I want to suggest a blog to you - It’s a Mad Mission… Sign Me Up. Luke Wetzel is a Congregational Care Intern this summer here at Resurrection and is blogging his experience. Among other leadership roles in the denomination, Luke led the Kansas East delegation to General Conference 2008.
This is one of my all time favorite Resurrection videos. This was produced in 2005 for the capital campaign for the west building here at Resurrection. It is an amazing 10 minutes that gives me chills throughout and brings me close to tears.
I think that Resurrection continues to have a great future and it is amazing to be a part of God’s work in this place.
At the conclusion of the three week study on the Gospel according to Mark I asked the class to reflect on two questions. I found the responses to be fascinating. Each person has a distinct understanding of Jesus. I feel that all of the following are good responses to the questions, but each person may react differently depending on where they are on the journey of faith.
Questions to the Class
Responses from the Class
Nicole and I have started down the journey of looking for a home to purchase. It seems to be a good time to buy and we have received numerous comments about it perhaps being a good idea.
It is not easy to predict how long we may be here in the area. We plan to serve in Kansas West after Resurrection and are trying to be faithful with our resources in the mean time.
We are in the middle of being pre-approved for a loan at our bank, met with a realtor (from a recommendation from a friend) yesterday and are going to look at a few houses today. It is pretty exciting and we hope to be able to find the right place. One thing at a time though…
I have been revising and updating the Blogging 101: Introduction presentation which I will be presenting at the end of the month to interested Resurrection staff. I hope to have incorporated many of the comments from the previous post into the presentation and resource document. PDF proved to be an easier format until it is closer to completion. When complete, I will make the resource available for download.
Again, I solicit your feedback on both the presentation and follow up document: What needs to be added? What should be removed? What should be changed?
Thanks to each of the commenters on the previous post for helping to refine this presentation.
This is a guest post from deviant monk. I recommend both his blog and podcast. Would you like to guest blog at Thoughts of Resurrection?
If you click on this in the past, you’ll have to wait for the future to listen to the podcast
On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
Holy Week begins in a couple of days. Throughout this next week, if we slow down enough to notice it, we will come face to face with the vivid reality of suffering. This seemingly senseless aspect of our lives is something we try, hard as we may, to escape as much as we can.
But in the contemplation of Holy Week, we are forced to come to grips with this reality that never seems too far away, that never seems to go away. For as much as we feel society to have progressed in technology, in medicine, in knowledge, in mastery of nature, yet this very grim presence constantly haunts our lives, and can easily strip the meaning from the rest of it.
In Holy Week we find that even God must suffer. We all face this inescapable truth- to be human is to suffer. We cannot escape it, we cannot shake it off. As Pope Benedict says in his encyclical “Saved In Hope”,
Indeed, we must do all we can to overcome suffering, but to banish it from the world altogether is not in our power. This is simply because we are unable to shake off our finitude and because none of us is capable of eliminating the power of evil, of sin which, as we plainly see, is a constant source of suffering.
In the face of so much suffering, in the reality of even the Son of God sharing the same lot as the rest of us, how are we to find hope? Perhaps it is really all just meaningless, senseless, purposeless.
However, Holy Week reminds us that suffering is not meaningless. In fact, it is from this participation in our suffering that God sheds hope abroad into the world. As was mentioned, we cannot eliminate suffering. as Pope Benedict says:
Only God is able to do this: only a God who personally enters history by making himself man and suffering within history. We know that this God exists, and hence that this power to “take away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29) is present in the world. Through faith in the existence of this power, hope for the world’s healing has emerged in history.
Through God’s uniting of Himself with humanity, God united to Himself our suffering. God was not content that our suffering should remain ours and ours alone- God shared in our suffering by suffering with us. It is in the midst of this sharing of suffering that love and hope are born. Pope Benedict says:
Indeed, to accept the “other” who suffers, means that I take up his suffering in such a way that it becomes mine also. Because it has now become a shared suffering, though, in which another person is present, this suffering is penetrated by the light of love.
When we try to comfort those who are suffering, we offer them consolation. In English this is at best the kind words we can offer those in pain, and at worst the token words we offer out a sense of obligation. But ‘consolation’ comes from the Latin “con-solatio”. Literally, it means ‘not alone.’ Consolation is meant to go beyond words and platitudes and wishes for hope and health and better days- consolation is ‘being with’ the one who suffers. The one who is alone, who suffers alone, ceases to be alone, ceases to suffer alone. Simeon in the Gospel was waiting and hoping for the ‘consolation of Israel’. That consolation came through none other than Immanuel- “God with Us.”
