Themes of L'Abri

In light of the L'Abri conference coming up this February, I thought it might be a good idea to highlight five themes of the ministry of L'Abri and Francis Schaeffer. Hopefully they will give you a good idea of the perspective of Christianity that L'Abri is taking.

1. The Truthfulness of Christianity (True Truth)

We need to rediscover the objective reality of Christianity, really see the God who has acted concretely in time and space. Christianity is historically true; God has involved Himself in the flow of history. This means that it isn't just "my truth," or what works for me, because if Christianity is true at all, it is true for all. And whether we believe it or not, it remains true. It also means that it is consistent with all reality around us, and therefore that God speaks into all reality. We must see reality as God sees it.

2. The Reality of the Supernatural

Scrpture tells us that the God who is there is the God who is here. We must not live by simply what we can see. The unseen is just as real as what we do see, and our prayer life must reflect this reality. We will bear fruit that God has ordained because God is here. We need not pray in light of it as a ritual, but as a reality. God hears us. Really. Because the Christian life is not about the extraordinary, but about the ordinary that God works through. The spiritual aspect is the most important--once we are rooted in that reality, lives will be transformed.

3. The Humanness of Spirituality

To be spiritual is to fulfill our humanness--everything that it means to be fully human. We are called in Christ to rediscover what it means to be human in this world. We need to feel comfortable in accepting our Creaturely-ness--and to do this, we must bow before God as a creature, accepting our place in Creation. We must accept our limits, rest in being human, and be at peace with our Creator. We can look at our corner of Creation and find contentment. And ultimately, we can are reminded of what we are being saved to--a glorious, redeemed world in which that relationship will be completely made right and restored to its full glory and purpose.

4. The Significance of the Fall

The shadow of the Fall and the utter brokenness of this world runs very, very deep. There is a dissonance in all of creation, even to the Christian. The consequences of sin are hideous and corruption is so widespread. Much of the Western world has been convinced that we can fix everything, that we can civilize all of the world, but the problems we struggle with are so incredibly hard to get rid of: brokenness within our families, bigotry, educational reforms, politics, etc. Only with Christ will the groanings of creation be ceased--there are no quick fixes. While no enjoyment of creation should be taken away, we must live in light of the evil, carry an awareness of the shadow of the Fall, and we must bleed and weep with this broken world.

5. The Hope and Good News of the Gospel

God has saving designs for his entire creation.... a new heaven and a new earth, where he will restore not only our souls, but also our physical bodies and every aspect of creation. Brokenness happens at every level, therefore salvation will happen at every level. God's entire creation is given over to Christ. We have been born anew of God into this world, and we are working with God to redeem it. This has huge implications--every aspect of the world should be brought into the light of Christ; therefore we are called to be agents of change and transformation. We must look after our patch of Creation and love the man next door.

This Past Week at L'Abri

I experienced L'Abri.

I didn't just read about it, or talk about it, or think about it. I was there.

It was an incredible week of learning and studying, caving and hiking, running and reading. Living amongst people for a week who can appreciate you and love you after only having known you for hours can sometimes be a stark contrast to the world in which we live everyday. Taking, in a sense, a fast of technology, entertainment, and the daily grind opens our eyes to the simple things in life, the small things that matter in huge ways and force us to abandon ourselves until we are utterly free and alive. Like the way the snow sparkled against the the moonlit sky as it fluttered down. And the way the sun rose over the hilltop, creating a canopy of orange and pink, red and yellow. Bare trees cluttered the valley below us and stalagmites littered the cave we crawled through on our tummies. The fire roared in the hearth as heat flushed our faces. I don't even think the word "refreshed" can quite describe the feeling I felt. The gift of Creation on this earth is huge.

There's something about intentionality, opening up our lives and our questions to the few people around us and getting honest, thoughtful answers--or getting no answer at all, only left with more questions. Hearing the stories of others and sharing your own creates a new fascination and beauty for the people around you. God is incredibly faithful in carrying out his plan through us, and intervening in real time to bring about his will. Truly knowing that is a gift in itself.

There's something about community that lets you know that you were made for it.

Biblical Productivity

post-its, lined legal pads, moleskine journals, my great new moleskine planner with the notebook page on the right.... these are all things that i particularly LOVE because they keep me organized, they give me control over something that is making me feel completely, utterly, overwhelmed. which is why i also love c.j. mahaney's last couple months of blog postings on biblical productivity.

