Church: People vs. Place

This morning we took a break from Romans to look at the nature of the Church. We saw from 1 Peter 2:9 that the church is a people, not a place. The church is "a people belonging to God," those he has called to himself from among both the religious and the irreligious (Romans 9:24). In this new people, there are no racial, clerical, or national boundaries. These human divisions are superceded as we find our common identity in being Christ's Church, the people who belong to him.

If you would rather read than listen, the essence of the sermon in essay form can be found here: The Nature of the Church

When we engage this conversation, the question often arises: what is the interaction of people and place? Granted, the church is a people and not a place. But people congregate at places. And people live in places. And places shape people. Evan asked this morning: should I be inviting people to come to church (the place) with me, or is that the wrong approach?

My answer is that this is essentially a means-and-ends question. Church (the place) is a means toward the end of shaping the church (the people) in obedience to God. We gather each week to renew our covenant with God and with each other - to be reminded of who we are and whose we are. If inviting people to church (better: the church gathering) on Sunday is an end in itself, that's bad. But if it's a means toward the greater end of seeing them embrace the gospel and join the people of God, great! That's exactly what we're trusting Jesus to do: to use our feeble, sinful, humble efforts to glorify his name and build his kingdom and gather his people. For, in Omaha as in Corinth, God has "many people [yet to be converted] in this city" (Acts 18:10).

What Is A Christian?

Advent was sweeter as I enjoyed a weeklong Sabbath from the Internet and from e-mail. Welcome back to the blogosphere.

Some of you may have watched Anderson Cooper's feature "What is a Christian?" aired on CNN on December 14. But if you didn't, the transcript is worth a read. The stats alone are worth knowing, and the breadth of what qualifies for the moniker "Christian" may both awe you and discourage you at the same time.

Thanks to Dan, a long-distance "friend of Coram Deo," for the link.

Advent (day 20)

THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
FOCUS OF PREPARATION: JOY

I have been contemplating “the coming” for three weeks now, looking for Jesus among the hustle and bustle of life. One thing that strikes me is how many people in his day did not receive him, much less even stop to listen. “The coming” simply passed them by.

And that is the thing about Jesus. He comes in the least expected ways and to the least expected places – as a baby in a manger, as a young boy in the synagogue, as a teacher in the homes of sinners, as a King on the cross of thieves. And he will come again like a thief in the night.

This, too, was foretold by Isaiah:

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by others; a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God (Isaiah 53:1-4).

How tragic, and how true still in our day. “The coming” passes so many by, not just at Christmas, but if at Christmas, then how much more the rest of the year! I stopped to listen during this Advent season – to look around the manger and the synagogue, the back alleys and the company of thieves. I prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus, come,” and come he did. Not clandestinely, but plainly in the most obvious of places.

But I can’t tell you where because that would give away my sermon this week. See you Sunday.


SCRIPTURE READING: John 1:1-18

Advent (day 19)

THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
FOCUS OF PREPARATION: JOY

We have also been singing this hymn, which has become richer to me because of Advent.

The lyrics echo a num­ber of pro­phet­ic themes relate to the coming of Jesus. The ti­tle comes from Isai­ah 7:14: “Be­hold, a vir­gin shall con­ceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Em­man­u­el.” The “Rod of Jesse” refers to Isai­ah 11:1: “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jes­se”; Jesse was the fa­ther of Da­vid, se­cond king of Is­ra­el. “Day-Spring” comes from Ze­cha­ri­ah, fa­ther of John the Bap­tist, in Luke 1:78: “The day­spring from on high has vis­it­ed us.” “Thou Key of Da­vid” is in Isai­ah 22:22: “The key of the house of Da­vid will I lay up­on his shoul­der,” which in turn re­fers to Isai­ah 9:6 “The gov­ern­ment shall be up­on His shoul­der."

O COME, O COME, EMMANUEL

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.


SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 2

Advent (day 18)

We have been singing this hymn by Charles Wesley at church the last two weeks. I wanted to post the lyrics here because these words will make for meaningful advent refleciton and preparation.

COME THOU LONG EXPECTED JESUS

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.

By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Strock's Radio Hit?

My favorite thing to do with new albums is to predict which song has the greatest likelihood of being a radio hit. Which song, if picked up by a local DJ, has the potential to put this album on the map?

So I'm inviting you into a little blog debate. If you had to pick a song from Strock's album, which one would it be? What's his best chance of getting noticed?

My vote: "I'd Rather Have You." I think it's the sleeper song of the album. A foot-tapper, tinged with blues-organ, showcasing some artistic vocal work... plus it could play equally well on pop-rock love-song stations and on college indie-rock radio.

What's your vote?

Advent (day 17)

THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
FOCUS OF PREPARATION: JOY

What is the joy of waiting?

We have all experienced how waiting and anticipation heightens the joy of consummation. Two examples of this come to mind this morning: birth and Eve.

If babies came right after conception, I’m not sure “joy” is what we would feel in that moment. We want time … time to tell everyone our good news, time to paint a room and buy things, time to prepare ourselves for this new life. Instantaneous birth would rob us of the joy of waiting, but with nine months to prepare and imagine, the birthday comes as a glorious celebration!

Donald Miller surmises that Adam lived alone for a long time, maybe hundreds of years, naming the animals and such. There was “no suitable helper” to be found for him among the animals. Day after day and year after year Adam was faced with the reality that he was alone. Not without company, but without companionship.

When Adam first laid eyes on Eve, he broke out into song:

This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called woman,
For she was taken out of man.

Adam, I’m sure, would have been glad to have Eve from day one. But the waiting, the unnamed longing for someone with flesh and bone like his, brought about a joy he could not have known otherwise.

There is in all of us a deep sense of longing that has to do with incompleteness … embryonic aspirations, parts of us that remain unknown, an ever-increasing awareness of our broken world. We may be redeemed and joyful in Christ, but we know there is more, that we were made for another world. Lingering in our souls is the eerie memory of Eden and the mystery of kingdom come.

Pregnancy strikes me as one of the few things that we are required to wait for anymore. In fact, almost every occasion of waiting is now largely seen as imposition. It’s not that life stops during pregnancy. We still have all the usual things to do. But the growing belly is a constant reminder of what is to come. There is nothing we can do to hasten it or prolong it. We can only prepare and wait.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently (Romans 8:22-25).

Advent makes us wait and take note that this is how God chose to come into our world. Not in a flash from the sky, but as a seed in the womb of a woman. After thousands of years, the Messiah finally comes, and then there is waiting. For Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, it was a blessed time … time to take it all in, time to prepare and dream wild dreams, time to break out in song! (see today’s reading).

Come, Lord Jesus Come.
Come when you will.
We await your return.

Come when time is full,
Our pregnant hope due.
New life in our old world,
New bodies in full view.

Come in the morning,
Our long-awaited light.
The day breaks death,
The darkness now in flight.

Come with trumpet sound,
Our consummate song.
Resounding joy for all
Who have waited so long.


SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 2:46-80

Advent (day 16)

THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
FOCUS OF PREPARATION: JOY

Advent is a season of hope, remembering the longing of God’s people for Messiah and rekindling our own desire for Christ’s return. It is a time of reflection and preparation, both of which require us to enter in, forsaking the usual hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

The last two weeks have invited our reflection … considering the question, “What do I long for now?” My weak desires have been exposed by the powerful images and stories of God’s mighty deeds throughout history. I have been confronted with my day-to-day cravings, which often have little to do with the redemptive work of Christ or his coming reign of peace and justice. My only recourse in these times of searching for hope has been to plead the cry of Advent: “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” Come and revive my spirit, lift my eyes to the God of hope, and to Christ, my hope of glory.

