I admit, I would never wear a bikini. Nope. Never. But I’m a guy. So right away any discussion about what a women ought to or ought not to wear is posed to be lopsided at best, sexist at worse. But the discussion seems to take a patriarchal turn for the worse the moment we impose clothing restrictions upon women for the sake of men.

I’m actually quite passive about this discussion. It has not really come up since youth group days some 15 years ago. But back then bikinis were the more ghastly of the subjects. Even if the girls wore one piece swimsuits that harkened back to the 1940′s, they were still expected to wear t-shirts over top, as were the men.

My wife doesn’t wear bikinis, per se, but she does wear cute two-piece bathing suites that are unmistakably girlie. Her reasons for not wearing a bikini have everything to do with her own comfort level and convictions (this doesn’t make her any less of a “women being a women” I hope). I’ve actually encouraged her to wear bikinis in the past.

I wanted to open this way by sharing this with you to let you know where I’m coming from. I’m not opposed to bikinis or women in them (especially if that woman is my wife). There’s a certain discomfort I feel when guys gawk at my wife of course, and she has expressed that discomfort more strongly than I. But the truth is, sometimes it takes a swimming outfit, other times all it takes is a nice evening gown with her hair done up. Theres no hiding my wife from from the wandering eyeballs of the male human species. She’s a pretty girl and that’s that. (Fortunately my wife doesn’t have to worry about girls gawking over her husband!)

Now on Facebook I shared an article that a friend, Tara, had shared first. The problem with sharing articles that you don’t write is that your views are not usually wholly expressed. That article was opposed to Christians wearing bikinis. In response someone else posted another article advocating – or at the very least, allowing for – Christians to wear bikinis (thanks Amy!). Thus awakens the debates with the lines sharply drawn in the sand. I felt both articles had very good things to say, and I’m going to highlight their strengths below. But I’d like to first point out one negative feature they both have in common:

Both articles assume an either/or posture toward each others position. Either Christians should never wear bikinis because men have a problem, or girls can wear whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want and men need to solve their own dysfunctional physiological issues.

Now before I come back to the problem of taking an either/or position here, I’m going to highlight the strengths of both articles.

Beauty vs. Sexuality: Relevant Magazine

In the Relevant article several features are brought to light which are often overlooked in this discussion. Here are some of the great points the article makes:

“Our contemporary cultural dialogue about men emphasizes the decisive role that biology plays in driving behavior. Evolutionary psychologists, brain researchers and TV doctors regularly produce studies “proving” men are hardwired to be visually stimulated or to cheat on their wives. The emphasis is on men’s helplessness in the face of their own physiology, an emphasis many women find disillusioning and many men find disheartening.”

The article goes on to remind us that the New Testament treats lust as one sin among many whereas the Church tends to emphasize male lust to the status of “first among definitely-not-equals.”

We have created an environment that allows men (Christian men) to succumb to their lustful desires by lobbying the blame to biological impulses which are out of their control (and then blaming women too for wearing bikinis). What we’ve done, in effect (claims the article), is shame men by refusing to take seriously mens ability (in Christ, I’d add) not to lust and in turn we’ve shamed women by blaming the way they dress for men’s lustful activity.

The article then reminds us that women are sexual creatures too, also very capable of lust. But I’d add here that while this point should be granted, we should not minimize the vast difference in level of intensity this battle is for men as opposed to women. Women often minimize that difference on the grounds that since they too have to deal with lust, that men should be able to deal with it just the same as they as though the entrenchment were no different. It’s a claim they can’t make from experience (they aren’t men) and the data contradicts it.

In the end the article superbly reminds us that

“If grace is real, it is strong enough to give us the capacity to distinguish the delight in gazing at beauty from obsessive lust. If grace is real, it is also strong enough to give us the capacity to distinguish between the longing to be validated as beautiful and the longing to cause another person to be overwhelmed by a desire so strong he or she forgets their commitments.

Too often, the Church talks about beauty and desire in ways that suggest the Church doesn’t believe grace is quite that real.”

Christian men are called to overcome, by the grace of God, their lustful desires. The moment we suggest they can’t because of their biological makeup is the moment we cede that grace is not enough. The scriptures call us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. If every Christian women in the world stopped wearing bikinis it wouldn’t make a hill of beans for Christian men because 1) non-Christians wear bikinis too and 2) men have great imaginations, capable to leap buildings in a single thought while simultaneously undressing the fully clothed businesswomen walking across the street.

