Commissioned for Co-Mission

Friends, you have been commissioned for co-mission. I have intentionally made that last word co hyphen mission because the Holy Spirit is our paraclete, powerful presence, advocate, comforter, guide, and mission partner. We are never alone in mission; Jesus said he would not leave us as orphans but that he would send the Spirit to lead; he said that he would never leave us nor forsake us and that he would be with us, until the end of the age. The Spirit routinely, consistently, and faithfully forms, informs, and transforms Christ-followers into missionaries.  Continue reading Commissioned for Co-Mission

God is Not Dead!

The God who is known, who knows, and who loves is also the God who hears. This is what we find out in Psalm 66:17. God hears our cries, he hears our prayers, he hears our hearts, and he acts on our behalf. In the Bible, to hear is not to receive sound into the ear but rather to hear and to do. God has heard our cries and in Christ he has acted decisively on our behalf. Continue reading God is Not Dead!

Substitutiary Locomotion?

On this Fifth Sunday in Lent, the final Sunday before the Sunday of the Passion and the commencing of Holy Week, the lectionary offers us up a heavy and necessary dose of hopeful fortification for the things to come. After the pomp and circumstance of next week’s procession of palms, we will be thrust into the depths of the crucifixion, into the agony of the cross and tragically tremendous terror that is the fallenness of humanity. It will be so easy for us to enter into the narrative and lose sight of the fact that Jesus is not helpless in his hour of need, but rather the Powerful One has allowed himself to be powerless that humanity’s perpetual propensity for sin might extinguish and exhaust itself upon his life and body. Continue reading Substitutiary Locomotion?