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Lent 2018

In his book A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer, John Piper writes; “As Jesus teaches it, fasting is an intensely Godward act. Do it toward God, who sees when others don’t.”

Lent begins this Wednesday, February 14th. Traditionally, Lent is a 40 day period of fasting, prayer, and devotion as we remember our own brokenness and God’s work of redemption through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

At Redemption Church, we aren’t looking to establish a bunch of rules and regulations about how to observe Lent, but we are inviting you to enter into this season together prayerfully and “toward God.” 

HERE ARE A FEW RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

Hearing the Voice of God: A Lenten Art Show – Scott Erickson

In the windows of The Doris Building this season you can find Scott Erickson’s newest art show meant to help you engage in the season of Lent. 

On Saturday, March 17th, Scott will be performing his one man show We Are Not Troubled Guests live at the Doris Building. Tickets available here. Scott will also be sharing more on the subject of prayer at Redemption Church on Sunday, March 18th at 10:45am. Don’t miss it!

Prayer: Forty Days of Practice – Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson

This is a beautiful guided prayer resource from Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson. Find out more about it on their website. 

Living Through Dying: A Six Week Community Guide Through Lent – Brad Watson

In Living Through Dying you will read the Psalms, discuss the themes of Lent, and practice the spiritual disciplines of fasting, confession, praise, and lament as a community. Each week your community will be looking to Jesus, looking inwardly at his or her own heart, and looking outwardly in what it means to live in light of the gospel. This is an opportunity to re-center your community on the gospel of Jesus.

God is on the Cross: Reflections on Lent and Easter – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“These forty stirring devotions will guide and inspire readers as they move thematically through the weeks of Lent and Easter, encountering themes of prayerful reflection, self-denial, temptation, suffering, and the meaning of the cross. Passages from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s letters and sermons provide special encouragement as readers prepare themselves spiritually for Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Supplemented by an informative introduction to Bonhoeffer’s life and a Scripture passage for each day of the season, these daily devotions are moving reminders of the true gift of Christ on the cross.”

Lenten Devotionals – Redeemer Presbyterian Church

“In 2011 Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York published 40 Lenten Devotions written by a variety of authors including Kathy Keller. Due to popular demand over successive years, RPC have continued to make the devotions available to help their people ‘prepare their hearts for Easter.”

This devotional material is also available through the You Version Bible app.

 

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Black History Month & Recommended Resources

February is Black History Month. Last Sunday morning I read over some reasons, written on Meridian Hill DC pastor Duke Kwon’s social media post, why we ought to intentionally observe and celebrate Black History Month at Redemption Church. 

  1. To deepen fellowship with our black Christian sisters/brothers by honoring their family stories, learning about the historical and cultural contexts that shape who they are.

  2. To cultivate cross-cultural skills in order to love our black local neighbors more genuinely and more effectively; after all, we cannot love our neighbors well without knowing their stories and without sharing a “common memory” of the past.

  3. To learn more of the all too neglected history of the Black Church, recognizing that Black Church History is Church History.

  4. To model the gospel ethic of mutuality/interdependency by esteeming a subdominant culture—historically, one devalued/subjugated even in/by the Church—celebrating its people and achievements and witnessing its vast potential to fortify the ministry and mission of the Church.

  5. To grow in repentance for corporate sins committed against Black people, often in the name of Christ—sins past and present, of commission and omission—as a necessary step toward true reconciliation and interethnic unity in the Church.

I would add, for Redemption Church, that as we are praying to be a diverse community of believers representative of our community, celebrating and observing Black History Month intentionally is a practical step, however small, in that direction.

Therefore we are doing a couple of things this month with intention. 

First, we have asked a couple of our African-American friends to join us in continuing to preach through the book of Acts. We highly value their voice and perspective, and we want to deepen our fellowship with them. Here is a quick introduction:

  • John Farmer will join us this Sunday, February 11th. John is a pastoral intern at First Presbyterian Augusta, and he is the Paine College Director for Campus Outreach. John and I have been meeting to pray together regularly for several weeks, and he has become a friend and a real blessing to me personally. 
  • Dante Stewart will be with us on Sunday, February 25th. He is a student at Reformed Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Jasamine, live in Augusta, Georgia, where he teaches Bible at Heritage Academy Augusta. They are members of Crawford Avenue Baptist Church. Dante is a great writer, and he has published several articles – many are recommended below.

