The story we will be looking through this Sunday, 2 Samuel 11-12, has tremendous implications for the role of the church in Canadian and American politics. The story is of a prophet going to a country's political administration to uncover the murder of a soldier and the adultery of the King. The prophet fools the King into ordering his own condemnation with a story and then pronounces judgment. This King will always lead a violent government and the LORD will bring threats against him from his own family. While the King has tried to cover things up, the prophet announces that God will shame this King in daylight. While God will not kill the King, he will strike down the son of his adultery. The prophet then leaves and returns to his own home (2 Samuel 12:15).
This last sentence is most pertinent to the church in elections. The prophet is not in the employment of the King. The prophet's freedom to speak is not from the King. The prophet is sent by the LORD. The LORD gives the prophet freedom. The church, sometimes sadly seen as a voting bloc, is not charged to maintain its own freedom, but to challenge, uncover, speak. The church is not in the safety of the powers of this world, but of the LORD Jesus.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Kicking back up; This and That
My apologies for not being diligent on this blog for the past couple of weeks.
Not sure if anyone reads this or not, but, hey!... It's good just to write.
I am preparing to continue the series of "Disciplines in Community," developed from David's life. On Sunday we'll be tackling the discipline of humility. Some of the passages we'll be looking at are 2 Samuel 16:5-14; Psalm 23; and Mark 6.
This is a tough discipline because we are poor at speaking truth and at hearing truth. It's also tough because the organized church can sometimes come across as cold--sometimes it is cold--and the truth feels like getting hit with a wet fish.
This makes me excited about the discipline in two weeks, which is accountability. My friend and sister-in-Christ Beth passed a great book along to me a while ago--probably about a year ago--called "Organic Community." I loved a few of the insights this book had and passed it along to a friend who is in management at his work. One of the insights that I did not appreciate at the moment was a movement from being "accountable" to being "editable." I am going to highlight this distinction which I think is prevalent in one event of David's life in two weeks. Thanks, Beth!
Let me close this little bit of rambling off with a quote from "Organic Community" that is so important for me to remember as I lead some of the community initiatives at our church: "It is not the product of community we are looking for. It is the process of belonging that we long for."
Not sure if anyone reads this or not, but, hey!... It's good just to write.
I am preparing to continue the series of "Disciplines in Community," developed from David's life. On Sunday we'll be tackling the discipline of humility. Some of the passages we'll be looking at are 2 Samuel 16:5-14; Psalm 23; and Mark 6.
This is a tough discipline because we are poor at speaking truth and at hearing truth. It's also tough because the organized church can sometimes come across as cold--sometimes it is cold--and the truth feels like getting hit with a wet fish.
This makes me excited about the discipline in two weeks, which is accountability. My friend and sister-in-Christ Beth passed a great book along to me a while ago--probably about a year ago--called "Organic Community." I loved a few of the insights this book had and passed it along to a friend who is in management at his work. One of the insights that I did not appreciate at the moment was a movement from being "accountable" to being "editable." I am going to highlight this distinction which I think is prevalent in one event of David's life in two weeks. Thanks, Beth!
Let me close this little bit of rambling off with a quote from "Organic Community" that is so important for me to remember as I lead some of the community initiatives at our church: "It is not the product of community we are looking for. It is the process of belonging that we long for."
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