Now in the last two weeks of Advent we shift from reflection to preparation, from longing to anticipation. The clouds are breaking. Morning is coming. We are entering into the long-awaited joy of annunciation:

The angel said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God."

The stories of Jesus’ birth are filled with hints of what his life will mean for us. Faith and generosity overcome impossibility. Poverty and persecution reveal glory.

During this Christmas season, a time when we anticipate and receive gifts, let us be renewed in our sense of wonder and joy as we fix our hope on the gift of God: foretold by the prophets and the angel Gabriel, conceived in the virgin Mary, and celebrated by John the Baptist in his womb. “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 1: 26-45

A Big Week for Coram Deo

It's a big week in the life of Coram Deo!

First, Jared Strock finally released his first CD of original music, Searching for Julie. Mick's Music Bar was jammed to capacity last night (with people waiting on the sidewalk to get in) for Jared's CD release show. The disc has been spinning in our home stereo all day, and we thoroughly agree with the Omaha World-Herald in classifying Jared's songs as "mature pop-rock." This isn't sophomoric three-chords-and-a-microphone stuff; the kid can write music. Go to www.jaredstrock.com and listen to "Backup Plan" and "Disaster," and after you're sufficiently impressed, go ahead and spend 10 bucks to buy the album. Or pick up a copy at Coram Deo this weekend.

Second, Coram Deo has officially been accepted as a full member in the Acts 29 church planting network. A29 is a great "band of brothers" - a network of like-minded church planters who are working together to plant culturally relevant, biblically faithful churches. Go to www.acts29network.org to learn more about our extended family.

Third, Coram Deo is now podcasting our weekly sermons on iTunes (and other podcast clients)! In iTunes, go to the Podcast Directory, click "Power Search," and type "Coram Deo." You can follow the icons to subscribe to our podcast, bringing fresh teaching from Coram Deo directly to your iPod every week!

May God be honored as we leverage these opportunities for His glory.

Strock in the News

Check out page 7 of the "Go" section in today's Omaha World-Herald (Thursday 12/14/06) for a feature on Coram Deo's own Jared Strock. I'd link to the story, but the communist editors at the OWH say that this story is available online to "subscribers only." So go spend 50 cents and get a paper copy.

Advent (day 12)

THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
FOCUS OF RELFECTION: PEACE

Peace is from God. Just as no possession or approval or achievement can usher peace into our lives, neither can any political structure or humanitarian effort set the world right.

“World peace” has become a trite cliché in our culture. It’s the pipe dream of Miss America and hippie musicians. Christians are smarter than that. We know about the nature of man, and why the world is messed up in the first place.

This is why modern Christianity has had minimal interest in world peace, and instead focused on making sure people have a ticket to get out of this world. We pity the disciples for thinking that Jesus came to organize a divine coup, because we know that God is not concerned with such things. He wants to reign in our hearts. Peace from God is an individual, inner peace.

This is true in part, but maybe we have missed something in the other direction.

We haven’t read the nativity stories as subversive stories presenting Jesus as an alternative to the divine Lord Caesar. We haven’t taken to heart that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, employing us as citizens who expand God’s rule and call upon His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We haven’t read the apocalyptic accounts as the birth pangs of a new heaven and a new earth recreated with justice and peace.

What if getting out of this world is the wrong aim? That certainly was not Isaiah’s vision of peace:

ISAIAH 2

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit … He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked … The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them … The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

The cry of Advent is not “Take us, Lord Jesus, take us away,” but rather “Come, Lord Jesus, Come.”

SCRIPTURE READING: Revelation 19

Advent (day 11)

THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
FOCUS OF REFLECTION: “PEACE”

Holman’s Bible Dictionary defines peace as a “sense of well-being and fulfillment that comes from God and is dependent on His presence.”

A sense of well-being and fulfillment from God means, at least in part, that we embrace all the elements of our existence as God-ordained, and therefore deem this world a perfectly safe place for us to be. It means to be at rest in the assuring sovereignty of God, much like Adam and Eve must have felt in the garden.

