One is for Hijacked: Responding to the Partisan Church Divide, by Mike Slaughter and Chuck Gutenson. It addresses the issue of churches becoming overly characterized by political affiliations rather than their commitment to the gospel. Mike Slaughter is pastor of Ginghamsburg UMC, a large church in Ohio. Chuck Gutenson has a PhD in philosophical theology (also a prof of mine and good guy!).

The latest is for God is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China, by Liao Yiwu (translated by Wenguang Huang). It is an amazing collection of interviews with Christians in China. Through their own stories, the author introduces us to incredible testimonies of faith and shares his own exploration of Christianity.

This one is on The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited, by Scot McKnight. McKnight is a New Testament studies professor at North Park University in Chicago.

Check out my summary here.

I read Leviticus recently (with a bible-in-a-year reading plan). If you read Leviticus, one of the first features that strikes you is how picky God seems about the sacrifices the Israelites are to bring before him. Whether a grain offering or an animal offering, God is exclusively interested in the best. Consider: “If the offering is a communal sacrifice of well-being, the one who offers the herd animal–whether it is male or female–must present a flawless specimen before the Lord” (Lev. 3:1 CEB). And, “When anyone presents a grain offering to the Lord, the offering must be of choice flour” (Lev. 2:1 CEB).

That specificity is repeated throughout the instructions on sacrifices in Leviticus 1-7 (and even made more explicit in some verses). No wiggle room on this subject.

What’s going on here?

The best flour and animals without any blemish would have been the most valuable to the people. I don’t think this is about God being “worth our very best.” After all, he’s actually worth far more than we can give. But to give the most valuable animals from the herd and grain from the harvest would have been to exercise practical trust in God’s provision. It would have made such a financial impact, it would clearly and unambiguously demonstrate practical faith in God. Giving the flawless animal was actually a way of giving oneself to God, showing who one treasures and trusts.

The connection to our own giving is clear. Does what we give indicate practical trust in God’s provision?

God is picky. He is picky about having our heart to himself. And as Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:21 CEB)

I’ll be contributing book summaries/previews roughly monthly. The first one is up today on an excellent book I recommend, Timothy Keller’s Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just.

Check it out my preview of Generous Justice here and while you’re at it, browse around and check the site out too.

So if there is “Something Behind” the universe, we can’t discover it through science, therefore it would have to make itself known to us some other way.

Lewis claims that since we have “inside information” about one part of our universe that we don’t have about anything else, namely ourselves, human beings. “We do not merely observe [humans], we are [humans]” (emphasis his). This is the key. To put it a little differently, there is one case in which we have more than just the observable external/behavioral facts. Our case.

To quote Lewis:

Since that power, if it exists, would be not one of the observed facts but a reality which makes them, no mere observation of the facts can find it. There is only one case in which we can know whether there is anything more, namely our own case. And in that one case we find there is. Or put it the other way round. If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe—no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house. The only way in which we could expect it to show itself would be inside ourselves as an influence or command trying to get us to behave in a certain way. And that is just what we do find inside ourselves. Surely this ought to arouse our suspicions?

Having presented this argument, Lewis reminds the reader:

Do not think I am going faster than I really am. I am not yet with a hundred miles of the God of Christian theology. All I have got to is a Something which is directing the universe, and which appears in me as a law urging me to do right and making me feel responsible and uncomfortable when I do wrong.

Lewis is now exploring what the existence of the Moral Law (“a real law, which none of us made, but which we find pressing on us”) tells us about what lies behind the Law itself.

First, we are directed to notice that there have always been two basic views of the universe: the materialist view and the religious view. (For an excellent comparison of these two views and their significance, see The Question of God: CS Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life, by Dr. Armand Nicholi. The book is based on a graduate course he taught for 25 years at Harvard. It’s a moderately challenging and a very rewarding read.)

The materialist view says that nothing exists beyond the universe, that the universe (or some material antecedent) has always existed, and that while we know an amazing amount of information about when and how, we do not know why. In fact, we hope to know why, but “why” only in the sense of what caused what to occur, which led to the part that we know at present. But as for the “meaning and significance” sense of the term “why,” the materialist view has nothing to offer. Why the universe gave rise to persons with intelligence is another mystery.

