Just so you all know, I'm pulling for the Phillies to win the World Series in five games. They dominated the Yankees in the first game with a final score of 6- 1. Ah, yeah!
Anyways, a lot has been going on. In fact a lot happened today, so I want to stay up and get it all down before I forget. First of all, I've been having trouble with sleeping. I've been sleeping in past 8:30am which is really weird for me. I think it might be caused by stress. I have a book report and that research paper hanging on my back like two stupid monkeys. Sunday I went to church, came back, did a little homework, then I went to see Where the Wild Things Are with everyone except my Dad. (I think he would have thought it was a goofy, ridiculous movie, anyway.) On Monday, I met with Sue, my internship supervisor. We talked about my internship and other stuff that's going on. One of these days, I'll go more in depth with that. But right now, I want to tell you what happened yesterday and today.
So, the City blocked off the street to clean them gutters and my Resident Director, Jesse, got two tickets and his car towed! He got a ticket for his own car, and his car that he uses for driving school. So I had to go with him to pick up the driving school car. Anyways, as his car was getting towed I saw another car getting towed down the street and I realized that it was my cousin's car. I didn't do anything about it at the time...I'll get back to this story later.
So on Tuesday night I went to World Mission Prayer League (WMPL) to pray. WMPL was started in the 1920's by college students who gathered together to pray for unreached people in other nations. They began to send missionaries to countries all over the world and they still do that today. They also continue to gather to pray for the nations on Tuesday nights. A CSP alum, Bethany Paulus, leads these prayer nights, but tonight she had something different in mind.
Bethany, her friend Kathryn, and I went to Roseville to Communitas. Communitas is a gathering of believers who meet on Tuesday nights in the house of Paul and Karen Anderson. The fellowship started as two small groups who merged together. It has been going for 3 years and there were about 60 people in this living room. There were some worship songs, prayer, announcements, a brief message about past memories of hurt, and prayer. I recognized a few people and there were probably a dozen people who hadn't been there before. It was a twentysomething crowd; people like me kind of. I thought that the sense of community and energy in that house was definitely positive. People were excited to be there and that rubbed off on me. As I learned last week in Cross-cultural Outreach, a Christian community is a hard thing to have in an individualistic culture. I think it Communitas is a good supplement to Christian life for a lot of these people because they have a place that they can go once a week to be themselves with other people. I would describe it not as a church, but a fellowship of Christians. It reminded me of the close-knit community I had in high school with Teens Encounter Christ (TEC.) At TEC, I could be myself around people and be close friends with people I met once. There was some funky stuff with the prayer (ask about it if you are curious) and it was experimental and spiritual. I think that it is important to not let emotions dictate our worship because then it is dependent upon human effort. I'm not saying that emotions were driving this evening, but they did have a part in it. I think worship is proper when it is done in response to the Word of God, what Jesus has done, and what the Spirit of Jesus is doing in our lives today. Overall, I am very glad to have that experience at Communitas.
Ok, so I visited another place of worship this morning. I went to Spirit Garage in Minneapolis. I had heard about it before this year, but I had never been there. Spirit Garage started about 13 years ago in Uptown as a "church for people that didn't really fit in anywhere else." They make an effort to be a relevant and welcoming place for people who are new Christians and those who are being led to Christ. I think that they have some issues with watering down the teaching of the Bible. It also seems to be almost more committed to being relevant to its target culture than being committed to God's Word. At the same time, where the name of Jesus Christ is preached and his crucifixion which brought forgiveness and salvation, the Spirit can work faith (or you could say sanctify) in the lives of believers So, I'm not sure about it; these are just some of my thoughts. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think. www.spiritgarage.org
In Cross-Cultural Outreach, Dr. Bunkowske invited a women to speak about people with disabilities. I didn't follow her real closely, but what she said was important. Churches need to know how to reach out to people who have intellectual disabilities. They are in themselves their own culture group and the Church needs to share the Gospel with these people as well. I am reminded of Developmentally Disabled Week at Camp Omega. Those campers where the best because they were so excited to be at Camp and be around the counselors and other campers. Plus, they loved the activities and most of them loved to hear about Jesus. Yeah, its hard work, but things that involve hard work are often the most rewarding things that God gives us.
