Gift the Benefit of the Doubt this Christmas

Love…believes all things (1 Corinthians 13:7)

What if we gift each other the benefit of the doubt for Christmas this year?

Like… give it as a gift.

Got Some Frankincense You Wanna Share?

"On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh." (Matthew 2:11).

Got some Frankincense you’ve been wanting to share? Any allusive myrrh you’d like to pass on?

If you’re an artist wanting to share some Advent reflections, jump onto this event put on by the Network of Christians in Visual Arts (NCVA). The one-hour zoom meeting looks to be quite interactive.

Here’s how they describe the time: “Our Zoom-based gathering will include a Member Art Share and Fellowship in breakout rooms as we make room in our hearts and lives for the treasure that is Christ.”

Thanksgiving: A Freewill Offering

If you were to die tomorrow, read Psalm 50. Then, God spared your life and he happened to grant you another 60 years, how would Psalm 50 impact those remaining years?

God was upset with Israel. They brought sacrifices to the temple, sure. And they did so over and over again. But there was a problem: They missed the heart of God by only offering these. They were religious, yet, did not take care of community/poor. They performed their services, offering temple sacrifices of bulls and goats. But Psalm 50 paints a fuller picture of their problem.

If you are only going to God to give him sacrifices, fine. God was not rebuking Israel for that. But God desires sacrifices of thanksgiving, or, freewill offerings.

Freewill offerings are different than burnt offerings. Burnt offerings would have been animals representing the sacrifice required for sins (Leviticus 1). Grain offerings would have been from your harvest, showing dependence on God (Leviticus 2).

But freewill offerings (or, “fellowship,” “peace” offerings) would have been spontaneous. They were voluntary, personalized, responses to God’s goodness. They acknowledge absolute dependence on God; expressions of thanksgiving. Imagine a potluck for the world’s best BBQ. Your contribution was as if you were sharing a meal with the Lord, emphasizing the peace one has with Him.

God says these types of offerings glorifies him (Psalm 50:23). They are not offerings to get something from God. They’re for you to say, “You’ve given me all!” It is the kind of reactive joy one feels Christmas morning opening gift after gift.

How to cultivate thanksgiving

“Our faith as to the present is revived by glad memories of the past.” (Spurgeon)

“Offer unto God thanksgiving is the everlasting rubic of the true directory of worship.” (Spurgeon)

The only way I’ve come to learn how to cultivate this kind of thanksgiving comes from A Praying Life by Paul Miller. Miller says, “Cynicism looks in the wrong direction. It looks for the cracks in Christianity instead of looking for the presence of Jesus…In order to see Jesus…I would have to look at people simply, as a child does. I began to ask myself, ‘Where did I see Jesus today?’”

Miller’s book has been in my top 5 books outside the bible since I read it in 2011. But it wasn’t until this last year I put something into practice, inspired by his writing. Each day, I would try to think back on the day before and write down as many attributes of God I saw that day. Where was Jesus in the “hiddenness” of the day? Did I see someone show humility? Did I see God provide? Answer a prayer? Show up in someone’s act of courage? Where did I see truth, honor, righteousness, purity, love, excellence, and other praise-worthy things?

Suddenly, I’ve had myself a year-long Field Notes booklet of kingdom goodness. Don’t be a cynic, Miller says. Instead, fight for joy. Aim at remembering. And respond accordingly.

Thank Thanksgiving!

**Learn more about free will offerings:

• Leviticus 3

• Psalm 27:6

• Psalm 69:30-33

• Psalm 107:22

• Psalm 116:17

A New Batch of Stickers

I just posted a slew of new sticker ideas for my fellow makers out there! Head over to Taylor Make Art Shop.

Jesus Answers Emos - “Bring me to Life”

I remember this beautiful song that came out my junior year of high school. “Bring me to Life” by Evanescence. My friend and I listened on the school bus daily until tragedy struck. She and 3 of our friends were in a car accident. This accident shook me and our community of friends. Two of those in the car died.

Though my listening-friend survived, those days on the school bus were lonely without her (as she fought for her life in the hospital). Her absence was a symbol of the friends we had just lost.

What I didn’t realize was that the Evanescence song quickly turned into a prayer:

“Wake me up (I can’t wake up).”

“Save me.”

“Call my name and save me from the dark.”

“Wake me up.”

“Bid my blood to run before I come undone.”

“Save me from the nothing I’ve become.”

Thus opened the floodgates of the catalogue of emo-screamo-metal songs. Songs which are cries for help. Screaming in community of mosh-piters to our own “unknown gods.”

What I didn’t realize at the time was how Jesus would bring those answers. Over the years, I’ve come to understand him as a shepherd near to the broken-hearted (Psalm 34). He provides life (John 10:10). He is, in fact, life (John 14:6). Dying with him means we raise with him (Romans 6). He is the Savior my little emo heart cried out for (Ephesians 2:8).

Consuming Media

From the Every Moment Holy Vol. 1 book. A snippet of a liturgy before consuming media:

O Discerning Spirit, who alone judges all things rightly, now be present in my mind and active in my imagination as I prepare to engage with the claims and questions of diverse cultures incarnated in the stories that people tell.

Let me experience mediums of art and expression, neither as a passive consumer nor as an entertainment glutton, but rather as one who through such works would more fully and compassionately enter this ongoing human conversation of mystery and meaning, wonder and beauty, good and evil, sorrow and joy, fear and love.

Read the rest here.

Change the Metaphor

“If you want to change the world, change the metaphor.”

Joseph Campbell

Hip Hop Church

Check out my interview with my friend and church planter, Abraham Barberi, who I interviewed for the “Sparking Arts” podcast. He shares his story about church planting among the hip hop community in Mexico:

Hear the podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s3e4-hip-hop-church/id1552338475?i=1000675608077