Advent Devo 11/28

Each day there will be some readings, taken from the Revised Common Lectionary. I will also provide some words to accompany one or two passages to focus our thoughts and time each day.

Today we prepare ourselves for the beginning of this journey. Advent is after all a journey, we are pursuing Christ's coming into our world, into our own lives by perusing the Scriptures and allowing those sacred words to mold our thoughts during this time. 

Today we have one passage to meditate on. The angel Gabriel said these words to Zechariah about his son-to-be, John the Baptist. John's words and legacy propelled Jesus' ministry forward. His job was to prepare the people for the coming of Christ. How will you prepare this Advent season? What can you do, what will you do, to meditate upon what the coming of Christ means today?

Advent 2016: Hold On To Hope

What is one thing that you cannot live without?

If we did a survey or even just a simple Google search I am sure we would come up with all the obvious ones, as well as some of the superficial ones.

Your job? Your family?
How about your pets?
The beach?
Your hobbies?
Maybe, for you it is WiFi, or at least it seems that way when you can’t seem to ever get a connection.

We could go down an endless list, but what I don’t think we would find listed anywhere is hope.

I’m not sure anything is more essential to getting out of bed in the morning, and yet it is not something we think of often. In fact, it seems the only time we think about hope is when we feel hope-less.

Hope may not be in the front of our minds, but it certainly seems to be everywhere else. We see it on political signs, Hallmark cards, we name our little girls after it. Fifteen cities in the U.S. are named Hope, four more in Canada, two in the United Kingdom, and one in New Zealand.

Hope is the name of five movies, a TV network, a computer programming language, sixteen ships in the Royal Navy, a Slovakian Political Party, three different colleges and universities, an island, and a railway station.

Hope is everywhere.

Except sometimes… we have the hardest time finding it inside of ourselves.

We all need hope.

The people of the Story, (what I like to refer to the real people who lived thousands of years ago in the Biblical record), needed hope.

And they found it, in the most unlikely of places… and the most unlikely of persons.

Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear.

We are separated from the people of the Old Testament by more than just time. Sure, time may be the biggest issue, but there are other significant cultural, geographical, worldview, and general mindsets that separate us. The angst of life without the ease and comfort that technology beckons us with was categorically different for the people who lived in the Story of Scripture.

However, something that is true for all people, at all times, and in all places is that we all need hope.

The people of the Story found themselves in a sticky situation. Well, they found themselves there a whole lot. Whereas their situation was deeply spiritual, just like us, they always got caught up with the political, economical, and social issues on top of it all.

These people weren’t experiencing a spiritual exile alone, they were also experiencing a physical exile. Something most of us will never experience.

But just like us today, where it is so easy to be distracted by all the things we think we could not live without… the Story shows us that they felt that way too.

To them it wasn’t an iPhone, it was their land.

They didn’t try keeping up with Mr. and Mrs. Jones, but they were trying to communally keep up with their actual enemies.

They clung for and longed for the realization of their hope, that God would provide for all their needs.

God did not always rescue them from their enemies in the moment. He didn’t split the Red Sea for every situation. Sometimes He let them be dragged away. Sometimes He let the enemy destroy their city, their home, their land… their temple.

Sometimes He let Rome invade and subjugate them. Sometimes He allowed them to be exiled even whilst living in their home.

How often have we felt that God has abandoned us? We aren’t alone.
How often has it seemed that God made a mistake? We aren’t alone thinking that either.

But, we cry out, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel… and we are reminded of His Word:

Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory. 

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine... 

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called:Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

This first week of Advent we remember that God provides HOPE in the midst of chaos. He will come through and make every Right and Just. He alone brings Peace. He alone is passionate about His commitment to us.

When the storms come… and they come all the time… Our God gave us HOPE to hold on to.

At His word, the storms cease. At His Word we find redemption and at His Word, we find our Hope.

Hold onto that…

We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) 

-Romans 8:23-25 NLT

The Spirit of Advent is the Spirit of Humanity Fully Alive - Advent 2016

For a lot of people, Christmas is not always the “most wonderful time of the year.” Between visiting family, buying presents, sending out Christmas cards, and everything else; what is supposed to be a special time can turn into a hectic and stressful few weeks.

