The Relational Mission

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin …” —Exodus 34:6-7 I grew up going to church. Back then, I would hear sermons at least two times per week. I went to Sunday School and attended an additional Bible study every week. There was a lot of sitting and listening to people talk about God and the Bible. This continued when I went to college. Then after getting married to Shawna, we were are part of a church where we listened to three sermons per week. To say the least, I’ve heard a lot of sermons. While I do not remember the details of each, I can honestly say that there was not one sermon given on this passage. This is a bit problematic since these verses serve as a foundational core to the Old Testament. They are like a thesis statement in a term paper, as they define how the Israelite people were meant to view who ...

The growth in knowledge of any object depends upon the encounter between someone who wants to know about that object and the object itself. This the only way to develop an understanding of any thing, of any animal, or of any person. The experience of a personal encounter is rudimentary. This claim may appear obvious when it comes to the knowledge of something like a rock, for instance, but understanding how we develop a battery of information about a rock can help us understand the way that God is understandable.  The character of a rock is effusive, that is it is self-showing. What I encounter when I pick up a rock and assess its characteristics is an actual manifestation or performance of the nature of what it means to be a rock. The rock’s “rockness” is shown through the encounter. In some ways, it’s like a dramatic performance. If you want to know the meaning of a play like Hamlet, you must look at the performance of the play itself. You will never understand Hamlet if you only...

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” —Hebrews 1:3 God is only known by us if God himself reveals himself to us. I do not have the ability to see God rightly from within the way that I see the world. Left to myself, I am stuck in a closed loop, like a race car perpetually racing around the same track. Every new thought, every new perception is simply an incremental advance upon what is already known. In other words, when it comes to God and my understanding of God, my "looped" way limits, dulls and even prevents me from seeing what God is really like. Therefore I project my experience in my loop of life upon God. I cannot not do this. This has in fact shaped much of the history of various conceptions of god. We need not go beyond Greek mythology to see how the gods were projections fro...

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. —1 John 4:7-8 How would you describe God if a friend asked you to do so? What words would you use to explain what God is like? Well actually the words at your disposal comprise a very long list. Let's consider a few. First, the classic attributes of God that theologians have analyzed for centuries provide some guidance. They include such smart-sounding words as: • Eternal (God has no beginning or end; He has always existed • Transcendent (God is above and beyond the limits of our world • Omnipotent (God is all-powerful • Omniscient (God is all-knowing • Omni-present (God’s is present everywhere • Holy (God is absolutely unique and perfect) Or we can use some words that are a little more popular, and say that God is: good, trustworthy, generous, faithful, glorious, worthy, beautiful, ...

When Shawna was pregnant with our first child, we had many friends repeat the exact same words to us: “Everything is going to change.” We had been married for almost five years, and we had become accustomed to life as DINKs (double income no kids). Now that we have four between 11 and 5, we  now know all about the life change that kids can bring. One of the first things that changed with the advent of our son was our sleep patterns. No longer was sleep a luxury that we could. We had a little baby in our house that required feeding every three hours, and he let us know about it. During that first month, I was up after his feeding at about 2 a.m. I was tired, but he had the hiccups and could not sleep. My sleep habits were in shock. My body cried out for rest, but there was something within me that kept my body awake. It was something bigger than the physical need for sleep. This was my son, and he required care. As I walked around in the dark, a part of a verse resonat...

Have you ever been so hungry that you eat food that is half-baked? The hunger is so great that you can't wait any longer. Sometimes this is how we try to follow Jesus. We are not willing to wait on what God has for us so we go for it and make something happen. We cannot live with the hunger that is growing so we settle for half-baked answers to fill that hunger. God is a God of: Word and action. Promises and promises kept. Proclamation and fulfillment. If you want to follow Jesus well you must view how God both states and acts. He makes promises and he comes through on what he has promised. However, for the most part, we have become very accustomed to following God as if his actions, promises keeping, and fulfillment cannot be trusted. God gives us a holy hunger for him. God stirs up a thirst for righteousness and justice. We hear his calling to live out a certain vocation or pursue a specific line of work. Then we set off on our own path to make it happen. If you want...

To be "missional" is to be sent. The church is sent. The people of God are sent to be a sign, witness and foretaste of God's coming Kingdom in the midst of the world. We are sent to put on display God's beauty in the midst of violence. If we are going to do this God's way, then we must actually understand how God sends. Philippians 2 reveals some insight into this. Jesus Christ:     6 Who, being in very nature God,        did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;     7 rather, he made himself nothing       by taking the very nature of a servant,       being made in human likeness.    8 And being found in appearance as a man,       he humbled himself       by becoming obedient to death—          even death on a cross! God reveals God's missional nature in the sending of Jesus Christ. God'...

I'm writing curriculum tonight for a 7-week series we are doing at our church called Scandalous Love. It is a focus on the radical, free gift love that God has for us. I often wonder if this kind of radical love is something that we think we need to outgrow. It seems as if we feel the need to grow up and be independent of love, to become self-sufficient as Christians. When I was a new Christian, I knew that I needed to experience the love of God on a daily basis. But over the years, the direct knowledge of this love seems to wain. And this seems to be a quite common pattern. But what if a sign Christian maturity is the growing knowledge of this love that cannot be measured.

When Shawna was pregnant with our first child, we had many friends repeat the exact same words to us: “Everything is going to change.” We had been married for almost five years and we had become accustomed to life as DINKs (double income no kids). I would scoff at the comments about the change coming our way, but the change has been larger and more comprehensive than I could ever imagine. One of the first things that changed with the advent of Deklan into our lives, was our sleep patterns. No longer was sleep a luxury that we could control according to our convenience. We had a little baby in our house that required feeding every three hours and he let us know about it. During that first month, I was up after his feeding at about 2 a.m. I was tired but he had the hiccups and could not sleep. My sleep habits were in shock. My body cried out for sleep, but there was something within me that kept my body awake. It was something bigger than the physical need for sleep. This was my son and...

It's late and out 10 month old daughter would rather stand at her bed and scream than to simply lay down and rest. She can't breathe well as she has a bit of a cold. She is waiting for my hand. You see, in times like this she has gotten used to my hand rubbing her back. She has a cold and can't breathe well and she is to young for meds. She wants to be comforted back to sleep. Part of me is afraid of spoiling her, and there are plenty of books out thereto support this fear. But there is another part of me that wants to show her that she will never outgrow the need to be comforted back to sleep. I'm not sure we really ever get to old for the comforting hand of Father. Think about it. Afton is 10 months old, which is about 1/50 of my age. By comparison if I live to be 100 I would only be 1/600 of the age of the earth, assuming a young earth theory. And of course Father is a lot older than that. So when he looks down on me now with my hand on Afton's back he sees two p...

I grew up with sheep. My Father always had a small flock  on the property near our house. Quite honestly, I did not like working with them. They required a lot of attention. They were rather frail, easily frightened, and needed protection from the elements. There were not like the cattle we owned who were more self-sufficient. They were highly dependent.  This was especially true of the weakest sheep. Young lambs would wonder off and we lost many to preditors, even though we had a fence that enclosed the flock. We were always monitoring, protecting, tending, and healing these frail animals.  From my experience with sheep, I find it a bit offensive that the Scriptures often compare us to them. Most of the time I like to think of myself as strong and self-sufficient. The independent, self-made mindset rebels against this association. And I assume that if I act rightly and perform according to expectations that I am worthy of God's attention and love. It is hard for me to imagine othe...