100 words on the granola syndrome...

Beware of the Granola Syndrome in church. Yup, you heard me, thee Granola Syndrome. People walk into church as a fruit, a nut, or a flake.

A fruit: healthy, alive, bearing other fruit.

A nut: enough said. (We know those people so we'll just stay PC on this one.)

A flake: tried God, didn't work, gave up. Yes, a flake.

Here's hope for the nuts: nuts can bear fruit! But they need to be rooted, grounded, and watered with Living Water.

Our responsibility is to spread health within the walls of our church. For the building is not the church; we are the church.

So--what are you? A fruit, a nut, or a flake? Keep it real.

100 words on bad theology...

There's sucky theology out there. Beware. You probably won't amass great wealth, drive a Ferrari, or own a plane, but some preachers will tell you that. It's a lie. You can't name and claim anything if it's not part of God's sovereign will. You can't preach health and wealth in a world broken to sin.

Furthermore, in a world teaching the prosperity gospel and Jabez-like prayers, it elevates us above a Savior who suffered. Jesus was poor. Jesus was homeless. Jesus was hungry. Jesus felt isolation. Pain. Despair. Rejection. Betrayal.

An empathetic Savior knows what we feel. Why should we be exempt from suffering if our Savior wasn't? Am I wrong?

100 word wednesday: what does jesus look like...

A wildly famous pastor recently said, I couldn't worship a God who I could beat up. I wonder if this pastor thinks Jesus opened up beer cans with his teeth and drove a V8 truck with exposed chest hair. Why? Because he's the epitome of manliness and expects Jesus to have been the same way.

This got me thinking. If we created an image of God who is like us, this is totemic theology and a slippery slope.

So, what does Jesus look like to you? How do you envision Jesus to have been?

A vegetarian with soft hands who loved children?

A liberal who served up wine when the party got dull?

A beefy leader who overthrew tables to lay the smack down on haters?

What does Jesus look like to you and why?

100 word wednesday: street theologians...

Our goal should be to build clear, accurate, biblical theology of Life. But if your life is anything like mine, you don't live out your theology in some ivory-tower world of peaceful libraries and deep thoughts. No, we are street theologians, trying to exercise our faith in a world of brokenness.

I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. We are sinners.

The daily struggle with sin experienced by genuine Christians underscores the fact that while Christ certainly saved us, he does not transform us instantly into non-sinners. That process begins the moment we are converted, and continues throughout our life on earth, but it will only be finished when we leave this messed up world.

In doing Life we can aim for solid theological living, but acquiesce to the idea that we will falter. So be a street theologian! Keep it real. Walk with a spirit of a hustla' and the swagger of a college kid, because really, we're not perfect but aim to serve a God who is.

100 word wedneday: everything...

1 John 3:16-20

The conclusion is inescapable. Jesus asks much more of us than just believing right things.

Our society compartmentalizes life:

Work [here] Friends [here] Church [here] Finances [here]

But our faith must permeate every aspect of our life. We can’t compartmentalize faith to Sunday mornings—it’s more than a political affiliation, hobby, or thing to do. Our faith must be like the very air we breathe. For when we breathe in Jesus, we exhale Him to those around us. The poor, the rich, the lonely, the successful, the annoying, the amazing—every one needs Jesus like everyone needs air.

What does God expect from us? Everything.

*Thanks to Dr. Suzanne Wyle from Whitter College for forcing me to critically think in 100 words or less. Go Poets!