Like many, I am fighting the expanding of the bulge. It is time to get serious as the clock continues to tick on my life. However, it seems that proponents of Adventist health either are like the one pictured in the cartoon, or they seem to go off the deep end. Certainly there are exceptions, but why are the sensible proponets of this message so quiet?
Friday, October 19, 2012
Worship Police
It seems that everybody wants to tell you how to worship. They are either telling you to sit down and shut up, or they are telling you that you are ungrateful to God if you don't stand up and shout.
Spreading The Gospel
You ever run into one of these folks. They think that "telling you off" is synonymous with "preaching the Gospel?
Church Hopping in the 21st Century
Remember the old days, once you found out your pastor wasn't going to preach you would simply go to another church. Oh those old days. Today, now church comes to you. When your pastor is out of town, guess what, you don't have to sit lisening to Elder Long Winded tell you everything he has studied since the last time he got up.
Neither do you have to go drive 55 more minutes to get to the other church where you don't really want to hear him or you would be attending there already. And finally, you don't have to miss church altogether. Now you can turn on the internet and see top preachers from all over the country.
Neither do you have to go drive 55 more minutes to get to the other church where you don't really want to hear him or you would be attending there already. And finally, you don't have to miss church altogether. Now you can turn on the internet and see top preachers from all over the country.
Friday, September 14, 2012
The Groups In The Church
The Entertained Spectators - They want to get something out of church. They often show up and leave right after church. They don't generally attend prayer meeting or any other part of the church. They are the ones that go from church to church looking for the best music where they can be "fed." Many of our attempts to reach the "unchurched" only end up attracting the "spectators." They don't want to invest their time into the church. They don't generally cause problems in the church because they are not there.
They simply sit,listen, and leave.
The Clock-Punchers - These show up to church to "do their duty." Many will pay their tithe either because of fear of social estrangement or fear of retribution. They dn't want to go to hell so they show up.
Just like the worker who punches the clock to get paid, they punch the clock to get to heaven. like the entertained, they aren't in the church really, but they do have one request, A Short Service. They have to get back to their daily lives.
The clock Punchers and the Entertained can have battles over worship at times, but in reality neither are a part of the community.
The "Working Saved" - These are the people who are always at church. The church is "theirs." Their mother paid for the land that the church sits on. They are fifth generation members of the church and are sick of the landslide down that the church is taking. They stand in the way of all kinds of innovations. New is wrong! There aren't many of them, but they pay most of the tithe and hold most of the offices.
The Youngsters - They are battling the working saved as they attmempt to move the church in a new "hip" way. Often "hip" is simply moving the church forward. They grab ahold of all the lateest innovations. They read all the books by the church growth crowd. They attempt to move the church forward. They attempt to silence the working saved and
The Disciples are about ministry. They don't care who gets to sit up front or who gets the accolades. They are growing in their relationship to God. They see the battle between the youngsters and the working saved as irrelevant to the real work of being Christ in the world. They question the whole idea of church being entertainment. In fact they wonder when christian growth will matter as much as attendance in the church records.
In a little while, God will have a remnant of disciples that will take the church from being simply a place to entertain spectators or inform the working saved, but to be a place of healing and growth so that the word will be true and a witness will come forth. In a little while...
A Christianity Beyond Fear Or Hope
Robert Wieland, in the book Grace on Trial, writes about three motivations that are often empoyed in seeking to gain converts to Christianity. These are:
1) Pie in The Sky - Don't you want the streets of gold and to live forever?
2) Fear of Hell - You don't want to go to hell? Whether hell is an ever burning reality (as most evangelicals teach) or a punishment that will burn out (as Adventists and some evangelicals teach), both use the scare tactic that was used by Jonathan Edwards in his classic sermon "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God."
3) God Will Hook You Up Here And Now - Pay your tithe or plant your seed and watch God hook you up with blessings.
These are the basic approaches that all of us use. Fear of death, hope for heaven, or hope for a better life down here.
Ultimately all three of these are based in what can I get? The larger question is can any of these three motivations keep us?
When our life decends into a hell that looks like Job's life, will the false promise of God hooking us up with "things" down here stand up?
When the enticing temptation of immediate gratification comes before us, can either a fear of hell or a hope for heaven keep us from sin?
Weiland attempts to break through these motivations by positing the Cross. When one looks at the cross in its fullness, according to Weiland's theology, one cannot help but be transformed as one was willing to "go to hell" or "say goodbye to life forever" to save all of humanity.
