Boasting Only In The Cross

Today begins what I believe is the most important time of the year for Christians around the world - the season of Lent.  It is the forty days of the Spring season that we focus on the most important truth of our lives- that Jesus Christ gave His life for us as a substitutionary atonement on the cross.  Although this is certainly the case for us every day of our lives all year long, I truly believe there is great value in taking roughly a tithe of the year leading up to Easter Sunday to bring this truth into greater clarity.  It is a time of fasting, reflecting and meditation on the meaning of the gospel.

Here is an excellent quote from John Piper that I think nails the point:

Only boast in the cross of Jesus Christ. 

It is a single idea. A single goal. A single passion. Only boast in the cross. The word can be translated “exult in” or “rejoice in.” Only exult in the cross of Christ. Only rejoice in the cross of Christ. Paul says let this be your single passion, your single boast and joy and exultation…

All exultation in anything else should be exultation in the cross. If you exult in the hope of glory you should be exulting in the cross of Christ. If you exult in tribulation because tribulation works hope, you should be exulting in the cross of Christ. If you exult in your weaknesses, or in the people of God, you should be exulting in the cross of Christ.

Why is this the case? For this reason: for redeemed sinners, every good thing – indeed every bad thing that God turns for good – was obtained for us by the cross of Christ. Apart from the death of Christ, sinners get nothing but judgment. Apart from the cross of Christ, there is only condemnation. Therefore everything that you enjoy in Christ – as a Christian, as a person who trusts Christ – is owing to the death of Christ. And all your rejoicing in all things should therefore be a rejoicing in the cross where all your blessings were purchased for you at the cost of the death of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Don't forget our Ash Wednesday worship is tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Worship Center.  Mark Clifford will be leading worship.  

Breaking Down Islam's Barriers

Teri and I have had many incredible experiences on this trip.  We have traveled from Europe to the Middle East visiting with IMB personnel.  We have fellowshipped with dozens of Muslim and Jewish background believers and have made many new friends.  We've participated in Bible distribution in Marseille France and street evangelism in Paris.  We have prayer walked in Madrid and interviewed Iraqi and Palestinian refugees in Jordan.  We went on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee with Messianic believers and spent a few hours in Jerusalem visiting Palestinian friends.  One of our most unique experiences however was lunch at the largest mosque in Europe.  Before going in we took turns praying that God would break down the barriers of Islam that have such a strangle hold on such large population groups in this part of the world.  The rest of our time here gave us many examples of how this is beginning to happen.

Three nights ago I was in the home of an Iraqi family that lives in a slum neighborhood in Amman.  The family has no furniture, no beds and lives on four hundred dollars a month they get from the UN.  Because they have been given refugee protection status, they qualify for a small compensation for living away from their war torn homeland.  Unfortunately, in this country they are discriminated against and have little chance of finding work.  Four hundred dollars doesn't go far where they now live when you have ten kids and one on the way.   Our friends that work in this country have been helping as much as they can.  They're hope is to get permission to come to America.

Hassan, the father, is particularly upset today because he just came from the UN office where he learned that because of a computer glitch they won't be receiving compensation this month.   "I want to take my ten kids and pregnant wife to their office and ask them how they think I will take care of them this month!"  He says to us in Arabic in a kind of fit of agitation.

On the way to Hassan's house,  our friends explain to us that this entire family has now declared they want to convert to Christianity.  They have seen such horrible abuse and violence in Iraq that their perspective on the Islamic religion completely changed.  One day a couple of years ago Hassan snapped and questioned everything he had always believed.  So he announced to the family he was no longer Muslim.

His suffering began in 1994 when his father was killed by Saddam Hussein.

At that time they lived in Basra after the first war.   When the US forces pulled out of this area Saddam's thugs moved in and started randomly killing men in the community as a way of regaining control and spreading terror.

Hassan walks over to the only picture hanging on the wall- a picture of his beloved father and takes it down and holds it out to us.  When we are finished looking it at it he holds to the picture to his chest as if to demonstrate the depth of his loss.

After his three best friends and one brother were killed in the same manner after the second Iraq war, Hassan was done with Islam and the hate and violence it brought to his life.  He had seen enough Muslims killing Muslims to convince him that this was not a religion he wanted anything to do with.

"After you've lived in this land very long you learn that most everyone's a Muslim and most Muslims carry a degree of hatred and anger in their hearts..." one of my friends who has been in a North African country for close to fifty years told me a few days ago.  "They say they are all one but when you barely scratch the surface you find out that's not true" he continued.  "If a Sunni Muslim finds out someone is a Shia they will say 'he's not a real Muslim!'

