An acquaintance recently linked to article about recent Muslim attacks on Christians in Pakistan. They understandably asked, “In light of events like these, is dialog even possible?” (paraphrase).

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Dialog is always possible, because all things are possible with God.

As we live into our Christ-identity as peacemakers, we must have faith. The Holy Spirit will do his work.

We may indeed die in the process, but we have the hope of resurrection.

Isn’t that the example of the cross, and aren’t we called to follow Jesus there?

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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

God does use tradition to communicate his will and make his voice known. Tradition is any teaching, thought, or practice that is handed down or passed on. It could be a ritual, interpretive framework or a specific view on what a passage of Scripture means. The Bible itself is an example of God working through tradition (cf. 2 Thes 2:15), along with the development of doctrines derived from the Bible like the Trinity.

Christians evaluate all traditions (Col 2:8; 1 Thes 5:21) and it is the Holy Spirit that reveals to the community of faith whether or not a tradition is from God. Historically we see the church working in a communal and conciliar way to hear from the Holy Spirit on controversies of faith, from the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-21) onward. (more…)

Christian parenting isn’t easy. Several books I’ve read or skimmed recently speak of reminding our children of who they are in Christ…something I’ve not put a lot of thought into until recently. Once I did actually think about it for a bit, it made sense that this is an essential part of discipling our children, just as it’s an essential part of training all who are seeking to grow in their Christian faith.

Core to Christian discipleship is living into one’s new identity as a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). It’s something we need to be reminded of often, and I think we forget that our children need these reminders as much as we do. (more…)

Today I was reminded of just how important it is to be motivated by overflowing love from God.

When you preach and teach and lead musical worship, are you loving your congregations and those you are communicating with?

When you engage in one-on-one discipleship, is love fueling your leadership?

Are your efforts to evangelize emerging from a profound love for those that haven’t yet heard the Good News about Jesus?

All effective ministry, and indeed all ministry that is pleasing to God springs from deep wells of love that can only come from him.

Why do anything, if not for love?

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. (1 John 2:10, ESV)

Is the kind of “radical” Christianity advocated by the likes of Francis Chan and David Platt just another way for Christians to rely on and emphasize their own efforts over the grace of God? For Anthony Bradley at WORLD the answer may be yes. For those of you that are interested in the new wave of “taking Jesus seriously” I highly recommend reading the article.

Bradley offers two valid criticisms:

1)      There’s a lot of “shaming” going on around “radical” living. Some of the popular books can come across as a guilt trip. While I think this critique holds weight, I’d hate to see the Christian culture throw out what is of value in writings of Platt and Chan.

Although these books are pretty reactionary (as the author notes) they do address what I perceive to be an issue for many Christians: an unwillingness to follow Jesus even when it means being unsafe.

In my own life I’ve been challenged by this thinking. If living in a “safe” neighborhood is outside my means, should I live there? If it is within my means, but would prohibit me from being able give generously to those that hungry in my community, should I live there? These are not questions with black-and-white answers, of course, but they are questions that need to be asked, and I’m afraid many Christians never ask them, much less consider the risky answer as viable. Books like Crazy Love remind us that our faith is not that is adverse to danger and sacrifice.

2)      The push to urban centers weakens the Church elsewhere. We need Christians in cities, no doubt, but I agree with the author that this shouldn’t mean we act as if this is a higher calling than rural or suburban Christian life.

The author talks about a possible solution to the pendulum swings between “comfy Christianity” and “radical Christianity” is a recovery of the doctrine of vocation. Learning about the Lutheran view of vocation was huge for me personally a few years ago, so I get where he’s coming from. I think it has to be part of a larger push toward renewed discipleship in the church at large, though. A doctrine of vocation won’t do it without understanding all of the teachings of Christ along with their implications for doctrine and community life.

• Pray before, during, and after conversations
• Listen
• Be humble
• Have an open mind
• Don’t interrupt
• Think before you speak
• Squash your insecurities
• Avoid defensiveness
• Realize your need to be right is wrong
• Know that you could be mistaken, misinformed, or simply ignorant on some topics
• Seek to understand
• Ask many questions
• Become skilled at articulating your own convictions
• Assume the best of conversation partners
• Recognize when to stop
• Have a Bible handy
• Take care with your tone of voice (both in-person and especially in writing)
• Remember that if we do not love each other, we do not love God (1 John 4:7-8).

I’ve had some fantastic discussions lately with friends and acquaintances around theology. Over the past few days I’ve been able to really dig into difficult topics like defining the Gospel, the doctrine of Justification by Faith, and the peace teachings of Jesus.

It’s become readily apparent that these conversations are incredibly important for everyone involved. Not only does speaking about the Bible and God ignite interest and promote learning of new things, it also helps to ensure that we are not reading the Scriptures in a “vacuum.” (more…)

Our culture is obsessed with busyness. The more and more I live and work here in the United States, the more apparent this becomes. A “strong work ethic” means basically working yourself to death. It seems that in many places it’s just expected that you’ll be sacrificing friends and family when you enter “the real world.” Perhaps we save enough to pay for our kids’ college education, but I’m not sure we’ve counted the cost of losing precious time with them. Maybe we can afford that TV and even a bit of travel with our spouse, but we’ve lost everyday connections.

And God forbid you take a break and have fun once in a while. As a society we’ve developed a sense of guilt over taking vacations, asking for time off, etc. To balance work with rest seems to be received as lazy by many.

Why? None of this is necessary, unless you buy into the rest of the lies American culture tells you about what an “acceptable” standard of living is and what you have to do to get there.

Going deeper: being busy all the time is also another way to avoid conflict, live in denial, and keep yourself from becoming vulnerable to other people.

A life marked by constant busyness, with no rhythm of rest, is a sure way to love people less.

It seems like we Christians are some of the worst at this too. We expect our clergy to be on the clock 24/7 and bury ourselves in programs “for the Kingdom.” The destructive effects of this on our ministries and families is painfully obvious…just do some research on “pastor burnout.”

Shauna Niequist posts over at the Storyline blog:

Today, I want to communicate to my kids, through my words and my actions, that we don’t always have to be hustling, plates don’t always have to be spinning, balls don’t always have to be in the air.

Me too.