Celebrating Advent - The Kingdom is Come - The Kingdom Will Come

Ryan Bell of the Hollywood Adventist church has written on Advent and makes this interesting statement

I wish I had time to post about the irony that, for the most part, ADVENTists don't celebrate ADVENT

While we have passed Advent and moved into epiphany, I think it is interesting to look at Advent and its importance for all Christians and especially Seventh-day Adventists. Bell argues:

The great danger facing Christmas is Christians who sentimentalize it. Once we’ve sentimentalized Christmas – de-clawed it – neutered it – tamed it; once we’ve reduced Christmas to sentimentality, it lays wide open to every abuse.

Has Christmas become something more than a celebration of Christ coming into our world? Is it just about a celebration of family and friends and "smiling and saying hello to people we don't know?"

Bell reminds us that the Jesus who stood up and read from Isaiah a passage that had Herod shaking in his boots has been replaced. Replaced with a Jesus that looks a little like the Santa Clause that we try so hard to distinguish him from.

But Advent is anticipation of the King coming to earth. The King with those different principles like the first being last. The King who called us to preach, "Fear God and Give Glory to Him for the hour of his judgement is come, and worship the creator." The King is come. Let us live as though the King has come until the King does come.

Sabbath as Promise

Charles Bradford notes in his book Sabbath Roots: The African Connection that:

Sabbath is a promise of heavenly rest, a gift that brings with it a token or pledge of life in the escheton, the kingdom of God. It is God's future experienced in the now. A portion of eternity set in the midst of time.

The Sabbath is promise, but it is experienced now. The Sabbath is the Kingdom of God experienced and brought to today. The Sabbath is our ability to catch a glimpse of what the future Kingdom will be about. The Sabbath is our proof that the future Kingdom will come to past. We are certainly called to talk about and preach that Sabbath.

The Sabbath A Great Cathedral

Here is an interesting quote from Heschel's book the Sabbath.

Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificient stream of a year. The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals; and our Holy of Holies is a shrine that neither the Romans nor the Germans were able to burn; a shrine that even apostasy cannot easily obliterate

And

"When history began, there was only one holiness in the world, holiness in time."

When God gave us the Sabbath, God gave us something that could not be taken away by others. The Sabbath is something that we can only take away from ourselves.

Another Preparation Day Sabbath Brain Dump

The Sabbath is a celebration of God's perfect creation. Celebrating the perfect creation means that we are somebody, we are valued. But more than this we celebrate present liberation and sanctification. God told Israel to remember the Sabbath because of both the deliverance from Egypt as well as the creation. We are also told that it is a great sign of God's Sanctifying Power. Ultimately, the Sabbath is a celebration of the full restoration that will only come at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

Thus in addition to preaching the Sabbath as being the right day, we can preach the themes of Liberation, Sanctification, Creation, Covenant, Second Advent, even the Sanctuary as we weave in the present work of God.

So if someone says, "I am tired"...what is the Answer? The Sabbath of Rest!

Someone else may say, "I don't feel like I am worth anything."... what is the answer? The Sabbath's call to remember God's creation of a Very Good creation.

Someones else is saing, "I wonder if I have the strength to do what God calls me to do." The answer... The Sabbath reminds me of God's creative power which if it could create the whole world out of nothing can give me strength to overcome whatever is in my way.

Within this context the Sabbath can truly be the embodiment of our faith and worthy of the name "affirmation of our faith." Praise God for the Sabbath.

Sabbath and the Adventist Soul

The Spectrum Blog has a provocative post on how the Sabbath saved the Adventists from selling their soul to a political party. In light of the fact that white Adventists have voted similarly to evangelicalicals the question can be asked, "Why have they not joined the religious right totally?"

Could it be that our minority status among Christians makes us leary of the kinds of politics that the religious right uses? Alex over at the Spectrum blog seems to think so and I am inclined to agree. Perhaps someone should do more study of the political ramifications of being a Sabbath-keeping church.

Have We Lost the Health Message?

Over at the Adventist News Network there is an article that has implications for the connection between the health message and Adventist practice.

Churchgoers More Likely to Be Obese

According to Purdue University News they found that church goers are more likely to be obese. While the study had a sample of all church members and not just Adventist ones, no one has studied Adventist obesity specifically. Interestingly a typical Sabbath was described as sitting in a church most of the Sabbath and eating a dinner that may or may not be low on calories.

The article speaks of a trend towards obesity in the Adventist church. Jonathan Duffy, health ministries director in the South pacific, states that:

Health has long been a litmus test for our religiosity. You were a good Adventist because you didn't do this, now you are a mature Adventist because you are no longer tied to the old 'works' thing and you show it by doing what you didn't used to do. For example, Adventists didn't eat meat or drink alcohol. So how do we emphasize the theology of health, the relationship between my health and my spiritual well being? We have stopped talking about it and the church has stopped doing it and who is left to talk about it?

What about Exercize?

One aspect that should be brought out is that among some Adventists the health message consists of simply not eating pork or not eating meat depending on who you are. I personally know of people who will talk for days about what to eat and yet they are not exercizing one bit. It would seem that at best we have a truncated health message that looks past really poor health practices while congradulating itself on its lack of meat or lack of pork in the diet.

Is It Dead?

What think ye...Is the health message dead? Have we tied it to an old works based religion that we either hold to tightly or diregard as irrelevant? These are questions that we should begin to ask as our waistlines continue to get bigger and bigger.

Preaching With Power - G. Ralph Thompson

We have finally come to the final preacher in Dr. Clifford Jones' book Preaching with Power. In this post we will look at the chapter that contains the interview with G. Ralph Thompson. Pastor Thompson is the former secretary of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Understanding of Preaching

Thompson believes that preaching is having the message of God permeate the preacher to the point where the preacher can embody the message. To put it in his words, Thompson says, preaching is "God's message by God's men or women to God's people." (page 148)

Method of Sermon Preparation

Pastor Thompson described his method as reading several translations and then read the commentaries. Then he finds a thesis for his sermon followed by the creation of an outline and then he puts meat on the outline.

Pastor Thompson says that he finds illustrations from biographies, autobiographies, and from daily life. He is quick to note that he makes use of the spiritual disciplines to keep the connection to heaven. Thompson also emphasizes that we connect the time of the Bible to the present time by paying attention to the connections. Thompson believes that if you pay attention you will see that we deal with the same issues that the Bible characters dealt with and that we can connect the two times (Bible and contemporary) easily when we recognize this.

Understanding of Black Preaching

Pastor Thompson, like many others in the book, believes that Black Preaching is more about content than style. He notes that Black Preaching comes out of the context of the Black Experience. He notes that he orginally had a problem with the very idea of Black Preaching, but has come to aknowledge its existence and even appreaciate it. Once again I like how these authors seek to find a theological foundation for Black Preaching rather than the stylistic components that some would seek to say is the basis of its uniqueness.

Understanding of Adventist Preaching

Pastor Thompson emphsizes that he is not a Baptist, Methodist, or Church of God preacher and thus his messages should not sound like theirs. He attempts to preach a unique Seventh-day Adventist message that he connects to the "Great Controversy" theme.

While he wants to emphasize that he is an Adventist preacher, Thompson also wants to be known as a preacher of Christ. Thompson keeps the unique Adventist thrust as well as the Christ-Centered thrust by looking for Christ in the doctrines. This is something that many have talked about, but needs to be fleshed out a little more. How can one preach both Christ and all of the doctrines of Adventism?

I have saught to answer some of this on my blog, but I also must mroe clearly articulate this especially since many are saying this is what to do. Perhaps some of the problem is the lack of Adventist homiletics texts. There are not that many books that teach Adventist preaching and thus few have attempted to attack this question head on. It is my hope that more such resources will become available as time goes on.

Preparation Day Brain Dump on the Sabbath.

In an earlier post I asked the question, "What Bind does Adventism Get You Out of?" In it I asked the question, "What bind does our doctrines really get us out of?" I think thinking about this question can help the preacher to relate the truth of our doctrines to real questions that people ask.

I wanted to begin some discussion about the Sabbath. We really hardly ever preach about the Sabbath, but when we do, it is usually in an apologetic mode. By that I mean that we spend all of our energies defending the truth of the doctrine or attacking Sunday as not being the true Sabbath. While such preaching does have a role in the Adventist preacher's toolbox, we also must spend some time thinking about what the Sabbath means and how it affects my living. So defend the Sabbath and show its preference to Sunday, but also look at the theological aspects of the Sabbath as revealed in the Bible.

