Monday, May 11, 2015
Chelsea Leads Foundry House Workday
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Punch Bowl International
On Sunday nights, in partnership with Metropolitan UMC, Motor City Wesley will be gathering international students for fellowship, bible studies and more. This past Sunday we had a small kickoff event at Punch Bowl Social to welcome new student Emmanuella and to celebrate this new outreach ministry.
If you'd like to follow, support or connect students with Motor City Wesley International, please visit motorcitywesley.org/wsuinternational. Or text "@WSU-INTL" to 23559 for sms updates!
Monday, March 16, 2015
Lenten Devotional American Top 40, Day 23, Shake It Off, Taylor Swift
#ldat40 Day 23, Shake It Off, Taylor Swift
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. - Jesus Mt 5: 10-11
This is a great song to sing out loud on those days when you are feeling reviled and persecuted. Haters are going to hate, players are going to play on us when we walk in the way of the Lord. And we can still rejoice and be glad, our reward is great in heaven. More over when we shake off the negativity of and wholly embrace forgiveness and new life in Christ we can dance and sing like Taylor in this video.
I wonder what you have to shake off today? What do you think?
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. - Jesus Mt 5: 10-11
This is a great song to sing out loud on those days when you are feeling reviled and persecuted. Haters are going to hate, players are going to play on us when we walk in the way of the Lord. And we can still rejoice and be glad, our reward is great in heaven. More over when we shake off the negativity of and wholly embrace forgiveness and new life in Christ we can dance and sing like Taylor in this video.
I wonder what you have to shake off today? What do you think?
Lenten Devotional American Top 40, Day 22, Sledgehammer, Fifth Harmony
#ldat40 Day 22, Sledgehammer, Fifth Harmony
When you encounter God's presence in your life it can be wonderfully startling. God's miraculous love is like a startling surge of adrenaline that gets you heart beating like a sledgehammer.
Job 37 The storm makes my heart beat wildly. Listen all of you to the voice of God, to the thunder that comes from God's mouth.
Sledgehammers are great for a construction site. They build up and destroy in very powerful ways. They make seemingly impossible jobs possible.
I wonder how you have experienced the presence of God that make your heart beat wildly? What do you think?
When you encounter God's presence in your life it can be wonderfully startling. God's miraculous love is like a startling surge of adrenaline that gets you heart beating like a sledgehammer.
Job 37 The storm makes my heart beat wildly. Listen all of you to the voice of God, to the thunder that comes from God's mouth.
Sledgehammers are great for a construction site. They build up and destroy in very powerful ways. They make seemingly impossible jobs possible.
I wonder how you have experienced the presence of God that make your heart beat wildly? What do you think?
Lenten Devotional American Top 40, Day 21, Style, Taylor Swift
#ldat40 Day 21, Style, Taylor Swift
We are at the 21 day mark of Lent which means that we are just over half way to Easter. I pray that your spiritual disciplines have pulled you closer to God and helped you to reflect the image of God.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Cor 13:14
Today's song reflects on Taylor Swift's song Style. The video is shot in a beautiful smoky haze, and features reflections through shattered mirrors and projections throughout. This got me thinking about the image of God is a sort of style of heaven that we are all created to take on. Ironically this image is unique for each of us. And when we reflect it we give people glimpses of heaven.
How have you reflected God's style? What do you think?
We are at the 21 day mark of Lent which means that we are just over half way to Easter. I pray that your spiritual disciplines have pulled you closer to God and helped you to reflect the image of God.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Cor 13:14
Today's song reflects on Taylor Swift's song Style. The video is shot in a beautiful smoky haze, and features reflections through shattered mirrors and projections throughout. This got me thinking about the image of God is a sort of style of heaven that we are all created to take on. Ironically this image is unique for each of us. And when we reflect it we give people glimpses of heaven.
How have you reflected God's style? What do you think?
Lenten Devotional American Top 40, Day 20, Don't, Ed Sheeran
#ldat40 Day 20, Don’t, Ed Sheeran
Philippian 4: 6-8
[Don’t] worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Sheeran’s Don’t is a ballad of poor choices and infidelity that left his heart exposed and broken.
“Trust and respect is what we do this for
I never intended to be next”
“And I wasn't looking for a promise or commitment
But it was never just fun and I thought you were different”
Our hearts are designed for optimum performance under the conditions of “trust and respect”. As we entering into relationship without promise or commitment we expose our hearts in ways that can be damaging. Sheeran’s experience inspires him to create an anthem of warning “Don’t fuck with my heart”. He does this out of fear and worry that someone else will repeat this heart attack.
