Don't put it on until you take it off.
In Roman 13:14 and Galatians 3:27 Paul talks about putting on Christ, but this is in contrast to the carnality we're already wearing.
Isn't our nature is to "put it on"? ;)
The public face(s) that we wear just like outfits we wear to the office or to dining out, or for working in the yard.
People who attempt to wear Christ over the top of their own pretense only end up making Christ look bad, just as attempting to wear a beautiful gown over the top of a jump suit would simply look bizarre.
The problem is this; The death experienced in the garden was literally separation from God.
In the long term this would realized in the deterioration of our bodies. But there was an immediate consequence as well, because man was originally created "linked" to God so that there was complete security in the relationship.
Imagine a life where there was truly nothing to worry about, ever, to any degree, simply nothing to ever worry about...total absence of fear.
Well two things happened as a result of Adam's sin. First, that link was severed so that the security and confidence that emanated from within was no longer present. And second, his eyes were open to recognize his vulnerability and guilt.
Adam's first thought was to hide! Maybe God wouldn't find him until he could figure out how to disguise his failure...
His next thought was to "put it on". He needed to cover his shame and so he came up with a solution for his "nakedness" by fixing fig leafs over the "offencive areas".
Maybe he could pull it off? Maybe God wouldn't notice? With his "shame covered" why should there be any questions about conduct? (This was all uncharted territory because Adam was first to experience...well, anything!)
But of course God knew before He even went into the garden to confront Adam.
Each morning we wake up and we have a choice, and the most natural thing to do is to pick up our favorite, most comfortable pretense and "put it on".
Our belief is that this has covered our shame (though for some of us it is our biggest shame) and it is our way of dealing with those deep seated fears that we're generally unaware of because they've just kina been there from the very begin.
When we attempt to put Christ over the top of our pretense what we get is disfigured morality and no one is fooled.
Take it off. Get real. Get honest. And then just take it off.
Then you can clothe yourself in Christ with all sincerity. ;)
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Return of the Starbucks ministry...
Hum…so here is that break down I was eluding to. Even schedules need “debugging” as this “daily blog” clearly indicates...I think Day 3 was supposed to be close to a week ago.
It would appear that my ministry is getting in the way of my ministry…which isn’t really a new problem.
One of my discoveries at BCCF was that so long as a pastor is available there are going to be interruptions and really this is the whole point of being “the pastor on call” anyway.
It’s important to understand that the real job isn’t about the “work” at all. The work is merely a mean to get at the job, which is to minister to flock and reconcile the lost to their Father.
But when is a pastor not on call?
Certainly hiding a Starbucks doesn’t exempt me…I seem to have something of a Starbucks ministry that follows me wherever I go...perhaps I should do a Starbucks tour (just thinking out loud).
Sort of a continuation on a theme...
When BCCF decided that they no longer wish to host Sanctuary I ended up taking our morning devotionals to the Starbucks across the street and the result of that was a 15 minute devotional that typically ran over an hour with random people drawn in out of curiosity.
Don't get me wrong, it isn't as though those 15 minute devotionals had ever run any less that 40 minutes to begin with. But with random persons popping in, asking questions, asserting positions, and proclaiming declarations that had to be tactfully defused it was wonder that the manager never ejected us.
But then we seemed to have come into "favored" status. There were times I even found that my latte had been "up graded" or mysteriously covered.
This is where role of “shepherd” becomes the most accurate title as I spent a good percentage of my time herding folks back to the point of the lesson...while being careful not to scare them off. Sheep frighten easily. ;)
All that to explain that this past week or so the situation here in San Diego has been that when I come to Starbucks with the intention of blogging I find myself engaged in deep conversation over matters of faith, theology and the person of Jesus Christ. And should I attempt to use the coffee house down the road I don’t seem to be able to access their WiFi. Doh!
Today I am back at Starbucks and I have already gotten past this morning’s few distractions (I think) but I've gotta recognize that this isn’t really working.
What I refuse to do is become one of those guys who is so "elevated" in his self-importance that he forgets what he’s really all about.
The people that I reach at Starbucks ought to be able to bend my ear just as much as anyone who attends our fellowship. And if the real Church has no walls as Mark Foreman asserts, then anytime I step out on the street I'm on-call.
At least that's my excuse for this week. ;)
It would appear that my ministry is getting in the way of my ministry…which isn’t really a new problem.
One of my discoveries at BCCF was that so long as a pastor is available there are going to be interruptions and really this is the whole point of being “the pastor on call” anyway.
It’s important to understand that the real job isn’t about the “work” at all. The work is merely a mean to get at the job, which is to minister to flock and reconcile the lost to their Father.
But when is a pastor not on call?
Certainly hiding a Starbucks doesn’t exempt me…I seem to have something of a Starbucks ministry that follows me wherever I go...perhaps I should do a Starbucks tour (just thinking out loud).
Sort of a continuation on a theme...
When BCCF decided that they no longer wish to host Sanctuary I ended up taking our morning devotionals to the Starbucks across the street and the result of that was a 15 minute devotional that typically ran over an hour with random people drawn in out of curiosity.
Don't get me wrong, it isn't as though those 15 minute devotionals had ever run any less that 40 minutes to begin with. But with random persons popping in, asking questions, asserting positions, and proclaiming declarations that had to be tactfully defused it was wonder that the manager never ejected us.
But then we seemed to have come into "favored" status. There were times I even found that my latte had been "up graded" or mysteriously covered.
This is where role of “shepherd” becomes the most accurate title as I spent a good percentage of my time herding folks back to the point of the lesson...while being careful not to scare them off. Sheep frighten easily. ;)
All that to explain that this past week or so the situation here in San Diego has been that when I come to Starbucks with the intention of blogging I find myself engaged in deep conversation over matters of faith, theology and the person of Jesus Christ. And should I attempt to use the coffee house down the road I don’t seem to be able to access their WiFi. Doh!
Today I am back at Starbucks and I have already gotten past this morning’s few distractions (I think) but I've gotta recognize that this isn’t really working.
What I refuse to do is become one of those guys who is so "elevated" in his self-importance that he forgets what he’s really all about.
The people that I reach at Starbucks ought to be able to bend my ear just as much as anyone who attends our fellowship. And if the real Church has no walls as Mark Foreman asserts, then anytime I step out on the street I'm on-call.
At least that's my excuse for this week. ;)
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