This reality does not use hope of heaven or threatenings of hell to change us. Simply a look at the cross and "by beholding we become changed."
If this is true, then we need to look at the cross again. How does the cross eclicit this kind of love response?
And finally, is this love something that can guide us to a higher place than the hoep of heaven, fear of hell, or seeking the hookup?
1) Pie in The Sky - Don't you want the streets of gold and to live forever?
2) Fear of Hell - You don't want to go to hell? Whether hell is an ever burning reality (as most evangelicals teach) or a punishment that will burn out (as Adventists and some evangelicals teach), both use the scare tactic that was used by Jonathan Edwards in his classic sermon "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God."
3) God Will Hook You Up Here And Now - Pay your tithe or plant your seed and watch God hook you up with blessings.
These are the basic approaches that all of us use. Fear of death, hope for heaven, or hope for a better life down here.
Ultimately all three of these are based in what can I get? The larger question is can any of these three motivations keep us?
When our life decends into a hell that looks like Job's life, will the false promise of God hooking us up with "things" down here stand up?
When the enticing temptation of immediate gratification comes before us, can either a fear of hell or a hope for heaven keep us from sin?
Weiland attempts to break through these motivations by positing the Cross. When one looks at the cross in its fullness, according to Weiland's theology, one cannot help but be transformed as one was willing to "go to hell" or "say goodbye to life forever" to save all of humanity.
This reality does not use hope of heaven or threatenings of hell to change us. Simply a look at the cross and "by beholding we become changed."
If this is true, then we need to look at the cross again. How does the cross eclicit this kind of love response?
And finally, is this love something that can guide us to a higher place than the hoep of heaven, fear of hell, or seeking the hookup?
What A Proper Burial For The Black Conferences Would Look Like
I think that the Black Conferences, regional conferences, or whatever you want to call them are on borrowed time. However, I do not like the rhetoric of those who are seeking to do away with these conferences. I think it demonstrates why they were created in the first place. So I decided to do a post on how the Black Conferences should end when they do.
1)The church should acknoweldge the debt they have to the Black confenreces.
Many churches split over race issues. The Seventh-day Adventist church did not. These separate conferences kept the church together. Don't come and tell me we are the only church with separate conferences. Other churches have separate deonominations. Look at the methodists. They ahve Black methodists and the premominately white United Methodists. The Baptists have a plethora of Black denominations largest being the NAtional Baptists and the predominately white Southern Baptists.
The Black conferences have played a part in keepign the denomination together, so we should thank them instead of vilifying them.
2) Growth of the Black Work
WE also should thank the confernces for the phenominal growth of the Black work. We can thank great evangelists and pastors of the past as well as the presesent. There has been an explosion of growth since the Black conferneces. It is true that the growth has slowed some, but this has been a success.
3) Black folks wanted to be treated with respect before they wanted black conferneces.
Black confernces were created because of whtie racism plain and simple. It was becuase Black folks would not be treated with respect in the dominant conferndces. Now I have been accused of racism for stating that simple fact, but call me what you will, truth is truth.
So the dominant church should apologize for why the thesse conferences had to be created. Just as Isreal repented of sins created earlier, the dominant church needs to apologize for its treatment in the past. They need to repent of its not allowing black people to worship in thier churches. Yes they called cops on Black people who wanted to worship in their churches. Yes it happened. And yes if we are to give the confernces a proper burial we need to acknowledge it.
4) They need to disolve all of the conferences and unify again under right principles.
It is simply not valid to disolve black confernces and keep the other confrences in the same area. IF you are going to disolve the confrence, you must disolve them both. And then unify. That is the only fair thing. Unless the Black conferences existence is illegitimate.
5)We cannot sidestep our responsibility by eliminating the confernce level.
Union of chruches or whatever you come up with, the church still must give the Black Conferences a proper burial or the ghosts of why they were even created will congtinue to haunt us.
6)Stop using the offensive and incorrect comparison to Apartheid
It is offensive to me as a Black man when you compare Black conferences (where white people can attend and have no repurcussions) to apartheid (where black people were legally placed in second class citizenship.) It is an incorrect comparison in that contrary to the 60s when the dominant churches kept black people out, today black people can attend the other churches and members of the other churches can attend black churches...
And the real issue is that the elmination of Black conferneces ain't gonna eliminate the Black churches anyway.
If we do away with the Black Conferences, let us please give it a proper burrial by acknowledging the debt that the church has to them. Let us asknoweldge the sin of white racism that made the creation of these confernces a necessity. Once this has happened, then
1)The church should acknoweldge the debt they have to the Black confenreces.
