The Rambling Disciple

I talk a lot on this blog about negative trends and problems that I see in the church. Sometimes I do it directly and other times it is by way of discussing something that I think is important that isn't being addressed much. At the moment it seems to me that a lot of Christian podcasts, news outlets, and other general commentators are doing a lot of work unveiling some of the deeply imbedded rot and sin infecting many churches and institutions.  Though a painful thing this is a necessary step in true healing and repentance. Sin and evil must be brought into the light, kicking and screaming if needed. However, all this negative attention can give the impression that the Church is collapsing and that there is nothing redeeming to be found. This simply isn't true. Here are a couple of trends in our culture and churches that I think are positive, cause for hope, and a sign that God is still at work. 1. Openness to Spirituality - One very positive thing I've been noticing in o...

Why are you a Christian? I wonder how many of us have been asked that question in our lives. I know I have. It took me by surprise when I received however many years ago. At the time I honestly didn't know how to answer. This was, in part, due to my being an introvert and liking time to process answers to questions but it was also due to the fact that at the time I'm not sure if I really knew. Having served in ministry coming upon seven years I've been able to interact with and better understand the reasons why different people identify as Christian. Some value the community and sense of family a local congregation brings. Others love the worship and singing. Still others see it more as a political statement than a faith commitment. Some want to go to heaven when they die, and others simply want to avoid hell. Years ago I think the reason I was a Christian was because I didn't know any other way of living. Church was just a part of what you did in life. I was told God w...

Today marks the beginning of Lent, a season of repentance, self reflection, and contemplation of the Cross of Christ. Traditionally this is a period marked by fasting, prayer, and confession of sins. I encourage everyone to use this time to think about the gravity of sin and our utter need for the grace of God. I want to share an ancient prayer of Alfred the Great, a king of England from the 800s. I hope it encourages you during this time of Lent. "Lord God Almighty, shaper and ruler of all creatures, we pray for your great mercy, that you guide us towards you, for we cannot find our way. And guide us to your will, to the need of our soul,  for we cannot do it ourselves. And make our mind steadfast in your will and aware of our soul's need. Strengthen us against the temptations of the devil, and remove from us all lust and every unrighteousness, and shield us against our foes, seen and unseen. Teach us to do your will, that we may inwardly love you before all things with a pur...

It is OK to feel what you feel. Throughout our lives we all feel a veritable plethora of different emotions. Some we consider positive and others we consider negative. Generally speaking we cannot control what it is that we feel when certain situations come up. It just sort of happens. Still, I think all of us have experienced someone telling us what we should be feeling. "You should be excited!" or "You should be outraged!" or "You should be more sad about this." or something to a similar effect. Often times I believe that it is meant with the best of intentions, but rarely do I think those intentions are ever achieved. When we turn to Scripture, and especially the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, we see the full gambit of human emotion in all their messy glory. We see Job struggle with guilt, rage, grief, and emptiness as he debates with his friends over the events of his life. In the Psalms we can read laments of great sorrow, exultations of grea...

The Bible is a book. Think about that for a minute. One of the primary ways God chose to communicate to humanity was through a book. Think about just how many books there are in the world. We have entire stores dedicated to selling books and government departments whose sole job is preserving books. Almost every culture on the planet, in some form or another, has used books.  I think we often forget just how ordinary something like the Bible is. Is it inspired by God? Yes. Is it authoritative? Yes. Is it also a book? Yes. It amazes me more and more the more I think about it that God chose to communicate to us not by some miraculous arrangement of the stars or a telepathic message but rather through a book.  Just like any other book, the Bible was written by ordinary people in their specific cultures, languages, circumstances, genres, styles, and purposes. God chose this ordinary, mundane thing to communicate eternal truth of the most fantastic sort. God took the ordinary and t...

It's always incredible to me how things we do or read come back later to be of enormous blessing even when at the time it may not seem like it. There have been numerous times in my life where I've read a book on a certain theological topic only for it to become extremely relevant a few months later. There have been times where I read a passage of scripture in the morning only for it to become poignant and real by that afternoon due to what was happening around me.  A good example of this was the book Surprised By Hope  by N.T. Wright. I read this book in the summer of 2015, my very first summer here in Peoria. It's a book all about our hope as Christians and at how much more robust and surprising it is than simply "dying and going to heaven." It speaks a lot about the future resurrection and restoration of creation awaiting the faithful. Truly a good book that I encourage you to check out. I read the book and enjoyed it. It gave me a lot to think about on an intel...

Apologetics used to be a dirty word in my mind. The word literally means "to defend" and apologetics in a Christian context means to "defend and provide evidence for Christianity." How could that possibly be a dirty word? Shouldn't we all seek to give an account for the hope that we have? Well growing up my only real encounters with apologetics and apologists were really negative. Occasionally we would have a guest preacher who would share with us "reasons we can be confident in our faith," or something to that effect. Without fail every time this happened the presentation would be on defending Young Earth Creationism from "science."  This left a bad taste in my mouth because even at a young age I knew that the age of the earth wasn't what mattered most. I was meeting kids at school who didn't even believe that God existed, let alone cared about how old planet earth was. I went to school to hear people mocking Jesus openly, claiming h...