"Most violence around here is Muslim on Muslim."  He says to me.

Our friends in Amman come to the Iraqi families house weekly to teach them some scripture.  They are thrilled the family wants to become Christian but know that simply saying you are no longer a Muslim and want to be a Christian does not necessarily translate to genuine faith in Christ.  They have developed a close relationship with this family the past few months and are encouraged that  they are  now going to a house church and have genuine interest in learning scripture.  It is apparent to all of us that this entire family will one day call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.

Our friends assure Hassan that they will make sure he is taken care of this month and that they are there for him.  As we get up to leave he tells us he is sorry his home is so small and that he has nothing to offer us.  We tell him that he has honored us with his hospitality and will be praying for him.

It is examples like this that have convinced me that Islam's strangle hold on this area is is beginning to loosen ever so slightly.  Hassan and his family are but one example of the many who are coming to Christ by unusual means in Muslim controlled lands.  We have talked to scores of Muslim background believers who tell stories of dreams, visions and other somewhat dramatic events that precipitate their introduction into Christianity.  In a place in which it is difficult to find the Word of God the Spirit of God is moving in ways not seen in the States or in other parts of the world.

But once a Muslim background believer (MBB) comes to Christ it is incredibly important that there are means of discipleship available to them.  So it important not just that the gospel be proclaimed, but that along with that proclamation a dynamic functioning church emerge where new believers can find fellowship, Bible teaching and accountability.

So it is not surprising that along side the movement of the gospel,  God is also raising up young leaders who fill the void of sound Bible teaching and discipleship.  One interesting example of this is the Tunisian couple we met for dinner one night.  Both of them came from very traditional Muslim families in small villages in Tunisia, but left their Islamic past behind after deeply questioning the things they had learned in the Koran.

So much of what they read in the holy book made no logical sense to them. With the help of a radio ministry that broadcast Bible teaching into Tunisia they converted to Christianity.  Both of them were summarily kicked out of their homes and ostracized from their families.

Muslims who come to Christ face immediate persecution from family and tribal leaders.  One of our friends from Tunisia told us that many Islamic governments gives support to religious freedom with one side of their mouths but with the other side give support to tribal leaders and family heads who carry out honor killings of family members who become Christians.  It is a convenient way to seem modern and tolerant while simultaneously maintaining the archaic sharia law and it's brutal 7th century type violence.

"Islam is a terrible religion." My friend says to me.  "Before Islam came to this part of the world mostly what you had was isolated tribal violence.  But now what you have as a result of Islam is ingrained and universal hatred, violence and family abuse.

"Wherever Islam takes over, it destroys.  That's why it's so vitally important we have a presence here."


On more than one occasion while we were in Europe and the Middle East, we walked around mosques and prayed against them, asking God to neutralize and destroy their effect on this land.  Our friends here passionately pray against the demonic influence of this abusive and debilitating religion.  More than most Christians I meet in America, they see themselves as being on the front lines of a desperate spiritual battle.

The young Tunisian couple who came to Christ told us that after becoming Christians they moved to Lebanon and attended seminary where they earned their masters degree in Biblical studies.  Today they host a popular television program that is broadcast via satellite throughout the Middle East.   As a result, their family, most of whom are still Muslim, is  constantly harassed and persecuted because of their bold television ministry.  The speak of their families suffering with obvious pain.

The more I heard this young couples story the more I was amazed at their incredible courage and keen intellect.   We met them at a restaurant in a European port city where they are trying to lay low during the Tunisian revolution.  They live under constant threat for their lives.  But they live this way with such obvious joy and happiness.   As the dinner winds into the night I realize that I am in the presence of true greatness.  Here is a couple who has forsaken all for the sake of the gospel.

I leave this part of the world with a fresh sense of how to pray, but more than that I now have faces to put to those prayers.  They are faces, young and old of brothers and sisters in Christ who are living out their faith in ways many of us in the States may never understand or appreciate.   And yet with all the hardships and often terrible injustices they face, I somehow find myself longing for what they have.  I find myself feeling a sense of jealousy for their boundless joy, courageous faith and hope in Christ.

Perhaps of all we have brought back with us this trip, these lessons are most important.  And of all we have tried to bring to our friends in these parts of the world with our encouragement and prayers, what they have given to us in return is exponentially greater.

