Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’
Reading List May 17th
The reading list makes a brief comeback with a few observations about the Christian church and how it is understood and portrayed by the world in general.
Take this example, from the London Times in the “Entertainment & Culture” section. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article6288403.ece It is a good read if only to try to glean the facts that Christianity is moving forward in many parts of the world. You will not enjoy the article’s relentless condescension. And it is comical to see the confusion of evangelical strategy derived from Saint Paul or a the reformation commitment to communicating in everyday language with “Americanism”. Perhaps American Christians should be proud that they are seen to be practicing the faith of St. Paul and communicating it using the tools of Martin Luther.
Maybe we are in better shape than we think we are …….
Merry XPmas 2008
Holiday Greetings!
It is now the time of year when many of us send out our family letters. It’s a good way to catch up with friends, count our blessings, and capture some of the year’s highlights. Kim and I used to print them and physically mail them to everyone, but that has become cost prohibitive. (Either that, or we’ve gotten cheap) Instead, we will fully embrace the digital age and publish our XPmas letter on this blog and point it out via Email. What we lack in a personal touch I hope we make up in color photos and other expanded possibilities. Let’s face it, paper just can’t be this cool.
We have the intention of taking this photo each year:
Being Christmas
I recorded a Christmas album. This is a Christmas album that is inspired by my love of acoustic music and my years of playing cello with Kemper Crabb. The tracks represent my favorite Christmas songs played the way I have always wanted to hear them. Simple, singable, mostly upbeat with a bit of light beauty thrown in to add some depth. I sang all the parts, and used the instruments that I had laying around the house: acoustic guitar, cello, doumbek, udu, sitar and other various instruments. I hope you like it.
Six of the songs were included on a CrossPoint CD giveaway, part of our “I Am Santa” program. We are in the process of giving away thousands of these CDs, which is a very cool thing. There are four additional tracks on the actual album, including a new song called “I Will Be Christmas” that I have written in conjuction with our Christmas series “I Am Christmas.”
It may be a bit of a shameless appeal to commerce, but you can listen to samples and purchase the album here:
Click here for more information. Merry Christmas.
Why So Many Rules?
One day Adam was in the Garden having a pretty good day. It was before the Fall, so every day was a pretty good day. God walked up to him and said, “I made something for you.”
Adam turned to look at God, he was always glad to see Him. “What is it?”
“It’s a little nic-nak, I think it’s pretty cool, it’s a symbol of my love for you.” God said this as He handed the fragile figurine to Adam.
“Wow, It’s beautiful. It’s also very heavy. Thanks.” Adam was holding it in his hands and examining the marvelous detail.
Then God said, “Just don’t drop it. If you drop it, it will break.”
Well, Adam couldn’t wait to show it to Eve, so as soon as God went on His way, Adam ran over to the flower garden where Eve was busy arranging a bunch of Phalaenopsis orchids into a mathematical pun (she was always a very clever florist).
“Look at this amazing thing that God gave me!” Adam was still running when he said this. Eve looked up from her work and was stunned by the aching beauty of the miniature symbol of God’s love that Adam held in his hands.
Well, you can probably guess where this story is going. There is something about a snake, maybe a lie or two, a couple of bad choices, and CRASH! The gift that God gave to Adam was dropped and broken. It shattered into a thousand pieces and spread all over the ground in every direction. The tiny pieces were sharp and jagged, they couldn’t take a single step without cutting their feet. The shards were ugly and seemed to change the way the whole garden looked. It was the first bad day.
Later that day God comes and sees the mess they have made. He sighs. Then He grabs a stone tablet and carves a long list of instructions of how to put it back together. If they gathered all the pieces, and if they had the right kind of glue, and if they followed the instructions perfectly, then … well … actually it looks pretty hopeless. God knows they can’t find all the broken bits, and He knows they won’t be able to fix it. He gives them the instructions anyway. That way they can at least know what it once looked like.
See, there was one rule: don’t drop it. But, once it was dropped, then there became a thousand rules. One for each broken piece. That piece over there, that one is “honor your mother and father” … that one over there is “do not murder” … another says “God hates divorce.” Each of the rules point back to the time before it was broken, when it was complete. Each of the rules shows what the broken pieces mean, where they really belong. It explains why there are broken shards of love all over the garden.
But, they can’t put it back together. And they cut themselves on the pieces when they try. It’s a pretty bad place to be. Their relationship with God is broken and they really don’t have much of a desire to read the instructions and hurt their hands trying to pick up all the razor sharp shards. Even if they did find all the pieces, there is no glue that can hold it together, and the cracks would still look terrible. It’s hopeless.
But, don’t worry, God didn’t leave them hanging. He gave them a new symbol of His love. He became Jesus. A living incarnate symbol of God’s love for them. He forgave them for breaking His love, and He replaced it with Love Himself. He made everything new again.
Then He gave them some gloves and a bottle of glue, because the place was still a mess.