broken//stained//glass

A blog worth checking out

There is someone I'd like you to do meet.

Kevin Rogers is the community pastor at a sweet faith community in Portland, OR called Imago Dei (where Rick McKinley pastors and Don Miller attends). Kevin and I met a few years ago when I was visiting Imago on vacation. He sent me an email telling me of his new blogging pursuits.
He's a great thinker.
Check out his blog here.

Sinead O'Connnor's Theology

I never thought I would ever be intrigued enough to listen to a Sinead O'Connor album (in fact, its weird admitting this on the blog), but her newest release, entitled Theology, is rich and thought-provoking.

In fact, almost every song on the album could possibly be used in a worship set in any evangelical church today.
The songs are quite beautiful, both in tune and lyrics.

It seems she's studied her Bible, wooed by the poetry and the stories she has found in it. I know that in her past she's experienced first-hand the abuse of religion, but somehow has been struck by the vivid, powerful and yet gentle elements of the Scriptures, especially her understanding of Jeremiah. I'm pleasantly surprised by how articulate she is about her faith, more articulate than many seminarians I have met. Quite beautiful. I wonder if King David lived in 2007 and he were to put out an album and sell it on iTunes if it might sound similar to this.

Check out her myspace page (you can listen to a few of her songs there...especially "Something Beautiful") or check it out here.

resonate: Living in Context

We have an exciting month this July at resonate.
We're pumped to have a variety of communicators teach on what it means to flesh out the gospel in their specific contexts.

Eric Mason - a church planter from the inner-city of Philadelphia.
Craig Gross - co-founder and pastor of XXXchurch.com (don't worry...it's a safe site).
Shaun Groves - teacher, singer/songwriter from Nashville.
Steve Huber - church planter from Philly.
Dr. Imad Shehadeh - professor of theology at Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary.

To learn more about this series at resonate click here or check back on the resonate website here.  

Transparent Wall Clarity Enhancement Specialists for the Kingdom of God

Last weekend Megan and I went out with some close friends for a night in the city. We rode together with Richie and Nicole and stopped first in Manyunk. (Having heard so much about this artsy, vibey neighborhood outside of Philly, we had to see it for ourselves).

As we were walking the streets of Manyunk, Megan and Nicole wanted to check out something in one of the stores, so Richie and I, like all husbands experience from time to time, waited outside until they were finished. While waiting, we stopped and talked with Mark, a window washer, who was quickly but gracefully moving his squeegee up and down and around window panes. [It's a little known fact that Richie and I - no joke - if we didn't work in our respected fields of work we would probably make our living as window washers (we think its the cleanliness and the instant gratification of progress that would be so appealing). So you can imagine why Richie and I wanted to talk with Mark - and you can imagine why talking with him was so interesting.]

For about twenty minutes, Mark told us how long he's been washing windows, where he buys his supplies, the logistics of the business and other elements of being a window washer. It was evident that Mark takes great pride in his work - as he should. He even let me use his squeegee on a pole to wipe down one of the storefront windows, which I didn't do a very good job...I left a lot of streaks and was extremely slow. (How do I know? Mark told me).

As we thanked him for his time and said goodbye, he gave us his business card. One of the best-worded business card I've ever seen. It read:

Mark Snyder
Transparent Wall Clarity Enhancement Specialist 
"Bringing You a Brighter Outlook and a Clearer Perspective"

We couldn't get over his job title: Transparent Wall Clarity Enhancement Specialist!
Great title!

Richie and I talked that night about our role as followers of Jesus is to do what Mark does. All day long Mark cleans windows to allow people to see out - or see in - with "a clearer perspective." We just finished a series at resonate called They Like Jesus But Don't Like the Church (based on the Dan Kimball book) and we talked in detail about how our job is to present Christ clearly in our lives and the world in which we live. We are called to be vessels of hope ("a brighter outlook") and provide a clear understanding of Jesus ("a clearer perspective"). Unfortunately and ironically, as Christians we can sometimes cloud people's perspective and often block their view of seeing Jesus clearly.

Imagine if took our role as spiritual window washers as seriously as Mark does.
What difference that would make on our culture if we were constantly washing off dirt, wiping out streaks and carefully rubbing away residue so that people could get a clear picture of the life of Jesus and the invitation of a life of meaning and purpose that he offers.

When we claim to be a follower of Jesus our job title becomes: Transparent Wall Clarity Enhancement Specialist for the Kingdom of God.