Secondly, I want to encourage you to spend some time utilizing a few suggested resources – books, articles, media – to learn about Black History and racial divisions in our culture in order to cultivate your ability to empathize, repent, and love cross-culturally.

There are certainly many more great resources out there, but here are just a hand full of suggestions from myself and others.

Books

Divided By Faith – By Michael Emerson And Christian Smith

United – By Trillia Newbell

God’s Very Good Idea – By Trillia Newbell And Catalina Echeverri

The Genesis Of Liberation – By Emerson Powery And Rodney Sadler

Free At Last? – By Carl Ellis

White Awake – By Daniel Hill And Brenda Salter McNeil

Articles

The Witness: A Black Chrisitan Collective “engages issues of religion, race, justice, and culture from a biblical perspective.” There are several resources there worth checking out. Here are a couple by our friend Dante Stewart:

Dante has also been published at The Gospel Coalition:

Monét Robinson, also one of Augusta’s own, recently had this excellent article published at Radical.net:

The C&MA posted an old Alliance Life article honoring several African-Americans who “played a significant role in early Alliance history”:

One of the most stirring articles I read last year was written by D.L. Mayfield at Christianity Today:

Media

If you’re more into listening than reading, here are a couple of good podcast recommendations:

Lastly, I recently attended an Acts 29 & Carolina Greenhouse sponsored event called Race, The Church, and The Gospel. Antony Frederick shared a “plea to my brothers and sisters in the faith that lead predominantly white Christian churches, denominations, networks, etc to pursue racial harmony on a “macro” level, with your African-American brothers and sisters.” You can watch the video here: 

 

 

 

 

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Redemption Church 2018

The following is a summary of “Making the Best Use of the Time,“a sermon preached at Redemption Church on 12/31/17.

 

It’s a new year, 2018. Maybe you, like many others, have spent a little time reflecting on the prior year and setting some goals for the future. As you plan 2018, what are you deciding are the most important things to make happen this year? And why? Are you making the best use of your time?

I keep a jar of 52 marbles in my office as a visual reminder of the 52 weeks I have each year. The idea is that when you can see the time you have you tend to make better use of it. Ann Voskamp, in her book The Broken Way, does something similar with her daughter by filling a jar with seeds representing the days of any one life. She makes some observations that are helpful as we decide how we will use the time that we have. She writes:

You have only one decision every day: how will you use your time?… I’ve thought of time as something you have to wring the very most out of, drain to the last drop. Carpe Diem, people, Carpe Diem.

But what had Jesus said? ‘My time has come.’ What time? The time of His death? For Jesus, time was not something you seize as much as something you sacrifice….It’s not something to grab; it’s something to give.

How are you going to make the best use of your time? Are your goals focused around seizing or sacrifice, grabbing or giving?

In Colossians 4:2-6 says:

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Paul exhorts toward continual prayer and walking toward outsiders to make the best use of our time. In Matt Perman’s book, What’s Best Next – How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done, he makes a Biblical case that the most productive thing we can do is to do good for others. Perman says that “The guiding mindset of our lives is to be: how can I do good for others? How can I benefit my neighbor?” and that “The good of others is ‘what’s best next.’”

How are you going to make the best use of your time? Are you seeking to prayerfully walk toward outsiders for their good and the glory of God? Here is what I want us all to believe more fully this year; the most abundant life is the life given. Following the way of Jesus, doing good for others, becoming last, to the glory of God is actually the way of the truly blessed life.

At Redemption Church we are stepping into 2018 following the exhortations of Paul on how to make the best use of our time, and we want every one of you involved. Will you join us in praying continually and walking toward outsiders?

