I know this is a repeat from one of my re-tweets, but I just love it that much…
via Judah Smith from The City Church (Seattle)
Monday Joy Report
It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve done a joy report, so here’s one for how I saw God move among us this weekend at Asbury.
- The worship set for VenuePM was off the charts good this last week. I don’t mean that in a technical way like the music was the best I’ve heard, I mean that like the presence of God was among us as we sang. You need to go and download our second song: One Thirst, although I prefer Ben and Noelle’s version to this recording. We also had bits of Psalm 139 read in between the songs. There was something sacred going on in that set.
- I don’t preach mother’s day sermons very well, in that I know nothing about being a mom so I just owned that and tried to preach the gospel. Proclaiming God’s names for us was powerful for me. I can’t get over how God calls us names like: holy, blameless, complete, redeemed, child of God, forgiven, rescued, healed. And then wrapping that up with the verse from Rev 2:21 about God having new names for us on white stones, was a powerful reminder of the gospel. I had one person tweet me afterwards with the simple name for her: Rescued. What a great response!
- We’ve missed having the Central Asia mission team and Mexico mission team last week, and it’s always good to see those who have been out serving come back and worship. I especially liked seeing John Lawrance’s beard. Please don’t shave that!
Monday Joy Report
Most Mondays I like to take a little time and share some places I saw God’s hand among us as we met together on Sunday.
1. The Sunday after Easter is traditionally the lowest attended Sunday of the year. I kept thinking back to a tweet I had read by @bobgoff,
The disciples had to be wondering what would happen tomorrow, now that they knew Jesus was alive. Me too
We’ve celebrated Jesus’ resurrection a week ago on Easter, but now don’t we kind of have this sense: what now?
2.I also kept thinking about our two mission teams that were out this week: Mexico and Central Asia. The two teams were doing such different kinds of work, but as we were singing God’s praise, they were worshiping in a very different kind of way. I love of seriously Asbury takes this call to go into all the world.
3. I love sharing communion with the church. Yesterday, we were talking God’s grace (charis) and getting to share in the Eucharist makes that grace so real. Grace is the central theme of all of my sermons, and it will continue to be because that is what we are about. Sharing in that Eucharistic meal continues to point us back to grace.
4. Sundays wear me out and I usually go home and watch a movie to unwind. This week on the queue was Rushmore. Right as Max Fisher was finally getting it together at Grover Cleveland High, I read the first tweet (from @ryanhuey, who tends to tweet news before anyone else) about the President addressing the nation, and then briefly later, found out why. I don’t put Osama bin Laden’s death on the joy report because I’m happy about death. Rather, I’m thankful that a man who has killed thousands will no longer be able to spread his evil and destructive patterns in this world. I wouldn’t say that his death was justice (in a biblical sense), but it does put an end to his reign of evil in the world, and for that I’m thankful.
Sunday…
Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, “They took the Master from the tomb. We don’t know where they’ve put him.”
Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.
But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. They said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?”
“They took my Master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they put him.” After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t recognize him.
Jesus spoke to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?”
She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, “Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him.”
Jesus said, “Mary.”
Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!”
Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: “I saw the Master!” And she told them everything he said to her.
Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” Then he showed them his hands and side.
The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: “Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you.”
Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said. “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”
But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.”
But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.”
Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.”
Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.”
Thomas said, “My Master! My God!”
Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.”
Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.
John 20 (The Message)
Friday…
So Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped. The soldiers, having braided a crown from thorns, set it on his head, threw a purple robe over him, and approached him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they greeted him with slaps in the face.
Pilate went back out again and said to them, “I present him to you, but I want you to know that I do not find him guilty of any crime.” Just then Jesus came out wearing the thorn crown and purple robe.
Pilate announced, “Here he is: the Man.”
When the high priests and police saw him, they shouted in a frenzy, “Crucify! Crucify!”
Pilate told them, “You take him. You crucify him. I find nothing wrong with him.”
The Jews answered, “We have a law, and by that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
When Pilate heard this, he became even more scared. He went back into the palace and said to Jesus, “Where did you come from?”
Jesus gave no answer.
Pilate said, “You won’t talk? Don’t you know that I have the authority to pardon you, and the authority to—crucify you?”
Jesus said, “You haven’t a shred of authority over me except what has been given you from heaven. That’s why the one who betrayed me to you has committed a far greater fault.”
