Original post at http://pastorbluejeans.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/whats-the-point/

A Week ago the world changed…again. Since then we have been inundated with media speculation and political pronouncements. We have gathered together and prayed for people whose lives have been shattered in many different ways.

Many of us gathered together this weekend and worshipped and proclaimed that we believe in a God that is bigger than any bomb or bomber.

I woke up this morning and I guess I expected something different. However, the world looks the same to me. The talking heads are back to partisan bickering. Social media looks just as it did 8 days ago as do our newspapers and television.

In other words, life is virtually back to normal minus some more fear and hate. So that’s it? After all we have been through and experienced over the last week we simply go back to the way it was? What’s the point?

Every day we are faced with choices and decisions. I stand before a group of people every Sunday and tell the greatest story ever and yet in so many ways it seems as if life remains the same. This can no longer acceptable.

You need to make a choice and that needs to happen now. Will you simply let the fear, bitterness, and indifference take over or will you choose another path. There is a journey we are called to take. This is the path spelled out in the Bible.

It is a path of Grace, mercy, justice, and love. This path is not an easy one for us but with God’s help we can make it. For me, the answer to the “What’s the Point?” question is always the same. The point is we need to be better than we have been. We can no longer live in a world where our first impulse to problems is to look for scapegoats. The point is that the only way we can do that is to foster community and the only way I know to do that is through the grace of God.

So God, take us where we can’t get on our own.

We need you.

Original post at http://pastorbluejeans.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/327/

Let’s face it… Fear sucks.

Reading through the Resurrection accounts in all four Gospels, we are left with a prevailing theme for both the women at the tomb and the disciples locked away in the upper room; fear. Whether they were staring at an empty tomb or faced with the assignment to spread the word of what had happened, the women were afraid. The men were locked in the upper room afraid of the Jewish leaders.  The impossible had happened and those that should react with the most joy were instead paralyzed with fear.

I think fear is an emotion that continues to inhibit us in many ways in our lives. How many times have you allowed fear to stop you from doing what needed done? How many times have you allowed fear to stop you from making a decision? Why do we let fear have so much power over us? I believe these questions are things that we need to think about personally and in the life of the church.

Fear stops us from living out our God given calling. If the women remained filled with fear would the news have spread as it did? If the disciples remained locked in the upper room would that have changed the direction of the early church? What things have been delayed or stopped that would benefit the Kingdom of God because of our fear?

The cure to fear? Maybe it is as simple as saying yes to God. I think the church for too long has allowed fear of failure, loss, and even success to stand in the way. “Do not be afraid”, were the words spoken to the women. “Peace be with you”, were the words spoken by Jesus to the disciples. These words beg for a response of “YES!”

“Yes Lord, we will not be afraid and we will receive the peace you offer”. If we lived our lives with that mindset what could we accomplish in the name of Jesus Christ? If we lived out our personal lives with those words, how healthy would our relationships be?

Yes…fear sucks…but fear does not get the last word. God does.

Original post at http://pastorbluejeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/here-we-are-but-where-is-here/

Where are you today? If you are like most Christians you find yourself in a peculiar place today. We are now a couple days removed from the solemnity of Maundy Thursday and the despair AND hope of Good Friday. Yet, we have not quite made it to Easter Sunday yet. So where does that leave us?

I think it leaves us in a very advantageous position. It leaves us in between where we were and where we are going. Today is a day of decision for us. When we get to the tomb with Peter, John, and Mary tomorrow morning we are faced with a choice. Will we simply see dirty linen on the ground or will we see something larger? 

John and Peter saw strips of cloth on the ground but Mary saw something else entirely. She saw angels! Perhaps it was because Peter and John were practical and saw simply what was left behind. I think it is something more however. I think Mary saw the angels because through it all she had a hope that Peter and John had misplaced. 

It was a hope in something bigger than what was right before her eyes. It was a hope of a promise she did not yet fully understand. Yet it was there. Do you have that hope as well?

