markpowellwired

Interesting view of the Magi!

2012-01-05T13:21:43.259-06:00

Interesting view of the Magi!

We may live in post modern times but it sounds lik...

2011-07-20T20:50:30.571-05:00

We may live in post modern times but it sounds like the job of pastor remains pretty much the same.

Amen. Preach it, brother!

2011-07-06T05:48:01.551-05:00

Amen. Preach it, brother!

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2011-06-23T12:16:03.731-05:00

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Hello, Mark ~ I just ran across your very refresh...

2011-05-26T23:38:23.761-05:00

Hello, Mark ~

I just ran across your very refreshing blog. I am thankful for it and am sure I will visit from time to time.

Keep pushing back the darkness.

Apple James

http://jamesmelov.blogspot.com/

you are invited to follow my blog

2011-05-18T11:00:10.900-05:00

you are invited to follow my blog

thank you very much for your such nice post..i am ...

2011-05-16T02:20:12.308-05:00

thank you very much for your such nice post..i am interested in your points

This is a big reason why I personally struggle wit...

2011-04-12T10:46:29.022-05:00

This is a big reason why I personally struggle with the modern pastor/laity idea. This was so foreign in the early church, because everyone had a role and knew that they were equals. We see this even in Jesus, although he was "above" the disciples, he never made them feel "below" him... with obvious examples like the washing of their feet.

I think the true danger of the modern pastor role hurts both pastor and the people... especially because the people miss the full role that they play in the life of the church. They fail to minister to each other and to the pastor.

It's crucial to a healthy Christian life to fully understand the in the church no one is "over" anyone, but we are all "in Christ", the body, together... he is our head, and no one else can be our perfect example.

Mark, I just wrote a bit about resurrection and Ma...

2011-04-10T14:25:26.765-05:00

Mark, I just wrote a bit about resurrection and Mary/Martha in my last post. "Jesus wept" is such a powerful verse, especially because of its context.

We're really glad to have you as a part of the High Calling network. I hope you find inspiration and encouragement as you share your blogging journey with us. :)

You have a nice blog. Thanks for sharing. It is re...

2011-01-09T08:24:57.320-06:00

You have a nice blog. Thanks for sharing. It is really nice to have the internet to share our thoughts. It is much nicer that this sometimes brings us great commission

Wow i love you blog its awesome nice colors you mu...

2010-12-21T23:43:11.659-06:00

Wow i love you blog its awesome nice colors you must have did hard work on your blog. Keep up the good work. Thanks

Hey Mark, my name is John. I read a lot of blogs ...

2010-12-13T20:25:40.792-06:00

Hey Mark, my name is John. I read a lot of blogs on religion and prayer and I've ended up at your blog once or twice before. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this prayer exchange website PrayerMarket.com I thought it was an interesting idea and would be curious to hear what you (or other christians) think about it

I'll check back here in the next day or two, thanks & God bless
John W.

Hi dear pastor the work that you are doing. it is ...

2010-11-08T13:53:01.853-06:00

Hi dear pastor the work that you are doing. it is ganna have the best paying ever imagined. God himself. says all the promises are ours in Jesus name. continue doing this work because at the end you'll receive what you have planted. my blog is saias-80.blogspot.com

Thanks Mark

2010-10-12T20:39:03.453-05:00

Thanks Mark

I never envy your position. There are too many l...

2010-09-27T23:50:51.138-05:00

I never envy your position. There are too many lows shared over the highs. When, if all measured, there are always more highs. Appreciate your work and friendship. g

A friend of mine who is in no substantial way Chri...

2010-08-30T01:43:51.131-05:00

A friend of mine who is in no substantial way Christian recently made a passing reference to me marrying he and his girlfriend down the road. He seemed put off when I informed him that I could not in good conscience perform it (this is besides the fact that the bride is Greek Orthodox and I am Methodist). Here's how I put it to him: "You have no affiliation with a church and have never shown any interest in God, much less shown evidence of desiring God to play a significant part in your life."

And then I hit him with the real kicker:
"Neither of you are religious in any sense, so why do you want to put a Christian window dressing on it? It would make much more sense for me to be your witness down at the county courthouse, which as your friend I would gladly do."

I certainly feel for folks who have been harmed by the church. But it is not really hospitable - instead it is a lie - to offer them the ministry of Christ's church if we do not feel it is important enough to insist on conformity to her . It is not too much to ask those who wish to be married in accordance with her laws and traditions and by her clergy to respect that the Body of Christ is not simply another stop along the wedding planning trail. Otherwise, we become little more than vendors.

I catch glimpses of God here... Thank you.... Al...

2010-08-21T10:01:42.042-05:00

I catch glimpses of God here...

Thank you....

All's grace,
Ann Voskamp

how joyful a pause in the day- being overcome by G...

2010-08-18T11:58:17.852-05:00

how joyful a pause in the day- being overcome by God's goodness

God wants his people to remember. He built in remi...

2010-08-18T10:36:40.412-05:00

God wants his people to remember. He built in reminders- every year the Passover
Periodic sacrifices
Special meals
Days of fasting
Days of feasting
Much of their lives were oriented around activities designed to prompt their memories

If we fail to live with the memory of deliverance fresh in our minds- we repeat the destructive patterns of an enslaved people again and again- leading us back into a more extreme form of bondage.