Should Christians Wear Bikinis: Carla Anne

Carla Anne (and this is my first time reading anything by her) has also made some great points that we should highlight.

“I’ve never understood how a girl can shriek in panic if her dad or brother or grandpa comes near her bedroom door when she’s changing, wearing a bra and panties, but then run around in less than that on the beach and think it’s okay.”

I for one find that to be an amazing point, not just for Christians, but for people in general. Question, as a woman, how would you feel if a strange man saw you in your underwear? What if he barged into the changing room while you’re standing in your bra and panties? If you would shrug your shoulders and continue to go about your business like it’s no big deal I’ll give you a pass. But if you would shriek, kick him out, complain to others that a strange man saw you in your underwear, then I have to ask: what’s the difference between someone seeing you in your bra and undies (which usually has more, thicker material than bikinis these days anyways), and when you’re out in a bikini at the beach?

The author goes on to make the point that women should be valued not just for their sexuality, but more so for who they are in toto. She points to studies that have shown that men in general (Christian men aside for a moment) devalue a women who emphasizes her sexual assets. When a man sees a woman in a bikini he sees a tool he can use to get a particular job done. (Unfortunately, as we pointed out above, men are fully capable of see women that way even fully gowned.)

I don’t bring this point up to give men a scapegoat. We just learned the lack of wisdom in that approach. I merely bring this point up only because it’s a general fact. Sure we may shame Christian men by suggesting that they can’t overcome what God has given them grace to do so. But the fact remains, at the very least, that non-Christian men have no desire to overcome their biological makeup (assuming that were possible without the grace of God), and this is one of the most difficult struggles men (yes, Christian men!) face in their lives (yes, they struggle with anger issues yada, yada, too).

The point: At the very least, Christian’s should be mindful of this fact.

Would Paul Allow Bikinis?

The phrase “one another” occurs a little less than 140 times in the New Testament alone by my count (ESV). One of Paul’s primary theological interest was bringing and keeping unity in the Church. This is one of the reasons Romans was written, Galatians was written, 1 Corinthians was written, Philemon was written. That we would sacrifice for the sake of others. That we would esteem others before ourselves. That we would willingly surrender a particular freedom we have in Christ, if it means we would not be a stumbling block for our weaker brother or sister in the Lord. (“Weaker” read: Christian who still struggles with his lustful nature.)

Rather than despise them for their weakness and hail our freedom and independence in Christ, we too should take up our cross for the sake of the body of Christ. We undermine not just a Christ-likeness that we’ve been called to imitate, but a great deal of the heartbeat of the New Testament too, when we fail to “discern the Lord’s body.”

Yet while all of that is true, it is not the whole story. In real life things are more complicated than that. Should we blame women for men’s lustful desires? No! Otherwise, where do we stop? Should they be covered head to toe, perhaps even their eyes (some women have very beautiful and naturally seductive eyes!)? No! I think Paul points the way by offering up a real-life “grey” area issue that I believe parallels this one.

Though the Bible writers usually err on the side of caution, Paul makes a statement in 1 Corinthians 10:25-26 that I think applies to this discussion:

“Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any questions on the ground of conscience. For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”

If you know that the meat was sacrificed to idols, as everyone knew, eat up but don’t ask questions because ultimately the meat (which comes from the earth) is the Lord’s. There’s an interesting parallel here. As everyone knew all meat sold in the market in that day was sacrificed to idols, so today everyone knows that a women’s body in a sleek little bikini causes men in general to lust. The conclusion of Paul’s argument seems to apply: The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof. Helloooo! The “fullness thereof” means the human body in all of it’s beauty and glory is a part of the Lord’s craftsmanship. Wear the bikini and don’t ask questions.

But the parallel goes further. If you know that there is a weaker brother in the Lord among you (and Paul’s saying, for conscious sake, don’t run around asking!), then you should not do (or wear) anything that will cause him to stumble.

The bottom line is that Christians in particular should be mindful of their context. Be mindful of their actions. And be mindful of the body of Christ.

Earlier I said my wife doesn’t wear bikinis. That’s not entirely true. She wore a bikini once when we were lounging on a beach in Cuba. Of course in that context she was the modest one as about half of the other ladies on the beach didn’t bother wearing their bikini top at all.

