A Month In Review

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And

Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s

University, Essentials Blue Online Worship

Theology Course With Dan Wilt

 

Well, the final week of the essentials blue course is here and my final blog post for it is due in 50 minutes. I must say, it’s been a lot of work, yet the work has yielded fruit.

I’m happy to have thought about, and processed, so much theology in such a short time although it hasn’t been easy. I think it’s been a good jump start for me though. I needed to realize what it takes to focus on the things of God in this life, while working full time at a secular career. I hope to carry forward the practice of study, thought, and process (through writing) into the future. I realized that these things were important before, but I think that I certainly need to be more disciplined at making them more frequent.

To be entirely honest though, I don’t think that I can carry these practices forward to the extent that I’ve been doing them over the past 4 weeks. I’ve definitely had to put a lot of other things in my life on hold (don’t get me wrong, prioritizing is good, but some of these are actually necessary things) in order to get the work done in a way that was actually enriching. It probably doesn’t help that I’m a pretty slow reader and I never did develop a great aptitude for intense study (and actual learning; it was always more about cramming whatever I needed into my brain the night before the exam) during my years of formal education.

Now I’m just hoping to get through the coming week alright. The creative project has been on the back of my mind from the beginning. I was watching the iTunesU videos of Matt Redman today and he quoted someone as saying something about creativity being 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. This is ringing true to me right now. I’m hoping and praying for inspiration but I definitely think that God is teaching me about that 90% perspiration bit right now. I think He’s let me off the hook with maybe only 75% perspiration though so as not to completely overwhelm me. Here’s hoping.

Re(:)Humanization

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And

Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s

University, Essentials Blue Online Worship

Theology Course With Dan Wilt

 

My friend brought something strange up last night while we were discussing the gospel: “Isn’t it amazing that Jesus physically healed people?” I immediately found this to be a very strange question. I thought, “Yes, of course it’s amazing…it’s a miracle but it doesn’t really amaze me any more really.” It’s something I guess I’ve just come to accept. Jesus was God; He could and can do anything. She then went on to expound upon this by saying that she finds it amazing because Jesus took time to individually heal people…their bodies. He wasn’t just here to teach people truth so that they could improve their thought and spiritual lives, but their bodies as well; holistic healing. And we know that God’s promise entails healing for the earth and the animals as well. Setting all to rights and bringing peace. I hadn’t really considered this fully from her angle until she brought this up. I had just kind of assumed that Jesus healed as a sign to point to His divine message and role as the God-man, the Messiah; a way of proving that He had authority way beyond the other teachers who may have risen up during that time and gained followings. Of course, this is all true as well. Just as His resurrection from the dead was the ultimate sign that He was the real thing. But, there’s also this other side to it all which I hadn’t fully considered. His miracles proved that God is not only capable of these things, but pointed toward the reality of God’s intension to do these things fully, for all those who believe, in the future. At the appointed time when Christ returns and His Kingdom is fully and finally united with a restored universe, these things will be accomplished. God really is about re-humanizing us. Restoring us and helping us to fully live more and more fully. The wages of sin really are death. Without Jesus’ redemptive love at work in us, this world and the sin we all commit, deaden us a little more each day. When God begins to peel back the dead layers of our lives, it hurts but once we feel the healing begin, we can’t help but truly worship Him. He reveals His goodness as Abba Father by helping us live again so that we can be restored to right-relationship with Him.    

 

Questions…leading to more questions…

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And

Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s

University, Essentials Blue Online Worship

Theology Course With Dan Wilt 

One thought has been going through my head repeatedly for the past week or so. This thought can probably best be articulated by the question; since Christ’s resurrection, has the world been becoming a better place? I find this fascinating to ponder. I think I’ve always adopted a world view that assumed (I must have had this taught to me at some/several point(s) in different ways) that human civilization is in a downward spiral and we’re just going to continue on our path away from God until the Lord returns at His pre-appointed time and “put an end to it all” (I was also taught that when Jesus returns, it will be the “end of the world” and all those who believe will “go and live in heaven” which I’ve learned to now totally disagree with over the past few years). Recently though, something occurred to me that challenged this view.   

Jesus changed the world. Before He walked the earth, the term “Christian values” didn’t exist. There were the Jews with the Torah which obviously set them apart from the rest of the pagan nations, but Jesus’ teachings were radical even for them. Since His resurrection, the Christian faith has grown exponentially. It’s true that here in 2009, much of Europe and now North America is “post-Christian” (I’m not convinced that most of North America truly got Christianity in the first place but there definitely seems to be serious moral decline occurring here anyway), but I understand that China is home to a pretty intense revival of the faith here on earth and I’m sure there are other places.  

 

As tends to happen, this seemingly simple question, has led to a great many other questions for me. As the body of Christ, we are commissioned to go and make disciples of all the nations…does that mean, “build” the Kingdom of God? Or if the Kingdom is already built, are we supposed to help “bring” it closer to earth by spreading the gospel and living out its principles with authenticity? Once we have established what we’re supposed to do, are we succeeding at it? Are we able to succeed at it through the Holy Spirit’s power and work in us, or are we too mired in our sinful rebelliousness to make head-way in this sinful rebellious world? Is it possible to reach a post-Christian culture and stir up revival by telling God’s story correctly with enough creativity and divine inspiration? I know that there are many individuals that can be reached even now in post-Christian society but I’m talking about reaching enough of those individuals to turn an entire nation’s heart toward God in spirit and in truth and ultimately, the world. The ultimate underlying question here is this: when Jesus said, “it is accomplished”, was that the beginning of God’s Kingdom coming to earth in a progressive, ever-expanding way through the work of the Holy Spirit led Christian church, or is the human race doomed to continue, as we see demonstrated in Israel’s biblical history, the endless cycle of reaching out for God during times of persecution and want, and then turning away during times of peace and plenty. Of course, I want to answer these questions based on what the Bible has to say on the matter but this is not a simple research task. No one said it would be easy. Here’s hoping.

 

Renew, Revise, Reprise (Essentials Blue)

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And

Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s

University, Essentials Blue Online Worship

Theology Course With Dan Wilt

Upon reading my response to the discussion question for the Essentials Blue facebook group over again, and spending even more time thinking about it, I have come to a realization: Before I became a Christian, most, if not all, of the books, paintings, films, and especially music that moved me most deeply, gave me a strong sense of identity. Even to the point that it was spiritual in nature. Indeed, I can honestly say that I once worshipped music as my god and bands/musicians as angels who helped me clarify my spiritual identity and purpose in life. I went out of my way to find unique and beautiful, newer and undiscovered (and thus, somehow more valuable to me) art. I strove to meet others who shared my passion, and influence/sway those who did not, to see the “deeper meaning” in the artful things the way that I did. I was an art evangelist. At some point though, this worldview to which I was clinging, started to lose some of its potency to fulfill. Sub-consciously, I was searching for more; for true spirituality. The deeper beauty that I had sensed in art, hinted at something even deeper. When I traced it back, past the artists, to the origin, I met God and realized that I’d been missing the point all along. My worldview changed very rapidly over the months that followed and I’m so thankful to God for rescuing me from my delusion. What depths of emptiness did He snatch me from in the midst of my free-fall!

Hello world!

Hey. Well, this is my first blog. I’ve journalled but I’ve never “logged”. It reminds me of Star Trek or something with the whole “captain’s log” terminology. I’m going to go ahead and assume it’s essentially the same…except of course, others can access it and that’s part of the main point. Strange concept to me. My journal is not something that, in the past, I’ve written with the fact in mind that others may read it. Maybe I need to work on being more open…I guess time will tell. Here’s hoping.