First Sunday of Advent

**This post originally appears on our church's Advent blog. Feel free to check in with that one as well throughout the season.**

Zechariah 14:4-9

On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives , east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake inthe days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

On that day there will be no sunlight, no cold, frosty darkness. It will be a unique day - a day known only to the Lord - with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light.

On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterrean Sea, in summer and in winter.

The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

The first Sunday of Advent represents the hope of redemption. We relive with the historic people of Israel the anxious waiting they did for the anointed one (Messiah). At the same time, we ourselves are waiting for the final redemption of all creation.

The passage from Zechariah illustrates the now and later aspect of redemption. Zechariah's words depict a deliverance from exile - a harsh reality for the Israelites - and yet something they've experienced before. (Note how God will part a mountain in order to deliver the people - eerily similar to how the Red Sea had been parted in Exodus.) But also in Zechariah's words are pictures of a day that needs no light and filled with living water, a day where God is God and no other name can stand. God would deliver his people from exile, but there is still more to come.

What are you waiting for this Advent season? Are you waiting in line to get the best deals? Are you waiting on the interstate in holiday traffic? Are you waiting on loved ones to come home?

As you wait, reorient your heart towards the One who is coming.

Read Along

We are currently in the season of Kingdomtide in the Church Calendar. This is a time to focus on the ministry and person of Jesus. Every fall, Asbury Seminary publishes a common text reader for students with the goal that we will learn about the kingdom together by reading together. This reader is also published daily online at www.asburyreader.com. I encourage you to bookmark it and read along. Below is an excerpt:

p r e p a r e t h e w a y f o r t h e l o r d
a prelude to kingdomtide

Three hundred years of Heaven‘s silence. Not a word. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, enters the greatest prophet of them all, the forerunner of God, and the floodgates of Heaven open. Words literally begin falling from the sky like rain. John, “The Baptist" emerges at the river‘s edge declaring a message as hot as it was hopeful. His urgent message reverberates through the labyrinthine corridors of history, reaching back to Isaiah yet echoing from the locked gates of lost Eden.

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

...click to keep reading.

The End of the Beginning, part 2

Our time Oxford started with a great deal of excitement, but also with a fair share of fear and trepidation. In a six month time period, we were going to experience a new home, new positions, new friends, new church, and a new baby. Somewhere there's a chart of the most stressful things that people have to deal with and I think all these are in the top 20 (if not 10). We will always look back fondly of that first year in Oxford, but I look back now and realize it was very much a honeymoon period for us.

This is especially true of the ministry at Wesley.

I came in with grand ideas, plans, and expectations. I had just come from seminary, after all, and I was feeling pretty confident in my ability to run a top notch ministry. All my ideas, though, quickly fell by the wayside when I realized what the ministry (and the running of the ministry) was versus what I had expected. There's not enough room to here to go in to detail, but suffice it to say that while I was excited about where God had led us that first year, I was also disappointed and frequently frustrated.

One expectation that did not match up has to do with how I perceived myself when we got to Oxford. In my overconfidence and naivete, I expected to be the teacher for the students, the one imparting wisdom and guidance, the one leading and inspiring. This is what it means to be a leader, right? While some of those things might have been true, I see myself now more as the student, not the teacher, a follower, not a leader, and a journeyman, not one who has arrived. My role as campus minister has more to do with listening to students than telling them things, and empowering them to be leaders by first being faithful followers...through my example as a follower of Christ.

Forty hours of classes, three years, and two kids later, I am finishing my seminary career. I am once again reminded of the seedbed, and now I understand what I didn't understand three years ago. While the seminary is a special seedbed, a unique season of learning and growing; the life of ministry is one as well. Sometimes we (as ministers) get so caught up in helping others grow that we fail to see how God is trying to grow us as well. But we need to see each ministry opportunity, each season of life, as its own seedbed and be asking God:

What are you trying to teach me? Am I being teachable? Forgive me for not seeing what you want me to see, or hearing what you want me to hear. Open my eyes that I might see, my ears that I might hear, my heart that I might be truly transformed in to the likeness of your Son.

The End of the Beginning, part 1

96 credit hours + 35 classes + 23 As + 9 Bs {3 classes were Pass/Fail - I passed all 3} + 5 years = 1 degree.

