Keep it Practical

I am a huge fan of practical theology. In other words, what we believe about God should make a fundamental difference in who we are and what we do in a very practical way. I don’t want my beliefs to stay in my head, I want them to go into my heart and get pumped out through my hands and feet.

I believe in the Trinity. Belief in the Trinity is at the core of my theological convictions. However, my belief in the Trinity isn’t just a truth that I affirm or something I comprehend intellectually, but something that actually gets worked out in the way I live my life. I developed a personal ministry and life philosophy that reflects my belief in the Trinity. That philosophy is this:

To BE the heart of the Father, expressed through the continued ministry of the Son, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

I want my character to be marked by the heart of the Father. I want my actions to reflect the actions of Jesus. I need the Holy Spirit to empower me to live this way.

How does your understanding of who God is make a difference in who you are, and what you do?

Just Be

What is the most powerful way to share the Gospel?

Just be.

Our efforts to share Jesus with the world are often motivated by a feeling of obligation to do something. We feel like we need to perform. We feel like if we aren’t saying something, or going somewhere, or doing something, we aren’t really sharing who Jesus is, and God is somehow disappointed. But in a world where talk is cheep, sometimes the most valuable thing we can do is… nothing. Just be.

During my time in CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education, which is a hospital chaplain training program) many of us students felt inadequate to deal with the major issues we were encountering every day. I remember feeling like there had to be something I could do or say to make things right for the patients I visited.

One of the best lessons I learned is that often times there isn’t anything I can say or do. In fact, many times, people don’t want you to say or do anything. They simply want you. They want your presence. Especially when people know what you believe, or rather, who you believe in, your presence in the room means that God sees, God is listening, God cares. Your presence alone goes much further than some trite word or cliche you could give when you don’t know what else to say. Just listen. Just be. Be a friend. When people question God, don’t be afraid to admit when you don’t know either.

People want the tangible presence of God. Not words. What a gift you can give when you care, and demonstrate that God cares. So just be. And get comfortable with that. You might not always know the outcome, but trust God that an internal work is going. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time to speak. But maybe it’s good to be reminded to be silent.

GODISNOWHERE

You may have seen this before. GODISNOWHERE. Depending on how you split up the words, you could be saying radically different things. Either, God is nowhere. Or, God is now here.

I’ve felt both in my life on multiple occasions. These last two years have been quite the stretch, requiring my wife and I to depend on God more than we ever have before. We took a huge step of obedience and trust in listening to God lead us into a whole new direction. It was scary, it required sacrifice and simple living. We sold our house. We moved to a different state without a job. At times it felt like God was nowhere to be found, but it has led us into a new exciting adventure. It also took a long time. It was frustrating. I had a hard time being patient. But without that season we wouldn’t have been open to God leading us to where we are today. It’s a good feeling knowing that this is exactly where God wants me.

Be patient. God is here. God is with you. God will lead you. He has you where he wants you and will lead you where he wants you to be.

To be, and not profound

I find myself not wanting to post anything unless I’ve put a lot of thought into it. Well, you can see how well that’s gone based on the frequency of my posts.

I’m off to Officer Development School soon with the Navy. After that, it’s off to Chaplain Training. I’ve been appointed a Lieutenant Junior Grade, Chaplain Corps, United States Navy. Many feelings of excitement regarding my training, but many uneasy feelings as well. I know I will have fun – but I will miss some important life events, such as my daughter’s first birthday, my brother’s birthday, my wedding anniversary, etc etc, not to mention every day life with an amazing wife and two amazing kids. I know God will use all of these experiences to make me a more effective minister.

And, as a family, we look forward to the outcome, both in ministry and in life. I pray for God’s divine touch on my family as we enter a ministry which may, at times, require me to be deployed for months at a time. And we pray for God to use our lives in powerful ways to minister to people who would never necessarily show up in a church.

This is an exciting new season! We feel like God has confirmed that, at least for this season, I will find the best ministry fit as a chaplain in the Navy.

After spending some time in a church, in a hospital, and teaching at a university, I look forward to an environment where I can do all three types of ministry without having to change jobs.

So, hopefully I’ll keep this page posted with reflections on chaplain life. Keep checking back.

In Him!
-Tim

Make Disciples…

Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Obviously that’s not a very popular thing to say in our pluralistic and relativistic culture. However, even among those for whom that is a popular thing to say, I wonder what happened to the second part of what Jesus said, namely, “Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” That might be a bit much, right? Nobody does that anymore do they? It’s a bit weird and embarrassing. After all, baptism isn’t really required for salvation anyway, is it? And let’s not begin to discuss the last part of what Jesus said, “…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded.” Yikes… sorry I wrote that. I didn’t mean to remind anyone that we’re actually supposed to do this stuff. Sorry.