So today I am going to do a brain dump on aspects of the Sabbath. This is not structured and should be seen as just a first step towards coming up with a homiletical theology for the Sabbath. I hope that you all will join in and help me in this endevor of attempting to discuss what we get from the Sabbath and why the Sabbath matters and what the Sabbath means for our living today.


First and foremost, the Sabbath matters because revelation reveals God cares about the Sabbath. We are told that God blessed, rested, and Sanctified the Sabbath (Gen 2:3). We are told that the Sabbath was made for humanity (Mark 2:27). We are told that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (Matt 12:8). The Sabbath is important and it matters because God said it matters.

Sabbath Reminds us to not think too highly about ourselves

Also the Sabbbath can teach us not to think too highly of ourselves. In taking a day off once a week we remind ourselves that if we stop working the world will continue. We are not indispensible or irreplaceable. This can take a great burden off of many minds. If we don't complete this project, someone will, or perhaps it was not that important to begin with. But on another note

The Sabbath can teach us of our great importance. The Sabbath is a time to contemplate the creation which shows God's care for humanity. God invested in humanity a dignity and greatness that caused God to call the creation very good. So while the Sabbath reminds us that God can get what God needs done without us, it also reminds us that God does place great importance in humanity. Humanity was the last "thing" that God created before God created rest.

Sabbath attacks overconsumption

The Sabbath can teach us not to be overly concerned about consumption. All week long we have to think about and work towards buying and acquiring. We work really hard just to get more and more things, but the Sabbath is a day we take off from that weekly grind of acquiring. We simply be. It gives us a chance to just think about what is really important.

Related to what I have written earlier, the Sabbath reminds us to take off and take a break. It reminds us that rest itself is a necessary part of work. God finished creation by creating rest.

The Sabbath is a day when we are reminded that people are not to be judged by what they do or how much they acquire, but just by being created of God. The Sabbath is a day that we all do the same thing. The wall street executive is simply a "rest-er" just like the checkout counter cashier. It reminds us of the equality we should have in the church and will have in the coming Kingdom when it is fully realized at the Second Advent.

Sabbath is a Participation in the Incoming Kingdom

Related to this the Sabbath is a day to participate in the incoming Kingdom of God. We live for God unencumbered by our usual work responsibilities. We move into a time where God especially meets us. It is a foretaste of the coming Kingdom.

The Sabbath is a time to contemplate creation. To look at the greatness of Creation. And as we contemplate creation we see the power of God that is for our good. If God can make all that we see out of nothing then God can take us and re-create good out of us. Just as completely God created in the beginning God can just as completely work in re-creation. The Sabbath is a celebration of that.

We are told that the Sabbath is a day to remember that we are being sanctified. God said that the Sabbaths are a sign of the sanctification that is coming to us individually and as a people.

Structural Change and the Regional Conferences?

What will happen to the regional conferences? A little while ago I heard a rumor that the church was seeking to eliminate them. I don't know how true that rumor is, but it is certainly plausible when looking at these possibilities for structural flexibility and realignment.

Any structure that touches the local conference will presumably affect the regional conferences. It is possible that in any structural realignment that we would simply remove them by default rather than address why they came into being and allow all sides to tell why or why they do not desire their continuance.

It may be easier to simply do away with the conference layer and never address the regional conferences directly, but that would probably leave a wound that would fester. I would hope that any plan to do away with the regional conferences would directly address these issues and not sidestep them.

I am all in favor of some sort of structural realignment. We have a bloated structure that needs some trimming in my opinion. I also think that we need to come together and talk about why we created these conferences and come up with a plan for when we will know they are no longer needed.

I don't know if the regional conferences or any local conference is in jepardy today. But once again I thank the church for making all of these resources available on-line and I encourage all members to read and be informed. I could be wrong, but I think that some sort of structural flexibility will be more fully instituted very soon.

Are We Nearing Scturctural Change? - Options for Structural Flexibility

Today we continue our look at the documents provided by the Commission on Ministries, Services, and Structures.

At that site we see a document entitled: Principles, Possibilities, and Limits of Flexibility in the Design of Seventh-day Adventist Organizational Structure. I would encourage anyone who is interested to read the document.

In it we see 5 patterns of organization proposed. The authors of the document seem to want to allow flexibility in the world church structure so that in any area we could select one or another of these patterns that may be more helpful than our current structure.

For those who do not know, the current strcuture that is followed by most of the world church is a local church level. A number of local churches make up a local conference. A number of local conferences make up a union conference. These unions are adminstered under the General Conference by Divisions. Each of these levels has roughly the same number of personnel. So the local church has a religous liberty leader and the local conference and further up the chain.

Our current structure is pattern 1. A slight modification of this is described as pattern 2. In this structure we would cut out the number of departmental directors. Here the local conference ant he union conference would not necessarily have overlapping jobs. For example, if there is a youth department leader in the union conference the local conference would not have a full time youth department leader.

In Pattern 3 there would be a more extensive staffing modification. Here at the local conference level you would have a president and a very limited staff. The Treasurer work would be handled by the union treasurer. The Nowegian Union and the Japan Union use this pattern today.

Pattern 4 unifies the local conference and union conference level into one level that is sometimes called a "Union of Churches." There are 6 of these unions of churches in the world church today. The authors of this document wish to see the union of churches model to be used more often in the world church.

Pattern 5 takes pattern 4 and creates district leaders who would supervise groups of local churches. A sixth alternative would be to combine various functions. An example of this might be the movement of religous liberty into a consolidated organization that many consituencies would use. A Seventh alternative would be to merge or reclassify organizations fo rthe express purpose of futhering ministry.

There are many options out there and we should consider them. It is my hope and prayer that the members of the local church will become aware of the things that are being discussed and will not be left in the dark. I thank the church for making these documents available for anyone to read. Now let us read them.

Are We Nearing an Adventist Structural Change?

Harold Lee has a vision of how the church will look in 2025. You can find that post at the AdventistReview site. All of this information available on the web makes me wonder if we are nearing a proposed major structural change in the Advnetist church.

In another article, Less gives several proposals for restructuring the Adventist church.

The first of Lee's proposals is the centralization of services. He notes that the technology that is available should reduce the amount of personnel needed for paperwork, accounting, and even mangement in our church. One wonders if much of the Secretary/Clerk work could be done by some excell macros.

Another proposal is the hiring of bi-vocational pastors. Lee notes that the Potomac Conference has 19 bi-vocational pastors right now. In this setup the church would give a stipend to a "part-time" pastor who would have other employment. My concern would be that we not expect that the bi-vocational pastor does as much as the full time pastors, but that concern does not do away with the validity of attempting such a change.

Lee also talks about creating resource centers. Becuase the internet has made it much easier to move information around, we can create websites and the like to help people with their problems. Instead of having a Stewardship director in every conference why not have a Stweardship resource center that would make pertinent information available on the topic to the world church?

Lee also speaks of networking ministries that are small and nimble that don't have the encumbering components of a larger organization. He notes that the church should prmote such endevors.

Interestingly Lee notes that the NAD in 1995 voted to request that the union and the conferences restructure and cut out departments to save money. One wonders if this happens as more and more personnel are being hired by some conferences to work in their office.

An important idea of Lee is metropolitan area collaboration. Why would you have 3 adventist churches in 1 city with 3 pitiful community service programs when you could unify them and create a larger better one. It would require working together across churches and accross conferences.

There are a few more interesting ideas like direct delivery training where we train people through the web an the like. To put it bluntly, we cannot continue to do what we did.

We will continue looking at these subjects on the blog so stay tuned...

Annual Council examines Church Structure

The church is considering "flexibility in the church denominational structure."

Specifically they are examining a concept called "Unions of Churches." According to the article these are “a united organized body of churches within a territory having similar status to a union conference or union mission and a direct relationship to the division.�

In short...no local conference between the church and the union level. Interestingly there are already six unions of churches in the world church. Interestingly one of those interviewed for the article stated that we may need more than one organizational pattern in the world church. Interestingly on the web you can find a 99 page document entitled, Union of Churches: An alternative organizational model for the Seventh-day Adventist church. Here is a link to that document and a few more documents on this subject. Let us pray for our church as it seeks to move forward into the realities of our contemporary situation.

