The Missional Church

Colossians 4:7-11 Staying in Touch

2 Comments / Colossians, The Missional Church, Turkey / By /

One of the frustrations of international travel for me is the unreliability or unavailability of Internet access. It was clear from my arrival in Istanbul, a population center of 17 million, that Internet usage was prevalent (just like home, everybody walking down the street looking down at his or her iPhone). My hopes were dashed, however. When you get to a hotel touting Internet access, you deal with slow speeds, lock-outs due to overloads (experienced when all 30 of us disgorged from our bus and tried in the hotel lobby to get online at the same time), or outrageous charges […]

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Colossians 4:5-6: Make the Most of Every Opportunity!

4 Comments / Colossians, Spiritual Disciplines, The Missional Church, Turkey / By /

5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. I have just spent two weeks immersed in the culture of “outsiders,” that is, those people who are not (yet) included in the household of faith in Jesus Christ. Turkey is, they say, 98% Muslim. Though it has a secular government, its red flag features a crescent and star. It straddles both Asia and Europe, ancient and modern, calm (in the west) and chaotic (in

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Good Friday: The News Business vs. the Gospel Project

Leave a Comment / Colossians, Current Events, Lent, The Missional Church / By /

Today is Good Friday, the most solemn day of remembrance in the entire church year. On this day we recall the aftermath of Jesus’ betrayal by one of the twelve, his sham of a trial, his suffering, and his crucifixion in public view just outside the walls of Jerusalem. For secular types in-the-know, Jesus’ appearance for judgment was an uncomfortable intrusion on their “live and let live” policy toward the Jews. For the Jewish elite in Jerusalem, Jesus’ latest offenses—including the raising of Lazarus (John 11) and his claim to deity at the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7-8) for instance—were

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Colossians 4:3-4: Pray That I May Speak Clearly!

5 Comments / Colossians, Current Events, The Missional Church / By /

You might call me a news junkie. In a day’s time, I hear four radio newscasts, read the morning newspaper, catch a few articles from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or something else linked by the daily Church and the World news compendium. I read TIME Magazine cover-to-cover every week, watch the Nightly News on TV, 60 Minutes on Sunday night, and occasionally while I am sewing turn on BBC World News or the PBS News Hour. I am now sick of it. I am sick of the repetition of news stories, looking for new angles, new sensations,

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Is There Anything “New” under the Sun?—Part II

2 Comments / It All Started in the Garden, PCUSA, Sermon on the Mount, Spiritual Disciplines, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

Yesterday we considered the human drive toward newness. The writer of Ecclesiastes helped us to see that “under the sun,” that is, in the realm of purely human experience, there is nothing really new. People think they’ve found something new to entertain, feed an addiction, or eat; but chances are pretty good that even a primitive form of that thing has been around for a very long time. To this restless searching, God—through the voice of Isaiah—asks the pertinent question: Why do we waste our money on stuff that does not satisfy (53:2)? God implanted in human DNA a yearning

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What Sort of “New” Is Acceptable in the PC(USA)?

10 Comments / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), 221st General Assembly (2014), Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, GAPJC Decisions, Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA, Spiritual Disciplines, Teaching, The Missional Church / By /

One of the first things a counselor (of any type) will tell you is that if you want to change a behavior, the best place to start is by monitoring what your current behavior is. If you want to change your eating habits, for instance, you would keep a food log for a couple weeks to observe what you are actually putting in your mouth. Then when it is time to start the behavioral change project, you know where your points of vulnerability are, you know how much of a change is required, and you get a pretty good idea

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Jesus’ Unique Requirements—Part III

4 Comments / 221st General Assembly (2014), Marriage Definition, PCUSA, Peace Unity & Purity, The Missional Church / By /

The third mandate Jesus issued regarding the witness of his followers is found in John 13, right after Jesus washes the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper. His humble and socially shocking demonstration apparently got a conversation going among the men. Jesus said to them (among other things): I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34f) Jesus knew human nature pretty well to put his finger

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Jesus’ Unique Requirements—Part II

Leave a Comment / Death & Dying, Great Commission (Mt 28), Kenya & Uganda, The Missional Church / By /

A recurring theme in the gospels, particularly in Jesus’ instruction to his disciples, is the attitude required to pursue God’s purposes. Here are a few samples: When the ten heard [about the power squabble between the sons of Zebedee], they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among

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Jesus’ Unique Requirements—Part I

1 Comment / 221st General Assembly (2014), Great Commission (Mt 28), Lung Cancer, PCUSA, Personal, The Missional Church / By /

I am in a unique season in my life; I have good news to share with just about anybody who will listen. My glad tidings, as my regular readers know, is that after six months of messing around with a diagnosis of lung cancer and all its treatments (chemo, radiation, and surgery), I am now cancer-free with little expectation that it will come back. Disclosing this part of my story is coming very naturally as I am welcomed back to the grocery store where I have been a regular customer for sixteen years. My hair stylist gave me my first

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Implications of Christ’s Ascension—Part III

Leave a Comment / Romans 8, Spiritual Progress through the Interior Castle, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection / By /

Today as I continue exploring the implications for Jesus’ Ascension into heaven (as the Apostles’ Creed puts it), the spatial considerations are interesting and worthy of note. It turns out, referring to heaven as “up there” and distant from us is a bit misleading. Luke’s gospel (24:50) records, “Jesus left them and was taken up into heaven.” In Acts, he writes, “He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. [The disciples] were looking intently up into the sky as he was going . . .” The Greek translated “taken up” means to

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