We share communion and recite the workings of God in our lives to remember what God has done for us. DELIVERENCE
He brought you out of your own personal form of slavery- from sin-selfishness-destructive patterns of behavior.
He delivered you from loneliness and alienation
He brought you into a land of purpose- meaning- relationships
He took us off the path leading to destruction and put us on the path headed for our eternal home.
He took our sorrow and gave us joy- like Sarah
He took our anxiety and gave us peace
He took our fear and gave us hope and confidence.

Christians are expected to give, love, forgive, serve others and offer thanks to God on a regular basis. It could be that those things will flow more easily from our hearts if we would regularly take time to simply remember.

Hi Bill: Thanks for taking then time to read my po...

2010-08-05T16:42:08.856-05:00

Hi Bill:
Thanks for taking then time to read my post. I love your illustration/narrative about the universal and eternal tug of the old again, new again. It is a perfect balance to what I wrote.

What we will do Sunday -- what we will do together -- the reading and preaching of the Word, the Eucharist, (and the baptism) are the ways in which the remnant remains faithful, and prepares for the next portion after Christendom, for, even as you so rightly remind me, the church will survive, Christendom, sadly, will not.

These elements -- the Word, the Cup, and the Bath (Gordon Lathrop) -- make us church, make us "Christian" and open in us the present-ness of the LORD. This God-breathed thriving & churning within our community of hearts so churns and so thrives by the power of God’s presence discovered in the liturgy, and it continues to be expressed outwardly by our care for the poor.

I was reading this week that @ the Jerusalem council in the book of the Acts the Hebrew Christians asked the newly accepted Gentile members of the body of Christ to remember one thing -- the poor. This author said that in all the councils of the church afterward the poor were never mentioned again (until Vatican II).

May this not be said of us.

What I mean is, the word, the cup and the bath lead us into the world, so that even when the pulse of Christendom stops and the old ways finally lie dead, the church will still somehow celebrate the liturgy and she will still somehow remember the poor, loving God and loving neighbor.

Blessings,
M

Imagine being born a Hebrew slave in Egypt. You go...

2010-08-05T16:22:08.529-05:00

Imagine being born a Hebrew slave in Egypt. You go home from slave work everyday and you hear grandma or some old fool telling stories about God. You hear wild sounding promises. You will become a great nation. You think it was difficult to believe? Don’t feel that blessed. But you were wrong.

Imagine being a slave in Persia for 70 years. A few old women and a couple of men telling the same ole stories. In spite of God always keeping His promises, it still may have been a stretch to hold on to your faith.

Imagine being born between the two testaments. “400 years of silence” writers often call it. Still a few share some now barely decipherable message.

Now it has been 2000 years since Jesus was here. It seemed so clear then. He gave us the kingdom. He said we were ready???

Now smart guys debate what is to become of he church? Will I survive? YES!!!

Each time God in His time begins a new work.

I think I began with a taken for granted faith based upon my up bring. Today for those post-modern, post-Christian Americans -where religion is a preference more than a fate--well, simple security of belief seems almost unattainable. More often it seems that Professors in our great universities with divinity schools turn from believer to agnostic. Soon a core belief develops that society gave us the gods rather than the reverse. We create the religion we need to give us some hope of a better day, a day when all wrongs will be righted, where suffering is no more. We offer hope to help them cope.

We again wander the desert wondering if we may be the last old fool telling the stories. NO!

Each time a remnant encounters the Living God. We will not however do that by looking out at our universe, nor through reason in the Aristotle tradition, nor thru emotionalism. Only thru our abandoned hearts that faithfully seek God in prayer and worship will we experience God. Of course once we meet the real deal----we will be ready again for the keys to the car.

To Phil: Thanks for taking the time to share your ...

2010-08-04T14:19:42.830-05:00

To Phil:
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. You hit it right, we both see, I think, the challenge of pomo, but it's not just the culture @ large, it's our own people as well, especially our young adults, for pomo is post -- post Christian, post traditional theism, post reformation, post denomination, post institution. The death of Christendom means the death of what you and I love, but it may offer to the next generation a new way to find the faith. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts.

Hey Mark, I was blogging at one of my offsite offi...

2010-08-03T19:41:41.308-05:00

Hey Mark, I was blogging at one of my offsite offices, the Flying Saucer, in Sundance Square, Fort Worth, and got into a faith conversation of sorts with my waitress Heather. At some point I asked her what faith tradition she came from as TX is still a part of the Bible belt, even though the belt has been loosened a few notches. From the shrug and look on her face I could tell she had no church context at all and I realized how much work I would have to do to explain even the most basic facts of my faith. And as if that wasn’t a high enough hurdle, I am sure that Heather in Bible Belt TX has met enough Christians who have tried in the interest of conversion to strangle the life out of her. Your eight what I know are helpful as foundational for what we have to be about in the post Christian world, even in the Bible belt. Thanks!

I am deeply appreciating this series -- thought pr...

2010-07-21T21:33:26.204-05:00

I am deeply appreciating this series -- thought provoking.

Thank you for your thoughtful contributions to the High Calling Community!

This was deeply convicting --- how do we live out ...

2010-07-16T16:28:07.267-05:00

This was deeply convicting --- how do we live out the meal fellowship.
That changes everything.

Thank you for making me reflect.

The High Calling Community appreciates your thoughtful commentary....

All's grace,
Ann Voskamp