Thursday, May 17, 2007
Star Wars Airport
Here are some pictures that will be displayed at the Orlando airport to promote the Star Wars weekends that will be taking place at Disney-MGM Studios in June. Some of them are worth a look and a laugh... click on each pic to see it a little better.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
On Spiritual Love:
So, I’ve decided to try and get ahead in my sermon preparation and I settled on preaching a four part series on the Church as my first sermon series. I’ve been excited about it! I asked my brother-in-law, Kevin, for a few recommendations of books to read to deepen my understanding of the nature and role of the Church. He pointed me to a book written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer called Life Together.
I have finished the first chapter… and I had to stop long enough to try and ‘digest’ what I’ve read. I went into reading this book hoping that it would help me develop some ideas in my Church 101 sermons… what I didn’t expect was to be convicted and deeply challenged.
First of all, Bonhoeffer spends about five or six pages contrasting what he calls ‘Human’ love with what he calls ‘Spiritual’ love. There were some things within this theme that really got me thinking about my own relationships within the church. Listen to what Bonhoeffer writes: “Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake, spiritual love loves him for Christ’s sake.”
True spiritual love, according to Bonhoeffer, is Christ-centered: “Spiritual love, however, comes from Jesus Christ, it serves him alone; it knows that it has no immediate access to other persons.” And Bonhoeffer would say that true Spiritual Love is the only love that will bring genuine unity to the Church of Christ. “For Jesus Christ alone is our unity.” Bonhoeffer also suggests that these two types of ‘loves’ will manifest themselves in two very distinct ways: Human love will show up in the form of desire… Spiritual love will show up in the form of service.
Bonhoeffer may not be 100 percent right… I happen to think that there is profound wisdom within all of this… but my goal in writing this post isn’t to critique his writings. This whole contrast between ‘human’ and ‘spiritual’ love has caused me to revisit my motives for being in various relationships and friendships. We all develop various relationships for various reasons: Similar interests, loneliness, to find a spouse, to make someone else jealous, similar personalities, similar life experiences, to brown nose or position ourselves for personal benefit, etc. While some of those reasons may be good reasons, Bonhoeffer would suggest that none of those reasons represent true spiritual love.
Do I primarily develop my relationships with God on my mind? Honestly, not very often. But what would change in my life if I did? Perhaps I would start serving people because it pleased God rather than because it made me feel good about myself. If the main goal of my relationships changed from being about what I would get and turned towards how God would be glorified through it… I imagine my actions and responses would drastically change. If it’s truly not about me, then I really shouldn’t get defensive in an argument. If my decisions are reinforced with the idea that God should be the center of each of my relationships… wouldn’t that make it much easier to make the decision to serve?
Pastors can make the mistake of making the ministry revolve around them… and making the ministry revolve around their personal skill set. Focusing on spiritual, Christ-centered love will help combat this tendency. Shame on me if I have developed ‘Josh’ followers rather than Christ followers.
Anyway… just wanted to share some of my thoughts in a public forum like this. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted something like this anyway.
I have finished the first chapter… and I had to stop long enough to try and ‘digest’ what I’ve read. I went into reading this book hoping that it would help me develop some ideas in my Church 101 sermons… what I didn’t expect was to be convicted and deeply challenged.
First of all, Bonhoeffer spends about five or six pages contrasting what he calls ‘Human’ love with what he calls ‘Spiritual’ love. There were some things within this theme that really got me thinking about my own relationships within the church. Listen to what Bonhoeffer writes: “Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake, spiritual love loves him for Christ’s sake.”
True spiritual love, according to Bonhoeffer, is Christ-centered: “Spiritual love, however, comes from Jesus Christ, it serves him alone; it knows that it has no immediate access to other persons.” And Bonhoeffer would say that true Spiritual Love is the only love that will bring genuine unity to the Church of Christ. “For Jesus Christ alone is our unity.” Bonhoeffer also suggests that these two types of ‘loves’ will manifest themselves in two very distinct ways: Human love will show up in the form of desire… Spiritual love will show up in the form of service.
Bonhoeffer may not be 100 percent right… I happen to think that there is profound wisdom within all of this… but my goal in writing this post isn’t to critique his writings. This whole contrast between ‘human’ and ‘spiritual’ love has caused me to revisit my motives for being in various relationships and friendships. We all develop various relationships for various reasons: Similar interests, loneliness, to find a spouse, to make someone else jealous, similar personalities, similar life experiences, to brown nose or position ourselves for personal benefit, etc. While some of those reasons may be good reasons, Bonhoeffer would suggest that none of those reasons represent true spiritual love.
Do I primarily develop my relationships with God on my mind? Honestly, not very often. But what would change in my life if I did? Perhaps I would start serving people because it pleased God rather than because it made me feel good about myself. If the main goal of my relationships changed from being about what I would get and turned towards how God would be glorified through it… I imagine my actions and responses would drastically change. If it’s truly not about me, then I really shouldn’t get defensive in an argument. If my decisions are reinforced with the idea that God should be the center of each of my relationships… wouldn’t that make it much easier to make the decision to serve?