To love thus becomes to suffer and to suffer with others. Love must deal a painful death blow to the rights and intentions that belong to ‘I’. In that death of self is opened up the capacity to love others.
In this suffering alongside others, in this consolation is hope born. But it is still hope- it is not yet a reality. We still face the pain of our often bitter lives and the final sting of death that will befall us all.
The glory of Holy Week is that it ends not in suffering, but in a resurrection. It is on this event that the Christian hope is founded- the hope that suffering is not the end, that death does not have the final say and that somehow all of this means something. The God who created all things became like us to suffer with us and for us. In the Incarnation and the Passion and the Resurrection is wrapped up all of human history- all of our sins, all of our injustices, all of our suffering. In it all God demonstrated that Love makes suffering worthwhile- in the light of this grand exhibition we are empowered to, like God did for us, give the gift of ourselves to others. In this gift of self is an anticipation and deposit of the hope that we have- that Love is actually greater than suffering, and that there is meaning even in the senselessness of suffering. And since love comes from the One who is Love, we can have hope in its endurance beyond the fragmented years of our pain.
In the resurrection is the great hope of the Christian faith realized. Love is worth the pain we endure, and guarantees through faith the day when we will see the world set aright, and where Love will rule all.
So may we offer others consolation through not only our words, but also our presence.
May we remember that God became like us to suffer with us.
And may we hope in the resurrection, and believe that God is greater than our suffering.
I hope to equip other Resurrection staff to blog. In a few weeks, I will be leading a set of two workshops:
Here is the deal, I need your help in making sure that this is the best possible presentation. I have developed the following presentation for use in the 101 course. I will use Keynote live so the transitions and formatting will be much smoother, but the main content is here.
http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=d3ggnsj_74cqdsgscp
After presentation with the staff, I hope to be able to better develop this online and as a resource for others.
In regard to this presentation:
I see the Father and the Holy Spirit as still active but just see the Son as by God’s side. Can you explain how the three are still active today? Is the son’s role over after his death and resurrection?
I believe that God is very active in the world in many different ways and most importantly in bringing God’s kingdom into reality. As to the activity of each of the three persons of the Trinity see Immanent and Economic Trinity.
The Son’s role is not over after death and resurrection. I asked my wife, Nicole, about this and she reminded me that anywhere we see resurrection the power of Jesus Christ is at work in the world. At the death of a loved one, the power of Christ is active in bringing hope that this life is not all there is. When a middle age person decides that her or his life is headed in the wrong direction and makes drastic changes toward living as a disciple, Christ is drawing the person into relationship.
I think that the Son’s activity today may also be thought about in Jesus’ final words in the gospel according to Matthew:
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20, TNIV
All authority on heaven and on earth have been given to the Son and this is why we are sent to make disciples, baptize and teach. Not only that, but Jesus promises presence with us until the end of time.
This question came out of a young adult small group taster last Sunday morning in which I taught about the question “What is the Trinity?”
In November of last year, I read this post - Was the early church seeker sensitive? and have been thinking it over in my head ever since. Before you read further - check out the post then come back here to read on.
Michael raises an interesting point and one which I have continued to think about. Is it faithful or effective to have separate worship experiences or worship elements for non religious persons and Christian persons?
At Resurrection central campus, we have five services with the same teaching content at each service - people come at the beginning and leave near the end (sometimes just after the sermon…) There is no distinction in service times between those who are non and nominally religious and those who are in the middle of the journey of becoming a deeply committed Christian. Willow and Granger have separate service times for different communities. Stonewall Wesleyan Church has a distinct worship schedule based on different worship style and elements.
I believe that communion is a means of grace and should be available to all. What about other elements of a worship service? Other worship times? Do you think that it is faithful or effective to have separate worship experiences or worship elements for non religious persons and Christian persons?
I received an email question from a member of the congregation yesterday with a great question about fasting. Some questions that I received included:
This is a great question. Thanks for passing it along. Here are a couple web resources that may be helpful:
I would also encourage you to read Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster which is a book that you can find in The Well bookstore at church. This book has very practical advice about fasting.
As a first step, I would encourage you to try fasting once a week on either Wednesday or Friday. These were days that Wesley fasted as a part of his practice of faith. You might try fasting for one meal first and then for two meals. Fasting for two meals would be a 24 hour fast.
Have you fasted? What spiritual disciplines have you found to be effective for your spiritual growth?
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