Provocative Church

Divine Communion

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:19:45 PST

“When we invite friends for a meal, we do much more than offer them food for their bodies. We offer friendship, fellowship, good conversation, intimacy, and closeness. When we say: “Help yourself … take some more … don’t be shy … have another glass,” we offer our guests not only our food and our drink but also ourselves. A spiritual bond grows, and we become food and drink for one another other.

In the most complete and perfect way, this happens when Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist as food and drink. By offering us his Body and Blood, Jesus offers us the most intimate communion possible. It is a divine communion.”

-Henri Nouwen

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Information Overload

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:13:00 PST

Too much stuff, so little time. Here again is a lot of good material throughout the week that I've come across. I feel the need to share some of the good stuff with you since I don't have time to comment on it throughout the blog.

This stuff shows up in my Google RSS Reader throughout the week and I use the widget from my "shared items" in my Google Reader to post the most interesting information that I've gathered from the web. Enjoy some fun, entertaining and provocative reading. (my shared items have their own individual rss feed that you can subscribe to directly)

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Halloween Prank Fail

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:22:45 PDT

Be careful out there tomorrow..you don't want those Halloween pranks to backfire!

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During Halloween Leave your Lights On

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:09:00 PDT

I have made it a tradition to republish this post about Halloween from Tim Challies

I think that it is important to re-read this post as a reminder to us all as tonight as our communities celebrate Halloween.

I am guessing my neighborhood is all-too-typical in that people typically arrive home from work and immediately drive their cars into the garage. More often than not they do not emerge again until the next morning when they leave for work once more. We are private, reclusive people who delight in our privacy. We rarely see our neighbors and rarely communicate with them. . . . In the six years we have been living in this area, we have never once had a neighbor come to the door to ask for anything. . . .

Yet on Halloween these barriers all come down. I have the opportunity to greet every person in the neighbourhood. I have the opportunity to introduce myself to the family who moved in just down the row a few weeks ago and to greet some other people I have not seen for weeks or months. At the same time, those people's children will come knocking on my door. We have two possible responses. We can turn the lights out and sit inside, seeking to shelter ourselves from the pagan influence of the little Harry Potters, Batmans and ballerinas, or we can greet them, gush over them, and make them feel welcome. We can prove ourselves to be the family who genuinely cares about our neighbours, or we can be the family who shows that we want to interact with them only on our terms. Most of our neighbors know of our faith and of our supposed concern for them. This is a chance to prove our love for them.

The same contributor to the email list concluded his defense of participating in Halloween with these words: "One night does not a neighbor make (and one night does not a pagan make), but Halloween is the one night of the year where the good neighborliness that flows from being in Christ is communicated and reinforced. We are citizens of another Kingdom where The Light is always on."

The truth is that I have several convictions regarding Halloween. I despise the pagan aspects of it. I am convicted that my children should not dress as little devils or ghosts or monsters. But I am also convicted that there could be no worse witness to the neighbours than having a dark house, especially in a neighbourhood like ours which is small and where every person and every home is highly-visible. We know that, if we choose not to participate, the neighbors will notice and will smile knowingly, supposing that we feel too good to participate.

. . . Our door will be open and the light will be on. And we trust that the Light will shine brightly.

My encouragement to you today is to think and pray about this issue. I do not see Halloween as a great evangelistic occasion. I do not foresee it as a time when the people coming to your door are likely to be saved. But I do think it is a time that you can prove to your neighbors that you care about them, that you care about their children, and that you are glad to be in this world and this culture, even if you are not of this world or this culture. Halloween may serve as a bridge to the hearts of those who live around you who so desperately need a Savior.

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Reaching out to the 4/14 Window

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:18:45 PDT

“There is a recognition that we are losing the children of the world spiritually. ... So this becomes a very critical moment to aim lower at the 4 to 14 [age] as the beginning place and come back to there with significant concentration. ... God is calling us to radically change the way we view children and to respond to their strategic importance and rightful place in His Kingdom.”

—Mission strategist and Transform World Connections’ international facilitator Luis Bush, on the “4/14 window”

Luis Bush believes the church must now target the 4/14 window if it hopes to fulfill the Great Commission. Bush, who coined the “10/40 window” term more than 20 years ago, believes the key to advancing God’s kingdom today lies in capturing the hearts of those within the generation of children ages 4 to 14—widely known as the most formidable years. Though the native Argentine doesn’t believe Christians should abandon focusing on the geographical regions between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator (his ideal vision is to reach the demographic 4/14 window within the geographic 10/40 window), Bush says it is essential for the church to fully capture these future “agents of transformation” before they become part of the majority of 15- to 24-year-olds abandoning their childhood faith.

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Burning Books for Halloween

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:05:00 PDT

When I read stories like this, I shake my head and cry out, "Lord please come quickly!"