The letter to the Philippians calls us to offer our hearts to God who is the one who will guard our hearts and minds. We don’t have to worry about that, if we pursue God’s love. What do you think?
Philippian 4: 6-8
[Don’t] worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Sheeran’s Don’t is a ballad of poor choices and infidelity that left his heart exposed and broken.
“Trust and respect is what we do this for
I never intended to be next”
“And I wasn't looking for a promise or commitment
But it was never just fun and I thought you were different”
Our hearts are designed for optimum performance under the conditions of “trust and respect”. As we entering into relationship without promise or commitment we expose our hearts in ways that can be damaging. Sheeran’s experience inspires him to create an anthem of warning “Don’t fuck with my heart”. He does this out of fear and worry that someone else will repeat this heart attack.
The letter to the Philippians calls us to offer our hearts to God who is the one who will guard our hearts and minds. We don’t have to worry about that, if we pursue God’s love. What do you think?
Lenten Devotional American Top 40, Day 18, Waves, Mr. Probz
#ldat40 day 18, Waves, Mr. Probz
Psalm 42:7
Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.
This song reminded me of psalm 42, which begins with an illustration of a deer who longs for water to describe how a soul longs for God. “Waves” like most other songs on the top forty is about relationship specifically someone who longs for a relationship (with a lover). I wonder how we are overwhelmed by waves of despair and grace when we stray away from the one who is the lover of our souls.
What do you think?
Psalm 42:7
Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.
This song reminded me of psalm 42, which begins with an illustration of a deer who longs for water to describe how a soul longs for God. “Waves” like most other songs on the top forty is about relationship specifically someone who longs for a relationship (with a lover). I wonder how we are overwhelmed by waves of despair and grace when we stray away from the one who is the lover of our souls.
What do you think?
Lenten Devotional AT40, Day 17 Stuck on a Feeling, Prince Royce
#ldat40 Day 17 Stuck on a Feeling, Prince Royce
This song features ever so cool Snoop Dogg. His riff and the groovy beat get my head bopping every time I've listened to it. It's the kind of tune that sticks in your head and fixes your attention. Usually we use the word fix to describe repair. It's fallen out of fashion but another definition is to fasten or stick. There are five instances of “stuck” in the scriptures and they are generally used to describe an arrow piercing something. So fixed captured my imagination for this mornings song.
The Psalmist writes:
Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. Ps. 119 6
Our hearts, minds and eyes can get stuck on a variety of things. When our attentions are fixed on the work of God in the world we operate at our best selves.
The writer of Luke captures that moment when our imaginations are stuck to Jesus as a fulfillment of God’s promise and presence.
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Luke 4:20
So what have you been stuck on? Has your attention been fixed on Jesus this Holy Season? What do you think?
This song features ever so cool Snoop Dogg. His riff and the groovy beat get my head bopping every time I've listened to it. It's the kind of tune that sticks in your head and fixes your attention. Usually we use the word fix to describe repair. It's fallen out of fashion but another definition is to fasten or stick. There are five instances of “stuck” in the scriptures and they are generally used to describe an arrow piercing something. So fixed captured my imagination for this mornings song.
The Psalmist writes:
Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. Ps. 119 6
Our hearts, minds and eyes can get stuck on a variety of things. When our attentions are fixed on the work of God in the world we operate at our best selves.
The writer of Luke captures that moment when our imaginations are stuck to Jesus as a fulfillment of God’s promise and presence.
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Luke 4:20
So what have you been stuck on? Has your attention been fixed on Jesus this Holy Season? What do you think?
Lenten Devotional AT40, Day 16, Animals, Maroon 5
#ldat40 Day 16 Animals, Maroon 5
"Yeah, you can start over you can run free
You can find other fish in the sea
You can pretend it's meant to be
But you can't stay away from me
I can still hear you making that sound
Taking me down rolling on the ground
You can pretend that it was me
But no"
You can find other fish in the sea
You can pretend it's meant to be
But you can't stay away from me
I can still hear you making that sound
Taking me down rolling on the ground
You can pretend that it was me
But no"
I can imagine God singing this lyric to Jonah, when he ran away from God's call. I wonder how God has relentlessly pursued you, when you turned away?
What do you think?
