Feed My Sheep

I was deeply touched when a friend directed me to this video. Narayanan Krishnan is a Brahmin Hindu from a privileged family who had a bright future ahead of him as an award-winning chef, but gave up a coveted position in Switzerland after witnessing devastating hunger and privation in his hometown of Madurai, India. Krishnan founded his nonprofit organization, Akshaya Trust, in 2003 at the age of 22. Seven years later, he had already served more than 1.6 million meals to India's homeless, mentally ill and destitute. In addition to providing three meals a day every day, which he often hand-feeds to those who are too weak to feed themselves, Krishnan also provides baths, shaves and haircuts as needed to the nearly 400 people that he serves. And on top of all that, he gives love - hugs, smiles and encouragement - to these "untouchables," rejecting the caste system which teaches that they are unworthy of his notice. As you watch the video, you can see the deep joy and satisfaction this man feels, knowing his work is truly changing lives. Krishnan may not be a Christian, but for me, his ministry of compassion answers the ubiquitous question "What would Jesus do?" to a T.

Vanesa Delfino, a student at Riverside Community College, was feeling disconnected from God. She visited the La Sierra University Church and heard a sermon on service given by Pastor Chris Oberg in which she related an experience her family had shared of feeding the homeless in Los Angeles. Vanesa immediately decided that she would make sack lunches and deliver them daily to the homeless in her Riverside neighborhood. She and her sister have been doing this for ten months now, and the happiness Vanesa feels when she describes her outreach is almost tangible. She has found the love of God by selflessly serving others.

How about you? How is God's love for you (and yours for Him) made manifest to those with whom you come in contact every day? How do you relate to the homeless and needy in your neighborhood - do you reach out, or walk away? Do you rely on others to care for the destitute, or is the love of God so pervasive in your life that you simply must share it?

Narayanan and Vanesa are bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. I can't help but wonder how changed our world would be if each one of us seriously considered what we can do to share God's love with others on a daily basis - if we, too, reveled in the joy of service to "the least of these." (Matt. 25:40)

Holy Cheating?

I’m intrigued by the number of recommendations to pray for students around examination time – particularly the ones that ask God to help them do well in their exams. I can’t help wondering whether this is a form of holy cheating. Surely if God helps a person do better on an exam as a result of prayer but doesn’t help another student who hasn’t prayed, wouldn’t that be in the same category as a performance enhancing drug?

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Only the Curious

The following quotes have made me more thoughtful, and, it is hoped, a little wiser.  
Andy Hanson


Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.  
Eugene S. Wilson 

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Dispassionate Spirituality, or Why we aren't being fruitful...

(This article was originally posted at Adventist Today)

Since the creation of the Earth, growing things has been relatively straightforward.  Take a seed, put it in the ground, make sure it gets enough water and sunlight, and a few months later you’ll be eating well.  Sure, you can get more sophisticated, but these are the basic elements for physical, and spiritual growth.

My Beautiful Wife is currently teaching herself, and our kids, to be tomato ranchers.  A couple of months ago, they picked out a variety of tomato seeds, planted them in some starter soil, and made sure they stayed warm and moist.  Since then, they have shared almost two-dozen tomato plants with friends, family, and neighbors.

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We Are Sabbath, Part III: Cancer and the Sabbath

Guest post by Travis Claybrooks

A black guy, his Mexican wife, two niños, and a blaxican baby – that was us moving to Shelton, Nebraska. Needless to say, we were a bit concerned about the future of our “social” life, moving to the heartland of America. As it’s turned out, the good folks in Shelton are some of the best folks we’ve ever known.

About a week or two after we moved here, Karin, one of the pillars of the community came over to introduce herself. Karin is just about one of the most genuine and friendly people you’ll ever know. Over the past year or so she has proven to be a loyal friend – and I mean loyal!