Many churches split over race issues. The Seventh-day Adventist church did not. These separate conferences kept the church together. Don't come and tell me we are the only church with separate conferences. Other churches have separate deonominations. Look at the methodists. They ahve Black methodists and the premominately white United Methodists. The Baptists have a plethora of Black denominations largest being the NAtional Baptists and the predominately white Southern Baptists.
The Black conferences have played a part in keepign the denomination together, so we should thank them instead of vilifying them.
2) Growth of the Black Work
WE also should thank the confernces for the phenominal growth of the Black work. We can thank great evangelists and pastors of the past as well as the presesent. There has been an explosion of growth since the Black conferneces. It is true that the growth has slowed some, but this has been a success.
3) Black folks wanted to be treated with respect before they wanted black conferneces.
Black confernces were created because of whtie racism plain and simple. It was becuase Black folks would not be treated with respect in the dominant conferndces. Now I have been accused of racism for stating that simple fact, but call me what you will, truth is truth.
So the dominant church should apologize for why the thesse conferences had to be created. Just as Isreal repented of sins created earlier, the dominant church needs to apologize for its treatment in the past. They need to repent of its not allowing black people to worship in thier churches. Yes they called cops on Black people who wanted to worship in their churches. Yes it happened. And yes if we are to give the confernces a proper burial we need to acknowledge it.
4) They need to disolve all of the conferences and unify again under right principles.
It is simply not valid to disolve black confernces and keep the other confrences in the same area. IF you are going to disolve the confrence, you must disolve them both. And then unify. That is the only fair thing. Unless the Black conferences existence is illegitimate.
5)We cannot sidestep our responsibility by eliminating the confernce level.
Union of chruches or whatever you come up with, the church still must give the Black Conferences a proper burial or the ghosts of why they were even created will congtinue to haunt us.
6)Stop using the offensive and incorrect comparison to Apartheid
It is offensive to me as a Black man when you compare Black conferences (where white people can attend and have no repurcussions) to apartheid (where black people were legally placed in second class citizenship.) It is an incorrect comparison in that contrary to the 60s when the dominant churches kept black people out, today black people can attend the other churches and members of the other churches can attend black churches...
And the real issue is that the elmination of Black conferneces ain't gonna eliminate the Black churches anyway.
If we do away with the Black Conferences, let us please give it a proper burrial by acknowledging the debt that the church has to them. Let us asknoweldge the sin of white racism that made the creation of these confernces a necessity. Once this has happened, then
Responsibility of Membership
I had an interesting conversation with a member of one of our churches the other day. The member was dismayed at what he perceived as a small minority of the church though powerful, but stagnant lay leadership standing in the way of the progress of the church. These people should simply step asided and let the church progress.
I think this is an interesting question that comes up often. A few thoughts immediately came to mind. First, all leadership is considered backward and not effective by someone. I know I have been considered that by some. Perhaps I was. At any rate, when you are voted to leadership of the church, you are expected to act in ways that you think are in the best interests of the church. If you vote someone as an Elder, don't get mad if they run the church in a way that you don't think is best. Simply vote them out when the time comes.
Here the member seemed to be upset with the church elected officials doing what they think is right. Yet, it seems that the church wants to keep them in becuase they keep electing them. If these people are truly in the minority, then why doesn't the majority just vote them out?
Well, perhaps it is becuase the majority does not wish to speak. Maybe they just want to enjoy the benefits of a Sabbath morning entertainment session rather than taking ownership in the church they attend. Whatever the case, most of our churches are run by a vocal 10% of the church simply becuase they are the only ones that show up at the business meetings.
That elder who we assume is backward is doing what he thinks is right. Don't get mad at him, he is working and buidling up the church to the best of his ability. He or she is not getting paid for that effort that is invested in the church. And as one who has been a local elder, he or she is not getting the respect that you think he or she is. At any rate, don't get mad at the elder, get mad at the 90% of the church who think that church is something that you just show up for. Get mad at the 90% who do nothing and don't want to do anything. Get mad at the 90% who think it is too much to show up for a once a month business meeting.
In short, vote the elder out and put in effective leadership. But the elder is only a symptom of the larger problem. When you build a church based on those who only wish to consume religious entertainment, then you will be disapointed trying to turn those "consumers" into "producers" of anything. In many cases, they will simply move on to the next "young powerful preacher" who has a better "show" on Sabbath morning.
