CategoriesJesus' Way, Spiritual Conversation by

Prophet, peacemaker, or partisan?

Your emotional reaction to the title for today’s blog is already an indicator of your readiness for curiosity. It’s not a direct statement from Scripture, but I want to raise the question of the kingdom anticipated in the Bible for Jesus’ reign.

 

Isaiah 11:1ff puts us in mind of what God’s intentions were (and are): I ask you to read verses 1-9 to make sense of today’s blog.

 

Did you notice?  Jesus was “the shoot from the stump of Jesse.” If you’re an apprentice of Jesus, this is the mandate to which we bow: “His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.”  Not to be afraid of the Lord, but to honor, respect, follow, and obey the Lord. This oracle forecasts a new king coming out of the line of Jesse, not out of any political party, but from a long past of faithfulness to Yahweh. What is the nature of this new kingdom? Read More

CategoriesJesus' Way, Seasonal by

“Immanuel is not just a Christmas story.”

A Ministry Refresh and a Season of Reflection

Over the past 18 months, we have been working to refresh our ministry’s signature offering – The Journey process. We love how it has turned out. It has now been about three weeks since the refreshing, rewriting, and formatting have all stopped, and The Journey Stage 3: A Shared Life is off to the printer. Cheers! 

 

Since then, I have begun reflecting on what we have been learning along the way as we worked on this project. And perhaps, because the timing of this reflecting coincides with the weeks of Advent and the anticipation of Christmas, my initial thoughts have mostly landed on this theme—embracing God with us, Immanuel, is at the center of our ongoing, lifelong formation in Christ as individuals and communities.  

 

A compelling way to look at God’s character and mission is to notice a defining thread woven through the entire biblical Story–God desires to be with his people. From the garden of Eden to the Tabernacle and the Temple to the Incarnation of Jesus to the new heavens and new earth, the Triune God seeks to dwell among his people (e.g., Gen 2-3; Ex. 29:45-46; Lev. 26:11-12; 2 Chr. 6:18; Ps. 90:1; John 1:14, Rev 21:1-5).   Read More

CategoriesJesus' Way, Lifestyle by

Show Me the Way

Show Me the Way

Henri Nouwen was a man of many worlds — Dutch, Catholic, professor at Yale — yet he walked away from the shining halls of academia into the gentle margins of life. Following Jesus’ footprints into the quiet, often overlooked sanctuary of L’Arche, where people with disabilities live together in community.

 

That world was not unfamiliar to me. My brother Jerry carries his own story — one shaped by the way others whispered, “Be careful around that young man.” And the harsh names they hurled like stones, retard seemed to be the most common. Nouwen exchanged the polished halls of prestige for the sacred ground of obscurity. Read More

CategoriesJesus' Way, Seasonal, Theology and Spirituality by

Lent: A Season of Reorientation

Last week I introduced Henri Nouwen and Lent as a journey of the heart; this week let’s consider Eugene Peterson and Lent as a season of reorientation.

I met Eugene Peterson at a campus ministry gathering in the early 90s.  I took classes from him and consider him my spiritual father, though we had only a handful of times together.  Lent, as an annual remembrance, was, like other practices, a time for reorienting one’s life toward God’s kingdom.  He emphasized what he might even have called the countercultural nature of Lent by which Christians learn to resist the pull and lure of consumerism and self-centered living. Read More

CategoriesJesus' Way, VP3 happenings by

A VantagePoint3 Gathering

We host a VantagePoint3 Gathering every couple of years and invite our dispersed community of developmentally minded leaders to join us. Last week, 77 of us gathered in Scottsdale, AZ.

A group of men and women, ages 17 to 84, came together, sharing a deep concern for “growing up in every way into Christ” and helping others grow up into Christ. Most of us also wanted to find a little warmth amidst winter’s cold. Read More

CategoriesEncouraging, Jesus' Way by

Paying Attention to Jesus

We learn not only by paying attention to Jesus’ words but also the way he lived his life. Following Jesus as our rabbi means three things:

  • You spend time with Jesus
  • You seek to become like Jesus
  • You do as he did. [I]

What were Jesus’ most common classrooms as rabbi?

Have you ever noticed how Jesus’ journey took him from seashore to desert, from urban centers (Jerusalem) to rural Nazareth, and to any place people gathered to listen? He taught in vivo—life as it is lived in real-time. And don’t miss this: along the way, Jesus ate meals with his students and with others, including marginalized people, social outcasts, and those unwelcomed by many. The road and the table formed a paradigm for how Jesus practiced his service to others.

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CategoriesJesus' Way, Mentoring Matters by

Mentoring matters.

Mentoring matters.

I have been rereading David Kinnaman’s essay, “The Need to Rediscover: Mentoring as a Crucial Formation Process.” He thoughtfully writes about the need for mentoring among young adults within the Church. His conclusions stretch far beyond the confines of young adult faith development into the whole lifespan of adult faith development. His last three paragraphs capture both the challenge and the opportunity before us as men and women who care deeply about helping others develop and mature in Christ. Kinnaman writes,

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CategoriesDeep Mentoring, Encouraging, Jesus' Way by

Not a spectator sport…

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like the wise man who built his house on the rock. -Jesus (Matthew 7:24).

We face tremendous pressure in our lives today to be spectators of this Jesus. But faithful living has never been a spectator sport. Danish Christian thinker Soren Kierkegaard emphasized this by drawing a contrast between being an admirer and being an imitator. He wrote: Read More

CategoriesJesus' Way, Theology and Spirituality by

Jesus’ Way with Others

I have been inspired recently by Emily P. Freeman’s words when she wrote,

“I have a vision of a generation of believers who understand that the goal of life is Jesus and all the ways he wants to offer himself both to us and through us to the world.”

Yes, yes, yes! 

Beginning with Jesus’ earliest words to the men and women who would become his disciples, “Follow me,” Read More