Five years ago, Corrie and I had just moved back to Wilmore, KY. We had been married just over a month, and within the next few days I would be going back to school. I had spent the previous year as an intern for Wesley here in Oxford as a way of confirming my call to ministry (and to be close to Corrie - whew, glad that worked). Now, I was about to start Asbury Theological Seminary - a more formal way of beginning my life as a vocational minister.

We lived in a basement apartment just behind

Asbury College. In fact, I even did laundry in my old dorm a few times because it was closer (and cheaper) than the laundromat. The basement was maybe 500 square feet, and as I started school, our income came from Corrie teaching adjunct English classes, and I working part-time for a church in downtown Lexington.

I remember listening to JD Walt during New Student Orientation talk about how seminary comes from the word seminarius, meaning "seed bed". He went on to say that seminary is much more than a place to learn about God, but it is a place where we begin a season of growth to really come to know God.

As I went to my first classes, I could see that what JD said was true. I sat in awe of my professors; they had spent their lives studying, writing, and living in their respective fields of study. They were so knowledgeable, so published, so well known, but more than that, I could tell that they really desired to know God.

My dad thinks seminary is a place that teaches you to grow facial hair to be more like Jesus. He's half right - it is a place to learn to be more like Jesus (I grew the goatee just because). Many think seminary is a place to learn theological terms, theories of biblical interpretation, ancient languages, and pastoral counseling skills. As if it's the vo-tech for pastors. But seminary is much more; seminary is place to be fed from the rich resources of Christian tradition, passed down from those who first heard, saw, and touched (1 John 1:1) the minstry of Jesus to those who faithfully give their lives to teaching it to men and women called of to God lead the Church.

Just after a year of living back in Wilmore, Corrie got the itch to start the process toward her PhD. Soon after that we received word that the Wesley position at Ole Miss was going to be hiring for the next year. We began to pray about our next steps. We didn't really want to live in Mississippi (10 and 12 hours away from our families), and I wasn't sure I was ready for a full-time ministry position. God called us anyway. With 56 of 96 hours complete, and no full-time ministry experience, we moved back to Oxford from Wilmore on July 1, 2006. Corrie received a full fellowship from Ole Miss to pursue her PhD, and we were expecting our first baby the following January.

to be continued...

40 Days of Prayer for Campus Ministry

Yesterday marked the beginning of 40 Days of Prayer for Campus Ministry. I hope you will join with us in praying for campuses, students, and ministers. A prayer guide can be downloaded here, and you can also follow it on facebook and twitter.

Pray for Campus Ministry

I am a campus minister. Many people try to describe what I do as "youth ministry". No offense to youth ministers, but NO. It's not youth ministry.

A campus minister picks up where the youth minister leaves off because we are on the college campus, where the students are taking the next steps in their journey. We're also different from youth ministry because many youth go to church because their parents want them to. The new found freedom of college life means not doing those things anymore, and (as statistics show) church/church-related activities are one of the first things to go. So I minister to students who truly desire to grow in their faith as well as those who are searching and wondering what this crazy life is all about.

There are campus ministries on every college campus in the United States, but they often fly under the radar, go unnoticed, and receive very little praise or attention. But it is these ministries that are producing the next generation of leaders in the church.

I am a campus minister with the United Methodist Church, and some of us are committing to pray for campus ministry for 40 days as we head in to a new school year. We are inviting you to pray with us, and if you'd like to lean more, please visit this site. The more we pray, the more students' lives will be transformed by God's grace through our ministries.

Read. This. Book.

I don't usually recommend books I've read for my seminary classes, but I just finished a book I think everyone should read. It's not a distinctly Christian book (meaning you probably won't find it in LifeWay or Family Christian), but it is about Christianity...or rather the power of living our faith faithfully.

Same Kind of Different as Me is a the story of a sharecropper turned homeless man and a wealthy Texas art dealer whose lives intertwine at a homeless shelter in Fort Worth. If I tell you much more, I'll ruin the story.

But I will tell you that this is more than a story. There are complex issues addressed in this book, issues of wealth and poverty, issues of race, and issues of faith. Though it reads pretty easy, it is not for the faint of heart.

The Meaning of the Ham and Eggs

Yesterday, I tweeted this:

Many people give eggs, but we're called to give ham.

