Can't and Can

I came across a very interesting quote from, of all people, Lucille Ball:

"Knowing what you can't do is much more important than knowing what you can."

Quite a profound thing to say. We readily hone our skills, know our strengths, and play to those strengths. And while this is all certainly good (who goes to a job interview and hopes to share with their prospective employer what they can't do), I believe one of the hardest things to do in life, and one of the gifts of maturing, is to know with clarity and honesty what you simply can't do, and not live in denial, but to make peace with what you can't do.

This is true in life as it is true with God. We simply can not by our own efforts commend ourselves to God. A tough pill to swallow, but embracing this reality opens the door to faith in the One who Can. The gap between us and God has not been filled by our efforts, we Can't, but by Jesus who Can. He has met all of God's righteous requirements, has not failed, and loved to the last and paid the price of blood for those who Can't.

What the Gospel does is it not only frees us from running from our failures, but also through Christ means we no longer are defined by what we Can't Do. Trusting in Christ doesn't mean that you automatically become a superhero who can do anything you put your mind to. What it means is that your are loved in the face of your failure not because you have succeeded. And that will in fact change you.

Know Thyself, Know Thy Limits. But know Thy Lord.

How Does He Do That!

So for a guy who likes beer, and even brews his own, and is a Mac user (no, not a crazy, over-the-top-Mac-is-my-Master Mac user, I just have a computer that happens to be Mac. And an iPhone. And an iPod. But hey who doesn't these days anway. Where was I. Oh, right, beer). So for a guy who likes Macs and brews his own beer, this video was for me - maybe I should get an iPad after all. Enjoy!

Cell Phones In Church

A parishioner sent this to me. Love the concept, not sure how we'd be able to implement it though!

John Stott: The most influential evangelical you've never heard of

Last Wednesday (July 27th) John Stott passed away at the age of 90 in Surrey, England. But who is John Stott and what's the big deal anyway. John Stott was ordained in 1945 as a minister in the Church of England, and has had an enormous influence on Christianity all over the world. He's written over 50 books, ranging in style from popular/devotional to academic commentaries, history and theology. He was appointed Chaplain to the Throne by Queen Elizabeth and founded numerous organizations, many of which focus on global ministry, particularly in the Global South. He spent a good portion of his ordained ministry as the Vicar of All Soul's, Langham Place in London, and was appointed Vicar-Emeritus after his retirement. Here's an article from the New York Times written about his life and death.

But what makes Stott so interesting and his death so notable, is that he represented a type of evangelical very unlike what most of the 21st century West has (sometimes rightly) grown to despise about evangelicals in general: he was incredibly gracious and humble. He was passionate about evangelism and Gospel proclamation, biblical faithfulness, and a global understanding of the church. He met with heads of state, global leaders, and people of influence for seven decades, and did so with poise, humbleness, and tenacity.

Sadly, when most people hear "evangelical" they think of 'angry, thoughless, close-minded, fundamentalist'... etc., and unfortunately they don't think of all the things that Stott embodied: thoughtful, exceptionally intelligent, faithful, gracious, and humble, while still maintaining an integrity with his convictions.

The category of global evangelical leader is often readily filled with names like Billy Graham, but, to quote the NYT, "For all his fame on several continents, Mr. Stott’s travels and appearances were remarkably devoid of pomp, befitting his simple message of reason and faith and his unassuming demeanor. Those in his ministries knew him simply as Uncle John. In his later years, he lived in a two-room apartment over the garage of a London rectory, and for many years he kept a small cottage on the Welsh coast, where he did much of his prodigious writing in longhand and, until 2001, without electricity."

I never met Rev. Stott, but I wish I had. I grew up hearing his name and have read many of his books (see below for a list of some of his more well known writings). But I know that he lead, preached, inspired, guided, and formed many thousands of Christians and Christian leaders over the better part of the twentieth century. Most Episcopalians have never even heard of him. So for one of the most remarkable and influential Christian leaders of our time, I bow my head at news of his death, and close with a quote from the President of John Stott Ministries who succinctly and simply sums up Stott's life: "He imparted to many a love for the global church and imparted a passion for biblical fidelity and a love for the Savior."

O God, who by thy Holy Spirit dost give to some the word of
wisdom, to others the word of knowledge, and to others the
word of faith: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace
manifested in thy servant John, and we pray that thy Church
may never be destitute of such gifts; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p. 197)

Some noteworthy books by John Stott:

The Cross of Christ

The Message of Romans (Bible Speaks Today Commentary Series)

Basic Christianity

The Preacher's Portrait

The Contemporary Christian

Romans: God's Good News for the World

Bad Friday?

Good Friday. What an odd title for such a day as this. For on this day the Prince of Glory was abused and suffered a travesty of justice, a farce of a trial, and was hauled outside Jerusalem like a common criminal. There on a desolate hill appropriately named The Skull he was put to the most shameful and painful death the ancient world had at its disposal. And yet we call this day “Good”. How can that be – should this not be “Bad Friday”?

In many respects it is bad, for on this day we see humanity at its worst. God finally arrived on earth as a fully Incarnate man, and the path of his life lead not to victorious glory but a painful, humiliating death. How ironic that the Good of Jesus brought out the Worst in People. Yes, when we look at the cross we see ourselves at our worst – the offense of the Cross of Jesus is that it exposes human sin. Things really are this bad. Judas asked, “Is it I?” who would betray Jesus, and on Good Friday we ask ourselves, “Is it I?” who put him on the cross?