Interference. Inconvenience. And if your family who will gather this year will be talking about the recent election… Well, intolerance too. But the tradition of Advent calls Christians to slow down and think more about what the season was designed for.

So what is Advent? 

Advent is a strange word to us. It sounds incomplete, like someone was trying to say “adventure” or “Adventist” but didn’t finish the word out. What’s up with the strange word and the strange candle lighting thing anyway? Advent, which is the Latin word for “Coming”, is perhaps one of the oldest Christian traditions. Some suggest it was founded even by the Apostles, that once a year Christians would set aside a prolonged period of time and remember the first coming of Christ, the darkness that surrounded the world so tightly until light came. We do this so we might better prepare our minds and hearts for his second coming… a promise that Christmas gives us. There are three meanings of ‘coming’ that Christians describe in Advent. The first, and most thought of, happened about 2000 years ago when Jesus came into the world as a baby to live as a man and die for us. The second can happen now as Jesus comes into our lives to live and reign through His Spirit. And the third will happen in the future when Jesus comes back to the world as King and Judge.

Why Advent? 

The spirit of Advent is the spirit of humanity fully alive. 

We are living in an opportunistic, individualistic, consumer driven culture. The calendar has merged into sales peaks. Black Friday has completely engulfed Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday has become every teen’s favorite day of the year, and now I hear commercials trying to push Small Business Saturday. If we don’t take a more aggressive and even offensive stance, we will always end up getting swallowed up by the deluge of what the culture is purporting.

If one were to go onto any financial website, all one would read right now are the predictions for the spending of this year’s holiday season and to make sure you get your tax break by giving to charity. We’re living in a culture that’s all about consumerism, and it ends up steamrolling the end of the year.

With a blink of an eye all of a sudden, Thanksgiving and Christmas become a blur of craziness. Then we’re left, barely standing, holding a candle at church on Christmas Eve going, “Oh yeah, it really was all about the night when Christ was born.” While the world celebrates Santa Claus, Egg nog, great sales, and high energy festivities, WE reflect on the coming of Jesus into the world. Christians use the four Sundays and weeks of Advent to prepare and remember the real meaning of Christmas. You might be thinking, “We have Charlie Brown for that thank you very much!” And of course by focusing on the true story of Christmas found in Luke 2 we can in fact focus our minds and hearts where they ought to be. But if we are honest, the Christmas season has become less and less about hope, peace, joy, and love and has become more and more about presents, lights, and the color of Starbucks’ cups.

When we recover Advent, we are reminded that this season is about a promise that God is going to do what God has promised He is going to do. And He’s going to do that for every single one of us who has put our hope in Him.

Though Advent is the traditional start of the Church liturgical calendar, this season was eventually placed at the end of the year in our culture’s calendar so that we could invite everyone to remember all the moments that Christ “came” throughout the past year.

And He did come to you.

He came in the same ways He always has. In those moments when we least expected Him, in the most unforeseen ways, and when, whether we realized it or not, when we needed Him most.

This time of the year is a 4 week long moment to remember His faithfulness.

In the hubbub of the rush and the noise this season brings, there is something refreshing, as well as a deep type of connection with our past when we slow down, when we pause in our efforts, and reflect on all the ways Christ has offered Himself, and His presence throughout our year to us and to those around us.

Advent isn’t a celebration, though it can quickly become one. Advent is truly a time of mourning, of angst, as we prepare for the Christmas feast and the honor we bestow upon our King and Redeemer. It is a season where we dig deep into our roots as Christ’s Body on earth and we continue in a practice of humility, repentance, and worship. This tradition is as ancient as the words of our favorite carols. This tradition is as sacred as our opening of presents on Christmas morning. However, this tradition may just be the most important thing you observe this year.

Every day for the next four weeks of the Advent season I will be posting a short devotional to help gear our minds and thoughts on what is the most important aspect of our faith and our day to day life.