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Holy Moment

By Leslie Foster

One of my favorite scenes in "Waking Life", Richard Linklater's groundbreaking 2001 film, involves two men speaking about film and the nature of God. Known as the "Holy Moment" scene, the two philosophize about whether film has the ability to capture, if only briefly, some of the essence of God and what, if anything, is truly holy. There are a few things they say with which I disagree, but much more is said that inspires and provokes me to think.

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We Are Sabbath, Part II: An Event Worth Celebrating

Guest post by Travis Claybrooks

She...was...PERFECT! All 7lbs. 6oz. of little Abeni Michele Claybrooks – PERFECT! At about 12:25, on an early Sunday morning, October 2, 1994, Abeni let the world know that she had arrived. Boy, could she yell! It was a moment to celebrate – the birth of a baby. Our best of friends were crowded there in the hospital room. New grandparents were on the phone. There I was juggling conversations between both, lost in sheer ecstasy.

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Worshiping the Sabbath vs Worshiping on the Sabbath

Guest post by Travis Claybrooks

Recently, we celebrated my oldest daughter, Abeni's 15th birthday. She was born October 2, 1994 and I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember all the details of the experience – the labor, the delivery, the incompetent nurses that didn't believe that she was-a comin' right now! I remember feeling real good as I tastied her with my kisses, touching her with my hands, hearing her extremely loud cry, smelling that newborn baby smell, and just seeing the miracle of something that, just a short while ago, was not.

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Relevance, Part 3

A couple of things have happened in the last few weeks that inspired me to begin this series on relevance.  This will be the concluding post - but you may find this theme throughout much of what I write (both in the past, and in the future).  When I preach, when I write, when I do just about anything, I ask myself, what is the point?  And this becomes the question I have to ask about God, His Word, and His Church - what is the point?

For me, I've found meaning in God.  The Bible was a little more challenging - but once I moved past the cultural distortions, I have found great relevance in those words.  I'm still wrestling with the Church though.  I'm wondering, what is it that people are trying to do there?

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Exporting Adventism

Overseas not long ago, I had an interesting interaction with an Adventist pastor. I had just finished telling him about a person who had expressed to me a desire to begin keeping Sabbath and to be baptized. I would have expected him to be thrilled with the news, as this individual had been an ongoing ‘project’ for him for some time. To my surprise the pastor appeared disappointed, annoyed, and even a little angry.

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Relevance, Part 2

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

When I look around at others, and I try to understand people's motives for church attendance, I am often baffled. I don't really understand why people choose to attend a weekly church service – or get involved at a deeper level. But my not understanding probably says more about me, then it does about the people I'm trying to understand.

Typically, I am not a joiner. I tend to not just go along because everyone else is doing something. As a certified introvert, I tend to prefer my own company over that of others. So, when I see groups of people gathering – for anything, not just church – I am left a little confused as to what their motives, or intentions are.

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The Kingdom Is Here

Many talk of their desire to have lived when Christ walked the earth. They imagine that if they were present with the master teacher that somehow their lives and their church would be quite different. But, they are mistaken. The things that we long for, the closeness that we imagine, the truths we think we would then understand are more available to us today than ever before.

The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to be closer to Christ now than when He lived on earth. If we truly believed this, how might it make a difference in how we lived and in how we ‘did church’? It is easy to grow complacent, secretly believing that living the Kingdom of God was for the disciples of long ago.

The truth, however, is that the Holy Spirit makes living a vibrant life and one of restoration possible for every person that desires it. The Holy Spirit knows no limits, no bounds, and no exclusions. Any true seeker may find. As Jesus reminded us, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone opens the door, I will come in and eat with them.”

We are living in a time of great invitation. The call of Jesus is going out across the world, “If anyone…” Are we open to meeting the needs of a hurting world? Are our arms and hearts open wide to anyone who might need the loving touch, the kind word, or the helping hand?