But the mystery and power of God’s redemption is that, “By his blood he reconciled us, and by his wounds we are healed” (BCP p. 370, para. Isaiah 53:5). On this bad and terrible day, unbeknownst to all those gathered on Golgotha, God was actually doing something Good. Something he had promised from ages past that would undo all the sorrowful, hurtful, wrong things of this world. God would forgive sins, wash away sorrow and guilt, and begin a New Creation. The offense of the cross is that it exposes human sin – the glory of the cross is that it also washes away human sin. God did all of this out of his great love for us at our worst (not our best!). All it cost was the life of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

Kingdom Power

1 Corinthians 4:14-21

This is the final installment of our series on the first four chapters of 1 Corinthians, and in the closing sermon Part 7 the focus is on verse 20, "For the kingdom of God does not consist of talk but of power." This is an interesting verse because it often either gets overlooked, or way misunderstood. On the one hand many Christians prefer a 'safe' spiritual life, where supernatural things don't really happen, and if they do or ever did, such things don't today. On the other hand is a sense that there is no propositional truth to the Christian faith, there is only experiencing God (whether Pentecostal or some sort of vague new age kind of thing). The idea here pits verbal proclamation negatively against 'power'.

In this chapter of his letter, Paul is defending his apostolic authority. There were those who objected to his teaching and the Gospel that he preached, and so to undercut him they attacked his position as an Apostle. Paul responds that he is not affraid of their attacks, because he knows that only God can judge him. Besides which, the mark of his apostolic office is that God is working through him and the Gospel with power, not just fancy talk. This is a subtle counter-attack, because he's stating that his opponents do not demonstrate the power of God and rely only on rhetoric and personal attack to establish their authority.

So what is power? Is Paul talking about being able to bench press 300 pounds? Not quite. In classical physics power is energy working over time; energy is essentially the capacity to do work, a force opperating across a distance. If you push on a wall as hard as you can, and nothing happens, no power has been exercised because the state has not changed. This is what Paul is getting at: when the Kingdom of God shows up, in power, things happen! Things change.

One of the great displays of power in the Old Testament is found in the life of Elijah, the great prophet. In one event in his life he was taken up from the world in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:1-14) - talk about making an exit! The other event in his life was the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:1-40). Ahab, the evil King of Israel, and his wife Jezebel, had led Israel astray and caused them to worship Baal instead of God. So God sends Elijah to get everyone back on the right track, and Elijah proposes a contest to see who is the real God. Two altars will be set up, and the prophets of Baal will call out to their god, and Elijah will call out to his God, and the true god will be the one who demonstrates their power by setting the altar on fire. Simple. Very definitive in the results. In fact, why any religious debate since then has been settled in any other way is beyond me.

God demonstrates his power by setting the altar on fire. Everyone saw the power of God manifest in space and time, and they were faced with a decision. They could either try to ignore it or explain it away, or they could trust God and repent and return to Him. We Christians believe that God has in fact acted in a supernatural way in space and time. God's greatest demonstration of his power is in raising his Son Jesus from the dead. You have to deal with that power - either you ignore it or you trust it. Jesus even says to his detractors, hey, you might not like me or what I'm saying, but if nothing else believe me because you've seen the miracles (i.e. the power I've demonstrated).

A lot of people think that to know or experience the power of God they have to make themselves powerful first. Our theme through this series has been to see, to understand, to realize the gap that exists between the ideal and the actual. Ideally we ought to trust God and experience his power, but the problem is that we are in fact weak, selfish, and lost. To put it another way, we want to be powerful, and can come up with pretty good technieques to help us think we are powerful, but we are in fact weak. The Gospel speaks to this weakness, not to our efforts at power. God says, "My strength is made perfect in your weakness." The power of God is for the weak.

Where in your life do you need to experience the power of God? Where do you need to know God's forgiveness? To be healed? And we do hope that the power of God can and will do something, for God whose power is at work in us is able to do more than we can ask or imagine.

Kingdom Power

1 Corinthians 4:14-20
This is the final sermon in our series on 1 Corinthians. The guiding principle we've used here is that there is always a gap between the ideal things and the actual things, and if we try to fill that gap on our own, we will shred ourselves and those around us. The only thing that can truly fill that gap is the grace of God. In this passage Paul indicates that God's grace, God's kingdom, is not simply a matter of words but of power.

I don't think Paul is merely saying here that "Talk is cheap", as if he were saying that propositional truth is useless and advocates for action only. I think this for two reasons. First, the 'words' he is talking about are those of his detractors, and he is essentially calling them out. If they are right and he is wrong, then they need to back it up with the true power of God and not play 'armchair apostle.' Secondly, we know that the Word of God is indeed powerful - God created the world by speaking it into existence; Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."

The power he is talking about is the visible power of God, manifesting in history. Take for example the Old Testametn prophet Elijah's showdown with the prophets of the pagan god Baal. The showdown was simple: the true god will be the one who sets the altar on fire. Baal guys are up first and they call out and do their mojo and nothing happens. Elijah then step up to the plate, orders some servants to put water on the altar so everyone knows there is no funny business going on, calls on the Name of the Lord...and shazaam! Fire! Lots of fire. The winner: Elijah. The kingdom of God demonstrates itself with power. This is what Paul is talking about.

The Gospel tells us that God works in history, in time with his power so that we might trust in him. Where most people fall flat is this way: they think that in order to experience God's power they have to first make themselves powerful. Jesus' power actually come to those who are weak and in need of him. God says that "My strength and power is perfected in your weakness." How often do we think that "I've got to clean myself up for God to love me." The Gospel tells us that the opposite is true - that the power of God is most present and at work in those who are in most need of him through weakness.