#ldat40, Lenten Devotional American Top 40, Day 15, Ghost, Ella Henderson
#ldat40 Day 15 Ghost, Ella Henderson
On the surface this is a song about how the specter of a complicated relationship haunts someone. Ella sings,
Each time that I think you go
I turn around and you're creeping in
And I let you under my skin
'Cause I love living in the sin
I turn around and you're creeping in
And I let you under my skin
'Cause I love living in the sin
This seems like a bad thing. Ella uses baptismal images through the chorus.
I keep going to the river to pray
'Cause I need something that can wash all the pain
And at most I'm sleeping all these demons away
But your ghost, the ghost of you
It keeps me awake
'Cause I need something that can wash all the pain
And at most I'm sleeping all these demons away
But your ghost, the ghost of you
It keeps me awake
So I wonder, what if the ghost were the Holy Ghost? How does that change the song? There have been plenty of times when I have been pulled by the relentless nature of the Holy Spirit.
What do you think?
#ldat40 Lenten Devotional AT 40, Day 14 Centuries, Fall Out Boy
#ldat40 Day 14, Centuries, Fall Out Boy
As Fall Out Boy sings,
Some turn to dust or to gold
But you will remember me
Remember me for centuries
I hear Jesus say, "This is my body, given for you, do this in remembrance of me"
The thief on the cross asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. Jesus said that that day, the thief would join him in paradise. Jesus resonates with the lyric.
'Cause I am the opposite of amnesia
I wonder if we were truly able to remember Jesus like he remembers us how much of paradise could we embrace here and now?
What do you think?
As Fall Out Boy sings,
Some turn to dust or to gold
But you will remember me
Remember me for centuries
I hear Jesus say, "This is my body, given for you, do this in remembrance of me"
The thief on the cross asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. Jesus said that that day, the thief would join him in paradise. Jesus resonates with the lyric.
'Cause I am the opposite of amnesia
I wonder if we were truly able to remember Jesus like he remembers us how much of paradise could we embrace here and now?
What do you think?
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 13, Time of Our Lives, Pitbull, Ne-Yo
#ldat40 Day 13, Time of Our Lives, Pitbull, Ne-Yo
I was feeling fatigued on my Lenten discipline this morning. And today I get to deal with Pitpull! As I read the lyric I feel like slipping into a rant about run away reckless consumerism.
"This is the last $20 I got
But I'mma have a good time ballin' or out"
How can you spend the last of your money on a party, when that money could have been used for the poor. Then as the funky beat lifts my spirits I hear how my thoughts echo - Judas' in John 14: 4-6
"But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) "
John lays the blame on Judas for this indignation but Mark 14 and Matthew 26 say that many of the disciples if not all were thinking this.
Celebration is up lifting especially when we are facing tough times.
This for anybody going through tough times
Believe me, been there, done that
But everyday above ground is a great day, remember that
Thanks Pitbull! For the celebration on this Wednesday two weeks into my Lenten journey. I needed that.
What do you think?
I was feeling fatigued on my Lenten discipline this morning. And today I get to deal with Pitpull! As I read the lyric I feel like slipping into a rant about run away reckless consumerism.
"This is the last $20 I got
But I'mma have a good time ballin' or out"
How can you spend the last of your money on a party, when that money could have been used for the poor. Then as the funky beat lifts my spirits I hear how my thoughts echo - Judas' in John 14: 4-6
"But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) "
John lays the blame on Judas for this indignation but Mark 14 and Matthew 26 say that many of the disciples if not all were thinking this.
Celebration is up lifting especially when we are facing tough times.
This for anybody going through tough times
Believe me, been there, done that
But everyday above ground is a great day, remember that
Thanks Pitbull! For the celebration on this Wednesday two weeks into my Lenten journey. I needed that.
What do you think?
#ldat40 day 12, Hanging Tree, James Howard Newton
I'm reading Nadia Boltz-Webber's Book Pastrix. Pastor Nadia reflects on hanging tree of the cross and how this one of only two times when Mary the mother of Jesus is mentioned in the Gospel of John. The other is at the Wedding of Cana, where Jesus performs his first miracle.
In both Johnine Mary sightings she is referee to as "woman". As the wedding of Cana she points out to Jesus that the wine is out and the people thirst. Jesus points out that his hanging tree time is not at hand, and Mary just tells others to follow what Jesus says.
At the hanging tree when Jesus time is at hand, Jesus tells Mary that he thirsts. I found this linkage powerful. In that the life and death of Jesus connects the thirst of the world with that of God. In Christ God shares creations thirst and in Christ this thirst is quenched.
What do you think?
