Reflections on Areopagus Ministry

Every time that I read through the book of Acts I'm stunned by the boldness and apparent fearlessness of the apostles. In particular, I was reading recently Paul's encounter with the philosophers in Athens. Now, this passage has been used every which way in terms of contextualization. But, this time I was struck by the simple fortitude of Paul. This backward Jew is standing among some of the great thinkers of the world while they ridicule, demean, and look down upon him.

It made me think about how this situation, in which Paul finds himself, is very similar to the intellectual environment of Europe. I'm sure confessional Christianity in Germany receives it fair share of "What is this babbler trying to say." The reality is that as a follower of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I will frequently be seen as intellectually inferior.

A veteran missionary at our conference told a story of an interaction he had long ago. He befriended an intelligent and well-meaning person and began to share God's love with Him. This person was confounded by the missionary's belief in Jesus. After much thought, he said to the missionary, "I understand you now. You missed the Enlightenment!"

Somehow I have to be okay with this opinion. I know that I'm no where near that. The mere thought of this situation drives me to anxiety. I hate the idea of people belittling me or not taking me seriously. In my flesh, I desparately want to be approved of. By God's grace though, I'll be like Paul, who saw only the approval of his Father as necessary, and spoke with great boldness in the face of rejection.

Reflections on Blog Dangers

I've been questioning lately the value of blogging. I look back at the past four months on the blogosphere, and I see how at times I've been so concerned about whether anyone is actually reading this thing. The original intent was to use this as a kind of journal. Unfortunately, I wonder how much of the real me is truly represented. Many times, I'm just trying to think of something clever or witty to write.

I have certainly received an education on the seduction of blogs. They are the ultimate vehicle for self-worship and self-gratification. Although I love the idea of being able to look back years from now on the way my life has progressed, I'm wondering if blogging is rather the perfect device for pride, self-love, and narcissism. Can a person blog without being swept up into these God dishonoring traits?

Reflections on Strawberry Deception

Last year Kathi suffered tremendous disappointment when she wasn't able to go to the Long Grove Strawberry Festival because of our honeymoon. Stupid honeymoon, getting in the way! Well, finally a year of longing was laid to rest yesterday

Actually, it was the lamest street fair we have ever seen. Hordes of over-weight suburbanites gorging on deep fried finger foods. Of course, there was the local soft-rock combo consisting of 40-year old, balding, middle-management types trying to recapture a vague memory of their "glory days" with stirring renditions of John Cougar Mellancamp's "hits." Since it was the Strawberry Festival, you'd think that there would at least be an emphasis on fresh delicious strawberries! After wading through acres of elephant ears and pork rinds, we found one stand selling discolored, anemic berries for $5 a quart! It's a good thing we only had to park a mile away from all that festival goodness! Thanks a lot Long Grove!

Reflections on Questioning Faith

Here's a question. Is it good to question the historic Christian faith? Many would say that questioning results in renewed spirituality and reformed practice. But, now I'm wondering whether it is wise to continually question aspects of our faith. Sorry if I'm sounding like an absolutist or foundationalist. But, maybe God wants us to be sure of some things.

From what I understand of philosophical thought, one of the Enlightenment's major weaknesses was that it sought to question everything. There was nothing that was out of bounds. The result was that no basis for knowledge could be established and philosophy slipped into hopeless and self-defeating relativism. The ultimate reason for this failure was that it was an individualistic view of knowledge, meaning that it was assumed that knowledge begins with us. Unfortunately, this man-centered view of knowledge continues in post-modernism.

What I believe Scripture supports is God-centered knowledge that is based on the assumption that God has delivered revelation that He wants us to clearly understand. In Peter's second epistle, he urges the believers to continually reinforce the fundamentals of the faith:

So I will always remind you of these things [God's precious promises in Christ Jesus], even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

It seems that God wants us to stand firm in the truth that He has revealed to us in Jesus. Which would seem like there are some foundations of truth on which we can build our common faith.

A few caveats though: 1) I'm not speaking of authoratarian control of truth. This is examplified in the attitude of "believe this or else!" Such approaches are controlling and manipulative and far from the biblical example. 2) This doesn't mean we shouldn't question certain things about our faith in light of Scripture. Our knowledge is certainly not omniscient, and therefore we should not conclude that our stance is the end all be all of the Christian faith. 3) It also doesn't mean we shouldn't continually question our practice of the faith, which should be reevaluated in regards to its faithfulness to the Word of God and to the context we find ourselves in.

What it does mean is that there are certain things that we can hold on to dearly, like precious truths that ground our faith. The question become then, what are those precious things that we can be sure of?

Now, I may be totally talking out of my rear on this. It was just something I've been pondering this afternoon. Jessica - your comments about my post were insightful and accurate, and they made me think more on this idea. If what I'm thinking of has nothing to do with what you wrote, then you can ignore me.

Reflections on Football Woes

They say that soccer (football) is the new nationalism. The passion and zeal citizens formally showed for their governments/militaries/ cultures is now focused on those eleven athletes contending on the football field. This being the case, we have just embarassed ourselves before the entire world. Apparently, Team USA decided not to show up to this year's World Cup in Germany. They just lost 2:1 against Ghana decisively eliminating them from the tournament.