Well… no, I’m not sorry. Almost every baptism I see brings tears to my eyes. It’s a very powerful moment. I guess I reflect on this because I haven’t seen many baptisms lately – and I have been discussing baptism a lot lately. I don’t want to lose sight of this amazing spiritual practice. I don’t want to lose the enthusiasm that would have someone say, “Look, there’s water, why shouldn’t I be baptized now!” It seems to be the only appropriate response to one who just encountered Jesus. Not only that – it is also an amazing picture of God’s grace in action. We don’t do any work in baptism. Rather, baptism is done to us.

I love it!

Innovation in Small Groups

This semester I am teaching a class on small groups. As we move more and more into a media/Internet/technology driven age, I’m brainstorming ways that we, as the church, can tap into technological resources for the sake of building up the kingdom of God.

One thought I had in particular was the use of social networking sights, such as Facebook, or sites like Twitter, in relation to our churches small groups ministries. Can a small group exist purely in Facebook or Twitter? Some will understandably cringe at the thought. However, I do believe that Facebook and Twitter, or any other networking or blogging site for that matter, has the potential to be an amazing resource for small group ministry.

Imagine if a small group comitted to Twittering together throughout the week, to pray for each other, submit prayer requests, etc. There are some great resources we can tap into for the sake of the community of the church. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts about this.

Much peace,

-Tim

For The Love Of Scripture

A new article in popular magazine regarding the issue of gay marriage and the Bible continues to stir the controversial waters of the gay marriage issue in America. However, I am disturbed by the seemingly irreverent treatment of Scripture in the article and in America today. In secular America it is becoming increasingly evident that the Bible is used, at best, as a supplement to our already morally superior and intellectually advanced culture, and often reduced to a neat historic book that has some nice things to say, but is overall out of touch with the world today. 

 

Of particular offense to me personally (and many other Christians, I hope), is a secular worldview that claims to have a superior understanding of the Bible over those who faithfully adhere to its teachings and look to it as the living and life-giving word of God for their soul. Those who wish to homogenize religion into a peaceful unity that fits comfortably with the culture actually do violence to the individual religions and those who follow them by failing to honor, respect, and appropriately understand each unique religion, each unique religious expression, and the unique individuals who practice them. 

 

Opponents of conservative Christians who claim that conservatives take the Bible too literally fail to practice what they stand against as they take certain passages literally when making a point about the offense of scripture. If the literalness of the passage is nullified, then the argument that takes it literally to make a point is nullified as well. 

 

One must also consider the difference between prescriptive and descriptive passages, as well as the difference between principals and rules. Opponents of a literal interpretation of Scripture often fail to see the principals behind the rules, and take the rules at face value, claiming they can be thrown away as archaic practices or irrelevant ways of living. 

 

I argue that no passage of Scripture can be thrown out as if it is used trash, regardless of how we view its relevancy. What is needed is an understanding of the underlying principals and broader contexts that inform the rules, and faithful and responsible methods for creating new rules and ways of living without violating the principals behind the rules. 

 

If one has a problem with a certain passage of scripture, one must not throw it out, but seek to understand why it says what it does, what principals are informing what it says, and what that means for us today. This goes beyond literalism, story, or metaphor.  This is the way of honoring and respecting any beliefs considered sacred by any religion and any religious text. Anything else does violence to religion, and ultimately, the world.

Our Participation With God

We like to think so, but Jesus doesn’t need our efforts, really. It is easy to get trapped into thinking that we have to perform perfectly, otherwise the will of God will somehow completely unravel. But the remarkable thing about Jesus is that he does not need our efforts. The reality is, our efforts need Jesus. This is liberating! Jesus didn’t need the few loaves of bread and small fish when he fed the five thousand. Instead the bread and the fish needed Jesus to make them what they could not be on their own. In ministry, Jesus doesn’t need my words, my words need Jesus to make them what they can never be on their own. 

The remarkable thing about this is that even though God doesn’t need our efforts, he delights greatly in using and working through our efforts. Participation. God chooses to participate with us, to take what we offer and make it into something we could never give on our own. In this sense, the Christian way is a way of great joy and privilege, not labor and burden. 

In Christ we have become the righteousness of God. Our efforts could never produce any greater righteousness than the righteousness gifted to us in Christ. Therefore, our efforts are simply joyful participation with God in His work. Jesus doesn’t need our efforts, our efforts need Jesus. Thank God that He delights in taking what pathetic efforts we offer, and transforming them into miraculous and powerful works in the name of Jesus. Praise God!

Spirituality and Finding Your True Self

If God is the ultimate spiritual being, and Jesus is the “image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15), then following Jesus should lead us into the ultimate spiritual life.

And…

If we find our true selves in God alone, then atheism not only denies God, it denies the self.

Social Networking in the Bible

Two guys, Chris Harrison and Christoph Romhild, created stunning visual depictions of biblical cross-references. Chris went on to visually depict other biblical data as well. You have to see this. Check out his website here to see them.