Posts Tagged ‘worship’

What is it with a piece of fruit that we shouldn’t eat?

The Twittersphere has been buzzing for the last 24 hours about the release of the new Apple iPhone 4. Everyone wants to have it. It’s the latest, greatest, fastest, sleekest, most beautiful handheld device pumped with technological steroids that humans have every seen, held, and smelled. Admit it. If you got a new one, you smelled it, too.

The iPod was pretty rockin’ sweet yet was outdone by the iPod Touch. In the midst of many other computer and mobile device “upgrades,” the iPod Touch grew up and became the iPad. And now here we are. The iPhone 4. Because the iPhone 3 just wasn’t enough. Phone. E-mail. Navigation. Music. There’s an “app” for all o’ that.

From aluminum casing paired with a black keyboard to tiny white, recognizable earbuds, Apple has artistically designed their products to be sexy and sleek – visually appealing on a number of levels. Apple products are so appealing that large numbers of people stood in line for hours to get their hands on their very own little new release. It seems as though the newest Apple product is irresistible. Somewhat similar to the story recorded in the Bible of the first man, Adam, who was unable to stay away from the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden.

Apparently, whether we’re talking about a communication device or a piece of fruit from a tree, that is one seriously sexy Apple. And we can’t resist it.

What do we do with our temptation?

Continually seek to fulfill our self-focused pleasures?

Justify our addictions to technology and/or having the newest, trendiest product?

Aren’t we in somewhat of a predicament (as I type on my MacBook Pro)?

What do we do with our temptation and addiction?

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

Follow Christ to the holy mountain
Sinner sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flowed
For you and for me and for all

At the wonderful, tragic, mysterious tree
On that beautiful, scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful, scandalous night

On the hillside, you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross justified
And your spirit restored
By the river that poured
From our blessed Savior’s side

Ash Wednesday. It marks the first day of the lenten season as a means to help the post-modern, post-enlightenment, post-colonial human engage the mourning, suffering, celebration, and hope embodied in the person of Jesus Christ.

“What are you taking on this lenten season?” – a question I began to ask after reading a Twitter post by my friend Matt Frye. He posted, “What 40 day change are you making in your life for this lent season? I’m taking on 40 days of journaling. Something that I need desperately.”

What are you taking on?

Lent has historically and culturally been defined by a person electing to sacrifice or give up some item or substance or external material or non-material product or influence. I value that aspect of Lent but understand it’s limitedness. The act of giving up something may be considered disciplined and necessary to produce a sense of shared suffering and solidarity; however, the completeness of sacrifice is understanding that which fills the places that are empty due to sacrifice.

Matt stated that he is taking on the act of journaling for 40 days. For some, the time spent writing and reflecting could be something that fills a perceived void created by giving up television watching or a Facebook addiction. I have been considering giving up the consumption of meat for the next 40 days. By default, my body would need to be filled by nutritious foods high in protein such as lentils. Rather than sacrificing the consumption of meat I may need to consider taking on a vegetarian diet and committing to growing life giving plants – as an act of discipline and as an act of worship – taking care of this body as a unique approach to environmental sustainability.

What are you taking on? Share your ideas in the comment section below.

Peace be with you.

It comes down to this: What story are you going to embrace? The story of the popular culture? Or THE story? What’s your new tradition for Christmas? How will you celebrate the coming of God to earth in the person of Jesus? He offered salvation and freedom. How about you? Will you share the same message or remain a slave to deadening consumption and commercialism?

What story are you going to embrace? The story of the popular culture? Or THE story? What’s your new tradition?

Our celebration of Christmas has become the commercial exploitation of Jesus. God showed up on earth to bring that which is wrong back to rights and we attempt to honor that God by misusing our resources and giving ourselves to the commercial entities that prey on the human bend to “need more.”

“I have to have it. It’s bigger. Its’ better. I have to have it. Or… I have to give it. Because then I can mend a broken relationship or show love by filling someone’s longing or addiction to have more stuff. It… completes…. me.”

Is there a better way? Is there a better way to worship the coming of the King?

How are you celebrating Christmas?
Black Friday shopping?
Spending time at a nursing home offering time and attention?
Going to see A Christmas Carol in 3-D?
Sending life-giving resources to children who do not have food?
Carving the holiday ham?
Watching Christmas Vacation repeatedly?
Black Friday shopping?
Buying stuff?
Using vacation time to read to your child?
Attending a religious gathering?

Is there a better way?

It’s coming. The day marked for the celebration of the birth of Jesus is nearing. Comments are frequently made about the origination of the holiday being pagan. I would argue that which was pagan and made religious has largely become pagan again. The “celebration” that we now call Christmas has become the commercial exploitation of God coming into the brokenness of humanity.

It’s coming. Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving, millions of people will sacrifice a full night of sleep and either stay up all night or awake very early to drive their vehicles to shopping malls and retail stores across the country. Long lines, crammed traffic grids, and hateful behaviors are no deterents from the “cost savings” for the mass purchasing of items that may or may not be needed. We’ll discuss the idea of a “need” soon (for those of you coming to the Narrative Gathering on Monday nights be thinking about what a need is). Black Friday is an interesting social phenomenon. Why do consumers think they are “saving” money? Do consumers consider what money actually is? Are the majority of purchases on Black Friday for items that would be purchased even if “sales” didn’t exist? Is the purchasing of items encouraging unfair trade or even slavery in other countries? Pick a question or add a question and we’ll kick it around. Of course, my hope is that we all begin to consider the fullness of what it means to consume, buy, worship, purchase, and enslave while imagining what alternative behavior may be more life sustaining as we celebrate the coming of God into human reality.

“Don’t go to start a church… go to serve a city.”  -Steve Sjogren

I read this line on a twitter update from Chris Bean. I’m just going to leave it at this: What are your thoughts?

Click below on comments to add your perspective.

>> This post reminds me: After accepting a new position at MVNU in August and not having time to update subversiveREFORMATION.com I was unable to post the series “On Church.” Now is the time. Be checking back for posts from Chris Heuertz of Word Made Flesh, Adam Walker-Cleaveland of Pomomusings, and more “On Church.”

“Teaching Little Kyla…”
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.

The Invisible Children and Remember Nhu Clubs at MVNU are hosting an Art and Poetry awareness and fundraising event tonight (Wednesday) in the student union. Kyla will be presenting her piece of art that she and I composed this weekend. Her piece is called “Red and Yellow, Black and White” in reference to the song, “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” As we talked about “all the children of the world” and our need to show and express love to all, Kyla used her hands and fingers to paint red, yellow, and black around a cut-out of Africa that I drew, cut out, and taped to the canvas board making a white silhouette of the country where the dehumanization of children continues through militarization and exploitation. Though I cannot talk with Kyla yet about child soldiers and sexual trafficking, she can begin to understand that love and kindness for all of humanity. Eventually, she’ll hear their stories.

We are incapable to loving absent from relationship. We are incapable of relationship absent from the context of story. We have to learn about each other. We have to be aware of the formative life experiences that make us who we are both individually and as a collective group of people in a global community.

The world is our canvas. May we cover it with strokes of love.

^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.

In honor of our most recent Election Day in the U.S. I decided to republish this post from the archives:

I am somewhat frequently interviewed by students here at MVNU for Research Writing projects, Public Speaking presentations, or Christian Life and Ministry papers. Tonight I was interviewed by Daniel Coutz. It was one of the more thoughtful interviews that I have experienced and I appreciated the approach. The conversation went something like this:

Daniel: “Respond to this statement: The United States is a Christian Nation.”

Travis: “No earthly empire is distinctively in keeping with the way of Jesus. Those who claim the United States to be a Christian nation need to enroll in a post-reformation church history course that discusses the period of American colonization. Also helpful would be a study in theology and philosophy to explore the definitions of theism, deism, and idolatry.

Daniel: “Do you feel the American flag should be displayed in churches? Why or why not?”

Travis: “No. The church is laced with a history of symbol and icon for visual engagement in worship and when one considers what the American flag represents I would have to question what one is worshiping. I would have no problem with displaying a flag in a church if it was displayed beside every other flag of every other nation so long as the symbol is understood to represent equality and unity.

Daniel: “Respond to this statement: The loyalty of a person belongs first to his country.”

Travis: “Why would one view an earthly empire as something to which giving loyalty is necessary or a priority? My suggestion is that most would give said loyalty due to an enculturation that promotes a sense of loyalty as nessecary. I would also suggest it has something to do with the supposed ‘safety’ provided by the military branch of a certain country’s government. Fear would be that which fuels loyalty to an earthly empire.”

Daniel: “Respond to this statement. Christians living in the United States should be patriotic about the United States.”

Travis: “One’s definition of patriotism would be primary. I find it problematic for a follower of Jesus to pledge his allegiance to an earthly nation. So in the sense that the recitation of the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ is patriotic, then patriotism may be considered contrary to ‘worshipping no other gods.’”

The Extended Melody Project benefit concert is tonight in just a half hour. Admission is a $5 donation (though you can give more) and all monetary income from admission, concessions, and shirt sales is donated to an orphanage in Cambodia through Asia’s Hope. Shirts cost $10 U.S. Dollars and are sweet as evidenced below. It is a new cut and fabric from Gildan that is very similar to American Apparel.