Ways for us to practice together:

Prayer 

We want to pray together continually this year. As we move through 2018 please continue to pray with us throughout each week that:

  • Doors would be opened for people to hear the gospel in downtown Augusta. Paul asks the same in Colossians 4:3. We are on Broad Street for a reason; we want to see this place saturated with the gospel. Let’s pray in that direction.
  • We would be a unified body of believers representative of the diversities of our community. We want to see the church reflect the community we live in. We want Redemption to be a place full of people who “once were not a people, but who are now God’s people” (1 Peter 2:10) because we believe that the gospel is proclaimed more fully from such a community. Would you pray with us toward a united body made up of a diverse people?
  • Church planters and missionaries with The Alliance and A29 around the globe would see doors open for the gospel. We want to be a church that plants churches. We believe it is the best and most sustainable way to send missionaries into other neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries. God hears our prayers, and who knows the hearts that would be open to the gospel elsewhere because we simply ask? Specifically, let’s pray for Paul and Lindsay Murphy and our friends at Sojourn Uganda.
  • God would provide for Redemption Church with people and finances to see the gospel advance in and from our community. We believe that the harvest is plentiful, so we are asking that God provide people who are willing to go with the gospel among us, locally, and beyond. Financially, we’re asking God to give us more in order to do more in the way of discipleship, blessing the city, and church planting.  That can look like many things from taking care of roof leaks and hiring staff to funding other ministries and organizations.

 

Walking Toward Outsiders

For Redemption Church this immediately means walking toward the people of downtown with the grace and with the seasoning of the gospel.

There are a lot exciting things happening in downtown Augusta, and we have a tremendous opportunity to steward the gifts God has given us toward blessing our city. Nothing will make Augusta a great city like the advance of the kingdom of God here. The effects of the gospel saturating this district would be exponential and beyond our wildest imaginations.

Here are a few ways we can walk intentionally toward downtown together:

  • Stay Informed. There are several avenues, from social media groups to newsletters,  that will help you keep up with what is going on downtown. Here are a few. Make and effort to pay attention to what is happening down here. People are participating in community all around us, we just have to join them where they are.
  • Participate in #LOVEdowntown. Once a month we will come up with a way to bless downtown together. We may ask you to bring a $10 bill, or come prepared to stay downtown for 30 minutes. It may be buying a $10 gift card and giving it away, or commissioning a local artist to create public art in some form, but each month we will bless downtown together. This is a real tangible, practicing, way to walk toward downtown with the flavor of the good news of Jesus.
  • Serve downtown with your Missional Community. There are a lot of ways to do this. You can pick up trash on Sunday mornings at 9am with Operation Clean City. You can plan to eat downtown together on Sundays and invite a guest to go with you. You can play pickup games of ultimate frisbee in The Common. Just prayerfully build some rhythms in downtown spaces individually and with others, enter graciously, and go with the gospel on your lips.

 

So, what might be the best use of your time in 2018? The way I see it we have 52 weeks full of opportunities to sacrifice and give the gospel away. We have 365 days to spend for the good of others and to the glory of God. And that is life giving for us.

As you’re making plans for 2018, it may seem counterintuitive, but the message of Jesus is clear

“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” Matthew 5:16

The purpose of life is to do good for others to the glory of God. Let’s prayerfully walk toward outsiders seeking Jesus and His Kingdom together. Let’s wear the “new self” of Jesus together; doing good works for His glory, clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, love, peace, and thanksgiving (Col. 3:12-17).

 

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Resources for Advent 2017

Have you planned how you’ll spend time celebrating the good news of Jesus this Advent season?

We want to help you engage this season intentionally, before it slips away.

Over the next several weeks we will be preaching through Colossians in our new series, Good News of Great Joy. We will also sing, light Advent candles, and read through the story of Christ’s first coming together. 

Beyond that, we would encourage you to spend a few minutes making a plan now to intentionally slow down and savor the goodness of Jesus though this season.

A FEW RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Advent Community Guide

This new guide from Saturate provides one devotional reading for each week of Advent, and one for Christmas Day. This resource can be used as a devotion for families or in gospel communities on mission. Each devotion contains a passage of Scripture, a brief reflection on that passage, sample prayers to guide the prayers of children and adults, and hymns to sing together to give voice to your praises and longings.

This resource coincides with the incarnation stories in The Jesus Storybook Bible. Coloring sheets for each week are available.

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Advent Guide

A guided journey of wonder through The Jesus Storybook Bible tracing the beautiful story of God’s great love for us–from the very beginnings of the universe, to the birth of the baby who would rescue the whole world. This guide includes: a reading guide, printable ornaments, and activity ideas.