The religious view (we might say, “spiritual view” today) contends that something does lie behind the universe after all, and that something is more like a mind with intelligence than anything else we know.

Here’s another fact. If there is an intelligence behind the universe, then science would not be able to verify or falsify either view because science works with the universe itself and therefore lacks the tools to examine anything that lies behind the universe. This is not an anti-science statement (though, yes, some Christians have unfortunately dubious views and relationships with science). Science has yielded an absolutely staggering amount of knowledge about the universe. But science has limits. It is limited to the universe itself.

So… “If there is ‘Something Behind,’ then either it will have to remain altogether unknown to [us] or else make itself known in some different way.”

Jesus has been busy getting his ministry off the ground and he’s got an excellent start. He is healing, teaching, preaching, and even squeezing in a meal that he can write off as counting for work! He’s called a few disciples thus far and he has a knack for attracting a crowd.

In Mark 3:13-19, Jesus is ready to take yet another step. From among those who are following him, seemingly showing interest and some commitment as disciples (that is, learners/students or apprentices), he appoints twelve as “apostles.”

Twelve. The symbolic connection is clear–twelve tribes of Israel, twelve apostles.

Apostles. “Sent ones.” That is to say, persons commissioned and sent by someone greater to represent them and/or do work on their behalf.

Jesus is ready to expand the ministry through some key leaders who will have a peculiar role as persons appointed to represent him and share in his ministry of preaching (declaring the word and gospel of God) and casting out demons (we could say, just as accurately, “standing against the forces of evil, injustice, and oppression”).

But what is the very first thing on the list?

“…to be with him”

Well, that makes a lot of sense. After all, how can they (we) preach or testify to Jesus without serious proximity to him? How can they (we) stand courageously against the demonic forces of evil and injustice without a serious connection to Jesus’ power? Look at what they’re (we’re) being appointed to do! Of course, they’ll (we’ll) need to spend time with him.

Here’s a tension. We can’t do what Jesus appoints and sends us to do without being with him. But at the same time, being with Jesus is not simply an instrumental means to a pragmatic end.

Being with Jesus is it’s own reward. With is a relationship word. And it’s the first word used to describe the nature of our appointment by the King of all creation. Before he gives us anything to do, he appoints us to be with him.

With him for it’s own sake–that’s how relationship works.

How might we nurture and practice being with him? Of many spiritual disciplines or practices we could list, let me simply offer three.

• Scripture (thoughts on how to start here)
• Silence (in prayer)
• Community

I could say more, but I trust you can make the connections yourself.

“He appointed them to be with him…” Amazing.

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Scripture quoted is from the new Common English Bible. I have access to a limited number of copies to give away for free. If you are interested, please send me a message with your name and contact information.

I usually create a list of goals and, truthfully, I list too many. Less is more. Focus is critical. Yep, I’m working on that. I believe in it and do plan some of my life (particularly at work) around it.

But here’s something I did the other day that gave my goal-thinking a twist. I wrote my Christmas letter for December 2012 now. I tried to keep it short–about 300 words. It’s sort an extended version of the question “What would you like written on your tombstone?” And, it’s more narcissistic than I’d actually send to anyone at the end of the year. But hey, it’s about what I’m wanting to do this year, some of which is about individual achievement and some of which relates to family goals or milestones. And it’s written for me to read, reread, and envision, not for others.

I can’t guarantee this method, of course. I’m just trying out something different.

But I’m finding myself energized by seeing it in narrative form rather than in a bullet-list. I hope it will become true. It’s already stronger in my imagination.

Other voices come from within. They actually tap into the significance of the season and struggle with it. Perhaps we hear a voice of sadness because the holidays remind us that someone we love is no longer with us. Perhaps it is a frustrated or despairing voice due to a strained relationship. Perhaps it is a depressed voice wondering why we don’t feel as joyful and upbeat as others appear (comparing our inside to others’ outside can be a shaky enterprise though).

Isaiah 40 offers 2 different voices to the conversation. The first voice is found in 40:3-5 (CEB):

A voice is crying out:
“Clear the LORD’s way in the desert!
Make a level highway in the wilderness for our God!
Every valley will be raised up,
and every mountain and hill
will be flattened.
Uneven ground will become level,
and rough terrain a valley plain.
The LORD’s glory will appear,
and all humanity will see it together;
the LORD’s mouth
has commanded it.”