Advent is Needed Today 

Advent is a time for a humility check. It’s been a crazy year. We’ve had very pompous people to look up to in the midst of the election that stretched on what felt like forever. We’ve had a lot of fear to behold as the world seems to continue spinning into darker and darker days. We’ve lost people this year. We’ve broken things this year. We’ve experienced shame and moments of depression. We’ve collectively mourned the deaths of innocent lives, of police officers, of soldiers. We have made mistakes. We have hurt people, and we have been hurt. Some of us have had the best year of our lives, and it is so easy to forget how we got to where we are.

As Father Time continues to flip the pages of our calendars this moment is needed to pause and be able to look inside ourselves and understand that none of us have made it to our destination yet. We are all, like Paul, straining towards what’s ahead.

Our world is dark and chaotic. Among all of our happy moments and victories this year, we have also, all of us, experienced heartache and pain. Some of us may be facing Christmas this year with a family one less than last year. Perhaps the year was financially straining. Divorce. Rebellion. Death. Sin. Breakups. Fear. Our world is under a dark shadow of terrorism. Our nation is divided like never before over political partisanship. In the midst of all our darkness we find ourselves singing the chorus of the martyrs, “How long, Oh Lord? Come Lord Jesus!”

So this year, just as a star guided the wise men from the East to the baby King, I want to step back and let an ancient tradition be our guide through this season. For we are all seeking the Presence of our God this Christmas.

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine… For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders. You will break the oppressor’s rod… For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” –Isaiah 9:2-6 

I hope that the devotionals I will be offering you and the readings I will post each Sunday will act as an anchor for your family through the coming weeks to remember the most important, and the most wonderful news of all: Jesus is Coming.

Redeeming Halloween

In the midst of a divided world it is hard to cling to things that bring us together, there seems to be less and less issues or beliefs that we can grasp at just to hold the facade of unity. This isn't just as members of the Human race but all the way down to our own neighborhoods.

It seems that anything and everything we can argue over or divide over... well, we do. Whether it is the political tension that seems to be growing and growing the closer we approach November 8th, the changes in the economy, the conflicts in the Middle East, whether we should allow power companies to monopolize solar energy (Yes, I'm looking at you Florida!), heck, we are even arguing over which service provider is best for our cell phones at an all time high. Sprint, Verizon... Can you hear ME now?

Perhaps for me to point a spotlight at the newest elephant in the room that seems to slide in every October, I would just be giving us another reason to argue... but alas, I'm going to do it anyway.

Halloween.

I have heard every side to this on how a Christian should respond to this day.

I get it.

Once again we are thrust into this tension of Christian liberty vs Holiness.
We are sucked into the debate about what living in the world vs. being of the world looks like.
We are tossed to-and-fro between the rocking ship of active engagement vs passive protest.

I also understand that for many families, it is a matter of conscience. You don't feel comfortable celebrating a holiday that seems to worship the darkest things of our world... and the Spirit world.

Today -- it's not unusual to see a kid walking down the street with a knife in his head, fake blood all over his costume. You are bound to see a kid dressed as a ghost, fortune tellers, zombies, even the Grim Reaper.


So what should we, as Christians do in response?

Again, I understand the conscience argument and I in no way want to infringe on what you honestly believe God would have you do... but before you make that decision I hope you will come to understand how this holiday came about. From there, I hope we can all come to respect whatever decisions we come to make on this day.


You may be surprised to find out that Halloween was actually begun as a Christian festival.

Over the centuries, Halloween has not been about glorifying death. It's been more about respectfully remembering the dead and honoring that life is "hallowed" -- holy.

Before there was "Halloween", there was "All Hallows' Eve" -- and All Saints Day. For hundreds of years, before jack-o-lanterns and zombies and candy corn, Christians around the world have remembered the dead, the saints, the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us.

Halloween comes from the same root word as "hallowed" or "halo", meaning holy.

It was a time for families and churches to remember those who had passed into eternity that year... many of which because of martyrdom for the faith.

It was a celebration of thanksgiving. Long before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, there was All Hallows Eve. We gave thanks for the harvest and we gave thanks to God for the people He had put into our lives.


Halloween was made to honor people.


