Escapades in Ephesus: Part II
Paul’s Pleas and Prayers:
One of the aspects of the book of Ephesians that I have enjoyed much is Paul’s prayers on behalf of the people of Ephesians. Prayer in itself is a weird thing. If you think about it for a moment it really is quite crazy. You, a finite being with limited knowledge and foresight, request of an omnipotent God, who is all knowing and understanding, a favor, intercession, growth or awareness. That in and of itself is baffling, then to further confound the whole thing, God beckons us to pray. He commands us to come before Him with request, cries, concern, and doubts! Its just a crazy thought, but majestic at the same time since it shows so much the depth of the love of God for His children.
Anyway, Paul three times that I will recollect in this particular blog asks for God’s intercession on the behalf of the Ephesians. I like this act already, here’s why: Although I have never been in charge of a city, nor shepherded a church, I have been in charge of groups of people (usually college kids, campers, or jr. highers) and it has been my joy to lead them. Leadership is just one of those things that comes naturally to me and I love leading people towards the Cross of Christ! So I especially appreciate Paul’s concern for the Ephesians here, because it offers insight as to where to lead your people to and the huge idea that a leader must fall before God in request for intercession for the ones he is leading. So here are the passages:
+Ephesians 1:17-”I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”
- This is so good. There are times when Christian ideals become watered down since we repeat them over and over again in a haphazard way trying to convay only a simple message, not a life-altering change. And if my generation is guilty of any of this sugar-coating it is he message of “your personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” We repeat it over and over again until it loses its glorious meaning. We say it and teach it in youth groups, but do we understand what it really means? Yet here is Paul praying to god on the Ephesians behalf that through Christ, they would know God better. To know the character of God. To know the heart of God. Better. More than you already do. To understand Him all the more. It is an amazing prayer.
+Ephesians 1:18-”I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.“
-I wish I prayed like this for the people I was in charge of (and I intend to more for the record). Three things that the Ephesians should know. Three things that Paul asks God to reveal to the Ephesians: the hope to which they are called, the riches of their inheritance, and the power they have received. And it’s interesting to me that Paul doesn’t ask God to give the Ephesians these things, rather that they would be aware of what they have. God has already given them a hope, a rich inheritance, and a mighty power, such is the endowment of the Holy Spirit! No, Paul’s request is that the Ephesians would know who they are in Christ. That they would rest in the identity of Christ. In his hope; He is coming back one day, there s a home for me in heaven, I am His. In his rich inheritance; I am a part of the body, I belong, the King has given me life and blessings in abundance. In his power; I serve the same God who rose Christ from the grave, who parted the Red Sea, who healed, who loved, who will reign, and that God has empowered me to follow Him.
Paul’s prayer here is a beautiful Prayer of identity in Christ. It is an appeal to God to move in the Ephesians (and then us as the larger audience) the understanding of who God is and where we stand with Him! And just when it looks like Paul has finished his prayers for the people of Ephesus, when it looks like the concerto of cries to Christ has ceased, Paul strikes again in Ephesians 3: 16-19 a grand finale of prayer that champions the greatest thing there is:
+Ephesians 3:16-19-”I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
-I pray that you would know that God loves you.
-It seems so elementary when I rephrase it, but that is the sum of Paul’s prayer and it is magnificent. Know that you are loved, with a love that you can NEVER fully comprehend! Know that God loves you and that His love is deep and wide, long and high. You need to be with all the saints (all the church) in order to understand the depths of His love. And as you begin to understand, you are filled to the measure of God.
-The most simple of truths, Jesus loves me, has the deepest exposition. It has the most excellent application, and it is Paul’s final prayer for the people of Ephesus. And it is a great prayer for myself and yourself and any group of people you or I may want to pray on behalf of.
I pray that you may know that God loves you, and how that love changes everything!
Grace and peace
California Chronicles
My friend Tim is getting married! In California!
So after a 2 & 1/2 hour flight from Cleveland to Dallas, a 2 hour layover, and a 3 hour flight from Dallas to Burbank, I arrived in California!
With no ride. (He was on his way, I just had some time to kill). So I people-watched. I watched couples part with sadness and longing. I watched loved ones reunited with joy. I watched different cultures interact, collide, and embrace each other. It was good. I’m sure it helps that I was in sunny California, not cold Cleveland.And then my ride showed up, but we had to wait for some other people to arrive. And we waited and talked and caught up and then,…I saw her….