Apple said the iPad I ordered should arrive sometime between April 11-17. So you can imagine my pleasant surprise when it arrived at my door March 30. I’ve been a bit of an iPad watcher since Christmas. Almost every day I hopped online (at least twice) to see what new rumours were surfacing about the new iPad. I was so confident in what to expect that, as it turned out, I was dead on with one exception: I believed the new iPad was going to have Siri. Oh well, it has dictation which is like half of Siri. The only other (minor) disappointment is that they simply named the new iPad, “iPad” (or “new iPad” or sometimes, “iPad 3rd Gen). Everybody kind of expected it to be called “the iPad 3″.

This is my first tablet. Sort of. My brother has one of those Blackberry Playbooks, and it’s alright. For Christmas I got my wife one of those new LePan tablets that everybody was saying was as good as the iPad, only cheaper. We learned the hard way that you get what you pay for. The screen went all glitchy within two weeks. We sent it back for a refund. That is when I became an “iPad watcher”. I was waiting for the iPad 3 (oops, the “new” iPad) to come out so that I could get my wife an iPad 2 at a reduced price to replace the LePan. So I’ve played around with a LePan and I often toyed with the display models of those other tablets at FutureShop and BestBuy (Samsung, Asus, Acer, Toshiba, et cetera). But I’ve never even held the 1st gen. iPad. So my wife’s iPad 2 (which came in two weeks before mine) was the first iPad that I really get to play with.

First: the iPad vs. well, those other tablets. There really is no comparison. You get what you pay for, and the iPad truly is a premium devise. There is no discernible delay when swiping from one screen to another or when opening and closing apps. And the iPad’s gestures that Apple is quickly becoming famous for is simply to die for. The whole experience, from its look to its feel to its capabilities to its apps, there truly is nothing else like it.

Next: the “new” iPad vs. the iPad 2. I got to play with my wife’s iPad 2 for two whole weeks before my iPad (3) arrived. They say the iPad 3 is faster when playing video games (A5x chip). Well, I’m not a gamer, so I haven’t experienced that yet. If it’s faster when opening and closing apps, the difference is nearly indiscernible. It’s internet is faster if you have the 4G model (which I do),  but I hardly ever use it because 1) most places have wifi, 2) my Palm Pre can double as a hot spot (when it wants to apparently – grrr.) and 3) with the iPad’s 4G LTE it eats up data like a hungry, hungry hippo. Then there’s the new screen (a.k.a. the “retina display”). I’m not a particularly fussy guy in this area, but I have to say, I love just looking at the display of my iPad. It’s so beautiful. And yes, it’s nice when you do things like watch movies in HD or read ebooks. But it seems the digital world is not prepared for a retina display. Many websites don’t look any more clearer than if you were to use your iPad 2, and the same goes with apps. And while watching movies in HD is an incredible experience, you’re also paying more for them. In short, the new iPad is better than the iPad 2, but if you have an iPad 2, I don’t think you need to buy a new iPad. But if you’ve never owned a tablet (like me), than yah, go get one. Or better yet (if you’re on a tight budget like we are) just buy an iPad 2 to get the same great experience at a fraction of the cost (though with only 16GB, you’ll have to back things up to your computer regularly to keep space on you iPad 2).

A Game Changer:

My iPad doesn’t replace my computer, but it’s certainly a game changer. More often than not I’m simply to lazy to pull out my MacBook Pro if I don’t need to, when the iPad is in reach. Which it always is.

Here are a few ways the iPad has already changed the way I do things:

1) How I Preach: Incidentally, my new iPad arrived in the mail on the Friday before I was to preach. I told my wife I wasn’t going to use it at the pulpit until I got more used to it. But Saturday night I felt led to make certain last minute changes to the notes for my message – significant changes. With no printer handy I simply sent my document to “Pages” on my iPad and preached from it on Sunday. It worked like a charm. In the future I may even “mirror” it so that what I see the congregation will see on a screen, allowing me to illustrate points visually.

2) Organization: I’m a very disorganized person. I’ve never been able to keep an agenda, never even in high school when we were docked marks if we didn’t keep our agenda’s up to date. I thought I would start keeping agendas when I got into computers, but it never happened. Then I thought for sure I would be able to keep an agenda when got my smart phone. Nope. But now I found myself actively updating my Calendar on my iPad. I’m not sure why the change, but I suspect it has something to do with how much I love the whole iPad experience.