I think this is an interesting question that comes up often. A few thoughts immediately came to mind. First, all leadership is considered backward and not effective by someone. I know I have been considered that by some. Perhaps I was. At any rate, when you are voted to leadership of the church, you are expected to act in ways that you think are in the best interests of the church. If you vote someone as an Elder, don't get mad if they run the church in a way that you don't think is best. Simply vote them out when the time comes.
Here the member seemed to be upset with the church elected officials doing what they think is right. Yet, it seems that the church wants to keep them in becuase they keep electing them. If these people are truly in the minority, then why doesn't the majority just vote them out?
Well, perhaps it is becuase the majority does not wish to speak. Maybe they just want to enjoy the benefits of a Sabbath morning entertainment session rather than taking ownership in the church they attend. Whatever the case, most of our churches are run by a vocal 10% of the church simply becuase they are the only ones that show up at the business meetings.
That elder who we assume is backward is doing what he thinks is right. Don't get mad at him, he is working and buidling up the church to the best of his ability. He or she is not getting paid for that effort that is invested in the church. And as one who has been a local elder, he or she is not getting the respect that you think he or she is. At any rate, don't get mad at the elder, get mad at the 90% of the church who think that church is something that you just show up for. Get mad at the 90% who do nothing and don't want to do anything. Get mad at the 90% who think it is too much to show up for a once a month business meeting.
In short, vote the elder out and put in effective leadership. But the elder is only a symptom of the larger problem. When you build a church based on those who only wish to consume religious entertainment, then you will be disapointed trying to turn those "consumers" into "producers" of anything. In many cases, they will simply move on to the next "young powerful preacher" who has a better "show" on Sabbath morning.
Can You Teach Me To Do An Adventist Sermon?
[caption id="attachment_2763" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo by Jeremy C. Schultz"]
[/caption]That is an interesting question that came to my box a little while ago. The preacher had visited my Soul Preaching website where I seek to teach the fundamentals of the Black Preaching Tradition. The questioner was an Adventist local elder who wanted to improve his sermons, but wondered where can he plug the "Adventism" into them. The questioner rightly noted that the Soul Preaching website is an interdenominational resource that does not teach the doctrines of any body.
But the question remained. It was an interesting one for me who has studied homiletics. I immediately began asking some interesting questions and interacted with some assumptions that many have. First, how many Adventists have you heard condeming thsoe who are not of that faith for preaching sermons that "don't say anything."
What is it to preach something? Some people think that a lecture on religious themes is a sermon. How many of you have listened to a preacher of that school. You end up with a long 60 minute distilling of a doctrine that is meant to enlighten the mind. Yet the heart is unstirred. Often these lectures have very little practical value. At the end of the day, tell me how this doctrine you are preaching makes a difference in my daily life. That is your job preacher.
Another issue that might be going on is that the questioner might be thinking that the worship sermon is the only time to teach doctrines. So we must do it then. It is very problematic to try to have the preaching moment to be your whole training. What about Sabbath School? Do you use that as a traning opportunity or simply a preaching opportunity for your local elders? What about Wednesday Night Prayer meeting. I like how our Baptist sisters and brothers normally call this Wednesday Bible study. Do you have prayer? Do you have study?
I am actually hearing about churches around doing training of their members. Here in Nashville Riverside SDA Church under Furman Fordham seems to have a training program to get people on the right track. The point that I am making is that it is unreasonable to expect the one hour worship sermon to bear the brunt of the theological training in a church.
But more than that, should it even be. I would argue that the sermon should foster an encounter between the people, God, and scripture. It should not be simply to learn facts for the mind. It should be an encounter that is informed by theology and the other things that we have learned, but no it is more than that. It is a time for the intellect and the emotions to celebrate the good news of God's reign on this Sabbath day.
So know and understand your theological understandings which includes Biblical wholeness (State of the Dead). Yes, go head on and get a deeper understanding of the theology of Sabbath and its great need at this time. Yes understand your theology, but don't just preach it. Yes preach it, but then always take the time to Celebrate it. Turn the page. Be the Cheif celebrator of the implications of the truth you have presented in the sermons.
AT the end of the day. You are not preaching an "Adventist sermon" merely when you give the facts of the Sabbath as being the Seventh Day. You are preaching an "Adventist sermon" when you use the principle of Sabbath rest to inform how you treat people on this day and the rest of the week. you are preaching an Adventist sermon when you use the princple of Sabbath rest as a theological tool to interpret what it means to live a faithful life in a world that is trying to remove all our rest.
