St.Patrick’s Breast Plate

This week Mike and Mark dig deeper into the issue of the masks we wear, and examine how we cut ourselves off from authentic relationship with others and from experiencing God’s love in a deep way by wearing those masks.

Mike referenced Greg Boyds book “Repenting of Religion: Turning from Judgment to the Love of God.”

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The question of identity is one of humility and hubris; it is one of insecurity.  It is birthed from our brokenness; from the imprint of God within us that we unknowingly strive to fulfill, railing instinctively against the incompleteness in us.  To ask “who am I” is to ask “who am I in Christ”; for it is only apart from the Word that you are less than what you were intended to be.  It is only apart from Christ that insecurity exists.  Thus the foundation of humility is found in knowing Him; for humility is the absence of pride, and pride emanates from independence.  Humility is found in surrendered communion with Jesus.  In Him all is put in perspective, including your own identity.  Striving to be humble, to think lowly of oneself Read the rest of this entry »

Two Fools on the Road to Emmaus Podcast -   If we want to embrace a Kingdom worldview it seems necessary to allow scripture (in context) to shape our worldview, but often times we use scripture (out of context) to affirm our own worldview / agenda and call it Kingdom, with unhealthy results.  The guys challenge themselves to trust Jesus and allow the radical and subversive message of the Kingdom to shape the way they see the world, others and Jesus.

The challenge is we all have a worldview, the way we have learned to see the world and make sense of what happens in it and to us.  We all have them but they are all to some degree inaccurate.  This doesn’t mean they are necessarily bad, just not always complete.  The problem comes when a) we are oblivious to the fact we indeed we have a particular worldview and it has some effect on our perception of reality, b) when we are so firm in our worldview we are closed to new information or another point of view, c) we in our arrogance impose our worldview indiscriminately on others.

Mark and Michael finish the two part series on worldview.

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Two Fools on the Road to Emmaus Podcast -   Seems the good folks at Thomas-Nelson publishing have published yet another in a growing line of thematic bibles.   The Patriots Bible is a New King James version that “intersects the teachings of the Bible with the history of the Unites States while applying it to today’s culture.”  Here is a brief blurb from Greg Boyd :

“The central assumption that undergirds the Patriot’s Bible is that America is, in a unique sense, a nation established, governed, blessed and protected by God. Throughout the Patriot’s Bible, but especially in the Old Testament, an explicit parallel is drawn between Israel and America.

For example, George Washington is exalted as the “American Moses,” about whom the commentators wonder “[h]ow…is it possible for so much greatness to be embodied in one man?” Similarly, as God brought the Israelites out of oppression and led them into the promised land, so God led the brave pioneers of America out of their oppression and brought them to their promised land. As God fought on the side of the Israelites to ensure victory over their foes, so God’s providential hand was at work in all of America’s military victories. And just as God used the children of Abraham to bless the whole world, so God has used, and wants to continue to use, America to bless the entire world by bringing it freedom.”

Mark and Michael discuss nationalism and the inherent dangers of hi-jacking scripture to justify past and present behavior, as they dig into Kingdom and nationalism.

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