Angela from the Office.I stared at her for like 10 minutes as she looked for her luggage. O conferred with my friends as to wether she was the real Angela or just a look-a-like, but when other people started talking to her, I knew. And I talked to her. Told her I liked the Office and gave her my thanks. A pretty sweet start to a great LA trip!!
More to come and I have groomsmen and bridesmaids to hang with, so I ‘m off.
Grace and peace
Winterly Winds
Technically since I am an Eagle scout I should claim my favorite “element” (and here I mean element like Socrates would use: earth. air, fire, and water) as fire, but in all honestly I must confess (and I do love fire as much as the next Eagle Scout) that my favorite “element” is indeed air, and moreover wind.
So on a day like this, when the winds in Akron are blowing at around 36-50 mph, I get exceptionally excited. Watching the snow violently taken across the streets and battered against vacant houses of college tenants who returned home. Or seeing the leaves remnant of the autumn season, skip across the ground towards a fence or brush, or a lovely Akron pile of trash. Regardless, it makes me smile and deeper it makes me think.
I thought, as Tucktruck (yes, that is the name I call my truck and insist on other people calling as well) was assaulted by the winds, of how times have changed so much over the past couple of years. And with the holiday homecomings the idea of change was pointedly reminded.
First, I met up with Mike Smith, for who for all practical purposes is one of my best friends and who I hadn’t seen in person for under a year. Mike was (and still is) a teacher on the Logos Hope, an Operation Mobilization ship that travels port to port sharing books and the Gospel with other nations. It was Mike who helped convince me to major in math and together we fueled each others passion for missions and Christ, and every once in a while talked about mathematics. Mike graduated some time ago and went to serve with OM.
And things changed, we used to meet at least once a week to talk about life, ladies, Jesus, advanced calculus, missions, what-have-you. But that stopped and we resorted to e-mailing each other as best we could.
And then I met up with Josh. Who is nothing but a story of change. Josh went through all the phases of college without actually going to college. Rebellion. Wild streak. Breakdown. Build-up. Send-off. Only with Josh he built himself up around the Gospel and was sent off to Mexico to work with Casas por Cristo, building houses for families in Mexico that can’t afford it themselves.
I met with Josh regularly for breakfast every Sunday. Now I rejoice on his twice-to-thrice homecomings a year.
Or Adam and Aaron. Both former roommates of mine both who spent the semester (or half of the semester) student-teaching abroad in France and Puerto Rico respectively. Both men, whose conversations challenge me and whose presences I was familiar with. Both gone for a time and now returned.
And Susan, who took a year off school to go to India and work with missional medicine amongst other things. I used to walk home with Susan every Wednesday after jr. high. We would walk of our classes and how goofy our junior highers were and why we loved them so much for that very reason. And she’s going back to India for another 4 months.
Thats why Tucktruck was buffeted by the winterly winds today, as I took an hour drive north-west to visit Anne and surprisingly Jen as well. I met Jen my first day of college. Before I had even moved in, I think we were established as friends. We spent four years, planning things, serving in CF, playing Battle of the Sexes or Scene-It, taking trips, leading Reach Akron. I met Anne too my first year of college and I watched as the Lord drew her home and adopted her as a daughter of God. We would often talk late into the night and she would make fun of me for getting tired so easily.
Jen went to Arizona to teach English. Anne served with the peace corp in Macedonia. And I saw them today, we had coffee, “Ivar”- an Albanian dish, hummus, and lots of Christmas cookies. It was great.
And maybe thats why “wind” has always swept me away (sorry for the bad pun, I really can’t help myself). It’s beautiful to watch. And then its gone. Or at least changed. And so it is with my life, especially college life, it’s beautiful in its time. The memories I have with Mike, Aaron, Adam, Josh, Susan, Jen, and Anne are wonderful and more than I usually admit I value those moments so much. But they have blown by.
And it would be easy to be angry at the wind for being so fleeting. It would be easy to stand in a naive defiance trying desperately to hold onto the way things were. But that’s not the nature of wind. It is powerful and boisterous and then calm and warming. It howls throughout the night and then sings in the morning. It takes with it parts of the scenery planting them elsewhere for a time.
Thus my only conclusion is to value change and wind and life for what they are. To appreciate the times shared with friends, long for a chance to physically reconnect again, and wish them best on their life-endeavors. To take the wind in stride and to watch as it whips up snow and leaves, and twists trash as it sees fit.
And to know it as beautiful.
Grace and peace.