The Time is Now

On this trip we have worked hands on with many of our missionary friends as a way of identifying with their strategy and mission.  We have participated in street evangelism, Bible distribution and have sat in on various training sessions.  Much of what our teams do here involves a lot of hard work with very little tangible (earthly) reward.   Our team in one of the French port cities, for example, will often work 14 hour days with only 2 days off a week.   They talk to a lot of people who spit on them, insult them and throw things at them.  But they are passionate about what they do and tell us they wouldn't want to be anywhere else or do anything else.

I agree with John Piper who says the missionary is the ultimate Christian hedonist.  The more one gives his or her life away, the more joy flows from them.  This is certainly true of the amazing group of young missionaries we have met here.  And for all the rejection and insults, occasionally something miraculous happens that reminds them their work is Kingdom work.

Like the story we heard of the Tunisian who came to Christ after reading a New Testament he was given at the border and then sought out believers in a town near his hometown.  Today he is a pastor who has planted many churches.  When I asked his friend who told us the story how many Christians there are today in this part of Tunisia, the man thought about it a minute and said with a smile, "Too many to count."

"Too many to count" is a significant answer for a part of the world where a few short years ago you could count the number of evangelical Christians on one hand.  But today the churches are multiplying exponentially.  The reason for their rapid growth is that these are not just random examples of a few people here and there coming to Christ, these are full fledge house church movements.  House churches are planting house churches.  Because of the way they are multiplying they are not confined to church buildings.  "The governments are helping us out by not allowing them to build churches and by persecuting believers, this keeps the movement alive."  John Brady tells us.

Our friends in this part of the world are involved heavily in leadership training to encourage church planting movements.  They tell us that there are three basic objectives to the discipleship in these churches;  1.  Bible teaching  2.  Practice or application of what is learned and 3. Accountability through prayer.   They have learned through the years that when these three things are in place in the discipleship of the house church, not only will the people grow in Christ, but they will plant other churches.  This is how the church is spreading like wild fire all over Asia and is now beginning to take hold in the Middle East in some of the most surprising places.

We watch the news and are amazed at the  cataclysmic changes taking place in North Africa.  Our friends here have a completely different perspective- one that is purely spiritual in nature.  They see it as the work of the Spirit to evoke changes on the political landscape so that His Kingdom work can be accomplished more readily.  They believe the leaders of these countries were getting in the way of the work of gospel, and so God took them out.

I've thought about that a lot the past few days and am intrigued not just by the enthusiasm and worldview of our missionaries, but also the sense of urgency they feel as they see world event change and the cracks of opportunity open up.   "We don't have five years, we don't have several months, the time is now!"  John Brady passionately told the trustees yesterday.  "If Baptist people will give us the opportunity now to reach the Arab world, our people on the ground will shed their blood if necessary to get it done!"

He pauses for a moment to gather himself before continuing,  "I've buried seven missionaries in this land the past few years and I don't want to cheapen their sacrifice by not giving it my best."

East Meets West

This past week Teri and I have been traveling with IMB trustees to visit missionary teams at work on the field.  With the reorganization of the International Mission Board from a regional emphasis to "people group clusters",  the North Africa Middle East (NAME) target became a world wide objective. Some of the highest concentrations of this cluster are found in Europe. So on this trip the trustees who are responsible for this group `are going not only to the areas of the MIddle East that one would expect, but also to areas around Europe where the biggest concentrations of MIddle Eastern immigrants exist. 

So the first stop was Paris France.

There has been much discussion in Europe about the affects of a growing population of North Africans, East Asians and Middle Easterners that are greatly outpacing the population growth of traditional European societies. "Southern blacks would sing 'We Shall Overcome!" for civil rights, but this group sings, 'We Shall Overwhelm!' my friend John Brady,  the regional leader for NAME jokingly tells me. There are many sociologists here in Europe who believe that if the current trend plays out to it's natural conclusion, the Muslim population in Europe could be the majority within 20 years. The ferries that carry North African immigrants into European ports in southern France have been given names commemorating famous Muslims like Tariq Ibn Ziyad, the Muslim invader of Europe in the 7th century. A not so subtle reminder to all of Europe that a population bomb is on it's way.

The strategy for our missionaries is cut and dry. In muslim dominated Middle Eastern countries, it is very difficult to plant churches and to formally evangelize; but in European countries there are no laws prohibiting it. So our teams are actively targeting these clusters with the gospel knowing that many of them will be moving back into their home countries. Our prayer is that the affect of this will be the gospel spreading in reverse as immigrant families go back into their homelands.

