While sitting at an intersection this morning, a small pickup truck came barreling toward me, fishtailing and over-correcting, until it made impact with the rear quarter panel of my car. The face of the shocked man in the driver’s seat was literally a few feet away from me.
As I pulled over, the man sped away.
November 1st marks what the church has called, “All Saints Day” since the year AD 609.
On this day we remember and celebrate the men and women of old who lived adventurous lives of faith.
Today, I believe that God is calling us into similar lives of adventure!
Today I came across a 42-year-old picture of my sister and I dressed up for the school Halloween costume contest. I had just turned 10 years old and was dressed as Moses. My sister Wendy, then age 6, chose to dress the part of a ballerina since she had been taking ballet lessons.
I never won the costume contest at school, but I remember a kid who dressed up like Abraham Lincoln and won several years in a row. Now that I know how amazing Lincoln was, I appreciate the costume so much more.
“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it” – Edmund Burke
It is so important for us to study history and learn the lessons that emerge from it. One of my seminary professors once said,
“There are no new heresies, just old ones dressed up in space suits.”
His goal was that we would learn where and how people deviated in their beliefs from the Word of God throughout history, and what the core of that deviation was, so that we can spot similar deception in the future.
Where do I start reading the Bible? I’ve heard so many people ask this question, and it’s not always a cut and dried answer!
Let me give you a few ideas that might be helpful…
While there are 4 gospels (accounts of Jesus’ life), I recommend starting with the book of Luke.
“The Old Testament intimidates me.” This is a statement one person in the church sent me last week. I heard several people say something like that in the past two weeks, and I can relate. When you count all the words of the Bible, the Old Testament accounts for 75% of them! The fact that it is not arranged chronologically confuses many people as well. When some of you read the Old Testament you feel a bit like you showed up for a final exam in a history course, but you never attended class all semester. It feels like there are so many names and places that are foreign to us because unlike the original audience, we don’t live in the Promised Land.
I’m excited to be teaching this Fall series on the Bible, God’s Word and the foundation of our beliefs. There have always been those among us who’ve asked me why it’s important to know what’s in the Old Testament, and it’s questions like this that confirmed to me that it was time to reacquaint all of us, or teach to others for the first time, about The Big Story: Experiencing the Whole Story of the Bible.
In the Wild Atlantic west of Ireland lies the ruins of Kilmacduagh Monastery. It was founded by St. Colman, son of Duagh in the 7th century, and includes the ruins of seven buildings surrounded by cattle, where very few visitors go out of their way along winding narrow roads to arrive at these sacred stones. Upon exploring one building, I came around the corner of a stone structure to be greeted by a massive bull, so I quickly turned around and moved away.
Psalm 84:5–7 (NIV)
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley …
they make it a place of springs…
7 They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God ...
In the Old Testament pilgrimage is at the heart of the culture and tradition. This is the dominant culture from which Christianity grew. The Hebrew word means “one who goes up,” often referring to people making a journey to visit Jerusalem which sits on a mountain. As they walked, they sang pilgrim songs that are recorded in Psalm 120 through 134. These songs built their expectation for meeting God at a festival or feast.
Preparing Sunday sermons can be a varied and interesting process. There are times when I am sitting at my desk that a phrase will come into my mind. Usually it is a fully formed thought that dawns on me, and I write it down or type it on my computer keyboard. This happened to me a few days ago when I was preparing for last Sunday’s sermon on anxiety.