Mike and Cassie: Counting Conversations rather than Conversions

I've been interacting a lot lately with Mike, my neighbor next door who is not a follower of Jesus. Mike is between his sophomore and junior years in college and doing an internship for the summer. When he's home visiting his parents we connect and talk.

Many of our recent conversations have drifted into the realm of faith, Christianity and God. I think we've been able to develop enough of a mutual trust with one another to ask pointed questions and listen to one another, resulting in healthy conversations about faith. I'm learning quite a bit from Mike's perspective - and others his age - and he told me recently that our conversations have really made him think about Jesus in new ways. I absolutely love having these conversations.

Mike and I sat on our back patio for about two hours a couple Saturday afternoons ago and he asked some great questions:

Do you think that Jesus ever regretted anything he did?
Do you think that Judas is in heaven or hell?
If alien life was ever proven to exist how might that impact your understanding of the Christian faith?

Another person I love talking with regarding faith is Cassie, a non-Christian who cuts my hair about every three weeks or so. I always request Cassie, even if the wait is longer. It's not because of how she cuts my hair (although she does a fine job) but because we've developed a relationship where trust exists and she opens up a lot regarding faith, religion and God.

In fact, of all the people I know, I learn more from her regarding faith from a non-Christian's perspective and what the culture thinks about the Church than anyone else. She's helped me think through topics we need to address or areas in which we need to be more intentional.

She's honest.

She asks me questions.

It started when I asked her a few questions:
If you could ask God one question what would it be?
What comes to your mind when you think of Jesus?
What comes to your mind when you think of Christians?
What confuses you the most about Jesus?

I find these conversations with Mike and Cassie and others to be so refreshing. Though I haven't asked them outright, I think they come to appreciate the fact that I attempt to listen to them and their views, even if they differ from mine. I am so glad I've been intentional in building relationships with them and I pray that one day they come to faith in the Risen Christ. But I also realize I need to be even more intentional with other people all around me.

Which has made me wonder: How can we be even more intentional in cultivating conversations (not lectures  or monologues) about faith with those far from God?   

A Christian bumper sticker I actually found amusing

I saw a great bumper sticker on the car in front of me in traffic the other day that made me laugh out loud.

In case of rapture the eschatological views of this driver will change.

Jars of Clay coming to Sellersville

Jars of Clay is coming back to the Sellersville Theatre.
Ticket information is here.

The Simple Way

Remember Shane Claiborne and those at The Simple Way after the devastating fire that occurred in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Read more or consider helping by logging on here.

Ephesians 6: The Gospel According to American Idol

I'm excited to teach this coming Sunday morning in Calvary Central. It's been a while since I've taught in the morning and I am really looking forward to it.
We'll be exploring Ephesians 6 in the final week of our series 'The Gospel According to American Idol.' Ephesians 6 is a such a rich passage on standing firm and being fitted with the armor of God, the climax of the entire letter to the Ephesians.

Thoughts on grace-creating-freedom

As mentioned earlier, this past weekend I finished a seminary course with Scot McKnight on Galatians and understanding grace-creating-freedom. The past nine weeks I've been thinking a lot about freedom in Christ, slavery, the works of the law, listening to the spirit, what grace-creating-freedom means and trying to grasp its implications and its risks.

Here are a few (random) things regarding freedom. If you're interested, it might be fun to watch, experience, discuss, ponder them in light of the message of Paul's letter to the church in Galatia. [Please understand that I don't agree with everything - especially the films - but I do think they are good tools to help us ruminate and compare/contrast these ideas of freedom with what Paul talked about in Galatians.

Quote:
"The truth is that people set rules to keep from making decisions."
   -Coach K, Duke basketball

Movies:
(1) The Devil's Playground: the film highlights the Amish culture and the concept of rumspringa (German word for "running around") a time of decision-making for Amish teenagers to experience the the freedoms of the world ("the devil's playground") which include drinking, drugs and sex and then deciding whether they want to reject the Amish tradition or commit to living in it for the rest of their lives. Much of the film is saddening, as one sees how freedom is misunderstood and abused by these Amish teenagers.

(2) Freedom Writers: Based on a true story, Hillary Swank plays a teacher in this independent film as she attempts to help at-risk students from gang-infested Southern California write about freedom in their journals. It's a well done movie, thought-provoking. But it is interesting how much of our idea of 'freedom' is a very North American concept, not a universal one.

These should spark some great discussions, thoughts, insights and questions regarding what freedom in Christ really means.