At this, Pilate tried his best to pardon him, but the Jews shouted him down: “If you pardon this man, you’re no friend of Caesar’s. Anyone setting himself up as ‘king’ defies Caesar.”
When Pilate heard those words, he led Jesus outside. He sat down at the judgment seat in the area designated Stone Court (in Hebrew, Gabbatha). It was the preparation day for Passover. The hour was noon. Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your king.”
They shouted back, “Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!”
Pilate said, “I am to crucify your king?”
The high priests answered, “We have no king except Caesar.”
Pilate caved in to their demand. He turned him over to be crucified.
They took Jesus away. Carrying his cross, Jesus went out to the place called Skull Hill (the name in Hebrew is Golgotha), where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, Jesus in the middle. Pilate wrote a sign and had it placed on the cross. It read:
jesus the nazarene, the king of the jews.
Many of the Jews read the sign because the place where Jesus was crucified was right next to the city. It was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. The Jewish high priests objected. “Don’t write,” they said to Pilate, “‘The King of the Jews.’ Make it, ‘This man said, “I am the King of the Jews.”‘”
Pilate said, “What I’ve written, I’ve written.”
When they crucified him, the Roman soldiers took his clothes and divided them up four ways, to each soldier a fourth. But his robe was seamless, a single piece of weaving, so they said to each other, “Let’s not tear it up. Let’s throw dice to see who gets it.” This confirmed the Scripture that said, “They divided up my clothes among them and threw dice for my coat.” (The soldiers validated the Scriptures!)
While the soldiers were looking after themselves, Jesus’ mother, his aunt, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene stood at the foot of the cross. Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her. He said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that moment the disciple accepted her as his own mother.
Jesus, seeing that everything had been completed so that the Scripture record might also be complete, then said, “I’m thirsty.”
A jug of sour wine was standing by. Someone put a sponge soaked with the wine on a javelin and lifted it to his mouth. After he took the wine, Jesus said, “It’s done . . . complete.” Bowing his head, he offered up his spirit.
Then the Jews, since it was the day of Sabbath preparation, and so the bodies wouldn’t stay on the crosses over the Sabbath (it was a high holy day that year), petitioned Pilate that their legs be broken to speed death, and the bodies taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man crucified with Jesus, and then the other. When they got to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers stabbed him in the side with his spear. Blood and water gushed out.
The eyewitness to these things has presented an accurate report. He saw it himself and is telling the truth so that you, also, will believe.
These things that happened confirmed the Scripture, “Not a bone in his body was broken,” and the other Scripture that reads, “They will stare at the one they pierced.”
After all this, Joseph of Arimathea (he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he was intimidated by the Jews) petitioned Pilate to take the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission. So Joseph came and took the body.
Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, came now in broad daylight carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. They took Jesus’ body and, following the Jewish burial custom, wrapped it in linen with the spices. There was a garden near the place he was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. So, because it was Sabbath preparation for the Jews and the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it.
John 19 (The Message)
Thursday…
Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.
Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”
Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”
Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet—ever!”
Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”
“Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”
Jesus said, “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you.” (He knew who was betraying him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you.”) After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.
Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.
“I’m not including all of you in this. I know precisely whom I’ve selected, so as not to interfere with the fulfillment of this Scripture:
The one who ate bread at my table
Turned on his heel against me.
“I’m telling you all this ahead of time so that when it happens you will believe that I am who I say I am. Make sure you get this right: Receiving someone I send is the same as receiving me, just as receiving me is the same as receiving the One who sent me.”
After he said these things, Jesus became visibly upset, and then he told them why. “One of you is going to betray me.”
The disciples looked around at one another, wondering who on earth he was talking about. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved dearly, was reclining against him, his head on his shoulder. Peter motioned to him to ask who Jesus might be talking about. So, being the closest, he said, “Master, who?”
Jesus said, “The one to whom I give this crust of bread after I’ve dipped it.” Then he dipped the crust and gave it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. As soon as the bread was in his hand, Satan entered him.
“What you must do,” said Jesus, “do. Do it and get it over with.”
No one around the supper table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas was their treasurer, Jesus was telling him to buy what they needed for the Feast, or that he should give something to the poor.
Judas, with the piece of bread, left. It was night.
