The Hole In Our Gospel; Inspirational and Challenging

Has the Gospel been limited by the way we present it? Is there more to the "the good news" then just a mere transaction? Is this life all about the life after or are we missing something? According to Richard Sterns, president of World Vision, there is much more. Richard Sterns sets to challenge and inspire readers in "The Hole In Our Gospel", by sharing his personal story in becoming the president of World Vision, and challenging the readers to join in the work of God in a world in need of a Gospel without a hole.

Richard Stern crafts a personal narrative that proves to be inspiring. As he walks through his personal road as a follower of Christ, you come away feeling that you have met Richard over coffee. His presentation of his story is a highlight in this book. As Richard Sterns is climbing the corporate latter, he finds himself interviewing for a presidential position at Wold Vision. With a spirit of reluctance, Richard Sterns decides to accept the position in World Vision and his life has never been the same.

Sterns also challenges his readers to get involved. As he presents some of the largest "life" issues in the world today, he carefully reminds his readers that there is a hope, and we can be involved in sharing that hope. Sterns shares some success stories to remind us that success is possible. At the same time there needs to be more done. Ultimately, Richard Sterns reminds us to not limit "gospel" to the afterlife. He reminds us that we have a message of hope for the right now. We do have the ability to share the Gospel without a hole in it. The question is are we willing to do this. If we are this book is a good starting point in this important conversation.

You can find Thomas Nelson's page for this item here.

-dj

Thoughts on "Transformational Architecture" by Ron Martoia; "Imago Dei"

As I have written before, this book by Ron Martoia sets to explain how we can share our faith in this new postmodern context that we fund ourselves in. One of the "texts" that we mentioned earlier was the "biblical text". Martoia explains that we often share God's story starting at the fall of man in Genesis. However, Martoia argues that we need to start at the creation, or at the beginning of the story. And if we do not do this, we will miss something crucial.

" As we learn about seeing our lives in narrative, it may be an obvious observation that God made us this way and that he made us unique and special in comparison to all other created things. We are made in imago dei. This truth, as it grips a human spirit, has the power to transform. We may conclude that from the very beginning we have been made to be a part of a grand story, to gravitate toward compelling stories, and to be mesmerized by great story telling." (Page 92)

Martoia wants us to start to go back to the beginning of the beginning. And on a nice little side note, Martoia explains that he believes that the author of Genesis did not provide this account in order for us to explain all the questions concerning dinosaurs, age of earth, and evolution. This is crucial because many of our teaching on Genesis gets to far wrapped up in this sort of thinking, and this may not allow us to see how the story truly begins. Now that being said, how should we treat the creation text, and how should we put that into context within the grand narrative? Martoia rightly points out that God is not only creating, he is also separating.

"We must not miss something that is often overlooked: God has the ability through his speaking to do this separating work, and it is called good. God's wholeness, his completeness, his integrity, in the truest sense of the word, isn't jeopardized as he splits things into groups. As he judges one thing from another and puts one thing in once category and another thing in another category, it is all good, according to the author." (Page 94)

The fact that God is able to judge something as being "good" means that it may have been possible for God to judge creation as being bad or evil, and Martoia rightly emphasizes this very point. Martoia then moves to show us one of the key pieces in the creation account;

"Something unique happens in this part of the story. God marks man and woman as different from all over the other living creatures... Man and woman are made imago dei, in the image of God, and they are giving the authority to rule over the rest of creation." (Page 95)

Martoia suggests this very point in the story is where we should start when sharing this story with others. Instead of presenting the typical propositional narrative, we present this story, created humans having the "image of God". But what exactly is Martoia suggesting when he says that this is the starting point? And what does it mean exactly to be created in God's image?

"But most compelling to the biblical and cultural context is the fact that Adam and Eve were given the opportunity to benevolently and creatively serve/ rule the world, the birds, in the sky, and the fish in the sea.... Is it possible that this transfer of royal rule is, at least in Part, what it means to be made in the image of God?" (Page 96)

Martoia suggests that this could be the inner transformational architecture that humanity has within us. Our job, in part, would be as followers of Jesus, to point and guide others to listen to this transformational architecture. Where would Jesus fit into this new frame of God's story? Perhaps Jesus came to show us in its perfection, what this would look like in humanity.

Something interesting to note, Martoia suggests that this concept maybe important to understand idolatry. God wants us to be co-creators, partners with him, as we represent him to his creation. The problem with idolatry is that we choose something that is physical for God's representation, rather then allowing this "image" that is stamped on humanity, to represent His presence on this earth. Idolatry by nature is going against what God has designed for us.

This framing opens up responsibility to humanity to carry out the work of God and to allow God's Spirit to beam His presence to everyone we encounter on a daily basis. This is why Jesus is so important and essential. He is the very nature of God, and his the very nature of humanity that is stamped with this "Transformational Architecture". Without Jesus, we would have no clear direction or hope. He has shown as a new kind of humanity that has allowed us to plug into what it really means to live as God has intended us to live. If I were to recommend only one chapter to read from this book, it would be this one. Martoia does a nice job of framing this story as I believe it was intended to be framed. Martoia's presentation of this has given me fresh ideas on what it means to follow Christ, and share that with others.

I will be concluding the book review with one more post. I will be hitting the remaining book on a very high level, not because I feel its not important, but I feel that I will conclude the very essence of what it so very important in this book, while not recreating the full text myself. (This porbaly good news to readers out there.)

