Heaven is here...Do we hear?

Yesterday felt like an earthquake with the murder of God... 

And now... the deafening silence of Saturday...

The sound of Saturday's silence is the rumbling of love. A love bursting from the seams... waiting for Sunday's explosion.

But until then, the silence is powerful. The fear palpable. The angst overwhelming. And yet, in the midst of the silence, the tomb is calling out -- do you hear?

Today - as it always has - humanity is crying out for the hope of the empty tomb. And this year, the church needs to celebrate with bold-faced print, heart-filled streams, and tenacious prayers, heaven's hope.

That is, the Church needs to make clear the Kingdom of heaven is here... Do we hear?

What if today we “trust in the name of the Lord” so that we might “rise and stand upright?” What if today we who love the Lord, “shout for joy” by rising and standing upright by praying for the world today? (Ps20) 

What if the prayers of our heart were filled with the blood drops of Jesus?

What if we filled the silence (isolation) with the sound of our prayers?

As long as we live we should pray and pray unceasingly. Today is a gift from God for in His silence He speaks boldly, asking us, how will we respond to the actions of Christ? 

Will we step into the beautiful paradox that erupts from the cross? Will we step into the silence with the powerful and joyful noise of our prayers? Will we be the prayer song for the world to hear?

In His Silence

Read Matthew 27.46; Romans 5.1-11

The weekend begins with the brutal, tragic, and paradoxically beautiful death of Jesus Christ. And then there is silence...

It is almost as if time stands still - everyone staring at the limp, beaten and broken body on the Cross. And then they watched as the body is taken down, placed in a tomb and left alone.

Everyone—followers of Jesus, haters of Jesus, those wondering who Jesus was—everyone sat in silence. They could do nothing but wait. And so they did: wait, wonder, hope. Is He the Christ, the Messiah? Or is He nothing more than a false promise, a dream breaker, hope wrecker?

The deafening sound of Saturday’s silence should be a day of contemplation for followers of Christ… Who is this man called Jesus? And what does He want with me?

Truth is, the sound of Saturday's silence is the rumbling of love that explodes from the empty cross of Sunday. It is the sound of the One who abandoned His throne so as embrace us in His arms of love. Saturday’s silence should remind us that the King of Heaven became the least of these so as to usher us into His joy...if only we embrace the silence.

What if today we started living the hope of tomorrow by praying for the world? What if we filled the silence with the sound of our prayers?

Today is a gift from God for in His silence He speaks boldly, asking us, how will we respond to the actions of Christ? Will we step into the shadow of the cross so as to transform the tragedy into a beautiful wedding feast? What if today we stepped into the silence so as to step out into the noise of the world and begin living out the hope of heaven today?

Take a moment and listen to the words from Downhere as they remind us of the truth that Christ was born to save a world torn apart.  

Let us step into the sound of Saturday's silence so that the eruption of Sunday's glorious love will explode from our words, our actions, our lives! Let us embrace the One King who poured out His heart for you and me…

Abyss of Hunger

Hungry? Hunger in today's age is an abyss - it is all around and yet so many of us don't really know what it means truly to hunger - we are confused or blinded due to its overwhelming presence.

Should we hunger? can hunger be positive? If you have ever played a sport you would think that hunger is essential - coaches always shouting out the inquiry "ARE YOU HUNGRY?"

So what do we hunger and thirst for…Better yet, who? Is it God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – who quenches our hunger and thirst or do we go elsewhere? Is our appetite for the Creator or do we hunger and thirst for worldly food?

These days it is easy to be a fast-food consumer of God, but this type of consumption does not satisfy the depth of our soul’s hunger and thirst. People who are hungry and thirsty are in dire need; they will die if not helped. Such is the passion of a disciple of Christ. The ultimate source of righteousness is God Himself. This is who we must hunger and thirst for – it is a relational hunger at its core. We must know and love God if we are to understand righteousness.

The author of Hebrews helps us realize what it means to hunger and thirst for God. Read Hebrews 12.1-2. For those who call themselves a follower of Christ, our hunger and thirst can only be satisfied through a deep longing for Jesus. When this becomes our reality, our hearts, our character, our being,  and our response to life is in light of His response to us, and this is not always easy nor does it often times lack pain and suffering, but we are called to respond to life as our Savior did, with joy and praise!  


The language of the Bible is interactive, calling for a participation in the Being and act of God. With this in mind then, we must ask: Is today’s church living out Christ’s incarnational performance thereby promoting first, our being in Christ so as to then establish our own act (purpose)? Or in its quest for the “unchurched,” is the church subtly promoting the mind and heart of William Ernest Henley expressed through his poem Invictus:

It matters not how strait the gate,/ How charged with punishments the scroll,/ I am the master of my fate,/ I am the captain of my soul.[1] 

For Henley, and much of society, life is something to be conquered. The term Invictus is Latin for “unconquerable” or “undefeated.” The point being drawn out here is the between a life lived by a person whose purpose is derived by them, they are the master of their own fate, the captain of their own soul contrasted with one who is “more than a conqueror” due solely to the fact that their being participates in Christ’s own life, death, and resurrection because it is Christ who is the captain of their soul (Psalm 73.25-28).

Is the purpose of the church today the pursuit of the consumer crown or the pursuit of the crucified crown?

---

[1] William Ernest Henley, Invictus, 1888. 

The Sounds of Silence

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

The weekend begins with the brutal, tragic, and paradoxically beautiful death of Jesus Christ. And then there is silence...

It is almost as if time stands still - everyone staring at the limp, beaten and broken body on the Cross. And then they watched as the body is taken down, placed in a tomb and then left alone.

Everyone, followers of Jesus, haters of Jesus, could do nothing but wait. And so they did: wait, wonder, hope. Is He the Christ, the Messiah? or is He nothing more than a false promise, a dream breaker, hope wrecker?

Today should be a day of contemplation for the Christian church. Today should be a day of wonder for the world at large. Who is this man called Jesus? And what does He want with me?

Truth is, we do not have to remain friends with the darkness. The sound of Saturday's silence is the rumbling of love that explodes from the empty cross of Sunday. This weekend we, the Church, must celebrate the hope of heaven. That is, the Kingdom of heaven is here and the world needs it just as much as we do and did. So what if...

What if today we started living the hope of tomorrow? What if we lived out the hope of heaven (the not yet) in the midst of the reality of earth here and now? I truly believe that as followers of Christ we can be history makers today--do you? Don't let Satan fool you, our human response to what God has done on our behalf makes a real difference to God--He (God) loves the whole of His creation. The God who is for us and with us in Jesus Christ wants us, by the Spirit’s power, to be for and with one another so that together, we the Church can be for the world.

Time for us to step into the sound of Saturday's silence so that the eruption of Sunday's glorious love will explode from our words, our actions, our lives! Time to say hello to the brightness and the beauty of the Cross - our old friend who has left the indelible vision of of heaven today in our mind's eye and on our heart!

The time is now for us to be the sweet melodic sound of redeeming love for a world swept away by silence...