I remember a drive out to the Texas Panhandle several years ago. I grew up in East Texas with slightly hilly terrain. But a little west of Fort Worth the earth begins to flatten. When you see the Amarillo skyline on the horizon, you’ve still got a good distance to travel. The view is completely unobstructed.

When the gospel writers reflected on the ministry of John the Baptist, this text from Isaiah leapt into their minds. Surely John was enacting this scene from the prophet. He located his ministry in the wilderness geographically. But his work of calling the people to repentance was work in the wilderness of the soul.

Receiving the gift of life in Jesus Christ requires inner work that removes the barriers that obstruct the work of the gospel in our lives. That’s what John’s ministry represented. Repentance removes barriers in the heart that obstruct the grace of God.

Advent is a season of preparation for Christmas. It is a season for us to hear an ancient voice in the midst of other voices calling us to prepare to receive Christ by repenting of our sin, thereby allowing grace to work in us obstructed.

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This post is part of the Common English Bible (CEB) Blog Tour. The publisher has made copies available for me to giveaway. To participate, please link this post on your Twitter and/or Facebook. You can use the buttons below to share (for twitter, please add #CEBtour). If you don’t have twitter or facebook, please share this post via email and cc me.

I’ll make a decision on Monday and contact you via twitter/facebook/email. I’ll be able to give away one per week, so if I don’t pick you this time, please try again!

A surprise play, one that no one expected, served as a huge pivot point for the momentum of the game. The Saints executed a successful onside kick to begin the second half. They recovered the ball and scored, then went on to win the game.

After the game was over, that play could be referenced as a huge shift in momentum and as a pivot point for the outcome of the game. But in the moment, even though onlookers could see the importance of that play, they would not have said the game was sealed for the Saints.

In Luke 1:46-55, Mary sings a song of praise that has inspired some of the best music of the Advent and Christmas seasons, both classical and contemporary. She is visiting her cousin Elizabeth, herself pregnant with John the Baptist. Elizabeth shares Mary’s excitement and blesses her for her faith: “Happy is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill the promises he made to her” (1:45).

Her response to Elizabeth’s kind words of blessing is praise:

“With all my heart I glorify the Lord!
In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.
Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored
because the mighty one has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
He shows mercy to everyone,
from one generation to the next,
who honors him as God.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.
He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty-handed.
He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
remembering his mercy,
just as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever.” (Luke 1:46b-55 CEB)

The word I notice most among all of these grand verses is the simple word has. Now, I do think that Mary is probably referring to past events here. After all, praising God for what he has done in the past is a way of proclaiming faith in him for our present and future. The same God who has been faithful in our past is the God we can trust this time too.

But perhaps there’s another dimension. Perhaps Mary is grasping that the coming of God’s Messiah means that the outcome of history is accomplished in him. “Victory in Jesus,” we sing concerning his cross and resurrection. Maybe there is a trust in God’s decisive work in sending the long-awaited Messiah that warrants speaking about history in the past tense.

That is our hope.

Jesus, we trust, is the pivot point of history. A little like the gutsy, unexpected onside kick by Saints coach Sean Payton to begin the second half of that Super Bowl game, Jesus is the game-changer whose birth (and everything else for that matter) represent something no one was predicting. Yes, they expected a Messiah, but not one like him.

Mary’s Song  declares what God accomplishes in the birth of Jesus. A decisive turn-of-events that signals that the outcome is now set. Jesus saves, God sets things right. The game is being played out, but we who have been graciously included on the team have the advantage of knowing that the Spirit’s labor through us is in the service of a victory already gained in a lowly birth in the City of David roughly two thousand years ago.

In light of that truth, we join Mary in praise: “With all my heart I glorify the Lord! In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.” (1:46b-47)

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This post is part of the Common English Bible (CEB) Blog Tour. The publisher has made copies available for me to giveaway. To participate, please do the following:

1. Link this post on your Twitter and/or Facebook. You can use the buttons below to share (for twitter, please add #CEBtour). If you don’t have twitter or facebook, please share this post via email and cc me.
2. Post a comment on this post on the theme of what you find inspiring in Mary’s Song.

I’ll make a decision on Monday and contact you via twitter/facebook/email. I’ll be able to give away one per week, so if I don’t pick you this time, please try again!