Benjamin Zander of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra

I find so much beauty in this talk – and want so badly to share my love for Jesus the way he shares his love for classical music.

Whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk in the same way Jesus walked.

That’s 1 John 2:6, and I used to read it like a moralist. 

And reading that verse as a moralist is discouraging.  Because the Scriptures are clear: Jesus lived a perfect life. No action was wrong. [...]]]>

Whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk in the same way Jesus walked.

That’s 1 John 2:6, and I used to read it like a moralist. 

And reading that verse as a moralist is discouraging.  Because the Scriptures are clear: Jesus lived a perfect life. No action was wrong. No thought ill-intent. No reaction out of line. And I just can’t seem to get it together and live like that. So that means I can’t claim to be a follower of Jesus.

But the author of 1 John is working on a greater theme in his text than simple actions or moralism. Throughout the entirety of the text he explores the idea of abiding in Christ. And what he seems to hint at in section the verse above comes from is that Christ abided in his Father. Jesus said it like this: I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge and my judgment is just, because I seek no my own will but the will of him who sent me. (John 5:30)

So maybe this verse affirms what God revealed to the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 13:14) and repeated in the book of Acts (Acts 13:22), that David was a man after God’s heart. David fails if the goal is perfect moralism. But he never stops chasing after God. He wants to remain in relationship with God – and he gives his life to pursuing connection and identity in God.

Yet again we see that following this Jesus is about a beautiful third way. The foundation of Christianity is neither rebellion against the law, nor perfect success in following the law – it is abiding in the one who did what we could not, the one who obeyed every law and yet still sacrificed himself as sinful so that we might have life.

This is such a powerful video, for so many reasons.

For me, Jim’s line at the end (I won’t give it away) brings the whole story together and makes it so powerful.

I was also struck by how he used evangelical rhetoric to tell his story – he bent the meanings of the jargon [...]]]>

This is such a powerful video, for so many reasons.

For me, Jim’s line at the end (I won’t give it away) brings the whole story together and makes it so powerful.

I was also struck by how he used evangelical rhetoric to tell his story – he bent the meanings of the jargon that clutters our religion and expanded the meanings in really interesting ways.

Most powerfully, Jim showed the value of connection in spirituality. There is something we miss when we’re alone. We were designed to live connected to one another; it was only after sin entered the world that we began to go it on our own. We can’t underestimate the power of reconnecting our lives with God, with ourselves, with others and with our planet.

And the thought of the internet as our attempt to connect to each other with out God is riveting – the ramifications run deep and wide. That makes the web our Tower of Babel – where the idea isn’t wrong, but the way we try to live/produce/succeed without God is.

Huge thanks to Jim for the courage to share this story.

It’s not that they are designed to pull ego out, it’s that more often than not they do.

You can explore the trend with young pop-artists, politicians and movie stars, but you can also dive right in with Christianity.

Nicholas Kristof wrote an op-ed for the Times this weekend called, Spotlights change everything.

Nicholas Kristof wrote an op-ed for the Times this weekend called, Evangelicalism Without Blowhards. He called out the kind of arrogant nonsense that has come to define evangelicalism in America. But the most powerful part of the piece came right at the end:

Because religious people and secular people alike do fantastic work on humanitarian issues — but they often don’t work together because of mutual suspicions. If we could bridge this “God gulf,” we would make far more progress on the world’s ills.

The fullness of God’s Kingdom is the restoration of all things. It’s God-followers known by their unity. Christians as humanitarians. Those who believe in Christ’s message as environmentalists.

But there are few spotlights in these things.

Kristof was really writing in memorandum of the Reverend John Stott. Haven’t heard of him? That’s the point.

Stott led boldly in unifying so many people theologically. His prolific writings called for those of faith to embrace the broken, poor, under-resourced and marginalized. But his life was quiet, humble and unassuming. His was a life well lived, but outside the spotlight.

The message of Christianity is we no longer have to clamor for the spotlight. We are free. Our God doesn’t need a super-star. He just wants us to live well with what we’re given, dedicate our lives to following him and give ourselves to the restoration of all things.

If we really believe the central message of Scripture is the restoration of all things, then our action should lead us to intercede in our world. To take up the cause [...]]]> Earth Day and Good Friday occupy the same space tomorrow – and as a follower of Jesus that should be nothing short of normal.

If we really believe the central message of Scripture is the restoration of all things, then our action should lead us to intercede in our world. To take up the cause of those who are hurt, broken or oppressed in any form – especially the innocent who lack simply because of where on the planet they were born.