3) Books: I may be going through a change of opinion about ebooks. The first (and only) ebook I ever read was Scot McKnight’s Junia is not Alone. I read it from my computer since I didn’t have an iPad or reader at the time. It really felt no different than reading a really long blog article. In short, it cheapened the whole book reading experience for me. I also believed nothing could replace the sensation of holding a tangible book in my hands. Those are fair points. But I’m reading my first book on my iPad – Thomas Cahill’s Desire of the Everlasting Hills – and I’m beginning to appreciate some counter-points.

1) I can have my library with me wherever I go. This matters to me more, all of a sudden, than it did two or three weeks ago. With our impending move, the idea of having my books stored in a reader looks more appealing all of the time.

2) Quick access. Ideally, my book cases would surround my desk for quick and ready access to what I’ve read and where I’ve highlighted or marked a book for when I write blog articles and prepare sermons. But then I have to remember what I read in which book and then take the time to fan through and find those pesky marks that I made. With iBooks, any mark or highlight or note I make are easily accessed from the “contents” page  under the “notes” table. In that table I see a list of notes and highlights I made and just by clicking on the one I’m looking for it takes me right to the page. Amazing time saver.

3) Speed. I don’t have to wait for a book to arrive in the mail. When it’s released I simply click, download and read. I should emphasize that I don’t really feel like I am losing the kind of book reading experience that I thought I would lose. But it is easier to sit up in bed with my iPad and read, than with a clunky book. And I can still highlight and make notes.

4). Definitions and more. Yes, this is great. Especially for someone like me who often has to infer what a word means because I’m too lazy to go and look it up. Now, as I read a book, if I come across a word I don’t know I simply press it with my finger and the following options come up: “define” “highlight” “note” “Search”. Very convenient.

What about it’s con’s?

There have been two big complaints people have made about the new iPad: 1) it heats up, 2) it’s battery takes forever to charge. Well, I can tell you that neither of those complaints have been an issue for me. I use my iPad so much, almost non-stop, and the back still feels cold to the touch, or, sometimes, mildly warm. But it has yet to be hot. You want hot, buy a Palm Pre. Sometimes I have to remove my Pre from my pocket because I feel like it’s burning my skin. And as a rule of thumb I try to keep all of my devices plugged in as much as possible. Having said that, the other night I watched a movie with my iPad, then I spent some time surfing the web, watching YouTube, reading Facebook and finally reading a book with it. Then it put it on my bed stand. The next morning I sat up and played around on it for awhile  and it was only down to something like 94% batter life (all of that without plugging it in). Compare that, again, to my Palm Pre smartphone. If I unplug it at 9am, fully charged, and don’t even use it, it’s dead by 2 in the afternoon. The battery of my iPad is a non-issue for me. It’s great.

People around me want to know why I am so crazy about the iPad. That’s okay, I didn’t see what the big deal was a year ago either. It’s like, when you drive a pinto in a city full of pinto’s, and your pinto has A/C and a red paint job, you’re happy and content that you have something good going on. But then you are told about this car called a rolls-royce, but without experiencing it you think, “what’s the big deal, my pinto works fine.” For people who don’t understand why I’m so crazy about the iPad, it’s because they’ve gotten so used to driving pinto’s in a pinto world that the only way for them to understand, is to get into a rolls-royce and take it for a spin.

There is a six week series held here in Windsor at Central United Church that has been designed to amalgamate the arts, music and word along with the blending of ancient traditions, our future hope and how all of that ties into our contemporary lives.

The layout week by week looks like this:

Jan 27 – GOD SHOWING UP (Incarnation)
Feb 3 – GOD THOUGHTS (Contemplation)
Feb 10 – TRANSFORMING LIGHT (Holiness)
Feb 17 – ORPHANS, WIDOWS & PRESENCE (Social Justice)
Feb 24 – WIND, FIRE, RAIN (Charismatic)
Mar 2 – ON A MISSION FROM GOD (Evangelical)

I’ve been invited to be a part of this and asked to take a look at the Holiness Tradition which is – I think appropriately and affectionally so – titled Transforming Light. If you can I would invite you to come to this event.

