Sunday, January 31, 2016

Sunday Supplication - To Fulfill Your Purpose

O God, you are our strength. We put our trust in you. We come to you in prayer because you are merciful. We come to you in our weakness because you are gracious and faithful and able to help us do what we could never do on our own. Help us to fulfill your purpose for our lives. Help us to walk in your ways. Help us to please you in our attitudes and our actions.

We confess our sins and ask you to forgive us.  We ask that you would change us and strengthen us. Help us overcome temptation and escape the sins that entangle and destroy us. Give us the grace and generosity we need to forgive others, just as you have forgiven us.

O God, you have fearfully and wonderfully made each one of us. You know the purposes you have for us and you have equipped us to accomplish those purposes. Help us, as we seek you with whole hearts, to discover our gifts and to understand how we can use them to serve you. Give us good things to do and willing heart to do them.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Friday Favorites - Valley Chili Cook-Off

Chili Cook-Off tonight at Valley Christian Church. Good food, fellowship, and fun.
Care Fair and Praise Night all rolled into one event. MORE INFORMATION

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Thursday Thinking - MPR News: Muslim Voices

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/02/02/being-muslim-in-minnesota

They are students, activists, welders and artists. They've grown up in Egypt and Yemen and north Minneapolis. They are daughters and brothers and fathers and mothers.

They are members of the world's fastest-growing religion. By 2050, they are projected to make up 2 percent of the U.S. population. In Minnesota, followers of Islam are establishing their place within the state's communities — as leaders and entrepreneurs and innovators — even amid growing tensions from neighbors struggling to adjust to a state whose demographics continue to evolve.

Hear their voices.

CLICK HERE FOR TEXT AND AUDIO FROM 12 DIFFERENT PEOPLE

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Wednesday Words - A Prayer among Friends


Among other wonders of our lives, we are alive
with one another, we walk here
in the light of this unlikely world
that isn't ours for long.
May we spend generously
the time we are given.
May we enact our responsibilities
as thoroughly as we enjoy
our pleasures. May we see with clarity,
may we seek a vision
that serves all beings, may we honor
the mystery surpassing our sight,
and may we hold in our hands
the gift of good work
and bear it forth whole, as we
were borne forth by a power we praise
to this one Earth, this homeland of all we love.

"A Prayer among Friends" by John Daniel, from Of Earth: Poems. © Lost Horse Press, 2012.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Tuesday Tome - The Biggest Story

This is a beautiful book that may not be available for too long. My brother, Joel, introduced me to it a couple months ago. The illustration work is fantastic and the quality of the printing and binding is really nice. The hardback version is on sale right now at Amazon for only $12.82. Look it up and be sure to click on the "Look Inside" link. Mom's and Dad's, this is one for the keepsake bookshelf!!!

Cheri and I just bought a few extra copies to have on hand as gifts for family and friends.

The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden
by Kevin DeYoung (Author) and Don Clark (Illustrator)

Publisher's Description...
Once upon a time there lived a man and a woman. They were the happiest people on the planet. True, they were the only people on the planet, but they were still terrifically happy. Unfortunately, things didn’t stay happy and wonderful for long . . .

The Bible is full of exciting stories that fill children with awe and wonder. But kids need to know how all those classic stories connect to Scripture’s overarching message about God’s glorious plan to redeem his rebellious people.

In The Biggest Story, Kevin DeYoung—a best-selling author and father of six—leads kids and parents alike on an exciting journey through the Bible, connecting the dots from the garden of Eden to Christ's death on the cross to the new heaven and new earth.
 
With powerful illustrations by award-winning artist Don Clark, this imaginative retelling of the Bible’s core message—how the Snake Crusher brings us back to the garden—will draw children into the biblical story, teaching them that God's promises are even bigger and better than we think.
 
Ages 5-8 (read to me)
Ages 8-11 (read to myself)

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Sunday Supplication - Words and Actions

O Lord, help us to answer the call of our Savior Jesus Christ. Help us to seriously and readily seek your will for our lives. Help us, by our words and actions, to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to all people. Help us to recognize the salvation he brings and to share that salvation with the world around us.

