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Sunday, 25 October 2009
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"What Matters More" by Derek Webb
I just listened to an awesome (presumably controversial) song for the first time: “What Matters More” by Derek Webb. The “Live at Cornerstone” version moved me the most and reminded me why I miss Cornerstone so much. The second version is the original video. If you don’t focus on the one use of strong language to make his point about what matters most to us, it is a very powerful song about overfocusing on an issue like homosexuality when we are not concerned or doing much about other issues as Christians like we should be.
Peace in Christ,
Jeff
Sunday, 11 October 2009
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Reflection on my identity in Christ on National Coming Out Day
I composed this message as an admin of a private Facebook group . I thought I would also share it here, with some slight modification, for my blog readers.------------Brothers in Christ:
Today is National Coming Out Day. I am not promoting this day as an admin or member of this group, but it is much on my mind as I’ve already seen two former group members and a current member post Facebook status messages recognizing themselves as gay, along with another friend who has attended an Exodus conference in the past. There is a sense of freedom in being able to share this declaration with friends and family, especially when most of us have at one time feared others finding out about our struggle with sexual orientation, especially in the face of prejudice or stigma that many of us have experienced in some form or other in our lives. At one time there was a "National Coming Out of Homosexuality Day” also, to recognize people who seek to be free of homosexual behaviors and seek a way out of the homosexual lifestyle, but that movement promoted by some conservative Christian organizations has apparently died out a few years ago.
I respect my gay friends who see this as a day of bold honesty in their lives, including those who profess to follow Christ, and yet on this day I yearn for all of us as brothers in Christ to focus on our identity in Christ and not let homosexual attractions become the basis of our identity. Our group exists to help us find support, encouragement and accountability in areas of struggle related to the same sex attraction that we experience, and yet we don’t see this as the defining focus of our identity. It is but one area of our lives that we bring to Christ in faith to help us overcome struggle and temptation and to seek Him for His purpose in our lives.
A verse that I hold to closely is 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Help us to be honest to God and with our loved ones as we have the need to find support by sharing our struggles that relate to same sex attraction, but let us find our true identity in Christ. As one brother shared in a current group topic “Identity Crisis”, “We need to stop seeing ourselves through the eyes of any human and see ourselves through the eyes of Christ who died for us. In doing so we will find out who we truly are. For in Christ is truth.”
Be blessed this week, my brothers, and may you boldly claim your identity in Christ and share the good news with others as you have opportunity.
Much love to each of you as my brothers in Christ.
------------Peace in Him,Jeff
Monday, 05 October 2009
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Gay People Seeking God
My goal this week is to watch this complete video of Pastor Ted Beasley's message on same sex attraction and the church. I can tell it's a powerful video just after watching the first three minutes and from reading the "Pursue God" blog post of Karen K whom I greatly respect in her approach to communicating about homosexuality and Christianity. The first 15 minutes are the pastor's message and the last 30 minutes or so are a panel discussion. As Karen describes it: "These are not testimonies of coming out of wild, drug abusing, promiscuous “lifestyles.” These are just three people pursuing God as they felt led. They admit still having same-sex attraction. The focus is not on changing sexual orientation, but on hearing from God and walking toward Him."
http://www.gatewaychurch.com/media/2009/08/30/letsexpress-same-sex-aug-23-2009/
I've teared up twice when I've started to watch this because I expect it to be powerful and I sense that it is going to leave me dissatisfied with how the church in general and my own church specifically deals with this issue. I plan to take some focused time to watch the complete video in the next day or two, and then I may comment again on here on what impressions it leaves me with. Feel free to do the same after you watch his message.
Peace in Christ,
Jeff
Sunday, 04 October 2009
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dancing the night away with the love of my life
I had a wonderful night with my wife last night. We went to a wedding in the afternoon and then the reception at 6:00. It was a low-budget reception held in a hall downtown, with fold-up metal chairs set up with four long rows of tables, with a bar off the one end of the hall from which we could immediately smell smoke when we walked in. Not the nicest of places for a wedding reception, but we made the best of it. We knew three couples from our church, and about four other couples from church who we didn't know. The buffet meal was good (I skipped the meat but there were lots of veggies and salad), and the cake. After a while the DJ got some music going, and my wife and I went up and danced after they did the obligatory bride and groom dances. We were the only couple dancing for a few songs, but then people started trickling up and eventually filled the floor. It was so fun and freeing. And then there some slow songs where my wife and I really connected and felt like we were in high school love, only with so many years of love and time together added to it. She whispered to me that she wanted to grow old with me and I think we both teared up.
On the way to the wedding in the afternoon I popped in a tape (yes, a tape) with two songs that were sung at our wedding almost 17 years ago, and that brought a tear to her eyes, too.
I was happy in love yesterday and we had some wonderful time together. Even with all the struggles I've dealt and questioning sometimes, last night was a very strong affirmation that I made the right decision in my life to follow Christ and to marry my wife.
Jeff
Thursday, 01 October 2009
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Sand Animation - Ukraine's Got Talent
This video is awesome. It gave me shivers and brought tears to my eyes. It's from "Ukraine's Got Talent."
From an article on it: "What she depicts is love and war, set amidst the tu...rmoil of The Great Patriotic War, or as we call it in America, WWII. Ukraine was probably the area most devastated in the war, even more than Germany. It was a conflict that saw nearly one in four Ukrainians killed. A population of almost 42 million lost between 8 and 11 million people, depending on which estimate one references. Ukraine represented almost 20 percent of all the causalities suffered during WWII. And that was after Stalin had killed millions during the manufactured famines before the war. It to this day touches every Ukrainian. That's the context of war memory that Kseniya reaches out to."
carleton1958
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- Name: Jeff
- Gender: Male
- Member Since: 9/23/2005
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