I'm reading Nadia Boltz-Webber's Book Pastrix. Pastor Nadia reflects on hanging tree of the cross and how this one of only two times when Mary the mother of Jesus is mentioned in the Gospel of John. The other is at the Wedding of Cana, where Jesus performs his first miracle.
In both Johnine Mary sightings she is referee to as "woman". As the wedding of Cana she points out to Jesus that the wine is out and the people thirst. Jesus points out that his hanging tree time is not at hand, and Mary just tells others to follow what Jesus says.
At the hanging tree when Jesus time is at hand, Jesus tells Mary that he thirsts. I found this linkage powerful. In that the life and death of Jesus connects the thirst of the world with that of God. In Christ God shares creations thirst and in Christ this thirst is quenched.
What do you think?
Monday, March 2, 2015
#LDAT40 Day 11, Heroes, Alesso
It's stunning how God can work even in the American Top Forty. On the Valentine's day 2015 this song was ranked number 11 right after Lilly Wood and the Prick's Prayer in C. While Prayer in C is in the tradition of the lament, electric dance song, Heroes (we could be) takes a more optimistic approach. I think God wanted us to consider these songs together.
In my last devotion we considered the problem of theodicy, or why a loving God permits the manifestation of evil in creation. I offered three of what I thought were less than satisfying answers to this mystery. Struggling with this question and other seeming unanswerable questions is the first part of a classic Lamentation. "Why are You doing this God?" And the last part of a Lament typically lets go of the mystery and offers praise. Basically a Lamentation is like a good cry that you just need to get out so you can get on with your life. Heroes is the kind of song that gives glory to God and see and opportunity to join God in mighty acts of salvation that take place every day in the midst of quotidian pain and suffering.
Day 10 of this devotion was the first part of a Lament. Day 11 is the next. What do you think?
It's stunning how God can work even in the American Top Forty. On the Valentine's day 2015 this song was ranked number 11 right after Lilly Wood and the Prick's Prayer in C. While Prayer in C is in the tradition of the lament, electric dance song, Heroes (we could be) takes a more optimistic approach. I think God wanted us to consider these songs together.
In my last devotion we considered the problem of theodicy, or why a loving God permits the manifestation of evil in creation. I offered three of what I thought were less than satisfying answers to this mystery. Struggling with this question and other seeming unanswerable questions is the first part of a classic Lamentation. "Why are You doing this God?" And the last part of a Lament typically lets go of the mystery and offers praise. Basically a Lamentation is like a good cry that you just need to get out so you can get on with your life. Heroes is the kind of song that gives glory to God and see and opportunity to join God in mighty acts of salvation that take place every day in the midst of quotidian pain and suffering.
Day 10 of this devotion was the first part of a Lament. Day 11 is the next. What do you think?
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 10, Prayer in C, Lilly Wood and the Prick
#ldat40 Day 10, Prayer in C, Lilly Wood and the Prick
This song deals with the problem of omnipotence and theodicy. In other words why does a good and powerful let bad things happen. I have several less than satisfying answers to this mystery.
1) bad things happen to us because the our sin and brokenness not God's
2) bad things can be tests for us, that lead to testimonies.
3) bad things can be opportunities for us to be agents of God's grace.
What do you think?
This song deals with the problem of omnipotence and theodicy. In other words why does a good and powerful let bad things happen. I have several less than satisfying answers to this mystery.
1) bad things happen to us because the our sin and brokenness not God's
2) bad things can be tests for us, that lead to testimonies.
3) bad things can be opportunities for us to be agents of God's grace.
What do you think?
Friday, February 27, 2015
#ldat40 Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 9, The Heart Want What it Wants, Selena Gomez
This is a modern fairytale
No happy endings
No wind in our sails
But I can't imagine a life without
Breathless moments
Breaking me down down down
Gomez' fairytale is so very true it hurts. The heart does want what it wants, but it so rarely seems to know what will satisfy. And we are left with no happy endings and no wind in our sails. This morning I am seeking comfort in Psalm 51
Psa. 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
May be a spiritual heart transplant is necessary. I pray that you receive the heart of Christ today so that you might really get what the heart wants and needs.
What do you think?
This is a modern fairytale
No happy endings
No wind in our sails
But I can't imagine a life without
Breathless moments
Breaking me down down down
Gomez' fairytale is so very true it hurts. The heart does want what it wants, but it so rarely seems to know what will satisfy. And we are left with no happy endings and no wind in our sails. This morning I am seeking comfort in Psalm 51
Psa. 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
May be a spiritual heart transplant is necessary. I pray that you receive the heart of Christ today so that you might really get what the heart wants and needs.