By studying the life of Christ we are made aware of the importance of the ministry of compassion. Jesus did not engage in the politics of the day, he did not debate theology or preach doctrine, nor did he shut himself away from anyone. Instead, he reached out to whomever had a heartfelt need and poured the love of Heaven through himself out into the world.

If we compare our lives to His, how do we measure up? How much time everyday do you spend in loving service to others for which you do not receive any type of reward or wage? Is there any group of people that you believe are excluded from the ministry of compassion through Christ, any group that you would not be willing to serve? Do politics prejudice you towards others? If someone has a different set of doctrines or doesn’t see eye-to-eye with you, can you still be in loving support of them? How inclusive are you? Where do you draw the line, or do you have a line? Do you think Christ excluded anyone?

These are difficult questions and they strike at the root of our own wounding and sense of scarcity. Imagine with me, a different way of being in the world—a way where we are healed of our sense of separation from God and from one another—a way of being where we do not draw lines of division and square off with one another in debate and conflict. Do you realize how much our current paradigm alienates us from one another and from the world?

It is only through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that we are able to move past these human limitations of pettiness and division. The Spirit alone is able to heal and restore the image of God within us. Salvation is for everyone. It is we who struggle to embrace the inclusive love of God.

We serve an abundant God. Perhaps we should start with ourselves—reveling in the outrageous grace of a compassionate Savior until we are so delirious with the good news that we our filled with compassion and love for others. The love of God crowds out any sense of superiority or exclusiveness. In fact, God’s love is so immense we will never, ever begin to wrap our minds around it. We can begin by writing a new chapter in our lives and in the life of our church. Let's start living the Kingdom of God now.

You Are the Light of the World

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14. These powerful words of Jesus point out to us what discipleship look likes. We are here to bring light into the darkness. To truly be filled with light means that we are filled with the power of an indwelling Christ. Our light comes from the covering of the righteousness of Christ.

If we are then filled with Christ and covered with light we will then be doing the works of Christ in the world. We will be his hands and feet and ministers to those in need. This is what it means to be the light of the world and to be the salt that seasons.

There is a disturbing trend in the church, however, that tends towards exclusiveness. It reminds me of the condition of the church when Jesus came to the world. If you recall, it was a very dark time in the history of our planet and a very dark time in the church. Religion had become a system of forms and elaborate rituals and sacrifices, but it was devoid of the virtues of mercy and of concerns for the good of the people. Only the “pure” were looked upon with favor by the church and the smallest of infractions could find one shunned and excommunicated from the body of believers.

Jesus was highly criticized because of the time he spent hanging out with people the church considered untouchable. They drank alcohol, they were sexually immoral, they had a lot of problems, and they didn’t even attend church. His great heart of love had the audacity to care for everyone, even the immoral Samaritan woman who had been married way too many times.

As a church, are we inclusive or exclusive? Do we shut those in need of the healing power of Christ’s love out because of what they do and how they behave? Do we embrace the power of the Holy Spirit and pray that we will be filled with the miracle working power of God so that we too, like the disciples of old will be able to minister to the healing of those in great need? Or do we live in fear, cloaking ourselves off from the needs of the world?

Do we take care of our planet or do we make excuses for our irresponsibility saying that it will all burn up anyway? Do we believe the majority of people are destined for the flames? Do we call every experience we cannot explain as being from Satan? Do we look for the Christ in people or do we look for the Anti-Christ? Are we a light on a hilltop or has our light been covered by a bushel because we are afraid?

The song “Onward Christian Soldiers” call us, not to be exclusive and ignore the needs of the world—that would be “Onward Christian Chickens”—rather to be a soldier of Christ means that we will work for the good of everyone. We will shine wherever we are and our lives will look a lot like Christ’s.

We can become so fearful of “last day deceptions” that we are useless as far as being a soldier for Christ. I am not speaking of being militant here, I am speaking of being compassionate, available, Spirit-filled, and burdened with the needs of humanity and a dying planet.

