Comments (1)

By Jeff Gang, March 4, 2010 1:27 am

I enjoy Good Magazine’s infographics. This recent one is interesting, mapping income levels in the USA among different religious groups. You can check it out here at The Almighty Dollar: Mapping Distribution by Religious Belief. Is there any truth to stereotypes? Just asking. Wish my Seventh-day Adventists had made it on this one. My guess, our average income is fairly high (at least in the USA). It’s been awhile, but I think Malcolm Bull and Keith Lockhart (not SDA’s) touched on this issue in Seeking a Sanctuary: Seventh-day Adventists and the American Dream. Premise, becoming an SDA was a way to move up the socio-economic scale for many people. Any thoughts Sevies?

Comments (0)

By Jeff Gang, March 2, 2010 7:46 am

This has to be one of the most creative music videos I’ve seen! Check out the making of the video on YouTube (Seriously creative people – rock band + geeks = very cool).

Comments (1)

By Jeff Gang, February 24, 2010 11:16 am

Jeff Boyd who blogs at Adventist Activism has a great Lenten series going over at the Spectrum blog. Today’s post is “Time for Lent: Love Your Enemies” and is worth your time to read. I’ll be following Jeff’s series closely in the days ahead.

Comments (0)

By Jeff Gang, February 21, 2010 8:17 am

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And … love your neighbor as yourself.”

I pastor a church in the suburbs called CrossWalk. We have a saying around our church that we are learning to love well.  It’s our mission and it comes from this simple yet challenging teaching of Jesus.  Scot McKnight refers to this as the  Jesus Creed. Several years ago be began reciting it throughout the day. It transformed his life and eventually led him to write The Jesus Creed.

Since the Jesus Creed is the basis of  CrossWalk’s mission we decided to encourage our community to go through Scot’s companion book 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed during the season of Lent. Each day provides a simple reflection on learning to love well. So far it’s been a good experience. In fact my family is using it everyday. We’re reciting the Jesus Creed with our kids each morning and evening (we’ve even had some fun with it while driving around town).

So if you’re looking for something to add to your Lenten practices this year, there’s still time to grab a copy and join us on our journey. In fact, come by CrossWalk this week if you are in town and I’ll give you a free copy (We gave away 300 copies at CrossWalk the last few weeks). There’s a few books left, but its first come first serve at this point.

Comments (2)

By Jeff Gang, February 21, 2010 2:51 am

Here’s an article by Barbara Brown Taylor on the meaning of Lent. I like her take on how the forty days idea took root in Christian faith & practice. It’s from a 1998 issue of Christian Century, titled Settling for Less, based on Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness in Luke 4:1-13:

Do not bother looking for Lent in your Bible dictionary. There was no such thing in biblical times. There is some evidence that early Christians fasted 40 hours between Good Friday and Easter, but the custom of spending 40 days in prayer and self-denial did not arise until later, when the initial rush of Christian adrenaline was over and believers had gotten very ho-hum about their faith.

When the world did not end as Jesus himself had said it would, his followers stopped expecting so much from God or from themselves. They hung a wooden cross on the wall and settled back into their more or less comfortable routines, remembering their once passionate devotion to God the way they remembered the other enthusiasms of their youth. Continue reading 'The Meaning of Lent'»

Comments (0)

By Jeff Gang, February 10, 2010 1:53 pm

This week is Transfiguration Sabbath at CrossWalk. The lectionary readings come from Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; and Luke 9:28-36, (37-43). I am focusing on the Gospel reading for my sermon this week, but I’m weaving all of the readings together to make my point. Dwelling in these passages leaves me in awe of God’s humility. What kind of a God chooses to reveal his glory to the world through suffering (Lk. 9:57-62) and brokenness (2 Cor. 4)? Would anyone choose to make up this kind of god? We want temples and shrines for our gods. But the God of the Gospels gets things done another way. And our “departure” (Lk. 9:31) is the same—the path of Jesus Christ and his radical call to discipleship. So what are the implications? How about the church is meant to give herself away rather than prop herself up with success, impressing people with her buildings, attendance, or cash (a kind of pseudo-glory)?  Seems to me, Jesus’ path is the only way the world is transformed. I think Henry Nouwen would agree:

“Jesus showed us all that the very things we often flee – our vulnerability and mortality – can, at any moment, become the place of holy transfiguration, for us and for our world.”

- Henri Nouwen: Writings Selected With An Introduction By Robert A. Jonas

Comments (0)

By Jeff Gang, February 8, 2010 10:04 am

Everyone’s got their favorite Super Bowl ads. My favorite is “Parisian Love” from Google. The simplicity of it, the way it weaves a love story together in a matter of seconds, the music, it’s brilliant (plus I admit it made me emotional).