A Baptist Church near Asheville, N.C., is hosting a “Halloween book burning” to purge the area of “Satan’s” works, which include all non-King James versions of the Bible, popular books by many religious authors and even country music.

The website for the Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, N.C., says there are “scriptural bases” for the book burning. The site quotes Acts 19:18-20: “And many that believed, came and confessed and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts, brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.”

Read the Full Article HERE

(ht: Bag of Nothing)

Here's a "sign" that your dead, you're on a billboard.

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:31:01 PDT

Des Moines residents are learning about people’s deaths in a new way: electronic billboards.
The obituary, long a staple of newspapers, has taken an evolutionary twist, thanks to Iles Funeral Homes of Des Moines and the local division of Clear Channel Outdoor.

“This is not anything I’ve ever heard of,” said Jessica Koth, spokeswoman for the National Funeral Directors Association in Brookfield, Wis.

Obituaries have broken out of print in recent years with the advance of technology, notably the Internet.

Funeral homes publish obituaries on their Web sites, and Koth said she’s heard of funeral homes that post obituaries on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. But she said advertising on billboards is new territory.

You can read the Full Article here

Although my death will probably be tweeted, I would like my obit to go beyond merely 140 characters.

(ht: Bag of Nothing)

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Keller Sermons are "killer"!

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:31:38 PDT

- that is slang for "awesome"! Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Church in NYC is one of the most relevant, biblical and compelling preachers in the country.

Now his sermons are online for free.

Redeemer’s Sermon Ministry has been faithfully recording, cataloging and reproducing all of our sermons for the past 20 years. To celebrate all 20 years of our history, and to meet the growing demand for our church’s teaching in New York City and around the world, we have created this resource of 150 sermons and lectures covering a broad array of topics, completely free to download and share.

The recordings chosen for the Free Sermon Resource were culled from classic sermon series as well as lectures and seminar addresses delivered to various Redeemer ministry gatherings, and are intended to present to the listener the full scope of teachings they would receive over several years of active involvement at Redeemer.

(ht: Resurgence)

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Twitter May Be our Judgment

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:29:36 PDT

"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time." - John Piper

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Church Sign Fail

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:06:20 PDT

(ht: Failblog)

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Church History in 4 minutes.

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:08:41 PDT

Now who said history had to be boring!

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The Necessity of Being Part of the Church

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:24:56 PDT

“By becoming a Christian, I belong to God and I belong to my brothers and sisters. It is not that I belong to God and then make a decision to join a local church. My being in Christ means being in Christ with those others who are in Christ. This is my identity. This is our identity. . . . If the church is the body of Christ, then we should not live as disembodied Christians.”

- Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church

(ht: Of First Importance)

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It isn't what you have...it is what you waste!

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:14:46 PDT

"There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use." – Mother Theresa

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A Testament to the Heroism and Sacrifice of the Greatest Generation

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:47:05 PDT

Following in the footsteps of Band of Brothers (one of the best mini-series made for television that makes all men cry!) is a new series called The Pacific, showcasing the lives, sacrifice and heroism of the Greatest Generation. I cried just watching the trailer.

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Prayer for the times

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:51:00 PDT

O Lord, grant me the skill to sing your praise, for the bustle of this world is perilous.

- Anonymous, Early Welsh

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Passing from Grief to Joy

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:49:08 PDT

"Observe the sorrow of our discipline, understand that we do not pass from joy to joy nor from security to security, but from grief to joy and from trial to security."

- Columbanus, Sermon IV, Irish, 7th century

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Overcoming Suffering

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:32:45 PDT

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” – Helen Keller

(Hands of a man suffering from leprosy at the Ben San Leprosy Treatment Center in Ben San, Vietnam. The center was founded by a French and a Vietnamese Catholic sisters in 1959, and taken over by Communist government in 1975.)

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Remembering

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:36:58 PDT

Eight years have passed, but we must not let our memories grow faded. Today we remember and honor those who lost their lives and to those they left behind.

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I don't want to go to church anymore!

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:29:22 PDT

"Church as I know it usually leaves deep parts of me dormant, unawakened and untouched. Maybe it's familiarly, the predictability of pattern and content that I find boring, superficially exciting at best, where emotions sometimes get stirred that get unstirred by the time I reach my car. ... I think [this] is rather a widespread thing among people in my generation. ... [But] I hope people get away from the idea that God is a genie that you rub a lamp and call it a prayer and you get everything you want. That is not how it works at all. I just hope people would see this is an incredible privilege that there is a vision for the church that is so high and lofty that it is only possible only through people who are fully dedicated to Christ. Hopefully we will get people moving in that direction."