What do you think?
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 8 Thinking Out Loud, Ed Sheeran
#LDAT40 Day 8
This Wednesday at MSU Wesley's weekly small group call Landon Hall Lunch Bunch we considered the question What's your favorite song on the radio? Peer Minister Keeley Davenport answered "Thinking Out Loud, by Ed Sheeran"
"Is that the one where Ed sings when I can't walk anymore you're still going to love me?" Keeley laughed and said yeah its something like that. Point of fact the lyric goes:
When your legs don't work like they used to before
And I can't sweep you off of your feet
Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love?
Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks?
The follow up question for conversation was how does this song affect your spiritual life? Keeley and I both thought this was an easy one. Sheeran sings of a kind of love that transcends the physical, and this is the way God loves us.
This is not to say that this kind of divine transcendent love excludes the physical or natural world. God's love includes the natural world and it supernatural-izes it in such a way that make the most out of love. God's love is the kind of love that our hearts were created for. It's the kind of love that flows out of us to our lovers and loved ones in ways so startling that it makes us all want to live our lives in an whole new way.
So lovers, what do you think?
This Wednesday at MSU Wesley's weekly small group call Landon Hall Lunch Bunch we considered the question What's your favorite song on the radio? Peer Minister Keeley Davenport answered "Thinking Out Loud, by Ed Sheeran"
"Is that the one where Ed sings when I can't walk anymore you're still going to love me?" Keeley laughed and said yeah its something like that. Point of fact the lyric goes:
When your legs don't work like they used to before
And I can't sweep you off of your feet
Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love?
Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks?
The follow up question for conversation was how does this song affect your spiritual life? Keeley and I both thought this was an easy one. Sheeran sings of a kind of love that transcends the physical, and this is the way God loves us.
This is not to say that this kind of divine transcendent love excludes the physical or natural world. God's love includes the natural world and it supernatural-izes it in such a way that make the most out of love. God's love is the kind of love that our hearts were created for. It's the kind of love that flows out of us to our lovers and loved ones in ways so startling that it makes us all want to live our lives in an whole new way.
So lovers, what do you think?
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 7, Love Me Harder, Ariana Grande
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 7, Love Me Harder, Ariana Grande
The video for this song is a bit salacious. If you have read the Song of Solomon you know that the Scriptures can get just as racy as Ariana Grande. If you can hang into the video until about 2:43 you will encounter this wicked water effect that reminds me of the waters of baptism. Baptism is not only an initiation into the church, its also a kind of merger into the life of God. As we take on the life of God through the waters of baptism it doesn't matter if we are an infant or an adult, none of us can predict how hard living into the baptismal vow is going to be.
There will be times in our Christian lives when staying in love with God will require loving harder. These are those moments when we are nearly completely annoyed with the people that God has put before us. Or the times when we are nearly completely annoyed with our own lives. That's when the loving get hard. Yet hear the good news.
Whilst Ariana song goes:
So what do I do if I can’t figure it out?
(You got to try, try, try again, yeah)
So what do I do if I can’t figure it out?
(I’m gonna leave, leave, leave again)
God will never, no never abandon you! When you can't figure it out. Try, try, try again. And then if you still can't figure it out, stay open to the Spirit of God. For as Romans 8:26 reads:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes[a] with sighs too deep for words.
What do you think?
The video for this song is a bit salacious. If you have read the Song of Solomon you know that the Scriptures can get just as racy as Ariana Grande. If you can hang into the video until about 2:43 you will encounter this wicked water effect that reminds me of the waters of baptism. Baptism is not only an initiation into the church, its also a kind of merger into the life of God. As we take on the life of God through the waters of baptism it doesn't matter if we are an infant or an adult, none of us can predict how hard living into the baptismal vow is going to be.
There will be times in our Christian lives when staying in love with God will require loving harder. These are those moments when we are nearly completely annoyed with the people that God has put before us. Or the times when we are nearly completely annoyed with our own lives. That's when the loving get hard. Yet hear the good news.
Whilst Ariana song goes:
So what do I do if I can’t figure it out?
(You got to try, try, try again, yeah)
So what do I do if I can’t figure it out?
(I’m gonna leave, leave, leave again)
God will never, no never abandon you! When you can't figure it out. Try, try, try again. And then if you still can't figure it out, stay open to the Spirit of God. For as Romans 8:26 reads:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes[a] with sighs too deep for words.
What do you think?