Let us review how the United States faired on the world stage this round: Wins...0, Losses...2, ties...1, goals scored...2 (one of which was an own goal). Hey, at least we managed to score one goal on our own, right?
Image from fifaworldcup.com

Reflections on Carson's Book

So, I've been really immersed the past couple of weeks in the issues surrounding the Emerging Church. This weekend I finished D.A. Carson's Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church, and I was quite impressed. He's taken a lot of flack in the blogosphere about this book, but his anaylsis and critique are pretty solid.

I did see a few weaknesses. Namely, he focus almost entirely on the Emerging Church's interaction with postmodernism. He rightly questions the movement's absolute rejection of modernity and absolute embracing of postmodernity, but he doesn't explore some of the valid critiques of evangelicalism that the movement brings. Because of this, he fails to recognize many of the positive practices and reforms to which the Emerging Church is committed.

Aside from that, Carson identifies so many things about the Emerging Church that have made me uneasy. He shows how the movement's leaders have portrayed modernity and evangelicalism in an absolutist and reductionistic way. The version of history and philosophy they are presenting simply isn't the case. Their remedy for these perceived ailments many times involves questioning the historic faith itself. Anyway, I'm reading another book right now. I'll probably gives some more thoughts on the Emerging Church along the way.

Reflections on Candidate Orientation, Part Five

Back to real life, eh? Kathi and I got back from Colorado on Saturday. As a result of sheer exhaustion, we spent most of Sunday recovering. Now it's back to the daily grind of the working world. Regardless, both Kathi and I have been so encouraged these past couple of days. Click here for more pictures.

The whole orientation experience was amazing. Once again, God continues to lead us step-by-step through this process. The leaders and staff at GEM were so positive about our candidacy that it served as another confirmation of our call. It was wonderful to hear their encouragement and to share in their burden for Europe. We also were blessed to spend the week with other soon-to-be missionaries and to share this experience with them.

Now that it's all over though, I'm struggling again to really believe that God really wants to use us. I'm particularly saddened by how much I have lost touch with the Gospel. In my heart, I've lost the sense that the Gospel is "the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." How can I be a minister of the Gospel if I'm not completely in love with it? Please pray for that. I want the gift of God in Jesus Christ to be my passion and joy again.

These next few weeks, Kathi and I are doing nothing but praying. We decided not to start the support raising adventure until we have gone before God in prayer. We're asking Him to give us a right view of support raising, and that He would lead us to the people who would share in this ministry with us.

Reflections on Candidate Orientation, Part Four

Big news! As of yesterday, we are officially missionaries with Greater Europe Mission. They told us in the morning, and then we had a comissioning ceremony in the afternoon. The picture is our orientation group at Garden of the Gods. With that hurdle out of the way, we started support raising training this morning. It was eight hours of hearing about building a "ministry partner team" as they like to say.

Honestly though, I'm not sure how to feel right now. We've been praying continuously these past months that God would clearly lead us in this decision. And, He has done so powerfully. But, that same old voice that whispers in my heart is telling me that God really doesn't care about all this. He's not leading, and He really doesn't want to use me. That lie sucks so much joy out of things. I constantly need new eyes to see just how God's heart beats for me.

Tomorrow we are flying back to Chicago. Then it's back to work. Goo. Fortunately, we'll have Sunday to recuperate a little. Thank you for all your prayers!

Reflections on Candidate Orientation, Part Three

Thus far, everything has been amazing this week. Kathi and I have been so encouraged by the Mission - what it stands for, it's ministry, and how it cares for missionaries. The whole organization has a wonderful family ethos. The picture is some of the other "appointees" doing some mini-golf. The more we move forward, the more we're confident that God's call on our lives is to serve Him as ministers of the Gospel.

Tomorrow we find out whether we have been officially appointed to the mission field. Today we had to go through interviews with an evaluation committee. I get the impression though that no one has anything to worry about. Once this happens, we'll be missionaries and move into the next step of the process - support raising. And, I'm not too frightened about this journey either. Anyway, I'll update more tomorrow.

Reflections on Our Anniversary

Today Kathi and I celebrated our one year anniversary! I can't believe it was one year today that we were getting married. What a day. I remember so vividly the weight I felt as I sat in the church nursery before the ceremony. It wasn't that I was nervous or excited. I just had an overwhelming sense of the profundity of the moment. I look back now and see how God's grace has been so evident in our first year together.

So, this evening I took Kathi out to a nice Italian restuarant near our hotel where we had a romantic dinner. Since the first anniversary is supposed to be paper, I wrote her a love letter (per our conversation the other night). And, I also bought her a dozen roses. The problem, however, was that when the flower shop tried to deliver them on Saturday, the hotel told them we had cancelled our reservation, so they took them back. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be able to get them for her.

Reflections on Candidate Orientation, Part Two

We arrived safely in Colorado Springs this morning. Kathi and I had a fun time unpacking and repacking our suitcases at O'Hare. Kathi's bag was 5 pounds overweight. Nothing like having all your clothes spread out in front of the check out counter at the busiest airport in the country. No worries though.

