St Luke's

I am so ready and so looking forward to 2011 and all of the changes, challenges, celebrations, curve balls, and chaos that the year is sure to bring. Along with 30 other fantastic kingdom dreamers, risk takers and adventurers, my wife and I are in the process of planting a church. This is an exciting new journey for us.

The main three things we get asked about our church plant are...

1. Where is it going to be?
2. Why are you calling the church St Luke's?
3. What's the church going to be like?

In answer to those three questions...

1. We don't know yet.
2. We'll get to this in future posts.
3. We're not exactly sure as there are so many variables that are totally out of one's control.

Here's what we do know however...

We want to be a vibrant, missional, faith community. Which at an entry level and as briefly as possible we’d unpack to mean that we want to be a community of people who's vibrancy and life is grounded in the life of Jesus and the reality of the Holy Spirit. A community of people committed to missional living. A community who gather for church on a Sunday but also scatter to be the church Monday through Saturday; shining boldly at times as a light but also flavouring subversively as salt in the nooks and crannies of everyday life. We want to be a faith community, a community who live out of a different story than that of consumerism, materialism, individualism and all those other words so often used to so accurately describe our western post-Christian culture. We want to live, move, breathe, dream and play in light of the grand-narrative of God's ongoing work in history, the grand-narrative of Jesus found in Genesis through Revelation.

That's the direction we're heading in and we're looking forward to walking, running, dancing, (and at times limping and crawling), onwards in that adventure!

Blog Re-Invention... Coming Soon...

Looking forward to re-working this blog as I enter a new season of life as a church planter. Look for updates in the new year.

Earthquakes & Theistic Evolution

Understanding Genesis, the creation account, literal seven day creation, evolution, theistic evolution, progressive creation etc etc, has long fascinated me.

I find theistic evolution the most compelling theory of God's 'method' of creation and feel it does due diligence both to the biblical text and to science.

Of course this creates all sorts of issues that must be addressed in regards to death and pain and suffering and of course earthquakes.

BioLogos is one of my favouritte blogs to follow and recently offered a different perspective on earthquakes...here.

You Shall Not...

What does it mean to take the Lord's name in vain?

C Michael Patton offers some interesting thoughts on his blog Parchment and Pen.

Essentially he concludes that...

God was attempting to prevent the Israelites from doing the same thing. God was saying for them not to use His name like the nations used the names of their gods. He did not want them to use His name to invoke false authority behind pronouncements. In essence, God did not want the Israelites to say that He said something that He had not said. This makes sense. God has a reputation to protect. He does not want anyone saying “Thus sayeth the Lord” if the Lord had not spoken. All of you have experienced this. You have had people say you said something you did not say. This can be very damaging to your character. It is very destructive to your name. Why? Because it makes you out to be something that you are not. How much more important is it for God to protect His character? It is fitting that God would have put this as one of the ten most important commandments as the nation of Israel moved towards Canaan. It is his name (i.e. reputation) that is at stake.

What does this mean for us? Well, for starters we understand that the third commandment is not focused on something so trivial as saying “God damn it!” The funny thing is that while some people may never think of using that phrase, people all over the Christian religious landscape are breaking the third commandment every day, damaging the Lord’s reputation. “Thus sayeth the Lord . . .” “God told me to tell you . . .” “God says that if you send in this much money, you will be blessed.” I could go on and on, but you get the point. Using the name of the Lord in vain, I believe, means that you do damage to His reputation and character through false and unsure claims.

Therefore, think deeply before you say “God said . . .” Make sure that He has really said it. Don’t be flippant by trying to encourage a friend and say, “God is telling you . . .” If you are unsure, make your statement reflect your uncertainty. Saying “I think God is telling you to . . .” rather than “God is telling you to . . .” may not be as authoritative, but it will keep God’s reputation safe and keep you from breaking the third commandment.

I visit his blog occasionally and from time to time really appreciate his thoughts and insights

Thoughts on Christian Art

Here are some insightful thoughts on Christian art from Richard Beck. Well worth a read.

I particularly appreciated the thought that words on art lead to a Gnostic faith rather than an Incarnational faith, especially when the concept is taken further to include meals, retreats, recreational gatherings etc.

I also agree that words too easily distract from the subtleties, nuances, mystery and wonder of art and as Richard extends the thought to so many other areas of life. We want the meaning when at times there are many meanings and Spirit wanting to bring those meanings alive!