Set up Twitter on Your Phone

You can see all the action at www.twitter.com without setting it up on your phone.

You need to have a Twitter account to begin. Go to twitter.com and click "Sign Up Now".

Here are a couple of links to help you set up Twitter on your phone:

http://www.amitbhawani.com/blog/setup-twitter-mobile-phone-sms/

http://www.butterscotch.com/tutorial/Getting-Twitter-Setup-On-Your-Mobile-Phone (video tutorial)

Or you could just phone Tyler.

Here are youth group-ers I know who are on Twitter:
Richard Jones richardinaz
Tyler Jones TJdrumcaptain
Chris Nellett WhatTheNell
Cody Melcher codymelcher

_awakening: Scripture as History.

Pretty interesting post:
_awakening: Scripture as History.

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Critical Information

Don't miss it!
Remember, it is your spiritual duty as part of the Catalina faith family to show up and eat ice cream!

Sunday September 20, 2009

This week we consider the story of the widow's mite (actually miteS--she threw in TWO coins), which is found in Mark 12.41-44.

This is a thorny little story. Oh, it doesn't seem so at the beginning; pretty straightforward. Jesus is at the Temple near the collection boxes. People with lots of money come by and drop in large offerings. Then a widow [read powerless with no one to support her] comes up and throws in two mites [smallest coins in circulation--less than 7/10 of 1% of a denarius, which was the daily wage of an unskilled laborer]--an extremely small amount. But, this is ALL SHE HAS. Jesus calls his followers over and tells them that the widow has put in more than anyone else; because the others gave out of their abundance and she gave out of her poverty. A straightforward story, right?

But think about this:

• In the verses right before this story, Jesus is condemning the religious leaders for being abusive of and predatory toward widows. Yet Jesus commended her giving to the religious establishment.
• In the verses immediately after this story, Jesus says that the Temple is to be destroyed. Why would he let her give all she had to something that was soon to be destroyed?
• The woman had TWO coins. Why give BOTH? It was all she had.
• Jesus had great compassion for the poor. Why didn't he stop her? She needed that money.
• What difference would this tiny offering make?

Yet Jesus not only condoned this offering, he congratulated her. Much more to this story than meets the eye, huh?

We will discuss the implications Sunday.

The worship bulletin is here.

Sunday September 13, 2009

We are winding down in our study of the Gospel of Mark. Last Sunday, we considered the story of Blind Batimaeus, which took place in Jericho. This Sunday, we look at Jesus' presentation of the Great Command(s) in Mark 12.28-34. This event takes place in Jerusalem, where Jesus is arrested and crucified. In other words, our study has taken us to the last days of Jesus' human life.
In this passage, Jesus answers the question of a scribe concerning what is the greatest commandment in the law. There were well over 600 commands in the Jewish law. Come Sunday to find out how Jesus answered, using the Old Testament. I'll post a summary here Monday for those who miss it Sunday.
The worship bulletin is here.
By the way, we've got great music this Sunday!

www.astatum.net: Moltmann - Theology of the Cross

www.astatum.net: Moltmann - Theology of the Cross

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Translation Tribalism 2 - Jesus Creed

Translation Tribalism 2 - Jesus Creed

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September 7, 2009 | The General Board of Church and Society

Thinking Like Christians about Healthcare by William Willimon

September 7, 2009 | The General Board of Church and Society

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Communicating Hate Sucks

Good Commentary on a bad situation. This is from the Church Marketing Sucks blog.

Communicating Hate Sucks: "

Steven Anderson, pastor of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Ariz., recently preached a sermon titled, 'Why I Hate Barack Obama.'

Whether you're for or against President Barack Obama isn't the point, but this next part is where it gets weird.

'I'm gonna pray that he dies and goes to hell when I go to bed tonight,' Anderson said in the sermon. 'That's what I'm gonna pray.' Anderson has elaborated that he doesn't condone killing but hopes Obama dies of natural causes so he doesn't become a martyr. 'I'd like to see him die, like Ted Kennedy, of brain cancer.'

This seems like a real live case of Lord, save us from your followers.

When Paul encouraged Timothy to pray for government leaders, I don't think he had death and eternal damnation in mind. You don't have to like the president, but this is a long way from the forgiveness and repentance at the heart of Christianity.

If you hate what Obama stands for, pray that God would change his heart, change his mind and change the nation for good. You don't pray for his death.

