Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller

This was my first experience with Donald Miller. I know, it baffles the mind does it not? That I made it completely through college where Blue Like Jazz was passed around from student to student like a Hookah at a house party.

At any rate, the book itself was an easy-to-read attempt to break, not only the presentation of the Gospel into easy to understand terms, but also the way we (by we I mean the Church as a whole) perceive the Scriptures. (Have I bored you yet? I promise, the book itself is not as boring as I am making it out to be) While, for the most part, I can get behind what Miller is stating throughout the book, I do think taking the theological aspect out of our perception of Scripture is a dangerous road to walk down. In his defense, he does mention the necessity of theological study in his afterword, but nevertheless, he does seem to easily toss theology aside for a simplistic understanding of the Scriptures. Is this a bad thing? Not at all... for awhile. At some point, we can not ignore the deeper meanings and truths behind the Scriptures if we truly wish to move beyond the milk and toward the meat. Moses may not have known the deeper implications of the words the Spirit was directing him to write, but that does not mean they weren't there. (I only bring this up because Miller seems to dismiss certain truths that are being presented in the first 3 chapters of Genesis as us projecting these truths on the Scriptures and not seeing the relational aspect behind them).

Another thing that bothered me, (and I promise I'm not ranting against Miller, just pointing out parts that I think warrant further discussion) is the idea that we have broken down not only the Gospel, but spiritual life in general, into such formulaic rituals that we have long lost the meaning behind what the Scriptures are teaching. I will say that I agree that there are some that may become more dependent on their formulas or on their rituals and lose complete focus on Christ, but I do believe that these rituals can, for others, bring many into closer worship and communion with Christ. Not just through the taking of the Eucharist (or Lord's Supper), or baptism, but also through praying daily (whether that be praying the Hours or just pausing throughout the day to pray). Much like in marriage where we have certain "rituals" that we perform to bring our relationship closer (not just sex, but praying together, eating together, etc...) I feel that some things that believers do (mainly those I listed in the previous sentence) can and do bring us into deeper worship and relationship with the Lord. Or, at the very least, help us to focus our attention again on Christ.

All of that said, I have no problems recommending this book to someone, or for that matter even recommending it as a study for a group, but I do think some healthy discussion would benefit those that read it and I think it would benefit them well.

Prayer Appointed for the Week (February 3 - February 9, 2013)

Ah ha! See, I told you I would sit down this afternoon and actually post this before half of the week was over. And you didn't believe me... silly you. At any rate, I just finished reading Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller and I will be posting my review right here in a day or two. So there's something for you to look forward to! I don't know what I shall pick up next, I have about 10 books that I've started that I should probably finish, so it very well may be one of those.
Before I type the prayer for this week, I just realized that I gave you this week's for last week, SO, I'll just give you last week for this week... a little off from the Scriptures in the Lectionary, but still good stuff. Alright, without further adieu, the prayer for the week:

Grace and Peace to you.

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer Appointed for the Week (January 27 - February 2)

Okay, so once again I have waited until closer to the end of the week to post the prayer for this week, but I promise to try and sit down on Sunday afternoons and type this particular post. At any rate, I pray you all are well. May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

"Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen." 

Prayer Appointed for the Week (January 20 - 26)

Well, in keeping with the tradition of my blog, here again is the Prayer for the week. I know the week is pretty much over, but here it is nonetheless.

Peace of Christ to you all



Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Amen

One year later...

Since it has been a year since I last posted, I figured it may be a good time to bring back the ole blog and see if, permaybehaps, I might have better luck keeping up with everything. SO, I'm sure you've all been sitting on the edge of your seats wondering "What has been going on in Nick and Sharon's lives for the last 12 months?" Well wonder no more! Here is what has happened in bullet form:

- I turned 27 on March 8th 2012

- Sharon turned 29 on April 11th 2012

- Sharon and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary by taking a 7 day Eastern Caribbean Cruise with Royal Caribbean.

- We adopted our 2nd puppy, Bombadil! He actually peed on this couch about 5 minutes after this picture. Good thing we don't have that couch anymore!

- I spent a quick weekend over Memorial Day in Corinth and Jackson, TN to visit friends and family

- Sharon and I joined her folks as we celebrated Caroline's (my sister-in-law) birthday at Disney World. We enjoyed Epcot and Animal Kingdom as well as some tasty foods.

- We had 3, count them 3 trick-or-treaters for Halloween. In an Apt complex, with awesome Jack o' Lanterns on the deck, you'da thunk we would have had more!

- Got to see one of my closest friends, Shaun, marry this gal in Jackson! We also spent the weekend catching up with our Christ Community Church friends as well as one of my other best friends, Brandon and his family. Speaking of which, Brandon and Leah had their first child on my birthday. Coincidence? Nawp, and since their surname is Jones, that kid is totally being called Indiana, and he'll like it!

- We spent Thanksgiving with Sharon's family, Christmas with mine, New Years with hers and now we're starting all over.

Exciting? Meh, it had it's moments, but nothing too crazy and yet, I'm perfectly fine with that. Oh, yeah, and somewhere in there I took a few insurance tests (see, not exciting) and took a couple of seminary courses and we became GIANT Whovians! All in all though, it has been a good year and we're looking forward to a good 2013. There is some exciting news that I have (if it works out), but I will wait a few more weeks before divulging anything. Don't get too excited, it's not a baby, but who knows what this year may bring?

