Where I Am Going You Can’t Follow
“Where I am going, you cannot come.” (John 13:33) The night before Jesus was arrested he sat down to a meal with His disciples. It wasn’t like other meals, it was a festival meal. Jews call it “Seder,” a traditional meal that is of the most important Jewish celebration of the year, the festival of Passover. Besides just eating, the main point of the meal is to recount the story of God saving the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. Our congregation will replay this meal in mini form on Friday night as we take communion together. A few days before Jesus ate this meal with his disciples he had...
Read MoreSeahawk Style Church
“Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Corinthians 13:11) I brought it up a few months ago in a sermon, but as Greg Yee shared with us this weekend I was reminded of a blaring discrepancy that exists in my life (and probably yours.) What if we were as excited about Jesus as we were about the Seahawks playing in (and winning) the Superbowl? Thousands of complete strangers were dancing, singing, hugging, and high-fiving until the early hours of the morning in...
Read MoreWho is my neighbor?
In Luke 10, “Who is my neighbor?” was the question of a man trying to “get out of” something. Out of responsibility, out of being burdened, out of caring for too many or too much. In Redmond WA that same question could change the way you and I think about our entire lives. Christians are meant to ask that question as a way to get “into” something. A way to get into what it means to love the Lord with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. A Way to get into the life giving reality of being, as the Apostle Paul suggests in almost the entire New Testament, IN Christ. Who is my neighbor? Is a...
Read MoreRigorous and Charitable
The Bible is not written to you, but it is for you, and about you. Klyne Snodgrass, a professor of mine at North Park Theological Seminary probably said that to me (and every other student at NPTS) a hundred times. Klyne is one of the hardest working people I’ve met, and one of the hardest professors: he demands a lot from his students, any student of Klyne’s will tell you that taking a class of his means that you are in for a lot of late nights, thick books, and careful hard work. He’s not power hungry, or sadistic, he wasn’t trying to torture us lowly brained Seminarians to see which of us...
Read MoreHoly and Ordinary
Revelation 4-5 I mentioned in my sermon this week an idea that I thought might be a good illustration of the sermon topic. By now it is known simply as the infamous “no coffee or bagels” idea. In case you missed us on Sunday it went something like this: Instead of actually setting out coffee and bagels we just put out directions to a coffee shop and a bagel shop. If people are so concerned with coffee and bagels they could go directly to the source. We could also set out a sign that pointed to the sanctuary which said “Worship of the one true God this way.” It seems simple enough to me… want...
Read MoreSunday is …
”Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.’” (Acts 5:29-32) The last half of Acts 5 is a pretty important part of the Christian story. The Church, the followers of Jesus are out in the world doing things on their own, the movement is...
Read MoreFans, Bring Your “A” Game
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100) True confession time: you...
Read MoreDomesticated
Last weekend I spent a few days meeting with youth pastors from around our conference: Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. One of the pastors was visually impaired and sitting faithfully by her side all weekend was her guide dog: a handsome eight- year-old black lab. If you’ve ever met a service dog, you know they are really something to behold; they are very well trained, very behaved, unflappable, un-excitable, they almost don’t care about what social things are going on around them. This dog was no different. There could have been a riot outside and it would have just patiently gone...
Read MoreIdentity and Arguments
On Sunday I preached about what is one of the hottest, most contested, divisive topics in American Christianity: Masculinity and the Church. The Church, since its inception, has always had issues to deal with, hot topics to address, moral and societal issues to take to task. In fact a large portion of the New Testament is the apostle Paul (and others) aiming their wisdom and leadership at prescriptively addressing these issues. Read Galatians… ‘nough said. For us, for Creekside, no matter what the issue at hand our response should always be the same: we should return to Scripture, pray for...
Read MoreSent
“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues.” (Matthew 10:16-17) In Matthew 10 Jesus spends most of a chapter describing to his disciples how difficult being sent to do Kingdom work is. He doesn’t sugar coat it much. According to Jesus following him will result in beatings and family betrayal. Jesus lays it all out, and then in essence says you will either follow me or you won’t. For most American young people that grow up going...
Read More