CHRISTianity | Robert's Blog

February 13, 2009February 1, 2018

mad, hopeless, possible

i am fascinated by ernest shackleton and his failed attempt to cross antarctica. i’ve read several books and watched several documentaries on the trials of the endurance crew but until this week i had not read much concerning the ross sea party (on the aurora, the supply ship for the second half of the journey across antarctica). in this book i was reminded that while shakelton was considering crew members for the two ships he divided their names into three drawers labeled “mad,” “hopeless,” and “possible.”

how true is that? don’t you have to be a little mad or hopeless to be a part of a great adventure into the dangerous unknown? don’t you have to to be a little mad or hopeless to take a “leap to faith” that is serious enough that real harm is faced if it doesn’t turn out? most of us are simply too sane to take such leaps. that’s probably why we don’t see GOD do truly incredible things very often.

instead of taking real serious “leaps to faith” we try to describe slight and tame acts of faith as though they are gigantic. there is no real risk in them. no harm comes if they fail. the church continues, our prestige isn’t harmed, there is no great struggle that happens as result of the failed attempt because the leaps that we usually take just aren’t very great. shackelton’s and the ross sea party’s journeys were life and death. usually we followers of CHRIST are merely trying to jump a very small puddle while pretending that it is the atlantic ocean we are trying to span.

nope, most of the time we followers of CHRIST are very rarely “mad” or “hopeless” and therefore we rarely face the real opportunity of being put into the “possible” drawer when it comes to things that are truly amazing works of the kingdom of GOD. the amazing works of the kingdom of GOD involve real risk. the kingdoms of our churches do things that don’t require “mad” or “hopeless” people because usually there is very little real risk involved in those tasks. i believe that the stories of scripture reflect that GOD is always looking for the the “mad” and “hopeless” because they are the only ones crazy enough to attempt the things that are a part of HIS kingdom. those stories, and the modern day continuance of them, are cool because they are risky.

may all of us who call ourselves followers of JESUS become a little more “mad” and “hopeless” in taking risks with and for HIS kingdom.

SIDE NOTE – the above image is from a series of watercolor paintings inspired by shackleton’s journey. you can see the rest of them at samantha scherer’s website

January 26, 2009

a couple of tapestry things i'm pumped about

there are a couple of things in development that tapestry will get to be involved in that i am really excited about. i thought i would share them with you:

RESURRECTION SUNDAY!! – i’m pretty pumped about tapestry’s first easter and i am also thrilled with the way that the leadership team has decided to celebrate it. we’re going to practice a little resurrection. for the next several weeks the tapestry family is looking for things that are dead within our community. the reason for this is that that we are going to be a part of JESUS bringing life back into these things (i.e resurrection). that’s what JESUS does and what we believe HE wants HIS people to do … defeat death with life.
gigs/alpha groups – gigs (groups investigating GOD) and alpha groups are two different approaches at doing the same thing – providing a question friendly way of people considering the claims of CHRIST. we are looking into doing these. i am very excited about us beginning these.
touched twice united – a very cool ministry model through wellness clinics. what i meant by wellness is medical and beyond. we’ll get to be a part of these in stevens point with several other churches.
film and faith – evergreen and intervarsity are going to be doing some seminars on film and faith at uwsp and al (the pastor of evergreen) is nice enough to let us in on this. we have some pretty cool pastors in point.

i don’t know when we will get to start each of these (except for easter) but i am thrilled that we will get to start them. tapestry is fun.

January 11, 2009

human trafficking awareness

today was national human trafficking awareness day. we spent time tonight at tapestry talking about it and a few ways we can fight against it in the name of CHRIST. personally i would suggest getting involved with the international justice mission but there are other ways also.

here is the article i mentioned during tonight’s sermon. the writer attempt to buy a young haitian boy. it takes 24 hours and $50. please do what you can to fight against this evil.