The church is in the redeeming business. We are in the redeeming business, because our leader, our King, our husband... Jesus Christ is in the redeeming business. We have always been an agent for change and an agent for good in our world. I don't think that stops because the world has taken hold of one of OUR holidays and made it about gore and demons.

My Jesus can redeem anything. My Jesus wins. My Jesus is sacking and depleting the Kingdom of Satan... and He will not relent until ALL is His again.

Personally, I think that includes All Hallows Eve.

"God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does." -Martin Luther

Church, tonight your neighbors, those people who live mere feet from you, they with all their baggage, all their own joys, all their own hardships, their love of life, as well as their loneliness will traipse up to your door with their little princesses and power rangers and they will ring your doorbell.

Those people who have life, life given to them by the God we serve, the God who loves them. Those people who we never speak to, who are nameless to us, those people who we are called to love... They will come to you.

If you're up for it... Go get some candy. Turn your light on. Have a conversation. You don't have to celebrate. You aren't condoning devil worship. You are actively loving your neighbor.

Love the people right around you. Right. Where. You. Live.

So, because I am in the redeeming business, and because I personally LOVE All Hallows Eve... I have some pretty fantastic stuff planned for tonight -- a place stunningly decorated with spooky fixtures. For my neighborhood kids, I'm firing up a grill in the middle of my driveway tonight and making S'mores and we'll be handing out gobs and gobs of candy.

But rather than revering the heroes of horror like Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers, it is a time we can celebrate the people we have admired, lost loved ones and the saints of old. So as we bob for apples, carve pumpkins, and eat lots of candy over the next few days… we'll also go deeper -- let's reclaim the holiday as a holy day.

Around here -- we don't need more gore and blood, and fear is enough of a national obsession. But there is something sweet about the way Halloween gives us permission to laugh at death, and stare fear in the face... after all, we know the dead can rise again.

Oh death, Thou art dead.

Happy Halloween!

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Nathan Bryant

is a pastor in East Orlando, FL. He loves the outdoors, whether it is camping in the mountains or jumping through the waves at the beach, nothing is better than enjoying God’s creation. Nathan longs for unity and commitment to Jesus to be a defining element in the global church of his generation.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our boundaries.

Follow him on Twitter:

Nathan's Website

 

Another Election Post

Church, it is time we had a chat.

I realize that I will not make many friends by sharing this, but that’s ok in my book. Something has been brewing in my mind for some time now and I know that I am not alone.

It boils down to this idol of nationalism that we have all bowed down to for far too long. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my country. I take pride in being an American citizen and I have the utmost respect for those who have defended her and promoted our 240 year experiment.

But we have a problem.

The elephant (and donkey) in the room have gone unspoken about for too long.

Yes, this is another election post.

I can’t go on any social media forum anymore without seeing some post from another Christian saying that we’re all doomed if so-and-so is elected. I understand that politics is an emotionally charged topic. It is a powerful topic. Politics has the power pull out the deepest philosophies and values we hold most dear as humans, as Americans, and as Christians.

It also has the power to divide us instead of bring us together.

Both sides think the absolute worst will happen if the other side wins. There is absolutely no way to have any consensus. Gone are the days where the losing side took the loss in stride and went back to work for the people who elected them. Now? An election loss only fuels the bludgeoning and finger pointing.

It is now impossible to have an opinion on something without being thrown under the bus by others who feel they must comment. A Republican who points out the flaws of their candidate in a matter of seconds can get run over by a train of insults and charges of supporting the Democrats.

A Democrat who points out the flaws of their candidate is immediately outed as helping to elect a “demagogue” and is forced to hide from the ensuing witch hunt.

This isn’t CNN. This is Facebook.

This isn’t a banter between politicians. These are comments from Christians.

Most of American Christianity have tied their convictions into the political system. Making political power their hope and now God is smashing that idol before us while laying bare the blatant compromise.

Let’s just be clear, neither of these candidates are our savior. Donald Trump did not die on a cross for you. He cannot, he will not, fix the broken fabric of our humanity. Hillary Clinton cannot fix the deepest longings in your heart. She cannot, she will not, give you meaning or purpose to your life.
On November 8th, millions of Americans will go to the polls to cast their votes. Thousands of Christians will vote for one believing that God told them to do so, and thousands of Christians will vote for the other believing that God told them to do so.

