This past Sunday I preached on the transfiguration, specifically on how Peter responded to it by offering (ridiculously) to pitch tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Peter is much like us in his desire to hold on to the glory, to move from "good to great", while the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, is always death before resurrection, suffering before glory.
Have a listen and let me know what you think!
Here's the text:
Mark 9. 2-10 Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son; listen to him." And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.
This past Sunday, I preached on Naaman, the Aramean general who was cured of his leprosy via the prophet Elisha in the 9th century BC.
Naaman's story is not terribly well known, but wonderful nonetheless. The two main points, as I see them, are:
1. God works in and through suffering and weakness. 2. We often reject the Gospel not because it is too hard, but rather because it is too easy, and thus offends our need to have something to do, to play some part in our own salvation.
Feel free to have a listen and let me know what you think!
Here's the text:
2Kings 5.1-14 (NASB)
Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior, but he was a leper. Now the Arameans had gone out in bands, and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. And she said to her mistress, “I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.” And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel.” Then the king of Aram said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”
And he departed and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothes. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, “And now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” And it came about when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But consider now, and see how he is seeking a quarrel against me.”
And it happened when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots, and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha.
And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be clean.” But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper.’ “Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Here is a wonderful NYTimes article about how a life-long New Yorker came to embrace her childhood neighborhood, which is also our own.
Truth be told, Jaime and I had some reservations about the Upper East Side when we moved back to New York last summer. We had always lived on the Upper West Side and thought we always would. But now that we're here, we love it!
One of the persistent challenges in New York City is money. Not just having enough of it, but dealing with the guilt of how expensive it is to survive here, the reality that the same money could go a lot farther just about anywhere else.
Tim Keller, head pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC, told me and the other church planting fellows that when he first came to New York to plant a church, many in his denomination were angry, calling his large salary a waste of resources. Even so, he and his wife ran out of money early on and had to live very lean (they couldn't afford to do laundry!) before the church had grown enough to warrant asking for more.
All of which is why it was very comforting to see a recent report, cited widely, from the Center for an Urban Future, which states that, in order to be considered middle class (not upper middle class) in Manhattan, an individual must make $123,322 a year, compared to $50,000 a year in Houston or $72,772 in Boston. This report clearly states what I already knew and makes it a little easier to live with the resources we need to get our church off the ground.
PS There's an interesting income calculator at cnn.com where you can compare cost of living for a bunch of different urban areas. Check it out!
PPS Here's a funny (kind of) article about how President Obama's proposed $500,000 limit on executive pay actually isn't a lot in NYC.
This week, Big Springs Community Church in Montague, California committed to praying for and supporting our church plant. This news was a complete surprise, the result of our visit over the Christmas holiday. Big Springs is a wonderful Reformed church attended by Jaime's parents and pastored by Bernee Vanee, a good friend of one of my seminary professors.
Big Spring joins Redeemer Presbyterian (NYC) and Trinity (Greenwich, CT) on the list of our sponsoring churches. Many thanks to Pastor Vanee and the entire Big Springs family!
This past Sunday, we had 38 people at our home for brunch, our biggest turnout yet. It was wonderful.
That being said, it was also quite cramped, and although having a "packed house" is exciting for a while, we can only ask people to sit on our our living room rug (which sheds) for so long.
Given our current growth, we'll soon need to find a bigger (but not too big) space into which we can further expand. Ideally, we'd want something that could accomodate up to 80 but not feel empty with 35. If you think of it, please pray that the right place, in the right neighborhood and at the right price, will make itself known at the right time.
This past Sunday I preached on the transfiguration, specifically on how Peter responded to it by offering (ridiculously) to pitch tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Peter is much like us in his desire to hold on to the glory, to move from "good to great", while the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, is always death before resurrection, suffering before glory.
