You kid is an IPHONE

"Why does a Lieutenant Junior Grade with nine months' experience and a track record for plea bargaining get assigned to a murder case? Would it be so it never sees the inside of a courtroom?" (Daniel Kaffee, A Few Good Men). Sometimes I feel like this. Why would a single guy with no kids be placed in charge of youth (I have 9 years experience in this) and all things children's ministry? (No experience). I write this post with much fear and conviction, knowing that the Lord has placed this burden on my heart. I write this with all humility and hope that Christ would be glorified.

Throughout my years in youth ministry and my almost 6 months of children's ministry, I've found one common trend that all churches and parents face: how do I parent my child? I want to pose the question: "why do we treat our kids like iphones?" I don't have an iphone but I understand that you can download all kinds of apps that can make your phone do anything and everything the heart would desire. I saw a commercial for the iphone where you can download a list of birds and it can tell you the type, characteristics, and the specific "chirp" it makes. You can also download an app that will tell you if the plant you ran through is poisonous. Really?

In today's culture, kids are way over scheduled to the point where you need to make plans weeks in advance to hang out with them. I spoke with another youth director who told me that kids in their small group can hardly meet weekly because kids have multiple sports (not just one), private lessons for instruments, lessons for manners (i don't know how to spell the name of it), parties with friends, or other activities their kids are interested in. We recently went to Spring Storm and I spoke with my friends from Central Pres in Clayton and they said the same things about kids who needed to cancel coming because they forgot they had something else planned on that weekend (signups were months before).

Are we allowing culture to schedule our kids or are we taking that role back as parents and setting our kid's calendars ourselves? I'm not saying that having your kid in all these different activities is wrong but I wonder, "where are we scheduling God in the lives of our children?" Is it absolutely necessary to have our kids involved with 4 different things that their relationship with God suffers because they can't come to church or be more involved with ministries that are age specific? What would it look like for us to schedule God, first, in the lives of our children and allow everything else to fall into place after Christ? Help me out here, because I don't have kids... But, I know a lot of them, and they seem like they might have too many apps.

-Simon

Jesus and the Bible

So today’s topic might not be the most interesting, but who knows…some might find it quite interesting to chew on and think about (ooh, ending a sentence in a preposition! Mrs. Cramer, my eighth grade English teacher, would have my hide!).

Yesterday’s message reflected something of Jesus’ own view of the Bible. Now, a few points are worth mentioning. 1., If you don’t claim to follow Jesus, you still need to know that he had his own views and understanding about the Bible itself. 2., Jesus, most likely, didn’t have a personal copy of the Bible (his Bible were scrolls of the Old Testament and they were housed in the synagogues of the day). 3., This blog will have nothing to do with canon formation or textual criticism (if you don’t know what those are, then probably all the better…).

Now, we said that Jesus’ own view of the OT was that all of it pointed to him. This was neither a show of megalomania nor one of brash hubris. Through his life and teaching, he actually validated what the entirety of his Bible “pointed towards.”

A very important point arises at this point (Dang it! Same word twice, in one sentence, each with a different sense. I hear you coming, Mrs. Cramer). We said that the OT pointed forward to a coming Messiah, but what sort of Messiah would he be? This question is HUGE!!! Was he going to be a great moral guru? A social activist? A dude who tossed-out pithy platitudes, hoping that some would listen? Or, something else altogether? This question seems to be of the utmost importance (i.e., though the OT pointed to a Messiah, what kind of Messiah would he be? Moreover, how would he, in fact, prove this Messiah-ship?). It seems to me that that the type of Rescuer (read: Messiah) that the OT points towards is one who would die and his death (and subsequent resurrection) would “set the world” right.

In what ways do you see is as significant that we get the correct type of Messiah? Thanks for your thoughts…

--Ryan

The Role of Poetry in Following Jesus

Before Jesus speaks persons gather. They converse in crowds. They anticipate. Expectation and excitement stands up and walks about with nervous energy. Strangers bond with shared eagerness. Friends bond with shared stories.

But after Jesus speaks these bonds can break. The words of Jesus can agitate. Listeners transform into intense preachers. “He has a demon,” some proclaim. These profess that Jesus speaks from an evil source. His words are devilish. Others declare that Jesus “is insane.” His words are jibberish. Lunacy drapes him. He is out of his mind. Yet, others find clarity. The words and deeds of Jesus rescue sanity and returns it to them. “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon,” they say.

When Jesus speaks people divide. Bonds break. Opinions separate.

The cause of the division is not surprising in one sense. But what facilitates the division does surprise me. Jesus claims to be “the Good Shepherd.” This exclusive claim outrages and scandalizes. Borrowing Old Testament language for God and applying it to ones’ self is bound to spark controversy. Less understandable is how Jesus’ use of poetry disrupts. Prior to the outrage, Jesus confounds with His choice of language. All Jesus said was that He was the Good Shepherd. He explored the metaphor. He fleshed it out. But Jesus’ word-choice dismantled crowds into bewilderment. The narrator (John) tells us about it:

This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not
understand what he was saying to them. (John 10:6)

Jesus’ language choice is on my mind. Jesus seems to possess the habit of doing theology with poetry. When Jesus wants to teach us about His divinity, he says: “I am the bread of life,” or “I am the light of the world,” or “I am the Good Shepherd.” Jesus’ language choice resembles the Old Testament pattern. When God speaks of Himself He refers to Himself as a rock, or an eagle or a strong tower.

For those of us whose church stories are rooted in the language of systematic theology or western philosophy, the way Jesus does theology can confound us. I wonder if we sometimes assume that in order to demonstrate a deep and rich appreciation for God we think that we have to speak with the language of systems, creeds and confessions. We may even think that theology done with poetry demonstrates a watered-down and simplistic approach to God. We may feel that if a person really cared about God and the doctrines of God they would quickly abandon poetry. After all, to say that God is a rock seems childlike. More adult language would say that God is omnipotent. Right?

But while I value and treasure my theological heritage with its language. I can’t help but consider a question: “Which phrase is theologically more accurate? Which phrase is more doctrinally sound? To say that “God is omnipotent? Or to say that “God is like an eagle underneath whose wings we are sheltered?”

The Language of Religion, C.S. Lewis helpfully describes these three language options. I can summarize them and then apply them to the Bible in this way:

Scientific Language: The language of precision and measurement
e.g., “It’s 13 degrees outside.”
e.g., “It does not say, “and to your offspring’s,” referring to
many, but referring to one, “and to your offspring” which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)
Ordinary Language: The language of daily and ordinary life
e.g., “It’s really cold out.”
e.g., “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)
Poetic Language: The language of metaphor and experience
e.g., “The owl with all of its feathers is skin and shivering”
e.g., “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:7)

While precise language is necessary and ordinary language is prudent, I wonder what it would mean to confound the religious elite with poetry as Jesus did? What does it mean for me that Jesus seeks to do theology with poetry? How do I come to terms with that?

-Zack