But we do not have a garden. We have a broken and decaying world. Indeed, but that is only part of our reality. Dallas Willard comments, “the entire posture of our embodied self and its surroundings is habitually inclined toward physical or earthly reality as the only reality there is,” which is why we are inclined to trust and hope in what is seen.

Jesus warns us along these lines, that if we seek fulfillment in temporal things like security, appearance and money, then our fate is fixed. We will be anxious. This is why Paul said that the peace of God "transcends all understanding". It simply isn’t how the world thinks, precisely because the world can’t see it.

The Advent season summons us to hope in what is unseen, the unlikely birth of a Savior and the return of our King. When our trust is in the God-reality that is beyond any risk of threat, anxiety is pointless. “It occurs,” Willard says, “only as a hangover of bad habits established when we were trusting things— like human approval and material possessions— that were certain to let us down. Now our strategy should be one of resolute rejection of worry, while we concentrate on the future in hope and with prayer and on the past with thanksgiving.”

Peace is dependent on God’s presence because there simply isn’t any other source of it. The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings of the Old Testament each bear witness to this truth, which is why they looked to God to set things right in our world, to restore the peace of Eden. The ultimate prayer for peace is, “Come, Lord Jesus, Come.”


SCRIPTURE READING: Instead of a passage, let’s take in a survey of the peace that is from God in the Old Testament -- Leviticus 26:6; 1 Chronicles 12:18, 22:9; 1 Kings 2:33; Isaiah 26:12, 52:7; Ezekiel 37:26; Malachi 2:5-6; Job 22:21, 25:2; Psalm 4:8; 29:11, 85:8, 122:6-8; Proverbs 3:17

Self-Help?

Interested in your thoughts on this statement:

Spiritual formation without mission is nothing more than Christianized self-help.

Advent (day 10)

THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
FOCUS OF REFLECTION: "PEACE"

“After mocking Jesus, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross” (Matthew 27:31-32).

The way the story reads it seems that this man, Simon of Cyrene, was inconsequential, a mere bystander, a wrong-place-wrong-time casualty. I imagine that he was simply going about his business as usual – doing the day’s tasks, thinking of things that interest him, and talking to friends – when he stopped to see what all the commotion was about. And that, of course, is how he got dragged into the mess.

It’s the day-to-day aspect of Simon’s life that intrigues me. What was “peace” to him? If he was anything like most of us, I would say that peace in his mind had to do with preserving a certain quality of life and avoiding hardship as much as it was up to him to do so.

We have notions of peace for people and places beyond our immediate community, sure, but these are often little more than passing wishes for an ideal that seems out of reach, or at least out of our reach. Best to just focus on what is at hand.

What is “at hand” is precisely the issue. God is among us, burning in bushes, walking along the road to Emmaus, blowing like the wind. This is at the heart of Jesus’ message: “The kingdom of God is at hand”. Advent is an invitation to remember this proclamation, and to turn aside, open our eyes, and be filled.

Year after year Advent passes me by. I never stop to look. Too many other concerns: presents, year-end work, family, parties … business as usual. But this year I risked a look, and out from the commotion came this question: “What do I long for now?”

The general tone of Advent is one of excitement, the giddy anticipation of a child for Christmas morning. But as an adult there is an element of sober reflection concerning our present longing, or lack of it. Do I long for peace? Is my notion of peace really something else altogether? What do I long for now?

I tried to escape this question, but somehow I got talked into carrying these words around. And now they have become a heavy load. The things I had to do, the longings I had, the burdens I was already carrying, all of it now subject to this cross, all of it now inconsequential in comparison to the coming of our Lord.

