Each Sunday during the season of Lent is a “little Easter” and is therefore a time of celebration. Amen!
Videos
Video Spotlight | “In Christ Alone” by Christina Grimmie
What is “The Overview Effect?”
I came across this video and was struck by the startling struggle that those who do not have a faith orientation have in trying to describe realities of life that are sublime and spiritual. When faith is not the ground of those realities that are non-material and yet undeniable real our language betrays us. Take the time to watch this and listen to the wonder, awe, splendor and mystery those interviewed attempt to explain and quantify. Without a faith perspective we do not have the proper framework to express those yearnings and realizations that are not because of the object observed, but because of our awakened understanding of the larger story we are participating in. This was a remarkable video, both in its beauty, but also in its ignorance.
This is my take and I am sure that many of those in the video would disagree with my assessment. Let me know if and where I’m wrong. I look forward to your thoughts!
I would recommend watching it “full screen.”
What if Jesus walked into your town?
Jesus in Your Town
While this question is one that could occupy a conversation for a few hours. What I wonder if it a worthy enough question to challenge us to reevaluate the way that we go about the practice of our faith. The clip below is from a movie called “Joshua”. This is a play on the fact that Jesus’ name is derived from the older Jewish name of Joshua. So the essence of the movie is this: If Jesus walked into town what would He do? How would He act? What would be the response of the people? This is one of the best modern adaptations of the life of Jesus I have ever come across. (I don’t mean to overstate the movie.)
There is one scene in particular that gets me every time. Joshua comes across a camp meeting and walks in just as the evangelist is about the pray. Joshua doesn’t join in. He actually interrupts the meeting and causes a scene. The evangelist is dumbstruck. He doesn’t know what to do. Joshua tells him, “You know, you don’t have to do it this way.” Joshua tells him, “I know you’d like to have the faith to talk to these people. But you don’t know what faith is.”
While the caricature is awful, the perception that it portrays is not that far off the mark. This is how many in the world view the church and it’s bag of “party tricks”. Some charlatans bilking the faithful for their own gain. Others teaching doctrines that are not sound and therefore misleading those hungry for God, His presence and power in their lives. But the clip provides a couple of twists. First, Joshua reveals that the true intention of the evangelist (in this case) is to do what is right. He genuinely desires to help those that have come to the meeting. But he doesn’t know what or how he is supposed to do it. The second is that Joshua speaks the truth and it activates the faith of the people. The truth creates an awkward scene, but a healing actually takes place.
The Cost of Healing on the Healer
This is one of the best depictions of what Jesus’ miracles of healing must have looked like. The transfer of divine power through the human agent is an awesome burden. It has helped to see why Jesus spent so much time praying. It cost Him so much to heal those that were hurting. Healing wasn’t easy because it taxed the limits of the human experience. Jesus accepted the cost of not only bring our salvation through his death, but He also accepted the personal, physical and spiritual cost of touching those around Him with the power of God’s mercy.
This scene in particular reminds me of the woman with the hemorrhage problem in Mark 5:25-34. The story tells us that Jesus “perceiv[ed] in Himself that power had gone out from Him.” I don’t know what that must have looked like, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something like it is shown here.
Stacie Orrico | “Strong Enough”
There are so many things that can drive a wedge between us as God. We have to overcome the first of all enemies, the sin that so easily besets us [Hebrews 12:1]. This devious foe has been conquered through and by the blood of Jesus that was shed upon the cross on Calvary [1 Corinthians 15:50-58]. And yet on this side of God’s grace-filled application of Christ’s righteousness upon our sin-stained souls we can still fall prey to the lies of the Devil. I know that I find myself wondering, “Could it be true that You are strong enough?” My amazement at God’s ability to forgive Sin is paled only in comparison to God’s ability to withhold His righteous and rightful judgment upon me.
Will my weakness for an hour make me suffer for a lifetime?
Is there anyway to be made whole again?
If I’m healed, renewed, and find forgiveness
find the strength I’ve never had
Will my scars forever ruin all God’s plan?
NO! it won’t. God’s eternal purposes will be accomplished [Psalm 138:8, Psalm 57:2; Isaiah 55:11, Isaiah 46:10]. God is not made impotent, by my failures. He shall forever be faithful [1 Corinthians 1:9]. Not for my sake, but for His. I find this song moving every time I hear it. I have included a prayer I wrote after having listened to it.
Oh God, have mercy upon me a sinner. Father, Your love overwhelms me and yet I fight the tender strength of Your grip. Help me to see that Your love is true. That You have not withheld any of Yourself from me. It is I who have failed to rely upon and rest in You.
Father I thank You. I thank You for Your manifold blessings. I thank You for Your entrusting of Your daughter’s into my feeble care. I thank You that You have been long-suffering with me until the force of Your mercies and love have buffeted me, like waves breaking against the stubbornness of my pride. You are my great God and heavenly Father are strong enough. You are stronger than any mythological god or any evil this world can concoct. You are worthy of my praise, yes You are. You are worthy of my loyalty and devotion. You alone stand as the great and might creator and sustainer of existence itself. You are the ground of reality and not merely its dynamic force or animating agent.
Continue to work within me the work of salvation that will not be fulfilled until Your Son returns to this earth in final and ultimate victory. Your ability to withstand the tantrums of a flawed man and not feel any distress upon Your character or authority demonstrates Your amazing attributes. Father, I am in need of You. I hunger and thirst for You and I ask that You supply my needs according to Your riches and wisdom. Do not allow me to think that I know what is best for me. According to Your will, let it be unto me. Now and forever, Amen.
Carrie Underwood | “Temporary Home”
I have always found music to be such an interesting medium for communication. In the span of 3 to 4 minutes so much can be said. The combination of words and images, the symbols, comparisons and illusions all helping to tell a story. Then you add the musical component and you have something that will bring together the mind and the heart, sometimes in ways that can’t be explained.
I recently came across this song by Carrie Underwood that speaks to the temporary nature of life on this globe. One of the realities of life is that there will be times when we think we have it all figured out. We put off the wonder of living for the hope of life. We must never forget the unchanging truth that there will come a day of reckoning. We will be confronted with our own mortality. The sooner we face this truth the more likely we will be to make the necessary changes to look not just death, but also ourselves in the face and find that living happens right now. Life is not something that waits. It flows like raging rivers past us. Yes, there are moments to get to the banks and enjoy the sun, but don’t tarry too long or you will find time spent doing things that satisfy for a moment rather than sustain us during our entire lives, especially the difficult times.
Chorus:
“This is my temporary Home
It’s not where I belong
Windows and rooms that I’m passin’ through
This was just a stop,on the way to where I’m going
I’m not afraid because I know this was
My temporary home.”