Fear is really mistrust of God. Fear separates and insulates us from the needs of those around us. Fear is selfish and is focused on a personal salvation only. When we are busy doing the work of God in the world we will cease to be consumed with our navel-gazing insecurities about our personal salvation. Moses came to an amazing place in his walk with God where he cared more for the good of the people he was trying to help than for his own salvation.

What I long to see is a church where we are more focused on how to make a difference than we are about protecting our fundamental 28. Our beliefs should make us ambassadors of God’s love. They should never insulate us from the needs of others. The world is dying for the light of God’s love. Let’s be a light to the world.

Seeking beauty

by Nathan Brown

In Breath, the most recent novel by Australian writer Tim Winton, one of his characters describes his first glimpse of surfing and compares it with the seeming absence of beauty in the everyday world of Australian masculinity:

“I couldn’t have put words to it as a boy, but later I understood what seized my imagination that day. How strange it was to see men do something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant, as though nobody saw or cared. . . . We never spoke about the business of beauty . . . but for me there was still the outlaw feeling of doing something graceful, as if dancing on water was the best and bravest thing a man could do.”

But, in describing surfing as “pointless and beautiful,” perhaps Winton misses the point of beauty—that in a world created and loved by God, beauty is never pointless. Beginning with a creation that was “excellent in every way” (Genesis 1:31) to the Old Testament poetry that exults in the wonders of the Creator to Jesus’ pointing to the flowers on the hillside (see Matthew 6:28-30), beauty is always a glimpse of the power, goodness and love of God, and an awakened appreciation of beauty a step toward connecting with that reality.

The pointedness of beauty is why theologian N T Wright insists on beauty as a key component of what the church should be pursuing in the world:

“the church should reawaken its hunger for beauty at every level. This is essential and urgent. It is essential to Christian living that we should celebrate the goodness of creation, ponder its present brokenness, and, insofar as we can, celebrate in advance the healing of the world, the new creation itself. . . . The arts are not the pretty but irrelevant bits around the border of reality. They are highways into the centre of a reality which cannot be glimpsed, let alone grasped any other way” (Simply Christian).

In our churches and communities, we need to find ways to encourage art in its many forms. Our church foyers can be exhibition spaces; our worship can be more than just singing and speaking; our artists need our prayers and practical support; our engagement with the community can include shared projects of creativity and beautification.

We need to make space for our painters and photographers, sculptors and poets, novelists and filmmakers, musicians and storytellers, dancers and actors, scrap-bookers and knitters, designers and animators. In turn, our artists must be serious and joyous, honest but redemptive and hopeful.

But our understanding of beauty also needs to expand beyond the arts to encompass so many others things we easily take for granted. Beauty is also created by our gardeners and cooks, our builders and homemakers, our tree-planters and professionals, our carers and counselors, our surfers and explorers, our mothers and friends.

And we are all part of it: there is engagement with beauty—and a contribution to it—in any moment of recognising and appreciating something beautiful. Then, in pointing out or sharing beauty with another, we become evangelists of beauty and thus agents of the kingdom of God.

As human beings, we create in these and so many other ways because God created, continues to create and will re-create a world in which beauty is never pointless:

“He has surrounded you with beauty to teach you that you are not placed on earth merely to delve for self, to dig and build, to toil and spin, but to make life bright and joyous and beautiful with the love of Christ—like the flowers, to gladden other lives by the ministry of love” (Ellen White, Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing).

Because of the reality of Jesus and His resurrection, and the promises of God and the hope they give us, we are part of a new kind of life in the world and “nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

This includes the creation or appreciation of beauty that we might otherwise be tempted to consider pointless. Amid the pain, fears and sorrows of life, perhaps dancing on water—or whatever is your creative gift or passion—is among the best and bravest things a Christian can do.

More than right

by Nathan Brown

Marcel posted about this back in February and a couple of paragraphs below are drawn from my comments then. But now having read Wright's book, this is an expanded reflection.