On our first day here we heard from several team leaders who had gathered from countries throughout Europe and the Middle East to meet us. They briefed us on the dynamic situation playing out in countries like Ethiopia, Yemin, Samaria, Oman, Egypt, Israel, France and Spain. It is clear that there is a movement of the Spirit taking place all across this part of the world.

I am continually amazed at the boldness of our friends in this part of the world. They took us to the largest, most active and notorious Mosque in France. Worshippers here routinely block off the streets of Paris during their Friday prayers. Walking toward the mosque, one gets the distinct feeling of being not in Paris France, the one time seat of Medieval Christianity, but of walking down a normal street in Tunis, Amman or Damascus. Gradually the sights, sounds, smells and language changes from distinctively French to traditional Arab or North African. Increasingly we stand out as Westerners. And yet we are not in the Middle East or North Africa, instead we are within the shadow of one of the most enduring symbols of Western culture, the Eiffel Tower.

A few days ago some of our friends began a conversation with some of the members of the Mosque. The conversation got especially heated when the Imam came out and entered the dialogue. The long bearded man commanded a lot of respect in the community and his arrival drew a lot of attention. A large crowd gathered and our friends asked the Imam, an expert in the Koran, "Isn't it true the Koran teaches that Jesus was the Christ?"

"Yes, of course", was his response.

"And does it not teach that Mary conceived Him as a virgin?"

"Yes", was his response, admitting to the passage in Surah 3 and growing increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation.

"And yet you say that Jesus was not the Son of God. Then who was His Father?"

The Imam mumbled something about them not understanding the Arabic of the Koran and waved them off and left.

As they were leaving one of the men standing nearby grabbed the arm of one of our friends and said, "I know who you are."

"Who is that?" My friend asked?

"You are the Christians."

"Yes, that's right." Was the response.

"Do you know what Jesus is going to do to you when he comes back?"  He asked.

"What's that?"

"He is going to kill you."

Their brief encounter at the mosque was a reminder to them that this work here is more than just proclaiming the teachings of Jesus in the scripture. It also involves a great deal of unpacking the complex and twisted distortions that are taught about Jesus in the Koran.

So the proclamation of the gospel around the world begins with meeting people where they are. That is just as true of where they are spiritually as it is where they are physically. Our friends here are committed to engaging this largely unreached people group in both places, whatever the cost.

God in the Furnace

The book of Daniel is one of the those books in the Old Testament that is rich with dramatic images and story lines.  Some of our favorite lessons for preschoolers and grade-schoolers comes out of these visuals.  From this one book we get giant statues, fiery furnaces, hands writing on walls and lions dens.  These are images that are imprinted indelibly on the hearts and minds of any kid whose grown up going to Sunday School.

But more than just great kids stories- the book of Daniel provides post modern believers with enduring principles to live by.

For instance, this week we are focused on the story of the three sons of Israel who were thrown into the fiery furnace for not bowing to Nebuchadnezzars statue.  Here are some principles I see that are helpful to twenty first century believers:

1.  To have biblical faith means to be uncompromising in what we know to be true in a way that demonstrates love and respect.  I think a remarkable side issue to the Daniel 3 story is the quiet steadfast faith of the three sons of Israel.   They were set up, accused and brought before Nebuchadnezzar and threatened with a terrifying sentence, and yet through it all they showed poise and respect without ever backing down from their core belief.   When the Bible says to be prepared to defend your faith with gentleness and respect we should understand that those are not two disconnected ideas.  The reason a person is gentle and respectful while talking about what they believe is precisely because they are confident in that belief and can talk about it intelligently and logically.

The word "intelligence" in fact comes from two root words, "inter" which means "between" and "legere" which means "choose".    The intelligent person is one who knows both sides of an argument and makes an informed choice.  Christian discernment is the result of thinking through beliefs and giving all sides of an argument equal footing before coming to a conclusion.  The Christian operates under the assumption that all truth is God's truth and therefore seeking truth is God's work.  The three sons of Israel showed this kind of discernment when they faced the king when they gave their explanation for their position:

¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”   (Daniel 3:17-18)

Their answer shows a solid theology.  It demonstrates that they grasp both the goodness and greatness of God.  God CAN deliver them if He chooses.  But for reasons they may not yet know, God might not choose to deliver them.  But regardless of what might happen they trust the character and sovereignty of God and can therefore confidently embrace their future.

2.   A second principle here is that to have biblical faith means we know that even tragedy has a purpose.   The world we live in is sometimes very painful and often horribly unjust.  As a pastor for over 25 years I have seen and experienced great tragedy with people.  Sometimes bad things happen to very good people.  Life is often very difficult and unfair.

