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Hat tip to Marko

4th of July

Here is a devotion from my friend and mentor Rev. Dennis Dorsh about the 4th of July. Enjoy.

Greetings,
More thoughts on the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence. Refer to Matthew 23:23-39, preferably in the NRSV or the New Jerusalem Bible. American history and the history of God’s people are not the same. We Americans are usually not aware that for several hundred years, the British considered that they were the people of the New Jerusalem, indeed, that they were the new People of God, the new Israel. At the time of the American Revolution, that thinking was held by many of the British people who populated the American colonies, and after the Revolution, that thinking began to grow. The whole notion of “manifest destiny” was an extension of that type of thinking.
The Christian Church does not view the American Revolution as a major event in the life of the church. Jesus, in Matthew 23, was speaking of ancient prophets and not of the heroes of the Revolutionary War, but his words may well apply to our celebration of their achievement.

John Adams wrote to his beloved wife Abigail on July 3, 1776, after the Congress voted to pass the Declaration of Independence [we switched the celebration to the day of the signing rather than the day of approval]:

“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore.”

Frederick Douglass wrote (about 1855):
“What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parades and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.”

James Madison weighed in with the comment: “The most common and durable source of faction has been the various and unequal distribution of property."

And, for today at least, a final comment by theologian Krister Stendahl:

“The Sermon on the Mount is actually a rebellious manifesto which gives to disciples of Christ the right to break the Law in the name of Christ. But it is important to remember that it is subversive, and that the disciple must be prepared to pay the price for such action…The license…can only be appropriated in faith, and will always threaten the equilibrium of God’s created world.”

Yours & His,

DED

That organ is too progressive

Dan Kimball has a great post on his blog about how the organ created controversy in its early days. The next time you hear someone complain about the current status of church music it would be good to remember a few of the stories from this post.

NT Wright on Colbert

One of my favorite theologians/authors NT Wright was on Colbert last night.

Dobson and Obama

Great post today on Jesus Creed concerning the comments James Dobson made about Barack Obama. In case you missed it, Dr. Dobson sharply criticized Senator Obama yesterday on the “Focus on the Family” radio program. Among other things, Dr. Dobson said of Obama, “He’s deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology.” Dobson says that Obama is “dragging biblical understanding through the gutter.”

"Daddy"

Chloe, our 21 month old and i went to visit a family that came to church today. The family broke out some old school toys, the original Fisher Price Little People, just like the ones i had growing up, the hospital and the school. Chloe starting bringing the Little People to me, and she brought this one to me, and said, "daddy!" What do you think? Does it look like me?

Doctor of Ministry 1

Earlier in the year I decided to pursue my Doctor of Ministry degree and finished my first set of classes last week. I had an awesome time. I am sad to say this but for the first time in my academic career, (high school, college, seminary) I wanted to learn. In the past it was a means to an end. Better late than never. Over the next several days I hope to blog about some of the really cool things that took place during the 2 weeks. Today I want to spend a few moments talking about track i chose and the people i got to spend 2 weeks with.
I am taking the Missional Evangelism track at Wesley Theological Seminary. I choose this because of the topic, the professors, and the location (Washington DC). One thing I have always loved about Wesley has been its diversity, and this class was no different. Here are some of the unofficial stats:

Denominations
UMC-8
Nazerine-1
Luthern- 1
Baptist- 1
AME- 3
Korean Methodist- 1

Gender and Ethnicity
5 white women (serving in DL, MD, OK, Germany, Russia)
3 African American men (serving in VA, 2 NC)
3 white men (serving in TX, FL, VA)
2 African American women (serving in Maryland)
1 Ethiopian (serving in VA)
1 Korean (serving in VA)

Now this is a Recital!

Thanks Marco

Great General Conference Blog

If you care at all about General Conference you should check out Mark Holland's blog. Its a short recap of each day described as only Mark can.

Some Wisdom

Thought i would share my devotional reading today from Proverbs 6:16-19. I particularly like the 2nd part of verse 19.

¹⁶ There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:

¹⁷ haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,

¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up dissension in the community.

Gereral Conferecne Starts Today

The General Conference of the Untied Methodist Church starts today in Dallas Texas. Here are a few things for you to check out if you are interested.
-General Conference Home Page
-Article from Tom Berlin
-Article from the Dallas Morning News,
-A daily Blog by my friend Mark Holland

What if...

"let's say I confessed to you my disgust with someone who annoyed me and how hopeless I felt about ever loving this person. What if instead of trying to make me feel better by saying, 'Nobody's perfect,' you said you believed in God's power to transform me into a radical person who pays loving attention to those who annoy me? What if you prayed for me about this? What if later that day you encountered an annoying person and without thinking, treated that person with kindness and attentiveness-partly because of the transforming effect of our conversation about the kingdom personality?"

From the devotionals Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice, based on Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart.

Hospitality

This week I preached a sermon on the hospitality and here is a quote i used from Bishop Robert Schnase's new book The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. He is talking about the decline of the mainline church.

"People getting mad and leaving is not the cause of our decline. Members simply grow old and die, and no one takes their places. The church as a “front door” problem rather than a “back door” problem. People are not entering into the life of the church at a rate that matches or exceeds the number maturing and dying. In many cases, we have not passed along the faith ot our won children and grandchildren.
To become a vibrant, fruitful, growing congregation requires a change of attitudes, practices, and values. Good intentions are not enough. Too many churches want more young people as long as they act like old people, more newcomers as long as they act like old-timers, more children as long as they are quiet as adults, more ethnic families as long as they act like the majority in the congregation."

Say Amen if you can!

"Server is Too Busy"

I am behind in my sermon prep this week. My wife and i celebrated our 6th anniversary by going to Myrtle Beach for a few days and I did not start working on my sermon until yesterday. And it is not going to well. So i started doing what i do when my sermon is not going well. I've prayed more than normal, I've called up a few friends and asked for old sermons or illustrations, (got hold of one friend but the stuff he gave me is not going to work). Today i want to a preaching website, www.preachingtoday.com and i did a search for my topic, (hospitality) and the response was: SERVER IS TOO BUSY. I guess i'm not the only one!!
Anyway got to have the sermon done before the final four starts tonight.

A little E. Stanley Jones for you

E. Stanley Jones, from, Conversion (1959)

"Building the Kingdom" depicts the unsurrendered self thinking it can build the Kingdom by its own efforts. But "receiving the Kingdom" depicts the surrendered, receptive self with emptied hands accepting God's gift of grace, forgiveness, conversion, new birth, and this is the point--introducing him to the most exciting fact of the universe, the Kingdom of God....

Who is in your final 4?

I have a very unexciting final 4. Two number 1 seeds, and #2 and #4. UNC, Memphis, Georgetown, and UCONN. With UNC and Memphis in the title game and UNC winning. Who do you have?

Happy 5th Birthday Jordan!

The Bald Brotherhood

A group from St. Matthew's went to hear Tony Campolo speak tonight. He was awesome as usual. Tony has been a great influence in my life and ministry and a great source for illustrations. Best line of the night, "you know your old when your wife asks you to come upstairs for sex and you say, 'honey, I can't do both."

The Hermeneutics Quiz

Before you take this quiz that was designed by Scot McKnight,
which of the following 3 categories do you think you view of the Bible will fit..

Conservative, Moderate, or Progressive?
After you take the quiz go here to see what it means and in the comments let me know what you thought you were, and what the quiz said you were and do you agree. Mine are in the comments.

donuts with dad 08

Yesterday was donuts with dad at Jordan and Karis's preschool.