1/8/2012

Matthew 16:1-17 (NIV)
1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,'
3 and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Jesus then left them and went away.
5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread.
6 "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
7 They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread."
8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?
9 Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?
10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?
11 How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

The Christian life is about a sense of wonder, discovery, and joy. We must become readers of the signs all around us - looking for where God is already at work - paying attention to what God is saying through the Scriptures, The Creation, and Our Culture . We become what we behold.  Our key goal in this series is to become more attentive to life, it's author, and those around us.

1/15/2012

Mark 4:1-23
1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge.
2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:
3 "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.
4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.
6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.
8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."
9 Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.
11 He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables
12 so that, "'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'"
13 Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?
14 The farmer sows the word.
15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;
19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop-- thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."
21 He said to them, "Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand?
22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.
23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
 

The senses are a God-given gift. Evangelism is helping people hear, see, taste, smell, and touch the reality of God in the world. We need to be better listeners than talkers - story catchers before story tellers. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

We need to reconnect to silence.  We need to listen to our lives.   Most importantly, we need to listen for God.  The Holy Spirit  helps us hear the Word of God.   It takes effort to tune out the static and listen for the still small voice of God.

NUDGE 3: The Gift of Tasting

1/22/2012
 

We need to taste and see that the Lord is good. God gave us the book of nature as well as the book of Scripture. Nudge is showing up to life and so to what God is doing in life in the universe. It is God's idea that we delight in sensual pleasures as long as they remain pointers to him. Healthy meals with spice are a metaphor for the gospel message and community around a good meal should be a staple of Christian life and outreach.

1/29/2012

Psalm 146:1-10
1 Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
2 I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them-- the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.
 

Jesus sees each of us & gives us sight to see the Kingdom of God. We need to learn how to see with the eyes of Christ - not only God and ourselves, but people who are "invisible" - people our culture ignores but whom Jesus loves.

We have eyes but do not see.  Part of our problem is a reductionistic materialist mindset that reduces the things of this world to their scientifically measureable attributes.   A piece of art is much more than the chemical compounds of the paint.  The same is true for all the world.   It is enchanted with meaning, haunted by the presence of God.W hy don't we see Jesus in the world around us? - Top 10 reasons we miss Jesus sightings

2/5/2012

Mark 7
31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.
32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.
33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue.
34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!").
35 At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.
37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

 1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

2nd Corinthians 13:11-14
11 Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
13 All the saints send their greetings.
14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

The act of hugging and being hugged is the body of Christ's best nudge. Jesus was willing to physically touch others - even lepers.   It is God's idea that so much could be communicated by touch.

When Christianity restricts God's presence to the sacred it mirrors an Enlightenment culture that separated life into the secular & religious.   The Old Testament helps to anchor us in the physical world of the senses - the church must regain a full-contact faith.

NUDGE 6: The gift of Breathing

2/12/2012

Luke 7:31-50
31 "To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like?
32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.'
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.'
34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."'
35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children."
36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.
37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,
38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is-- that she is a sinner."
40 Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said.
41 "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
43 Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.
46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-- for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
48 Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
49 The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
50 Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
 

We are so busy trying to get the world to pay attention to us that we don't pay attention to it. We need disciplines to slow down, to breathe. The sense of smell is sub-rational - things either smell good or bad - how about our church to visitors? Are we genuine, organic, do we live out what we preach - so that we smell right? Jesus models this way of life in Luke 7, and the fragrance of the woman's perfume filled the house.

Actual smell reminds us of oldest memories - are we linking smells with crucial faith rituals & confessions ? Can smells remind you to love and reach out to particular people or kinds of people ?
 

2/19/2012

God is calling you to nudge others to encounter Jesus. How to share the hope you have so it feels and sounds like what it is: good news! A nudge that is welcomed and reciprocal and is about first steps. It is more about giving attention than attracting attention. Your Story, My Story, Jesus' Story. Our duty is not so much to see through one another as see one another through.  Our Nudge must communicate "I am for you."