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Written by Paul Johansson
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Friday, 05 March 2010 09:53 |
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Central Family,
Through the vast majority of the history of the Christian movement, followers of Christ have taken sin very seriously. Christ followers did not want to offend God in thought, word or deed. The recognition and acknowledgement of "sin" was real, and repentance each day was the way to an abundant and joyful life. It seems that today, we do not think much about sin; or "sin" is something some other terrible person is involved in.
As we walk through Lent, how can we repent and reform our lives, if we do not feel the urgency and terrible verdict of the diagnosis: "All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) It seems that we have trivialized sin, or used it as a tool of manipulation. And yet sin is still the PRIMAL PROBLEM of life. Sin is a failure to do God's will, sin is thinking, saying and doing what we ought not to think, say or do. I am not talking about a cumbersome list of "should's and should not's." To the contrary, God has a plan and purpose for each of our lives. God's design for us is greater than we can even imagine. To often we settle for less, or get out of sync with God's design, we hurt (even if we think we are having a great time), and God grieves.
Sin is addictive: thought becomes act, act becomes habit, and habit becomes necessity. Sin is blindness to God, becoming self absorbed and entrapped in a culture that undermines God's plan and ultimately leads to destruction. To acknowledge sin is to be humbled, to recognize our helplessness and powerlessness. This acknowledgment of our weakness is the opening of the door to God's cleansing forgiveness and new life in the Spirit.
Sin is sneaky: our very attempt to avoid sin and be "good people" can be exceedingly sinful. This past week I read an excellent article by Dr. Kalas. He writes, "I remember simple holiness. I met it in my childhood: a series of things that were forbidden. Some of these rules cut into my social life in my high-school years, but they were actually pretty easy to manage. You didn't really need a particularly profound change with in order to obey these rules. They didn't go very deep, and they were quite manageable.
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Lent Reflections - Repentance |
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Written by Paul Johansson
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Saturday, 27 February 2010 06:49 |
Central Family,
Lent is a season of repentance - but shouldn't repentance happen every day of our lives?
One of the realities of our culture is that we have lost a sense of sin - we often explain behaviors in such a way that we do not really come face to face with our sin. We have lowered the bar on what we believe God expects - or we don't have a keen sense that God cares what we do, think, feel or say!
But God does care; God does have standards, and they are quite high. For instance Jesus was opposed to adultery, but raised the bar higher when he said that lust (the engine that drives advertising) in the human heart is adultery and contrary to what God wants for ourselves; Jesus said murder is not good - but raised the bar higher when he revealed the truth that basic anger is murder that kills not only the object of our anger but our own souls. And we could go on and on to show how Jesus took sin very seriously - why it cost him his own life!
Back to repentance! God invites us to repent. One might be tempted to ask; What do I need to repent of? This is precisely the question that needs to be asked. First and foremost we need to find out what God expects and requires of us through study of God's Word, worship and honest prayer. Once we read the Scriptures, worship the Holy God and honestly pray we recognize the chasm or gulf between the life we have arranged for ourselves and the dream God has for us, WE REPENT! Our ongoing mission as Christ's body is to view Scripture as something to model life after!
Repentance is not groveling in guilt, beating ourselves up and feeling justified in our remorse and sorrow; we can do that on our own without God. "In Christ, there is no condemnation" (Romans 8:1) To repent is to make a 180 degree turn, simply to turn around and return home to the Lord God. To repent is to have a change of mind. We begin to think as God thinks; we see our lives from God's perspective. Behaviors change, we are cleansed from inside out, and we discover new life in Christ.
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Written by Paul Johansson
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Tuesday, 16 February 2010 15:40 |
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Central Family,
Tomorrow many of us will gather for worship at 11:00am, 5:00 or 7:00pm. We will come forward and hear the words, 'Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return," as the sign of the cross is marked with ashes on our foreheads. What's going on here? Why do we do this? It is a church thing! It is one of those peculiar things church people do. The origin of some of our Lenten practices go back to the earliest days of church, when potential converts underwent a fast of 40 hours before their baptisms at the Easter Vigil service.