Pastors can make the mistake of making the ministry revolve around them… and making the ministry revolve around their personal skill set. Focusing on spiritual, Christ-centered love will help combat this tendency. Shame on me if I have developed ‘Josh’ followers rather than Christ followers.
Anyway… just wanted to share some of my thoughts in a public forum like this. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted something like this anyway.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
House Sold!
I wanted to wait until everything was official before I posted this... but I just wanted to give a quick family update here:
We put our house on the market last month and I'm not exaggerating... within four days of being on the market, we had already received an offer. They offered full asking price. The buyer's financing went through last week and it looks like this will be a done deal. God continues to stun us with His provision.
Our current moving plan puts us in Wheaton on Monday, May 28. My first Sunday, which includes my official installment, is June 10. My first sermon will be preached on June 17. I am very excited. Please continue to pray for God to pour out His strength, peace and wisdom in the life of my family over the next several months!
We put our house on the market last month and I'm not exaggerating... within four days of being on the market, we had already received an offer. They offered full asking price. The buyer's financing went through last week and it looks like this will be a done deal. God continues to stun us with His provision.
Our current moving plan puts us in Wheaton on Monday, May 28. My first Sunday, which includes my official installment, is June 10. My first sermon will be preached on June 17. I am very excited. Please continue to pray for God to pour out His strength, peace and wisdom in the life of my family over the next several months!
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Aaron's New Form of Entertainment!!
Our Aaron has become quite the mover these days. He no longer quietly sits and plays with his toys! His favorite items around the house are....outlets, lamps, bookshelves, "pretties", cords, and laptops. While this is very cute and entertaining...it is also exhausting!! He is everywhere and into everything! We move in less than 4 short weeks and I have no idea how I'm going to get our house packed!! It will be a challenge, but where there's a will..there's a way. Here are some pictures of what he decided to do today. The mess you see took less than 5 minutes for him to make...Now that's talent!
Book Review: The Servant
Just recently, I finished a book about leadership called The Servant, written by James C. Hunter. It was written as a fictional tale that brought many leadership principles out within the story. It is a good and fast read. Dialogue can get a little cheesy, but the principles found within the pages are priceless and timeless. Here are some of the thoughts from the book that were most influential to me:"Authority: The skill of getting people to WILLINGLY do your will because of your personal influence. Authority cannot be bought or sold, given or taken away. Authority is about who you are as a person, your character, and the influence you've built with people."
"Power: The ability to force or coerce someone to do your will, even if they would choose not to, because of your position or your might. POWER ERODES RELATIONSHIPS. Power people are generally threatened by authority people."
"Leaders should identify and meet the NEEDS of their people, SERVE them. I did not say that they should identify and meet the WANTS of their people, be SLAVES to them. Slaves do what others WANT, servants do what other NEED. There is a world of difference between meeting wants and meeting needs. As a parent, for example, if I were to allow my children to do whatever they want, how many of you would want to spend time at my home? Not too many of you, I suspect, because the kids would be running the place, we'd have 'anarchy.'”
“Intentions minus actions equals squat. All the good intentions in the world don’t mean a thing if they don’t line up with our actions.”
“I don’t necessarily have to like my players and associates but as the leader I must love them. Love is loyalty, love is teamwork, love respects the dignity of the individual. This is the strength of any organization.” -Vince Lombardi
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking about yourself less.”
“Forgiveness is giving up resentment when wronged.”
“When we publicly punish someone, we obviously have embarrassed them in front of their peers and that is a huge withdrawal out of our account with them. But in addition to that, when you publicly humiliate people, you also make a withdrawal out of your relational accounts with everyone watching because public floggings are horrible to witness and people wonder, ‘When will my turn come?’
“Praxis says if I make a commitment to love and extend myself for those I serve, and align my actions and behaviors to that commitment, positive regard for those people will follow over time. We are more likely to act ourselves into a feeling than feel ourselves into action.”
“People must buy into the leader before they buy into a mission statement.”
“Intentions minus actions equals squat. All the good intentions in the world don’t mean a thing if they don’t line up with our actions.”
“I don’t necessarily have to like my players and associates but as the leader I must love them. Love is loyalty, love is teamwork, love respects the dignity of the individual. This is the strength of any organization.” -Vince Lombardi
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking about yourself less.”
“Forgiveness is giving up resentment when wronged.”
“When we publicly punish someone, we obviously have embarrassed them in front of their peers and that is a huge withdrawal out of our account with them. But in addition to that, when you publicly humiliate people, you also make a withdrawal out of your relational accounts with everyone watching because public floggings are horrible to witness and people wonder, ‘When will my turn come?’
“Praxis says if I make a commitment to love and extend myself for those I serve, and align my actions and behaviors to that commitment, positive regard for those people will follow over time. We are more likely to act ourselves into a feeling than feel ourselves into action.”
“People must buy into the leader before they buy into a mission statement.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)