NEWSFLASH:

God is not conflicted. He isn’t torn apart over this and he isn’t confused. He knows who will be the next President, and there is nothing you or I can do to surprise Him.

God isn’t on YOUR side either. He isn’t interested in being a Republican or a Democrat.

When I realized this I was reminded of a passage in the Old Testament.
God had given Joshua the command and the charge to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. Through Moses, Joshua was commissioned take the land and settle it. Joshua knew His mission, He knew God was behind it, and He knew that God would lead them to victory. Yet, when facing Jericho, Joshua halted. That’s when the LORD appeared to him:

When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?”
“Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the LORD’s army.”

-Joshua 5:13-14 NLT

In other words, Joshua is asking this man, “Whose side are you on? My side? Or their side?” And he is given the reply, “Neither, I know who I am. The question is, who are you?”

Joshua then falls to his knees and submits to this Man.

Joshua needed his mind reoriented. This was never about him. This wasn’t even about Israel. It has always been about what God is doing in His universe. God does not HAVE a candidate. God is who He is. It isn’t about picking a side for Him. He is concerned only with His Glory, and He is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.

The hunch I get though is that the Church is not satisfied in Him much at all.

We’re preoccupied with little things that in comparison to the mission that God has given us are microscopic.

• The state of the economy is but a blip on the majesty of the mission, because Christ is our perfect and constant provider.


• The balance of the Supreme Court is but a fragment on the scales of justice in God’s Kingdom, because Christ is our righteous Judge.


• The rise of ISIS is but a thorn in the side when it comes to our witness or our safety, because Christ is our defender.

Church, stop being afraid of worldly powers. Your God is in perfect control.

Viewing political power as the solution to the world's problems is a devious form of worldliness to which Christians have been blind.

— Joshua Harris (@HarrisJosh) October 8, 2016

Weigh in!



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Nathan Bryant

is a pastor in East Orlando, FL. He loves the outdoors, whether it is camping in the mountains or jumping through the waves at the beach, nothing is better than enjoying God’s creation. Nathan longs for unity and commitment to Jesus to be a defining element in the global church of his generation.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our boundaries.

Follow him on Twitter:

Nathan's Website

 

Eeyore

I think it is high time the church began to look more and more like the friends of the hundred acre wood. Depression is a serious issue, one that we have neglected to teach on. And the answer is not to try and "fix people", but just love people... The way Jesus loved people.

Purpose

August 28, 2016 from River Run Church on Vimeo.

Wake up!

The events of the last few weeks from Orlando to Istanbul, North Korea to Louisiana, Baghdad to the Carolinas, Nairobi to Washington DC; the racism, the hatred, the pain and distress... People acting as if they are above the law, people for whom the law doesn't protect, people for whom the law directly opposes and ostracizes...

It all goes to show one thing very clearly: Our World is Broken 

And all that we are doing; our institutions, our nonprofits, our attempts at peace... they just aren't working. 

The battle truly begins not with legislation, but in the hearts of men.

The prophet Jeremiah said of our condition this:

"The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?"

Answer: Only God. For He is the one who searches hearts and minds. He examines our secret motives and He gives us exactly what we deserve.

But God never intended to leave us in that place of despair. So many of us walk around as if that is the ultimate truth, that mankind is wicked, beyond any kind of repair or redemption.

But God sent Himself to come and redeem ALL of that which was broken... and there is only One who came to re-create the heart. 

• He taught us that loving our neighbors and loving our enemies would bring peace.
• He taught us that hurt is not something we "get over", but something we can stand up on top of, something that we can conquer.
• He taught us that revenge doesn't heal the hurt or the longing but that redemption does.
• He taught us that real love is self-sacrificial, not selfish.
• He taught us that wealth and power fades, money is fickle, but that holiness stores up endless dividends. 
• He taught us that all life matters to God, ESPECIALLY the lives of the poor, oppressed, despondent, and ostracized.
• He taught us that the Kingdoms of this world will always fail at giving humanity its deepest longing.
• He taught us to pray with true expectant hope.
• He taught us to take care of each other and look out not for our own interests but also the interests of others.
• He taught us that loving God means loving others.