-Larry Crabb, who after 65 years of attending church, admits in his latest book, Real Church, that he doesn't want to go anymore—at least not if things remain status quo. While spending months querying people about their thoughts on today's church, Crabb says his "disappointment, frustration and concern with church" seems to be a consensus. Rather than just presenting a list of problems, he hopes his latest book offers a vision of the kind of church God desires.

Like Larry Crabb, I certainly don't want to be satisfied with the status quo - the church needs to be always reforming and renewing. But where I can't and won't go is throwing out the "baby with the bathwater". This is Christ's church filled with God's people - and no matter how messed up and imperfect it may be - we are called to be among His people.

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The Campfire Tales of our Faith

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:55:11 PDT

When you think of church history, what thoughts or images come to mind? Boring? The Crusades. A lot of names and dates you know you'll never remember? Schisms?

Too often we view church history, according to author Diana Butler Bass, as "Big-C" Christianity - Christ, Constantine, Christendom, Calvin and Christian America.

This narrow, "Big-C" view ends up portraying our historic faith as merely militant or meaningless to our modern setting.

Diana Butler Bass, in her new book, A People's History of Christianity, brings the history of the church alive by illustrating and illuminating it's living tradition, and the community of people who practiced love and mercy throughout the centuries.

Throughout the book, Bass shares our history of faith as being less of a magisterial narrative and more like a collection of campfire tales, that is, discrete stories that embody Christian character, virtue, suffering and a commitment to justice and mercy. In A People's History of Christianity, it divides church history into it's major sweeping epochs and then within each of them Bass artfully illustrates the devotional and ethical challenges and transformation by the people of God.

I highly recommend Bass' book for both the student of church history as well as any person who desires to read the "other side of the story". I found this book not only a breath of fresh air but also encouraged as I witnessed throughout the pages, God's faithful providential hand to protect and preserve His church, all the while, doing so through faulty yet faithful people.

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Henri Nouwen - A Wounded Prophet

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:17:27 PDT

If you have never read Henri Nouwen's writings - I would encourage you to head to a Barnes and Noble or Amazon and familiarize yourself with them.

Nouwen's honesty and brokenness as he lived as God's beloved - has been food for my soul for years.

These small video excerpts are from a wonderful film called Journey of the Heart from Windborne productions. I encourage you to purchase the entire video HERE

Please support the Henri Nouwen Society and the artists who made this film by purchasing the video HERE

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Tech Support for Dummies

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:40:55 PDT

(click image above to enlarge)

I am not a technical/IT guru...although many people think I am, because I know how to do more than them. But computer/IT stuff isn't my full time job and therefore my skills are pretty basic. In fact, if you ask me to help with your computer - I am mainly following this IT Cheat Sheet above.

About 90% of computer problems can be solved by following the flowchart...the other 10% can be solved by rebooting your computer.

You don't need to be a whiz-kid to be seen as the computer "go-to-guy"...you just need to look like you know what your are doing - and others will see you as an expert. :-)

(ht: xkcd)

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The Folly of Prayer

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:29:23 PDT

Doesn't prayer often feel like that, folly? Let's be honest, if it didn't then why is prayer so difficult? We wonder, are our prayers heard? Do they really make a difference? Matt Woodley, author of Holy Fools, has just written one of the best books I've read on prayer - The Folly of Prayer.

Woodley takes, what can often be seen as the one-dimensional spiritual discipline of prayer - and showcases all of it's glorious facets. He shows all the different kinds of things that prayer looks like, from groans and wanderings to bread and wine to mystery and the most dangerous activity you can pursue.

Woodley demonstrates how these paths to prayer will open our hearts to God and to other people. What will be surprising to most readers is that the 11 paths that Woodley outlines, are deeply biblical. As you follow these paths to prayer - it will give you freedom and refreshment in how you pursue God and commune with Him.

Woodley has hit another home run with this book- as he did with Holy Fools. Get this book, read it, and let it guide you to a place that will turn this "seemingly foolish" practice of prayer into something very precious.

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Prodigal God - now on DVD

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:55:36 PDT

I was just talking today about Keller's book, The Prodigal God - and recommending how great it is.

Now Tim Keller’s book The Prodigal God has now been produced in six DVD video sessions, which covers the following material:

The Parable
The People Around Jesus
The Two Lost Sons
The Elder Brother
The True Elder Brother
The Feast of the Father

You can get the DVD and the Discussion guide at a discount through WTS Books. You can also view some sample pages of the discussion guide here.

(ht: JHG)

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Where Wrath and Love Come Together

breichart@bigcreekchurch.com (Bill Reichart) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:37:00 PDT

“On the cross the wrath and love of God are both vindicated, they are both demonstrated, they are both expressed completely, and they both shine out and are utterly fulfilled.”

- Timothy Keller, Gospel Christianity 1

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