Pie in the Sky or Present help

As the preacher, congregation, and the Spirit interact to create the preaching event the core beliefs of the Christian community are reaffirmed. The preacher presents a word that at times calls for radical confrontation with the powers of this world that are against God’s way. The preacher also presents a word that strengthens the resolve of an oppressed people reminding them that God is on their side and they can make it through. Thus the preacher is not speaking of “pie in the sky when you die� but empowerment in this world to take whatever the world gives and yet still work for God’s ideal on this earth keeping in mind that there is a judgement to which all must stand.

This perspective does not deny the future that God has promised. This perspective recognizes that the future promise is important to living today and it actually can guide us in present living. God's future is a great compass that provides us with guidance. To quote Kendra Heloviak:

* Because God's future will be an earth full of justice, worshippers seek justice now.
* Because God's future will bring peace on earth worshippers act for peace now.
* Because God's future will be an earth with plenty for all, worshippers act to end hunger now.
* Because God's future will be existence without tears, worshippers act to comfort and to heal now.
* Because God's future will be life without death, worshippers act to fight disease and death now.Peacemaking Remnant, pg 69

The preacher facilitates this understanding of making the future present in this world among the congregants.

Looking at the Sanctuary like a Black Preacher

The next time someone speaks about the Sanctuary or the Sanctuary message, before you think about mathmatical calculations, choreography, or architecture, just think about it being the place from which God sends help to God's people.

This full post is located on my blog. The Sanctuary is not primarily about math or celestial architecture. It is the base of God's operations on behalf of humanity.

A long while back I applied Henry Mitchell's Soul Theology to fundamental Adventist Doctrines and created a document. Here is a piece of that document, the only changes I make is to make it Gender Inclusive.

Sanctuary
This belief has some application to providence, justice, omniscience, grace of God, and perseverance of persons. Providence – Here the Sanctuary must be seen as the center of God’s work on behalf of humanity. In the Old Testament, the sanctuary was where God did God's work on behalf of man. God's justice and grace come from there. The Sanctuary is God’s place from where he takes care of business.

Justice – Good can only win in the end when justice is served. Justice is an important concept in African American thought as well as other oppressed peoples.

Grace of God – God’s grace can be seen in that the judge is your defender. Much can be made of God’s grace in allowing us to go to God. God’s grace can be seen, as the sanctuary is the center of God’s forgiveness. We know of the lamb and we know of forgiveness. Christ is a symbol of the High Priest on our side and the lamb on our side.

Finally Perseverance – One could emphasize Christ as your brother who came as we are so he knows what we are going through (Omniscience). Not just from his Godship, but also his experience. You can make it! In fact how can you not make it with the Father, Son, and his Holy Spirit working on your behalf from the Sanctuary above and on the earth beneath.

The Sanctuary message can be presented using doctrines that are already deeply held by most Christians and have helped Black folk make it through their problems.

Prophetic Voice or an Echo?

Preachers cannot fall into the trap of preaching only what people want to hear. We all have heard sermons and experienced worship that was not relevant to our situation. To counteract this we sometimes seek to ask the question what to people want. What questions do our people want addressed in a sermon. While such questions are valuable, they can never blunt the prophetic witness.

While we ask what the people want to hear or what the people want to have addressed, which are important and valuable questions, we also must ask what do the people NEED to hear? It is easy to get caught up into preaching things that will tickle the ears of congregants.

We should always remember that we don't always desire to hear what we need to hear most. The gospel always confronts the world we live in in creative ways that need to be explored by the preacher. There are some aspects of the gospel that are always fun to preach. There are aspects of the gospel that people want to hear all the time, but then there are aspects of the gospel that confront us and the world in uncomfortable ways. Let us preach the gospel and let it confront the world. Let us not just preach what sounds good and feels good to preach.

Is it possible to talk about the Sanctuary without 1844?

Yesterday I wrote a post that was still not able to be heard by many. Some saw it as an attack against the Sanctuary. Others saw it as a defense of the use of 1844 in ministry.

I think what is interesting is the inability to even conceive of a Sanctuary message without calculation of 1844. Can we discuss the implications of the sanctuary message without speaking of 1844? Can we speak of what the lamb of God means today? That is sanctuary imagery. Can we speak of what it means for Christ to be a high priest without even dealing with the Sanctuary? Some kind of way we must contemporize this symbol, can you do it without referring to the Sanctuary message of the Bible?

I am beginning to come to the conclusion that it is not possible to even say Sanctuary message without mathmatical calculations popping into our minds. Whatever ones view of the calculation of 1844, we must recognize that this is not the sum total of the Sancutary message.

Podcast 7 Interview with Dr. Derek Morris

Download File Here

In this episode of the AdventistPulpit.Com Podcast we have an interview with Dr. Derek Morris of the Forest Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church in Apopka Florida. In the interview Dr. Morris summarizes a few chapters from his book Powerful Biblical preaching. In this summary, Dr. Morris speaks specifically about the importance of having one point, preaching without notes, and finally planning your preaching.

Podcast Episode #5 God Ain't Told You To Stop!!

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Why are you stopping when God is telling you to move forward? In this sermon we explore what happens when you stop short of God's ideal for you. This is the fifth episode of the AdventistPulpit.Com podcast. In this episode we have a sermon based on 2 Kings 13:14-19 entitled "God Ain't Told you To Stop!!"

Preaching With Power - Dr. Benjamin Reaves

We are nearing the end of our conversation with Dr. Clifford Jones' book Preaching with Power. In this post we will look at the chapter that contains the interview with Dr. Benjamin Reaves. Dr. Reaves taught homiletics at Oakwood College as a professor. He also was the chair of Religion and Theology department, as well as President during his tenure at Oakwood College. He is currently a vice president of Adventist Health Systems.

Understanding of Preaching

Dr. Reaves sees preaching as "communicating biblical truth from God, by God's power, for God's saving purpose. The objective of preaching is to motivate people to accept God's will and plan for their lives. The sermon is the vehicle to communicate biblical truth."

Here Dr. Reaves sees the importance of preaching Biblical truth, but with purpose. The purpose is to motivate people to accept God's will and plan. The sermon is not only useful information but it also utilizes the Bible to energize God's people for action based on God's plan.

Method of Sermon Preparation

Because Dr. Reaves is now in "itinerant ministry" he considers the occasion, needs of the people, current events, as well as the preacher's own need in the determination of what to preach. When he was in parish ministry he used the aspects of ministry to come up with a preaching calendar.

This discussion of determination of what to preach for itinerant preachers is valuable. I like Dr. Reaves' approach especially his recognition that even the preacher's needs can shape the pastoral approach.

Dr. Reaves' next step is to prepare the preacher. This is something that is done all of the time. The preacher is not one that simply comes up with a sermon, but should always be in contact with the divine.

Dr. Reaves' "actual" preparation consists of asking several questions that H. Grady Davis introduced. Among other things, Dr. Reaves asks, what does the passage say? He quickly adds that this investigation is completed independent of any bible commentary. Dr. Reaves reads the passage several times in many different translations. Each time he applys the questions that in Davis' work. Dr. Reaves then moves to exegetical commentaries and finally Dr. Reaves creates a homiletical outline.

Dr. Reaves is a manuscript preacher. There is argument over whether use of the mansucript is a hinderance to effective preaching. In an upcoming podcast you will hear Dr. Derek Morris present that he believes it is important. Dr. Reaves emphasizes that the issue is not whether you use notes or you do not use them, but that you are effective in your use of the manuscript. Dr. Reaves notes that Charles Adams (the Harvard Whooper) is a master of manuscript preaching.

It is interesting how Dr. Reaves and Dr. Morris both love to preach narrative sermons while one uses the manuscript and the other preaches without notes. One thign is certain, great preaching does not require either a mansuscript or a lack thereof. Currently, however, I tend to agree with Dr. Morris that leaving the notes behind can open up avenues for a greater connection to the people. By no means does this mean that Dr. Reaves is not effective. Dr. Reaves is one of the most effective preachers that I have heard. I would encourage all to see the number of sermons that are available for Dr. Reaves on the internet. My site provides many links.

