the Jesus Way,

by Pastor Mark Powell

Prayer and Spiritual Awakening

2016-04-14T11:04:00.002-07:00

A Short Video Concerning

A Call To Prayer & Spiritual Awakening

New Luke Study

2016-02-19T07:46:00.001-08:00

The First 5 Messages of the latest sermon series from Unity:

Those of the Kingdom

2015-10-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

A "Finding the Jesus-Way Devotion”. This time from Matthew 18:15, concerning those who comprise the Kingdom of GOD.

Suffering and the Christian Faith

2015-08-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

The Human Condition and the Problem of Pain

A View of Suffering From The Hebrew Bible

A View of Suffering From The New Testament

A View of Suffering From Jesus Christ

Pew Survey: Christians In Decline

2015-05-12T06:47:00.000-07:00

Go Here for the Survey Article

The latest Pew Survey on religion only confirms what most church people -- both leaders and laity -- know intuitively, the church as we know it is dying. But, of more concern is the reality that the faith is also quickly receding from the minds and hearts of the culture. Young people -- in many cases our own young people -- have weighed us in the balances and found us wanting.

The evangelical church's response, over time, has been to change the method -- the mode of delivery, while fighting to keep the message intact. What is now becoming increasingly clear is that the message is the problem and not just the packaging.

One additional evangelical response has been to approach this cultural displacement and replacement by waving the flag and turning it into a culture war, and then to fight this cultural war through the ballot box.

And what has been the return on this investment, this offering of our energy, time, talent and treasure?

a hardening of the battle lines between us and them
an unwillingness to think of this problem from the perspective of the gospel
an inability to accept the "sinner" before us because we have conveniently forgotten the reality of our own sinfulness

Perhaps as the post-Christian culture takes more and more territory, we will finally be forced to turn to the message of the gospel, willingly proclaim the reality of Jesus as King, and willing suffer for this ultimate reality as we suffer the consequences. Really, the goal is not to save the American culture, or Western Civilization. The goal is to make a righteous and loving stand for the living, risen Christ whom presumably we have met and who is rendering us into a new way of being human, in a new way to be community.

Surely, this is what the middle-east martyrs are teaching us.

Remember what Chesterton said:

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried”

Inhale Comfort, Exhale Hope

2015-04-01T13:10:00.001-07:00

Available from…

Fulfilling Our Kingdom Vocation -- Mark 6:7-13

2015-02-05T09:11:00.001-08:00

Following the Jesus-Way

"Fulfilling Our Kingdom Vocation"

A video devotion from Mark 6:7-13

Following Jesus Into the Broken World - Mark 4:21-25

2015-01-29T07:59:00.000-08:00

Following the Jesus-Way

"Following Jesus Into the Broken World"

A video devotion from Mark 4:21-25

Don't Miss the LORD's Calling -- Mark 2:1-12

2015-01-16T09:45:00.000-08:00

Following the Jesus-Way

"Don't Miss the LORD's Calling"

A video devotion from Mark 2:1-12

Healing & the Pain of the World. A video devotion from Luke 5:12-16.

2015-01-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

Following the Jesus-Way

"Healing & the Pain of the World"

A video devotion from Luke 5:12-16

Dependents of Grace

2014-10-06T06:24:00.000-07:00

Following the Jesus-Way

"Dependents of Grace"

A video teaching from Matthew 18

Faith In The Face Of Struggle

2014-09-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

Following the Jesus-Way

"Faith In The Face Of Struggle"

A video teaching from Ecclesiastes

We Are Known

2014-09-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

Following the Jesus-Way

"We Are Known"

A video teaching from

Psalm 139

Cardinal George and His Famous Quote

2014-09-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.archchicago.org/cardinal/

In 2010, Cardinal George, of the Archdiocese of Chicago, famously responded to a question after a talk by saying:

“I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.”

In 2012, Cardinal George, writing a column in Catholic New World clarified the statement (go here):

"Speaking a few years ago to a group of priests, entirely outside of the current political debate, I was trying to express in overly dramatic fashion what the complete secularization of our society could bring. I was responding to a question and I never wrote down what I said, but the words were captured on somebody’s smart phone and have now gone viral on Wikipedia and elsewhere in the electronic communications world. I am (correctly) quoted as saying that I expected to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. What is omitted from the reports is a final phrase I added about the bishop who follows a possibly martyred bishop: “His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.” What I said is not “prophetic” but a way to force people to think outside of the usual categories that limit and sometimes poison both private and public discourse."