Yes, I am calling for you to tell your people what these doctrines mean. Don't just tell them to me and tell me I better beleive them and sit down as if you have done something. No work to foster an experience with the Lord whom we understand better because of something about the Sabbath.
So step one...stop thinking that an Adventist sermon is a Bible study that gives proof texts for a doctrine....
So I would argue that the whole idea of a sermon as merely a lecture is preoblematic. But then we have the other side where doctrine plays no part in the
[/caption]That is an interesting question that came to my box a little while ago. The preacher had visited my Soul Preaching website where I seek to teach the fundamentals of the Black Preaching Tradition. The questioner was an Adventist local elder who wanted to improve his sermons, but wondered where can he plug the "Adventism" into them. The questioner rightly noted that the Soul Preaching website is an interdenominational resource that does not teach the doctrines of any body. But the question remained. It was an interesting one for me who has studied homiletics. I immediately began asking some interesting questions and interacted with some assumptions that many have. First, how many Adventists have you heard condeming thsoe who are not of that faith for preaching sermons that "don't say anything."
What is it to preach something? Some people think that a lecture on religious themes is a sermon. How many of you have listened to a preacher of that school. You end up with a long 60 minute distilling of a doctrine that is meant to enlighten the mind. Yet the heart is unstirred. Often these lectures have very little practical value. At the end of the day, tell me how this doctrine you are preaching makes a difference in my daily life. That is your job preacher.
Another issue that might be going on is that the questioner might be thinking that the worship sermon is the only time to teach doctrines. So we must do it then. It is very problematic to try to have the preaching moment to be your whole training. What about Sabbath School? Do you use that as a traning opportunity or simply a preaching opportunity for your local elders? What about Wednesday Night Prayer meeting. I like how our Baptist sisters and brothers normally call this Wednesday Bible study. Do you have prayer? Do you have study?
I am actually hearing about churches around doing training of their members. Here in Nashville Riverside SDA Church under Furman Fordham seems to have a training program to get people on the right track. The point that I am making is that it is unreasonable to expect the one hour worship sermon to bear the brunt of the theological training in a church.
But more than that, should it even be. I would argue that the sermon should foster an encounter between the people, God, and scripture. It should not be simply to learn facts for the mind. It should be an encounter that is informed by theology and the other things that we have learned, but no it is more than that. It is a time for the intellect and the emotions to celebrate the good news of God's reign on this Sabbath day.
So know and understand your theological understandings which includes Biblical wholeness (State of the Dead). Yes, go head on and get a deeper understanding of the theology of Sabbath and its great need at this time. Yes understand your theology, but don't just preach it. Yes preach it, but then always take the time to Celebrate it. Turn the page. Be the Cheif celebrator of the implications of the truth you have presented in the sermons.
AT the end of the day. You are not preaching an "Adventist sermon" merely when you give the facts of the Sabbath as being the Seventh Day. You are preaching an "Adventist sermon" when you use the principle of Sabbath rest to inform how you treat people on this day and the rest of the week. you are preaching an Adventist sermon when you use the princple of Sabbath rest as a theological tool to interpret what it means to live a faithful life in a world that is trying to remove all our rest.
Yes, I am calling for you to tell your people what these doctrines mean. Don't just tell them to me and tell me I better beleive them and sit down as if you have done something. No work to foster an experience with the Lord whom we understand better because of something about the Sabbath.
So step one...stop thinking that an Adventist sermon is a Bible study that gives proof texts for a doctrine....
So I would argue that the whole idea of a sermon as merely a lecture is preoblematic. But then we have the other side where doctrine plays no part in the
Thursday, April 26, 2012
How Do Adventist Book Centers Make Money?
[caption id="attachment_2635" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Image by Moe"]
[/caption]OK...I gotta admit that I don't have any inside information on how profitable they are. But it really seems like they have some hard times. Let me tell you what I mean...
[/caption]OK...I gotta admit that I don't have any inside information on how profitable they are. But it really seems like they have some hard times. Let me tell you what I mean...
Used to be back in the day the Adventist staple (vegetarian meat substitutes) were only obtained from the Adventist Book Center (ABC). But if you want to get some Vege-meat, guess what, head on over to Kroger or Wal-Mart Supercenter and purchase all kinds of meat substitutes. Even if you hooked on the Adventist brands you can find them there as well. And often for cheaper prices in that the big supermarkets can purchase many more than your local small ABC. And lets not forget that you can even go to Burger King and get a Vegetarian burger (see picture). Even if you want the "Adventist brands" you can get those at your local supermarket for a cheaper price than our ABCs can give.