I’m so thankful for charity: water and the work they are doing. The movement to bring clean water to those who lack access to it re-humanizes entire villages, breathing life into every sector of society.

To find out more about the water crises and how you can get involved, visit charity: water.

There is a long pause between the final words of the Hebrew Scripture and the beginning of the Christian New Testament. Most scholars mark this pause as a time when [...]]]> If you turn the page in your Bible from Malachi to Matthew too quickly it’s easy to forget you’re passing roughly 400 years of history.

There is a long pause between the final words of the Hebrew Scripture and the beginning of the Christian New Testament. Most scholars mark this pause as a time when prophecy stopped, a time when people leaned in to the words that they had already been given.

If you look in to what happened during the time you realize that Jewish faith went through some pretty interesting transitions.

• They studied in depth the word that God had already spoken.
• They dove into systematizing and organizing their theology and beliefs.
• They tightened paradigms with which people should view God, and in particular the Messiah.
• There was renewed clarity and uniformity to how people were supposed to read God’s word – that way everyone would know what to look for when Messiah came.
• A religious elite arose, profiting (largely) from an organized religious system that revolved around a central location where people gathered.
• Those who made their money and gained their authority and security from religion formed a tight bond together and cast out, or murdered, anyone who threatened their way of life.

All this organization, all this systematizing, all this orthodox understanding, and when the Messiah came nearly everyone missed him.

He didn’t look like the system wanted him to. He walked the earth, sat with sinners, healed the broken, raised the dead, fulfilled massive amounts of prophecy, spoke the words of God, died to pay the price for the sins of the world, miraculously resurrected and ascended to the right hand of God himself – and it wasn’t until after all of this that a few people inside the system even started to get it.

So… some of his followers quickly penned what would become a canon of text regarded as a new word from God. And for hundreds of years, people would study this text. Systematizing their theology and beliefs, tightening paradigms with which to view God, giving clarity and uniformity for how people should view the text. These people would form a religious elite, and some would profiteer from the acts of religion – which would revolve around a central location where people gather.

And one day, we believe, the Messiah will return. The question now is, will we be humble enough to see him if he doesn’t look like our system wants him to? Because if our system could keep us from seeing him then, we would certainly miss out on what his Kingdom looks like now.

Actually, if you follow us around, it might not look like it. But really we are.

We turn on lights, drive our car and even talk on smartphones – All while we’re at rest.

We make a conscious effort to observe a day of rest – and we’re [...]]]> Our family observes the sabbath. Sort of.

Actually, if you follow us around, it might not look like it. But really we are.

We turn on lights, drive our car and even talk on smartphones – All while we’re at rest.

We make a conscious effort to observe a day of rest – and we’re on a journey to discover what the essence of sabbath looks like in our lives. Here are some of the things we’ve discovered so far:

It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, as long as it’s a day.

Most weeks it’s Sunday, but some weeks we have things scheduled on Sunday, so we take Saturday. We spend the week in preparation for this day.

Taking a day to rest isn’t about forcing yourself not to check email for a day - it’s about getting aggressive about your schedule for the six days before the sabbath so you can rest. But even if we don’t get everything done:

Sabbath is a day when you live like everything is done, even if it isn’t.

Grabbed that quote from Rob Bell a few years ago. Practically it is easier for me than Emily on this one, but that’s just the way we’re wired. Sometimes we just have to be okay with the house being messy. Yesterday I rinsed dishes, but didn’t empty the dishwasher and reload it. So we sabbathed with rinsed dishes stacked on the counter.

We do things that bring us rest – things that refresh our souls.

Sometimes this means I turn my phone off, get off Facebook and disconnect. Sometimes it means we jump on the subway and go into DC. Last time I was in New York I walked from 75th down the west side of Manhattan to TriBeCa, crossed over to Alphabet City and then back up to 59th. It was a day of walking, stopping wherever I wanted and enjoying life without a schedule.

And any of these things can be exactly what I need to renew my spirit.

Jesus said the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. This day of rest should serve us. Renew us. Refresh us. It should be a day to live in community. Find solitude. Break our schedule. Seize something that is usually outside our grasp.

So go ahead, start planning for a day of rest this coming weekend. Choose to take a day where you remind yourself you’re not defined by what you produce or how much you get done. Live in, and from, rest.

For more on sabbath in modern culture, check out SabbathManifesto.org.