All this communicates is hate. Where is the love for your enemies? Where is the compassion? Where is the grace? In a political landscape that's as heated and polarized as ours is, shouldn't the church of all places be able to preach love in spite of our differences? Not too long ago the church did preach love in the face of hate and it changed the world.

And apparently this story isn't weird enough: In an ironic stumper, Anderson and his congregation are now receiving death threats for preaching, um, death.

"

Translation Tribalism

Good post by Scot McKnight over recent TNIV flap...

Translation Tribalism: "I am very confident about the prospects of the new NIV (2011). I know those translators and know they are devout and they are accurate translators. I hope you are praying for them, and I hope you listen carefully to what Doug Moo, the chair of the Committee on Bible Translation, has said about philosophy.

But what depresses me about Bible translation debates today is tribalism. Some have raised the bar of this conversation to such heights that variation is tantamount to heresy. I want to do a few posts on translation next week, but today let's have a little fun with the tribalism that does exist, that seems almost inevitable, that does sometimes lead to uncharitable divisiveness, but that can lead us to see ourselves in humorous tones at times. Translations can also be a window to our heart and theology and preferences. So here goes with a sketch of tribalist translation tendencies. Each of these is partially true but not wholly true, so let's not reify but have a little fun...

NRSV for liberals and Shane Claiborne lovers;
ESV for Reformed complementarian Baptists;
HCSB for LifeWay store buying Southern Baptists;
NIV for complementarian evangelicals;
TNIV for egalitarians;
NLT for generic brand evangelicals;
Amplified for folks who have no idea what translation is but know that if you try enough words one of them will hit pay dirt;
NKJV and KJV for Byzantine manuscript-tree huggers;
The Message for evangelicals looking for a breath of fresh air and seeker sensitive, never-read-a-commentary evangelists who find Peterson's prose so catchy.

"

Sunday, September 5, 2009

This week we continue our study in the Gospel of Mark with the story of Blind Bartimaeus. It is in Mark 10.46-52.

This week's worship bulletin is here.

I plan to take some time for us to discuss this story, so if you want to read it ahead of time to be prepared, that would be great. One thing to think about is this: Why did Jesus ask Bartimaeus what he wanted? Bart sits by the road and calls out "Son of David, have mercy on me!". Jesus calls him and asks, "What do you want me to do for you?". One commentator responded with "Duh! He wants to see!". When this man's need was so obvious, I wonder why Jesus asked him. What do you think?

We will discuss and share and listen and have communion, and there will be 5 prayer stations/experiences based on the story of Blind Bartimaeus. These come from Blair Cameron.

Our prayer time will feature a prayer of confession from The Pattern of Our Days from the Iona Community.

Compassion Concerning Healthcare

This post is from the Everyday Liturgy blog.

Compassion Concerning Healthcare: "

I went to the doctor yesterday for a routine phsyical. I was in the office for about 45 minutes and overheard two conversations between very stressed out, uninsured individuals trying to walk the desperate line between finances and health.

The first lady was very concerned and hovering over the office manager when I came in. She had had a routine physical and an EKG but was uninsured, so she was setting up an installment plan to pay for the two services. Two routine services.

The second lady called in and spoke with one of the doctors, very upset that her prescription had run out. The doctor said that they had strung out the daily prescription for as long as possible, and that since it had been a year to the date since her last visit she would have to come in and see the doctor. The scenario playing out was that the woman was taking a daily medication for some ailment, but she couldn't come in and incur the cost of all the additional services that would come along with a simple doctor visit (EKG, blood work, etc.).

My heart really went out to these people. It must be such a state of helplessness. I was wondering what I could do, and I thought support health care reform, but that is just kind of business as usual and simply pathetic. We cannot continue to try to legislate Christian action through secular politics.

So what can a Christian do?

"

Praying for the President to Die

This makes me angry and ashamed at the same time.


Tempe pastor reiterates wish for President Obama's death - Phoenix Arizona news, breaking news, local news, weather radar, traffic from ABC15 News | ABC15.com

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Transform Your Pain

This is from Finding Rhythm, Zach Lind's blog. Think hard about this. I am.
Transform Your Pain: "

“Is your religion helping you to transform your pain? If it does not, it is junk religion. We all have pain—it’s the human situation, we all carry it in a big black bag behind us and it gets heavier as we get older: by betrayals, rejections, disappointments, and wounds that are inflicted along the way.