Since then, several people have wondered what it was all about. Well, yesterday at church, the preacher gave an illustration in relation to Romans 12:1-3. It went something like this....

On a farm, there was a Chicken and Pig talking about how thankful they were for the farmer. The Chicken had the idea of cooking breakfast for the farmer the next day. She said, "I'll sponsor the eggs if you'll sponsor the ham." The Pig thought for a minute, and then said, "I like the idea, but you only have to give eggs, I have to make the ultimate sacrifice."

As Christians, we are called to give ham. The passage in Romans, the words of Jesus in Mark 8:34-38, and Peter's command to be holy as God is holy all reflect the idea that we are meant to give our whole lives to Christ, not just parts.

Food for thought.

More than a Feeling, Part 2

We studied infant baptism in my Theology of John Wesley class this semester. We read an excellent lecture and essay on the topic, which I believe is the best treatment of infant baptism I've ever read.

One way to think about infant baptism is to see it as the circumcision of the new covenant. Now, we all know that circumcision is not required to be a Christian, Paul has made that argument very clear. What I mean is that circumcision was also a way of being initiated and identified as one of God's people. It is analogous to baptism in that way. Here is how I put it in a response I wrote for my class:

The Bible is filled with analogous relationships. The almost-sacrifice of Isaac foreshadows the sacrifice of Jesus, the Israelites deliverance from Egypt and desert wanderings foreshadow the life, baptism, and ministry of Jesus, David as King is the type that Jesus ultimately fulfills…I could go on and on. Therefore, the argument that baptism in the NT is like circumcision in the OT makes perfect sense. Circumcision was a part of the original covenant with Abraham so that God’s people might have an outward sign of the inward grace of the covenant. Once the church was established and the new covenant replaced the old covenant, baptism became the new outward sign of the inward grace, the one thing that marked God’s people as different in the world. What must be remembered when it comes to infant baptism is that it is a sign that the child is being initiated in to the community, to be raised by the community, in the common faith. Infant baptism is meant to be followed up by teaching from the community about the faith so that the child can one day receive faith on his/her own, at which time the baptism covenant will be confirmed.

I'm open to your thoughts. Feel free to leave comments if you like.

More than a Feeling, Part 1

(Pastor Pat and Ezra, and Kevin)

On Easter Sunday, we had Ezra baptized. We picked Easter because it is the traditional day of the Church (early church) receiving new members in to the community. The phenomena of membership as we know it today (walking down the aisle or coming forward to be received on any given Sunday) is actually quite new and quite American. Anyone who wanted to join the early church had to first go through instruction (catechism) about what it means to be a follower of Christ, and then if they still believed, they were baptized and confirmed as members.

As far as anyone can tell, infant baptism has always been practiced by the church. Many believe the New Testament only shows believers' baptism by immersion, but these are just baptism's most explicit references.

For instance, when Peter goes to Cornelius' house after his vision of food in Acts 10, we are told that Cornelius' entire household was baptized. I think it is reasonable to assume that there might have been small children or infants in the house who were also baptized. There are other implicit examples as well, just pay attention as you read.

In the early church, baptism was not just about making a profession of faith, but it was about being initiated in to the community of faith. It was about being identified as belonging to those who believe. As my sons, Isaiah and Ezra are part of the community of faith because I am part of the community of faith. Eventually, they will have to make that decision on their own, and I hope that when that day comes they will confirm their place in the community. But until then, they have been baptized as a way to signify the grace that God is already extended to them...even though they don't understand it yet.

Eastertide

After a stormy Easter Sunday afternoon, today could not be any more spring like. The sun is shining, the grass is green, the skies are blue, birds are singing, and the smell of spring is in the air. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure this is what it was like the day after the Resurrection. God knows how to set a scene, c'mon.

We are now in the season of Eastertide. We would do well to remember that Easter is not just one day on the Christian calendar, but a 40 day period of appearances followed by a 10 day wait for Pentecost. I hope to write periodic Eastertide posts over the next 50 days, this being the first.

We've been listening to Andrew Peterson's new CD Resurrection Letters Vol. II pretty consistently for about 6 months now. He's one of our favorites and I encourage you to check him out. Here's a line from one of my favorites on the album:

You have crushed beneath your heel the vile serpent.
You have carried to the grave the black stain.
You have torn apart the temple’s holy curtain.
You have beaten Death at Death’s own game.
Hosanna!