First, let us admit that Cardinal George's characterization of the American cultural shift does not live beyond the realm of possibility. While, it may be difficult to conceive of an America so enamored with the secular that it executes those on a different path, only a fool would doubt that our human depravity could accomplish this.

Still, I think it might be helpful to dig a little deeper into the Cardinal's statement. Secularism (as in secular humanism) and secularization (as in the sociological process) are not the same thing and do not offer the same challenge to the "faith once delivered to the saints." And, I would assert that neither of these two ideas are actually what confronts the church through America's cultural shift.

Secularism is best understood under the analysis of the history of ideas. Here, the derivation of thought from one thinker -- mostly philosophers -- to another is traced and interpreted. In this way we could say that since perhaps the Age of Reason the objective of autonomous man (mankind sans God) has been given voice.

Secularization is quite different, and is best understood under the analytic tool of the sociology of knowledge. Here, the social location of knowledge is studied and the plausibility structures of belief are mapped.

Through secularism the "faithful" feel the attack on the rationality of their ideas -- a la Dawkins, Hitchens et al. In secularization the faithful feel the attack on their institutional practices where the power of religion loses it social significance. It is important to note here that most sociologists of religion no longer believe that secularization is occurring.

Having said this, there stands before us a much steeper concern, one felt most deeply by the church and that is pluralization. Here the sociology of cultural choices is brought to light. What was once the given -- for example the institutions of Christendom as a cultural given -- are now placed on a level playing field and offered as only one lifestyle, one worldview among all the others.

Of course, this may sound very theoretical, and it is, but it is also very concrete. Drive down any American street on any given Sunday. Organized soccer games are being played, the new temples — our shopping malls — are being filled, fall tailgate parties facilitate the worship of sports and the church's next door neighbor is cutting his grass while inside the liturgy is being spoken. So they are into soccer, mall-shopping, football and lawn work, and we are into God. It's all good and it's all the same.

Enter Jesus, who with his passion -- his death/resurrection/ascension the New Testament would have us believe to be the King of the world, even the American world. Try saying that out loud in the pluralism of the marketplace of ideas and see how far you get. Truly, if Christian believers ever began saying that, Cardinal George's prediction might actually become reality.

We Are A Long Way Down The Road

2014-09-04T07:38:00.000-07:00

The Hebrew Prophets of old, those poets who dredged deeply into the reservoir of God's word and who were inspired to envisioned a future that went beyond the hell of exile and the subsisting as the refuse of empire, offered a future hope that stood beyond their current reality. It may a be good reminder for us -- we who live in this world at war with itself -- to re-visit those prophetic utterances.

Surrounded as we are by decadence, and with the decay inevitably spreading into our own hearts, we must re-discover the hopeful, the faithful and the way of poverty of heart that leads to charity of life. The Laodicean church offers us wise counsel:

15 ‘I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. (Revelation 3:15-17)

Said differently, to somehow imagine that we, the church, have remained unscathed from a rampant cultural captivity belies a willful acceptance of our deformed discipleship -- calling bad good and good bad.

Or, said still differently, we are on the broad way that leads to destruction. We are part of the problem. We have seen the enemy and he is us! The body of Christ lies fractured and divided on the field. We refuse to see the calling of Christ to love the poor. We are satisfied with our future, so who cares about the rest?

Admittedly, there are exceptions, and this is meant somewhat as hyperbolic prose, but only somewhat...

As an antidote, read the first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah. You will not walk away unscathed. You will have no excuse for business as usual, except to say that you (I) have a vested interest in things remaining just the way the are.

If The Woe Fits

2014-09-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

Following the Jesus-Way

"If the Woe Fits"

A video teaching from

Matthew 23:27-28

The 5 O'Clock Men

2014-08-22T05:34:00.000-07:00

Following the Jesus-Way

"The 5 O'Clock Men"

A video teaching from Matthew 20:1-16

A Conversation with Peter L. Berger "How My Views Have Changed" Gregor Thuswaldner

2014-08-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

from Boston University

For an outstanding interview with Peter L. Berger check out this 2014 webpage from Valparaiso University:

How My Views Have Changed