towards leadership and culture

Back to the future?

How awesome was yesterday? Many of us consider the past better than the present… and you can forget about the future! Have you turned on the TV lately? The world is going to fall apart any day now. What’s that noise? Trumpets? I think I see a white horse poking its heads through yonder clouds (Bible Joke: Rev. 19:11)… You hear this talk in the church all the time. People begin sentences with remember when and they drift back to simpler times where flannel graphs and overhead projectors better communicated the love of Jesus.

Then there are those who throw out the past entirely. Grandma and Grandpa have nothing to offer because we have it all figured out. These people navigate with one reference point and can become easily lost. How can you possibly know where to go unless you know where you came from? These people also have a loud voice in the church and wont settle for anything less than the latest web 3.0

We read about this tension between the yesterday and tomorrow in the book of Ezra.

And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. -Ezra 3:11-13

What a mixed bag emotions! Some people are happy about laying a new foundation for the temple; the house of God was going to be rebuilt after many years. But the old timers could only weep aloud because of what used to be; they saw the lost glory of God’s house. Who is correct?

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Seconds of Beauty

How much can you say in a second? I often ask myself this question on Sunday morning. If your in leadership and work with a large team then you may not get to spend as much time as you would like with each member. We have many amazing volunteers at our church and many more wonderful parents. On the best week I get a chance to say, “hi” to half of them. OK, lets be honest, a quarter of them!

How much can you say in a second? Not much. I saw this project called Seconds of Beauty by Montblanc. They made me think twice about how much can be communicated in a brief amount of time. See for yourself and take in a collection of one second documentaries.

How do you feel about this song? I find the message to be off-putting. We are working to share the good news about Jesus with the whole world. Material like this only widens the gap between Christ and the world that he died to save. The mall does not define my relationship with Christ. Biblical liturgy is not associated with some advertising-advent. It is ironic that the mission of God could become hijacked by “Merry Christmas.”

You are free to shop wherever you wish; it is a matter of conscience for you and your family. If you dont say merry Christmas in your window I want to meet you. I want to have a relationship with you and welcome you to walk right through MY door. If fact, you can come to my church. Both you and Santa would be welcome to hang out any time of the week.