Globe

I have three weeks until my next class. So I picked up the 15 best books I could find on church leadership, trends, small group development, outreach, etc. I won't be bored but I will have proved my incurable dorkiness.

First book was "Sticky Church" by Larry Osborne. Its a book about how small groups can close a church's back door. He hits some models I prefer pretty hard but makes good arguments. Will be interesting to try to apply some of his perspective to the LifeGroup challenges we are facing at Legacy.

Second book was "The Monkey and the Fish" by Dave Gibbons. He writes about how globalization has changed the world and left the church behind. He challenges church growth people not to simply reach others like them but to really reach out to all of our neighbors in such a diverse and connected planet. He is offended by the many efforts to make church more comfortable for people at the expense of loving, serving and growing people. He calls us to causes that are worth giving our lives for. And I am left wondering. He is undoubtedly right as he describes what business leaders have known for at least a decade (see Tom Friedman's books "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" and "The World is Flat").

And here's the thing - as I'm reading this book, Heather and I experience the impact of globalization. At a church meeting, we heard about www.kiva.org, a website that allows people to give micro-loans to impoverished entrepreneurs around the world. We sat in our living room in suburban Dallas and viewed business opportunities in countries like Sierra Leone, Indonesia, India, and Nigeria. And with a click of a button, we could invest in these start-ups - thereby improving quality of life in a village thousands of miles from us.

I have a globe on my desk - a Christmas gift from my grandma. Its the size of a basketball. Apparently the globe in which God is calling us to serve and minister is not much bigger. So what does the church do? What is church in a world like this? What does it look like? How do I lead? How do I partner with people across the world? And so I wonder . . .

Endings

I'm a bit sentimental and I confess that I always hope the last class of the semester is special and memorable.  But I've always been let down as our seminary professors hold us five minutes over to rush through the last bit of information they want to share.  This semester ended differently though - in a way I hope to never forget.

My first last class was with Dr. Aubrey Malphurs and covered pastoral leadership.  It was a very relevant class with more practical information than most.  Five minutes before our class ended, he said this: "Men, I would like to pray for you as we finish up this class."  Now praying during class is not unusual at DTS - we open most of our classes with a word of prayer.  It was his next sentence that took me back.  "Would you take a knee?"  I have never bowed in prayer at DTS - honestly, I rarely bow in prayer ever, anywhere.  But Dr. Malphurs hit the floor and we all followed his mystically spiritual lead.  And he prayed for us - for our summer, for the future ministry God is calling us to.  He prayed and our posture helped focused my heart, mind, and spirit in a powerful way.  

But I still had more classes to go.  

The last last class of the day was a Bible Exposition class covering Hebrews - Revelation with Dr. Toussaint.  You have to understand that Dr. Toussaint just turned 81  in April and he has been teaching at DTS since the early 60s.  He loves the Lord in a deep, abiding, passionate manner and he knows his Bible.  I was really excited for the last day of his class because we were covering the end of Revelation - the end of the whole Bible.  Sadly, we were running behind in the class and I wasn't sure we were going to make it.  

But by God's grace we did.  We read Rev 22.21 out loud as a class: "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all."  Then Dr. Toussaint said, "That's it.  That is the end of the New Testament - that is the end of the Bible." All of us stared back in silence, absorbing the end of God's book.  Then this (tous)saint said, "now turn to Malachi 4."  I was leaning so far forward with expectation I almost broke the table.  I was so excited to see what was next - and I knew that Malachi 4 is the last chapter of the Old Testament.  The last verse of Malachi 4 reads, "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."  Dr. T told us that Jewish scribes often repeated the first part of the verse again at the end because they did not want their sacred book to end with a promise of God's judgment.  Now compare the endings of the Old and New testaments: one promises judgment while another offers grace.  Grace because we can never do anything to escape the judgment of holy, perfect God.  Grace because God is love and He desperately wants to be with us.  Grace because of who the Triune God really is.  Grace.  Grace.  Grace.  

And it is in that grace that we encounter the only One who can turn the hearts of fathers to children and redeem and restore what is broken.  It is in that grace that we encounter praying professors seeking God's will for our lives.  It is in that grace that we have a Book so perfect and complete that tells the great story in which we are now a part.  It is in that grace that we find a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth healing the sick and raising the dead as He exegetes God (John 1.18).  It is in that grace that we find the only One who can redeem us from the divine wrath our depravity deserves and demands.  It is the grace that led Jesus to the cross and leads us to new life now and forever.  

And so now we join John's prayer at the end of Revelation: "Come, Lord Jesus."  

And may "the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all."  

But

Last night we watched The Passion of the Christ. I stopped the movie as they were taking Jesus off of the cross. “This is as far in the story as the disciples went,” I explained to Heather and Mom. It left us without the assurance of victory and we instead went to bed confused, fatigued, and even a bit afraid. I hardly slept because there had been no closure. The vivid images of His scourging were a constant, haunting companion as Texas thunderstorms passed over our house. It is as close as I have ever felt to sharing in the experience of Jesus’ closest friends as they witness His horrific crucifixion.

BUT.

This is the most important word in Scripture. Luke 24.6 captures the words of the two male angels: He is not here, BUT He has been raised. Ephesians 2.1-4 tells us that we were dead in our trespasses and sins BUT God being rich in mercy made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him.

BUT.

This word of contrast invites us on the greatest journey of life - turning away from death, emptiness and evil to resurrection, fulfillment and purpose.

Thank You Jesus for the cross and thank You for the BUT of the empty tomb. Thank You for making us alive in You instead of leaving us dead in our evil and debt.

Thank You for replacing the confusion of Good Friday with the clarity of Easter Sunday.

I confess that Jesus is the Son of God, the final and perfect sacrifice, the Messiah, the Savior, the One who saves now (Hosanna), the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, our perfect high priest, the agent of creation, the giver of Life, the Word, the Beginning and the End.

And "till I see You face to face and grace amazing takes me home," please let me always trust and serve You.

Generations

There are certain phrases you don’t want to hear before boarding a plane. Waiting to board my flight to Baltimore this morning, I heard one: “We would like to invite all of our unaccompanied minors to board the plane first. All 39 of them.” As the rest of us processed the meaning of the announcement, there were collective groans and sighs. And I confess that I too was concerned about how this would impact the flight – until I saw these 39 students. All of them were wearing white polo shirts with the inaugural seal on them – heading to DC to witness a great moment in American history.

In an amazing scene, I saw a black girl dropped off at the gate by her mother and her grandmother. Mom and Gram were both wearing Obama’s Yes We Can! buttons. This girl’s grandmother was clearly born into a segregated nation and I suspect that she sat in the back of the bus and used the ‘colored’ restroom not so long ago. Yet her granddaughter will see with her own eyes a black man named Barack Hussein Obama become the President of the United States in just three days.

As these students witness our country turning the page on a very difficult eight years, as they observe the peaceful transfer of power from one party to another, as they see with their eyes the almost unbelievable scene of the first African-American president taking his historic oath of office, I wonder what fires may start burning deep within them. I wonder how this trip may change the trajectory of their lives as they grasp the hope and optimism of this moment.

And I celebrate – for the first time in a while – a deep, abiding pride in this people called America and in the path we have chosen. Not just for the sake of my family – but for the sake of these students and their future.