Rewind: Week Two

As of today, I am two weeks into my time spent in Omaha. I have kept you all up to date pretty well this last week so I don't have too much additional information to write about. Although I am very excited that my Longhorns are playing for the national championship this coming week. I am doing my very best to get tickets. I don't see it as coincidence that they are set to win the world series the one summer I decide to come to Omaha. Rather, I see it as God revealing his glory to me by making it clear which team he favors ;-)

I am now writing this at the Bliss's home after a busy day with church and Harambe. My missional community here was responsible for providing the rides for the Burundians to and from the church and for providing the meal at the Mosaic. Instead of playing with the kids today, I stayed inside with the adults and participated in the English lessons. Today, we were practicing memorizing all the books of the Bible and reciting them to one another. It was a good exercise for the more advanced learners to pick up on some intricately constructed English from the Bible. During the church service this morning, I was given the responsibility of making the call to worship to begin the service. Basically, I was asked to introduce myself and explain why I am here followed by quickly explaining what covenant renewal worship is and then finishing by reading Jeremiah 31:31-34. I am not a huge fan of getting up and speaking in front of people, but I think it went pretty well. And I have video for all of you to critique my work.



The sermon was on hospitality and how the Biblical emphasis is placed on including those the world wants to exclude. Will used the story of Jesus calling Levi to follow him in Luke 5:27-32 in order to underscore this point. He also highlighted Ephesians 2 which explains how we were all "dead in" our "transgressions and sins" as well as "by nature objects of wrath." Will finished up the sermon by unpacking the story of the prostitute who wept at Jesus' feet in Luke 7. This story reveals the fact that Jesus does require repentance from us before we can be with him.The Biblical perspective is the opposite of our moralistic and self-righteous perspectives that convince us if someone is socially awkward or strange, we have the right to turn away from them. However, when Jesus met the prostitute, she knew she was broken, needed forgiveness, and experienced Jesus deeply. But the Pharisees did not.

On a theological note, I am still on my Matt Chandler binge. In many of his sermons, he finds a way to talk about how sin is something that is an intrinsic piece humanity and that it is not something that is learned. He often uses the example that when his son refuses to share something with him because "it's mine!" it is not something that his son has learned from him, but rather from his intrinsic selfish nature. He turns to Ephesians 2 in order to underscore this point as well, which is why I underlined the portion he uses above. But one of the big points that he always drills home is that no matter what you believe, you know something has gone terribly wrong with our world. Whether you are Billy Graham, Oprah, or Marilyn Manson, it is obvious that our world has been fractured. The difference is that their definitions for and solutions to the problem varies according to what they believe. But nonetheless, they know something is wrong. According to Scripture, and our Christian faith, we know that sin is the problem. We are born as slaves to sin. Psalm 51:5 says, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." One thing that has always drawn me to Chandler though is how he explains the Gospel in light of the secular in order to shed light on the fallacies of our world. In a sermon that I was listening to recently, he built the foundation of sin on the Gospel and then proceeded into one of the most compelling arguments against the logic of evolution that I have ever heard. And it is so simple. Here is a quote from that sermon:

"If natural evolution is really what's going on here and that's the real story, why are we trying to cure anyone of anything? Because wouldn't it be that nature has decided "you gotta die so we can evolve"? So why are we spending trillions and trillions of dollars on trying to heal diseases when nature, for some reason, is trying to off some of us? I mean we're going, "we can't let this...we've gotta cure cancer. We've gotta cure AIDS. We've gotta cure..." Well how do you reconcile that if there is no God, there is no imago de? If something hasn't gone wrong, why are you trying to fix it? Why are we in Darfur? Why are we digging water wells? Why are we taking food over there? "Well, because there's oppression." Well, wait a minute...if it's just natural selection then that belief system says in order for us to be all that God would have us be the weak have to die! They have to be oppressed and killed by the strong. So you know it. I'm not talking "Christianly." Everybody knows something is wrong here. Every time a kid gets sick. Something is wrong. Every time we get something that should make us really happy and it runs out of steam very quick. Something is wrong."

Lastly, I know that sometimes it seems like I am out to prove everyone wrong about their judgments of rock music in the Christian genre, and I confess that I generally am, but I love to point out to people the hearts behind the music. There is depth, hope, and life behind the music that I listen to. But more importantly, it is our God around whom the music is constructed. And I just love to remind people of that because far too often they get caught up in the fact that this band screams or that band's guitar player has dreadlocks and tattoos. Who cares? So they look different from you and they don't sound like Celine Dion. That is not what music is about. When it comes to my favorite bands like RED, Skillet, Demon Hunter, and Project 86, it is about a relationship that they have been given the opportunity to share with others through the avenue of music. In one of my previous posts, I wrote about the Red Letter Rock Festival which I attended before driving to Omaha. And one of the most moving moments for me was when Skillet slowed down their set and played a rendition of "How Deep The Father's Love For Us." Yes, I defended the music. Yes, I defended the faith behind the music. And yes, I defended the fact that God uses this type of music in a profound way to speak to the hopeless, the angry, and the heartbroken. But if you have doubts, I would challenge you to watch this video that I found of Skillet playing this worship song. Watch it and then decide whether or not I am wrong. Also, I have now uploaded on Youtube all of the videos that I took at Red Letter. You can have a look if you are interested.

Love you all!

Disciple - Game On
Family Force 5 - Kountry Gentleman
Family Force 5 - Love Addict
RED - Shadows
RED - Overtake You
Skillet - Intro & Whispers In The Dark <---- This was the first time they had ever played this intro live anywhere...and it was AWESOME. If you watch any of these, make sure this is one of them!