This Friday I will be speaking at the Concordia Mission Society (CMS) meeting. There is some exciting stuff that is happening at Concordia and apparently there is a different feel to the campus and it has something to do with CMS. I'll update you on this all later this week. Hopefully.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Psychology Research Paper Topic
My Tuesday morning class is Urban Social Psychology and the major assignment for the semester is to write a research paper on a relevant topic to urban ministry. So I chose to write about the affects of pornography on society. I have found some interesting journal articles about the topic and I will be spending part of this weekend writing the paper.
The reason why it is such a relevant topic is because of the vast presence of pornography in our culture. I think most people underestimate how saturated our culture is with porn. There are millions of porn websites and it has crept into the media more and more. Probably 2 in 3 teenagers have been exposed to some level of porn. It is a real problem because it screws up how people relate towards other people. People try to satisfy their deepest desire for intimacy by dishonoring themselves and others with selfish, cheap fantasies. It is much easier and "safer" than going through all the work to control those sexual appetites and to save yourself for a life with one person. One will only be satisfied when they give themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ and no longer to the temptations of the flesh. People are taking shortcuts that are sending them off a cliff and into addiction and numbness. Porn is a popular shortcut for millions of people. If you want to read a very good article on pornography in our culture, go here. Also, read this from 1 Corinthians 6: 12 - 20:
"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
People need help. People who are addicted to pornography and endulge in the sexuality of the "flesh" culture need to hear this Word of God. My heart goes out to those who are addicted to porn because they are trapped in fantasies that will never satisfy them. Only Jesus Christ can fill the hole in our hearts. In our Christian lives, there are people who are struggling to fill the void with porn, drugs, alcohol, aggression, and other things. As we flee from sexual immorality, we can tell others how Jesus Christ has completely satisfied our desire for true life and joy by making himself nothing. We have all we need in Jesus Body, chiefly, forgiveness; that is why we eat and drink Christ's body and blood in His Supper.
In Jesus' Name,
Carl
The reason why it is such a relevant topic is because of the vast presence of pornography in our culture. I think most people underestimate how saturated our culture is with porn. There are millions of porn websites and it has crept into the media more and more. Probably 2 in 3 teenagers have been exposed to some level of porn. It is a real problem because it screws up how people relate towards other people. People try to satisfy their deepest desire for intimacy by dishonoring themselves and others with selfish, cheap fantasies. It is much easier and "safer" than going through all the work to control those sexual appetites and to save yourself for a life with one person. One will only be satisfied when they give themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ and no longer to the temptations of the flesh. People are taking shortcuts that are sending them off a cliff and into addiction and numbness. Porn is a popular shortcut for millions of people. If you want to read a very good article on pornography in our culture, go here. Also, read this from 1 Corinthians 6: 12 - 20:
"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
People need help. People who are addicted to pornography and endulge in the sexuality of the "flesh" culture need to hear this Word of God. My heart goes out to those who are addicted to porn because they are trapped in fantasies that will never satisfy them. Only Jesus Christ can fill the hole in our hearts. In our Christian lives, there are people who are struggling to fill the void with porn, drugs, alcohol, aggression, and other things. As we flee from sexual immorality, we can tell others how Jesus Christ has completely satisfied our desire for true life and joy by making himself nothing. We have all we need in Jesus Body, chiefly, forgiveness; that is why we eat and drink Christ's body and blood in His Supper.
In Jesus' Name,
Carl
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
One of those mind blowing days.
Wednesdays are the busy days for me. I have class from 9:30 - 12:30, then an hour for lunch, then class from 1:30 - 4:30, then supper, then over to Concordia for 3 hours of class starting at 6:00. I have started to disregard this fact because my best classes are on Wednesdays. Today I learned some things I will not forget.
