Tag Archives: God

Looking for God

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It was 1986, and it was another Sunday morning. My role at the church I serve in San Antonio was as pastor of discipleship and evangelism. We had begun a Hispanic church on half of our campus, and had recently begun a small group program in homes around the neighborhoods. And God was showing up in the homes in refreshing ways. One of our “nights of worship” with all the small groups together lasted long into the evening (long, especially for Baptists on a Friday night.)

The Sunday morning in question had been a better-than-normal crowd. The message was good for the moment, but I can’t remember it. The worship was very normal (and very forgettable) for a Baptist church with a choir loft and organ. The invitation was short; the results escape me. What was memorable happened as I was gathering my Bible and notebook together at the end of the service. In fact, I will never forget the words nor the look on the faces of the young Latino couple who found me at the front of the church.

“I have heard we can find God here.” The couple looked really out-of-place among the stained glass and maple woodwork. And at the same time, they looked like perfect candidates for the altar we were standing beside. The sunlight magnified the dust particles in the hazy air of the empty sanctuary these two had invaded, with hopes of finding God.

I said, “Yes, I can help you find God right here.” We prayed.

Skip forward to tonight. My pastor at the Beach led a membership class tonight for about a dozen people. I was there because I help with small groups and disciple-making. He talked about values, the history of our church, and told stories of how God has been working and how He has led us to this point.

Then he shared what kind of church he envisions us becoming. The top of his list didn’t include large numbers, huge buildings, a publishing house or film department (that seems the rage lately.)

He looked out the front door to the streets, the beach, the road to the local schools, the bars, the strip clubs, restaurants, malls, and the hideouts for the street people who live here. “I want the people who don’t know God to know that, if they can just get to our church, if they can just get here, they will find people who will love them, and they’ll find the love of God.”

He was the prophet tonight. There are people who come looking for God. The word is out. Hope…help…healing… wholeness…the love of God is here. God wants the place where church meets to be a place that people who may not look like they belong in church can look for God. Like the latino couple, they can risk the question, “Can I find God here?”

“…so he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20)

Keeping It Together

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The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 
And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,  and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Paul to the Colossian Christians)
 
 

Pain and timing

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I’m hard-pressed to find a stronger example of the difference between freedom and imprisonment than this morning’s Genesis read. Joseph was a unique guy for sure, and a little cocky, but he took on some serious undeserved pain: he was abandoned, rejected, hated, enslaved, tempted in a huge way, accused wrongfully, imprisoned, forgotten, and otherwise tossed around by life. (start in Genesis 38 for the whole story.) He stayed at peace with God through it all; he trusted that God was at work, even in the pain.
His older brothers (count ’em at 10) were his opposites. They hated, rejected a life of faith, lived for the moment and thought nothing for the future. They might have lived outside of the prison cell, but their guilt and what their actions brought them fabricated bars stronger than iron.
No freedom can match what a clear conscience delivers. And viewing the pain, deserved or otherwise, we face through the lens of faith liberates us. It’s not good or fun, and none of us stand in line for more of it. But trusting that God is working something good inside of us, and fitting our lives into the nexus of his timing and will somehow creates peace in the middle of the pain.
When Joseph re-introduced himself to his brothers after all the pain they had cause him, he put all of it in perspective, and said: “God sent me ahead of you.” Going through pain, disappointment, delays, and dark times with trust in God’s goodness aligns our passions, our timing, and our place in His will, to His agenda.
Looking for the big picture from here,
Rick

The Creation Question

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Last week, a guest speaker came to our little Fratelli church in Torre Pellice. He is from Torino and maintains a prison ministry. Following a time of genuinely intimate worship, Guido (not his real name) stood and moved the pulpit to the side of the projector screen. And for a solid hour and ten minutes, railed the church for leaving behind the seven-day creation as central to faith and salvation.

During this time, various groups, schools, nations, and individuals were implicated, each culpable for saying, writing, or doing something that somehow contradicted the belief in a God-created world. Europe,the U.S., universities, seminaries (including my alma mater, Southwestern Baptist Seminary), scientist (no surprises there he could find a “non-Creationist”), and even Obama (who I can’t remember ever weighing in on the subject.)