May we live in the reality of a crushed serpent this Easter season!

Note: AP is going to be in Birmingham Thursday night at Shades Mountain Baptist Church. If you live close by, you should go. Cancel all other plans and go. Just go. Do it for me. Go. And tell him Corrie, D. and Matthew say hello!

Seasonal Resources

I take the seasons of the church year pretty seriously. I usually read some kind of devotional books during times like Lent and Advent as a way to bring more focus to my life. I think Lent has become one of my favorite ones over the past few years because it's the only one we get to fully experience together at Wesley. So I thought I would give you a glimpse of what I'm reading.


This is a blog of Asbury Seminary, which gives a Lenten reading everyday. It will also give readings during Eastertide (because Easter is more than just one day long). Additionally, there is a devotional thought or quote from one of the great saints of the faith.


I've owned this little book for almost ten years. I pull it out about once a year as a guide for just reading the Bible, but also for reading the Lectionary passages every Sunday.

As a reminder, I continually update my bookshelf on the lower right side of my blog. It gives you a look at what I'm reading for school but also for fun.

Farewell Flesh

You ever wonder what the big deal with Mardi Gras is?

My friend and former roommate Swaim had a great blog post about the origin of the word carnival. It means, "farewell meat/flesh". Mardi Gras is also known as Fat Tuesday, and the reason it is such a carnival is because it precedes the season of Lent in the church calendar.

Most of us are familiar with Lent because it is the annual giving up of chocolate, soda, or various other legally addictive products. We say farewell to those things on Mardi Gras - the last day to indulge before abstaining for 40+ days until Easter.

So what are you giving up?

This year I am really trying to figure out how to say farewell to the flesh during Lent. What is it in my life that I feel like I cannot live without? What is something that I have allowed to take control over me, instead of me over it? That's what it means to deprive the flesh. I have come up with a few things I am going to say farewell to over Lent, but one in particular will be harder than the others. twitter.Many of you may not understand twitter and always wonder why really random comments keep showing up on the right side of my blog. But twitter is a way to connect with people, as well as a way to chronicle what's going on in your life. It's a micro-blog. Micro because you're limited to 140 characters per entry. But you can share pictures, music, links, news...whatever! For instance, here is a list of some of the updates I receive on twitter:

• AsburySeminary
• BravesMLB
• dukebasketball
• compassion
• emergentvillage
• Sojourners
• tapdraw
• statedog
• lorimerricks
• Twiturgy

These are just 10 of 92 things/people I follow on twitter. So why am I giving this up?

Reason #1: It is an addiction. I check twitter more times per day than I check email and facebook combined. Whenever I pull my iPhone out of my pocket, it's the first thing I click. I am not in control of twitter anymore, it controls me.

Reason #2: I want more time. This semester I have a full-time job, a wife, 2 kids, and 3 seminary classes. I need all the time I can get. And I also need personal time. Time to be a husband. Time to be a dad. Time to think. Time to write. Time to read. Time to be with God. Time to just be.

Reason #3: I need order in my life. My life feels a little out of control right now. I have to work extra hard to keep everything going, and it's not easy. Twitter is like the chaos of my life...all the updates just keep coming and there's nothing you can do to stop them. If you go too long without reading it, you find yourself way behind and spending way too much time trying to catch up. If I can give up twitter, one form of chaos, then I feel I can find order throughout.

Reason #4: Jesus demands it. He demands that we give up what we think we can't live without. Just look at Luke 9:23-27 and also Luke 9:57-62. In each case, Jesus calls for a radical denial of what we think is important so that we can follow him. For me right now, it's twitter.

And so, I say farewell twitter. See you April 13. Happy Mardi Gras!

Who is John Wesley?

HT to my friend Ashlee for posting this:

Kevin Watson at http://deeplycommitted.com has started an experiment to see how much social capital Methodist bloggers have. This experiment was prompted by the feeling among some Methodist bloggers that United Methodism does not always do as good of a job as it could at getting the Wesleyan message out there, particularly on-line. So, he wants to see how many views a YouTube video can get if Methodist bloggers work together to promote it. The experiment is to see how many hits the video will receive in two weeks.