When he had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is seen for who he is, and God seen for who he is in him. The moment God is seen in him, God’s glory will be on display. In glorifying him, he himself is glorified—glory all around!
“Children, I am with you for only a short time longer. You are going to look high and low for me. But just as I told the Jews, I’m telling you: ‘Where I go, you are not able to come.’
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”
Simon Peter asked, “Master, just where are you going?”
Jesus answered, “You can’t now follow me where I’m going. You will follow later.”
“Master,” said Peter, “why can’t I follow now? I’ll lay down my life for you!”
“Really? You’ll lay down your life for me? The truth is that before the rooster crows, you’ll deny me three times.”
(John 13, The Message)
After You Believe, conclusion
I hope you’ve had a chance to read after You Believe along with me during Lent. If you got in on this late, no reason to stop just because Lent ends this week. You can find the other posts in this series here:
Getting Started on After You Believe
For this final post, a story Wright shares that captures what this book has been about,
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Roman Catholic priest who was sent to the Auschwitz death camp with his people. One day one of his fellow prisoners was being threatened with death for attempting to escape. The man began to weep: he had a wife and children he was concerned for. Kolbe stepped forward and offered himself in the man’s place. He went to his death calmly. The punishment was intended to be death by starvation, but when Kolbe was still alive after two weeks, he was killed by a lethal injection. The point is this: he wasn’t acting spontaneously or in obedience to a rule. He was doing something that came naturally, as the climax of a life spent in giving himself away, in following Jesus in the work of his pastoral ministry, and in the daily sacramental life…The thinking had been done a long time before, and the second-nature habits of self-giving love had been ingrained in him as a result. The moment came; the decision was made.
Monday (evening) Joy Report
This one’s a little late, but it’s still Monday. A few of the ways I saw God move among us on Sunday:
- VenuePM Afterparty! What can I say about this one? Cookies and milk, good friends, new friends…and best of all all volunteer led. Huge thanks to Abby Smith (she’s one of a kind), Emily Odom, Rachel Read, Andrea Chalker, and Amy Ann Arnold!
- God is love. What a simple and yet profound idea. I could preach on this topic every week.
- I love seeing people walking in with those palm branches as we say together: Hosanna! One week from Easter! However, I did miss Jim Asbury waving that palm branch around the auditorium in the VenuePM service.
After You Believe, week 5
I’m late on this week’s post, but I hope you’re still tracking along in After You Believe. If you’ve just recently bought the book, you might want to look over the reading plan I’m following, as well as week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4.
Theological word of the day: eschatology.
It turns out it is important how we think about our present earth and how we think about the new earth. I will call this present earth Today and the new earth Tomorrow. Christians have always thought our world is going somewhere. Something will happen to this world we live in, something will happen to us. We call this kind of thinking eschatology.
Way too often we only think of Tomorrow as in the rapture, or the judgment day, or as some day in the distant future with no real bearing on today except that our judgment will be dependent on how we live now. Okay.
But there’s other ways to think about the relationship between Today and Tomorrow than judgment.
Here’s one way:
When we choose to live the life of virtue Today, we experience what eternal life (i.e. heaven) will be like Tomorrow. The choice of living in virtue (like love, or agape) is a taste of the eternal. When you choose love you are anticipating what heaven will be like, and you are choosing to spread God’s Tomorrow kingdom (rule, authority) Today.As NT Wright says,
Thus the agape we are called to practice in the present, to learn like a difficult but powerful language and to practice like a beautiful but complex musical instrument, will last into the future world- indeed, will be gloriously fulfilled in the future world- because it is the very essence of the God we know in Jesus Christ. (p 188)
I know this is super abstract, and probably doesn’t appear to help that much in your life Today, but it actually does. You will be faced with a multitude of choices today. Some of those choices will be how you respond to people or situations: anger or peace? hostility or love? greed or generosity? the list goes on-and-on. Your choice in that moment of temptation has eternal implications…not in the sense that you will go to hell if sin gets the best of you, but eternal implications in the sense that the life you choose to participate in Today indicates the life we will choose to live in Tomorrow.
With heaven in view, with a clear eschatology guiding our lives, the virtues (like love) matter. It’s not enough to say simply that I prayed a prayer when I was 13 and now it is all good. God calls us to live into that life. To grow into the life of heaven. To grow into the life of God. To grow into the direction of heaven.
Today matters because Tomorrow matters.
