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cultural atheist

~ Rejecting the gods of our culture since 1998.

cultural atheist

Monthly Archives: August 2013

Look at Us

29 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by braddahr in Uncategorized

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In Luke’s letter called Acts, in chapter 3,  Peter and John are going to pray at the temple when they cross paths with a man who has been lame since birth. Verse 4 stands out to me: Peter says, “Look at us!”

I suspect this is a man who has been beaten down by life. Keep in mind that the community would look upon this man as a sinner or his family as sinners and he is paying the price for it. He would like has a sense of shame; he would likely be begging without making much eye contact. When I read that Peter and John stop and exhort him to look they are recognizing his worth; they are giving him back his dignity.

Is there someone you walk by, someone who seems worn down by the world, that you can   share God’s love with so that they catch a glimpse of their great value and worth in his eyes?

Delayed

26 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by braddahr in Uncategorized

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In Luke’s letter called Acts, in chapter 3,  Peter and John are going to pray at the temple when they cross paths with a man who has been lame since birth. It has been this man’s daily experience for years to sit at the same gate in the temple.

Think about this for a minute: Why didn’t Jesus heal this man? This man was at ground zero during the last part of Jesus’ ministry and Jesus was healing people all over the place. How did he get missed?

What I believe is that God needed to delay his healing for this particular moment. Maybe the man’s faith needed to be strengthened first. Maybe God wanted to work through Peter and John for their salvation. Perhaps it was only at this very moment that the greatest good would be realized.

If you’ve ever prayed for God to do something in your life and it seems like nothing has happened, consider this man. He wasn’t forsaken and forgotten. Neither are you. Why the wait? Maybe God is “delaying” so that something truly spectacular, something eternally significant, may happen at just the right time.

Worship-Service

22 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by braddahr in Inspiration

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In Luke’s letter called Acts, in chapter 3,  Peter and John are going to pray at the temple when they cross paths with a man who has been lame since birth. A little later, they make it clear that their priority, the focus on their life, was prayer and preaching the word. And yet, they let their plans get derailed by this lame man.

Is it possible that before we worship, we have to serve? Maybe our worship becomes more true, more real, only after we have served? Dare I suggest that if we don’t serve our worship will have a hollow ring? Paul said: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

If you feel that your prayer time feels flat; that your worship is just going through the motions perhaps you need to consider service to others, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Got to Give

19 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by braddahr in Inspiration

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One of the popular Bible stories after the Gospels is found in Luke’s letter called Acts. In chapter 3,  Peter and John are going to pray at the temple when they cross paths with a man who has been lame since birth.

The exciting part is when Peter says to the man: “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

The guy is instantly healed. Pretty cool.

What I ask you to think about is the phrase, “what I do have I give you.”

You can only give what you have. Are you trying to serve people from an empty cup?

What would happen if…

12 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by braddahr in Spirituality

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I think about church life and what we do when it comes to fulfilling our mission to tell the life changing story of God’s love and grace. What would happen if…

The church building was used for more than 3 hours per week?

We provided programs and services in our church buildings that made us a part of our community?

We focused on who and why we worship rather how and when?

We focused only on Christ instead of on others or ourselves?

We made sure everything about us, our church building and our services, enabled all people to feel welcome and safe?

We treated every single person in our churches as if he or she was not yet a member?

We spoke to the ‘lost’ about God’s love and immediate salvation like we speak to our children about God’s love and immediate salvation?

I wonder what would happen if….

To the Unknown Tourist

06 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by braddahr in Spirituality

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It’s the last day of vacation and we are heading home. Part of our adventure included a visit to a really popular theme park in the southeastern USA. This was the second time we had visited this park and both times we have observed many groups of young people travelling together on a tour. We suspect that they teams from far away places perhaps visiting the area for a competition.

One group – looking and acting like cheerleaders – crossed our path. I noticed one girl because she stood out like a round peg in a square hole. I don’t mean to stereotype cheerleaders but they all seemed to look alike – body type, hair, even their faces. Well, this girl just didn’t fit. She was facially disadvantaged, taller and skinnier than the others, and her hair was a thick, unstyled, mop. Please don’t read that as I’m being judgmental about her or even that I’m making a comment about beauty. She just didn’t look like all the others. What’s more, she also didn’t walk like the others – they tended to clump together; she walked alone.

As we were leaving, I saw their group again sitting by the exit and I was hit in the heart. From my perspective, I saw a group of girls in a circle – chatting, laughing, etc. all but the odd one I had seen before. She was sitting off to the side, all by herself, legs pulled up like a shield, and she was watching the other girls in her group with a look that seemed a mix of disdain and longing, sadness and pain.  Now, it could be she was just fine; maybe I read too much into this brief glimpse. But I believe if you were there and saw her you would agree with me.

I wondered what tapes were playing in her head. What was she telling herself (again?) I wondered what this experience was doing to her heart. I agonized because I wanted to say something, do anything, that would communicate the truth to her – you are a worthwhile person, you are greatly loved, you are not alone, you are valuable, this is but a stupid moment in time that doesn’t have to define you.  Being a stranger who speaks a different language and a middle-aged man I also had a picture of freaking her and the whole group out. I did nothing and just kept on walking.

And so, she haunts me.

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