 The 40 hours soon became a tradition of 40 days for prayer, fasting and contemplation. Sometime around the ninth or tenth century, this 40 day Lenten discipline merged with another service the Church had developed several hundred years earlier to help sinners live out their repentance. The first mention of Ash Wednesday is in a seventh-century worship book. Those who had fallen into serious sin - everything from committing adultery to serving in the military to performing magic and occult practices - after confessing that sin were enrolled in an "order of penitents" until they had made restitution. During this time they sat separate from the congregation, sometimes dressed in special clothing, and did not participate in the Lord's Supper. Also they wore ashes on their heads in the spirit of the biblical witness of Numbers 19:9, 17; Hebrews 9:13; Jeremiah 6:26; Daniel 9:3; Jonah 3:6; Matthew 11:21 and Luke 10:13. By the eleventh century the imposition of ashes became a common practice to mark the beginning of Lent in the Western Church. The Eastern Orthodox have never adopted the practice and during the Reformation many protestant churches chose not to continue some of the Lenten traditions.
What's the point? One of the key themes in the imposition of Ashes is repentance. Unlike today, repentance was an involved process in the early church. Sin was not seen as a personal and private matter but as something that destroyed the unity of the church. Individual members of the Church understood the severe consequences of sin and therefore fasted and prayed for the forgiveness of their sins. In addition they appeared before the church to make public confession and were barred from the Lord's Supper until they gave evidence of a change of heart and were absolved. The only exception was for people facing persecution, They were readmitted to the Lord's Supper so they could receive strength.
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Written by Paul Johansson
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 Central Family,
It happens.
A friend from the past will pop up out of nowhere on Facebook inviting me to be their "friend." I have to decide whether to "confirm" them as my friends and click on the confirm button. You have no doubt had this experience more often than me.
In some ways Facebook offers us a great image for the purpose of Central. The message we bring to people is that God, in Jesus Christ, has invited us to be the friend of God. The CROSS is a huge pop up announcing God's invitation to be friend. Everyone has been given this invitation. There is no one God doesn't consider friended and befriended. No one!
Our privilege is to encourage people to hit the CONFIRM icon. Confirm God as a friend. Why wouldn't you want to do that? Until that CONFIRM button is selected, there can be no meaningful conversation, no exchanges, no relationship going forward. In a few days we will gather for Ash Wednesday. We enter the season where the cross plays such a prominent role in the lives of families, the community and world. Let's look for those who have "de-friended" God, and ask them to reconsider. Let's look for those who in are in the midst of difficult times and find it hard to live without God, but don't know how to get started.
You might even want to confirm God as a friend right now! How? Say out loud or to yourself: God, I confrm you as my friend." Mean it, believe it, trust it. And you are on the way to a friendship with God that lasts a lifetime!
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February 7 Ratification Vote at 10:30am |
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Written by Paul Johansson
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Dear Central Family,
Since 2001 Central has taken a number of specific actions in regards to its relationship to the ELCA, which began in 1988. This lengthy journey has led us to this Sunday when the people of Central will gather at 10:30 in the Sanctuary to ratify the vote taken on November 8, 2009. On November 8, 2009 the body of Central voted to "terminate its relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America." Before we gather for this vote I hope we will pause for PRAISE and PRAYER.
PRAISE! Today will you join me in praising God for;
- Central's decision to affiliate with Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ. At the congregational meeting on January 31, 2010 the people of Central voted overwhelmingly to affiliate with LCMC. Your Church Council and Staff are excited about joining with other Lutheran congregations in working together to fulfill Christ's Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations. On a personal level your Pastoral staff will begin the process of affiliating with LCMC and we feel a renewed sense of God's call to lead this particular body.
- 84 new brothers and sisters who joined Central on Sunday, January 31. In Christ's Name, WELCOME!
- Over 500 households that are reading THE HOLE IN OUR GOSPEL as we anticipate our Lenten pilgrimage to the Cross.
- Central's growing generosity as evidenced by General Fund Offerings that are up $49,000 as compared to a year ago at this time. In the 2009 fiscal year Central gave away $361,825.66 to ministries beyond Central. This is an increase of 565% since the fiscal year in 2002 when we gave away $54,438. Why do I compare to 2002? It was at a congregational meeting in the spring of 2002 when we decided to tithe as a congregation. God is indeed faithful!
- The WHY CHURCH and THE GATHERING as they start weekly worship on Sunday, February 14, 2010. The seeds of Odyssey 2010 are bearing fruit so hungry people can be fed by God's Word as they gather for weekly worship.
- 668 individuals who are part of the 2020 Vision in 2010. Do we dare dream what God is going to do in our life together when so many people are reading His Word? One year ago 18% of the 380 Reveal respondents indicated that they read the Bible daily. Praise God for this exponential growth in our relationship to God's Word!
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