“All this took place to fulfill what the the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means God with us). Matthew 1:22 & 23 (ESV) Mary is pregnant. The baby is not Joseph’s. But Mary got pregnant from someone. Can we say “Soap Opera?” Adultery was rewarded with stoning. Joseph trusted Mary enough to dismiss her behind the scenes. Enter the Lord (or the Angel of the Lord). He tells Joseph this is God’s doing, to be patient, and wait. Joseph was to still marry Mary. The people talked … no doubt the people talked. “Soap Opera?” This is what Jesus was born into. Jesus was born in choas. That first Christmas was surely choas. Today, when things are sheer madness, I want the Prince of Peace that was born in sheer chaos to be born anew in my heart.
One of the names of Jesus is Immanuel, which means God with us. It is indeed interesting that Matthew brings this information out in the midst of what had to have been a tumultous and scandulous relationship between Mary and Joseph. Mary was pregnant before her marriage to Joseph. However, Mary and Joseph were betrothed, which is engagement on steroids. They were legally pledged to be married. They were legally married without the ceremony and benefits.
November 29, 2007
Chaos for Christmas
November 11, 2007
All the Way to the SEC Championship!
Moving into the Auburn game on Saturday, Georgia was up against a formidable opponent. Auburn had beaten Florida and knocked them down from a national title bid. They pulled it out against Arkansas (in a baseball-like score of 9-7). They were 7 points shy of toppling Les Miles’s Purple Cat machine (LSU). I honestly had my doubts. Yet, Georgia performed beautifully and has some confidence chips to spend in Lexington next Saturday. (They must spend their confidence chips wisely, though). Kentucky beat Vandy (which is not a walk in the park) and provided LSU with their only loss. Kentucky has had a fair reason (relatively speaking). They are building their program. With their loss to Gardner-Webb (yeah your reaction speaks volumes … Gardner who?) in basketball earlier, their surprise football program is set to take off. However, I’m predicting Georgia will pull it out and face LSU in the SEC title game. I’m looking to see LSU play Oregon for the national title in January. Let’s face it folks, there’s nothing quite like SEC football.
Logo is from the site: http://www.secsports.com/index.php?s=&change_well_id=2&url_article_id=7827
November 10, 2007
Waving “Bye-Bye” to the Passing Cars
How great a gift from God! It is through these experiences that we are transformed into His likeness, by developing unconditional love for truly helpless creatures. I believe it is the Eastern Orthodox who might call this participating in the divine nature.
In addition to this, if we can keep our attitudes towards her in line with our unconditional-love-actions, we will have earned a special place in her ears for our voices of guidance. About dusk my baby girl (22 months old) and I sat in our yard, watching the cars go by. She got the biggest thrill out of pointing and waving at the unaware passersby.
I was aware, though. I was aware that simply being out there and enjoying that harmless moment with her was a building block of trust for us. It is my hope that with each push of the swing and each bye-bye wave to the passing cars, that I am bonding her to me. Despite whatever else I might could have been doing. My time was very well spent. I’d rather watch her wave bye-bye to unaware passersby now than flip me off bye-bye later as a teenager.
November 4, 2007
You Don’t Have to Look Pretty, You Just Have to Make It
Last night I watched the second half of the LSU – Alabama game. It was an adrenaline rush. LSU pulled it out at the wire, with Chad Jones’s sack of John Parker Wilson, the Bama QB. The ball was knocked free and LSU recovered the fumble on the 4 yard line, which resulted in a Jacob Hester TD for LSU. LSU is still in the hunt for the national championship.
Shortly before this one of the commentators remarked that all that mattered for winning the national championship for the BCS was winning games and getting there, not winning and looking pretty. “You don’t have to look pretty; you just have to make it.”
This morning a lot went wrong … all before church. By the way I’m the pastor. Pastors are perfect and nothing is supposed to go wrong. If anything does, then they perfectly handle the situation. Yeah Right!!!!!!!!
I know some people think of their pastors in that horrible light, and some pastors draconily want their underlings to think of them that way. That’s something I want no part of!!!!!!
God is transforming me. Jesus became sin, that I might become the righteousness of God. You know the transformation process might not be pretty, but it’s beautiful. It doesn’t have to look pretty, I just have to make it to the end.
Team logo is from the site: http://www.secsports.com/index.php?s=&change_well_id=2&url_article_id=7827
Go Dawgs!!!
Georgia beats Troy 44 to 34.
Team logo is from the site: http://www.secsports.com/index.php?s=&change_well_id=2&url_article_id=7827
November 2, 2007
Engaging with God in Art
I have met a very important milestone y’all. I have now arranged my first church sign. Yes, the sign has been up for several weeks; I’m still pretty excited. The two sides of the sign are two sides of the same coin.
The picture is entitled, “Authentic Worship.” It features a man, who is not only partially naked but is bereft of his face. Underneath is polished exterior lies an ugly brutish beast. A Thing! Notice that he is also holding a time piece. For how many of us, does the clock dictate who were are? He is offering his face and his time piece to God, as token of his real self. In so doing his real self is exposed, before the all-consuming fire that is God’s very nature. Thus, the fiery cauldron represents God. The cauldron sits upon rocks. On several occasions people in the Old Testament built altars out of rocks to God. This was done as gestures of worship, but also as vehicles of worship. The rocky altars would be memorial stones to help them remember the great and vast things God had done for them.
Thus, the man is encountering a deep penetrating experience. Notice again that the cauldron is sitting on the altar. This represents God’s offering of himself for the sin of the world in the person of Jesus. This offering, where Jesus literally gave his life on the cross, is what makes reconciliation with God even possible. Not only is the man legally justified before God, the way is now paved for him to become totally transformed. Remember that Jesus became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. This is represented by the different colors of the river in which the man is standing. The darker water, which represents his dark sin nature, is being washed away and replace by the lighter water. Concerning the river itself, Jesus claimed that whoever believed in him rivers of living water would flow out of him.
Notice the people descending down to the river. They are leaving the church to do so. As believers we are not to stay held up in our cozy little churches (known as Ft. God). Rather we are to leave in force and go into the sin of the world (out of imitation of Christ). The people are a church who is going to encapsulate the man who is redemptively experiencing God. The believers are robed in red, representing their being clothed in the blood of Christ. One of them holds a red robe for the man in the river. The picture is of night, where mythically crime happens. The church is leaving the church building to encounter the world with Christ during the time of sin. Notice that the trees are different colors. Some trees look as if to be in summer and some look as if to be in fall, with reddish-orange colors. The ground is reddish-orange. These images represent the need to be prepared during any season of the year (or at all times) for any work of ministry for the Lord.