What are we to make of the problem of pain and suffering in our world?  There is only one answer that makes any sense to me.   I am convinced that it is only in Christianity that one finds purpose in suffering and that is because the central theme of Christianity is that the most tragic event of human history was also the greatest event of human history.

Jesus Christ was brutally and unjustly murdered as an atoning and redemptive sacrifice for our sins.  My sin was so bad God had to die but God's love was so great He was willing to die.  It is the one grand theme of scripture to which all other stories point.   In the dramatic story in Daniel 3 the sons of Israel are thrown into the furnace and yet they are not overcome.  The key to understanding the meaning of this story is that there is a fourth person in the furnace with them.  Most scholars agree that this mysterious figure is the pre-incarnate second person of the trinity- it is Jesus Christ Himself.   What an incredibly poignant foreshadowing picture this is for us.

The story points us to THE story.  It says to us that He is in every furnace and that He is walking with us through all of life injustices.  In Christianity we know that God is not just an uninterested creator- but instead He loves us with a God-like love that caused Him to get into the furnace with us.  Suffering would make no sense without this knowledge.  To paraphrase Romans 5:8:

"God demonstrated His love for us in this, while we were still sinners, God got into the furnace with us and paid the price for us."

That is the overarching principle that drives our lives and the one overwhelming truth that overcomes all other truth.

Relevant Daniel

This coming Sunday we will begin a new series for the next four weeks on the book of Daniel.  The thing that makes this book interesting to me and I think exceptionally relevant to modern Christians is that Daniel is "exilic" literature.  Meaning it was written during the time of the Israelites exile into Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem.   Daniel and many others were forcefully relocated to a foreign land and were taught a new way of life and forced to adopt a different standard of values and livelihood.   It is an account of God's people struggling with their biblical faith in a place that was antagonistic to that faith.  It is in many ways a parallel to 21st century America.

Last week I had a conversation with one of our college students who told me the story of a professor at OU who opened class a few weeks ago with this question, "Are any of you in this classroom Christians?"

She was the only one who raised her hand.

He then looked at her and made a sarcastic remark about the narrowness of Christianity and told her she would certainly be insulted by what she saw and heard in his class.  Besides thinking what a jerk this guy was, I couldn't help but think of the irony of a professor demonstrating subtle if not coercive bigotry and narrowness to one singled out student while accosting her for having a "narrow" religion.

I know this is nothing new.  A university professor bashing Christianity and Christian conservatives is as common in our society as Oklahoma wind.  What surprised me and also amazed her was that she was the only one who raised her hand.   Do you think her account of her first day of class at OU was an anomaly?   I don't think so.  My sense is that this kind of pressure on traditional Christianity is increasing.

In a recent article in Christianity Today, Drew Dyck made the following observations about twenty somethings who are walking away from their faith:

Recent studies have brought the trend to light. Among the findings released in 2009 from the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), one stood out. The percentage of Americans claiming "no religion" almost doubled in about two decades, climbing from 8.1 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008. The trend wasn't confined to one region. Those marking "no religion," called the "Nones," made up the only group to have grown in every state, from the secular Northeast to the conservative Bible Belt. The Nones were most numerous among the young: a whopping 22 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds claimed no religion, up from 11 percent in 1990. The study also found that 73 percent of Nones came from religious homes; 66 percent were described by the study as "de-converts." (The Leavers: Young Doubters Leave The Church, Christianity Today 11-19-2010)

This is what makes the book of Daniel as relevant to us today as it was to adherents of biblical faith in the fifth century B.C.   Although none of us will likely ever face anything like Babylonian religious cleansing, a culture that increasingly sees itself as post-Christian brings new challenges to the modern believer.   Here are some of the major themes I will hit on in the coming weeks:

1.  We need to get out of the salt shaker and into the world.  It is clear from scripture that as Christians we are to engage culture, not separate from it.  God instructed the Israelites to move into Babylon and to become a blessing to the city.  We are to redeem culture and influence it for the good- not isolate and insulate ourselves from it's influence.   Jesus said we are to be "salt and light".  Salt is a preservative and light penetrates darkness.   He prayed that His disicples would be "in the world but not of the world".  That's the principle we live by as Christians.