Understanding of Black Preaching

Dr. Reaves rightly notes that Black preaching is not a monolithic ideal nor is it a merely a style of preaching. At the heart of Black preaching is a world view that believes that God is a liberator who will make all things right. Reaves rightly notes that we must not fall into the trap of thinking that if there is no celebration there is no Black preaching.

Dr. Reaves seems to believe that the Black Preachers uniqueness comes from theology. Black preaching is not necessarily in volume or style, but in a perspective that sees God on the side of the poor and the oppressed working for their good. This is in line with Dr. Cleophas LaRue's beleif that Black Preachers approach the text with

two fundamental questions in mind with respect to the creation of their sermon: (1) How do I demonstrate to God's people this day through the proclamation of the Word the mighty and gracious acts of God on their behalf? and (2) How best shall I join together scripture and their life situations in order to address their plight in a meaningful and practical manner?Heart of Black Preaching, 19

I think it cheapens Black Preaching to reduce it to Whooping or yelling or noise. As Dr. Reaves notes if we follow such understandings then Howard Thurman would not be considered a Black Preacher.

Lest I be misunderstood, I do not wish to minimize or eliminate the enthusiastic proclamation of the Word that sometimes demonstrates itself in raise voice and yes even Whooping. But my only point is that the absense of this characteristic component does not mean that Black preaching has not taken place.

Understanding of Adventist Preaching

Dr. Reaves believes that one can be both authentically black and also teach Adventist doctrines. He notes that :

The choice is not between preaching Adventist doctrines and being authentically black in your preaching, but rather having a real sense of one's self, and a real sense of the meaning of the gospel as it is interpreted through the Adventist tradition.

Dr. Reaves beleives that the "deliverance" aspect that is in black preaching is integral to the Adventist message. He concludes by saying, "We as Adventist preachers need to do...a better job of preaching the liberating aspects of our doctrines."

I have saught to do some of this in the Sabbath work that you see on this blog, let us move forward in making the doctrines relevant by looking at them with an eye for what delivers God's people and the world from the demonic.

Peacemaking Remnant - A People of Prophecy

In the Peacemaking Remnant, Zdravko Plantak pushes the church to have a more comprehensive view of what it means to be a prophetic people by seeking a clearer picture of the prophetic role in the Bible. In the chapter Plantak identifies four essential elements of the prophetic teachings. First the messages of the prophets "are a matter of life and death." The second element is God's care for the weak in the society. The third element is that "God seeks justice and obvedience rather than formal worship or scrifice." The fourth element is that the message is "of eschatological-apocalyptic character."

Plantak notes that often our understanding of being a prophetic movement means that we are often either "preoccupied with making predictions" and/or "a movement with a special interest in studying and interpreting predictive prophecy." In contrast, Plantak agrees with Jack Provonsha in noting that we should "think of ourselves as a people with a [prophetic] mission to the world"

Will we be prophetic in the world is the question. Will we look at the whole prophetic utterance and not just Daniel and Revelation? If we do this then we will have to ask questions about God's stated care for the poor and the oppressed? What does that mean for a prophetic church? We will have to ask questions of ourself, Do we as a church demonstrate the principles of the prophets in the life of our church? ?Let us move on to being a prophetic movement in the world demosntrating the Kingdom of God within itself.

Peacemaking Remnant - Mission as Talk and Spiritual Life as Escape

In the first chapter of the book The Peacemaking Remnant Charles Scriven questions understanding mission as talk and spirtual life as escape. Scriven sees the dominant eschatology as simply teaching escape or resignation to the powers. Our end time scenario becomes simply telling people the important information that helps them leave the world that is destined to failure.

In contrast to this dominant eschatology, Scriven seeks to teach that the role of the church is to be the Peacemaking remnant in the world. Scriven identifies the group as "a faithful minority [that] bear[s] witness ot he victory of Christ in the midst of last-day crisis."

Scriven pushes the church to demonstrate the kingdom of God in the world as the witness of the church and not simply to tell others some important words that will allow them to leave and wait. I was immediately struck by the correspondence of such a view with the Sabbath-keeping church ecclesiology that I have attempted to articulate on this blog. As a people we have been called to bear witness to the principles of the Sabbath to the world.

Is the church a demonstration of the principles of the Kingdom of God today? Is the church a demonstration of the principles of the Sabbath (Participation in the Coming Kingdom, Disengagement from the Present World for the purpose of Re-engagement, Celebration of Community).

As we study eschatology and the end time events, let us always ask the question "What difference will this teaching make in the real world?" Let us not have an eschatology that has the same issue that Jurgen Moltmann decries in his book Theology of Hope that robbs our eschtology "...of [its] directive, uplifting, and critical significance for all the days which are spent here, this side of the end, in history."

Lest you think I attack our emphasis on end time events, instead I affirm and applaud our belief in the end time and ultimately in the Second Advent of Jesus Chirst. I just believe that our eschatology and ecclesiology (understanding of Church) should promote the church BEING God's hands and feed in the world today.

Transactional Language and Preaching

Ron Rienstra of Fuller Theological Seminary had a post on his blog regarding two worship services that both were problematic for worship that all preachers should keep in mind. In this and the next post we will discuss these worship errors that Rienstra found.

The first problem was that the Christian life was totally framed within transational language. In this version we give God prayer, adoration, etc. And God gives us eternal life. It is only a short jump to God also giving us all the riches down here that many of the Prosperity preachers are presenting as the gospel.

Is this what the Christian life is? Do we do this and God does that? What does this mean to those who end up hurting? What does this say to the one who finds out about Cancer and the doctor says that only a miracle will save?

Rienstra states that "It's salvation as understood by a community shaped by consumerist values." The big question becomes what Can we as preachers do to change this "world" that we find ourselves in? In Short, we as preachers must call into question the consumerism that is at the foundation of our society rather than merely using it as some kind of sermon illustration.

When the Beast became a Lamb

Dr. Ciro Sepulveda, chair of the History department at Oakwood College, wrote an article entitled "Reinventing Adventist History." You can find the abridged version of the article at Adventist Today. The full article can be found at the Oakwod College Website.

Lamb Horned Beast to Lamb Like Beast

In this article Dr. Sepulveda traces the develoment of Adventist understanding of the American power. In this article we see the early Adventists "...considered the United States to be a two-horned beast of Revelation 13, a demonic power in collusion with forces of evil."

Joseph Bates stated that "Then I suppose we shall begin to think (if not before) that the third woe has come upon this nation, this boasted land of liberty, this heaven-daring, soul destroying, slave holding, murdering country."

Over time Sepulveda notes, the Adventist understanding of the United States changed from a beast with lamblike horns to a lamblike beast. In his final paragraph he states:

In summary, the historiography of the Adventist church helped create a new identity for the modern Adventist, no longer burdened by the troublesome baggage or worldview of the early founders, and no longer seeing the government as an evil beast in collusion with satanic powers. They no longer pressed to proclaim the second coming of Jesus because the world, after all, is not that bad. Unlike the Adventists of the middle nineteenth century who saw the nation as a warmongering two-horned beast, the modern Adventist feels very comfortable embracing the values and culture of the nation and its never-ending search for power and dominance.

Liberals and Conservatives disagree with the Pioneers

As I think about this work it hits me how many Adventists "conservative" and "liberal" would have problems with this characterization of the United States as an unredeemable beast bent on savagery. We have conservatives among us who seek to defend the policies and practices of the United States at all costs even to the point of taking up arms and dieing in the wars of this nation. Some of these may say that in the future America will be a beast, but would argue that today the United States is the best hope for humanity's good.

In addition, we have liberals who work for peace and justice in the United States believing that their work can make the United States a better place. They might say that the United States acts beastly, but acting beastly is not necessarily the obvious outcome of all its actions. In other words our work can make the beast less of a beast.

Beast or Lamb?

Is the United States a Beast or a Lamb in its heart? Should we support it when desception is used to rationalize wars? Should we resign in the belief that it is unredeemable? Whatever one's beleifs on that question we must admit that there have been reforms in the United States throughout history that have made the world a better place.

As an African American I am happy that people did not just assume that America was a beast that could not be reformed. Those in the Civil Rights, peace, and other movements acted in the belief that some good can come from their work. Is it a beast or a lamb? Whatever it is, our calling as Christians is to demonstrate the principles of God in this world. Such a demonstration will place us at odds with the powers of this world. But, our witness to the principles of Christ will be a blessing to others in the world.

