Tag: Jesus

A following Jesus manifesto

Jesus in the desert - Day 21
Jesus in the desert – Day 21

HT to Johnny Laird for passing this along (from his archives):

Stop talking about Jesus. Just stop. If we loved the people around us half as much as we say we love Jesus the rest of this manifesto would be entirely redundant.

Live a secret life. Invest the time, effort and vulnerability necessary to delve deeply into the scripture and prayer. Spend long periods of time in stillness. There is no shortcut to this, there is no other way. Without a deep and secret life we soon find ourselves talking about Jesus instead of being like Jesus.

Stop pretending. I’m a Christian, and I suck. So do you. Let’s get that out of the way, shall we?

Give more than you get. There will always be more than enough.

Be present for those around you. Following Jesus has nothing to do with your work, your resume or your income. In fact, nothing that matters does.

Treasure broken-ness. Our broken places are sacred spaces in our heart. Honour them. Value them. In doing so you love the unlovely, publicly declaring the beauty of God’s image in everyone. Greet the broken with comfort and cool water.

Throw a party.

Know Jesus well enough to recognize him on the street. This is rather important, because he can always be found on the street – and he usually looks more like a pan-handler than a preacher.

Accept ingratitude and abuse as a fixed cost. Embrace them, and then go the extra mile.

If you follow Jesus, you will anger religious people. This is how you will know.

—

As a note – I lean more towards Carl Medearis outlook on speaking of Jesus… just speak about Jesus. Don’t get sidetracked with all the other stuff. Speak about Jesus, love people and the Spirit will take care of the rest.

If reading isn’t your thing, you can listen to Carl’s story on the something beautiful podcast.

Reza Aslan talks about the historical Jesus

A really interesting interview of Reza Aslan on The Daily Show:

I thought Jon Oliver’s comments were really insightful:

“I like this man. I liked the guy who was the day laborer, who was probably illiterate who was a radical nationalist. I like this guy. I like him a whole lot me than the bird statue. He means more to me. You can have a personal relationship with this man and I have to wonder what the hell he would feel about “touchdown Jesus.” I wonder if this guy would be like ‘What is that? It seems sacrilegious but it’s also it’s kind of great.'” – Jon Oliver

I wonder if in focusing so much on the divinity of God, we’ve lost the humanity that reaches out to so many people.

Adding Reza Aslan’s book to my Wish List.

Raising Kids and Radically Following Jesus. Possible?

Jon Huckins writes:

Before we had kids, we loved to travel, had worldview stretching experiences and were all together creative in how we lived the lives we had been given. For us, having the right kind of experiences meant far more than have the right kind of house, car or other possession that could be associated with “success.” As we reflect on our development individually and as a couple in the context of marriage, it is clear that these experiences (and resulting relationships) have shaped us more significantly than any classroom or lecture series. It has been the classroom of real life relationships that have formed us into global citizens who follow a Jesus with a global reign.

And then we had kids…

Read more.

Acid trips and Jesus

The Jesus Revolution
The Jesus Revolution | Time Magazine Cover (June 21, 1971)

I found a great video interview with God’s Squad Christian Motorcycle Club and Concern Australia/Global Concern founder John Smith (via The Work of the People) on Vimeo the other day and then found this second video in which he chats about the influence of the Jesus Movement over the church.

“God met that generation of freaks in the middle of their Acid trips because the church was not listening to their heart…”

“So have I got hope? Man I’ve lived through seeing when they all said God was dead and then seeing God reach hippies in the middle of the Adirondacks – sure I’ve got hope!”

What I find interesting about this interview is that John Smith seems to touch on the idea that people come to God in all sorts of ways — with, or without the church — something Rob Bell also spent a chapter discussing in Love Wins.

My family had a discussion on this same topic over lunch Easter Sunday, discussing how they recently heard a missionary sharing dreams are becoming a big deal in the Middle East. According to the missionary, a number of people he’s met are seeing Jesus appear to them in dreams and they’re starting to follow him based not on a clear sermon from the pulpit, not from a missionary coming from overseas — but based on a dream or series of dreams. Fascinating!

What do you think?

When you look at the Church are you more hope-filled or hope-less?

BONUS: Here’s the 1st video: