Tag Archives: Spirituality

You are Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind and Naked!

12 Oct

The third chapter of the book of Revelations Jesus writes a letter to the church of Laodicea. This community is a relatively wealthy community that seems to have all the material possessions one could want.  The letter written to them speaks into their context of financial security and wealth, greed, complacency, and self reliance.  Sounds a bit like America in my opinion.   This is what is the letter says…

14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me. To those who are victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

(Revelations 3:14-22, TNIV)

What is interesting is that this is a familiar passage in many churches in America, yet I have hardly heard it exegeted in consistency with the message and main point addressed there.  Many either isolate the section about being hot or cold from the rest of the passage… or some grab  vs. 19 about Jesus knocking oustside on the door and wanting to come in, using it as a evangelistic verse to ask unbelievers to “let Jesus in”.  The reality is that this verse is written to the church, to those who already believe, not unbelievers.

These folks were wealthy and self reliant, not fully following after Jesus. Apparently, Jesus is not present at their community and fellowship according to the passage.  They have been enticed by the things of this world, and have tried to chase after those things while attempting to follow Jesus.  The reality is that they can’t have both and so really all they have is the temporal wealth of this world.  They are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

Lord, forgive us for our self reliance, pride, arrogance, and greed that continually pulls us, and has us chasing after things other than you.  Help us to truly see our brokenness and poverty without you. May we follow after only you, may you be at the center of our gatherings, may you shape and mold us to be more like you, may we be good stewards of your stuff, may we become generous and compassionate like you, and may we be fully committed to you.

Lauryn Hill’s Rendition of “A Change is Gonna Come”

12 Jul

Four Dimensional Faith

25 May

It’s always been the case that we live in a complex world. Yet so often we are satisfied with reducing the world’s complex realities to simplistic dimensions. We simplify people so we can categorize them, we simplify ideas and concepts so we can “master” them, and we simplify our faith so we can comfortably attain and meet its requirements. It is our faith that should have room to stretch us and shape us into something new and better… rather we have molded our faith into one dimension limiting its formational capacity.

Regardless of what end of the spectrum of spirituality we find ourselves on, most of us approach faith and spirituality from a 1 dimensional perspective. On either end these 1 dimensional perspectives can be compared with the terms vertical and horizontal. Some people only operate from a vertical dimension. They believe that their spirituality is limited to loving God, but this world is the enemy. They keep their eyes focused upward and to the future, because this world is considered to be no good. On the contrary some people do not have a vertical approach but rather understand faith from a horizontal dimension. They believe that our purpose is to do good and care for creation and society, but they have lost spiritual vitality. God has been removed from the equation. Spirituality is more connected to community and culture than with God.

The bible presents something a lot more complex and I would argue beautiful than the reduced and simplified approach to spirituality. Take Luke 4 for an example.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Here we see from Jesus’ words that we ought not approach faith from a limited dualistic perspective, rather Jesus himself had completely integrated and intertwined spirituality with God and societal engagement as essentials for his faith. He did not believe to be spiritual would require him to ignore the realities of the world and separate himself so he could commit all his time to worshiping God. Nor did he have to reject spirituality as a reality of life so that he could begin having an impact on those who were oppressed around him. No, in fact based on that passage it was the very fact that Jesus had the Spirit, that he did the things he did. Jesus lived out a 4 dimensional faith in a 4 dimensional world. Let us move away from simplicity, as we allow ourselves to engage God and engage our world meaningfully every day. When we pick and choose, prioritizing one aspect of faith over the other, we all lose.

Drive-thru Readings

19 May

We love quick interpretations and applications for our life when we read the Bible. The slow process of reading and surveying the whole book, seeking to learn about the ancient context, putting the text we are reading in light of the whole biblical narrative, and reading everything in light of and through the context of Jesus’ life… well all that just seems to take too long. We want a microwaved instant reading. We want to get our truth and relevance for our problem quick and fast. We don’t want to commit to a lifestyle of study and meditation. We want to pull up make our order, and get our product and drive off. How might our instant and immediate driven culture affect how we read the Bible? Maybe John Legend is right, “maybe we should take it slow”? Freestyle with me…

Video Satire on Many Evangelical Church Worship Services

13 May

Any thoughts or responses?

Urban Retreat Center…

5 May

Why is it that when we go on retreats it is always to rural areas? We always go out into the country to meet and hear from God, but why don’t we ever retreat in urban contexts? Can’t we also take time to intentionally dwell in the city to hear God? Does God only speak to us when we go to less populated and less developed spaces? Or is it just a Christian bias that we all have bought into…

Maybe instead of retreating from the city we could actually retreat to the city. There might actually be some advantages to retreating in the urban context! What can God teach us in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of life? How might we see Jesus anew surrounded by poor and systemically oppressed people? How might God shape and transform His people in the urban setting? What could an individual or communities time look like as they seek God submerged in the hood? I would love to hear your thoughts and perspectives on this. Freestyle with me…

Unleashed…

29 Apr

Most churches seem to have their members on a short leash. Think about it, while most churches “teach” that the members need to go out and witness to others, they have everyone shackled and busy inside the church.  Who are considered the most faithful people in the church? Usually they are the ones who commit the most time serving and ministering inside the church.  Shoot, there is Sunday service, and of course if you are good you also attend communion and Sunday School. Most churches have a wednesday night bible study at their church.  Of course, if you are really serious you will give up your time and serve on some committee, comission, church board, or meeting once a week.  Don’t forget rehearsal for the choir, worship teams, band, drama, etc. Then we got our fellowships for the men, for the women, for the young adults, for the youth.  We also got singles stuff and stuff for married folks too.  If you are a “faithful” church member, then you are lucky to have even a few evenings home with the family.   At the end of each week, surprisingly we find no time to reach, serve, and love neighbors and strangers in our community. (I don’t blame the members, I blame us leaders for this problem).

This doesn’t seem to be what is going on in the New Testament.  And please, don’t get me wrong I am not saying that all those things are inherently wrong. However, I believe the primary role of the church is to equip and unleash the Church for mission locally, regionally, and globally. And when I say that I am not thinking primarily of evangelism events and missions programs. What I mean is that the Church ought to be released to go out and interact and engage the community naturally as God’s people.  Whether individually or collectively we are to be the voice, hands, and feet of Jesus in our community.

For the neighborhood I live in I imagine people spending time with neigbors on the block or on the corner.  I imagine Christians out at the basketball courts hanging out, or choppin it up about current events in the barbershop.  I see christians having their favorite local bar where everyone knows their name and where they are building relationships with people that most church members would never encounter regularly.  This can never happen if we are on a tight leash spending most of our time keeping church programs afloat.  More than ever I think it is time for the church to disciple and equip its people in sacrificially minded community (opposed to consumer minded communities) so that it may be unleashed to bear witness to Christ to a world that needs it.

Phanatik – Love Does

19 Apr

This has always been one of my favorite Phanatik jams… Love Does!

The Christian Bubble

16 Apr


It seems that the goal for most Christians is to separate themselves as much as possible from the world around them. The thought process goes like this… “I am supposed to be sanctified and holy. I cannot allow the world to corrupt me from living in righteousness and drawing me away from having a clean and pure heart. Therefore, I will only listen to Christian music, read Christian books, have Christian friends, see Christian movies, talk to other Christians, and go to Christian gatherings.” And it is usually the case that each of those Christian things that people are engaging in, only encourage them to even more continue separating themselves more and more.

For me, I think the mere labeling of everything being either “Christian” or “secular” is a false dualism that has perverted the church and allowed it to lose its saltiness and effectiveness in our communities. We have been hoodwinked and bamboozled by main stream Christian culture into believing that the Christian bubble lifestyle is somehow a faithful attempt to bear one’s cross daily just as our Lord did. I disagree terribly. In fact, more and more I find some aspects in “secular” culture to line up more with the teachings of Jesus than many of our so called Christian products that we sell in the Christian Marketplace. While I am amazed at the enormous consumer power of those who call themselves Christians, could that consumer power be put to better use? And while it’s nice that we consume ourselves trying to be more holy, have we neglected our moral responsibility to engage and serve a world that is broken and in need of the love of Jesus? Can it be that in attempting to be more spiritual and faithful, that we have actually become more like the Pharisees and Sadducees described in the Gospels, and have actually departed away from the life of Jesus who engaged the people, becoming like them in such a way that he could empathize with them.

This is not a challenge to lose our distinction as the people of God, nor to stop pursuing God through Christian interaction, reflection, and community. Yet the unbiblical approach that has become a standard way of thinking in American Christianity continues to erode the very core values Jesus taught. I think the time is now for us to get out of the pews and onto the corners, what do you think, freestyle with me?

Are You Turning A Blind Eye To People’s Suffering?

9 Apr

This is a verse from Talib Kweli’s song “I Try”. He is a thoughtful and creative lyricist… and a breath of fresh air when compared to the main stream rap crap that is on the radio.  Pay close attention to what he’s sayin…

Yo, the things I’m seein’ on the news is insane
A stock broker shoot his kid and throw himself in front of a train
A mother leave her baby home for two weeks all by himself
Three years old, eatin’ ketchup and mustard, cryin for help
Tryin’ to bring your struggle to life
The label want a song about a bubbly life
I have trouble tryin’ to write some sh*t
To BANG in the club through the night
When people suffer tonight
Lord knows I try

Where are you at? Are you focused on others and that “people suffer tonight” or are you focused on your self and chasing “a bubbly life”?

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