Death Sentence

Can a person really die by taking communion "unworthily?"

I Corinthians 11: 27-30

PREPARE FOR SUNDAY

To get ready for this Sunday's message, read I Corinthians 11:1-16.

Dress appropriately.

Fleeing the Island

Name three things you could do to get off the Evangelical Island.

Gray Areas Master List

Share your gray areas! Got a moral dilemma that hard to figure out? Got a behaviour that you think isn't mentioned in the Bible but needs some direction? Got a friend who needs to know if something they're doing is right or wrong?

Leave a comment on this post with your example of a gray area. Even if you don't have one you're facing, use your imagination and make one up.

We'll be talking about them September 20.

Fun in the Gray Zone!

So, the pastor takes $20 out of the offering and on his way home buys lottery tickets and a Slurpie. The Slurpie did not come out of the $20. The next day he learns he's hit the current jackpot, $250,000. Should the church:

1. Fire the pastor.
2. Reprimand the pastor and refuse the money.
3. Reprimand the pastor and give the money away.
4. Reprimand the pastor and pay off the mortgage.
5. Pay off the mortgage and give the pastor a raise.
6. Other:

What'dya think?

Six Reasons to Love Baptisms

Baptizing people has always been on the top of my list for pastoral duties, but doing it in a public lake is even better. Yesterday Grace Christian Fellowship braved rough weather to celebrate a dunking at Haithco Park in Saginaw, and it was great. Here are six reasons baptisms flip my switch:

1. The excitement of going public. Even grouping up as a church on a public beach causes a scene, and there is a certain thrill in the outing of our faith.
2. The awkwardness of the moment. Let's face it, the whole experience borders on the odd: a man grabs a person by the neck and arms and offers some ritual words and plunges them backward into the water and pulls them out again and everybody cheers. It's weird, and it's weirder out in the middle of the world. And that makes it specialer. (If I can use "weirder," I can use "specialer").
3. The display of new faith. Most of the time a baptism happens because somebody has recently given themselves whole hog to Jesus. It is exhilarating.
4. Joy, joy, and joy.
5. The visible expression of real grace. Communion is a quiet, usually somber time to reflect on the cost of grace, but baptism punches all the celebration buttons; invite the family, your neighbors, bring out the food, splash in the water, make some noise, and PARTY! It is an earthly reflection of the heavenly party that happens when God redeems one of his own. (See Luke 15)
6. It's flat-out contagious. Baptism sparkles up the reality of grace in real time, and the bubbles spread around like champaign to tickle spiritual noses all over the place.

Some more info . . .

Want to read more about how something good can "flip" into something divisive and legalistic? Check out my 2005 article in Plain Truth Magazine called "Never Trust a Skinny Person." And here's a place to get more info on Intuitive Eating. (I think this is a good approach, and seems grace-based, although the book and website is not "Christian.").

Do you have examples of other good ministries or efforts that can "flip" into splintering the church? Share them here!