Reasons to hate the yankees in 2009
1. That new stadium
2. CC
3. Tex
4. A-Rod
5. AJ
Christmas Treat 2
IN the 2nd installment of “Christmas Treats” I bring you the best Christmas Rap song ever made. if only people still made music like this… merry Christmas. (the payoff comes at the 1.00 minute mark)
Advent Conspiracy Making the News…
For the past four weeks at CVC & 707 we have joined the Advent Conspiracy. The main idea is that we spend less on gifts that aren’t that important and use some of that money to help those in need. We’ve collected gifts for families in need as well as donations for a water project in Ghana Africa and tuition for orphans in El Salvador. The response has been amazing (over $25,000 raised for the water project alone) and the stories are inspiring.
This week we recieved a big surprise when we found out that Regina Brett, a well-known columnist from the Cleveland Plain Dealer would be writing a column about CVC/707 and the Advent Conspiracy. It appeared on the front page of the Metro section this morning and it really presented the heart behind all that we’re trying to do.
So if you’ve got some free time go ahead and read the article (she actually quotes one of my sermons quite a few times) and if you want to read some of the stories Rick Duncan’s got them here.
Christmas Treats 1
I love Christmas music. Every year I try and find all the best stuff online that I can find. I’ll share a few of my favorites here over the next couple of days.
Enjoy Sufjan…
A Missional (non)Conference
I’ll be driving over to Fort Wayne the first weekend of 2009 to be a part of this gathering and I thought you might be interested as well.
Here are some of the things we’ll be talking about…
- The merits of missional orders as a community-forming missional/evangelistic discipline.
- The Sunday gathering as missional.
- The need for a missional evangelistic tool to nurture new conversions in our communities.
You can read more here & here.
If you want to come along let me know.
Mexico 1
Ok, school’s out and I’m going to try and use some of what I’ve learned over the past semester to give this here blog a little material for the three of you who still stop by hoping for new content. One of the main projects that took a chunk of my time over the past few months was a research project on the spread of Christianity in Mexico. When I received this assignment I was sure that it would be nothing more than busy work that would have no real impact on the ministry that I am currently engaged in or really the Church of America today.
What I realized is I have changed a lot since I last wrote a research paper. I found that it was virtually impossibly for me not to learn a great deal about who we are, who we are becoming and who we could be.
So, I’m going to try and share a few of these thoughts here over the next couple of days.
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Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with the atrocities that were carried out by the conquistadors as they took up residence in the “New World.” Cortes and his men killed off native leadership took thousands as slaves in order to mine for gold, destroyed much of the rich history that had existed for centuries and (unintentionally) spread smallpox amongst this native population. Historians estimate that three-quarters of the Native American Indians were killed off and some believe that in the first decade more than 8 million were killed.
This is horrifying.
What could have motivated the Spanish people to do this?
“From the beginning, the conquest of Mexico had as one of its purposes the conversion of the inhabitants to the Christian faith. The methods of the conquest were in sharp contradiction to the principles of Jesus, and in their loose relations with the women of the land the conquistadors departed from the injunction of the religion that they represented.” -Kenneth Scott Latourette
So, how does this apply to us? Clearly most of us don’t go to forign countries and violently convert people to a new religion, but I do think we can learn from this.
I have been a part of various ministries with various people and every now and then the “vision” that a person has can become the one and only thing. In these cases everything else becomes disposable as long as the vision is being established and fulfilled. When people (both Kingdom co-workers and those we’re trying to reach) are taken advantage of, treated poorly or disregarded then we have replaced the Gospel with something that may look or feel similar but is clearly a foreign substance. Most often what we are left with is another person who has been damaged by those who claim to follow Jesus and a negative opinion of the Gospel (which should have no negativity attached to it, it is after all good news!).
How we love each other and love others is always the clearest indication of how much of the Gospel is impacting the vision we’re pursuing.
Bon Iver
I’ll be getting to my best of lists sometime after Christmas (yeah, I know… it’s difficult for both of you readers to wait for that), but I had to share this video of the band/guy that put out the record that’s sure to top my list this year.
Here’s Bon Iver and three (yes, three) drummers on Letterman. Enjoy!
HT: stereogum
Mistakes! & Here’s something free!
If you read my weekend update - who we kidding, of course you did - you will remember that I posted a link that said this…
Brian Manley made some Christmas wallpaper for your iPhone
However, I mis-linked it and no one was able to get the free wallpaper because they were stuck reading about seminary and what not. So, I’ve fixed it.
God’s Missional People
The social shape of Israel was an integral part of what God has called them into existence for. God’s message of redemption through Israel was not just verbal, it was visible and tangible. They the medium were part of the message. It would be as they lived out the quality of national and social life demanded by the law, with it’s great cause of freedom, justice, love and compassion, that they would function as God’s holy priesthood, as a nation among the nations for the nations.
Chris Wright
Weekend Update
It’s just after midnight on Sunday and I’m chilling after a great night at 707. As a whole church (CVC & 707) community we’re really diving into the Advent Conspiracy. It’s been fantastic and I can’t wait to see all that comes from it.
For more info check out AdventConspiracy.org and RethinkingChristmas.com.
Now… Here’s some of my favorite links from the past week…
Brian Manley made some Christmas wallpaper for your iPhone
Scot McKnight talks about going to seminary
Jason Mitchell talks about Aids and Advent
Rhett Smith talks about Blogging Well (and apologizes to John Piper)
Greg Boyd talks about Kingdom Consciousness
The Internet Monk talks about his dad and the Cross
Rick Duncan talks about the Advent Conspiracy at CVC
I was moved deeply when I preached this: “You know what? I don’t need that big flat screen TV. I need Jesus. I need to follow Him. He alone satisfies. You know why we have a lust for stuff? We’re bored or lonely. We want status. We want to be cool. We want to keep up with everyone else. That’s why we want more. But when I’m bored, I don’t need stuff. I need Jesus. When I’m lonely, I don’t need stuff. I need Jesus. When I want status, I don’t need stuff. I need Jesus. He makes me cool. And He makes me not care if I keep up with everyone else. One more thing doesn’t make me happy. A little bit more doesn’t make me happy. Jesus. First. Last. Always. Only. Just give me Jesus.” -from Rick Duncan