-dj

Feeling Like a Rock Star

If I was living in a fantasy world I would so be a rock star. I absolutely love music and good musicianship. There is hardly nothing better then when a musician comes up with a piece, that for some unexplained reason, sends chills down your back. And to be a creator of such a piece, to experience that journey would be such a great feeling. If you ask anyone I know, music is very much a passion of mine. The wife and I actually just did an inventory of all the Cd's that I have purchased over the years and I must admit that my collection has become an expensive investment. With my love an passion for music, I could just imagine I would be a rock star only in this fantasy world. I would be performing the music pieces that I have created, and I would be sharing it with the rest of the world. However there is a reason why this can only happen in this fantasy world. There are several problems in the way that separates me from just being a music lover and a Rock star, such as the fact that I can't play an instrument or can't sing, just to name a few. But I want to share an experience in which I had a glimpse of, if only a small one, of what it feels like to be a rock star.

In college I had a room mate that I would consider to be a musical genius. His name is Ryan Brown. He had the ear and the gift to put together a string of chords, and as he put words to this, something special happened. He truly has a gift of musicianship like no other that I have met. Ryan also had the gift of singing, so the total package is impressive! I was inspired by Ryan and his gift. I was so inspired, that I decided to run after my fantasy occupation and I purchase a $400 Ibanez artcore guitar. She was a beauty! I decided that I wanted to learn how to master my new toy so I can chase my Rock star dream. I would watch Ryan and I tried to pick up pointers. On occasion, he would verbally explain things to me, but more times then not, I would just watch. Many times I would even ask questions and Ryan almost found it hard to teach me. I think it was because he was so good at this, he just did it, and he didn't know how to explain it to a peon like me. After some time, I would no longer fell that the best way to learn from his gift was by asking questions, so I continued just to watch. I would get brave enough sometimes and I would pick my guitar up and play in random sequences the four chords that I had learned. I found myself embarrassed to play my chords in front of Ryan. Honestly, I would avoid even picking up my guitar in his presence. I am not for sure why I was embarrassed. But I kind of guessed that it was that he was so good, and I was certainly not. Looking back I can say that after time, my inability to play well enough to not feel embarrassed in front of Ryan, put a damper in my dream of becoming a rock star. And actually I still have the guitar, and I still know those 4 chords, I can truthfully say that I have no progressed much since my collage days. But this does not sum up my rock star dream experiences! I believe there is more to tell...

In college, I took a road trip. Ryan's girlfriend at the time (Cara) wanted to go see her brother at Virginia Beach during spring break. I was and still am really good friends with Cara and I had never been to Virginia beach so I was defiantly up for a road trip. Putting our faith into my '94 dodge spirit to actually make it to Virgina Beach, which it did, we drove to her brother's (Todd) house. This was the first time I had ever met Todd. Cara kept telling me that he was cool and that I would like him. I did like him. He has a 'cool" spirit about him. He is an artist of many trades. He was really fun to be around with that week. He is a musician as well, and he wrote his own songs. I will never forget what happened.

You see, even though I am great friends with Ryan, I was never given the opportunity to play with Ryan, probably due to the fact I absolutely had no confidence in my playing ability. But my experience with Todd had a different tune. He got out he guitar and just started playing. He then gave me another guitar, and told me to strum a chord in a specific pattern, then repeat that pattern to 3 more chords. I remember being nervous. Sure I knew how to play the chords, but I also knew that I had always struggled with any sort of rhythm. I also had never have played with any one else. I begin to do what he told me, before long my rhythm was decent enough that he began to sing a song with my guitar strumming laying the back drop for his vocals. This was AWESOME! I had never felt so alive musically. In that moment I was living to the full. I was so proud of that moment. At that moment I truly felt like a Rock Star! I don't know if what we put together that evening even sounded like what others would describe as music, but it didn't matter. All that mattered is that as a musician, I mastered that moment. I received a glimpse of what it meant to be a rock star.

To this day, I still haven't progressed much in creating music. The closest I get is Guitar Hero. But, at least I still have the ability to remember that moment in which my fantasy world became a reality, even if it was just a moment. I think there is something to this. I mean, even beyond being a rock star, I wonder if there is real life stuff in this. I cannot help but wonder if a lot of us want to be a rock star, and Jesus is the perfect musician. Jesus created and played this good news music better than anyone has ever played. For my whole life, I have appreciated his ability to carry this tune from a far. Much like Ryan, I have watched and admired. There is nothing sweeter then to see how Jesus played that beautiful song and how he still carries that tune. What Jesus accomplished as this Gospel Musician, is simply jaw dropping. Not to mention all the miracles, Jesus loved people. I mean He really loved people! He cared for the poor so beautifully. He was willing to stand up for the unprivileged to the point of death by the empire and the religious elite. This was a gospel the would run through his veins, and that embodied every action of Jesus. I love Jesus and what he accomplished as this "Gospel Musician". I must say though that I have loved Him from a far. I have admired from a distance.

I feel embarrassed, because sometimes I don't feel I am up for the job. I do not want to take the music that Jesus has created and turn it into a sour tune. I want to be able to play this music with Jesus knowing that I can at least keep up. There are those that have played with Jesus that even in their imperfection, they have held up admirably. I have to remind myself of something. The song that Jesus created was never meant to be admired from afar. Much like Todd who invited me to be a rock star, Jesus invites me into a participant in the song He created. Will there be times where I am going to fail to stay in tune? I would have to think that there will be many times. But I can't help but imagine that Jesus is next to me with His guitar and he is instructing me on the chords and rhythms. Most importantly, he is asking me to poUr my efforts into this beautiful and graceful song. May God give me the strength to pick up my instrument and become a rock star and live in the fullnes of Jesus' good news.

-dj