If we do not find some way to transform our pain, I can tell you with 100% certitude we will transmit it to those around us. We will create tension, negativity, suspicion, and fear wherever we go. Both Jesus and Buddha made it very clear to their followers that “life is suffering.” You cannot avoid it. It is no surprise that the central Christian logo became a naked, bleeding, suffering man. At the end of life, and probably early in life, too, the question is, “What do I do with this disappointment, with this absurdity, with this sadness?” Whoever teaches you how to transform your own suffering into compassion is a true spiritual authority. Whoever teaches you to project your doubt and fear onto Jews, Muslems, your family, heretics, gays, sinners, and foreigners, or even to turn it against yourself (guilt and shame) has no spiritual authority. Yet these very people have often preached from authoritative pulpits.”

– Richard Rohr, The Authority of Those Who Have Suffered

"

To-Do Tattoos

Hmmm...I wonder if this would help Tyler remember his homework or chores??

To-Do Tattoos: "

I can’t remember where I first saw these, but the “To-Do Tattoo” caught my attention as a great way to help kids remember things. The temporary tattoos in the kit seem a bit unnecessary, but the skin-safe gel pen is a hit in my book.

Sure, you could easily create a digital list or a list on a sheet of paper, but both run the risk of being lost. This way, you can be sure your child makes it wherever he needs to go with everything on his list.

It’s novel, and I like when organizing can be fun.

"

Credo: Triune God

Great post from pomomusings... The Trinity has always been a mystery. But then again, God is SUPPOSED to be beyond our understanding. I'll be teaching on this in youth group as part of our "BIG Truths" study. It will probably then make it to a sermon in The Refuge.



Credo: Triune God: "

This post is part of the Credo Blog Series. For some basic information about the series, go here. Photo Credit.

I believe that God is three persons in one substance. Within the trinity exists the perfect and holy love communion between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The trinity is a perfect, three-in-one relationship between the three distinct persons of God. The three persons in the trinity are unified together by the same goal: to do the work of Christ and to bring people into relationship with God. They are diverse from each other, but are all completely equal. There is no hierarchy between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit within the trinity.

Someone asked in the first Credo post on God why I didn’t refer to Jesus or the Trinity? Well – I could have been snarky and say something like, “Well – since the BIBLE never uses the word “Trinity” – why should I in my Credo? But it’s really just because I’m going through my Credo according to the way I split up the topics up when I made the Credo in 2000. However, I don’t know that one can really talk about God without talking about God’s relational nature and mutual indwelling (or, one of everyone’s favorite seminary words: interpenetration – snicker snicker…) of the other parts of the Godhead.

Now, I don’t feel like getting into any intensely philosophical debate and start throwing around words like homoousious or anything – but I do still connect with what I wrote in the second sentence. “Within the trinity exists the perfect and holy love and communion.” Through the Triune God, we know humanity is called to be in relationship with other humans. While there are many ways in which people talk about the imago Dei (image of God) – one of the primary ways I see that we are made in God’s image is that we are created to be relational. The community and relationality that exists in the Triune God has to be central to our understanding of both who God is and who we have been created to become.

The one line that I would challenge my 20-yr old self on is where I define what the goal of the Triune God is: “to do the work of Christ and to bring people into relationship with God.” I’m sure this is no surprise, but I don’t think I would want to “box” in the Triune God that much – to say that “These are the two goals of God.” Certainly the Triune God does continue on the work of Christ and draws people into relationship with Godself, but there is so much more than God is up to in this world, I wouldn’t want to simply say “these are the two goals.”

Credo 2009: Triune God

The Triune God consists of God the Creator, God the Redeemer and God the Sustainer. Rather than existing in an hierarchical relationship together, the Triune God is a relational being – one which is dynamic and organic. The relationship is best described as that of a 3-person dance (perichoresis). The relationality between the members of the Triune God gives humanity one of its greatest clues to what being created in the imago dei truly means – to be in relationship with others and with God Godself. Again, as with God, I don’t want to limit the ways in which the Triune God works in the world through Godself, God’s Spirit and others in the world. There is far more about the nature of the Triune God than I will ever know or understand – and that’s a good place to be, I think.

What do you think? What did I leave out?