Escapades in Ephesus: Part I
I’ve decided to try a different technique of Bible study and post as I read along with varying passages throughout the book of Ephesians. I can’t really guarantee consistency with this since I don’t always read in WiFi areas, but here goes my thoughts on Ephesians 1:3-14.
(For those of you who care I have no licensed pastoring experience, nor am I using any reference tools save Biblegateway.com and my own personal Bibles. So if that affects in any way what you are about to read, there you go, but if not that’s cool too.)
Here’s the passage in NIV courtesy of biblegateway.com:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Now I’ve read that originally in the Greek verses 3-14 were essentially one sentence. So in accordance I have taken out all the verse numbers (as well as the footnotes). And I tried to read this thing as one long sentence. One giant thought. (Brace yourselves English majors/teachers)
***If you are actually trying to follow my thoughts or trying to do devotions along with me online (Which is kinda cool in a weird way or kinda weird in a cool way) you might want to reread the above passage three or more times.***
Anyway my thoughts–
- Paul (and in turn we) praises God because He has blessed us in Christ Jesus. How has God blessed us?
- He choose us to be holy and blameless in His sight.
- In love, he adopted us as sons (and daughters)
- He made known to us the mystery of His will
- He choose us as heirs and has sealed us with His Spirit.
- And why has God blessed us so?
- He adopted us as sons because it pleased Him and it showed His grace
- He made us aware of His will because it pleased Him and in order to bring all things under the headship of Christ.
- He choose and sealed us as heirs to display His glory.
And I fear to make this too analytical, because I can only truly understand it so much and although there is worth in making rational sense of God’s worth; there is deeper worth in applying God’s Word to our lives.
So what does Ephesians 1:3-14 remind and tell me?
It reminds me that God created me for a purpose, moreover that He created me for His purpose. It tells me that God has loved me from the beginning; that he adopted me as his own despite my issues, baggage, insecurities, and faults. It reminds me that God has instilled in me His Spirit which is actively working in me and preparing me for God’s full redemption. It calls me again and again to remember that it is through Christ, and unto Christ, in Christ, and for Christ by which all these things occur.
And it stills my heart. As I reflect on the fact that God has a plan for me, I worry less and less, because honestly can I really mess up God’s plans? As I recall that God loves me as a son and has sealed me as His own, I know that I need not validate myself again and again; that my standings as a man is not dependent upon my successes, my popularity, my own twisted sense of self-validation. For God has lovingly taken me in, what great worth is that! And as I read that He views me as holy and blameless through Christ, I smile and quietly rejoice for such a great Savior who would pay for my transgressions.
grace and peace
Multi-Movie Mediums
I just finished my first of what will probably be multiple viewings of “I Am Legend,” with Will Smith. And it was amazing! Here’s why:
+Zombie/Vampires: When a viral cure for cancer is found it turns into an airborn pathogen that kills 95% of humans, turns 5% of the human populous into “dark-eater” monsters and leaves the <1% of mankind unaffected. The dark-eater creatures display zombie-like features, with vampiric weaknesses (i.e. sunlight, fire), as well as the now classic zombie mob mentality. Definitely a scary enough creature for today’s movie viewing audience. Consider this your “horror” element.
+Sweet basement laboratories: If you are among the <1% unaffected of course it is your job to try to invent a cure for what has befallen most of mankind; which is what you see Smith doing for a fair amount of the movie. Which leads to the inevitable question of what have we done to ourselves? How have we poisoned ourselves presently that it would be so detrimental to future societies? This is the classic question of futuristic movies (I Am Legend is set in 2012): what events today affect the future?
+Psyche: How do you cope being the only man left alive in New York? Do you talk to your dog? Do you disavow God for what He has let happen? Do you watch every movie ever made just for some semblance of human contact? Again ideas and elements that are addressed in “I Am Legend.”
+Action: What movie isn’t complete without a couple bombs to repel an oncoming wave of monsters or guns to combat whatever lurks and waits for you in a seemingly abandoned corridor. “I Am Legend” delivers in the basic audience demands for action and suspense.
And an interesting insight was gained as I drove home with my roommates from our house movie night: just as our appliances have become multi-faceted, so have our movies and entertainment become a mixing pot of dynamic literary elements. Consider the above descriptions Horror, Suspense, Action, Sci-Fi, Psychological, Drama. How do you classify a modern day movie, you can’t. Just like I can’t say my cell phone is a cell phone, because it’s not. It’s also a camera. And some record videos (Mine doesn’t because I am cheap and don’t need a cell phone that takes videos). Some use the internet. Some play music. A cell phone isn’t just a cell phone anymore. It is multi-faceted.