First of all, in Principles of Urban Ministry with Rev. Dr. Paul Mueller, we are visiting different non-profit organizations to observe their facilities and learn about their work. Today we visited RS Eden House, an addiction treatment center located a few blocks from my house. 45 guys who have addictions come to the building to change their lives. That may not be their intention when they move in, but as 10 guys told us, they are grateful for the change they have experienced at Eden House. They are all responsible for running the place (cleaning, food, look out for the other brothers) and they can be in for a couple months. When we sat in the circle, all of these guys spoke with genuine excitement and hope about how the program has changed their lives. They have come from broken homes and they struggle with addictions to alcohol, heroin, crack, marijuana, and other drugs. One guy said that he isn't going to be the kind of father that his dad was to him. That was the thing I remember most about listening to those guys. And they all seemed to express high interest in learning about God. It seems like many of them sense a higher power in life, but don't know much about who He is. Those 10 guys probably aren't the only ones that think about that.
I'll maybe write about what I learned in Demographics and Research Method later. I really want to talk about the class discussion in Cross-Cultural Outreach, my night class at Concordia.
On the discussion board online, we responded to a question about the book we just read, Eternity in Their Hearts, by Don Richardson. He writes about his experience in observing how folk religions have had a concept of the Creator God and have often waited hundreds of generations to hear the fulfillment of God's Word, the Gospel of Christ. He says that God prepares the Gospel of Christ for people and He prepares people for the Gospel of Christ. So we responded to this and Justin Downs brought up a good point that folk cultures are different than Western culture. In the midst of this elementary difference, he did agree that everyone has in them, the "imprint" of God. Anyways, when we were talking about how to properly demonstrate Law and Gospel to people, Justin declared that Christians have forgotten how to "BE" the Gospel. We can do a good job of preaching and evangelizing, but we limit the Gospel from being in every part of our lives. Justin pointed out that people in cults do wacko things because they are drawn to participate in close community. It reminds me of Jesus' command, "Love one another. By doing this, people will see that you are my disciples if you love one another."
We don't truly know how to live in community with other Christians. If we did, church wouldn't be a once a week event for many Christians. We do a poor job of communicating the Christian life to unreached people if we are allowed to do our own thing. I think the Church in the West has backed down from facing the threat of individualism. Being the Christian community would be highly uncomfortable and unthinkable for most Christians, but it is something that would radically change the witness of the Church in the world because people would see Christians have joy in gathering together in Jesus' name. Not only does it strengthen the brotherhood, but through it God draws hurting people into a body of believers who care for them.
The eight of us in the classroom had the light bulbs turned on as we tied together the necessity of community in sharing the Good News of Jesus. When I was asked if I sense this kind of community in the U4C house, I had to be honest. I said that I wish that I could say yes, but I have been desiring this Christian community where I could be deeply strengthened and challenged in my faith. In the house here, I do not feel that I can trust the others. I'm not being real with them, and they are not being real with me. Little things annoy me, but I don't know if people would care if I said how I feel. I admitted to my classmates outloud that I don't have that sense of Christian community in my house. It feels weird. Now, I can't write my housemates as being stone cold, because to some extent we are living in community. But to me, it doesn't satisfy me. Tomorrow morning I meet with the other two guys for the weekly accountability meeting. You know, it takes much more than one question a week to help you to overcome a habit. As Justin said, if he were living all the time with a bunch of people who didn't smoke, it would probably influence him to finally quit smoking. So, something is missing here. I am thankful that God has shown me this.
Now the question is, how do we recapture it? How do we "BE" the Gospel with each other? I'm not sure. I am kind of nervous about BEING the Gospel in this house because it seems to be a non-issue. But you know what, it is a non-issue in families, churches, and denominations all across the globe. If the Church ponders this question it will challenge the strong hold that Satan has had on the body of Christ in this nation. I think the answer is found in Scripture in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I will ask of the Lord, not only in this trial but in others, lead me to the next step.