Desiring God

Desiring God has several great daily Advent devotionals and resources that aim to put Jesus at the center of your holiday season. 

Come Lord Jesus Come: A Devotional for Advent

This is a free resource by Nathan Sherman and Will Walker that contains daily devotions built around four themes, one for each week of advent; hope, peace, joy, and love.

Come Let Us Adore Him

Paul Tripp seeks to recapture our attention and reawaken our awe during Christmastime. Each day is structured like Tripp’s best-selling devotional, New Morning Mercies‚ with a compelling, gospel-centered thought followed by an extended meditation for the day. Each of the thirty-one devotions also includes a Scripture reading and notes for parents and children, equipping us to do the one thing that matters most each December — celebrate Jesus.

Advent Conspiracy

Check out the Advent Conspiracy website to read through the four tenants; worship fully, spend less, give more, love all. Browse through the site for a family devotional along with other ideas on how to engage this season with intentionality.

 

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Some Practice in Listening

Over the last several weeks we have published a series of blogs pushing us to lean into tension together and asking that we begin by practicing our listening skills.

About a month ago I attended the Just Gospel Conference in Atlanta with a few others from our congregation. To say the least, it would be difficult to unpack all of the insights that we gained during those few days. If I had to bring back one thing to share, I don’t think it would be any single point that was made – although the wisdom imparted was rich and plentiful. Instead, I would say that the most impactful part of the conference was the format; how it led me to listen empathetically and to be postured so that understanding could be received  over mere information. 

With that in mind, I would encourage you to carve out some time to listen to one or more of the following panel discussions from the conference. Practice listening. I’d love to hear back from you personally with thoughts and questions as you strive to listen well and allow the Holy Spirit to inform your heart with the gospel.

There are several sessions available if you’d like to check out more from the conference, but here are a few to get started with:

 

A Different Approach for Addressing Abortions – A discussion with Thabiti Anyabwile and Roland Warren.

 

The Black Church and Prophetic Witness – A panel discussion with Kevin Smith, Eric Washington, Tony Carter, and Mika Edmondson.

 

Women’s Voices on Issues of Justice – A panel discussion with Christina Edmondson, Zakiya Jackson, Jadine Johnson, Trillia Newbell, Dennae Pierre.

 

Saving Our Sons – A panel discussion with Louis Love, Eric Mason, and Bobby Manning.

 

Caring for Orphans – A panel discussion with Thabiti Anyabwile, Vermon Pierre and Dennae Pierre.

 

 

 

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Get Perspective

This is the third installment in a series of blogs meant to push us toward leaning into the Holy Spirit and engaging areas of tension.

Check out the first two posts here:

In my first post on this subject I said that tension was built in to us by being uniquely created by God to live in relationship with each other.  Each of us having our own gifts, talents, and skills – along with our individual backgrounds and stories – means we all have different, but valuable, perspectives and insights.

Look at what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:4-7; 12-13 (ESV):

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good… For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Here’s the point, we together are being made into the body of Christ. Not one of us alone has all it takes to display Christ in ourselves to the world around us. No, Christ is best revealed through us to the world as we relate to one another, value one another, and work with one another for the “common good.” It takes each one of us to make the whole body.

We need each other and not just so that we can make use of the skills that each person brings to the table. Paul exhorts the Philippians to “strive side-by-side for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:28 ESV). We need to continually convince one another of the truth that God is for us and not against us, and His ways are better than ours.

Our perspectives are all different. We come from different places. We have carried different burdens – some that we tend to keep trying to carry alone instead of laying them at the cross of Christ. And it is with our varied perspectives that we can help each other see the gospel in new light where we have been blind. We must strive together to bring the gospel to bear in our actual lives and in how we live in this world together.

As we believe that God’s ways can be trusted and that He is for us, we can be obedient to pursue true community with one another. The tension will come. We are bound to rub each other wrong as we continually fight to put away ourselves and learn to love the way that God loves. This is The Hidden Battle that Reggie expanded on in his previous post. As we lean into the tensions of community our own idols will be surfaced, and we need to be able to speak the gospel over ourselves and each other. I truly believe that as we obediently practice community like this we will be led to increasingly submit all of life to the empowering presence and Lordship of Jesus Christ individually and as a church.  

So, perhaps we have talked enough about how good it is to lean into tension, although there is much more to be said for sure. Over the next several weeks we will be using this series as a place to practice listening in on the perspectives of others.

We have to do the work of listening first.

Francis Schaeffer was once asked how he would spend an hour if it was all the time he had to share the gospel with somebody. He responded that he would listen for 55 minutes and then, with the remaining 5 minutes, say something meaningful.

It is important to listen to people whose experiences are different than our own. I want to challenge us to listen intentionally as people share over the next several posts. If what you hear offends you, be careful to test the tension and lean into it by doing the heart work that Reggie challenged us with and by pushing to listen for the heart of the person who is sharing. My prayer is that these posts will be used to bring the gospel to bear in our own lives and allow us to learn where and how the gospel needs to be proclaimed in our community.

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Spotlight: Gospel Fluency

Our vision at Redemption Church is to lead people to Jesus who lead people to Jesus, which is another way of saying that we want to make disciples who make disciples.

We have seen people saved, baptized, and joined into our community, and it is always awesome! However, it’s exceptional not normal. If we press in on it much to try to measure our “success” we may find that in reality not very many of us are leading others to Jesus who lead people to Jesus. The vision seems to imply that we should eventually be seeing Jesus transform lives all the time.

Honestly, my instinct is to believe that I am a failure. I feel ashamed. I begin to question if we would be more successful if I was a more passionate preacher or had planned a better event, class, or system. Maybe the church would be better off without me. I need to be reminded of the gospel – the good news of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

See, it is easy for me to forget what Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:18; “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” When I forget that it is Jesus who is building His church, I am quick to believe the lies that the future of the church rests on my shoulders, that if I fail the church will fail, and that God will be disappointed with me.

However, Jesus says that He is building the church, that He is in control, and that not even the gates of hell can cause it to crumble. If that is true, then what can I do to to wreck what Jesus is building? Furthermore, in the person and work of Jesus I see God’s true affections toward me. 1 John 4:9 says, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” When I believe that to be true with my heart, soul, and mind, confessing my unbelief, the Spirit draws my attention back to Jesus and gives me the ability to stand confident as a cherished child of God with eyes to see Him at work among us

Jesus is really good news for me.

Now, we’ve said repeatedly over the last year or so that a disciple is one who is “increasingly submitting all of life to the empowering presence and Lordship of Jesus Christ.” Here’s the question, how can we submit any area of life to Jesus if we can’t see how Jesus brings good news into all areas of life? If we don’t know how or why Jesus is good news for us in the everyday, then we probably won’t be able to lead others to see Jesus as the answer for their everyday either.

We totally ripped-off that definition of discipleship from Jeff Vanderstelt whose newest book, Gospel Fluency, is also super important and timely for us. Jeff makes the case that while many Christians believe that the gospel of Jesus is true and central, many Christians aren’t equipped to articulate the good news of Jesus Christ into the “everyday stuff of life.” While we preach and hear the gospel clearly on Sunday mornings in our service, we haven’t all necessarily learned how to apply it when the world presses in on us with lies about our identity, ability, value, and so on. Gospel Fluency does a great job of teaching the basics of the gospel as it lays the foundation for Christians to be able to learn and speak the language of the gospel to themselves and to others.

As a church we will be working to equip one another to become a gospel fluent people because, the truth is, if we are going to submit to Jesus in all of life then we have to be led to the gospel in all of life. If we want to lead people to Jesus who lead people to Jesus then we must be a people who are capable of proclaiming the gospel to ourselves and each other when the enemy stands against us.

I know that Jesus is at work in the hearts of the people of Redemption Church. I can see how the Spirit is surfacing some heart issues among us as we have been looking to Jesus through Matthew’s gospel. There is a tension in many as our personal kingdoms are being exposed in light of the kingdom of God. As we continue to pray that we would be led to increasingly submit to Jesus we’ll need to be able to articulate how Jesus is better than our own understanding in the everyday stuff of life.
This is in a way a book review, and in another way, it’s a challenge to keep seeking first the kingdom and the righteousness of Jesus. I highly recommend Jeff’s book. He does a fantastic job of teaching the language of the gospel, and I believe that to be something that we desperately need. The Book Tavern – next door to Redemption church – on our recommendation has some copies of both of Jeff Vanderstelt’s books; Gospel Fluency and Saturate. So stop by and grab a copy.