Likewise, a good movie today cannot simply fall into one strict category. It must contain different elements in order to properly entertain and intellectually stimulate its viewing audience. A good work of cinema must incorporate questions of human emotions and struggle through some creative medium. A strict ‘action’ movie just won’t fully entertain the 2008 movie seers.
Consider “Predator”. In its first appearance. Predator was by all definitions an action-sci fi movie. An alien came to hunt humans for sport. A platoon of ridiculously muscled soldiers is reduced to solely Arnold Schwarzenegger and Arnold uses some impressive military tact and resourcefulness to defeat his nemesis. No mention of emotion or fear. No concerns about the future or society presently. No regard for religion or questions of God. But in its day it was entertaining.
Now Consider the 2004 release “Alien vs. Predator” More or less the same idea, (believe it or not the plot is actually worse than the above selection). But it fails as a movie. There were guns and there were aliens and…that was it. The movie failed to apply different genres throughout its writing and in turned failed.
However, AVP (thats Alien verse Preadator for those of you who care) isn’t the only movie to fall into this trap. Consider the Star Wars franchise. Originally a more or less Sci-fi selection and in their day, the original three were a huge hit and remain hailed to this day as cinematic masterpieces. Now consider the 3 most recent Star Wars. Still the same idea, still mainly sci-fi, and yes although the movie were successful, they were far from iconic, legendary, or worthy of praise.
So just some thoughts on some recent cinema…
grace and peace
Facial Hair awareness Campaign: The Claus
In step with the holiday’s I bring you the second installment of the Facial Hair Awareness Campaign, Santa Claus.
Although I stopped believing in Santa Claus quite some time ago (and even consider not telling my children about him (a blog/discussion for another day) I still appreciatte the spirit of seasonal joy that is found in gool old St. Nick. But I ask you, “would he be so lovable if Kris Kringle were clean cut?” Imagine not being able to pull on Santa’s beard to investigate his authenticity.
No, the beard comes with the territory of Santa Claus. Just ask Tim Allen, from The Santa Clause (and although I used an image from the third movie I will only approve the first movie as funny, 2 and 3 sucked (or I’m sure the would have if I actually saw them.))
Yet Again, the beard makes Santa Claus.
But what does Santa’s beard say? It says I’m warm and loving. It says I’ve been around for quite some time and although I’m wintered I still enjoy hot chocolate chip cookies and cold milk. It says I know who’s been naughty or nice and I’m excited to drop you off some presents and face the cold of Christmas night for the joy of little children.
So what can we take from Santa and his festive follicles? I would encourage men to embrace the beard during this cold Christmas season. I would encourage women to support men in their seasonal scruff. I mean look at Mrs. Claus; she’s stood by Santa year after year.
grace and peace
a compilation of Christmas comings and goings
Hmmm, I have slowed my posting rate a little in the craziness that has been the past week. In the past week alone I have:
+Gone to Quaker Stake and Lube (Louisianna Lickers,…mmm delicious)
+Had the joy of hanging out with Mike Smith, my math majoring graduate/best friend, who had been serving with OM for the past year.
+Witnessed the Chapel’s Christmas concert in all its hokey glory
+ Discussed the church and beliefs and faith over a hookah with the Ley’s (and Joy)
+Proctored a final
+Taken a final
+Moved a bed
+Graded, a lot.
+Enjoyed the finer things (Cheese, crackers, and crabmeet from Trader Joe’s with my roomies and neighbors)
…amongst other things. Now with school coming to a close (pending the finals I still need to finish) I look forward to a Christmas break full of time with friends, family, thesis-work (yeah I am actually looking forward to having some time to work on my thesis), book reading, movie watching, carolling, Christmas spirit.
I plan on reading Ephesians a lot over break. I had been going through the Gospels fairly heavily over the Fall semester and I am excited to really dig deep into Ephesians, a book I’ve never really studied before.
So things to look forward to over the break at joetucker.wordpress.com:
+Joe Tucker the Comic Issue 1-It will be legendary. It’s presently in the drafting stages, but it will be awesome.
+Christmas movie reviews
+Posts on Ephesians
+Another Update for the FHAC (Facial Hair Awareness Campaign)
+News about Joe Tucker-post graduation!!