2.   It is important to know our faith.   When your worldview is being constantly challenged, it is extremely important to know not just WHAT you believe, but WHY you believe it.  If you only know what you believe but not why you believe it, then when your faith is challenged you will tend to feel frustrated and overwhelmed by doubt.  The Bible says we are to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks the reason for the hope you have, but do so with gentleness and respect."  (1 Peter 3:15).  The only way to do this is to eagerly learn and get equipped.  It's a theme we hit on constantly, it is extremely important in a world that is increasingly skeptical of biblical faith that we have a strong epistemology.

3.  Remember God has a reason even for our exile.  Never forget that God is in control.  It is apparant from the exilic literature that it was Gods' design that the people of Israel go into exile.  This can only mean that God saw an eternal purpose in their faith being severely challenged in this way.  I think there is a lot to learn from this truth.  There have been many times in my life that my faith has been challenged and I felt somewhat overwhelmed by questioning and skepticism.  But I wouldn't trade any of it for what I have learned through the process of questioning.  Good questions have always caused me to dig deeper for answers.

I remember at one season of my life I had a long conversation with my father about the struggle I was having with people who were challenging my perspective of truth.  He said to me, "Never forget Rick that all truth is God's truth.  When the dust settles on all your questioning, the truth will stand on it's own."

Those words were so helpful to me as a college student.   God knows what He's doing.   We should never forget that God has a purpose for all of our struggle.  Even when it looks as if we are facing overwhelming odds, God plus one always equals a huge majority and His truth prevails through all of life's fiery furnaces and lions dens.

Loving Each Other With Our Real Selves

I'm excited about a new year and some of the things God has been teaching me.   A new year always brings in a sense of starting over and beginning new habits and dreaming new dreams.  As a church I think we have some great opportunities in the new year to do all of that.

I really love where we are as a church right now.   It's great to be debt free and to be unencumbered financially for the first time in a long time- especially in the tough economic times we are in.  Our missions offering this year has also greatly exceeded our expectations!  I believe with all my heart we are postured to accomplish some incredible things for His glory in the days ahead.   We will be stepping up our ministries to the poor and marginalized in our community this year and  gearing up for more intentional missions objectives overseas as well.   I sense real enthusiasm in all levels of our various ministries right now.  Our budget giving fell a little short in the last couple of weeks of the year so we need to transfer the excitement we felt toward paying off the CUBE into giving toward our budget- which is the primary ministry resource for all of our ministry objectives.

Last Sunday I taught the first in a series of sermons about our mission as a church and focused on our calling into covenant community.  Though we couldn't have anticipated it, I thought it was a striking and somewhat providential topic given the tragic news from this week.

We were all shocked by the horrible murders and attempted assassination of U.S. Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona.  The man who attempted her assassination is said to be disturbed and emotionally unstable by friends and classmates who know him.   The one characteristic that stood out to me in the many offered about Jared Loughner was that he was "increasingly isolated".  it is a description we hear a lot for someone who is suffering from mental illness.  In fact most of what we characterize as mental illness begins with isolation and aloneness.  In truth isolation is extremely destabilizing to the human condition.

"It is not good for man to be alone" God said in the creation account in Genesis.  It is a reminder to all of us that God has designed us for life together.  We were created for relationship and when we live in aloneness we become less of what God has created us to be.

In one of the first articles that came out about the Loughner family  a neighbor who lived across the street from them said he didn't know the last name of the family until the news story broke out.  They had been neighbors for 17 years and yet he didn't really know them.  I couldn't help but think of how an internet driven society often depersonalizes relationships.  Many people in our culture are living shockingly isolated lives within close proximity of other people.   Have you noticed that people seem to be more into  virtual relationships today than they are real relationships?

And yet virtual relationships are not contemplated in scripture.

One of the central tenants of our theology is that God came to us.  The essential point of the incarnation is that God came to us in the flesh.  God came to man and looked him in the eye and touched him and felt what man felt and saw life from man's perspective.  He took on human flesh so that He could relate to us in this way.   The implications are many but one of the most important for moderns like us who are challenged by the values of a media culture  is that we are called to each other in physical presence as well.

One of our lead pastors tells a story about his daughter that makes this point.  He came home from a long day at work and plopped in his favorite chair and stuck his head into a newspaper as if to hide from the world around him.   She danced  around the living room in front of him imploring him to look at her new dress and dance moves.  He mumbled his approval from behind his newspaper- not paying much attention.

Finally she crawled in his lap.  He saw her little fingers grab the top of the paper and then pulling it down in front of him she stuck her little face into his and said, "Daddy, I want you to listen to me with your face."

I think that's an awesome picture of the kind of community we need to value in an increasingly virtual world.  We need to listen to each other with our real faces and love each other with our real hearts.