I’ve been studying the Psalms for the last two weeks, and would like to share two insights that have really made a big impression on me.
First- 65 of the 150 Pslams are Laments and more than half of the Psalms presuppose crisis. I love this because the Pslams help us to throw off the mask of the shiny happy person, that everything is supposed to be okay, or happens for a reason, and deals with the reality of the pain and suffering in the world and in the human personal experience.
The prayers of the pslams are honest. Raw. Grittty. Angry. Authentic.
They don't confuse fate with faith.
Yet, they still hold to a tenacious faith in God that grounds, centers, and give them hope.
Second- more specific. The cosmic Psalm 148 declares that all of creation, the sun shining, the moon glowing, the stars giving light in the darkness, the trees bearing fruit, the birds singing all give praise to God, and yet it is intimately personal. Both humanity and the cosmos are meant to give praise to God.
You ever wonder how the sun, moon, stars, trees praise God?
Did they sing the latest Shaine and Shaine?
They do what they are meant to do.
The Psalmists do not understand a dualistic spirituality in which we sing praise to God, but our lives are not fulfilling what they are meant to do. All of creation cries out. Humanity is meant to express the beauty, wonder, and purposes of God to care for this world, to express His love, and character to everyone around us.
Praise of God encompasses everything.
Peace
Corey
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Monday, April 09, 2007
Hannah's Playground Adventures
Uh Oh, I'm dangerous now. Thanks to Jeremy Green, I can now compress videos and put them on U Tube. This is very exciting for all those who are family. More videos to follow! This is from our time off at a Pasadena playground below some beautiful mountains. Watch Hannah run and drive drive.
What you've all been waiting for-
Easter Pics
Shiloah's getting bigger too.
I love my beautiful little girls!
Shiloah's getting bigger too.
I love my beautiful little girls!
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Happy Easter
Thankfully, we don't have to stay in hell day forever. Kind of funny though- yesterday was a bit of a hell day for us-- bad weather, Shiloah cried every waking hour non-stop, me and Danielle had some fun opportunities to work through conflict, and then we watched Blood Diamond. We woke up this morning and said to each other, thank God for new beginnings.
I hope you all had a good easter. Hannah stole the show with a new easter dress and shiny new shoes. We had a great time with our community and friends out here.
I am so grateful for the friends we have made here.
Peace
I hope you all had a good easter. Hannah stole the show with a new easter dress and shiny new shoes. We had a great time with our community and friends out here.
I am so grateful for the friends we have made here.
Peace
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Happy Hell Day
A friend of mine just came by to borrow my basketball, and I said, "celebrating hell day by playing basketball?"
I'm not really sure where that came from, but I have been reflecting on the reality that God died and went to hell during this time. This isn't usually the part of the easter weekend we really celebrate too much, but I think we should think about it. We usually think about God going into hell in our place, but I am thinking about it as God coming into the hells of the world, coming into the pain and suffering of the world, coming into our personal hells to bring new life, to bring us real hope. We live in a world where there is a lot of hell for a lot of people, and we follow a God who has been there and back again and I think invites us with Him to bring others hope because we have found a new life.
Happy Hell Day
I'm not really sure where that came from, but I have been reflecting on the reality that God died and went to hell during this time. This isn't usually the part of the easter weekend we really celebrate too much, but I think we should think about it. We usually think about God going into hell in our place, but I am thinking about it as God coming into the hells of the world, coming into the pain and suffering of the world, coming into our personal hells to bring new life, to bring us real hope. We live in a world where there is a lot of hell for a lot of people, and we follow a God who has been there and back again and I think invites us with Him to bring others hope because we have found a new life.
Happy Hell Day
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Seek Justice: Gary Haugen comes to Fuller
I just listened to Gary Haugen speak at Fuller. Very inspirational, normal, looking white dude. He is the founder of the International Justice Mission that seeks to liberate people from oppression throughout the world by engaging the forces that keep them in oppression in very practical ways. He is a lawyer in Washington D.C, and started the Mission after he was commisioned to Rwanda after the genocide in 1994. As he looked at the thousands of corpses he realized that at the moment of their suffering, these people didn't need food, a sermon, a loving community, etc, that they would need at others times and are very important, but they needed someone to restrain the hand of the oppressor. he gave three stories of people (that millions more are like) who are trapped by violent forces that they have been able to liberate- one story about women and children who were forced to carry bricks for 12 hours a day with no hope, one story about sex trafficking of little girls, and one story about police brutality of children. Actually, two of the top 5 struggles of the poor have to do with legal issues- police violence and sex trafficking, and human slavery. Christians have historically been leaders in movements against injustice, but the church has often been very far behind retreating to the private world of faith and maintaining the status quo. (think slavery, civil rights movement)
In his talk today, he gave an urgent call for help. Over the last 100 years, Christians have basically left out the struggle for justice as a part of our mission. We have focused on evangelism and discipleship (5.7 billion a year now), relief of poverty and food (9.4 billion a year now), but basically contribute 0 to justice mission in actually engaging the powers of the world. He showed three circles of Christian missions- first evangelism/discpleship- tons of organizations; relief and development- lots of organizations that have all developed in the last 60 years; 0 social justice organizaions. He asked fuller for help because he believes the church is not adequately prepared to do something about the violence of the world. He called students of Fuller to help equip the church to understand God's truth about justice and his plan to bring shalom, to the earth through His people by engaging both personal private issues and structural, systemic issues. He called out for a generation to move to justice because our God is a God of justice for the oppressed, the orphan, the widow, and a sermon is not going to help them, just giving food and money is not going to help them. We need to give ourselves- our creativity, our energy, our imaginations, and our actions to expressing the character of God's justice. As paul says, "be prepared for action." God's plan to engage the powers of the world is his church, you and me, the people that His Holy Spirit dwells within.