Church, the world won't wake up to the notion that Jesus' way is better until WE start living like we truly believe His ways are better.

The world needs Jesus. They need His salvation. They need His peace. They need His way of life.

They need Eden restored.

We aren't called to live like this to earn salvation. 

We are called to live like this so that salvation can truly work within us and through us, to change us.

1.) We live differently, because the world needs us to.

The object of our denying of self is to call a dying world back to our lifesource. It is to live the Gospel of Christ out in our every breath. It is so that WE as a people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God can show others a better way, the way of Christ.

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

“Once you had no identity as a people;
    now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy;
    now you have received God’s mercy.”

Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

- 1 Peter 2:9-12 NLT

2.) We live differently because we grow from it too.

The goal of the Christian is to become conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Spiritual formation is the process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others. When we intentionally live on mission and mirroring what we see Christ doing more and more it becomes habitual. We become better. Our hearts are more malleable to the call of God. We hear God's Spirit more clearly. 

We are justified by faith... but we become holy not by thinking right thoughts, but by living out what God calls us to.

Jesus wasn't a theologian locked in a library, he was a practitioner... and He calls us to the same.

It is living in cruciformity, for our betterment.

So, how can you start, today? 

• Say hi to your next door neighbor. Get to know their name and their story.
  Buy coffee for a stranger.
  By all means, pray. Pray for wisdom and for guidance. Pray that God melts your heart for the people who He loves. 
• Read the Bible. Start with a Gospel (Matthew is a good one!) Put into practice what you read about.
• Show kindness to the girl at work who gets under your skin.
• Sit with the kid that no one likes.
• Buy lunch for a homeless man.

Those are suggestions for starting points, what would you add?

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Nathan Bryant

is a pastor at River Run Church in East Orlando, FL. As a student at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri he majored in Biblical Leadership, New Testament Studies, and Missiology.  In 2014 he attended the Leadership Institute in Phoenix, AZ where he continued his education from other pastors and educators at one of the fastest growing churches in the United States. He loves the outdoors, whether it is camping in the mountains or jumping through the waves at the beach, nothing is better than enjoying God’s creation. Nathan longs for unity and commitment to Jesus to be a defining element in the global church of his generation.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our boundaries.

Follow him on Twitter:

Nathan's Website

 

Walking Humbly

This afternoon I was reading one of my favorite books, it has been a while since I opened it and just read. It's a spiritual classic called "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas A'Kempis. Within the opening two paragraphs he wrote something profound, something that I have glossed over too many times to count.

I paraphrase it and contemporize it this way:

"What good could possibly come out of us, to enter into deep discussion concerning God, if we lack humility? For it matters not how accurate our discussion, if we in our very attitudes are displeasing to Him. More than that, it's never deep words that make us holy, for words are cheap. Rather, a heart softened to the Gospel that pleases God."

And then... Out of nowhere an old song from Sonicflood started playing on my iPad, one I haven't heard in years.. The chorus is a prayer that seemed to fit perfectly with what I had just read...

So, take my heart and form it
Take my mind and transform it
Take my will and conform it
To yours, to yours, oh Lord
To yours, to yours, oh Lord

Read more:  Sonicflood - Holiness Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

This is a thought that I just couldn't let go. How many times have I started talking so assuredly about God, how many times have I thought deep thoughts about God... But never trembled before Him, never gave a second thought to His awesome Being. Who am I to utter a word? Who am I to speak so surely of the God who was, who is,can't who is to come? Who am I to suggest I know anything about the Unknowable? 

Not to suggest that we can never know God more... For He has revealed Himself partially in His written word, and revealed Himself fully in The Word Incarnate, that is in the person and work of King Jesus... But let us speak as one who is humble and lowly in heart, mind, and soul. 

Maybe I'm alone here. Maybe it is my own pride that so easily sleeps it's way back into my heart... But maybe, just maybe some of you experienced this before. 