The Sabbath as Mindset - Summary of Posts

Is the Sabbath a day we keep? Is it just 24 hours in which we worship God and become strengthened for living the life we are all called to live? Or is it more?

In earlier posts I have looked at principles from the Sabbath. We have seen the Sabbath as Participation in Coming Kingdom. Here the Sabbath provides time to live as if the Kingdom of God has been more fully realized. We have also seen the Sabbath as Disengagement from the Present World. Here is a time to more fully separate from a world bent on destruction so that we can come back to that world with added vigor and faith that what we do does matter. We have also seen the Sabbath as a Celebration of our Communities. Here we spend time with our families and larger families to strengthen the bond between us and recognize that we do really need each other. Finally we have seen how contemplation of the creation that the Sabbath Celebrates helps us to victory.

All of these things point to the Sabbath being more than just a day that we rest on, but a mindset that informs us as we live every day. I can truly sing that old song that we don't sing anymore, Don't Forget The Sabbath. If you forget the Sabbath you lose something that will help you through the dark night we find ourselves in.

Praise God for the Sabbath!

Podcast Episode #2 How To Deliver The Sick

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In this second episode of our podcast, I explore Mark 1:21-30 and see the text answer the question, "How do we deliver the Sick?" We will find that it is something that God can use any of us to do.

Return to the Good Old Days?

James Nix wrote an article for the Adventist Review entitled Growing Up Adventist: No Apologies Needed. You can find some reader's reaction and appreciation for the article also on the Adventist Review Site. In addition, at the Ellen White Estate site you can find an unabridged copy of the original presentation.

The article appears to be a look back to what the Author seems to beleive were the good old days when Adventists were Adventists. I understand the frustration that brought this article. It is often assumed by Adventists and non Adventists alike that the Adventism of the 50s and 60s was hopelessly legalistic. This assumption is at the base of much of the materials today that seek to give "Christ Centered" or "gospel centered" presentations in contrast to the assumed "law centered," "anti-gospel," and "Christless" presentations of our past.

Now since I was born in 1968, I grew up in the 70s and 80s so I do not know about the 50s and the 60s from experience, but somehow I think that the picture of Adventism as being totally legalistic and anti gospel that has emerged is probably a distortion of that brand of Adventism. However, to act as if there was no need for development or that "those were the days" that we need to return, is to distort the need to follow progressive revelation.

Perhaps leaders of both sides can stop yelling to their followers and attempt a harder thing. Perhaps we can attempt to dialog with each other and learn from each other. We may find that both liberal and conservative have something to bring to the table in the discussion. Maybe a stronger Synthesis that we can celebrate will emerge. Perhaps we can recognize that the history that some want to uphold has something of value to teach us today. In addition we may also recognize that progress can be accomplished without ignoring the past.

I look forward to the day when we all can look back at the past and recognize that while we stand on their shoulders of great pioneers of our faith, we still have to move forward. One day we will also recognize that we cannot simply disavow our past or throw it away...if we do we will lose a part of ourselves.

In short...Praise God for the Good Old Days...I know you all weren't legalists. I know many of you loved Jesus. I know that you attempted to learn something about Jesus which brought forth the doctrines that we continue to teach today. But I also praise God that we are living today and I hope that I will be true to our pioneers spirit of inquiry that made them continue to determine what God has to say to us today...

PodCast Eposode #1: When You Can't Do What the Letter Tells You To Do

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We are proud to announce out PodCast that will run somewhere between biweekly and weekly. In future episodes we hope to include interviews with preachers and Adventist leaders. However in the first few we will be posting some of my own material.

In this first episode I explore 2 Kings 5:1-14 to find out "What to do when you can't do what you are Supposed to do?"

Magnificient Disappointment - 1844 and Being Adventist

In the Book Magnificient Disappointment Dr. Maxwell asks the Question, "Where did the word Adventist Come From?" Maxwell anticipates a standard answer of "An Adventist is a person who believes that Christ is coming soon." Magnificent Disappointment page 89.

Maxwell finds such an answer inadequate because, as Maxwell states, the Dispensationalists believe that Christ is coming soon and they are not Adventists.IBID Instead of seeing Adventists as simply those who believe Christ coming soon, Maxwell sees 1844 as the reason that we are called Adventist.

Because historically the term Advent refers to the first coming, Maxwell makes a big deal out of the fact that early Advnetists were called "Second Adventists." Over time the term was shortened to simply Adventist.

So Maxwell goes to the question, Why were Second Adventists believing that Christ was coming soon? His answer was that it was due to the fullfillment of the 2300 days in 1844. Thus we are Adventists becuase historically we believed that Christ was returning in "light of the fulfillment of the 2300 days."IBID 90

Sanctuary Part of our History

All of the above simply reherses what we already know. Namely that the Sanctuary message and 1844 played a great part in our historical heritage. To deny or remove this pillar is to deny something about ourselves.

But to simply declare that the doctrine is true is not enough. When we discuss the Sanctuary message, we often spend most of our time defending or attacking the doctrine. However if we don't spend enough time discussing the relevance of the doctrine we will ultimately set it aside.

I believe that this is what has happened to the Sanctuary message. Even though we are seeing a resurgence in interest regarding the Sanctuary message, a lot of this interest is in defending or attacking the doctrine. The larger question remains, namely, is the Sanctuary message relevant.

A Question

Today one must ask if 1844 is driving us to believe that Christ is returning soon? I would think that it did in early Adventism, but not at all today.

Can we rehabilitate and reframe the Sanctuary message for our end time? Does the Sanctuary message have anything to say to us today?

I think that there is something about the Sanctuary and the judgment that God has called us into existence to be a witness to in these final days. To get at this something we must push beyond just defining the doctrine or defending it as true, but push to understand and celebrate it in our daily lives.

My plan is to continue on this theme in the AdventistPulpit.Com for the foreseable future.

Sanctuary Discussion On-Line

The Church is studying 1844 this quarter in its Sabbath School Lesson. You can find the Sabbath School Lessons here.

If you want to download the full Sabbath School lesson in PDF format you can find it here.

Because the Sanctuary is such a volitile topic some sites are doing special studies during this time. For example, Adventist Today is attempting to have a discussion from many sides of Adventism on the topic. This includes Jack Sequeira, Brad Cole, Raymond Cottrell, and Desmond Ford. You can read that discussion here.

You might be wondering who is Brad Cole? Well he is the President of HeavenlySanctuary.Com which is called "Virus Protection for the Mind." There is a forum at that site. You might go on over to join the discussion.

Ron Corson of Adventist Media Response and Conversation is interacting with the AdventistToday.Com discussion.

You might also find SabbathSchoolLessons.Com helpful. That site is maintained by a Bruce Cameron, JD. SabbathSchoolLessons.Com is basically some lesson plans for teachers who use the Sabbath School Lesson.

And of course you may know that I have a few posts up on the Sanctuary and will have a few more up before the quarter is over.

If you know of anyone else who is doing a study of the Sanctuary on-line or has Sabbath School Resources available, let me know by email or by a comment to this post.

Magnificent Disappointment - 1844 and the Sanctuary

In 1994, the late Dr. C. Mervyn Maxwell wrote a book entitled Magnificent Disappointment for the Pacific Press Anchors Series.

The book had 3 sections. In the first section the basic question was how do we calculate the date? This calculation has been done by many and here in basic terms is a quick overview of how Adventists have calculated 1844 from Daniel 7-9. Such calculations are abundant in many places. In fact the current Sabbath School Lessons seem to be totally about defending the Investigative Judgment and the date 1844.

In section two there is a discussion of what happened in 1844. Here we have a basic description of the traditional Adventist understanding of what happened.

Finally, Section 3 is where Maxwell attempts to explore the meaning of 1844 for contemporary Adventists. This section is the majority of the book and I think is the reason why this book is still of value to Adventists today. Maxwell Celebrates the doctrine and thus it is relevant to this website. In addition, Maxwell attempts to answer the question, "Sanctuary So What?" This question is what interests me as I discuss the Sabbath, nonimortality of the wicked, and Sanctuary themes. I wish to find out what does it have to say about individual and communal ethics? What does it mean for us as a people?

