A friend and I were having a conversation about McLaren’s now-old book The Secret Message of Jesus. Here is something I wrote to him about chapter 19, which talks about the apocalyptic literature in the New Testament. I’m including it here for posterity, and in case anyone wants to disagree. Continue reading “Secret Codes”
Category: stuff I think about
The hope of the world
While I was at the Willow conference, I heard a phrase that really bothered me. The woman who organized the entire conference was speaking from the main stage, and she said, “The local church is the hope of the world.” What? Continue reading “The hope of the world”
Fear
I’m afraid. No, make that terrified. I have trouble sleeping. The fear comes over me in the middle of the day. I’m afraid for myself. I’m afraid for my children. I’m not afraid of gangs or theft. I’m not afraid of physical harm or even ridicule. I’m terrified of complacency. When I look out of my window, I see beautiful yards, large comfortable homes, nice cars, happy people. I’m afraid that I’ll start believing that everyone lives this way. I’m afraid that my kids already believe that. The fear is so great, that I’m going to have to do something about it. Because of my fear, I think I’m going to have to move. I think I might have to live in a neighborhood where things don’t look so nice, where things don’t smell, sound or feel very nice. But, at least it would be a better representation of the reality of our world. It might keep me and my children from just enjoying the things we have and forgetting to do something about all the people who don’t have the same opportunites. It might free me from this fear.
Teach Your Children
Isn’t it great to hear a good report about your children? I heard such a report the other day, and it went a long way toward validating what we’re doing at home.
I was picking up a couple of my girls from the youth group meeting, and was chatting with one of the adult volunteers. He told me that the leader had asked the following question: “Who here thinks you can change the world?” Two hands went up immediately. The volunteer told me, “You can guess whose hands they were.”
This is the kind of person we are trying to raise…one who thinks she can change the world. One who is convinced that she was put onto this earth to make a difference. Not simply to get an education, find a job, marry, have kids, and repeat the process.
Our church is having a parenting class right now. I wonder if this is being taught? Unfortunately, I’m afraid it’s a “tips for Christian parenting” class. Not that this is bad, but by itself it’s simply not enough. Jesus didn’t teach his disciples “tips for Christian living”. He taught them that they could be world changers, and apparently, he was successful. I’m hoping to follow that pattern.
Stephen
Here’s a video we created for a recent youth group meeting.