May we all seek to do justly, and to love mercy, and to WALK HUMBLY with our God.

-----

 

Nathan Bryant

is a pastor at River Run Church in East Orlando, FL. As a student at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri he majored in Biblical Leadership, New Testament Studies, and Missiology.  In 2014 he attended the Leadership Institute in Phoenix, AZ where he continued his education from other pastors and educators at one of the fastest growing churches in the United States. He loves the outdoors, whether it is camping in the mountains or jumping through the waves at the beach, nothing is better than enjoying God’s creation. Nathan longs for unity and commitment to Jesus to be a defining element in the global church of his generation.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our boundaries.

Follow him on Twitter:

Nathan's Website

 

Orlando, the beautiful

I have found myself with a loss of words when it comes to the events of the last few days.

I have struggled to put the few thoughts I do have into any kind of comprehensive sentence.

But here is my best attempt.

I do not want to insult any specific person or community by pretending to know what the full weight of this attack feels like. We are all victims to an extent. I am, to an extent simply because of geography, and thus have some heavy emotions regarding the entire tragedy...

But I realize this was not an attack on me.

This was a deliberate, intensive, hate-filled assault on a specific community of people who have been ostracized, abused, segregated, and made to feel like second class citizens simply because of how they identify sexually.

I have been on the street. I have walked past Pulse nightclub. I know people who attend events there. I know people who work there. I have friends who have been forever impacted by the events of this weekend.

This was evil in its most blatant form, coming out into the open, for the eyes, ears, and attention of the entire world.

One man with a heart full of hate, of fear, and of anger was able to cause so much hurt

In the Gospels, there is a story. A story of a Pharisee and a tax collector.
It's a simple parable, but one that is played out on a regular basis even in our world today...

“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Certainly the text tells us a lot, but the imagery is what I want to focus on here. The man who actually prayed, instead of spewing a hate filled speech to onlookers, the man who humbled himself, the man who was ostracized, rejected, and even publicly shamed just seconds before was the one whom God honored.

God didn't even recognize the Pharisee, as morally accurate his statement MAY have been (and that is a stretch), it came from a calloused, hard heart.

Jesus condemns this attitude over and over again in the Gospel accounts.

What's my point?

Our facebook posts and tweets are not enough. It is time for Christians to ACTUALLY pray... and let your prayers become active.

Prayer without any type of action would be a foreign concept to the early church. The Lord's Prayer, found in Matthew 6, is all about asking God to lead us to ACT.

When is the last time you expressed a genuine love for someone you disagreed with?

When is the last time you showered the same kind of love you have for your family onto someone who is different than you?

Words have life. Words mean something, but they are also at times hollow.

Our words become hollow when we only seem to care about the LGBTQ+ community after a tragedy.

Our words become hollow when we say we are praying for people one day, and the next are back to spewing the same hate filled, self-righteous speech that led to much of their oppression in the first place.

And it's time to be honest: The church has been oppressive with its language and activity against this specific community. Not everyone, sure. And you do not need to be on the liberal side of the aisle as a church to legitimately love people.

We may have severe disagreements. But that is OK.

This is not the time to argue over sexuality. This is not the time to weaponize Scripture. This is not the time to become political, blame guns, religion, terrorists, or judges.

This is a moment to weep, grieve, do some deep soul searching, and BE.

Be a human being. Be broken with this community. Be transparent with yourself and with us.

This is a time where the church needs to look more like Jesus and less like the Pharisee praying aloud for all to hear. 

• Changing your profile picture is nice.
• Saying you will pray for people is great.
• Using one of the many hashtags to convey your care is awesome.
• Sending some money is wonderful.
• To the thousands who stood in line to donate blood, you are truly remarkable human beings for braving the heat and giving of yourself in such an intimate way.
• By all means, PRAY. Please pray. Pray for my city. Pray for my brothers and sisters. Pray for the LGBTQ+ community. Prayer is THE most important thing you can do for us right now. Prayer works. Prayer is what everyone MUST start with.
  
  But don't stop there: Your prayers ring hollow if your heart is still hardened.

