Sabbath-keeping practiced can unhook us from appetite-driven and production-driven machine of our culture. It helps us discover the liberty of saying no in order to say yes. Identification with God’s rest on a weekly basis can foster some of the spiritual and emotional resources we need to see and feel beyond ourselves. What a priority-calibrating gift it is to take a full day every week to rest and realign your life with the passions of God! No to busyness. No to unnecessary consumption. No to 24-7 productivity. No to media. Yes to God. Yes to worship. Yes to community. Yes to justice.
Next week I am participating in the West Coast Worship Conference, February 2-4, 2012. WCWC is hosted by the Adventist Media Center in Simi Valley, California, and sponsored by the North American Division Church Resource Center, and the West Region of the Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. There’s a good line up of keynote speakers and presenters, with people like Doug Paggitt, Samir Selmanovic, and even Dan Jackson, the President of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
My workshop’s title is “The Church and the Community”, where I will tackle the challenge of being Jesus Christ’s presence in the world around us. We will explore the church’s activism and ministry in the community through theological reflection and cultural discernment, ending with some concrete and practical ways we can join God in his mission in the world, with special focus on the challenges of doing this in Suburbia. I’ll repeat the workshop twice on Friday, February 3, at 9:00 AM and 1:30 PM. Hope to see you there if you can make it out.
Wow, I like this music video from Aradhna. They’re a group of Christian musicians who play in the Hindi tradition. Most of the vocals are in Sanskrit. However when translated to English they show thoughtful lyrics deeply rooted in Scripture. It’s some of the most refreshing music from Christians I’ve experienced in some time.
Here’s a song titled Mukteshwar, based on the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy; Praise the name of the God of Liberation; Sing my soul, Sing my soul; Those who are poor in this world; Blessed are they, blessed are they; For the kingdom of heaven is theirs …” [Full lyrics]. Enjoy!
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'»
Came across this interview tonight with my former colleague, Allan Martin, over on the Spectrum blog. He’s talking about a movement that’s taken hold with many Seventh-day Adventist young adults in North America, called GODencounters. We came up with the name over lunch nearly ten years ago.
At the time we were rethinking the meaning of worship, and looking for new ways to inspire others to make worship a way of life. As a result, GODencoutners was born—at first just a week long “campmeeting” event in Central Florida, but its grown to include much more than meetings.
I moved on several years ago, but Allan has continued go carry the torch, even editing a book of GODencounter devotions with other young adults. I can’t think of a Seventh-day Adventist leader who is more passionate about young adults than Allan!
The Suburban Pastor is the personal blog of Jeff Gang. I’m a pastor at the CrossWalk Seventh-day Adventist Church in Redlands, California. This blog is a place for me to share my thoughts about ordinary life as a Jesus follower, pastor, husband, father of three, friend, and triathlete in my spare time.
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Came across this 
Themocracy