It seems that there is a lot of lawyers with important roles to play in the future, and lots of ordinary radicals who need to rise up and move to action.
I remember reading his book in college, and it was a big paradigm shifter for me. (good news about injustice) Before that I really struggled with the grace/works paradgim that doing justice or good works is just trying to earn God's love and we need to receive God's grace. This made me often fearful and passive to act with conviction and confidence because I may be tryint to earn God's love. While I think many people do think they need to earn God's love and this is a trap, I think the real question people are asking is what difference does God make? So if God loves me, but what does He want for me and from me? I have learned that God's grace has chosen to be sent to express His character. We have been created and chosen with something to give to this world. We are saved to be sent. We are saved to participate. We are saved to take part in God's desires, intetions, Kingdom to put this world back together and bring His healing in all forms to this world before He finally returns to restore all things. When we move in this way, when we are asked to participate in what God is doing, we might actually find out that we actually need God because we cannot do what He is asking us without Him.
Well, there is a big vision, what it looks like is for communities of ordinary radicals to discern in their time and place---
In his talk today, he gave an urgent call for help. Over the last 100 years, Christians have basically left out the struggle for justice as a part of our mission. We have focused on evangelism and discipleship (5.7 billion a year now), relief of poverty and food (9.4 billion a year now), but basically contribute 0 to justice mission in actually engaging the powers of the world. He showed three circles of Christian missions- first evangelism/discpleship- tons of organizations; relief and development- lots of organizations that have all developed in the last 60 years; 0 social justice organizaions. He asked fuller for help because he believes the church is not adequately prepared to do something about the violence of the world. He called students of Fuller to help equip the church to understand God's truth about justice and his plan to bring shalom, to the earth through His people by engaging both personal private issues and structural, systemic issues. He called out for a generation to move to justice because our God is a God of justice for the oppressed, the orphan, the widow, and a sermon is not going to help them, just giving food and money is not going to help them. We need to give ourselves- our creativity, our energy, our imaginations, and our actions to expressing the character of God's justice. As paul says, "be prepared for action." God's plan to engage the powers of the world is his church, you and me, the people that His Holy Spirit dwells within.
It seems that there is a lot of lawyers with important roles to play in the future, and lots of ordinary radicals who need to rise up and move to action.
I remember reading his book in college, and it was a big paradigm shifter for me. (good news about injustice) Before that I really struggled with the grace/works paradgim that doing justice or good works is just trying to earn God's love and we need to receive God's grace. This made me often fearful and passive to act with conviction and confidence because I may be tryint to earn God's love. While I think many people do think they need to earn God's love and this is a trap, I think the real question people are asking is what difference does God make? So if God loves me, but what does He want for me and from me? I have learned that God's grace has chosen to be sent to express His character. We have been created and chosen with something to give to this world. We are saved to be sent. We are saved to participate. We are saved to take part in God's desires, intetions, Kingdom to put this world back together and bring His healing in all forms to this world before He finally returns to restore all things. When we move in this way, when we are asked to participate in what God is doing, we might actually find out that we actually need God because we cannot do what He is asking us without Him.
Well, there is a big vision, what it looks like is for communities of ordinary radicals to discern in their time and place---
Time Off is Over
We had a great week together as a family last week. I got to spend a lot of time chasing my little todler all over pasadena as well as getting to hold Lo-Lo a lot, and go on walks with my wife. We also had a good time with friends, Steve and Marianna and their kids Ethan and Andrew, the Medhursts, and then took the big risk of going out of town down towards San Diego to stay at a friends family house that overlooks the water and the mountains. It was beautifuly, although a bit...stressful travelling with the two little ones. I am really glad we got out of Pasadena, though. I was reminded of how much beauty is in California and how much a simple change of scenery can give me a breath of fresh air. we talked to a lady at a park in pasadena that said she moved four miles in town, and it totally changed her priorities. I think this is pretty profound. I want to build better rhytms into my life of getting out of my environment and being outside with my family in the quiet. I think this will help me to love the busy city even more.
Here are some pics:
Peace
Corey
Here are some pics:
Peace
Corey
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Family Update
Little Lo-Lo turned 5 weeks yesterday which was very exciting. Hannah is adjusting to not having family around right now, and still wants all the attention. I finished 5 projects to finish the Winter quarter Friday, and was really looking forward to just relaxing for the night with my wife, but then I remembered that is no longer my life because we have two crying little girls. I love them so much, but sometimes we long for some peace and quiet. It's harder with two. We have a week off of class, and then my last full quarter at Fuller starts up Monday!
Here are some pics
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Here are some pics
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