Theologian N T Wright made headlines—at least on the website of Time magazine, among others—in February this year with comments associated with the launch of his book, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.

Described by Time as “one of the most formidable figures in the world of Christian thought,” Wright is Bishop of Durham (UK) and, as such, the fourth most senior clergyman in the Anglican Church. Writing from his Anglican tradition, some of the assumptions around the edges of Wright’s book may challenge us but his core thesis is something to catch our collective Adventist attention.

According to Wright, most Christians have misunderstood and misrepresented the Bible’s portrayals of resurrection, the afterlife and heaven. Building on his previous strident arguments for the actual, physical resurrection of Christ, Wright urges that the focus of the New Testament is on our physical, bodily resurrection to live in a our recreated, restored and renewed world. He describes this as contrasting starkly with the traditional Christian imagination of disembodied souls floating off to “be with God,” to live eternally in some dreamy, cloud-like existence.

Reflecting on the post-resurrection physicality of Jesus, Wright urges a wholistic understanding of human being. And working with the exuberant descriptions in Paul’s writings, he argues for a larger understanding of the Christian hope of redemption and re-creation—a more hopeful and joyful kind of hope: “How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (1 Corinthians 15:57, NLT).

It’s always nice to have others recognise our doctrinal treasures. Despite his vagueness on the intermediate state after death but before resurrection and the nature of the Second Coming, there is much in Surprised by Hope to gladden an Adventist heart. But rather than an excuse for “I told you so,” perhaps books such as this should be cause for a moment of reflection and humility. When “non-Adventists” do “Adventist” theology better than Adventists, we need to ask ourselves some questions.

It seems that for years Adventist have argued the doctrine of the “state of the dead” but without doing much thinking on what this means for how we understand life, hope and salvation, and how we care for others and our world. Instead we have borrowed the same shallow view of salvation assumed by most of Christianity —that it's all about “getting to heaven when we die” or at the “end.”

We need to do better, to think deeper, to imagine and re-imagine—and theologians like N T Wright challenge us to do that. As the subtitle of his book suggests, Wright is not content to merely correct an error of doctrinal understanding:

“The promise of new creation—the promise we have been studying throughout this book—is not and cannot be simply about straightening out ideas about life and death.”

Instead, his focus is on what that better understanding means for the mission of the church in the world today: “Once we get the resurrection straight, we can and must get mission straight.”

As we move in our understanding of salvation from “going to heaven” to “being raised to life in God’s new heaven and new earth,” we begin to work with a significantly different picture of what salvation is. With the realisation that in the resurrection of Jesus a new kind of life has broken into our world, we begin to see this as a reality in which we can participate—and even contribute to—today.

Wright suggests three areas of focus for the church working in this world in the light of the hope of resurrection: justice, beauty and evangelism. Indeed, he argues that

“if [a church] is actively involved in seeking justice in the world, both globally and locally, and if it’s cheerfully celebrating God’s good creation and its rescue from corruption in art and music, and if, in addition, its own internal life gives every sign that new creation is indeed happening, generating a new type of community—then suddenly the announcement [evangelism] makes a lot of sense.”

Of course, resurrection and the ultimate redemption of creation is the work of God but Paul assures us that somehow acts of goodness, justice, beauty and evangelism done in this life matter and even somehow contribute to building God’s kingdom in our world now and in God’s future: “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (1 Corinthians 15:58, NLT).

Your kingdom come

by Nathan Brown


Last year, a couple of weeks before a weekend speaking appointment, I was asked to present a workshop on the subject of prayer, in addition to the other meetings of the weekend program. As a fan of prayer but not necessarily an expert, being assigned the topic stretched me to think about the nature of prayer and how to explore the topic with a group of young people.

It seemed that prayer as a spiritual practice was best practised, rather than merely talked about. And so a one-hour workshop grew around actually taking the time to pray in a variety of ways, interspersed with a few personal reflections on what prayer is and why it is important in the life of the Christian.

