Goin' Mercer…ramblings and rants!

Gone for A While

Today we leave with our incoming seniors and just graduated seniors for what we like to call, “The Trip”. I can’t tell you where we are going, because it is always a secret. I can tell you that we will be camping and having some fun activities. We will also be studying during the week about community and Holy Spirit. This is a great relaxing trip that gets our summer kicked off right. Please pray for our travel, safety, and experience. Since I will be out camping, I won’t have a computer or access to one, much less be blogging. I hope to resume when I get home next week. So until then here are some of my favorite blogs that I have written that you can reread and some other people’s blogs that I find fun to read.

Reread

My First Blog Ever!

Last Year’s Blog Before Senior Trip

Twenty Five Things I have Done

Holy Spirit 3

Knowing When to Say When

Ritual is a Good Thing

Blogs You Should Read

Mike Cope

Leah’s

Larry James

Ryan Porche

I hope you have a great week and return to this blog after reading these others who have incredible things to say.

-Michael

Father, Son, and Cousin “It”
Holy Spirit 8

I am back and resuming my personal study on the Holy Spirit(thanks for your encouragement Bob).

We are very comfortable when we regard God as Father and Son. However, when we get to the Spirit side of things we quickly move to the terminology of “it”. I have been trying to be very careful in the last three weeks and still have a hard time getting around that tricky pronoun. We are also very comfortable when we talk about the spirit with talking of its manifestations. Now we may not be comfortable with the thought of the manifestations themselves, but we are comfortable to talk about the Spirit in these terms whether we agree or not about what its manifestations are.

I think these two comforts can easily feed off one another and create a distorted view of the Holy Spirit. We can make heads or tails of the Holy Spirit so we talk of the Spirit as “it”. Our view is distorted into thinking that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal ghost or force that cannot be seen, so therefore only really exists in its manifestations. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Holy Spirit is indeed a personal presence of God within us. If we could tweak our view just that much and truly believe it, then we have no choice but to revoke our language of “it”. If the manifestations of the Holy Spirit are true and exists, then we must also know that they cannot come about in such a powerful way without the Holy Spirit having a personal awareness of who we are and an inseparable unity with God and Son.

When we understand the Holy Spirit as a true third person of the Godhead then we can break the boundaries of manifestations we have placed on Him. When we speak only of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit we rob ourselves of the fullness the Spirit brings to our lives, namely the presence of God indwelling in us, and we place boundaries, due to our lack of understanding, on the person of God.

So what pronoun is appropriate for the Holy Spirit. As I thought about this I had some fun in my thinking. I used Him above. This seems to work, but gets confusing if you ever want to talk about all three together. You could use us, we, our. This makes since in that God’s presence, the Holy Spirit, is in all Christians simultaneously and shows community. I also thought about She/Her. This one makes much sense to me if we limit ourselves to the stereotypes of humanity. God the Father has been given He and in this we find much language of task taking, directives, war, justice, and less emotion. Jesus we have no choice, but He since we know His gender from being human. And now are expectations of the Holy Spirit are evoking emotion, guidance, mercy, community, and caretaker. To risk sounding sexist this gives me more imagery of woman than man. Let’s face it guys only a she or her can guide. If it were up to us we would always be lost and never ask for directions. So, I am being sold on She.

No matter the pronoun, even “it” we cannot deny the fact that the Holy Spirit is a person of the godhead and has a personal stake in the church. The Spirit is not a distant, unknown, indescribable force that only makes strange and paranormal things occur. She is the presence of God in us who leads us to community by being the oneness within us.

God The Father, God The Son, God the Holy Spirit Personal Presence of God Within the Community of Believers.

-Michael

A Simple Show

Leah and her Kinder Teacher friends had a great idea around a month ago to create a DVD slideshow/movie for the parents of their classes. I had the computer as I said a few days ago all last week. So unfortunately she was not able to work on the project for a week. On Saturday Leah and I worked all day on this project. Leah woke up and worked on the show and I started helping at 2pm. I had basically two jobs for helping with the movie; music and DVD writing. This “simple show” took many, many hours. Leah worked the hardest and the longest on the project. And yesterday we finally got all her movies burned and today her teacher friends got theirs burned. It just proves that sometimes things are never simple.