December 24, 2008

a matthew 25 type of game

gainesville players showering their coach
i don’t usually think that many sports events bare much of a witness to faith. yes, i know that a lot of games have john 3:16 signs waved in front of the tv and fingers point to heaven after points are scored but i seriously doubt that such actions convey much concerning the gospel (i’m talking about waving the sign not the scripture itself). yet i have finally read about a sports game that is a dramatic description of CHRISTian faith. you can read about the game on life of reilly.

the story is concerning grapevine faith school that decided they were going to split their fans in half and cheer for their opponent, gainesville state school, a maximum security correctional facility for 12-19 year olds. the kids on the gainesville team have finished at least half their sentences, are passing their classes, and have had no behavioral incidents. that enables them to join the team and play 9 away games with no cheering fans and no realistic chance of winning (they were 0-9 this year). grapevine coach kris hogan decided to change that and convinced parents, fans, and cheerleaders to seriously consider cheering for gainesville. they not only considered it, they adopted it whole heartedly. read the story it’s amazing.

in the 25th chapter of matthew JESUS tells the sheep that HE has just invited into the inheritance HE has prepared for them that HE is doing this because they visited HIM when HE was in prison. i think one day HE’ll be telling these fans that they cheered for HIM when HE played football.

December 18, 2008

gillette on proselytsing

a very interesting video from penn gillette concerning a man giving him a gideon bible. i’m fascinated by gillette’s statement that he doesn’t respect people (of belief) who do not proselytize. his statement is “how much do you have to hate someone to not proselytize?”

ht tony jones

December 12, 2008

tell me all your thoughts on GOD

sunday at tapestry we’re discussing luke 2:21-40. i know it doesn’t initially look like an incarnational passage of scripture but i am convinced it is.

so i was wondering if any of you wold share your stream of thought when you here the word “incarnation?” i’m not just looking for church answers here. anything is cool. for those unfamiliar with the word a dictionary definition of the word is:

the act of incarnating.
the condition of being incarnated.
incarnation CHRISTianity. The doctrine that the SON of GOD was conceived in the womb of mary and that JESUS is true GOD and true man.
a bodily manifestation of a supernatural being.
one who is believed to personify a given abstract quality or idea.
a period of time passed in a given bodily form or condition: hopes for a better life in another incarnation.
from answers.com

obviously i’m not looking for a dictiionary definition because i just gave you one. i’m interested in hearing people’s thoughts when they hear or think about the word.

any help here, be it from religious or non-religious sources, would be appreciated.

September 11, 2008

would JESUS be a CHRISTian?

this is the sermon series i am working on for september 21st through october 12th. the idea came from an college article i read from 2005 called “capitalists make bad CHRISTians” by ian greenleigh. i didn’t agree with everything in the article but i did think it raised some good questions. then i read several other articles asking what would happen if JESUS were to walk into many of the churches in north america – would HE want to associate HIMself with us? would we submit to our revolutionary SAVIOR?

obviously i’m not the first or the only one asking this question. look on the web and you’ll find several posts on it. you’ll even find an interesting article from an atheist asking the same question.

anyhow i decided it would be a good way to start tapestry off.

so what are your thoughts? would JESUS identify HIMself with most modern american churches?

September 5, 2008

pray for the penzas

some of you know and love mike penza. some of you don’t know him yet but if you did you would love him. mike’s brother dave has been struggling with cancer for four years. dave is a college student and he has gone through more struggle than most of us ever will. mike texted yesterday saying that he’s brother wasn’t doing well and asking for prayer. dave has now gone into respiratory shock and the doctors are saying there is a chance that he will not make it through the night.

please join me in praying for my friend’s brother and the whole penza family.

August 25, 2008

this is a problem

i saw this sign when i was at the lifeway bookstore at new orleans seminary. i know the sign is just for some cheesy religious merchandise but it still made me sad.

seems to me that one of the biggest problems those of us who are believers in JESUS face is believing that we can “love like JESUS” without great sacrifice. the new testament portrays the love of JESUS as costly for HIM. the problem is that we try to get by with love that doesn’t require a great deal of sacrifice. no wonder people think the church is stupid. they see the obvious sacrifice of JESUS and clearly recognize that those of us who claim HIS name aren’t doing the same thing. no wonder we’re viewed as hypocrites.