Well what about buying some books. Surprise..Surprise...Head into your average ABC and it looks like a regular Christian bookstore...They have Max Lucado, T.D. Jakes, and John McArthur. While it is true that you can also get Clifford Goldstein and Herbert Douglass and of course there is a large section of Ellen Gould White (EGW) books, my point is that a good amount of the books that are in that store are available elsewhere.
At the end of the day, I wonder how many "Adventist" books they are selling? I wonder how many books they sell besides EGW. Really I wonder how many of her books they sell. I mean how many times can you buy Acts of the Apostles. No wonder they keep changing the cover of EGW books and creating paraphrases and the like of her books. But to be honest, this is a problem for all book sellers. But it has got to hit small specialty publishers like our Adventist publishers hard. I mean, how many books on such subjects as the Sanctuary, EGW apologetics, and state of the dead can you sell when the only people purchasing are a small segment of the church? And then they have to compete with many smaller publishers who have sprung up in the last few years. I understand why in many cases the book that they are pushing at this year's camp-meeting for 20 dollars will 20 dollars will be in the closeout bin for 3 dollars in a couple of years.
Of course there is the whole Sabbath School lesson game where they sell the lessons through the ABCs. That probably makes some money, but I do wonder if they can stay afloat with that alone. Especially in light of the fact that a growing number of sabbath schools at least in the US are using different materials.
Don't get me wrong. I don't hate on ABCs. I loved them, but I gotta admit, I only go in them every once in a while now. And often just to pick up a case of that Veggie Meat. I can't help but think that this Adventist social activity of going to an ABC will soon be a thing of the past. I'll probably miss it, but I will just get my reading materials online and my vege meat at the Grocery Store...
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Sabbath - Necessity of Unplugging From The Matrix
We find ourselves in a society where leisure time is shrinking. We are on a long trend of work, work and more work. Many of us judge ourselves by how busy we are. Some see a beeper as a sign of "importance." We are busy, but what are we doing? Sometimes you can be so busy doing things that you don't ever take a step back and see how this busyness affects our families, friendships, and connection to God.
I can remember someone telling me that he must be must always retain a connection to the activities and events of the world during the hours of the Sabbath. His fear is that something important will happen and he will not know. Something big that he needs to address could come up during the hours of Sabbath that require him to respond. Many of us think just like that. We need to know so that we can be able to "do" and "work" at a minutes notice.
In light of these observations one might come to the conclusion that a time of complete disconnect from the powers-that-be during a 24 hour period is not possible. A time when we can "unplug from the Matrix" is something we cannot afford. We may miss something. We may be disconnected from something that may happen that we want to know about. We cannot afford Sabbath because the society in which we live makes Sabbath impossible.
We Come Back With A New Mind
One thing that we will learn when we begin keeping Sabbath is that the world goes on just as it has always been without us. When we begin our "six days of work" we learn that we are not indispensable to the working of this present world. It goes on, and we will have to "plug back in at the end of Sabbath. However we come back to the world with a different mindset.
We come to the world with a mindset enlightened by taking time off to live outside the confines of the kingdoms of this world. We come back to this world knowing that our society does not have the final word on what is possible and what is truth for we have boycotted that society for 24 hours and tasted at least partially the coming Basilea of God.
We have learned that our disconnecting from this world is the point. We need that disconnection! We must take time to see a vision. A vision where people are not judged by what they can produce, for all production and work is to cease. No we are are judged from the vision of the coming Basilea.
We have learned that family, faith, and friendship is important and must be celebrated and intentionally valued if we are to live in the coming Basilea rather than the Kingdoms of this world.
Is The Sabbath Relevant?
Is the Sabbath relevant? Certainly the Kingdom's of this world would rather you take an hour or so to "go to church" as long as you don't catch this vision of the new paradigm that we call the Basilea of God. Certainly the Kingdoms of the world would rather you keep looking at your clock hoping that this time period will go away so we all can get back to more pressing matters of ceaseless activity...
But let us not give up Sabbath. Hold on to it. It is the vision that God has given to us of what is to come. Let us hold on to Sabbath. For while the Kingdoms of this world might see it as unnecessary or a hindrance, it is a training bed for living the coming Basilea. Finally, it provides direction to help us during every other day of the week.
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