For the next few weeks I will take a chapter every other day or so and interact with the book. A stated before, if you want to understand the traditional understanding of the the Sanctuary message of Seventh-day Adventists including an overview of the calculation of the date 1844, a discussion of what happened on that date, and the ramifications of that belief for Adventists, then this book will provide that for you. It is too bad that the book is out of print, but you can purchase a reprint of the book at Maxwell's Gifts and Books. You may also be able to find it used at Amazon.Com.

Sanctuary Books On-Line

An individual wanted me to find ebooks on line that have to do with the Sanctuary in that we are studying that Subject this quarter in the Sabbath School Lesson. You will find a lot of books on the web that talks about that very subject.

First you should know that the Sabbath School Lesson itself is on line at this link. You can also find The Consecrated Way by A.T Jones of 1888 fame at this link. Edward Happenstall, who was a professor at Loma Linda and at Andrews University, wrote a book entitled Our High Priest, you can find it here.

Roy Gane, professor of Old Testament at the Adventist Seminary at Andrews University wrote a book on the Sanctuary entitled Alter Call which is also available on the net.

Maranatha Media has F. C. Gilbert's Messiah in the Sanctuary, M. L. Andreasen's The Sanctuary Service and S. N. Haskell's Cross and Its Shadow. All of these and a few more can be found at this link.

Finally I was able to find Why Jesus Waits by Herbert Douglass at this link.

Preaching With Power - Dr. Hyveth Williams

Hyveth Williams is the Senior Pastor of the Campus Hill church in Loma Linda California as well as a published author and an in demand preacher. She is among the few female senior pastors in Adventism.

Understanding of Preaching

Dr. Williams was strongly influenced by two individuals. First is Barbara Jordan. Second is Chuch Swindall whose story telling ability attracted Dr. William's attention. She believes that the preacher's responsibility is to be a mouthpiece of God. In addition the preacher should be a prophet. She separates the prophet function into foretelling as well as forthtelling. While she does not believe that she has the ability to foretell the future, she does accept the forthtelling which is to preach with confidence to God's people.

Method of Sermon Preparation

Dr. Williams interestingly uses the common lectionary. She sees this as an aid to planning her preaching. THis allows her to read books and get ready for sermons way ahead of time. You might be interested in seeing my own lectionary blog.

Pastor Williams states that she spends several weeks researching her sermons and will read up to 10 books to prepare for any one sermon. She writes out the sremon totally and then summarizes it into an outline which she takes into the pulpit.

Dr. Williams also reads magazines like Time and People and stated that we suggested that we do not use internet illustrations becuase everyone has heard and seen them.

Women Preaching

The interview in the book did not go into her understanding of Adventist preaching or her understanding of Black preaching, but she did speak a little about her role as a leader among preaching women. She states that she would rather be seen as a preacher who is a woman rather than a preaching woman. Thereby she takes the role of preacher as primary. She states that she has been attacked (verbally) over the fact that she is a woman preacher. But she states that none of these attacks really affect her becuase her calling came from God and she did not ask for or seek the office but the office of preacher found her.


She finally states that one of the books that affected her the most was Ella Mitchell's Those Preaching Woman.

Dr. Williams' interview was a little different in that she was the only woman in the book. Also nothing was stated about Adventist preaching or about Black Preaching. However she does note that we should be attempting to copy preachers like T.D. Jakes. She states that we should get to know God so well that we will have our own story to tell.

Second Advent and Passivity - The Question and Conclusion

This brings us to the primary question. Why is passivity not possible? The answer is that the current work of the Spirit is to mature us and this maturity happens as we seek to live in God?s intention. For our purposes this is a call to active support of equality. Christ has not finished God?s current intention on humanity. God does not simply institute God?s intention in humanity without any work on our part. God is doing a work inside of humanity. That work is moving humanity to a maturation which will be the acceptance of God?s current intention.

Another reason why humanity cannot step back and do nothing is that if we do nothing then Christ will never have the Second-Advent for the maturation of God?s people is a component of God?s original intent. Therefore, this symbol of the heavenly sanctuary provides a way to understand the work of humanity in history that does not lead to despair for God is working to bring history to God?s intentions. Neither does it cause humanity to believe that there is no work for humanity to do.

Let me finally say that the Second Advent itself provides a check against despair. While we will not see the full institution of the Kingdom of God before the Second Advent, we will not give up to despair because we will fully overcome in that the culmination of this heavenly temple work is the Second Advent of Jesus Christ which means that our work does in some sense move history towards the climax. In addition, we cannot despair because as we work we see glimpses of the divine movement of history towards culmination. We see pictures here and there that remind us that the Kingdom of God has come even if it is not fully realized. These pictures are seen in the Sabbath symbol as well as the Heavenly Temple symbol.

I have shown that the Adventist symbols of Heavenly Temple ministry and Sabbath illuminate the Second Advent symbol in such a way that would work against any kind of passivity. These symbols help us to understand the role of human and divine agencies in the process of realizing the Kingdom of God. It also provides a glimpse of the appearance of the end by appealing to God?s intention (Sabbath). These symbols also provide a way to wrap up all of human history into the culmination of the kingdom of God.

Second Advent and Passivity - Heavenly Temple and Passivity

The Heavenly Temple ministry symbol provides a vehicle for understanding God?s current intention for the world. The heavenly temple ministry symbol reminds us that the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ are actively involved in human pursuits. In fact, both the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ have humanity as the emphasis of their ongoing work. They are working for humanities good within history. This understanding can also be derived from African American ?popular? theology that makes affirmation of God?s sovereignty and power over events seeking to bring them to a good end.See Soul Theology. by Henry Mitchell and Nicolas Cooper-Lewter These affirmations remind us that God is working today for our good. While other Christians use the symbol of Spirit to speak of God?s work in the world on humanities behalf, I believe that my own tradition speaks of this work being towards a resolution. This symbol is used to speak of not just the Spirit?s work, but also the deepening of the Spirit?s work as time moves forward to realization of God?s ultimate intention.

Many Adventists who teach this symbol have often only used it as an apologetic device that is meant to show that Seventh-day Adventism is a valid movement. Sometimes Adventists also fall into a trap of only using the symbol to calculate the timetable of the closing events of earth?s history. Such uses of the Heavenly Temple symbol cannot provide help in fighting passivity. The heavenly temple ministry emphasizes an increasing maturation process in the world. The Holy Spirit is working in the world largely through human agencies for the maturation of the world. This maturation includes not just individuals but also communities.Adventist theology usually follows evangelicals by emphasizing individuals and ignoring communities. I believe that this kind of thinking is not being true to where that symbol can take us. Reflection on the symbol reminds us that Christ is not working only for individuals but also for communities. The whole emphasis on individuals to the exclusion of communities can be very problematic. Another important component of the Adventist view is that humanity is being perfected by this work. This tells me that what I do changes me and makes me a better citizen of the kingdom. A final important concept is that the work must be completed for the second coming to happen.

Thus, humanity has a work to do. This work is required for the Second Advent. God does not wish to obliterate human agency. God wishes Humanity to choose the side that humanity wishes to be on. This choice is not a passive choice, but an active one. We choose by doing. We learn by doing. This is something that the Sabbath symbol teachesas well, we become more and more like God?s intention by participating in God?s intention. As we work to get our institutions and everything human to be in concert with divine will we become changed to be more like the divine. Humanity must follow where the Holy Spirit is leading. Humanity is not sitting idly waiting for the Second Advent. If the Holy Spirit is working in humanity to bring humanity to God?s current intention right now, then we are to cooperate with that working then. Thus we will not sit back while the demonic overcomes the divine in this world.

Second Advent and Passivity

History?s basic aim is towards the ultimate intention of God. We have a glimpse of the appearance of God?s ultimate intention by looking at Creation and can thus believe that it includes much of God?s original intention. So we can be assured that it includes equality and justice. But more than this we also see a reversal of the effects of evil. The Biblical record often shows a reversal of what is expected.For example the first is last in Matthew 20:16. The high are brought low and the low are brought high. Ultimately we are looking at the removal of all the results of sin. Like God?s original intention we cannot totally define God?s ultimate intention besides stating that it includes this reversal of sin and its effects. The Second Advent is the event that ushers in this era of God?s ultimate intention. The Second Advent is the finishing up or the doing for humanity what cannot be done through humanity in that God does not wish to overthrow human choice.

