Looking Through the Symbols

From The Master's Table  comes this reminder to look through the symbols to the underlying realities::

We wear crosses of gold and silver about the neck, carve them into our church pews, paint them in our artwork and place them above our church buildings.  As an icon, the cross represents Christianity.  But our images have no splinters, rusty nails, nor do they drip with the blood of the slain.  The image of the cross is meant to remind us that the broken body of Christ was hung on the tree.  Our communion wafers are perfect little squares, and the wine/juice tastes sweet, but the body of the Lord was broken and his blood poured out.  Flesh was ripped away by the whip.  Blood and sweat mingled and dripped to the ground.  The air was ripe with the smell of blood and the stench of death.  The cross was an instrument of torture and execution.

I’m not suggesting we do away with the symbols.  It is our nature to forget, and we must be reminded of what God has done.  Rainbows actually are beautiful, but they remind us of mercy in the face of judgment.  Baptism represents death of the old man and rebirth of the new.  Passover reminded the Jews of what God had done for them, just as communion does for us today.  Our hope is in the resurrection, made possible by the crucifixion.  We must remember what God has done.  But remember as well… it wasn’t pretty.

Baptism Gone Bad

No, you need to do it like this!  Another fine example of "God's Frozen People."

Hat Tip for the cartoon: Theological Scribbles: Baptism:

An Obvious Question on Baptism

Where would you rather be the subject of an outdoor baptism this time of year:  Alaska or Grand Cayman Island?

More pictures at the link - Pure Church by Thabiti Anyabwile.

I think the answer is obvious!

Holy Spirit Baptism Better Than Sex?!

Our congregation has a communion and baptism service on the first Sunday night of each month. Prior to the service, there is always a prayer time with those to be baptized for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit,

Last Sunday we baptized a resident of the drug and alcohol home of which I am a board member. Monday he went to see the director of the ministry and told her what his experience was like. She said:

"_______ came to my office yesterday to share his back room experience with the Holy Spirit. He said it was amazing and awesome and couldn't describe it. Then he went on to say it was better than any “high” he ever got from drugs of any kind (same thing many of our guys have said before). But the kicker was this. He said it was even better than “SEX”!!!!"

Never heard the filling with the Holy Spirit described like that before!

Everything but the Wallet

Hat Tip: Out of Ur Conversations for Ministry Leaders

Miracle Boy Baptized

This Sunday night we baptized Dustin, the guy I wrote about last month who was healed of throat cancer. He calls himself Miracle Boy. This was a happy dunking indeed! Plus the other man who was baptized at the same time also got a real touch from the Lord.

Got one additional detail to the story. Twenty minutes before they were ready to cut on Dustin a scan showed the tumor to be there. When they put a camera down his throat to prepare for cutting, the tumor was gone.

Baptism Celebration

Our church has a baptism and communion service on the first Sunday night of each month. Last night we baptized six adults. Each of them has a great story of what Jesus has done in their life. We have baptized multiple adults every month for at least two years, with a few kids in the mix for good measure. This was also the third month in a row we baptized a married couple together on the same night. Before each baptism service we pray for the candidates to be filled with the Spirit, and the Lord always seem to show up in a powerful and felt way.

It's good to celebrate new birth and families united in Christ.

Church Plant Stories

My good friends Duke and Marie Lancaster moved from Mississippi to California last March to begin a new church plant in the San Diego area. They just celebrated their first baptisms -don't they all look full of joy! That's Duke on the right and my friend Chris Self on the left. You go, Guys!

More great stories about the new South Bay Vineyard can be found at Duke's blog site here.