It was a great experience. A couple of hundred young people praying together in complete silence is an incredible sound and was a highlight. But perhaps the aspect of prayer that has had the most continuing influence was the rediscovery of one of Christianity’s oldest practices—reading prayers. In the workshop setting, we simply read together the Lord’s Prayer of Matthew 6:9-13, slowly, thoughtfully and prayerfully, letting Someone Else’s words speak through us and into our lives.

It’s a practise I have continued over the months since. Regularly in the mornings on my way to work, I have let the words of the Lord’s Prayer point me toward “our Father,” repeating the familiar lines carefully, tasting the reverence and relevance of the requests, and allowing the words of Jesus to echo in my mind. And I have got into the habit of repeating this at other times of the day and in other settings.

But there are a couple of lines, I often get stuck on, that my mind pauses on as I take in the context in which I might be praying the prayer: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as in heaven” (see Matthew 6:10). As the sun rises on a new morning on my way to work, it seems almost poetic. But in other situations, these words are more jarring.

And so it was that I found myself praying this prayer from time to time during a recent visit to Cambodia. But what does it mean to pray “Your kingdom come” amid the chaos of rush-hour traffic in downtown Phnom Penh, where the Hummers and Mercedes mix with cyclos, street vendors and beggars? What would change if the prayer, “Your will be done,” was answered amid the dust, the smells and the people of a small-town marketplace? How is “Your kingdom come” evident in an out-of-the-way village where knowledge of the God—whose kingdom it is—is all but absent? How does “Your will be done” have any significant reality when just 70 children out of the tens of thousands of orphans in Cambodia can be cared for in the small orphanage we visited?

Somewhere like Cambodia is a daunting context in which to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done.”

But Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed (see Matthew 13:31). And perhaps the greatest benefit for us in praying a prayer such as this is to begin to see the small things that just might be glimpses of that reality.

One morning, we were visiting a nearby landmark with a group from the orphanage. We had explored some ancient temple ruins and a little of the surrounding jungle, and were heading back for lunch when we caught up with a group of the smaller children, who had been playing together. As we fell in with this group, one of the little girls—perhaps four years old—reached up and took my hand. Immediately, I had to shorten my stride to make it possible for us to walk together. And so we did, until we arrived back at the rest of the group.

Sometime ago I came across a definition of Christian living:

“a little faith and two outstretched hands . . . reaching up to take the steady hand of Jesus and reaching out to steady someone else” (Russell Rathbun).

And perhaps this is part of what it means to participate in the kingdom of God in so many of the tragic contexts of our world—a little faith, two outstretched hands and a willingness to break our stride, our busyness, our hurry, our agenda so as to be able to walk with another person for a time in our respective lives. And perhaps together to pray, “Your kingdom come.”

Are you Lovable?

The American theologian and bible exegete, Ellen Gould White, writes: “No other influence that can surround the human soul has such power as the influence of an unselfish life. The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian.”

Lovable Christian?

Jesus says the mark of a growing disciple is lovability (John 13:35). The first fruit of the Spirit is lovability (Galatians 5:22). God is, above all, lovable (1 John 4:16).

In a recent Barna survey, just 16% of non-Christians said Christians “consistently show love.” More than 8 of 10 would not say that followers of Jesus are lovable.

Contemporary Franciscan Richard Rohr observes:“[R]eligion has always distinguished education from transformation. Being informed is different from being formed, and the first is a common substitute for the second.”

Could it be that more colorful brochures, slicker sermon presentations, more “relevant” worship services, and better (doctrinally) informed church members won’t amount to much GC (great commission) success? Perhaps we need to be formed, not informed. Perhaps we need to move the 16% figure to 96%. Perhaps we need to go ahead and believe the words of our New Testament, "You can give your body to be burned, but if you are not lovable, this amounts to nothing."Perhaps we need to stop arguing—for God’s sake, and the sake of people—and, instead, become the strongest argument in the gospel’s favor.

