Word of Life Church Podcast

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The Prerogative of Beauty Nov 14, 2014

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"One thing have I desired...to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord." -Psalm 27:4
"It is the prerogative and charm of beauty to win hearts." -Don Quixote
In the modern age Christian apologetic and ethics -- defending truth and defining good -- have been very prominent. Christan aesthetics, on the other hand, has been largely ignored. But we may have reached the point where it is now chiefly the prerogative of beauty to win hearts. When arguing about the truth and shouting about what is good have failed, it is beauty that has enough charm to draw people to Jesus Christ.

The Anthem of the Lamb Nov 09, 2014

Show notes

The mysterious book of Revelation is a bit like Don McLean's 1972 song "American Pie" -- if you get the allusions and cryptic references it's cool and makes sense; but if not it's just confusing. The book of Revelation is best understood as a first century prophetic critique of the Roman Empire. As such it serves as a Christian critique of all beastly empires. In Revelation we discover that God's kingdom does not come by the violent means of the beast, but by the self-sacrificing way of the Lamb.

Saving the Old Testament Nov 07, 2014

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Jesus is the savior -- the savior of all that is saved...including the Old Testament. Jesus is the one who saves us from a harmful misreading of the Old Testament. Both Jesus and Paul show us how to read the Old Testament in a redemptive way. To read the Bible in the light of Christ is to discover a Biblical trajectory. A trajectory away from violence and vengeance, and toward mercy and inclusion.

Patience With God Nov 02, 2014

Show notes

When the Jewish exiles arrived in Babylon their hope was for an immediate return to Jerusalem. But the prophet Jeremiah told them the exile would last for 70 years. So the Jews went about the business of learning how to live as exiles in Babylon. After 65 years of exile, Daniel began to pray and remind God that the 70 year sentence of exile was nearly served. That's when the angel Gabriel came and explained to Daniel that the exile was going to be more like seventy times seven years! This calls for patience with God.

All The Saints Oct 31, 2014

Show notes

All Hallows Eve (Halloween) and All Saints Day are further examples of Christians re-appropriating pagan holidays for Christian purposes. Like was done with Christmas and Easter -- though Halloween has proved more difficult to unmoor for its pagan past. In its Christian origin All Hallows Eve was a time to remember the departed saints. (You can see how this could lend itself to less sacred and more ghoulish themes.) The idea was to remember the departed saints because they still belong to the communion of saints. Because we believe in resurrection (and being with the Lord in the interim), we understand the body of Christ, the communion of saints, to be comprised of both the quick and dead, the living and those who sleep in Christ.

The End of Beastly Empire Oct 26, 2014

Show notes

As followers of Jesus who are also citizens of the nation with the world’s largest economy and most powerful military, we face the same kinds of challenges as the Jewish exiles and early Christians to whom the books of Daniel and Revelation were written. Their situation speaks to us. American Christians have to learn how to live like the Jewish exiles and early Christians who lived in the midst of empire. Like them we live in the tension of engaged citizenship and covenant faithfulness. We are exiles on main street.

The Daily Office and the Lion's Den Oct 19, 2014

Show notes

Daniel held onto his Jewish identity in the midst of pagan empire through the practice of daily formative prayer. But prayer is no guarantee of success or safety. In fact, formative prayer, the kind of prayer that resists being conformed into the image of the empire, may lead us into the lion's den.

A Turn To the Contemplative Oct 17, 2014

Show notes

Perhaps the greatest need for the modern Western church is to turn away from the reactive and turn toward the contemplative. We are reactive when we respond out of fear to a perceived threat to our assumptions and self-interest. We are contemplative when we perceive the other through God's eyes of love and respond with compassion. But the only way to enter the contemplative is through the practice of formative prayer.

Where You Do Not Want To Go Oct 12, 2014

Show notes

What if God does not use us despite our weaknesses and failures, but because of weaknesses and failures?

The Handwriting's on the Wall Oct 05, 2014

Show notes

At the end of the Babylonian Empire, King Belshazzar had succeeded Nebuchadnezzar and he followed in the same arrogant ways of his predecessor. During a party where Belshazzar and his guest were toasting the gods of gold and silver, a mysterious hand appears and writes on the wall. The message has Belshazzar leaves stunned. Daniel is brought in to interpret this message and it is bad news: Babylon is coming to an end. The pending fall of Babylon is the way empires go. They grow in power and arrogance and then they fall. As modern-day exiles living in a modern-day Babylon we have hope that the kingdom we belong to is an everlasting kingdom. Jesus has defeated Babylon and we learn to live not isolated from this fallen world and not immersed in it. We live imitating Jesus, knowing he has defeated Babylon.

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