Related posts:

1. Credo: God
2. Introducing the Credo Blog Series

"

Life in a cold climate

I found this great post on Mark Berry's blog.

Life in a cold climate: "

Is 'Church' like living in a cold climate? Odd question to ask during the summer I suppose but the more time I spend outside of 'Church' the more it looks like a bunch of people trying to survive in sub-zero temperatures... we huddle together for protection, we surround ourselves with layer upon layer of insulation from the climate (culture) around us and pray for Summer... we pull our lifeblood back from the extremities into the centre spending more and more time at this meeting or that, this group or gathering or that... I know many good Christians whose whole life is lived in 'Church', whose diary is jammed with 'Church' events (the workplace being the only exception) and whose social life is spent entirely with 'Church' people (families often the only exception) trouble is it seems to me that living like this means sooner or later the extremities will die and ultimately it is not the way to survive... some Christians can't stand the waiting around and the self preoccupation and head off into the cold regardless of the outcome... some seem able to take the risk and acclimatise, adapt, so that they can survive and even flourish... though perhaps in a new way! I want to be hopeful, I really do, maybe I'm just the type who can't stand standing around in a huddle facing in with my back to the weather (like those penguins do on 'March of the Penguins'!) I'm not saying I have the answer, not even saying I know how to survive just that I'm not sure 'survival' is enough or worth it in it's own right... I guess I'm more of a 'blaze (or freeze) of glory' type! My Rural Dean said at the interview for my post that the role should be 'meeting light and relationship heavy' I guess that's part of the reason I'm here in Telford and why at this moment I'm more than happy being outside 'Church'.... with my face, not my back to the storm!

Technorati Tags: Christianity: Church: Community: Emerging Church: Fresh Expressions: Missional: safespace

"

Sunday August 16, 2009

Well, I again won't be preaching in the Refuge this Sunday. But I will be in Tucson. In fact, I will be on the Catalina UMC campus. Pastor Ed and I are switching places this Sunday: he is preaching in the Refuge, and I am preaching in the sanctuary (and the chapel at 8:15 also). This is always fun for us and a change of pace. AND we don't have to prepare a new sermon!
Ed is preaching in the hall on Peter's Prayer in Matthew 14.22-32.
I will be repeating (with embellishments!) my sermon on Mark 3.1-6: To Fail to Do Good Is to Do Evil.

Sunday August 9, 2009

Well, this week you get to hear the message that goes with the notes that were in the bulletin last week! Yes, this means that the inside of this week's bulletin is pretty much the same as last week's--but I did pull the cartoon. I figured most of you would remember it.
This week we continue our study in the Gospel of Mark with Mark 8.27-37. I preached on a parallel passage in Matthew a couple of months ago. Jesus and his disciples are traveling and Jesus asks them, "Who do people say that I am?". Then he asks them, "Who do you say that I am?". Then, Jesus tells them about his impending execution. Peter confronts him and then Jesus talks about what it takes to be his disciple--to really follow him.
The worship bulletin is here.
This Sunday, we will also have communion in the Refuge, since we missed it last Sunday.

What a Month!

I know I haven't blogged much lately (which kind of defeats the purpose of a blog, doesn't it?), but I will return in another week or so.
The first week of July, I was on our high school missions trip with Center for Student Missions in inner city Los Angeles. It was one of our BEST missions trips ever! The work projects were meaningful, the youth made connections with people, we learned to see people in need as PEOPLE, and we worked very well together with little drama and had a great affirmation time on the beach on Thursday night. Photos are at http://foxyurl.com/ots .
This last week, I had double duty: my sister Becky and her husband were in town, and we had VBS at Catalina. We had a great visit and got to do a lot of fun stuff! My job each year is recreation, which can be a challenge depending on the size of the group in each class and the age of the kids. This year it went pretty well, mostly due to the fact that I kept good records (well, better, at least) last year about what activities I did. I pretty much worked off last year's list with a couple of additions.
Now, I am on vacation! We are going camping in the White Mountains for a few days. We are all prepared for the inaugural Jones family camping trip! I've been camping with the youth group a few times, but this is a first as a family unit (minus my hard-working, two-job-holding, paying-her-own-bills daughter).
I will be back in the saddle on Sunday, July 26 (that's right--I've somehow got to get a sermon and the bulletin done while I'm on vacation!).