It is true that such a teaching could lead to passivity or ignoring of evil in this world. I believe that such a position is unfounded for Christians who accept the Sabbath as principle to live by in that the Sabbath calls for an active participation in God?s intention. As we have noted, the Sabbath calls for participation in God?s intention, but this problem of passivity will be more fully answered as we move to a look at the current work of the Spirit in humanity as shown in the symbol of the heavenly temple. In this work, God is doing all that God can do in humanity. If humanity does not do its work then they will put off the culmination of God?s intention.

Shallow Worship Materials

On Pastor Ryan Bell's blog he has a discussion of the difficulty of preaching on the subject of worship. That discussion made me think about certain worship services that I have attended. I began to think specifically about the transition from theological songs to a lot of the "praise" songs that are sung in many churches today.

I can remember when a church I attended once moved from using Gospel songs for praise to the common praise songs. I can remember the transition from "Power in the Blood" or even "Through it All" to songs were the total lyrical content is in the title. ?Lord you are Holy, Yes You Are Holy, You are so holy to me. Lord you are Holy, Yes you are holy, Holy you are and holy you?ll be.? Then the word ?Holy? is changed to ?Righteous? and the whole song is sung again. Then sung successively through 3 other words and finally closes with ?All-That.? People are not told about the Christian meta-narrative. We are not formed in the knowledge of what God has done for us or for others...

Marva Dawn said ?shallow...worship materials?will not reveal the truth about God. Instead, these shallow materials will shape shallow theology and form us superficially.? Much better songs would help to place us in the ?meta-narrative.? I hasten to add that I am not talking about worship style. Before that move to praise songs some of the songs that were sung were contemporary Gospel songs about God's work on our behalf and for others. Some spoke of some theological underpinings of the Christian faith. But somehow we joined the larger movement in the Christian world towards trivial songs with very little theological or even pastoral content.

Can the Christian church that is used to singing about the trinity, the power of God on our behalf, the grace of the Cross be changed by singing songs that just Praise God but never talk about why or who the God is we praise? Will the lyrical content change make us more shallow as Dawn has suggested? Does the fact that many churches of many denominational groups are singing these shallow songs mean that we have some difficult days ahead as a Christian church?

What do you Think?

Second Advent and Passivity - Sabbath and Eschatology

As noted above, when humanity remembers the Sabbath one is commemorating the creation event. This is a component, but it is more than commemorative, it is also participatory. Every week we participate in the Sabbath. We are seeking to live in God?s intention. First, it seeks to commemorate God?s original intention. To commemorate and participate in God?s original intention, we must first understand what God?s intention was at creation. Reflection on my own ecclesial and ethnic traditions informs me that first of all God?s original intention was to make all of humanity in God?s image. God?s original intention was for humanity to live equally. A reflection on how the Sabbath evolved through the Biblical record confirms this for all individuals in Israel including slave, free, rich, and poor took part in the responsibilities as well as the benefits of the Sabbath. Even the animals were to ?rest? (Exodus 20:10). For the purposes of this paper, I will use equality as a component of God?s original intention. Thus, to commemorate and participate in Sabbath we should be commemorating and participating in God?s original intention which includes equality. Seventh-day Adventists sometimes have emphasized the refraining from work aspect of the 7th day without emphasizing this participation in God?s intention aspect. We participate in equality in the world as we stand up for the vision of the Sabbath in the world.

The Sabbath allows us to live in God?s original intention although partially today. Today we can see the in breaking of the Kingdom. Today by reflection on this symbol we can gain a clearer perception of what God?s intention is and thus what the fullness of God?s kingdom will look like. The Sabbath itself does not allow one to fall into a trap of quietism where one does nothing. The Sabbath pushes us to see the world as God would see it. This first step clarifies our view of the world in light of others.

Because of the participatory aspects of the Sabbath, one cannot ever fall into a trap of just looking on or observing. If one is truly remembering God?s creative acts, or as I have put it remembering God?s intention, one will participate in it which means an active disengagement with all that is not in line with God?s intention.

Second Advent and Passivity - Three Symbols

Sabbath

In this section of the paper, I will briefly describe the three symbols that I will use. The first symbol is the Sabbath. This is a symbol that reminds humanity to look back at creation. Thus, the Sabbath is a symbol of the commemoration of divine creation. Because God called what God created ?very good? (Gen 1:31), I will call original creation God?s original intention for humanity. Creation is a work solely of God. Humanity did not participate in it, but humanity participates in its celebration. Contemplating and understanding God?s world as originally given will cause one to contemplate God?s desires of wholeness, equality, perfection, and justice.

Second Advent of Jesus Christ

The Second Advent of Jesus Christ is another symbol that is important to my own theological reflections. Here there is a breaking in of divine into the human realm. I wish to describe this as the institution of God?s ultimate intention in the world. God?s original intention at creation has gone through some change as a result of human failings, but God still has a plan. Humanity had no part in creation that we symbolize in the Sabbath. Humanity also will not have any part in the Second Advent per-se? beside just watching and celebrating. This might give one the impression that there is nothing for humanity to do. However, the Heavenly Temple ministry of Jesus Christ is a symbol where we can see humanities role in the realization of the ultimate intention of God in history. The Heavenly Temple ministry of Jesus Christ is also a historical bridge between the creation symbolized in the Sabbath and the Second Advent. This is God?s current intention for the world.

The Heavenly Temple Ministry

The Heavenly Temple ministry is a time when Jesus is guiding history towards God?s intention.One can see glimpses of this ministry by looking at how Hebrews speaks of Christ as High Priest in the heavenlies (Hebrews 7-9) and the picture of Christ as priest in Revelation (see Revelation 1:9-17). While Jesus Christ is performing this work in heaven that he became qualified for because of his humanity (see Hebrews 2), the Holy Spirit is performing a role on the earth as comforter (John 14:6). So the Holy Spirit performs a work on earth while Jesus Christ is performing a work in heaven. Seventh-day Adventists believe that this work is the same work observed from different angles. Jesus Christ in heaven is performing a work for us while the Holy Spirit on earth is performing a work in us. Both work together to bring history to the climax that will end at the Second Advent of Jesus the Christ. For my purposes, I will not differentiate between the work of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. In this paper I will only speak of the Holy Spirit?s work in humanity on the earth rather than talk about Jesus Christ?s work in heaven.

Must Belief in the Second Advent of Jesus Christ Promote Passivity?

In the next few posts I will serialize a paper I wrote to address this question. In this post I will give the introduction of the paper:

The Second Advent and Passivity: A Position Paper on Eschatology

As one reads the literature produced by many who accept a literal Second Advent of Jesus Christ, one sees what I believe to be a problematic emphasis on passivly waiting and seeing God unfold what God said would happen in the Bible. In many cases there is nothing for humanity to do and the Christian simply watches with "inside information" on what will happen in the end. This kind of eschatology can promote a passivity that merely supports the status quo in the world. I believe that there will be a literal, visible Second Advent where Jesus Christ will break into human history to fully set up the Kingdom of God on this earth. However, this belief does not necessarily promote passivity or mere acceptance of the status quo. I will show that this kind of emphasis on passively waiting actually postpones the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

The Seventh-day Adventist church teaches that right now both human and divine agencies are in a work that is a pre-requisite to the Second Advent. In other words there is something that humanity, with the help of God, must do before the Second Advent can take place. In this paper, I will describe this work as bringing God?s intention for humanity. At creation, we see God?s original intention for humanity. At the Second Advent, we see God?s ultimate intention for humanity. Today in the ongoing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit, we see God seeking to implement God?s current intention for humanity.

We cannot fully describe any of God?s intentions for we don?t have a full record of creation neither do we have a full record of how the Kingdom of God will look after the Second Advent, but we can catch a glimpse. We can catch a glimpse of these intentions by appealing to ethnic tradition as exemplified in the yearnings of the slaves in their spirituals. We can catch a glimpse by theological reflection on the demands of justice and mercy. We can catch a glimpse by looking at God?s intentions in the Bible and in the doctrines and teachings of my own and other ecclesial traditions. In this paper, I will organize my reflection with three primary symbols from my ecclesial tradition that speak to God?s intention and humanities work in bringing God?s intention. My guiding purpose is to show how reflection on God?s intention can help to sidestep the possibility of passivity in light of the Second Advent.