My day-to-day definition of peace – “as much happiness and as little pain as possible” – is crumbling under the weight of these words. The ages of longing in God’s people, the groaning of creation, the intercession of the Holy Spirit, the collective anticipation of the heavenly host— all of it mounting up in theses words, compelling me to leave the crowd of onlookers and join the company of those who carry the cross. The ones who have turned aside and been dragged into this mess. The heavy-hearted and expectant ones, whose song has become the chorus of advent: “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”


SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 11

Advent (day 9)

The Advent season matures. Light intensifies and the pangs of expectancy swell and ache and press against all the boundaries of our comfort. The seed of hope takes root in us, pushes through the layers of self-absorption, and produces in us a budding desire for peace.

Peace was central to the longing of God’s people. Read to the words of the prophet Isaiah as he speaks of the coming Messiah:

ISAIAH 11:1-10
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.

Jesus came to us in the humblest of forms – a child, and in the humblest of places – a manger. He was found only by those who looked for him. As we consider our own longing for peace, we are reminded that we must turn to him in faith. “Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1).”

During this Christmas season, which we have polluted with worry and distraction, let us enter into the second week of advent with a quietness in our heart, making preparation in our lives to receive the Prince of Peace, praying with humility, “Come, Lord Jesus, Come."

Hooch Dupree and the Whiskey Priest

I am still looking for words to describe what I experienced last night.

Hooch Dupree and the Whiskey Priest – aka Alex Dupree and Seth Woods – played an acoustic show last night at Mosaic Community Development. Will turned me on to Alex’s music about a year ago, and I have always liked its haunting, intelligent style. But nothing could have prepared me for seeing this up-and-coming genius in person.

Lots of people play guitar and sing. Some even do it really well. But in the words of one music critic, “There are plenty of songwriters out there with catchy tunes, and the folk singer-songwriter genre is seriously played.” So what do a couple of traveling twenty-something bards from Austin have to contribute?

Brilliant, beautiful things, that’s what. The artistic majesty of last night’s show was indescribable. It felt as if the guitar in Alex’s hands was a useful but inadequate vehicle to express what he was feeling. He wasn’t really playing the guitar; it was more like the guitar was playing him. And that’s what made the evening so mesmerizing. We who watched sensed that we were welcome, yet inconsequential: Alex and Seth were lost in their music, and we got lost with them.

The most intriguing moment of the night for me was the “A-ha!” moment at the end of Alex’s Song “The Annunciation.” He prefaced the song by saying it was “about Christmas,” and the title should have given me a clue as to where it was going. But it sounded to me like a song about a homeless lady in New Orleans. Which it is… sort of.

lady margaret, new orleans
she's the lonely sundial of bourbon street
only child she never dreams
just an empty old vial of amphetamine…

i first saw her highwayside
with a jackal clutched up against her breast
her legs were dirty kneeling down
and her bowl is empty but she does her best

lady margaret, full of kings
i've been on the road too, i've been on the road
so wrap yourself in christmas things
because you have been known too, you have been known

let heaven hold you while you sleep
because the sky is groaning, the sky will groan
let heaven slip inside your sheets
and the weight you carry is my holy ghost…

and if you never dream of love
you will always be mine, you will always be
buried under stars above
you will always be mine, you will always be

give my word his birth

On the CD, the last line is so subtle that you hardly catch it. But in concert, Alex kept repeating it over and over again, catching me up in its sublime impact.

For those of you who weren’t at the concert, you missed something worth seeing. My advice: 1) go to Alex’s and Seth’s websites and listen to some of their music, and 2) always trust Will’s taste in music.

(Hint: you have to click the “Buy Now” link on Alex’s site in order to hear samples of his songs.)

Advent (Day 6)

We have been thinking about how hope is grounded in the past – God’s mighty deeds for Israel and the sufficiency of Christ’s redemptive work. Today we turn our eyes to the future. The major emphasis on hope in the New Testament centers around the second coming of Christ, when the believer’s hope becomes experienced reality rather than anticipation of future experience.

Paul says we “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23).