This is a simplistic example of deeper Christian truth. Being a Christian, following the perfect savior is not easy. It takes work, faith, and commitment. That is why communion is so important. Because after a hectic faith journey during the week we come together as the body to rebuild our brokenness through unifying body and redemptive blood.

It was a simple show that took many turns that sometimes frustrated us both. The Christian life is anything but simple, however, the end is always worth the pain. I cannot wait for each Sunday to come to the table with my brothers and sisters broken and bruised to be renewed in the Lord.

See Ya Sunday

-Michael

Holy Spirit Discussion

Last night our congregation had a discussion on the Holy Spirit. The preacher that morning preached on how the church is directed by the Holy Spirit. He asked the congregation to submit questions that he would answer that evening. This was a bold move if you ask me. So, last night those that attended heard different things about the Holy Spirit. There were some excellent questions. I even had a chance to speak to some of the questions. My personal study that I have been doing came in real handy. I really enjoyed the conversation and it was just the boost I needed to continue my study.

I am blessed to have attended school last week and even more blessed to be back home with my wife. We have been scrambling though, working on a project for her class’s parents. I had the computer all week so we are now in overdrive to get the project finished. So as I wait for DVD’s to burn I write. Only a few are left and I am proud of Leah’s hard work this year, her dedication to her job and children, and her spirit of cooperation with students, parents, and co-teachers. She teaches me every day and I am a blessed man!

-Michael

Spiritual Homes

There are physical places you move from and to in life. Personally I didn’t move much as a kid growing up. I moved from Ganado, TX to Bay City, TX when I was 2 years old. It was a 35 mile move. When I was 7 we moved from one location in Bay City to another. It was about a 3 mile move. Then when I was 19 and going to be a sophomore at ACU I moved to Abilene, TX. I moved quite a bit in college. Each year a different dorm or apartment and every summer a new church to intern with. When I was 22 I moved to Clear Lake. I have moved 3 times since being there. Every residence was different, especially when I got married. Leah moved as a kid too. She went from Clear Lake to Lubbock to San Antonio to Houston to Bellaire to Abilene (many moves here) to Clear Lake.

Physical moves create new physical homes. Those physical homes in turn create spiritual homes. I have had the chance this week to come back to one of my spiritual homes. Highland church of Christ was a spiritual home for me while I was in college at ACU in Abilene. I have been back this week taking a class and it has been a refreshing time of visiting friends, times of prayer, and encouragement from past co-workers and mentors. It is always a great journey to revisit your past physical and spiritual homes. I have been blessed to do that this week. I will be even more blessed to return to my current physical and spiritual home after a week away.

-Michael

I just finished my test for my class. I feel good about it and am proud to turn it in tomorrow. If I had any thoughts today, I am now bankrupt of mind. I am glad to almost be done and will work diligently when I get home to finish all the remaining requirements by August.

This has been a good week of study, rekindling friendships, and Taco Bueno.

But now I am tired and ready to see my lovely bride. I miss her, a lot!

-Michael

Reflection From Class Today

Ritual is a Good Thing

Today we talked about ritual. Certain rituals when used well do our church body well. The give meaning and in turn that meaning gives us meaning. These rituals are something not that we create, but in many ways God has created for us. There are two we focused on in class today. Baptism and Lord’s Supper. I know we have rituals and I know that these are two of them. I think what struck me is that ritual has little to no meaning outside of community. It dawned on me that our worship wars are not about conservativism and liberalism. It is about the lack of sense of community. We don’t live in community and don’t act as a community therefore we misunderstand the rituals and therefore create either too much dependence upon them or a total disregard. We deal with many surface issues in church, however, instead of bandaging the wounds by dealing with manifestations. We should work on community, true community. That is where the heart of the matter lies. Community doesn’t mean being a homogeneous group that are clones of one another. But true community is found in the midst of diversity where Jesus Christ is the focus and we are servants to Him and His people.

Now I must work on my test due Friday

-Michael

Studying and Reflecting

I have been out of class just a little bit of time as I write this to you today. I am now in a computer lab studying and putting together a lesson for our class for tomorrow. Also I can’t help but reflect on class as well.

