faithrunner

"Is God Good?" is the big idea for our Holy Week services this year at Legacy . Someone asked me if there was a surprise answer, and I told him "No, but the way we get to the answer will be different." Most Passion Week messages focus on personal salvation and being made right with God through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. This is God's personal demonstration of love for the individual and worthy of our attention and praise; but, as N. T. Wright and others remind us, in making this the only focus of our celebration we have missed other significant realities brought about when Jesus "moved into the neighborhood." ( John 1:14, Msg. ) Particularly, we have missed that the Cross and Resurrection are God's answer to the problem of evil and suffering in our world . Evil is real. Pain and suffering are part of our lives. We cannot deny it or look to eternity as our escape from it. So, the reasonable person muses , "If there is a God...

Our youngest daughter's wedding was this past Saturday. The weather was perfect and the event was filled with joy and celebration. The couple is honeymooning in a resort in Mexico, and Mother and Dad are recuperating from the festivities at home. So many things were meaningful about the weekend, but the one I want to share is what our friend, Steve Sadler, the one who officiated the wedding, said in the service. (I prefer being Father of the Bride for my daughters' weddings; that, and I could never speak to get through the ceremony!) After Steve invited Kim and Ryan's parents to join me and the couple at the altar, he told them to look around them. He said after they had looked (and we laughed at the awkwardness of the pause), "You have everything you need for your marriage with you here tonight . There is no lotto ticket or prepaid mortgage, or car of your choice. You have everything you need now and the rest of your lives together: your faith, your family, and your...