Upon first reading, I was struck by the phrase “groan inwardly” for two reasons: 1) I wasn’t sure what that meant, and 2) I suspected that I don’t actually do that.

Bromiley’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament describes the word used for “groan” in this verse as, “A sighing that takes place by reason of a state of oppression which causes suffering and from which there is the desire to be free.” Paul uses the same word in 2 Corinthians 5:2 to express that existence in the body is a burden, a sign that redemption is not yet complete.

So my suspicion is confirmed: I don’t really sense that having a body is oppressive and thus I do not long to be free from life in this body, at least not in the way that slaves groan in their labor and long to be free. In plain terms, I like my life on earth. Don’t get me wrong, I look forward to the day when Jesus will set everything right, but I cannot say that I groan inwardly as I anticipate that day.

Well what’s wrong with liking life? Nothing. Or maybe everything. Jesus said he came so that we may have life to the fullest, and he said that if anyone wants to save his life he must lose it.

Advent is forcing me to wrestle with this tension, pushing me back over and over to the same question: “What do I long for now?” Is it the coming of Christ … to the point that life in this body is such a burden that I groan inwardly because my desire for freedom simply cannot be expressed in words? To this end Jesus beckons us:

Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life …

He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:12-21).

SCRUPTURE READING: 2 Peter 3:10-15

Advent (day 5)

The hope of Old Testament saints was built upon the rock of God’s mighty deeds in history. The New Testament continues to speak of God as the source and object of hope. Consider the object of hope in these verses:

2 Corinthians 1: 8-10
We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.

1 Peter 1:21
Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Colossians 1:27
God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Beyond the doctrinal understanding of God fulfilling His promises in Christ, the New Testament writers also transferred the images applied to God in the Old Testament. The Bible relies heavily on symbol and imagery to intensify the meaning of its doctrine. Since the Exodus event was so central to the hope of Old Testament saints, I’ll draw from those images and correlate them to the New Testament.

The people were slaves, in the bondage under the rule of Pharaoh ... We were “under sin”, enslaved to its desires (Romans 3:9, John 8:34-35).

God sent Moses to speak for Him and deliver his people ... God sent Jesus to speak his words and set us free (John 8: 35-38). “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

God parted the Red Sea ... when Jesus died the veil of the temple was torn in two.
God led them by a pillar of fire ... Jesus is the light of the world.
God fed them daily with manna ... Jesus is the Bread of Life.
God gave them water when Moses struck the rock ... water flowed from Jesus’ side when he was pierced. He is the Cornerstone and the Living water.
God made a covenant with them in the wilderness ... Jesus is the new covenant.

The pages of Scripture are flooded with this kind of symbolism and imagery. In my own life, Advent is deepening my sense of hope by forcing me to think about it and talk about it in a variety of ways. To know that Christ is our hope is good doctrine. But to explore the Christ of our hope in song and story and symbol is to work the truth of hope deep into the fabric of our being, where truth becomes meaningful and doctrine becomes life.

SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 18:1-6

Advent (day 4)

Hope is a future-oriented term, but it is grounded in past events. In the Old Testament, hope for the Messiah was anchored in God’s mighty deeds in history. This is why their concept of Messiah was closely linked with terms like “Deliverer”.

In fulfilling His promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), God delivered the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt and led them into the Promised Land. The Exodus event formed the basis of hope for the people of God. They told the story over and over again.

Even when Israel was unfaithful, hope was not lost. Because of God's faithfulness and mercy, those who returned to Him received forgiveness and deliverance from their enemies. The psalmist called on Israel to “hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love and with him is great power to redeem. It is He who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities” (Psalm 131:7).

God’s mighty deeds sustained Israel’s hope for a messiah, the anointed ruler who would be God’s agent to restore Israel’s glory and rule the nations in peace and righteousness.

