Scott Roley answering "Where has the church failed?"

Life. Together.

My wife and I spent this past weekend in St. Louis visiting some old friends and a few old haunts. We hit downtown, the Arch, the new City Garden, Soulard and then finally McGurk’s for some live, authentic Irish music. There is just something about being among people and places that are familiar, where life has been shared together, in community that breeds, well……life.

We were able to spend time with our dear friends who had struggled for years to have a baby. I still remember the simultaneous joy and pain a couple of years ago when Susie and I discovered we were pregnant with our 4^th and imagining how to share this news without delivering a dagger to these friends whom we dearly love. Well, they delivered their first born just a few weeks ago and as we entered their home, I witnessed the tears flow as Susie was overcome with emotion and joy.

We were able to eat dinner with other friends one of whom we had known for many years previously in Birmingham. I can remember when they moved to St. Louis, a relatively newly-wed couple, and helping him totally demolish the kitchen of their home as he remodeled their first house together. And now, here they were, that same little house busting at the seams with the two beautiful children that God had given them.

I can still remember getting into a conversation with someone at this couple’s house and being 10 minutes or so into the conversation before I realized that this person was not a Christian. I remember the shock and then the subsequent conviction of being surprised by the presence of a non-believer in a Christians home. This is one event that shaped my outlook on Christian ministry almost more than any class I sat through during seminary.

Countless other interactions throughout the weekend continually reminded me of the value of a life lived together, in community. It was all capped off by a tremendously encouraging sermon at Riverside Church entitled “the Neighbor Jesus Loves” by one of my former professors. It is actually one of a series of messages that would be well worth the time to download to podcast for further reflection and digestion. The truth of Scripture delivered with his trademark humility and conversational style reminded me why I was so impacted by the life and the instruction of a guy named Zack Eswine.

And now here I am back at home, energized, thankful to God for the reminder of his faithfulness, and looking forward to the people whom we will cross paths with over these next several months and years. These “neighbors whom Jesus loves” who one day years into the future, Susie and I will be able to visit and recount days gone by when, through the power of the gospel true life was lived, together.

Six ways to engage culture, fromJonathan Dodson

Jonathan Dodson, pastor of Austin City Life Church, has a great article over at Boundless.org discussing six basic ways thru which Christians may redemptively engage culture. They are as follows: 1) prayerfully, 2) carefully, 3) biblically-theologically, 4) redemptively, 5) humbly and 6) selectively.

Here is an excerpt from point # 3.

3. Engage culture biblically-theologically. Why hyphenate biblical and theological? Why not just say "think biblically"? Well, the plain fact is that the Bible does not explicitly address most cultural issues. It does not tell you what political party to join, which school to go to, movies to watch, whether or not you should date, whether or not to abort your baby, or how to respond to cloning. Instead, the Bible offers theological principles which we can appropriate in order to form opinions and convictions about cultural issues.

For instance, there is no verse in the Bible that reads: "Thou shalt not have an abortion." However, the Bible does inform us that God is the author of life and that to take life is murder, which is prohibited by God. The circumstances surrounding abortion can be complex. A mother's life may be threatened if the life of the baby is not taken. The Bible does not say, "Preserve the mother's life." However, there are principles and practices in Scripture that can help us make wise decisions about cultural and ethical dilemmas.

The problem, however, is that we often start with cultural assumptions about what is right, beautiful and good and go to the Bible to prove them. Instead, we need to bring cultural questions about what is true, good and beautiful to the Bible, reflect on them theologically and then prayerfully and carefully form our opinions.

Don't begin with cultural convictions and end with biblical proof-texts; end with cultural wisdom by beginning with biblical-theological reflection. Start with the biblical text and reflect theologically on the cultural issue. Move from Text to Theology to Culture, not the other way around.

You can read the rest of the article in its entirety here.

A little slice of heaven

In case you were unfamiliar with our denomination, welcome to the PCA.

New City Fellowship, Chattanooga, TN

Social Media Revolution

Intriguing video commentary over at The Resurgence looking at the place of social media in larger society . While I feel we (particularly the younger generation) can over-emphasize this medium, often spending unhealthy amounts of time and effort on pursuing electronic communication and interaction at the expense of relating interpersonally, there are certainly valuable ways to use this relatively new tool as we pursue relationships for the sake of the Gospel. Check it out.

Swingsets, Tools and Pigs

My neighbor (I will just call him “Bill”) walked over yesterday evening. I was in the back yard working on a swing set / play yard for the kids and he just walked up. (By the way, what ever happened to the inexpensive $50 contraptions with the hollow aluminum poles filled with yellow jacket nests? I always thought that kind of added to the excitement of playing outdoors. Like a high risk obstacle course of sorts. Now we have to go all out and spend hundreds of dollars to put together a structure better than what at least 1/3 of the world’s population uses for permanent housing.)

Anyway, back to “Bill” coming over. Over the past year of being neighbors we have had a few conversations, always initiated by Susie or myself, and mainly on the subject of home repair since we have both been doing some remodeling.

Two weeks ago I was putting up some crown molding and needed a particular saw that I didn’t have. I knew that a church member who lives nearby had one, but I also figured that “Bill” had one as well. I had a decision, I could drive to the home of the church member, or I could simply walk next door. Easy decision, right? Actually I must confess that it took a little effort to force myself to cross that great chasm otherwise known as my driveway and to knock on the door. (And just think, I do this whole “build relationships with non-christians thing” for a living!)

The short version of the story is that he did have the saw I needed. During the course of the conversation I also discovered that “Bill’s” weed eater was on the fritz, so I lent him mine. I also happened to mention that we were cooking a 90 lb pig in our back yard on Labor Day, were expecting 50 – 60 people for dinner that evening, and would be more than happy for he and his wife to join us. (I will share a little more of the rationale for why we are throwing a party for non-christians in our neighborhood at a later date.)

So like I said, yesterday “Bill”, who has never initiated any contact at all over the past year, took the initiative to walk over, let us know they were looking forward to the party and to offer his driveway for extra parking space for the event. That was kind of a big deal.

You see, the Gospel is not merely a set formula that we use on people to manipulate an intended outcome. (Granted, if we truly love people then there is obviously a desired outcome. We certainly would love to see those we are in contact with come to know Christ as we know him.)

The Gospel is, at least in part, relationship. It is loving people well. It is our motivation for initiating relationships and it is our reason for continuing to invest in those relationships over the long haul, regardless of whether or not the individual “responds”. It is getting to know others and seeking out, recognizing, and honoring the image of God which they bear, however dimly that image might be. While it can be a one time, one shot type deal, often it is deeper and more effective when it is part of an ongoing relational context in which life is shared. Sharing this Gospel can look like sitting down with someone and talking through Christ’s claims about himself in Scripture. Or at times, steps in the process can look like borrowing a saw, loaning a weed eater or even throwing a party.

Man, I am really looking forward to loving people with pork by throwing a Jesus-type party this coming Monday, if this playground doesn’t kill me first.