C. D. Brooks Resources

Someone wanted me to send them links to all of the C. D. Brooks resources that I know of. Well here they are:

The first is a link to the sermon "Want my Church Back!" This one is hosted at adventist affirm. In it Pastor Brooks speaks to his desire to have the church return to a core identity.

If you actually want to hear the sermon on a MP3 you can go to HopeMedia. They have two MP3s of pastor Brooks. In addition to "I want my Church Back," they also have a sermon "A sense of Urgency."

You also might wish to see Pastor Brooks' sermons at the General Youth Congress of 2005. I have a post to about it here. At the General Youth Congress site you can actually watch two of C.D. Brooks' sermons.

I also have a link to a CD Brooks sermon entitled "Trash Talking."

Finally I would invite you to read my post on Pastor Brooks' preaching style in my Preaching with Power series.

Revive us, O Lord. Pastor Charles Brooks presents 3 sermons at the Riverside Chapel Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nashville, TN. You can see all three of them at this link.

Thanks to Cheryl Palmer for sending in these links to C. D. Brooks Sermons.

• Who in the World are You? - Preached at North Philadelphia SDA Church. Found on Pastor Keith Goodman's website.


• A Sermon at ChurchPond.com


• The Faithful Witness - This site has a number of sermons from Pastor Brooks. They are mostly links to other sites.

1. Friendly Fire - It is the fourth sermon from the top.


2. South Eastern Conference Campmeeting - Sermon from 2005


3. Sermon at the Evangelism Council


4. The Royal Line - Look at April 21, 2007.

Don't forget the website CDBrooks.com.

Thanks for sending in these locations. You can find 2 of Pastor C. D. Brooks videosat this link: http://www.theloudcry.net/C.D.%20Brooks.html.

If you know of any more resources available please let me know...

The Sabbath - Disengagement From the Present World

The Sabbath is a disengagement of the community from the present world. It is difficult to live ones life, feed ones family, and even work in a job, without
accommodating the structure. Our very participation in the present world promotes its continued existence which includes all of its attendent problems. Our working for the company that refuses to pay a livable wage to its poorest workers helps that company to survive. Such accommodation in a sense promotes the present evil world. We support the system as we live in the system. We cannot really live in this system and totally separate.

The Sabbath command makes provision for this by stating "six days you labor, but the Seventh-day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God." If I may paraphrase, six days you go ahead and live in the system, but on the Seventh-day you radically break from it by not working (Exodus 20:10) and not buying and selling (Neh 13:14).

This constitutes an economic boycott that reminds the Sabbath keeper (and those who are in relationship with her) that the present world is not all there is. It reminds the Sabbath keeper
that the vision of the Sabbath with its basic idea that all are equal and all are to take part and be blessed by it will ultimately overcome the present world as the Kingdom of God is fully made evident. The Sabbath reminds us that while we are living in the system, this system is not God's ideal or God's will. The Sabbath reminds us that this present order is not what God intends. The Sabbath reminds us that the ultimately our responsibilities are to God and not to the system that oppresses us and others. that oppressive system that we have rightfully named Babylon.

The Sabbath pushes us to disengage from the world at least one day a week. The Sabbath-keeping church must show the weakness of the present order by disengaging from it. This will demonstrate to the world that this is not all there is. Our disengagement from the present order reminds us all that God's kingdom will overtake and overcome eventually. This disengagement includes total separation from the present world on that one day as well as much separation as possible on other days.

This disengagement is not a passivity in the world. We would fight those things that are not in line with the vision of the Sabbath, but the disengagement helps us to find the vision and gain strength to fight anything that is not in line with the vision the Sabbath gives us.

The Sabbath - Celebration of Community

"The Sabbath is about individual rest, the church has turned it into a day of corporate worship." So says many I have come in contact with. Such an individualistic understanding of the Sabbath divorces the Sabbath Keeper from one of the greatest blessings of the Sabbath which is a celebration of community. In fact Leviticus 23:3 reminds us that a holy convocation or meeting was required of the community in the Hebrew Bible. It was to have elements that would be kept in community. In addition, the Sabbath was not just to benefit the Sabbath-Keeper. Exodus 20:10 reminds us that all who are in contact with the Sabbath keeper would benefit from the rest of the Sabbath Keeper by not doing work that would normally be done for the Sabbath Keeper. Even the animals were to be blessed by the Sabbath. We are told in Exodus 23:9-10 that even the land was to keep a "Sabbath-year" this would expand the blessing of the Sabbath to include even the creation itself. Thus the Sabbath is communal and affects not just the Sabbath-keeper, but also all those who are involved with the Sabbath keeper. If the church will be a Sabbath-keeping church it must be a benefit to all who are in community with it.

A Sabbath-keeping church must see itself as one that makes sure that its Sabbath keeping is not an individual endeavor. It is one that must affect others. It is one that even those who are not Sabbath keepers must be blessed by. It is one that all those who are in relationship with us are affected by. The Sabbath-keeping church must throw away any totally individualistic gospel that ignores the communal aspects of that gospel because the very idea of Sabbath is communal.

Preaching with Power - Walter Pearson

Walter Pearson followed C. D. Brooks as the speaker/director of Breath of Life ministries. Elder Pearson has been a pastor and an administrator in the Adventist church including a stint as associate secretary of the Ellen White Estate.

Understanding of Preaching

Elder Pearson referred to the call to preach as a call to "positively invluence people." This statement demonstrates Elder Pearson's belief in the power of preaching. Preaching, according to Pastor Pearson's culture and philosphy, is the center of ministry. This refers to the fact that in the Black church often-times the whole of ones ministry is evaluated by the quality of ones pulpit work. Pastor Pearson believes that Jesus speaks through the preaching event to humanity. Pastor Pearson states, "I believe that the revelation of divine power through the spoken Word is the recurring miracle which energizes and sustains the church." And to answer the question of his understanding of preaching in summary form, he states that "A sermon is God communicating a divine message to humanity, through humanity, by a process which He alone makes effective."

Method of Sermon Preparation

Pastor Pearson decides what to preach from the needs of the people, events, books, and situations. He notes that God ultimately gives the sermon, but God uses many of these avenues to get the message to us as preachers.

Elder Pearson has a personal study regiment that is not necessarily for sermon creation, but it does inform his sermon creation process. Like Barry Black, Pearson notes the importance of personal devotion which sometimes informs his preaching.

Pearson reads the Bible for sermon preparation by actively listening and letting the Word speak. When he does not understand the passage, he consults resources. Interestingly enough he pushes himself by reading "passages that are not naturally interesting" to try to understand why they are written. This pushes him to expand his mind. He even notes that sometimes he reads dull, dense and poorly written books and materials to stretch his mind as well.

Pearson attempts to take the texts and put them in an unusual frame of reference. He quotes the Adventist preacher Samuele Myers who stated that even a familiar room becomes different when you enter it through a different door. Another approach that Pearson suggests is to invert the sequence of events or look at a different character in the story to provide freshness to the story.

While any individual sermon may take more or less time, Pastor Pearson stated that it takes roughly 16 hours to put a sermon together.

Understanding of Adventist Preaching

Pearson stated that the Adventist preaching tradition is one that emphasizes a holistic message. Thus Adventist preaching must affect the entire person. He notes that both the Adventist and the Black preaching traditions are "unambiguously Biblical." While both are Biblical, Pearson notes that the Adventist preacher can probably be a little more prophetic in its preaching by pointing out the injustices in this society.

Understanding of Black preaching

Pearson is quick to note that Black preaching is not a monolith. Black preaching is manifested in different ways according to denomination and even according to individual churches. However he does note that Black preaching is Prophetic in taking on the injustices of today. In addition, Black preaching engages in a "a kind of in-your-face preaching" that speaks truth on issues that are neglected by others.

Elder Pearson is known for his story telling ability. I thought it was interesting that he spoke about looking at the Bible story from a slightly different angle. Such an approach can be very helpful to the preacher. Eugene Lowery speaks of "Upsetting the Equilibrium" in The Homiletical Plot. Here we look at the story from a slightly different vantage point to allow the sermon to be fully heard. A preacher can provide freshness to stories that have been heard many times by following this approach that Pearson and Lowry suggest.