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3 Requests for Lent

Lent: Matthew 19-25

As we continue through Matthew’s Gospel on Sunday mornings during this season of Lent, we will actually be looking in on the final days before the death and resurrection of Christ. Our hope is that this will be a season of individual prayer, fasting, and devotion that serves to posture our hearts together before God with both humility and expectancy.

If you aren’t sure how to observe Lent, I would encourage you to take a look at our previous blog that contains some suggested resources. Also, if you’re late to the game, I hope you won’t let that stop you from joining us in observing this season. One church member just shared with me that they adjusted the dates that they would be observing Lent because of some obligations they had coming. That is okay. This isn’t meant to be burdensome it is meant to lead us to remember Jesus who took our burdens.

I am excited as we begin this season of Lent together, and I want to draw your attention back to three challenges that we have been rolling out this year:

  • To be a church that prays.
  • To be radically committed to increasingly submit all of life to the empowering presence and Lordship of Jesus Christ.
  • To be radically committed to identifying and reaching outsiders with the good news of Jesus Christ.

I’m asking that each person in the Redemption Church family engage in these three things during the season of Lent very intentionally. So, as you fast, carve out time to pray, read the Bible, and spend time in a devotional, here are a few very practical ways to unite with the whole church in this season also.

3 Requests:

  1. Prayer – As you spend time in prayer during your daily workout, commute, or lunch break, please be sure to pray toward these three goals above. Maybe jot them down on a notecard to put in your Bible as a reminder.
  2. Discipleship – As you’re in the Word each day, ask these questions of the text:
    • What do we learn about God’s character and nature through this story?
    • What stands out to you about the work of God through Jesus?
    • What is our identity as a result of God’s work?
    • Practically, how do we live in light of our new identity?
  3. Invite – Identify 1 person you know who doesn’t know Jesus or is unchurched, and invite them to come with you on Sunday and take them to lunch after the service.
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Lent at Redemption Church

We haven’t historically put a lot of emphasis on observing Lent at Redemption Church, but as we have been preaching through Matthew’s Gospel on Sunday mornings we have been turning our eyes very purposefully toward Jerusalem, the cross, and the resurrection of Christ our King. As mentioned before, we will be keeping pace with the story in Matthew as we are led through the seasons of Lent, the Passion of Christ, and Resurrection Sunday.  

As Advent is to Christmas so Lent is to Resurrection Sunday. It is a time of preparation, and we encourage you to walk through this season with some intentionality together looking toward what lies at the end of the road; a bloody cross where Jesus died, but also an empty tomb from which our Savior rose again. 

Lent begins on Wednesday, March 1st this year. Traditionally, Lent is a 40 day period of fasting, prayer and devotion towards remembering our brokenness and God’s work of redemption through the person and work of Jesus Christ. We aren’t looking to establish a bunch of rules and regulations about how to observe Lent this season, but we are inviting you to take the next couple of weeks to consider how you might best observe Lent as a family, with your missional communities, in DNA’s, and as a church.

 

Here are a few recommended resources:

 

Journey to the Cross  – By Will Walker and Kendal Haug

“Journey to the Cross serves as a combined liturgical guide and devotional—presenting a call to worship, confessional, gospel reading, and daily devotional with application. This compact devotional guide meets the needs of Christians who want to prepare their hearts for Easter but don’t know how, and it answers the growing desire of many to be connected to the broader history of the church.”

 

Lent For Everyone: Matthew – Tom Wright

“For each day of Lent, there is a reading chosen from the Gospel designated for the year, plus a reflection by Tom Wright.”

You can also subscribe to this devotional material via the You Version Bible app.