We need to rise above that, because when the dust settles, when the news crews leave, when the investigation is over, and life attempts to crawl back to some type of normalcy... There is still a gaping hole.

There is a hole never before felt by all who were intimately affected.
There is a hole in all of our hearts that fear slowly seeps into.
I have read too many tweets of friends who are afraid to go to work, go to the movie theater, even... go to church because of these events.
Our theme parks have just installed extra security and are now doing more and more metal detections and bag searches.
There is a hole, because something was taken from us. A long time ago something was taken from us all.

We, the Church, the incarnation of Christ into this world, the bearers of God Himself, the people redeemed, the Royal Priesthood, the Bride and body of Jesus Himself... have a mission. We have been given the mission of reconciliation... and when it comes to certain communities among us, we have done just the opposite.

Christ has come to fill the hole. Christ came to bridge the gap.

God is reconciling the world to Himself, and I wonder if He is waiting for us to join Him instead of fighting against Him.

This isn't a plea to rid yourself of biblical convictions.

This is a plea to turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and ask deep down, what you believe Jesus would say to these people that we have done all we can at times to oppress.

It honestly doesn't matter what you believe is true about how a Christian should live: We haven't even invited these people to be part of our community. We have no right to impose a moralistic standard on people who we have no spiritual relationship with. We have no right to demand a conversation about theological implications of anything...because we have never extended our hand into a relationship.

We are never called to sacrifice anybody on the altar of truth. Rather to sacrifice ourselves on the altar of love.

The conversation MUST change.

Candles lit the darkness and a chilling silence filled the air as the bell tower rang for each of the 50 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. #OrlandoUnited

It is one thing to dialogue about what the Bible says, it is an entirely different thing to be bigoted.

What we have forgotten, church is that people are made in the image of God. They are loved by Him. No matter where they are in life. No matter their decisions in life.

Because we all are in process. The only person who can claim perfection in God's eyes was God Himself... and He gave Himself up for imperfect people.

All people have one thing in common: We all are looking for community and love.

We claim that we have found the One who is all loving and all reaching. We believe that He has reached down to us. When will we be willing to extend that same grace to others?

Really extend it. Not superficially. Fully.


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Finally, I must come to grips with my own self. I would be completely hypocritical to call for such a thing by the church without first recognizing my own part in the conversation thus far. I haven't always been loving. I have in the past, wrestled with the same Pharisaical spirit as the man in the parable. I have used Scripture as a weapon, and I have hurt people with my rhetoric.

For this, and so many other things, I am sorry. If you are part of the LGBTQ+ community I want you to know that I am sorry, deeply. And this should have been said long ago, not only after such a horrendous tragedy: I hope you can forgive me.

I also hope that this will not be my words ringing hollow, but that I will become an active part of the conversation of love.

We will still find plenty to disagree about. We will all still wrestle with the theological implications of how sexuality is lived out in the Church. That is OK, because love is love is love is love is love is love... and the fact that we see the world differently is what makes our solidarity so much more beautiful. My promise is that I will never attack your humanity. I will never allow our differences to make me think less of your dignity as a person loved by and adored by our Creator.

Furthermore, I will call out the hate and fear mongers within my community and do all I can to change the conversation.

I hope it is not too late for me, for us. We have done a poor job of showing it, we have done an even worse job at reaching out to tell you... but I want you to know that we love you.

We love because we have been shown love.

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

1 John 4:7-19 NLT

And to the LGBTQ+ community,

Please understand where we are coming from, not just what you have always heard, not what the uneducated angry street preachers and greedy televangelists promote. Please take a look at WHY we believe what we believe, and please help us have a conversation with you and your community.

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Nathan Bryant

is a pastor at River Run Church in East Orlando, FL. As a student at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri he majored in Biblical Leadership, New Testament Studies, and Missiology.  In 2014 he attended the Leadership Institute in Phoenix, AZ where he continued his education from other pastors and educators at one of the fastest growing churches in the United States. He loves the outdoors, whether it is camping in the mountains or jumping through the waves at the beach, nothing is better than enjoying God’s creation. Nathan longs for unity and commitment to Jesus to be a defining element in the global church of his generation.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our boundaries.

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