Anyway, our first day at orientation was very encouraging. This evening we had dinner at the house of the president of the mission. We were able to meet and get to know many of the staff at the home office here. Even more so, we had some amazing conversations about the spiritual condition of Europe. It did much to continue to reinforce our heart for that place.

Tomorrow we start the indepth interview process. We have to meet with some professional counselors who are going to assess our psych profiles and ask us some questions. We also have an evaluation committee assigned to us, who are going to get to know more about our passions and call. Please continue to pray for us.

Reflections on Uncle Kevin

I found out this evening that my sister is pregnant! I'm going to be an uncle! It'll be the first grandchild for my parents. I'm so excited for her. She actually just graduate today with her Masters degree. She's beginning a new job on Monday at Children's Hospital in Dayton. Now add this on top of everything. Lots of changes for her and Dan. Congrats, Erin!

Reflections on Candidate Orientation, Part One

Kathi and I fly out tomorrow to Colorado Spring to attend our Candidate Orientation for Greater Europe Mission. Lord willing, after this week we'll officially be missionaries. We're basically spending the entire week learning about Greater Europe Mission, interviewing with supervisors, and getting trained in support raising. We're praying that God use this time to fortify our vision for Germany and to prepare for the task of raising support.

Anyway, we're really excited, but also a little nervous. This means that all this is for real. I certainly don't feel like a missionary. I'm sure I'm the weakest and most fearful person to ever consider doing missions. That kind of realization makes me doubt sometimes whether I should even be doing this. Lord, grant us grace. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and faith to obey.

Reflections on Romancing the Wife

I think I learned something very crucial about women last night. Kathi and I were up last talking, and she confessed that she longed for me to romance her more. Now, I have usually approached "romance" with much cyncism. I always felt that flowers and love notes and googly eyes were such a trite way to express deep love for someone. I've always communicated my love by softly touching her cheek or battling for her in prayer or sacrificing my desires and comfort for hers (I'm not so good at this one, but I'm getting better). Those things, in my eyes, truly demonstrate love.

In the past when I've attempted certain romantic gestures, they always felt forced and obligatory. And, I hated that. I recoiled at the inauthentic motions of romance. It just wasn't the way my heart said "I love you."

But, my wonderful wife educated me last night. Kathi knows that I love her, and she doesn't doubt my overtures of affection. But, the romance elicits something deeply feminine within women. When a man writes a love letter or makes googly eyes, it makes women truly feel womanly. Romance may not be the best way for me to express my heart, but it is crucial for drawing out the woman in my wife. Now, that's something I can passionately work for.

Reflections on Chicago List

Knowing that our days in Chicago are number, Kathi and I compiled a mental list of all the places in the city we want to visit before we move. You just can't leave Chicago without going to the Museum of Science and Industry or checking out Frank Lloyd Wright homes. This weekend we did a few of those things. We went down and visited our friend Tony. After having some lunch, we went to UIC's campus in the Near West side in order to see the Jane Adams Hull House Museum. But, remarkably they were closed! So, we strolled up Halsted Avenue and hung out in Greektown. We sat in a Greek cafe eating Baklava and drinking Greek beer. Pretty sweet. After that we walked back into the Loop being drawn by the siren sounds of GospelFest in Millennium Park. We sat on a bench and listened to some rip-roarin' Gospel music for a while.

Reflections on Generous Orthodoxy

Last night I finished reading McLaren's A Generous Orthodoxy. I'm not sure how to respond to this book. I guess I really connected with about 60% of what he had to say. Another 30% I really didn't understand (like his conception of a third way beyond absolutism and relativism), and the other 10% that I outright disagree with. So, here's some of my thoughts.

To boil down his main premise (one of them at least), he sees the modern Evangelical movement as having reduced Christianity to a series of correct beliefs or doctrines. Those who affirm these doctrines are in the "inside." Those who deny one or all of them are on the "outside." All the while, we ignore our own questionable practice of Christianity by overlooking or even condoning injustice, intolerance (the real intolerance), materialism, consumerism, and other not so good -isms. He calls for the Church to shift the emphasis away from orthodoxy and move our attention more toward orthopraxy.

With that in mind, he desires that we reform our eternal preoccupation of Christianity (just about getting to heaven and avoiding hell) and get on with the business of the Kingdom here and now. Therefore, we should walk as Jesus walked by looking out for the poor, fighting injustice, caring for the environment, and inviting others to do the same. Our salvation should not cause us to be insiders just happy we're not among those crazy liberals or lost pagans. Instead, our blessing should be turned toward the world so that we can be a blessing to others regardless of beliefs, race, gender, nationality, or political party.

In this regard, McLaren seems to be very prophetic about the current state of the Church and where we need to go from here. I know that I haven't done justice at all to this book, but he has amazing things to say about how believers should engage their world. He does, however, make me very uncomfortable when he uses his new orthopraxy to cast doubt on orthodoxy. For example he rejects the concept of "absolute truth" (he also reject relativism) because of the colonial, imperial, insider/outsider connotations that come along with it. He seems to frequently abandon (or remake) solid doctrine in favor of a more generous practice. Who can blame him though.