If we are weak in hope, perhaps we have vested our hope in weak things: wealth, possessions, reputation, relationships. Perhaps these are the things we long for now. Let us renew the hope of Advent in our hearts by remembering the mighty deeds of God, not least of which is coming into our world. “And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point o f death—even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). Come again, Lord Jesus. We await your return.

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 105

Advent (day 3)

The emphasis during the first week of Advent is hope. We will be considering various aspects of biblical hope each day this week.

Hope is described by the Holman Bible Dictionary as:

Trustful expectation, particularly with reference to the fulfillment of God's promises. Biblical hope is the anticipation of a favorable outcome under God's guidance. More specifically, hope is the confidence that what God has done for us in the past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future.

This contrasts to the world's definition of hope as “a feeling that what is wanted will happen.” Understood in this way, hope can denote either a baseless optimism or a vague yearning after an unattainable good. If hope is to be genuine hope, however, it must be founded on something (or someone) which affords reasonable grounds for confidence in its fulfillment. The Bible bases its hope in God and His saving acts.

The words which are most often used to connote “hope” in the Bible mean "to look for something with eager expectation" ... "to rely on something reliable" ... "trust" ... "to endure" ... "to expect".

Remember childhood when we longed for Christmas morning to come because it was a magical time? Where has that kind of anticipation gone in our lives?

Our deepest longing is for God himself – to see him without the veil of this flesh, to know him without doubt. But this longing has been stifled by duty and hardship, and we have consequently misplaced our hope in material things and people and circumstance.

In the season of Advent we are awakened to this question: “What do I long for now?” The answer won't come easily. The more we walk around with that question, and let it penetrate through the layers of distraction and self-protection, the more powerfully we will experience Advent.

Today's Scripture Reading: Psalm 33

Advent

This is the first week of Advent, which is Latin for “the coming”. These are the weeks leading up to Christmas, during which Christians across the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. To help you prepare, I (Walker) will be posting daily readings/reflections/prayers for you to use.

The refrain of Advent is, “Come, Lord Jesus, Come.”

In Advent we remember the longing of God’s people as they looked for a Messiah. They longed for the long night to be over, for light to shine through the darkness. They waited for a ruler who would bring peace and justice to our world. They hoped for a savior, someone to rescue them and return them home from exile.

The prophets of Israel all spoke of the coming of Christ, of how a Savior would be born, a king in the line of David. They spoke of how he would rule the world wisely and bless all nations. Read the words written by the prophet Isaiah 700 years before the birth of Jesus:

ISAIAH 35

1 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. 3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4 say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.

5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. 7 The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. 9 No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, 10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

On Christmas day the Christ of our hope was born. On Good Friday the Christ of our hope died. On Easter day the Christ of our hope rose from the dead. He then ascended into heaven. On the last day, the Christ of our hope will come again to establish his kingdom over all things on earth.

As followers of Christ we await his return. We proclaim that as he came humbly into our world in a manger in Bethlehem, so he is coming again with power to deliver his people.

During a season which is marked, in our culture, by hurriedness and consumerism, let us enter Advent soberly, making preparation in our own hearts, clearing a way in our own lives to make the refrain of Advent our own prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus, Come.”

Is God a Democrat Now?

The leadership of Coram Deo tries to keep our finger on the pulse of the culture. This morning an email came to us from Sojourners, a progressive Christian organization headed by Jim Wallis, author of the 2005 book God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It. Here is a portion of what Mr. Wallis wrote in the email:

Wednesday morning, my phone rang, and on the other end of the line was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. In an unprecedented invitation, he asked if I would speak to the nation in the Democrat's weekly radio broadcast this Saturday. In the past, these addresses have been given by elected officials, but the senator thought a non-partisan religious leader could speak to the moral values our nation needs. I thanked him for the invitation, and said I'd get back to him.

Whether or not to accept was a difficult decision. I work hard to maintain my independence and non-partisanship, and didn't want to be perceived as supporting one party over the other. But it was an occasion to get our message to millions of people, so I decided to accept.