Thank you for the forgiveness and renewal you give to us through Christ Jesus.  Help us to be forgiving toward each other. And help us to become a redemptive and healing community. Help us to make a saving and healing impact on the world around us.

O God, life is often more than we can face on our own. Help us to navigate our way through our many challenges and conflicts. Help us to live with integrity and care toward others in authentic Christian fellowship. Help your church to be an instrument of your grace, your truth, and your peace. Make us a blessing to our community and our world.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Friday Favorites - The Cactus Blossoms


I'm very excited about the new recording by The Cactus Blossoms which releases on January 22. It's now available for pre-order.

http://smile.amazon.com/Youre-Dreaming-Cactus-Blossoms/dp/B0181MKYHW/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1452101793&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cactus+blossoms
You're Dreaming is the national debut of acclaimed roots music duo The Cactus Blossoms. Led by brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum, the band started as a vehicle for the siblings to hone their harmonic abilities on classic American songs with minimal instrumentation. They quickly amassed a fervent fanbase in Minnesota's Twin Cities and found themselves on public radio's A Prairie Home Companion.

Produced by JD McPherson, the 10 original songs on You're Dreaming showcase the incredible seamless vocals of the brothers in the time honored tradition of blood harmony akin to The Everly Brothers. The danceable "Stoplight Kisses" and "Clown Collector" deliver memorable, infectious melodies, while the heartfelt ballad "Queen of Them All" and the introspective "If I Can't Win" demonstrate their natural and superior songwriting prowess.

Infusing elements of early rock-n-roll and classic country while tracing their musical heroes footsteps back to the roots, The Cactus Blossoms have arrived with a sound that is uniquely their own.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Thursday Thinking - Christians and the University

Before becoming the pastor at Valley Christian Church in 2007, I worked in campus ministry at the University of Minnesota for fifteen years. Since then, I have continued to serve on the board of directors for MacLaurinCSF at UMN with ongoing enthusiasm for the amazing work they are doing.

The New York Times recently posted an interesting article about Christian ministries on secular university campuses (see below). Let me encourage you to read it and then visit the MacLaurinCSF website to learn more about their ministry at the U of M.



Hallelujah College
by Molly Worthen
New York Times - January 16, 2016

LAST fall, as student activists around the country protested racism on their campuses, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas dismissed secular universities as havens for “leftist, coddled kids.” The protests proved that these schools teem with “psychotic Marxists,” declared “The Daily Caller,” a conservative website.

When conservative Christians map the culture wars, they cast secular universities to the far left periphery — the region that medieval cartographers would have marked “here be dragons.” A cottage industry of books with titles like “How to Stay Christian in College” has long warned pious 18-year-olds that college is a place where the “Prince of Deception” will set “spiritual snares.”

American evangelicals have a venerable tradition of painting the ivory tower as the bastion of unbelief and leftist ideology. As mainstream culture becomes more diverse and moves further away from traditional Christian teachings on matters like sexuality, we might expect evangelical students on elite secular campuses to feel more embattled than ever. Yet that’s not what I found when I spoke to a range of students and recent graduates.

Contrary to conservatives’ warnings about the oppressive secularism of the modern university, these students have taken advantage of their campuses’ multicultural marketplace of ideas. They have created a network of organizations and journals that engage non-Christian ideologies head-on. It’s true that many schools’ nondiscrimination policies have made life more difficult for Christian ministries that require student leaders to assent to a statement of faith. But some students have seized on this challenge as an opportunity.

Keep Reading this Article...




Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Wednesday Words - Say It

Say that it is the continuous life
you desire, that one day might stretch into
the next without a seam, without seeming
to move one minute away from the past
or that in passing through whatever comes

you keep coming to the faces you love,
never leaving them entirely behind.