Remember that all this is in Italian, including the Powerpoint slides. And, like many Italian evangelical speakers, Guido spoke rapidly at first and improved his speed as the hour waned. Like most preachers, he brought a lot to the table to distribute.

All this sets up the fact that I have taken up the challenge to read cover-to-cover through the Bible again. I’ve done this before, but it’s been a while. And today starts with Genesis 1-2.

Though I can’t imagine “the searching world” giving much time over coffee discussing Obama’s opinion of creation, or whether or not a seven-day creation is a necessary “pre-faith” condition to salvation. I can imagine someone asking questions.

I can guess that, if the guy who works on my Plymouth diesel van stumbled into a discussion on Genesis 1-2, he might ask, “How can this be? How can I believe a story such as this in a day of science and reason?”

My honest comment is: “Wow, I certainly can relate to your dilemma and your questions!” (And maybe, “Did you check the hose for a leak on the other side, too?”)

There is really an incredible cache of information that just doesn’t get shared in those first two chapters. Admittedly, what gets shared raises a lot of questions

My honest answer: Is it harder to imagine God creating the world from nothing or nothing creating the world from nothing. I lean strongly in God’s direction.

And does the absence of details mean the rest is false, or that the perspective of the account is written for people of another generation, or that the order of creation (light and dark before sun and moon, man before woman, etc.) may not suit everyone’s preferences, cause a little consternation?

Well, yes it does… cause consternation, that is. But a relationship to God is much more solid a foundation for life, marriage, friendships, ethics, and faith… than a relationship with nothingness.

God says faith “knows” the universe was made by Him (it’s in the Bible.) It doesn’t require someone who seeks Him to have all the nuances of the Creation story figured out. It doesn’t insist that one trusts in what Christ accomplished for sin-payment by his passionate sacrifice at his execution plus the correct position on the seven-day creation — and then you will be saved.

Perhaps a part of faith is believing that God the Holy Spirit can use His Book and His guidance to bring seekers to Him, create a people of faith who love Christ Jesus supremely and serve and carry the burdens of one another unreservedly… and help each believer unravel the story of how we got here.

Please believe me when I say that the Creation account is supremely important to our faith and our understanding of a God who loves us. But for the guy who fixes my Plymouth diesel each month, the big topic is: How did God show this love for me, and how can he get in on it!

On the journey — Rick

Telling the Greatest Story Through Art

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Can the Arts take a significant place in global missions through OM? Field and area leaders from Europe invested a day discovering how professional artists are effectively declaring the Gospel through the Arts on the mission field.

Leaders from Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Central Europe and the Ships took part in the OM Arts Forum in Mosbach, Germany on November 23, 2009. The participants explores how the Arts can be integral to the mission of reaching the world for Christ and how artists can be effective colleagues and team members at the OM field level.

OM Arts Director Bill Drake led the forum and defined the vision and growth plans for the newly formed OM Arts International.

Drake addressed how an OM field can embrace Arts Ministry as a part of the field’s direction, how to best communicate Arts in the field’s vision, and how the field can lead, care for, and release the professional artist to fulfill their missions calling.

Consultant and Arts in mission catalyst Colin Harbinson led the forum participants through a Bible study of Bezalel, the artist chosen and called to work with Moses to create the tent and elements of worship commissioned by God on Mount Sinai.

Harbinson reminded forum participants that Bezalel was called and filled with the Spirit for the work of creating art for God’s glory.

Artists who are called to missions can be released to create art with excellence in the context of the OM field. Harbinson encouraged the need for professional artists in missions and warned that “art done poorly communicates poorly.”

Quoting writer A.W. Tozer, Harbinson affirmed that, “Christians are obligated to excellence because God is supremely excellent.”

OM Arts will work with field leaders to identify artists who are ready to serve in missions and help the fields and the artists to prepare to establish unique arts teams.

A leadership training seminar for artists preparing for missions will take place in Rome, Italy in conjunction with Transform 2010 in July. For more information about the training seminar or about OM Arts, contact info@arts.om.org.