Wallis goes on to further explain his reasoning. But I must admit: I'm mildly skeptical. If you think the Democratic majority leader gives away his bully pulpit without retaining any control over what's said... you don't know much about politics. Trust me, it doesn't work that way. Props to Jim for taking a major opportunity to push some biblical values. But this is the Democrats' weekly radio address. Wallis' actions leave at least a mild suspicion that evangelicalism is hopping into bed with the Democrats now. I mean, we're just getting over our ungodly affair with the Republicans. I'm not sure I can adjust to a new lover that quickly.

Moreover, a few weeks ago I quoted Gordon MacDonald's lament that Ted Haggard had risen to the place of speaking for all evangelicals - even when many Christians didn't share his views. I fear that Wallis may be perceived in the same light. For instance, he speaks of "the moral need to extricate ourselves from Iraq." I'm not sure exactly what this means, but I, for one, am not convinced that our timetable for leaving Iraq is a "moral" issue. This seems like an issue on which thinking Christians may disagree.

I suspect Wallis' motives are good. But what he perceives as an "occasion to get our message to millions of people" may in fact be an attempt by politicians to get their message out - and attach Jesus' name to it. And I don't think Jesus is in favor of that.

Maybe you have a differing point of view... and if so, please comment away. You can read the transcript of Wallis' radio address here.

Alex and Jared

Next Sunday night, come hear some good music and support the work of social justice in downtown Omaha.

Most of you are familiar with Jared Strock... if you haven't heard his original work, check it out at his MySpace page.

Alex Dupree is a buddy of Will's from Austin who is making waves on the indie scene. People he has impressed include Donald Miller and NPR. Alex doesn't have a hip and cool music-streaming website, but you can listen to his CD on iTunes... search for Alex Dupree.

Men and Masculinity

40 guys converged on Oakland, Iowa, this past weekend to consider what it means to be a godly masculine leader. For those of you women who are longing for details... we can't give them. Suffice it to say there was much food, a masculinity assessment, competitive sport, mild ranting from the lead pastor, and a visit from the Pottawattamie County Sheriff. Not every church can say that the cops showed up to bust their church men's retreat.

The essential theme of the weekend was that God created humanity "male and female." And male and female are not just physiological, but psychological as well. There is such a thing as masculinity, and there is such a thing as femininity, and they are designed differently by God. To put it in the simplest terms: anatomical maleness does not guarantee true masculinity.

Men are designed to reflect the masculine side of God's image, not the feminine side. But church is a highly feminized environment. So much so, in fact, that we think of Jesus and the Bible and spirituality in feminine categories, not masculine ones. We think that the purpose of Christianity is to have an intimate relationship with a wonderful man named Jesus (sound like a chick flick?), not to save the world against impossible odds. Many pastors tend to be weak men because, to quote Mark Driscoll, "It's an indoor job that doesn't require heavy lifting."

So the purpose of the weekend was to challenge the men of Coram Deo to reject femininity and recover a healthy dose of the masculine spirit in our Christianity.

I had a great example of the difference between the masculine spirit and the feminine spirit today as we were eating lunch after church. My highly inquisitive daughter was asking why we always have lunch after church. "Is that just when it's time to have lunch?" she asked. My mildly sarcastic wife replied, "Yes. I mean, I guess I COULD just throw some chicken feed at you, but we usually think lunch is a good idea."

I chimed in, "Or you could just go out in the backyard and kill a squirrel and eat it."

"No, Daddy! (short pause) But I don't know how to kill things. Or cook them."

"Well, then it's a good thing you live in a family where we do know how to cook."

This whole time, my youngest son had been sitting in his chair eating quietly. He finally piped up and said (in his lispy 3-year-old voice) "Daddy, how about you and me go outside and kill a squirrel and kill some birds and then cut them up and eat them?"

That's what I'm talkin' about. We raise masculine men around here. For more on this topic, listen to this Mark Driscoll sermon on godly masculinity.