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 6: I'm Not The Only One
Smith sings of an unfaithful partner. This perusing the American Top Forty I have found that jealousy and unfaithfulness to be common themes in pop music. Perhaps infidelity is a deeply ingrained condition of the collective human soul.
The prophet Hosea used his personal pain he felt regarding the infidelity of the mother of his children. Hosea used this personal experience to project onto God and imagine how God feels when inflicted by our infidelity.
Sam Smith's sings with a passionate jealousy that's difficult to fabricate. You can hear and feel his pain when he sings the lyric.
You've been so unavailable
Now sadly I know why
Your heart is unobtainable
Even though Lord knows you kept mine
How has our infidelity to God made us unavailable? Unavailable to God and the people around us? Our hearts are broke in our infidelity and the good news is that God has not abandoned us. God has given us the very heart of Christ. Will we accept that new heart that God has created for us in Christ?Will we love with the heart of Christ?
What do you think?
Smith sings of an unfaithful partner. This perusing the American Top Forty I have found that jealousy and unfaithfulness to be common themes in pop music. Perhaps infidelity is a deeply ingrained condition of the collective human soul.
The prophet Hosea used his personal pain he felt regarding the infidelity of the mother of his children. Hosea used this personal experience to project onto God and imagine how God feels when inflicted by our infidelity.
Sam Smith's sings with a passionate jealousy that's difficult to fabricate. You can hear and feel his pain when he sings the lyric.
You've been so unavailable
Now sadly I know why
Your heart is unobtainable
Even though Lord knows you kept mine
How has our infidelity to God made us unavailable? Unavailable to God and the people around us? Our hearts are broke in our infidelity and the good news is that God has not abandoned us. God has given us the very heart of Christ. Will we accept that new heart that God has created for us in Christ?Will we love with the heart of Christ?
What do you think?
Monday, February 23, 2015
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 5: Lips Are Movin, Meghan Trainor
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 5: Lips Are Movin, Meghan Trainor
Meghan begins the song singing,
I know you lie
Cause your lips are moving
Tell me do you think I'm dumb?
I might be young, but I ain't stupid
Talking around in circles with your tongue
I gave you bass, You gave me sweet talk
Saying how I’m your number one
But I know you lie
Cause your lips are moving
Baby don't you know I'm done.
It's clear that Trainor desires more than lip service in a lover. The same is true for God. We are now five days into the lenten journey. How are you doing in your repentance discipline. Remember this season is an opportunity to turn your life around toward God. Have you gone deeper in this repentance or has it remained lip service?
I can hear John the Baptist singing along with Meghan Trainor when he chides the crowds in Luke 3: 7-8.
When crowds of people came out for baptism because it was the popular thing to do, John exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to deflect God’s judgment? It’s your life that must change, not your skin.
Our lenten disciplines need to go deeper than the ash on our foreheads. God wants more than our words to change, God desires for our lives to change. That's going deep! That kind repentance is a real turn around. Lips Are Movin, but are our lives bearing the fruit of repentance?
What do you think?
Meghan begins the song singing,
I know you lie
Cause your lips are moving
Tell me do you think I'm dumb?
I might be young, but I ain't stupid
Talking around in circles with your tongue
I gave you bass, You gave me sweet talk
Saying how I’m your number one
But I know you lie
Cause your lips are moving
Baby don't you know I'm done.
It's clear that Trainor desires more than lip service in a lover. The same is true for God. We are now five days into the lenten journey. How are you doing in your repentance discipline. Remember this season is an opportunity to turn your life around toward God. Have you gone deeper in this repentance or has it remained lip service?
I can hear John the Baptist singing along with Meghan Trainor when he chides the crowds in Luke 3: 7-8.
When crowds of people came out for baptism because it was the popular thing to do, John exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to deflect God’s judgment? It’s your life that must change, not your skin.
Our lenten disciplines need to go deeper than the ash on our foreheads. God wants more than our words to change, God desires for our lives to change. That's going deep! That kind repentance is a real turn around. Lips Are Movin, but are our lives bearing the fruit of repentance?
What do you think?
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 4, Take Me to Church, Hozier
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 4, Take Me to Church, Hozier
This unlikely pop song has surfaced unresolved angst in contemporary culture. Here's an excerpt from Chris Reimenschneider of the Star Tribune,
This song stirs up a persistent problem in the life of a Christian. How can do we be human and still walk in the way of Christ. Paul describes the paradox of humanity and sin in Romans 7:15.
