Author: Brandon Woosley

Learning to Live in the Kingdom

Last Sunday in worship, I talked about how God protects his Kingdom people in the world (If you are interested in seeing that sermon, you can click here). One of our observations was that God promises to protect his people and his Kingdom; if we believe this, then it is wise for us to obey God, because the path God offers to us is the path of protection, even though it is sometimes difficult.

If we find obedience difficult, it may be helpful to realize that the act of obeying actually can be subdivided into several smaller steps:

Listen – we have to start by receiving the direction of another
Hope – for us to take what we have received any farther, we must believe that the one who has offered us direction is qualified in such a manner that such direction could actually lead us to a positive outcome
Trust – we must also believe that the one who directs us intends or desires good for us, and therefore is offering a credible direction
Act – finally, we would take the steps proposed by the one who we believe to be qualified to speak into our lives and oriented toward our well-being

These are the stages that can move us from inaction to obedience. If you wish to examine yourself, to consider where you may be disposed to obey or where you may need to change yourself, the following are questions that might be useful for such examination.

Listen:
Are you listening for what God has to say to you?

How do we listen? Historically, the primary ways the Church has listened is by reading the word, praying, worshipping, and fellowshipping with others who are following Jesus

Are you committed to continuing to seek out the promises of the Lord, to come to deeper understanding and better knowing of God?

Hope:

Can you believe that God can do the extraordinary things he has said he will?

Can you give thanks for things that have been promised but have not yet come?

Can you believe that God will even remove your sin, that he will make it as if you never had sin?

Trust:

Are you willing to be fully dependent upon God?

Are you willing to set aside your own methods of gaining love, power, righteousness?

Act:

Are you willing to set aside whatever in your past you must walk away from?

God called Abram to make God the only priority in his life; are you willing to do the same thing?

Are you willing to make your past past?

The Bible, Disability, and the Church

The title above is also the title of a book by Amos Yong that I’m reading today.  Yong is a Pentecostal theologian, and the brother of a man with Down Syndrome.  I want to share with you today the end of his first chapter, as it’s clarity was particularly gripping to me.

Some say that sustained thinking about disability is unnecessary because disabled people constitute only a very small percentage of our congregations.  I counter, however, that this is probably because the church communicates the message ” you are not welcome here” to people with disabilities. Further, there are more and more “hidden” disabilities that are not easily noticeable, so how do we know that there are in fact few people with disabilities in our churches?  Last but not least, the challenges associated with living with disability will be experienced by everyone if they live long enough, whatever medical aids and technological advances may develop.  Some people might resist associating the struggles of being older with those of disabilities.  My focus, however, is less on the why of our challenges than on the fact of our ongoing exclusionary and discriminatory beliefs and practices.  Hence, I am suggesting that disability needs to be a present concern for us all, even if only because  all of us will in due course have to confront the issues that some of us now live with every day.

Amen, brother Yong.  I’m thinking of putting together a reading group, either in person or online, to discuss The Bible, Disability, and the Church later this summer; if you’re interested, let me know in the comments.

Play a New Game

Since I was a kid I’ve enjoyed playing the “Celebrity Look-Alike” game, and the stranger or more obscure the better. You know the drill: “You know who that guy looks like? Michael Stipe with a curly wig!”

In the last two weeks, I’ve found myself noticing not would-be celebrities, though, but people who look like people I know. One day, it was an old friend from my old haunts of Lena, Illinois, strangely out of place in the suburbs; a few days later it was my grandma; then earlier today it was a dead ringer, from behind, for one of our church’s members. As I walked behind this woman, thinking of this other woman, I realized a fresh opportunity to pray for my church member. And with that, a new game was born: for the rest of the day I looked for people who resembled people I know, and when I spotted them I offered up quick prayers of blessing and thanks for my remembered dears.

Why not try joining me in this new Look-Alike game this week? Let’s see if it creates a new habit of prayerful awareness.

For Those Who Love God, or Long To

The Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom, for your encouragement and joy:

If anyone is devout and a lover of God, let them enjoy this beautiful and radiant festival.

If anyone is a grateful servant, let them, rejoicing, enter into the joy of his Lord.

If anyone has wearied themselves in fasting, let them now receive recompense.
If anyone has labored from the first hour, let them today receive the just reward.

If anyone has come at the third hour, with thanksgiving let them feast.

If anyone has arrived at the sixth hour, let them have no misgivings; for they shall suffer no loss.

If anyone has delayed until the ninth hour, let them draw near without hesitation.

If anyone has arrived even at the eleventh hour, let them not fear on account of tardiness.
For the Master is gracious and receives the last even as the first; He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, just as to him who has labored from the first.

He has mercy upon the last and cares for the first; to the one He gives, and to the other He is gracious.

He both honors the work and praises the intention.
Enter all of you, therefore, into the joy of our Lord, and, whether first or last, receive your reward.

O rich and poor, one with another, dance for joy!

O you ascetics and you negligent, celebrate the day!
You that have fasted and you that have disregarded the fast, rejoice today!

The table is rich-laden: feast royally, all of you!

The calf is fatted: let no one go forth hungry!
Let all partake of the feast of faith. Let all receive the riches of goodness.

Let no one lament their poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one mourn their transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the Saviour’s death has set us free.
He that was taken by death has annihilated it!

He descended into Hades and took Hades captive!

He embittered it when it tasted His flesh! And anticipating this, Isaiah exclaimed: “Hades was embittered when it encountered Thee in the lower regions“.
It was embittered, for it was abolished!

It was embittered, for it was mocked!

It was embittered, for it was purged!

It was embittered, for it was despoiled!

It was embittered, for it was bound in chains!
It took a body and came upon God!

It took earth and encountered Ηeaven!

It took what it saw, but crumbled before what it had not seen!
O death, where is thy sting?

O Hades, where is thy victory?
Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!

Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!

Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!

Christ is risen, and life reigns!

Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb!
For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the first-fruits of them that have slept.

To Him be glory and might unto the ages of ages.

Amen.