What do you think?

Rap Session: Brian McLaren on Useful Perhaps

Christianity Today recently published a semi-negative review of Brian McLaren's most recent title, Everything Must Change. Brian is an author, speaker, networker and much appreciated voice in the Emergent conversation. Here was his response to the CT article...


A statement like "this changes everything" or "everything must change" is what one might call idiomatic hyperbole: rhetorical exaggeration for the effect of conveying an overall meaning that is larger than the sum of its parts. Thus, when I came to the book Everything Must Change, I didn't expect it to be a literal "theory of everything." That would be too much expectation for any treatise to bear. However, I was hoping for a way forward out of the gridlock of integrity that occurs when people of faith no longer expect of themselves that "words of wisdom would be ways of wisdom" (Arrested Development, 1992).

However, I do understand why some might take exception to Brian McLaren's most recent book , released October 2007. One major reason for consternation may be that Everything Must Change offers a hearing of the Jesus message that takes the gospel out of the battle for primacy in the global theater of self-aggrandizement. McLaren deconstructs the age-old debate of whose religion deserves top billing by conspicuously not participating in it. As opposed to hearing in the message of Jesus an exclusive call for Christians and the Christian church to be central in world affairs, he implores any (Christian or otherwise) who finds the way of Jesus inspiring to become integral in seeking justice, truth, peace and beauty in dealing with the biggest problems facing the world. Such a subtle yet profound shift undoubtedly unsettles many.

John Wilson, Editor of Books and Culture for Christianity Today, was certainly among those unsettled by Everything Must Change—in ways that he apparently did not appreciate.

I attended the launch of McLaren's Deep Shift Tour in Charlotte, NC. We gathered in a most beautiful urban arts commune, Area 15, embedded in the reconstituted NoDa neighborhood of Charlotte. The artists' home is an old warehouse that has been converted into gallery, gathering and prayer space and has had such an affect on the community that the City of Charlotte has asked the creatives of Area 15 to open a second studio in another distressed portion of the city. While there, I took the opportunity to invite McLaren's clarification of any of the issues raised by Wilson's article.

You may ask who am I to seek to challenge the collective wisdom of the Evangelical world's foremost public marketplace of ideas. To be honest, no one of much significance. Publicly, I am a simple storyteller, writer, activist and friend. Nonetheless, in a brave new wiki world, post-modernity, we are finally coming to recognize everyone's stake and the value of everyone's voice. And it just didn't seem right for Wilson's review to be the final word in Christian circles for what I and many others have found to be a most unsettling yet also inspiring declaration of revolt.

Q: Were you surprised to hear about the Christianity Today review?

A: In early or mid-January, a friend called me to express his condolences about a negative review in CT and to tell me not to let it get me down. I said, “What review?” It was a couple weeks before I actually saw the review, so over those weeks I imagined the worst. The review ended up being less negative than I had imagined it would be. John Wilson is arguably the best-read Evangelical in America and editor of a premier Evangelical publication in America, so I’m pleasantly surprised that someone of John’s stature would take the book seriously enough to engage with it.

CONTINUE READING This Changes Everything>>>

Big Wedding, Little Marriage

by Alex Bryan

The cost of a typical wedding these days can be enormous. $20,000, $30,000 and a whole lot more. Flowers, music, venue, food, pastor (that’s a big ticket item right there for sure), announcements, dresses, suits, ties. This doesn’t even take into account the honeymoon or all the gifts given to the bride and groom.

So, if more money is being spent on weddings than ever before, why are divorce rates not plummeting? Why are marriages not happier and more long-lasting than ever before? Why is this not the golden age of martial bliss?

How about this: what if a couple took half (say $15,000) the wedding costs and applied this to post-marriage counseling? What if they invested in mini-honeymoons twice a year for the first ten years of marriage? What if they took that money and found ways to invest in the strength and beauty of their relationship?