Reflection

I am reflecting on an exercise we did in class today. We were given the Acts 2:1-36 text. We were to take that text and grab a partner. One of us was to be the student and the other the evangelist. I gave my partner the choice and he chose student. So I became the evangelist. However, our goal was to only tell the story and for the listener to ask questions. I told the story he asked the questions. Well as you know or have looked up by now this text does deal with the Holy Spirit. So you can imagine that there were questions about tongues of fire and how the Holy Spirit functions. Now, I realize that this is not the central focus of this text but no one can deny the gravity of the mystery of the Spirit. At the end of our exercise two were picked out of the entire class to again do this exercise, except in the sight of us all. I did not make eye contact and therefore kept myself from being picked. As it unfolded in front of my eyes the Holy Spirit and Tongues of fire conversation came out again. I felt for the evangelist in this discussion as he was pelted with various questions that were tough to answer. One reflection I have regarding this is that the questions all dealt with the Holy Spirit as a power or manifestations of the Holy Spirit rather than it being God’s renewed presence among his people as He dwells within them. I am so thankful for Gordon Fee. I didn’t speak up or give criticism. I simply listened and thought of my own response to the questions. I think the two that were picked did an excellent job. I am thankful, though, for not being one of them. Yes, I have been studying the Holy Spirit. However, studying the Bible is much like being a doctor. You don’t figure the text out, you continue in study and practice, just like the doctor does not wait to be a doctor when he has every medical procedure known and can act on them, rather he is in the practice of medicine. I am in the practice of being a disciple. But the questions of the Holy Spirit are out there and we need to be equipped to join the conversation.

-Michael

Where in the World is Michael and the Holy Spirit?

What has happened to the daily blogger and his musings of youth ministry, church, family, and study of Holy Spirit? Well it all started when our preacher took some vacation. I preached at our church the last two weeks and because of that study, getting ready for grad school, and my normal youth ministry tasks I didn’t make time to blog or I simply forgot. Now I know that I have not committed a crime that my friends listed to the side have not commited themselves, however, I am ashamed at my own delinquincey. However, I am trying to blog while I am at school

At the present I am in Abilene, TX taking the course Teaching Scripture in a Contemporary Context. I am enjoying the class and using my evenings to do my homework during the week and blog. I am about to be to bed so I thought I would blog some thoughts.

I apologize for not keeping my end of the bargain on this Holy Spirit study. I do plan to return to it, but i shouldn’t promise that this week.

My thought for today:

Graduate school is a humbling time as well as a great opportunity for learning. Humbling in the fact that you come into a classroom situation where everyone is on the same playing field and you always feel that they know more than you. Also, that the professors we have are so well educated. It is also humbling because it seems that the more you learn you aren’t necessarily able to answer more questions, but in fact more questions arise.

It is also a wonderful opportunity for learning. It is great to be in ministry and youth ministry especially. However, without learning in an academic setting I miss all that there is offered to me through education. I always am able to return from school with more tools and more knowledge to bless my church and to better pour out God’s love to my students.

This is a good week. God is really blessing the study.

-Michael

Spending Time Listening

Lately I have been spending a lot of time listening to sermons. It has been a truly uplifting time listening to others thoughts on God as well as hearing fun and interesting stories. I have found a great need for listening and being encouraged through others sermons while I prepare my own. My mind has been stimulated and has actually helped me with my own sermon, even though what I am listening to and what I am preaching are different texts and topics.

I have also been trying to spend some time listening to God as I prepare. Life can become so busy and noisy that we can’t get our thoughts together. This week has been busy as I prepare for graduate school next week, write my sermon, prepare my classes, minister to others, and take care of my wife. I need to take some time to be quiet before the Lord. I think this will greatly benefit my sermon Sunday as well as my need for hearing the Lord.

Please join me in prayer and quiet before the Lord. I pray that God will pour on me the gift of preaching on Sunday. I also feel a great hurt for one of our families. I don’t think it’s appropriate to lay out the details here. Please pray for this family as well.

Now it is time for me to get some much needed sleep.

-Michael