Comments (2)

By Jeff Gang, February 2, 2010 11:20 pm

Here’s a sermon I preached at CrossWalk, Sabbath, January 30. Matt Burdette asked me to post it on the Constructing Adventist Theology blog. So I decided to go ahead and cross post it here for you as well. We are currently preaching through the Revised Common Lectionary. It’s the Season of Epiphany, when the church focuses on Jesus revealing as God’s Son. I chose to preach on the Gospel reading for that week, Luke 4:21-30.

I. Surprised!

If you watched the NFL Championship games this past weekend, you may have seen the debut of a television ad that’s gone viral on the internet.  The ad is for Wal-Mart. And as much as it pains me to promote their business in any form, you’ve got to see it if you haven’t already [I paused the ad just as the Dad was jumping into the air]:

Let’s pause it for a moment; I promise we’ll come back. When was the last time you were surprised? I remember the surprise birthday party my wife threw for me when I turned thirty… last year. Okay, so its been a few years. Anyways, Gina blindfolded me, put me in a car and drove me around town until I was completely disoriented, and then she took me to another house where my friends were waiting to surprise me. I knew something was up since it was my birthday, but you know what really got me? She left me blindfolded for the big “surprise;” I totally didn’t see it coming, literally. Continue reading 'The Unlimitable Gift (A Sermon for Epiphany)'»

Comments (0)

By Jeff Gang, February 2, 2010 12:12 am

I love movies, especially looking at them from a theological perspective. One genre of film are the Jesus movies. I’m not only fascinated how Jesus is portrayed in these films, but also the way the story is told. Lately I keep stumbling on these films, here’s a couple that have stuck with me recently:

Barabbas (1961)

My friend Rob Simmons, a huge film aficionado and movie critic, gifted me the 1961 film Barabbas, starring Anthony Quinn.  While not a typical Jesus film, the opening scenes begin on Good Friday, when Barabbas is freed by Pontius Pilate. We witness the crucifixion, the empty tomb, and an encounter with the disciples, even a conversation with a ghostly Lazarus, all through the eyes of Barabbas. The rest of the film traces his life from being a slave to a gladiator in Rome. Barabbas is “haunted” by the reality that Jesus of Nazareth gave him his freedom. A film years ahead of its time, Barabbas, is a hidden gem of the Jesus films.

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)

I have the The Greatest Story Ever Told on DVD, but it was on television this Sunday morning, so my daughter and I watched the last forty-five minutes together. This time around I was struck by literally license of the film, particularly Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin.  The film’s director/writer George Stevens, takes the man who was healed of blindness in John 9, and brings him into the trial as a witness against Jesus. The witness is questioned, similar to the questions by the religious leaders, in John 9, but the final response of the witness is phenomenal:

Sanhedrin: “Let the first witness enter.”

[Old man enters court, stands by Jesus]

Sanhedrin: “Do you know this man, Jesus of Nazareth?” Continue reading 'Jesus in Film'»

Comments (1)

By Jeff Gang, January 19, 2010 1:33 pm

“The issue is figuring out how to live in the suburbs and still have a heart for the city. This was the place of Nehemiah in the Old Testament. It broke his heart to know the city of Jerusalem was in ruins, and he took some of the responsibility for why this was the case. We must acknowledge the systemic issues behind urban violence and take responsibility as well. Those living outside the city must take responsibility and work with those in the city to be salt and light.”

- Rev. Efrem Smith, Sojourner’s “Preaching the Word”

Within a few miles from my office I can leave the idyllic community of Loma Linda, California, where people live to be a hundred, and enter San Bernardino, once ranked the 16th most violent city in America.  Truthfully, I can go about my life, rarely venturing into this urban jungle in my backyard.

When you live in the city its on top of you, you can’t run from the needs, it’s in your face. But suburbia can anesthetize you to suffering and injustice. You can build a safe life (or so you think), a secluded life, where the world can be shut out. Not so in the city.

There’s lots of challenges to living missionally in the suburbs, but one of the most problematic for me? Complacency. I find myself too comfortable with nice sub-divisions, tidy neighborhoods, and picturesque streets. The Rev. Smith challenges me. I am responsible too. And here in my town I can’t escape the fact there’s enormous needs across the street. So what am I doing about? Sadly, the usual, not much.  What challenges do you face trying to live faithfully in Suburbia?

Jesus, have mercy on me. Remove my complacency. Compel me to action.  Let me not forget the city in my backyard. Amen.