A hope that sees beyond to what is and looks towards what will be? It is a hope that does not let present circumstances dictate your future. It is a hope that is centered on Jesus Christ, the risen Savior. It is a hope that is bigger than the in between we constantly live in. It is a hope in miracles in life.

Today, choose that hope and move past the in between and into the arms of God.

Original post at http://pastorbluejeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/can-you-imagine-the-noise/

We have come to Palm Sunday and together we enter into Holy Week much as Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time. Jesus entered the gates of the city surrounded by people who were cheering him as the Messiah.

Can you imagine the noise? So long, Jesus had been proclaiming his message of the kingdom and perhaps they were finally getting it. He had healed them and taught them and save them and now it had come to this. Can you imagine the noise?

How about in the temple later on in the week, do you remember? We just remember it as Jesus clearing out the temple, but can you imagine the noise? There would have been so many people there for Passover week. The hustle and the bustle and all that commotion. In the midst of all that noise, Jesus saw the cheating and the lack of focus and cleared out the Temple. Can you imagine the noise?

Still later in the week we find Jesus with his disciples in the Upper Room. Jesus had shared a meal with them and the disciples were now arguing about who among them will be the greatest. Can you imagine the noise?

Jesus later is arrested in the garden and the soldiers and others come to take him away. They are met by the disciples and Jesus and there is a scuffle and accusations. In the midst of the chaos Jesus is led away. Can you imagine the noise?

Jesus is placed on trial and stood before the crowd and asked if he should be released. They seemingly all scream out to “crucify him”. Can you imagine the noise?

Jesus is led away and beaten. the instruments of torture used rip his flesh. Can you imagine the noise? He is led out to Calvary carrying the cross. Jesus looks around and sees many of the same faces which welcomes him earlier in the week and screamed out for his crucifixion. Perhaps those same people are now jeering him as he is led away. Others would be crying and wailing. Can you imagine the noise?

Jesus has his hands nailed to the cross and as the hammer strikes the nails and Jesus cries out, can you imagine the noise? He is hung up on the cross in between two criminals. One of the criminals joins in the taunting and mocks Jesus. Can you imagine the noise?

As the day draws near to an end, Jesus breathes his last breath and says “It is finished”….and the world stopped.

Can you imagine the noise?

Original post at http://pastorbluejeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/touching-down/

Do you know where you are headed?
Do you have the right coordinates?
Do you have enough time to alter your course?

Original post at http://pastorbluejeans.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/home-improvement-jesus-style/

We spend a lot of time in the church moving around the furniture. We read design manuals (church growth books) and try to come up with new ways to “bring them in”. 

So last night I went back to the THE design manual (the Bible) and decided to see how Jesus did it. The thing I found was that some where along the way, we have really lost the way. I mean really lost the way.

I read the gospel story of Jesus as house remodeler, you know the one, and I see the one thing we have continually done wrong. Jesus didn’t worry about building up programs or buildings; he was focused on building up people.

Let’s take a look at that story again in Mark 2. Jesus had made a name for himself healing people and teaching them and basically just loving them. In fact, people were so energized but what was going on that as soon as he got back to Capernaum they flocked to come see him at the house he was staying in.

It was there that we see Jesus the home remodeler in action. There was a group of men who decided they just HAD to see Jesus. They knew that Jesus could heal their friend. The only problem was that there were so many people around they couldn’t get to Jesus. So what happened? Well they did a little remodeling.. They went up to the roof and ripped a hole in it and lowered their friend. Can you imagine Jesus sitting in a room teaching as mud and dirt and wood came tumbling all around him?

When is the last time that people burst down the doors to hear what we had to say and be a part of what was going on in our ministry and our churches? I think it is time for us to go back to the Jesus way of home remodeling. We need to go OUT into the world and heal, feed, teach, and love. Jesus is daring us to help remodel lives as he did and then stand back and watch what happens!