Seven whole days

Christ draws us into a new creation, but that means something has to go. As Christians, we are called into death — the death of our old selves. You can’t have resurrection without death. In the developed world, many of us are pretty comfortable. The thought of dying to ourselves seems challenging, if not impossible. ASBO Jesus captures this:

I don’t pretend to have it figured out. There are moments, however, when God’s grace burns brightly in my life — and plenty of times when I can see it in the lives of others. Maybe we Christians need to celebrate new life more often. Maybe we could start by being honest about how hard it can be to let go. Dying is not easy, but the new life it brings is surely glorious.

Our Christian faith is tested not when things are easy, but when life is challenging. We Christians profess to love everyone, but what does that really look like? If you want to see Christ-like love in action, read the story of Julio Diaz. It’s been around for a bit, but Facebook friend Matt Gunter posted a link to it this morning, and I was glad to learn of this extraordinary encounter.

He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife. “He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,’” Diaz says. As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”

It gets even better. Go read the whole thing (or you can listen to Julio tell you the story).

Read more »

Well, dear readers, it is that time once again. With this post, I officially apologize for neglecting 7WD for so long. You see, I’ve had some other things going on. For example, since my last post, I’ve been to Maine for a family trip; to Maine again for a parish wedding; to Newport, RI as I was chaplain for a Royal School of Church Music camp for young choristers; to Tanzania on a consulting project (using technology to improve primary education); and to Seattle for a clergy leadership conference. Zoinks. I’m tired just writing all that.

That’s the bad news, but you already knew all that since you could see the cobwebs all over the blog. The good news is that my blog hopper is full and I have lots of ideas of things about which to blog. Look for various rants, comments, and humorous bits over the next few days. We are gearing up for a fantastic program year at Christ Church, and I hope to share that with you too.

In the meantime, summon your friends & neighbors. Start staring at this blog. There will be more blogtastic stuff here before you know it.