Ministry, Theology

I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy…

Down in My Heart! Where?

Tonight we resume meetings for our small group Bible study. This quarter we are looking at Paul’s letter to the Philippians using the Serendipty small group resources (Great resources to get students talking through the scriptures and growing together).

As I reread the letter last week, I was stuck at how hopeful Paul’s words are. Although our group wont’t get to it until next week, I think that the well worn statement in v 21 gives us the reason behind Paul’s joy. I love how poetic the Message staes this: “Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.. As I’m typing this I’m listening to “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own”. Very fitting for the letter to the suffering city. Compare Paul’s words of encouragement to Bono’s words to his father.

Philippians 1:3-14
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God. Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.

Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
Tough, you think you’ve got the stuff
You’re telling me and anyone
You’re hard enough
You don’t have to put up a fight
You don’t have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don’t have to go it alone

Can you hear me when I sing
You’re the reason I sing
You’re the reason why the opera is in me.

Tonight we are going focus on this passage. My prayer is that it will encourge our students to rely on God and each other. I pray also that these words, Paul’s and Bono’s, my encourage you today. Peace.

General, Popular Culture, U2

iMix

Allthough I wasn’t able to attend the show in San Diego last night, I have enjoyed listening to the setlist all day. I made a playlist of the songs using various tracks from my iTunes library (Where possible I used live tracks). If you have iTunes, you can click the link below to the iMix that I submitted. Enjoy and stay classy San Diego!

U2//San Diego//3.28.2005 iMix

Theology

Thank You

Psalm 116:12-14

What can I give back to GOD
for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation–a toast to GOD!
I’ll pray in the name of GOD;
I’ll complete what I promised GOD I’d do,
and I’ll do it together with his people.

Popular Culture

That’s some nice policin’ boys!

Last night’s 8pm episode of The Simpsons, proved once again why I believe it is the smartest comedy on television. Originally airing last month, “Pranksta Rap” was a deftly written satire of how we look the other way instead tackeling hard issues and calling the truth truth. The episode guide describes this episode as,

Bart sneaks out of the house to attend a forbidden rap concert. When Marge and Homer discover he is missing, Bart fakes his own kidnapping to prevent being grounded. It is up to Springfield’s finest to save him. Of course, no one has any faith in bumbling police Chief Clancy Wiggum. Inspired by an apparition of Barney Fife, Wiggum vows to rescue Bart. Meanwhile, Bart is hiding out in Kirk Van Houten’s bachelor pad unbeknownst to Kirk. Wiggum cracks the case, Bart is rescued, and Kirk wrongfully goes to jail. Wiggum is promoted to Police Commissioner and Kirk becomes a lady’s man among the felon-loving singles of Springfield. Lisa searches for the truth and discovers that the kidnapping was all a hoax and everyone goes back as it was before.

Seems harmless enough. What the guide doesn’t tell you is that everyone except Lisa is fine with the lie. When Bart, Homer, Wiggum, and Kirk are caught in their lies they… throw a party! Everything is ok. No lesson learned, no sappy music. Just Homer cannonballing into the pool.

In my humble opinion, the writers were criticizing the nations aparent indifference to the “truth” about the Iraq war. Although, I do not believe that we were lied to about the belief that Saddam had WMDs, I do believe that, in order to keep the status quo, no one has been held accountable for mistakes. I understand completely that I am an armchair commander at this point. I am thankful that we do live in a country where our leaders, for the most part, do look out for us. I just have a hollow feeling about the aftermath here in America. I pray that those in Iraq will come to love freedom. The elections were an amazing step forward. I know that wonderful things have happened but, does the end truly justify the means? Who knows, maybe I’m looking into the episode tooooooooo much.

I appreciate the writers of the Simpsons for tackeling the issue of truth and justice in such a great manner. It wasn’t scathing but it was powerful. It caused me to think. Imagine that!

General, Ministry

Time’s Up

1 Comment

Well. it is 5:00pm on Easter Sunday and the clock is ticking away the last few precious hours I have for Spring Break. All in all, it was relaxing break. I did have a few bouts with my insomnia but I used the extra hours to read instead of just tossing and turning. I spent a great deal of time studying the book of Galatians. As I chew on my thoughts, I’ll post them here. Suffice to say, Galatians is good stuff. I think Paul’s words were the cause of my sleepless nights. Another cause of my sleeplessness are some changes and thoughts that have been swirling around me. Please pray for me as I am seeking to better understand God’s heart. (More to come)

Right now, I am in my office getting things ready for the coming week. It is rainy and I’m rockin’ a little DMB. Good times, good times. On Friday, I am taking the Fellowship of Christian Students on a weekend retreat. We are going to be looking at the gifts that God gives us. It should be great.

On the Horizon:
The new Brian McLaren book, The Last Word and the Word after That : A Tale of Faith, Doubt, and a New Kind of Christianity, releases this Tuesday. It is the final chapter in the New Kind of Christian trilogy. I have been anticipating the book for a while now. Amazon don’t fail me now!

I’m anxious to see if U2 posts their live shows on iTunes. We shall see as the Vertigo Tour kicks off this week on the west coast.

7 weeks til the summer

Have a great week everyone!
Peace,
Micheal

General

Spring Break

We have had a pretty relaxing break. Last week, we drove up to Memphis to visit with my parents and grandparents and had an ok time. I did get a chance to test drive a new Mini Coooper S. I liked it! If anyone wants to send me $26,000 to help cut some of the expeses, I would appreciate it. I also spent some time at the Apple store. I played with Keynote and with iMovie HD. The highlight of the visit though was holding the new iPod Shuffle. It was so light that I was afraid that I would break it. Below, is a picture and a link to the story behind it. It seems that at some schools Australia, the iPod has been banned because it causes social issolation. Some kid created a case out of a mint tin. Then he moved into a cave. Huh, maybe they do cause social isolation.
iPod shuffle mint case
Link

Ministry

Strength/ Weakness

Brian Brophy is a Youth Minister in Pennyrile, KY. I had the privilege to attend university with Brian and we had many of the same classes. Brian is a good minister. Brian seeks to serve God and serve his students everyday in everything that he does. I am proud to know Brian and I am proud to endorse him here.
Brian has had his second article published on the Youth Specialties website. The latest article is entitled, Jesus Called. He Wants His Students Back. As I read the article, I fought back tears because I realized that I’m not alone. Here is another minister, who I graduated with, who is my friend, who deals with the same insecurities and the same feelings of insignificance that I deal with. The article (and the reminder) is summed up in the final paragraph:

Sometimes we don’t know the impact we have. Sometimes we never will. When we feel inadequate, helpless, and unsuccessful, those may be the times that God received a great return on an investment. We may not be able to get church boards and youth committees to understand the logic of the upside-down kingdom, but we can be assured that our vocation is understood by the One who matters most.

This article couldn’t have come at a better time. For me, it is spring break. I have been taking these few days to reevaluate what it is that I do. I am a campus minister. I do not work for a church or eldership. I work for a school. This job has a whole different set of headaches. I realized that I have been a little like the wicked servant found in Matthew 25. I have taken the “talent” that God has blessed me with (this ministry, its freedoms, my calling) and effectively buried it by living and ministering cautiously. Through the article, I was again reminded that, in ministry, Christ said that his “grace is enough; it’s all you need.” His strength in made powerful, effecive in my weakness. So, like Brian and the Apostle Paul, I can say “Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen (the headaches, the weaknesses, the insecurities). I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness.” Thanks Brother! Press on. Fight the Fight. Stand Firm.

The Goal Is Soul