This unlikely pop song has surfaced unresolved angst in contemporary culture. Here's an excerpt from Chris Reimenschneider of the Star Tribune,
Laced with traces of American gospel and southern R&B music, it sounds darker and rawer than Smith’s and Adele’s similarly blue-eyed-soul work. Also, the lyrics and especially the song’s music video are partly inspired by a touchy topic that even his sound-alike singer Elton John would have been timid about tackling 30 years ago: the Catholic Church’s and other organizations’ stance against same-sex marriages and homosexuality.“The song is about how sexuality and love are such a basic, integral part of humanity,” Hozier explained.“For the church or any organization like a government to question who you love or who you have sex with just seems to go against humanity. I’m not condemning the church or religion on the whole, just that one policy, which seems so wrong to me. And obviously I’m not alone in thinking that.”(www.startibune.com/entertainment/music/292710011.html)For me the song up earths the question of what it means to be human, and part of the created order. Christian teaching on creation, resurrection of the body, and the incarnation certainly over come the notion that the material world is inherently evil. And yet our religious institution still formulates rules that echo Hozier's lyric.
'We were born sick, ' you heard them say itI don't imagine this question of humanity and the church's propensity to "go against" humanity is limited to sexuality. I have witnessed church policy deny humanity in when we fail to stand against torture, poverty, injustice, or war. To paraphrase Lisa Batten's favorite Theologian, When we deny humanity we also deny the resurrection (See Peter Rollins).
This song stirs up a persistent problem in the life of a Christian. How can do we be human and still walk in the way of Christ. Paul describes the paradox of humanity and sin in Romans 7:15.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.This is a tension that ought not be swept under the rug. It's a struggle that all disciples should personally take up, before they cast stones. Christ invited the faithful to ponder the question of humanity and sin as he drew in the earth in John 8:7-8. Maybe it is in this pondering that the Holy Spirit enters in and we are made clean, maybe this is what Hozier is driving at in the lyric,
In the madness and soil of that sad earthly sceneOnly then I am HumanOnly then I am CleanAmen. Amen. Amen. Amen.What do you think?
Friday, February 20, 2015
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 3: Jealous, Nick Jonas
Jealous, Nick Jonas stream on Spotify
This song was number 3 in the nation on Feb 14, 2015 so I am listening to it for my morning devotional on this third day of Lent.
In Exodus 20:5 Moses reminds us that Yahweh desires our undivided devotion.
"You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,"
Jonas sings in the chorus,
I mean no disrespect
It’s my right to be hellish
I still get jealous.
As Creator, God has a right to our love and devotion, and like Jonas means no disrespect in this admission of jealousy. God's love is offered with absolute pure intent. Even though God is all powerful, God avoids coercing the return of this affection because this is wouldn't be love at all. My colleague Charlie Farnum says this makes God more than powerful, it makes God very powerful. God sets Godself up for jealousy by allowing us free will to return this divine love on our own. All the while there are a cloud of distractions that vie for our attention and devotion.
In Luke 10: 40-41. Martha was distracted with all her preparations, and the fact that her sister wasn't helping her. Jesus reminds us in his answer to Martha that even our worry and anxiety can be distractions from our fully returning the Love of God. And this feeds the kind of jealousy that Nick Jonas is singing about. What do you think?
This song was number 3 in the nation on Feb 14, 2015 so I am listening to it for my morning devotional on this third day of Lent.
In Exodus 20:5 Moses reminds us that Yahweh desires our undivided devotion.
"You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,"
Jonas sings in the chorus,
I mean no disrespect
It’s my right to be hellish
I still get jealous.
As Creator, God has a right to our love and devotion, and like Jonas means no disrespect in this admission of jealousy. God's love is offered with absolute pure intent. Even though God is all powerful, God avoids coercing the return of this affection because this is wouldn't be love at all. My colleague Charlie Farnum says this makes God more than powerful, it makes God very powerful. God sets Godself up for jealousy by allowing us free will to return this divine love on our own. All the while there are a cloud of distractions that vie for our attention and devotion.
In Luke 10: 40-41. Martha was distracted with all her preparations, and the fact that her sister wasn't helping her. Jesus reminds us in his answer to Martha that even our worry and anxiety can be distractions from our fully returning the Love of God. And this feeds the kind of jealousy that Nick Jonas is singing about. What do you think?
Thursday, February 19, 2015
EncounterMICall in Detroit!
Metropolitan UMC is a church with history. It is a congregation in the New Center area, reclaiming its role as an epicenter for community life and faith.