+Thoughts on Christmas and all around seasonal tidings. ( I love Christmas time and make an effort to spread Christmas cheer through song)
Until Then
grace and peace
Come, oh Come Emmanuel
Its that time of the semester where life just seems desolate. I can sense it from my friends. A feeling of despair exudes from them. A desire to just finish the semester and be done with the drudgery that was Fall 2007 consumes their thoughts and pollutes their spirits.
We mope. We whine. We wail and moan and lament the amount of effort that must be placed into the next week or two.
It’s a pitiful state to be honest. I was thinking about it as I walked home from Illuminate, {the Chapel’s [where I attend church (as a math major I frequently use all forms of parenthesis but take strict care to close them all appropriately)]} how easily our joy is stolen from us. As if joy were dependent upon school.
And since it’s Christmas and since I love Christmas songs and hymns, this verse came to mind (and I’ll confess I sang as I walked)
Oh, come, Oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Emmanuel~ “God with us.” Surely a reason to rejoice. Despite the drudgery of finals. Despite life just being boring or complacent. Actually this “Emmanuel” should compel us away from complacency. For Emmanuel has come and ransomed us. Ransomed the captive, lonely, and mournful.
So shame on us. Shame on us for waiting to be joyful until the semester is done. Shame on us for basing the status of our hearts on the pulse of the school bell and not on the person-hood of Christ.
God is with us. Rejoice.
Grace and peace
Bell, Barley, and Brewed Justice
Another life post just to record some of the more significant things that I have been doing over the last couple of days.
I saw Rob Bell speak tonight. It was like watching an hour and a half long NOOMA video. And it was amazing. Bell was just finishing his “The gods aren’t angry” tour in the Cleveland Playhouse and his talk was both captivating and inspiring. His message boiled down to the idea that God has made a way to himself and that we don’t need to seek His favor; rather that He has already blessed us.
But Bell took this message and delivered with such emotion, ,presence, and diction that it truly was an inspiring evening. I’ll probably post more of my thoughts on his talk when its not 1:17 in the morning and I’m a little less scatterbrained.
And the reason I am up at 1:17 and typing is that two cups of freshly brewed fair trade coffee sits in my stomach and caffeine courses through my body, prolonging a well needed slumber. I purchased this coffee at Scribbles in Kent, a store that sells only fair trade coffee. Approximately half the time that I eat or drink anything fair trade or organic I usually jest that it tastes like justice.
And although I have no idea what justice truly tastes like, the coffee was delicious and worker there was willing to postpone closing in order to serve 4 young men some warm, fairly-traded coffee. It’s a place well worth checking out. (Plus free WiFi!!)
And with the taste of justice still fresh to my palette, it is easy to recall a recent incident of injustice. I had meant to post about this earlier, but I wasn’t sure how to do it or even what to say. I debated brushing it off, but a quote from JDH’s blog, http://www.bejustice.blogspot.com/, convicted me to break the silence, if you will.
It was a classic MLK quote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
So here was my most recent bout with injustice. For Thanksgiving break a distant friend of mine (and close friend of one of my close friends) was in town and wanted to hang out. We decided to go to the Barley House and I went with my close friend to meet our distant friend there. She arrived, and so did her friends.
But they couldn’t get in. Their pants were too baggy. I’ll give you one guess what race they were. As I walked to the door to see what the hold up was. I was slightly shocked to see two men I didn’t know at the door, but not allowed past the threshold due to their choice of dress.
My close friend was quick to point out the bagginess of pants throughout the bar. We decided to leave and ended up having a good time elsewhere.
Now there are a lot of holes in that story. I don’t know what the bouncers said to the friends of my friend. And I also know that the two men weren’t quick to even try pulling up their pants or tightening their belts. And I’m not fool-hearty enough to label the bar as racists based on one event, since their are always extenuating circumstances, but…
it was a stark reminder of a racial tension that I had naively forgotten about. it was a red-flag in my mind that inequality, racism, and other injustices still exists and occur frequently.
and blogging about it helps. expressing my thoughts and the like. but with most of the logical discourses in my head, I seek some form of practical application. so now that it is 1:42 (I’m a slow typer and was chatting it up with one of my roomies for a while) and I feel the need to relieve myself of some freshly brewed justice, i think I might spend the Spring semester centered around the idea of justice, its relevance in Scripture, God’s attribute of justice, and social-justice in the life of Christ in my studies.
we’ll see what type of justice is brewed up (i apologize now for that awful pun, so awful in fact that I have to leave it there)
grace and peace