Switching gears now. Enormous amounts of time, money, energy, prayer, creative action are put into evangelistic meetings. Sermons, music, brochures, venue, Bibles, materials and on and on. So we should be in the evangelistic golden age of the church…. But the opposite is true. The non-churched statistics grow each year. We are not doing better. We are losing the battle.

An idea: what if we took half the money and energy and brainpower we put into “reaping events” (meetings designed to help people make “decisions” for Jesus) and instead invested this in training and equipping church members to build authentic relationships with people, create opportunities for them to serve the community, and invested heavily in their own growth as disciples of Jesus? What would happen if we put the majority of our money in SOWING AND WATERING instead of GROWING AND REAPING?

While wedding days and evangelistic meetings have their (important) place, I wonder if marriages and marriage to Jesus would be a whole lot better with greater emphasis on relationship-building over the long haul.

Photo credit: Martina Konietzny Photography

Israel, Adventism, and A New Wheel

By Julie Smith

There’s an interesting lesson to be learned from the history of Israel. Coming out of a culture of slavery and domination after 400 years in Egypt, they found themselves ignorant of the principles of living a life connected to their Creator.

Moses had his hands full when it came to teaching a large group of people how to have a relationship with a loving God based on the concept of an indwelling Spirit. They were accustomed to having an external locus of control—one in which they were told what to do rather than going within to consult with Spirit as to the best course of action.

How could it have been any other way? They were born into slavery and knew nothing else. By understanding this in all its implications we can begin to understand the reasons why God communicated with the children of Israel in the manner that God did. They needed direct, concise, imperative-command type instructions on what to do and what not to do. They also needed freedom from bondage—not only physical freedom but also spiritual freedom as well.

The introduction of the Sabbath principle, one that was not new but that was forgotten, was to remind them of the need for physical rest after years of non-stop labor. The health principles were introduced to give them freedom from disease after years of ignorance and being subjected to poverty and making do with whatever was available to them. Thus, you can see that God intended to introduce them to all of the principles of freedom available to them in their newfound emancipation that had been unavailable to them during slavery.

Sadly, over the course of their history they made these freedom guidelines into a new form of slavery and entrapment. By the time of Christ, the meaning behind the Sabbath and healthful living had been lost. They were thoroughly entrenched in another form of slavery—living life according to a set of man-made rules.

The Apostle Paul addresses this issue in the book of Colossians in chapter 2 where he addresses the intentions of God to have us live a transformed life. This is a life different from slavery where one is told everything to do and when to do it. It is a life of freedom from rules. The new guiding system is a Christ that lives within (see Col. 1). He closes the chapter with powerful words about living a life that is only guided by rules and not an in-dwelling Christ. “These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.” (Col. 2:23 NLT)

Hopefully, it is not too large a stretch for us to see where we might possibly have made the same error in Adventism today as the children of Israel did in the past. God offers us the idea of a Sabbath rest to release us from the tyranny of too much doing. God offers us suggestions on healthful living to release us from the pitfalls of disease. We have turned these into a substitute for an in-dwelling Christ.

Paul’s words are still good counsel for us today. All of the pious self-denial in the world is not a substitute for a relinquishing of our cherished ego and submitting to the Spirit’s power and control over our lives. There is absolutely no place in the Christian walk for our petty arguments over doctrine and some of the other detours we have taken over the past several years.

The invitation of Christ still calls out to us today, “Look, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone will hear my voice, I will come in and eat with them.” Christ’s promise is one of restoration, rest, healing, and personal instruction. It is the in-dwelling Christ that allows us to enter into His rest. “Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

It is the in-dwelling Christ that allows us to become a light to the world. It is the in-dwelling Christ that insures that we will be the embodiment of the commands to love God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves. If we want to “re-invent the Adventist wheel” this might be a good place to start.