Say that it is simply a wish to waste
time forever, lingering with the friends
you’ve gathered together, a gradual
illumination traveling the spine,
eyes brimming with the moment that is now.

Say that it is the impulse of the soul
to endure forever. Say it again.


"Say It" by Joyce Sutphen from Modern Love & Other Myths.
© Red Dragonfly Press, 2015.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Tuesday Tome - Strength to Love

Strength to Love
by Martin Luther King Jr.

Publisher's description...
"If there is one book Martin Luther King, Jr. has written that people consistently tell me has changed their lives, it is Strength to Love."

So wrote Coretta Scott King. She continued: "I believe it is because this book best explains the central element of Martin Luther King, Jr.' s philosophy of nonviolence: His belief in a divine, loving presence that binds all life. That insight, luminously conveyed in this classic text, here presented in a new and attractive edition, hints at the personal transformation at the root of social justice: " By reaching into and beyond ourselves and tapping the transcendent moral ethic of love, we shall overcome these evils."

In these short meditative and sermonic pieces, some of them composed in jails and all of them crafted during the tumultuous years of the Civil Rights struggle, Dr. King articulated and espoused in a deeply personal compelling way his commitment to justice and to the intellectual, moral, and spiritual conversion that makes his work as much a blueprint today for Christian discipleship as it was then.

Individual readers, as well as church groups and students will find in this work a challenging yet energizing vision of God and redemptive love.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Sunday Supplication - Christ's Glory

Almighty God, Your Son, Jesus, is the true light than enlightens all people. Help your church to be illuminated by your Word and Spirit. Help us to shine so brightly with the radiance of Christ's glory that he is known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth.

Forgive us our sins. Renew us by your Spirit. Show us how to act, think, and live as Christ.  As you have forgiven us, make us merciful and ready to forgive those who have sinned against us. Give us the courage and the grace we need to restore relationships, heal brokenness, sacrifice our rights, and humble ourselves in order that we might experience forgiveness and reconciliation in our families, our friendships, our church, and our community.

Thank you, O God, for the freedom from sin made available to us through Christ. Thank you for the saving and transforming power of your Holy Spirit. Renovate our hearts and minds. Help us to want what you want. Make us people who delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Thursday Thinking - The Good of Questions


QUESTIONS: THE PATHWAY TO GOD'S HEART
by Matt Tebbe for the Missio Alliance Blog

Karl Marx famously said that “religion…is the opiate of the masses.” While we may quibble with his idea when it comes to true Christian spirituality, Marx actually has a prophetic edge here: Many continue to use their spiritual life as an escape from reality; to numb their pain and remain disconnected from their hurt.

But genuine Christian spirituality is a rigorous commitment to reality. It is a deeper rootedness in the world, as Jesus himself prays for us (John 17.15).

CONTINUE READING FOR THE FOLLOWING...
  • How Jesus Digs Down into Reality
  • The Difference between Our Questions and Jesus' Questions
  • Five Qualities of Jesus' Questions

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Wednesday Words - Winter


A little heat in the iron radiator,
the dog breathing at the foot of the bed,

and the windows shut tight,
encrusted with hexagons of frost.

I can barely hear the geese
complaining in the vast sky,

flying over the living and the dead,
schools and prisons, and the whitened fields.

“Winter” by Billy Collins, © 2014 by Billy Collins.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Tuesday Tome - New Arrival

Is God to Blame?
by Greg Boyd

Publisher's Description...
Is God to blame? This is often the question that comes to mind when we confront real suffering in our own lives or in the lives of those we love. Pastor Gregory A. Boyd helps us deal with this question honestly and biblically, while avoiding glib answers.

Writing for ordinary Christians, Boyd wrestles with a variety of answers that have been offered by theologians and pastors in the past. He finds that a fully Christian approach must keep the person and work of Jesus Christ at the very center of what we say about human suffering and God's place in it. Yet this is often just what is missing and what makes so much talk about the subject seem inadequate and at times even misleading.

