Willard Wednesdays

The Divine Conspiracy: Chapter 2 Gospels of Sin Management (pp.44-49)

The Gospel on the Right

The Gospel on the Right has largely become solely a gospel that is believed to be a transaction regarding Jesus's payment for our sin so that we might live in heaven after we die but a gospel that has little to do with our everyday life on earth.  

"Certainly forgiveness and reconciliation are essential to any relationship where there has been offense, and also between us and God.  We cannot pass into a new life from above without forgiveness.  Certainly it is Christ who made possible such a transition, through his life and his death.  We must be reconciled to God and he to us if we are going to have a life together.  But such a reconciliation involves far more than the forgiveness of our sins or a clearing of the ledger.  And the faith and salvation of which Jesus speaks obviously is a much more positive reality than mere reconciliation."  

"The issue, so far as the gospel in the Gospels is concerned, is whether we are alive to God or dead to him.  Do we walk in an interactive relationship with him that constitutes a new kind of life, life 'from above'?  

"What must be emphasized in all of this is the difference between trusting Christ, the real person Jesus, with all that that naturally involves, versus trusting some arrangement for sin-remission set up through him- trusting only his role as guilt remover.  To trust the real person Jesus is to have confidence in him in every dimension of our real life, to believe that he is right about and adequate to everything."  

Many Christians today believe that the gospel is "an arrangement for forgiveness of sin that leaves Christ, the now living person, simply irrelevant to our present existence."

"They have been led to believe that God, for some unfathomable reason, just thinks it appropriate to transfer credit from Christ's merit account to ours, and to wipe out our sin debt, upon inspecting our mind and finding that we believe a particular theory of the atonement to be true- even if we trust everything but God in all other matters that concern us."

"When all is said and done, 'the gospel' for those on the theological right is that Christ made 'the arrangement' that can get us into heaven.  In the Gospels, by contrast, 'the gospel' is the good news of the presence and availability of life in the kingdom, now and forever, through reliance on Jesus the Anointed."

"Accordingly, the only description of eternal life found in the words we have from Jesus is 'This is eternal life, that they (his disciples) may know you, the only real God, and Jesus the anointed, whom you have sent.' (John 17:3). This may sound to us like 'mere head knowledge', but the biblical 'know' always refers to an intimate, personal, interactive relationship."  

building bridges through butterflies

Be sure to walk through the butterflies at the Little Red Schoolhouse, Cedar Falls, before they migrate to Location #3 beginning in early May! #goyouthartteam

Interesting project facts

Number of…

Youth artists: 101Youth artist hours: 866

Hands-on adult leaders and volunteers: 45 
Adult volunteer hours: 372

Sculptures created: 53

Participating students attend…

14 different local schools:

– 8 elementary schools
– 4 middle schools
– 2 high schools

———————————

– 8 Waterloo schools
– 6 Cedar Falls schools

CCD Saturday: focus

Focus is critical for Christian community development.

The needs are so big and so wide and so great in our community.  So often, big and wide efforts to address big and wide needs result in big and wide confusion and fail to mobilize resources, build momentum, and ultimately fail to build relationships needed for the wholistic transformation that is needed.  

Focus and clear next steps, even if small, can provide tangible results that help to build toward a greater and grander vision.  

Focus will ultimately expand mission.  

“Focusing is about saying No.” 

― Steve Jobs

flint

Praying today for my friend, Robert McCathern, who pastors Joy Tabernacle Church in Flint, MI, and has been working tirelessly for months alongside his community to pray, to give voice, to organize, to obtain clean water for daily needs, to hold accountable those responsible for this grave injustice.  Praying also for the health of every man, woman, and child who had been unknowingly drinking lead-laced water for months prior to the exposure of this environmental crime.  

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/20/health/flint-water-crisis-charges/

https://sojo.net/articles/faith-action/flint-and-big-lie

beyond the bubble

I'm thankful these days for the Developing Nations class our twins are taking this year in high school.

My daughter, Sara, texted me yesterday, writing, "If you lived in Sierra Leone, your life expectancy is only 51.  You'd be at the end of your life."  

Not long ago, we were on a walk and she was talking about her realization of being a part of the top 1% wealthy of the world.  She has likened it to living in the Hunger Games' Capital and is talking more about the bubble in which we live and how to intentionally move herself beyond the bubble.  

I just signed a permission slip this week for our kids to watch "Blood Diamond" and "Hotel Rwanda" in that class.  I love to see them begin to reflect on and process these realities as growing, maturing teenagers and then to connect these realities to the heart, words, and actions of Jesus as they intend to follow him as his students.  

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Luke 12:48

Willard Wednesdays

The Divine Conspiracy: Chapter 2 Gospels of Sin Management (pp.41-42)

Sharing quotes from Dallas Willard through one of my favorite books..The Divine Conspiracy.

"The current situation , in which faith professed has little impact on the whole of life, is not unique to our times, nor is it a recent development.  But it is currently at an acute stage.  History has brought us to the point where the Christian message is thought to be essentially concerned with how to deal with sin: with wrongdoing or wrong-being, and its effects.  Life, our actual experience, is not included in what is now presented as the heart of the Christian message, or it is included only marginally.  That is where we find ourselves today."  

"To the right, being a Christian is a matter of having your sins forgiven.   To the left, you are a Christian if you have a significant commitment to the elimination of social evils.  A Christian is either one who is ready to die and face the judgment of God or one who has an identifiable commitment to love and justice in society.  That's it."  

"The history that has brought this about-being filtered through the Modernist/Fundamentalist controversy that consumed American religion for many decades and still works powerfully in its depths-also has led each wing to insist that what the other takes for essential should not be regarded as essential." 

"What right and left have in common is that neither group lays down a coherent framework of knowledge and practical direction adequate to personal transformation toward the abundance and obedience emphasized in the New Testament, with a corresponding redemption of ordinary life."

continued next Wednesday....

about the urban intervention

About the Urban Intervention

(aka “The Butterfly Project)

Fifty-three butterfly sculptures appeared by surprise on the lawn of Lowell Elementary in Waterloo between March 8-13, 2016. The artwork was created by six teams of young artists – about 100 total students of all ages from Waterloo and Cedar Falls – as a surprise for the community this spring. Butterflies recently migrated to Cedar Falls and can be viewed in the area surrounding the Little Red Schoolhouse at 205 W 1st Street.

The goal of the Youth Art Team Urban Intervention project is to instill in the young artists who create this fluid work of art the knowledge that their actions have the power to alter the dynamics of the community. This project models the butterfly effect, a term describing the potential for one small change in a condition to affect a large and complex system. We’re learning that art has an immediate impact but can also spur people on to do something new themselves. The Youth Art Team thinks this one small change could make a big difference in our complex community – maybe in ways we can not even predict.

Please take the time to walk through the butterflies and read the student-made signs! Help spread the word, and share your photos and comments on social media with the hashtag #goyouthartteam so we can share your support with the students.

The Youth Art Team invites the entire community to join us for an outdoor celebration recognizing the young artists on Monday, May 23 from 4:30-6:00 p.m. (free and open to the public). We will announce the location on the Youth Art Team Facebook page in May, because we aren’t quite out of surprises…