The Advent Season

Advent is a Latin term translated "the coming". The Christian season of Advent is comprised of the four weeks leading up to Christmas, during which Christians across the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Our attention is focused on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love. In Advent we remember the longing of God's people as they looked for a Messiah who would deliver them and bring peace to our world. We also look ahead to Christ's return, when He will finally restore all things. It is a season of reflection and preparation, remembering the incarnate God and making way for Him to come again. The refrain of Advent is, "Come, Lord Jesus, Come."

Our community will take some intentional steps to make the Advent season unique:

SUNDAY WORSHIP - Sundays during Advent will have a more simple and reflective feel as we prepare our hearts for Christmas. Both the preaching and the musical worship will focus on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love.

ADVENT PRAYER - Our prayer gatherings on Wednesday nights will move to a new location - Lane Freemyer's house (near 97th and Maple). Our prayer times will combine confession, reflection, and petition in hopes that we may align our hearts with God's. Join us from 8-9 PM on Wednesdays at Lane's.

ADVENT REFLECTIONS - This blog will become an online Advent devotional during this season. At the least, we'll post each day a Scripture reading to meditate on. And occasionally, we'll write more substantial pieces to spur prayer and provoke reflection.

MOSAIC COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT GIVING - Advent is a season that moves us toward simplicity and selflessness. As a practical and sacrificial way of demonstrating these virtues, God has led us to step out in faith and seek to triple our financial giving during the month of December so that we might fund MCD's 2008 operating budget of $40,000. This is a God-sized vision that will require personal commitment and sacrifice from each person in the Coram Deo community. Please be talking with God about what role He desires you to play as we simplify our Christmas in order to help the poor and needy in our community.

What the O!

This week's edition of "What the O!" will highlight the time I spent last week celebrating Thanksgiving in Iowa with the Freemyers.

Being from Texas, I know my way around a shotgun, and I have spent a decent amount of time out killing my food for sustenance. Deer hunting is big in Texas, but I am much more a fan of shooting the birds, primarily dove. You don't have to worry about making noise, being too still, or deciding to shoot something else when it comes along in fear that you might ruin the hunt. Bird hunting is where it is at for me. So naturally, when an invitation made its way to me to go pheasant hunting with the Freemyers while feasting like a king for two days, I jumped all over it.

I discovered that there are a few differences between hunting dove and pheasant. For starters, much to my delight, pheasant are much bigger. This makes them far easier to shoot but also provides a greater sense of accomplishment--yielding such a fine trophy. Another difference is that dove are primarily flying through the air or temporarily resting in a tree when one attempts to shoot them. Contrastingly, pheasant are hiding out in thick brush by a creek somewhere (I sometimes felt like joining them due to the Pluto-like temperatures) and they must be kicked up from their resting place. The last difference I discovered rather quickly into the hunt, and then rediscovered later on, is that you actually are only "allowed" to shoot the males (roosters) and it is mildly illegal to shoot the females (hens).

Here is the problem: they look exactly alike. Sure there are a few minor color differences, but for all intensive purposes they are mirror images of each other. So, if you are not born in Middle America and pheasant recognition is not naturally ingrained in your DNA, then this task becomes somewhat arduous. On top of that, people shouting out "Hen!!" sounds a lot like "Ken-dal!!"

All of this to say that I am an excellent shot! ... And I shall forever be known as The Lady Killer.

Old Testament Eras

From Theology at the Brazenhead: The Old Testament Eras chart. This class did not make it to the podcast, but the chart gives you a good overview of the content (click to enlarge).

You can also download the PDF file here:

What Has Romans Done in You?

This week we wrap up our preaching series through the book of Romans. One of the bad things about preaching is that you never get any feedback. Well, not any useful feedback, anyway. Sometimes people offer the understated, "Good sermon this morning," which is usually devoid of any reason WHY the listener thought it was good. Other times we hear the more obligatory, "Thanks for your words this morning," which could be a stand-in for either "I appreciated what God taught me" or "That was so lame that I can't think of anything good to say, but you did put in a good effort."

So as we close out the book of Romans, I'd love to hear what God has done in you through the past 15 months of study. The above paragraph is somewhat tongue-in-cheek: I'm not looking for feedback for myself. I do, however, want us to pause and praise God for whatever good has been accomplished in our community by his Spirit through the book of Romans.

So, whether you have been attending in Omaha or following along via podcast from afar, use the comment thread to write about what God has done in your soul through Romans. Let's celebrate together the impact of this great book which Tyndale called "a light and a way in unto the whole Scripture."

What the O!

This week's edition of "What the O!" can be expressed by simply this...

A certain person (to go un-named) asked me this question earlier in the week, "What the heck is queso?" ... and I am speechless.

What the O!

This week's edition of "What the O!" will be focused on the most popular questions I have been asked since coming to Omaha.

1) How have you been adjusting to the weather?

A: I haven't, it's freaking cold here! Last week I was talking to someone about how cold it was, and a deep bellow came from somewhere inside as he mocked me outright. "Just wait a few weeks, and then you will experience cold." I keep hearing that like everyone is proud of this fact, as if bitterly subarctic conditions were something to boast of. Let me tell you something, if the temperature is below 50, then rest assured that I am cold.

2) Why don't you have an accent?

A: Because I am from Austin, TX, home to roughly 1.5 million other people who also don't have an accent. I am not from the backwoods. I did not have horses in my backyard. I did not have a rebel flag on my front porch. My dad still has all of his teeth. I do not own a cowboy hat. And I do not drive a pickup truck. If you really want to hear someone with an accent, venture over to Mississippi or Alabama (or talk to James Chalmers).

3) How do you like the Mexican food here?

A: There's Mexican food here? Honestly, it's downright awful! I'm not so sure you can even call this stuff Mexican. Now granted, I have only eaten at two places around town, but I have not gotten off to a good start. And allow me to let you in on a little-known fact: In Texas we have our own kind of Mexican food - properly termed TexMex, and it is some kind of awesome! Sometime in the near future, Debbie Walker and I will have you over and show you what some good fajitas taste like. Side note: El Alamo is the worst name for a Mexican food joint I can think of.

4) How do you like it around the office?

A: Besides my staff-assigned to-do-board that includes running a seven-miler and taking a Myers-Briggs test, I love it!

5) What happened to your eye?

A: I refused to run the seven-miler.

The Gospel of Comfort

This morning I referenced a recent 60 Minutes special about Joel Osteen. If you happened to miss it, you can catch it here.

Part of engaging the culture is knowing what's being marketed as "Christianity" out there in the mainstream. You may not be listening to or reading Osteen, but some of your neighbors are. There are a number of things in this interview that faithful Christians should find troubling.

2 sidenotes:
1) I was impressed that instead of finding a fundamentalist wacko to critique Osteen's message, the producers interviewed Michael Horton - an articulate, Reformed seminary prof from California who tells it like it is without seeming petty or arrogant.
2) Some sharp-eyed Coram Deo dudes have concluded that Osteen's hook shot in the driveway-basketball scene relies on some clever video editing... watch closely.