If you plan to attend I’d like to give you a quote to think about ahead of time:

“People often suggest, or even simply assume, that one of the main things Jesus came to do was to tell us more clearly what the rules were and to give us a wonderful example of how to keep them… Which then runs into difficulties, because people quickly discover that they can’t keep them, and so a different mode breaks in: Jesus came to bring forgiveness for our rule-breaking; but once we’ve grasped that, we have to go back to rule-keeping again.” – N.T. Wright

Do you agree or disagree with the assessment in this quote? What part (if any) does rule-keeping play in the Christian life?

One of the elements I found disconcerting around the fiasco involving some leaders at Mars Hill and a guy named Andrew is how some people tended to react not so much against the abuse that resulted from that situation, but against the very idea of church discipline in and of itself.

As one blogger, for instance, insisted that we try and model church governance, not according to the biblical prescription, but after “the world of Alcoholics Anonymous — which I think provides one of the best models for anyone trying to understand what the church could and should be”, he said.

Why? He explains, because with AA “nobody can kick you out”.

Other blogs – if not the bloggers, certainly their readers – expressed similar sentiment. I think this goes back to the growing trend of resisting the very idea of an “in” and “out” when discussing the family of God.

I agree very much that we should resist the soapbox of thinking and declaring that we can know for sure who are in and who are out (though Jesus did say that outsiders will know who his disciples are by their love for each other, John 13:35).

But that doesn’t mean that there is not an “in” and an “out” of God’s family. Paul’s whole discussion of justification by faith is rooted in the very idea of an “in” and “out”; i.e. those who have faith in Christ are justified by Christ’s faithfulness are “in”. That’s what Galatians and Romans teach.

When we talk about “church” (or “Church”) we tend to think in terms of infrastructures like Protestant denominations, the Catholic Magisterium or the like. When the New Testament uses the word “church” (ekklesia), it means something slightly, but significantly, different. It is either referring to the general organic Body of Christ (i.e. all believers everywhere at all times regardless of what communion they fellowship with) or a local gathering of believers.

When Paul writes about putting a person who is engaged in unrelenting sin outside of the “church” (1 Cor 5), he means specifically outside of their fellowship. And two reasons are given for this:

1) So that the person may (i.e. hopefully) be saved (vs. 5).

2) So that the rest of the community does not water down their holy lives as well (vs. 6-8).

One element the church, I think, is neglecting today is an emphasis on holiness. This is probably a reaction to the subculture of the 90’s that insisted on “do not handle, do not taste, do not touch” (Col 2:21) type legalism. In our desire to be accepting, loving and tolerating, we forget that God did not become man merely to make this world better, he came to make this world new. And, of course, God’s new is better, but better is not necessarily God’s new. We can create a better world where death and resurrection are not necessary. But Paul, in this very text, points specifically to “Christ, our Passover Lamb”.

Christ died and rose again in order to be the first fruits of the new creation that we too might participate in that new creation, even now (1 John 4:17). It is all about transformation (2 Cor 3:18). Transformation of person, character, and glory. It’s about reflecting God and being the Body of Christ.

The family of God is not some wishy-washy free for all. Rather it is expensive and radically sacrificial.

Dealing with unrepentant sin, removing it even, is sometimes necessary for the sake of the individual and – perhaps more importantly – for the Body of Christ as a whole. The family of God is not a place where the perfect can join. It is, however, the place where we are called to become perfect (Matt 5:48, 1 Peter 1:16).

Here’s some news from around the (Christian) Blogosphere.

Jana Riess tells us her Top 5 Reasons Book Authors Should Blog.

Kurt Willems shows us a classic hymn and suggests that it could be titled “Love Wins”. He also points out that Clark Pinnock wrote a book on inclusivism by the same title. The hymn is called “There’s A Wideness In God’s Mercy“.

Jefferson Bethke posted a Youtube rap video titled “Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus“. Donald Miller endorses the video. Kevin DeYoung rebukes it verse by verse. Jeff repented of his video. Catholic rapping home boys joined the discussion with holy beat of their own. The whole riffraff is summarized by Eryn Sun here.

Trevin Wax officially moved into the Gospel Coalition neighbourhood.

Do you have to read a book cover to cover if you plan to review it?

Rob Bell Dot Com? Well, in case you didn’t know it, Derek Ouellette Dot Com too. (I don’t know how new Bell’s dot com is, it might very well not be new.)

Biology Professor Justin Topp begins to review Peter Enns book, The Evolution of Adam.