Biblical Productivity

1. Are You Busy?
2. Confessions of a Busy Procrastinator
3. The Procrastinator Within
4. Just Do It
5. In All Thy Ways
6. The Sluggard
7. Time. Redeemed.
8. Roles, Goals, Scheduling
9. Roles (Part 1)
10. Roles (Part 2)
11. Goals (Part 1)
12. Goals (Part 2) – Up next.

this is some good stuff. very biblical, and really makes you re-examine your, well, life. maybe now i'll only have TWO colors of stickies, rather than a stack of five... :)

John Piper Making a Snow Angel

Just a funny little home video of John Piper.

Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill in the NY Times

"the cussing pastor," Mark Driscoll.

some excerpts:

Most people who attend Mars Hill do not see themselves as theological radicals. Mark Driscoll is just “Pastor Mark,” not the New Calvinist warrior demonized on evangelical and liberal blogs. Yet while some initially come for mundane reasons — their friends attend; they like the music — the Calvinist theology is often the glue that keeps them in their seats. They call the preaching “authentic” and “true to life.” Traditional evangelical theology falls apart in the face of real tragedy, says the 20-year-old Brett Harris, who runs an evangelical teen blog with his twin brother, Alex. Reducing God to a projection of our own wishes trivializes divine sovereignty and fails to explain how both good and evil have a place in the divine plan. “There are plenty of comfortable people who can say, ‘God’s on my side,’ ” Harris says. “But they couldn’t turn around and say, ‘God gave me cancer.’ ”
..............
Most members, however, didn’t join Mars Hill in order to ask questions. Damon Conklin, who is 41 and runs a tattoo parlor, says he joined Mars Hill because Driscoll made his life make sense — and didn’t ask him to pretend to be someone he wasn’t. “I decided to stop smoking crack and drinking every day,” Conklin says. “I had to find some kind of God in order to do that.” He hated the churches he visited: “I would show up looking as mean as possible, with my Afro blown out, wearing a wife-beater, and then I’d say, ‘Why don’t they like me?’ Then I went to Mars Hill, and I believed Mark.”
..............
Mars Hill — with its conservative social teachings embedded in guitar solos and drum riffs, its megachurch presence in the heart of bohemian skepticism — thrives on paradox. Critics on the left and right alike predict that this delicate balance of opposites cannot last. Some are skeptical of a church so bent on staying perpetually “hip”: members have only recently begun to marry and have children, but surely those children will grow up, grow too cool for their cool church and rebel. Others say that Driscoll’s ego and taste for controversy will be Mars Hill’s Achilles’ heel. Lately he has made a concerted effort to tone down his language, and he insists that he has delegated much authority, but the heart of his message has not changed. Driscoll is still the one who gazes down upon Mars Hill’s seven congregations most Sundays, his sermons broadcast from the main campus to jumbo-size projection screens around the city. At one suburban campus that I visited, a huge yellow cross dominated center stage — until the projection screen unfurled and Driscoll’s face blocked the cross from view. Driscoll’s New Calvinism underscores a curious fact: the doctrine of total human depravity has always had a funny way of emboldening, rather than humbling, its adherents.

Conversations with a Skeptic

I've been checking out the Mars Hill College Mission website the past few days and happened upon some really cool things. One that stuck out to me the most is a short conversation series they did called 'Conversations with a Skeptic.' An atheist was ripping on Mars Hill on his blog so coffee was drank and these conversations happened:

Conversations with a Skeptic 1
Conversations with a Skeptic 2
Conversations with a Skeptic 3
Conversations with a Skeptic 4

to be human...

"to be human is to be poor."

thoughts?

This Past Week (1)

This past week, I have wept for so many things--pain, sorrow, fear, joy, love. I've been challenged in incredible ways, pushed with a forceful shove to turn my eyes back to the gospel, and enlightened to how radical God's love for me really is. I've been inspired to shed my skin of unbelief and to let Christ emanate from my soul.

I've been forced with an iron fist out of my comfort zone but placed into one where I am completely free. I have been freed to see the beauty of people, to see the gem that has been placed inside each individual. To draw that out of them. I have been freed to love truly and without limits, without conditions. I have been freed to ascertain thoughts of the future only because I am living in the moment, trusting in the grace of the moment.

I've witnessed the devastation of sin but the Truth of Christianity. And my prayer then becomes a search for the REAL. for reality. for a living God.