What comes through in Is God to Blame? is a hopeful picture of a sovereign God who is relentlessly opposed to evil, who knows our sufferings and who can be trusted to bring us through them to renewed life.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Sunday Supplication - Baptized into His Name

O Father, at his baptism, you proclaimed Jesus to be your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit. Today, we ask that you would help every one of us who have been baptized into his Name to live as your children. Help us to keep the covenant we have made with you, and help us declare with our words and our deeds that Jesus is truly our Lord and Savior.

Forgive us our sins. Renew us by your Spirit. Show us how to act, think, and live as Christ.  As you have forgiven us, make us merciful and ready to forgive those who have sinned against us.

O God, thank you for the love you have lavished on us, that we might be called your children. Help us to live as your children, to display your glory, and be a testimony of the difference you make in our lives. And as you are making a difference in us, help us in turn to make a difference in our world. Help us to be instruments of your saving grace and peace.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Friday, January 08, 2016

Friday Favorites - You're Dreaming


I'm very excited about the new recording by The Cactus Blossoms which releases on January 22. It's now available for pre-order.

http://smile.amazon.com/Youre-Dreaming-Cactus-Blossoms/dp/B0181MKYHW/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1452101793&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cactus+blossoms
You're Dreaming is the national debut of acclaimed roots music duo The Cactus Blossoms. Led by brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum, the band started as a vehicle for the siblings to hone their harmonic abilities on classic American songs with minimal instrumentation. They quickly amassed a fervent fanbase in Minnesota's Twin Cities and found themselves on public radio's A Prairie Home Companion.

Produced by JD McPherson, the 10 original songs on You're Dreaming showcase the incredible seamless vocals of the brothers in the time honored tradition of blood harmony akin to The Everly Brothers. The danceable "Stoplight Kisses" and "Clown Collector" deliver memorable, infectious melodies, while the heartfelt ballad "Queen of Them All" and the introspective "If I Can't Win" demonstrate their natural and superior songwriting prowess.

Infusing elements of early rock-n-roll and classic country while tracing their musical heroes footsteps back to the roots, The Cactus Blossoms have arrived with a sound that is uniquely their own.

Thursday, January 07, 2016

Thursday Thinking - Vision or Goals?

Today, I'd like to direct you to thoughtful post from Brett and Kate McKay over at The Art of Manliness blog. While many people set new goals at the beginning of a new year, it might be more important to identify a greater vision for the meaning and purpose of your life. In fact, without that vision, goals don't really have a meaningful context. They may, in fact, be wrongheaded. Click Here to read the piece.

Here is a bit to get you started...


VISION OVER GOALS
by Brett & Kate McKay

Another New Year is once again upon us and millions of people around the world are settingW big, ambitious goals and resolutions for themselves (including yours truly).

While I’ve long been a fan of goal setting, my ardor for it has cooled a bit. I still think they’re useful and I still set them, but through conversations with organizational/personal development experts, as well as various books I read last year, I’ve come to think that focusing too much on goals can actually get in the way of living a truly flourishing life.

So instead of being goal-focused this year, I’m trying to be more vision-focused. It’s an approach I’d recommend you take as well. So what’s the difference? Let’s dig in, and together get going on a year full of promise and progress.

- - - 

Goals are fantastic tools for personal and professional development, but if we expect that simply setting goals will lead to a flourishing life, we’ll be greatly disappointed. We need to create a rich, compelling vision of where we want to go and who we want to be in order to provide vital context and meaning to our goals.

KEEP READING

Wednesday, January 06, 2016

Wednesday Words - Shoveling Snow


If day after day I was caught inside
this muffle and hush

I would notice how birches
move with a lovely hum of spirits,

how falling snow is a privacy
warm as the space for sleeping,

how radiant snow is a dream
like leaving behind the body

and rising into that luminous place
where sometimes you meet

the people you've lost. How
silver branches scrawl their names

in tangled script against the white.
How the curves and cheekbones

of all my loved ones appear
in the polished marble of drifts.