If you want to participate you can: First, watch the video below. Second, copy and paste this entire post into a new post on your blog and post it. Third, remind people about this experiment in one week.

Based on the results of the experiment, Kevin will get in touch with the folks at Discipleship Resources and let them know the ways in which Methodist bloggers are often an underused resource.

Charity vs Ministry

"But blessed are your eyes, because they see; 

and your ears, because they hear."

-Matthew 13:16

"But is there need of visiting them in person? May we not relieve them at a distance? Does it not answer the same purpose if we send them help as if we carry it ourselves?" Many are so circumstanced that they cannot attend the sick in person; and where this is the real case it is undoubtedly sufficient for them to send help, being the only expedient they can use. But this is not properly visiting the sick; it is another thing. The word which we render visit, in its literal acceptation, means to look upon. And this, you well know, cannot be done unless you are present with them. To send them assistance is, therefore, entirely a different thing from visiting them. The former, then, ought to be done, but the latter not left undone...If you do not, you lose a means of grace; you lose an excellent means of increasing your thankfulness to God, who saves you from this pain and sickness, and continues your health and strength; as well as of increasing your sympathy with the afflicted, your benevolence, and all social affections.

-John Wesley, On Visiting the Sick

The above excerpt from one of Wesley's sermons is one of the most powerful points I've read of his. This past summer I took a class called, "The Poor and Wesley's Social Ethic", which took an intentional look at how Wesley ministered to and treated the poor of his time. It's important to note that in 18th century England, almost everyone was poor, so the topic is not just one of special interest, but vital to understanding his overall ministry. The quote can be summed up as saying, "It is not enough to send help, you must also BE the help." Many good Christians in Wesley's time preferred to financially support the poor and disadvantaged, but not actually interact with them personally. Wesley called them to account, and said that foregoing personal visitation was the same as foregoing a means of grace, an encounter with God.

I am challenged by these words because it's easy to say that I care about people who are struggling, but am I willing to step out and help them, and even more, meet them personally?

Corrie and I take this challenge very seriously. While in Lexington, we volunteered regularly with an organization called Movable Feast. Everyday meals were prepared for Hospice patients and those suffering from AIDS and HIV related illnesses, and volunteers would show up to deliver these meals to the homes of those patients. I can only imagine how humbling/humiliating it is to have your dinner delivered every night - it is a constant reminder that I can't cook anymore, I can't afford it anymore, I can't live a normal life anymore. But it is equally humbling to be the deliverer, the one who knocks and says, "It's your dinner!", and not knowing who will open the door. Is it a Hospice nurse or is it a transvestite? Corrie and I were introduced to parts of Lexington we never knew existed. Our eyes were opened.

And this is the point of Wesley's sermon. Our eyes need to be opened, but that can only happen through personal engagement. That's the difference between charity and ministry. Charity gives, but it is an empty giving because there is no relationship involved. Ministry is giving in the context of love and relationship, love of God and love of neighbor. How can we know who needs God's love and truth spoken in to their lives, if we are not willing to have our eyes opened?

Now we live in Oxford. Oxford is a deceptive place. On the outside, it is affluent, academic, and attractive. But just drive down Price Hill Road, South 18th Street, or North 7th Street and you'll see a different story. Corrie and I can see these places because we've had our eyes opened. And now that they're open we can do something about it. We have found Manna, a ministry of the local Episcopal church that takes meals every Thursday to Oxford's poorest neighborhoods. And now we take Isaiah because we want him to grow up with his eyes opened as well. Who says a 21 month old can't be a minister?

fathertide?

Yeah, I made it up.

Whenever tide is used as a suffix (at the end of a word), it denotes a specified time or season. This is mostly seen within the context of the Church calendar, like Eastertide or Kingdomtide.

I am in the season of fatherhood, hence fathertide. Though I am a campus minister by vocation and calling, a husband, a brother, a son, a grandson, a nephew, etc. etc...It is in being a father that I find profound insights about life and faith. Who knew you could learn so much from a 20 month old? Who knew that reading Rudolph's Surprise Party in mid-September (5x in a row, 2 days in a row) could teach me about patience?

That's why I'm blogging. Fathertide is not just about what I will teach my sons (the second one is coming at the end of January), but about what they will teach me.