In Jesus' Name,
Carl
First of all, in Principles of Urban Ministry with Rev. Dr. Paul Mueller, we are visiting different non-profit organizations to observe their facilities and learn about their work. Today we visited RS Eden House, an addiction treatment center located a few blocks from my house. 45 guys who have addictions come to the building to change their lives. That may not be their intention when they move in, but as 10 guys told us, they are grateful for the change they have experienced at Eden House. They are all responsible for running the place (cleaning, food, look out for the other brothers) and they can be in for a couple months. When we sat in the circle, all of these guys spoke with genuine excitement and hope about how the program has changed their lives. They have come from broken homes and they struggle with addictions to alcohol, heroin, crack, marijuana, and other drugs. One guy said that he isn't going to be the kind of father that his dad was to him. That was the thing I remember most about listening to those guys. And they all seemed to express high interest in learning about God. It seems like many of them sense a higher power in life, but don't know much about who He is. Those 10 guys probably aren't the only ones that think about that.
I'll maybe write about what I learned in Demographics and Research Method later. I really want to talk about the class discussion in Cross-Cultural Outreach, my night class at Concordia.
On the discussion board online, we responded to a question about the book we just read, Eternity in Their Hearts, by Don Richardson. He writes about his experience in observing how folk religions have had a concept of the Creator God and have often waited hundreds of generations to hear the fulfillment of God's Word, the Gospel of Christ. He says that God prepares the Gospel of Christ for people and He prepares people for the Gospel of Christ. So we responded to this and Justin Downs brought up a good point that folk cultures are different than Western culture. In the midst of this elementary difference, he did agree that everyone has in them, the "imprint" of God. Anyways, when we were talking about how to properly demonstrate Law and Gospel to people, Justin declared that Christians have forgotten how to "BE" the Gospel. We can do a good job of preaching and evangelizing, but we limit the Gospel from being in every part of our lives. Justin pointed out that people in cults do wacko things because they are drawn to participate in close community. It reminds me of Jesus' command, "Love one another. By doing this, people will see that you are my disciples if you love one another."
We don't truly know how to live in community with other Christians. If we did, church wouldn't be a once a week event for many Christians. We do a poor job of communicating the Christian life to unreached people if we are allowed to do our own thing. I think the Church in the West has backed down from facing the threat of individualism. Being the Christian community would be highly uncomfortable and unthinkable for most Christians, but it is something that would radically change the witness of the Church in the world because people would see Christians have joy in gathering together in Jesus' name. Not only does it strengthen the brotherhood, but through it God draws hurting people into a body of believers who care for them.
The eight of us in the classroom had the light bulbs turned on as we tied together the necessity of community in sharing the Good News of Jesus. When I was asked if I sense this kind of community in the U4C house, I had to be honest. I said that I wish that I could say yes, but I have been desiring this Christian community where I could be deeply strengthened and challenged in my faith. In the house here, I do not feel that I can trust the others. I'm not being real with them, and they are not being real with me. Little things annoy me, but I don't know if people would care if I said how I feel. I admitted to my classmates outloud that I don't have that sense of Christian community in my house. It feels weird. Now, I can't write my housemates as being stone cold, because to some extent we are living in community. But to me, it doesn't satisfy me. Tomorrow morning I meet with the other two guys for the weekly accountability meeting. You know, it takes much more than one question a week to help you to overcome a habit. As Justin said, if he were living all the time with a bunch of people who didn't smoke, it would probably influence him to finally quit smoking. So, something is missing here. I am thankful that God has shown me this.
Now the question is, how do we recapture it? How do we "BE" the Gospel with each other? I'm not sure. I am kind of nervous about BEING the Gospel in this house because it seems to be a non-issue. But you know what, it is a non-issue in families, churches, and denominations all across the globe. If the Church ponders this question it will challenge the strong hold that Satan has had on the body of Christ in this nation. I think the answer is found in Scripture in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I will ask of the Lord, not only in this trial but in others, lead me to the next step.
In Jesus' Name,
Carl
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