"Shoveling Snow" by Kirsten Dierking, from Northern Oracle. © Spout Press, 2007.

Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Tuesday Tomes - Three Books on Prayer

A good friend of mine recently asked for a few book titles on the subject of prayer. Below are the books I recommended with links and publisher's descriptions. All three are pretty down to earth and practical.

A Praying Life
by Paul E. Miller

Author Paul Miller shares his insights and conclusions about how to connect the broken pieces of your life and allow prayer—even poorly delivered—to fill the gaps with meaning and substance.
Miller's down-to-earth approach and practical nature will help you see that your relationship with God can grow and your communication with Him can get better.

Parents will find Miller's family-life experiences especially helpful.
Includes bonus chapter from Prayer Begins with Relationship by Cynthia Hyle Bezek.
Prayer
by Tim Keller

Christians are taught in their churches and schools that prayer is the most powerful way to experience God. But few receive instruction or guidance in how to make prayer genuinely meaningful. In Prayer, renowned pastor Timothy Keller delves into the many facets of this everyday act.

With his trademark insights and energy, Keller offers biblical guidance as well as specific prayers for certain situations, such as dealing with grief, loss, love, and forgiveness. He discusses ways to make prayers more personal and powerful, and how to establish a practice of prayer that works for each reader.

Dr. Keller’s previous books have sold more than one million copies. His Redeemer Presbyterian Church is not only a major presence in his home base of New York, it has also helped to launch more than two hundred fifty other churches in forty-eight cities around the world. His teachings have already helped millions, the majority of whom pray regularly. And with Prayer, he’ll show them how to find a deeper connection with God.


Present Perfect 
by Greg Boyd

A “Holy Habit” That Will Change Your Life! Experience true spiritual transformation: invite God’s presence into your life! Popular author, theologian, and pastor Gregory Boyd shows you how—simply, practically, and effectively—in this thoughtful and accessible book. Discover: • How to pray continually • What it means to “take every thought captive” • How to wake up to God’s ever-present love God is closer to you than the air you breathe. He is present in every given moment.

Wake up to his presence! Turn off the mental chatter that keeps you from seeing his glory. Embrace the holy habit of inviting God’s presence into your life, and be transformed! Wake Up to God’s Presence! We long to be transformed. Yet our minds are filled with endless trivia and self-centered chatter. To-do lists. Worries about the past. Speculation about the future. We forget to live in the present moment … and to invite God to be with us there.

After reading classic contemplative authors Brother Lawrence, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, and Frank Laubach, theologian and pastor Gregory Boyd longed to experience the presence of God for himself. For two decades, he’s attempted to implement the “practice of the presence of God” in his own life … sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. What he’s learned as a fellow pilgrim on his spiritual journey can help you find true spiritual transformation as you begin to practice the discipline of inviting God into every moment.

“I’ve become absolutely convinced that remaining aware of God’s presence moment-by-moment is the single most important task in the life of every follower of Jesus,” Boyd writes. “I’m convinced this challenge is implied in our commitment to surrender our life to Christ, for the only real life we have to surrender to him is the one we live moment-by-moment.” Join Boyd on this transformational journey of a lifetime!

Sunday, January 03, 2016

Sunday Supplication - Deepen Our Understanding

O God, you used a star to lead the wise men seeking Christ to the place where he could be found. We desire that you lead us too. We seek to know you through Christ. Make us aware of your presence. Help us to find your saving grace and truth in Christ Jesus. Lead your Church, O God. Lead us to your son Jesus that we may worship him with our lives.

Forgive us our sins. Renew us by your Spirit. Show us how to act, think, and live as Christ.  As you have forgiven us, make us merciful and ready to forgive those who have sinned against us.

We thank you, O God, for your goodness to those who seek you. Give us the humility and the wisdom to seek you above all else. Give us the perspective and discernment to know what is true and what is real. Deepen our understanding of life. Help us to know what matters most.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.