Reading school work about John Chrysostom and his un-believable life.
Reading for work in preparation for Reggie McNeal's visit to Ward Church.
And re-reading an article from a friend reviewing Radical. Quoted below.
David Platt is the thirty-something pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, a 4000-member congregation in Birmingham. Platt contrasts what Jesus said disciples would be and do with what we tend to be and do as churches and Christians living in a North American culture. Exploring the biblical gospel, we will discover that "our life is found in giving ourselves for the sake of others in the church, among the lost, and among the poor." (21)
"In the late 1940s, the United States government commissioned William Francis Gibbs to work with United States Lines to construct an eighty-million-dollar troop carrier for the navy. The purpose was to design a ship that could speedily carry fifteen thousand troops during times of war. By 1952, construction on the SS United States was complete. ... The SS United States was the fastest and most reliable troop carrier in the world.
The only catch is, she never carried troops. At least not in any official capacity. The ship was put on standby once during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, but otherwise she was never used in all her capacity by the U.S. Navy.
Instead the SS United States became a luxury liner for presidents, heads of state, and a variety of other celebrities who traveled on her during her seventeen years of service. As a luxury liner, she couldn't carry fifteen thousand people. Instead she could house just fewer than two thousand passengers. Those passengers could enjoy the luxuries of 695 staterooms, 4 dining salons, 3 bars, 2 theaters, 5 acres of open deck with a heated pool, 19 elevators, and the comfort of the world's first fully air-conditioned passenger ship. Instead of a vessel used for battle during wartime, the SS United States became a means of indulgence for wealthy patrons who desired to coast peacefully across the Atlantic.
Things look radically different on a luxury liner than they do on a troop carrier. ... After all, the troop carrier has an urgent task to accomplish; the luxury liner, on the other hand, is free to casually enjoy the trip.
The church, like the SS United States, has been designed for battle. The purpose of the church is to mobilize a people to accomplish a mission. Yet we seem to have turned the church as troop carrier into the church as luxury liner. We seem to have organized ourselves, not to engage in battle for the souls of peoples around the world, but to indulge ourselves in the peaceful comforts of the world. This makes me wonder what would happen if we looked squarely in the face of a world with 4.5 billion people going to hell and twenty-six thousand children dying every day of starvation and preventable diseases, and we decided it was time to move this ship into battle instead of sitting back on the pool deck while we wait for the staff to serve us more hors d'oeuvres." (169-71)
In our culture we are tempted at every turn to trust in our own power instead of his power. The American dream tells us our own ability is our greatest asset. And the goals we achieve bring us glory. We have blindly embraced an American dream mentality that emphasizes our abilities and exalts our names in the ways we do church. We are living out the American dream in the context of our communities of faith. In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, I, and the church I lead, look a lot like the rich man. Meanwhile, the poor man is outside our gate. We find no verse in the New Testament where God's people are told to build a majestic place of worship. What are our priorities? In the U.S. we spend more than $10 billion each year on church buildings. Church real estate is worth more than $230 billion.
Our possessions can be subtly deadly. We think of affluence, comfort, and material possessions as blessings but they may be barriers. Jesus says that wealth can be a dangerous obstacle. God's way is to put his people in positions where they are desperate for his power, and then he shows his provision in ways that display his greatness.
The Radical Experiment - One Year to a Life Turned Upside Down
The challenge is for one year:
- Pray for the entire world. (Use Operation World.)
- Read through the entire Word using any Bible reading plan.
- Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose, cause, or project - and get involved in it.
- Spend 2% of your time in another context. (This is enough time for a mission trip.)
- Commit your life to a multiplying community.
I know this is a big deal but, whose interested in attempting something like this?
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