Now Metro UMC and Charles are teaming up through the EncounterMICall intern program. As Metro develops an outreach to international students at Wayne State University, Charles will help them meet students, organize gatherings, and strategize next steps. In cooperation with the developing network of Motor City Wesley groups, we are excited about expanding the diversity of our community, stitching together people from around the world through "conspiracies of goodness," and enjoying both the heritage of a historic congregation and the innovation of a new student leader.
Thanks Charles and Metro UMC! And, blessings on your new partnership!
Ashes to Go at Michigan State University
I headed out to share Ashes to Go this year for Ash Wednesday on campus. I typically set up at Wells Hall where the infamous Wells Hall Preacher reminds students who pass by that they are likely to burn in hell. I rather like the juxtaposition of an invitation begin the Lenten journey toward Easter. This year as it was really cold I decided to head over to the MSU Student Union. I enjoyed meeting students. This is what I say.
"Good Morning! Happy Ash Wednesday. Would you like some Ash for your journey?"
This is what students say.
"Is today Ash Wednesday already?, I have to call my mom and remind her"
"I am so glad your here I wasn't able to make it to church"
"No thanks, I am not catholic" (it's ok I am not either)
"What's the tattoo on your head?"
"I have been looking all over for you"
"No thanks"
After about an hour and 15 minutes of sharing and meeting people. The MSU Union Facilities Manager came approached me.
"Good Morning! Happy Ash Wednesday. Would you like some Ash?", I said.
She said, "No Thanks" and then informed me that as I had not applied to solicit through her office that I would have to cease and desist. When I told her that I was part of the Registered Religious Advisors on Campus and apologized for not completing the appropriate forms, and explained that I was only in the Union today due to the cold. She told me that there was a service in the MSU Chapel on Wednesday evening that the Union would be directing students toward. Not wanting to put up a fight, I complied left the building and spent the rest of my time outside the MSU Union building.
This experience left me feeling like a real rebel for Jesus!
Then I headed over to Landon Hall across the street where I regularly gather for a weekly Wednesday lunch bunch. The staff there immediately greeted me with a warmer welcome and asked me to share ashes with them and pray with them. Students would come to our table and ask if they could get some ashes. I guess its easier to begin the Lenten journey when you have spent some time in that community breaking bread.
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 2: Blank Space Taylor Swift
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 2: Blank Space Taylor Swift
This song describes a desire for long lasting and faithful relationship. Swift longs for a relationship that will stand the test of time but she gets a long list of crash and burns.
The video is filled with images of the good life fancy cars, great shoes, suits, and dresses. My guess is that Taylor had a rather self indulgent wardrobe budget. She gets that none of these material items satisfy, and fall short. Despite the long list of ex-lovers and the heaps of material goods that don't satiate, Taylor persists in a quest for true love.
They'll tell you I'm insane
But I got a blank space baby
And I'll write your name
But I got a blank space baby
And I'll write your name
This line from the chorus reminds me of the Isaiah 49: 15-16
Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.
The prophets often use the image of an unfaithful lover to illustrate humanities infidelity to God.
Perhaps God is as "Drunk on Jealousy" as Swift in the second verse, and desires for humanity to return to God in love. This is the only love that will truly satisfy.
What do you think?
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 1: Uptown Funk, Mark Ronson
Lenten Devotional AT40 Day 1: Uptown Funk, Mark Ronson
Gospel according to The American Top Forty.
My Lenten spiritual journey this year involves a daily meditation on the American Top Forty list for Saturday Feb 14, 2015. Each day I will reflect on one of the songs on that list. I will begin with the number one song and conclude with the fortieth song.
Today's song is Up Town Funk by Mark Ronson. I love that this song has a Hallelujah chorus that disrupts the Lenten fast right on Ash Wednesday. This reminds me that the good news of Christ is disruptive, especially in the uptown crowd.
The song has a great beat that sucks you in. Throughout this song there is a reversal of fortune vibe that approximates Jesus sermon on the mount. What do you think?
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Stumping the Pastor at Pub Theology
Each month, in partnership with Detroit: Central UMC, Motor City Wesley enjoys an evening of conversation and questions around various theological topics at Traffic Jam & Snug in Midtown, Detroit. Dubbed "Pub Theology," WSU Catalyst students, Central Young Adults and more gather for some appetizers courtesy of Central, and a given scriptural theme.
This week we enjoyed a "Stump The Pastor" night with Rev. Jill Zundel and covered topics from the big bang to how Pastor Jill handles pre-marital counseling. It was a nice gathering and we thank Central for their hospitality!
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