simple pleasures…

For some people, Valentine’s Day is a big deal. I guess if you’re in a relationship, in love, in love with love, this is a special day for you. But what about the people who are single? Or what about those who’ve recently ended a relationship? Today probably sucks for them.Six years ago, on February 14, 2002, I proposed to my lovely wife and our lives have never been the same. With or without V-day, I would have proposed anyway. To be honest, V-day isn’t that big a deal in our house. Yes, I got her flowers today. And yes I wrote her a short note. And tonight we’ll probably make dinner together and have our “romantic Valentine’s” dinner, with our two boys of course. But beyond that, we don’t make it out to be any day different from the rest.Just look at these statistics:

Q21. Can belly dancing be worship?

Ok, so this isn’t the original question, but I got a chuckle out of what was about to be asked:

Why is it that singing is our major source of worshiping God? Why isn’t it tap dancing or belly da anything other than singing? (verbatim)

So as far as I can tell, I think the question is about worship and why singing is such a prominent expression of it.

Q20. Should we look forward to heaven?

This is a question that Arun, my long lost email buddy, asked me. He leads a small group on Thursday nights and the discussion centered around the notion of heaven and why we should look forward to it. One member of the small group was afraid of the notion of immortality because he believes that our essence as human beings is characterized by our mortality. According to him, if human beings are defined by mortality, then God’s gift of eternal life does not seem much of a gift, as it deprives us of our humanity. If God truly loves us, then why would He take away the one thing that gives our lives any sort of value or meaning?

There are obviously many layers to this question/discussion. It seems like the discussion began with the question if heaven was to be desired; is it in fact a gift from God? Then it evolved into a discussion on the essence of man, mortality, immortality, and man’s purpose. So let’s look at the big ideas first and see where it leads us…

“Will the Real Jesus please stand up?”

I’ll be speaking at an outreach event tonight at Harvard. The theme of the event is “Will the Real Jesus please stand up?” These days I don’t do much speaking outside of Cornerstone, but it’s hard to turn down an event that is a local investment for the Kingdom. The audience is expected to be smart, skeptical and unchristian. I’d covet your prayers for tonight! And if you’re free, come on out to the Ticknor Lounge in Boylston Hall at 6pm. By the way, did I mention that there’s going to be free Japanese food??

40 days…

Today is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Lent is the season in which Christ-followers make a decision to abstain from a specific pleasure to remember Christ’s sufferings and prepare for his death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter. It is an ancient tradition of the church that takes believers on a journey to the cross. But if we’re honest with ourselves, there really isn’t anything that we could possibly give up for the next 40 days that would compare with the sufferings of Christ. Nonetheless, it is a worthy journey to partake.