Brain LePort posts videos of Evans and Erhmans debate.

The Rev. Roger Wolsey writes Why Mark Driscoll Needs An Elephant:

As I understand it, in India where rural people live and work with elephants, they’ve come to learn things about elephant behavior. Like humans, elephant calves stay close to their mothers side longer than most other animals. When young male elephants are finally sent forth on their own, they sometimes form wild gangs that terrorize villagers with their rampages.

The villagers have learned that introducing a fully grown bull elephant into the gang of hoodlums mellows them out almost instantly. They thrive when there’s a large male around who they all know could kick their butts (that’s the paradigm that Driscoll operates out of). It’s not really about the potential to kick-ass. It’s that they respect a fully grown mature male and know that they can learn much about how to socialize from being around him. They learn patience, self-control, and they blossom into maturity.

I would submit that

we need to introduce the Christian equivalent of some bull elephants into Driscoll’s village where he is on a rampage.

I’m willing to be part of such a team…though I’m fully aware that I’m still maturing myself, aside from being in ministry for 17 years and having served a wide range of churches. While not particularly big in stature, I’m disproportionately strong for my size and age. I’m currently a fit 43 and weigh in at 155 lbs and can bench press 230lbs (if you give me a couple of months to work back up to it — I’ve been doing a lot of yoga recently).

Is this the future of the library (Below)?

Off topic.

I love technology. Especially the kind that works really well, allows me to be creative and doesn’t crash every five minutes. When I converted to Apple a few months back I found the perfect fit. I purchased my first Mac in October 2011, will be getting an iPhone as soon as my contract with my sucky Palm Pre is up and I search the internet daily for the latest “unconfirmed” rumour about the forthcoming iPad 3 (or 2s or whatever).

Here’s a few cool things from Apple that either just came out or will be coming out soon.

1. iBooks II: Apply is attempting to enter the text book industry (geared mostly to highschoolers at this point) by offering digital text books on the iPad. Will it fly? I have some thoughts on that which I’ll share in an upcoming post.

2. iPad 3: There are a million rumours right now about the next generation of the iPad, including when it will be released (on Steve Jobs birthday, Feb 24th, or sometime in March). It is expected to be faster, have better camera’s and a better screen (perhaps a retina screen). But the latest rumour is that it will have Siri.

3. iPad 2: Surprise, surprise. While typically Apple retires products as soon as the next generation hits the market, there are confirmed reports that Apple plans to leave the iPad 2 around for awhile and lower the price to compete with other less expensive tablets. Some estimates have the iPad 2 starting between $299 and $399. Cool.

4. iPhone 5: I haven’t been too interested in following the developments of the iPhone 5 but the big thing seems to be that it will have G4 LTE capabilities and will be coming out late in 2012.

5. Apple Flatscreen TV w/Siri: Imagine a flatscreen TV that is voice activated, has a built in computer, syncs with all of your household electronics (if you’re an Apple user of course) and does not require a remote control to operate it. Well we won’t have to imagine for long since reports have it that a prototype has already been built. Some reports say that it may hit the market as early as this time next year.

A friend named Rielly McLaren posted a question on the private Facebook forum, “Questions”, that I think is timely  and needs to be asked:

seeing that its Christmas time, may I hazard a Christmas question? I find most Christmas services at churches pretty irritating, quaint, shallow, and lack a connection with real life (be it the actually story of Jesus, or daily life 2000 years later). Why is that Christmas services are so lame? (I’m only speaking for evangelical churches – as I find liturgical churches pretty awesome this time of year)

I’m on my break at work and don’t have a lot of time to work this out, but in sum, here’s my answer:

Two words Rielly: Left Behindism. An escapism worldview mixed with a, “let’s get them to say a sinners prayer so they can go to heaven” approach to the faith is the reason. Does the Story of Jesus matter? Not from that perspective. What about real life cultural issues? Again, from that perspective, the only real life issues that matter are those that pertain to “the coming antiChristian and economic armaggeddon”. My two cents.

So, if anyone is interested, though my church is not liturgical, , tomorrow I’m preaching an Advent Message of “Hope” that will involve three elements: 1) Israel’s story ast he backdrop to 2) Jesus’s Story and 3) how our eschatological hope plays out in real life today. Ya’ll welcome to come.

It’s at the Devonwood Community Church of the Nazarene at 11:00 am.