DWELL Missional Church of Burlington, Vermont - A Vermont Church Seeking to be missional in all areas of life.

Posted by: Nick Hoag | March 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment(1)

One of my families' favorite traditions is to extend holidays, birthdays, and other special occasions into week-long celebrations. As a kid this was amazing - my birthday meant not just one day of fun, it meant a week long time to be with family and pretty much do whatever you wanted - like I said, amazing. As we get closer to Resurrection Sunday I propose that we do the very same thing with the celebration of our King. Every single day this week we should all join together as a community in focusing our thoughts and lives on the incredible fact that Our Savior, who died for us, is not dead but alive and calling us all into lives of restorative resurrection mission, community, and justice in Burlington.

Here's a little piece from Palm Sunday that I expanded on a bit. I hope it sends you into this week with a hope that enables you to face anything this life has to offer.

"When we look at life and ultimately death – the fact that all of this is going to come to an end for every single person on this earth – our outlook on life starts to change. The reality of death is the primary cause for just about every 45 year-old you see driving a red Miata (and really? A Miata? Wow). Holy self-help books, batman.

Here's a quote from Rick Mckinley of Imago Dei that really resonated with me,

We all, at some point, come to face the reality that life has NO MEANING if resurrection isn't true.

And Jesus came and was raised from the dead to once and for all show us the true purpose of life. Jesus is the point of our lives (whether you believe or not) – and his kingly position does not mean that He's to be a supplement or an add-on (He's not the protein shake you drink between meals – He's the meal). His resurrection changes everything – it means that my outlook on life no longer has to keep ignoring the ending (because that's what we do, we ignore it). We can embrace the fact that in the end, death will not win because Jesus has conquered it for us.

Our God is the God of the living, and His love is stronger than the power of death. This invitation to believe is an invitation to finally live for the purpose you were meant for – The king invites with expectancy, ready to lead you and desirous that you believe and follow. When we put the whole weight of our trust in the resurrection (and we stop holding some of it back for if we get the raise, or if we get the A on the paper, of if we get the girl) we are free from being constantly swayed by our circumstances. We can rest in His finished and completed work, and finally begin to live."

I leave you with, quite possibly, the best "resurrection" scene from any movie.. ever.
And BE WARNED, it starts a bit violent and completely ruins the movie if you've never seen it!

comment

Posted by: Nick Hoag | March 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment(1)

So there's this song called 'Skeleton Bones' and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it pretty much all week. While the music and the melodies are amazing, that's not why I can't stop thinking about it. The final line of the chorus is the real reason. It simply says, "Crown Him, Stand Him up". Those 5 words have been getting my attention because when it comes down to it, our lives have one single purpose.. To crown our Savior, and STAND HIM UP.

But more on that in a minute..

Before I had totally put my faith and trust in Jesus I was always searching, searching for the thing that would make me happy, that would fill the void and "fix my brokenness" (though I wouldn't have put it that way). Like Jack from 'Lost' says, "I'm broken and I was stupid enough to think this place (the island) could fix me". This is how we all are isn't it? We think the summer-time or the new video game or the car or the girl or the boy or the degree or the career or the house or the money are going to once and for all make us happy, satisfied, and fix us. Even if we don't go around saying that or admitting it, when we're honest with ourselves it's how we live... and all of those things are incapable of making it happen.

This is why Jesus had to come. He came to breathe His resurrection life into our skeleton bones; He came drenched in love, for no other reason than to see us truly alive and reconciled with Him... and His love is stronger than the power of death. In His death and, most importantly resurrection, He has purchased new life for us, true life that surpasses anything this world can offer. Even our unworthiness, though it seems insurmountable at times, pales in comparison to the strength of His resurrection love. It is no match.

Because of who He is and what He's done, because He died and was raised for us, our lives have one purpose - Crown Him, Stand Him Up. Adore Him, love Him, and worship the God-Man who was raised to conquer death for you. His love is specific, it's tangible, it's real, and it was fully realized in His resurrection. When the weight of your trust has been fixed on the resurrecting power of what Jesus has done for you, you can finally embrace the mission and purpose and meaning your life was meant for, even in the here and now, in the daily routine. We aren't here to simply bide our time until we get to heaven - our actions in this life hold much greater worth than we often realize. To 'crown Him' and to 'stand him up' is to join in with creation, the 'everything that breathes', giving our lives to the one who has given us life. Check out this quote from NT Wright:

The point of the resurrection is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die...What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it...What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God's future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether (as the hymn so mistakenly puts it...). They are part of what we may call building for God's kingdom.

Jesus came drenched in love for us. He came to see us go from broken, searching and lost, to found. To see us go from dead and depressed and un-fulfilled to ALIVE, at peace, and one with your creator. Our job is so simple (and yet, so difficult thanks to our pride). All we must do is once and for all put down our walls, open up the gates to our heart, and let Him in. His invitation is always there, His hand out-stretched always.

But of Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people." - Romans 10:21

Even when all we have done with our lives is lived contrary to the way we know we are supposed to and to the way God intended, His hand is still held out, drenched in love, ready and waiting to bring life to our skeleton bones.

comment