Until next time, Gadget.

Third Sunday after Epiphany / Prayer for the Week (January 22-28)

This week, as we continue through the Epiphany season, we see Christ calling some of his disciples from Mark's account of the Gospel:
"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.' Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.' And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him." Mark 1:14-20

If there is any reason whatsoever to use the Lectionary, today's Sunday school class would be the prime example. Today, our class had to merge with another due to the teacher being out and the person who was to take her place was sick. That being said, our lesson today was from Hosea. The teacher of the class asked the simple question: "What makes God angry?" Simple enough, right? Simple enough that a simple (and overtly Sunday school answer) of sin would have sufficed, yes? Well, after 25 minutes of "God doesn't mind about the little sins," from one guy and "Well, I've been talking with some Muslims and we essentially have the same God because they also worship the God of Abraham," from a woman in the class, and "God doesn't get angry with us because he loves us," from another, Sharon and I had heard enough. Thankfully the teacher, nor the rest of the class, were supporting such heresy, but needless to say something needed to be said. Sharon spoke up and plainly stated: "God does get angry with us because of our sin, BUT BECAUSE OF CHRIST," I felt the need to capitalize that since apparently no one in the class was getting to the obvious answer throughout the morning lesson, "God is able to pour out his wrath on Christ's work on the cross and not on us." I'm obviously paraphrasing her comment, but still, it was quite frustrating to listen to the arguments people were trying to make and to rationalize God. "Reason is a whore, and the greatest enemy that faith has" Martin Luther once said. Therefore, is it safe to assume that trying to rationalize God might, in fact, be a sin? Anywho...

During lunch we had a pretty lengthy discussion over the lesson and realized how fortunate we both have been to have sat under great teaching (having gone to Union and have attended Christ Community [I'm sure she has others, but that one stands out for me more than any others]) and had wonderful opportunities for discipleship. To bring it all back to the Lectionary, Christ Community may not have used the Lectionary for Sunday school lessons, but thankfully the lessons were used for the building up of the bride. Also, IF (and I stress if) any crazy heresy happened to be spurted out in a lesson, it was quickly corrected lest someone leave believing things that simply weren't true.

Anyway, enough of that. I just thought I'd share our interesting... yes, interesting experience from this morning. Go in peace, brethren, be warm and filled.

Prayer for the Week:
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Reuniting the Physical and the Spiritual

As I stated in Sunday's post, I am currently reading "Evangelical is Not Enough" by Thomas Howard. In this book, Howard is in no way condemning evangelicalism but is simply making the argument that, from his experience, growing up evangelical gave him a knowledge of Christ, redemption, prayer, etc... but left him wanting more. I have to say, I agree with him to a certain extent. It's one thing entirely to tell others of Jesus and his death, burial and resurrection, it's another thing to disciple them into what a life walking with Christ will be like (simply put, it's one thing to make converts, it's something totally different to make disciples). My experience right after I came to the Faith was "okay, you're a Christian, read your Bible and start acting like a Christian," without really any guidance toward what that meant. I am in no way condemning those who were in spiritual authority over me, only stating what my perspective was. Although the things that I heard and learned were sound as far as the Scriptures were concerned, left to my own devices, I was completely at a loss of where to start and what to do. But, enough about that, back to Thomas Howard (who actually touches on that point in a different chapter, but that is another post in and of itself).

In the second chapter of his book he begins discussing the Spirit and the Flesh. In this chapter he discusses how growing up evangelical he was instructed that there is a major difference in the spiritual man and the fleshly man. That ones worship is within, not without. That images, posture, tangible things were inappropriate when it came to worship and to things of God. In the section that shares its title with this post he states to assume these things is a misunderstanding of the Incarnation of Christ. He states, "The Incarnation took all that properly belongs to our humanity and delivered it back to us, redeemed. All of our inclinations, appetites, capacities, yearnings and proclivities are purified, gathered up and glorified by Christ. He did not come to thin out human life; He came to set it free! All the dancing, feasting, processing, singing, building, sculpting, baking and merrymaking that belong to us, and that were stolen away into the service of false gods, are returned to us in the Gospel."

He also argues that position of our bodies also belong in the act of worship. He states later on, "To restrict worship to sitting in pews and listening to words spoken is to narrow things down in a manner strange to the gospel. We are creatures who are made to bow, not just spiritually (angels can do that) but with kneebones and neck muscles." This statement comes after telling of his experience in an Anglican church while studying abroad in Britain and how the congregation would kneel every time they would pray during the service.

In regards to how tangible things relates to our spiritual life he says, "It is in the physical world that the intangible meets us. A kiss seals a courtship. The sexual act seals a marriage. A ring betokens the marriage. A diploma crowns years of schooling. A doctoral robe bespeaks intellectual achievement. A uniform and stripes announce a recruit's training. A crown girds the brow that rules England. This symbolism bespeaks the sort of creature we are. To excise all of this from piety and worship is to suggest that the Gospel beckons us away from our humanity into a disembodied realm. It is to turn the Incarnation into a mere doctrine."

Needless to say, Howard makes a compelling point about how the spiritual needs to be reunited with the physical. Obviously there is not one perfect way to worship the Lord, but for someone like Howard (and I have learned over the last few years, someone like me), although it may appear constricting and legalistic, it is actually very freeing to have these disciplines and outlooks and allows for a different perspective on worship.