 

God is on the Cross: Reflections on Lent and Easter – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“These forty stirring devotions will guide and inspire readers as they move thematically through the weeks of Lent and Easter, encountering themes of prayerful reflection, self-denial, temptation, suffering, and the meaning of the cross. Passages from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s letters and sermons provide special encouragement as readers prepare themselves spiritually for Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Supplemented by an informative introduction to Bonhoeffer’s life and a Scripture passage for each day of the season, these daily devotions are moving reminders of the true gift of Christ on the cross.”

 

Lenten Devotionals – Redeemer Presbyterian Church

“In 2011 Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York published 40 Lenten Devotions written by a variety of authors including Kathy Keller. Due to popular demand over successive years, RPC have continued to make the devotions available to help their people ‘prepare their hearts for Easter.”

This devotional material is also available through the You Version Bible app.

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Lean Into the Tension

I was at a conference a couple of years ago where the speaker, Reggie Joiner, gave out rubber bands to everybody in attendance. When he stepped on stage he instructed the audience to the throw the rubber bands at each other. There was plenty of laughter as rubber bands flopped against shoulders around the arena. He then instructed us to shoot the rubber band at the person seated next to us. Of course, he quickly took that instruction back before somebody got hurt. As Joiner moved on with his message, which was very good, this object lesson stuck with me. It illustrated well that where there is tension there is power.

Obviously, the power that is generated from places of tension can have, and has had, horrific effects on the people of the world. Wars break out because of tension. Bombs are dropped. Men and women kill each other, and children are orphaned and murdered. Eventually one side forces the other into submission, but nobody ever really wins. We all lose when tension leads to violent demonstrations of power.

It’s hard to stomach thoughts about the realities and effects of war. Unfortunately, it’s often easier than admitting that I am guilty of allowing personal tensions and frustrations with others – even my family and friends – to be unleashed in disgusting demonstrations of my own power as I put myself first above all else. I’ve hurt the people I say that I love on purpose. I have intentionally aimed to make others feel worthless compared to me. You have done it too. All that is left in the wake, when all of our power has been exerted and spent, is perpetual division, conflict, and brokenness.

Reggie Horne, in his message entitled Faith where he references the language of Fredrick Douglas, says “when we focus our faith on anything other than Jesus, we end up with a faith that leads to failure and defeat; a faith that will crush our souls and darken our minds.”

Here’s the thing, I’m not sure that we should make it our goal to just relieve tensions and lay down our rubber bands. I believe we were made for tension by being created by God to be unique and relational at the same time. You have your own gifts, talents, and skills, and we each have our own backgrounds and stories that give us different, but valuable, perspectives and insights. The idea shouldn’t be to make the tension disappear but to learn how to harness its generated power and aim it together instead of at each other. The only way that happens is if we keep our eyes on Jesus, submit ourselves to the Spirit, and strive together towards making Jesus known; that’s what we were made for.

A few months ago Chip and Joanna Gaines, from the HGTV show Fixer Upper, received some negative press because of their countercultural beliefs regarding homosexuality. They let the dust settle a bit before Chip published a blog post responding to the tension that had arisen. Here is a quote from Chip’s post that I found encouraging:

“If your position only extends love to the people who agree with you, we want to respectfully challenge that position. We propose operating with a love so real and true that you are willing to roll up your sleeves and work alongside the very people that are most unlike you. Fear dissolves in close proximity. Our stereotypes and vain imaginations fall away when we labor side by side” (emphasis added).

 

He is picking up on the language that Paul uses in Philippians 1:27-28; “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,  and not frightened in anything by your opponents.”

Church, our culture desperately needs the unifying power of Jesus. If we are going to take the gospel to them then we first need to see that we were created, and have been called, to work together to make Jesus known. Paul gives us a good place to start in Philippians 2:3-4 on; “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Something big happens when we lean into each other for the sake of the gospel. Consider the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 or Paul confronting Peter in Galatians 2. There are many places where tensions rose in the New Testament church, but as they looked to Jesus and pressed in by the Spirit, the gospel advanced to the nations.

What would happen today if we humbly looked to Jesus and leaned into the tension together in our homes, in our DNA’s and missional communities, and in our church?

Over the next few weeks we will talk more about handling our tensions and conflicts, the importance of listening to the perspectives of others, and how to strategically aim our rubber bands together to proclaim the gospel loudly.

For today, may we pray and find resolve to lean in together and to be found “striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.”