Tag Archives: Tony Campolo

THEN…

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It’s Good Friday.
A church is holding their Easter Service today. And tomorrow and Sunday. It’s a big church.
I don’t like criticizing other churches, because I don’t know how they came to that decision. It is a big church, so they may have needed all three days for their worshippers.
BUT.
You can’t have Easter without Good Friday. And I’m coming from pure speculation. Who knows what is going to take place in their Easter Service today. But the thought of Easter service on Good Friday just doesn’t sit right with me.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for the fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (John 20:19-20)

As Kenda Kreasy Dean writes, the key word is in the middle of verse 20. “Then”– a delayed reaction — “the space between hearing the good news and responding to it.”

Jesus shows up (mysteriously through locked doors) says, “Peace be with you.” Then shows the disciples his scars. Then the disciples recognized who was standing before them (even though he walked through locked doors).

Jesus says “peace be with you” and no one recognizes him. He doesn’t raise his voice, stomp his feet, play loud music, turn on the TV to show a funny video, doesn’t tell a joke or act out a funny skit… no, Jesus shows them God’s wounds. He shows them a suffering God.

“Revelation begins not with lofty assertions of God’s power but with the fact of God’s suffering in the world.”
Not everyone can relate to honor.
Not everyone knows glory or power.
Not everyone relates to reverence or even holiness.

But everyone knows pain. Everyone can relate to suffering. Because, pain, like love, is universal.

Easter is a result of Good Friday.
Easter is the hope that we receive in the midst of Fridays.
As Tony Campolo famously preached, “It’s friday! But Sunday’s a-coming!”

There’s power in Good Friday, because Jesus hanging on the cross, as Rob Bell says, is God saying “me too” – that we are not alone in our suffering. That Christ suffered through what we are suffering through. That Christ is ultimately saying to us, “I know how you feel” because he’s been there; done that.

And Easter is a reminder that there is more to what we are facing today. That pain is not the be all and end alls of our lives. There’s light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope. There is redemption. There is life.
Yes. It’s dark. Yes. It’s stormy. Yes, the future is uncertain. Yes, life sucks. But. God is with us in the midst of our darkness; God is with us in our stormy seas; God is the never-changing and ever-lasting in a world that constantly changes; this God is truly Emmanuel.

Good Friday is just as important as Easter, because without Good Friday, we wouldn’t have Easter.
And Easter is very important because without Easter, we are forever trapped in the pain and confusion and suffering of Fridays.

Many people seem to live their lives more in the Fridays than in the Sundays. For all of us living in Fridays,

“It’s Friday. But SUNAY’S COMIN’!”

On Heaven and Hell and Where You’ll End Up

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Okay. The title is misleading.
I finished reading Rob Bell’s Love Win last week. I liked it. For me, it made sense.
I do believe that heaven and hell are very real. I firmly believe in the existence of Satan and in hell. I also firmly believe in heaven.  But at some point in my life, at some point in my theology, I just had to believe that in the end, God has the ultimate say. God is the Judge. The Judge shall decide our fate. Not me. Not you. God. Jesus.
I am reminded of the Parable of the Workers, where the last to hired got paid the same amount as the first ones hired. Or the thief at the cross.

But. Here’s what gets me. Here’s why I am more inclined to think the way that I think more than the traditional belief of who goes to heaven and hell.
Take a moment to watch this video:

I don’t know what his faith is. But let’s assume that he isn’t a Christian.
Now, compare that to these people:

These people are fueled by their belief in God. And they would probably tell you that Jesus is their personal Savior and that they’re going to heaven.

So. They are going to heaven. But Narayanan Krishnan is not? (If he is not a Christian.)
I can’t reconcile that in my mind.

Or what about the Christians who are so concerned with the afterlife, they do nothing to enhance the life of the people in this world? (A world God so loved, btw, that God sent His only Son…)
I can’t remember if it was a Tony Campolo book or Jim Wallis book, but they were sharing a story about a politician who wanted dump waste in a lake (at a park…) because he believed that Heaven would eventually come.
There are Christians out there that ignore the pains and cries of people in the world because they are SO concerned with going to heaven. So because of their relationship with Jesus Christ, they can sit around and twiddle their thumbs, ignore the cries of God’s people, ignore the suffering going down the streets of their home, listen to only Christian music, only hang out with like-minded Christians, talk about how amazing it will be “going home” … but Gandhi is in hell…?

Maybe that’s the way it works.
Who am I to say?
All I know is that, this subject always leads to arguments…

I believe that Heaven is real.
I believe that Hell is just as real.
But I also believe that God has the last say of who enters the Gates of Heaven. After all, it’s His Crib.
Therefore, I am more than comfortable focusing on doing the best I can for God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven; offering myself to be part of God’s mission on this earth- a world He so loved. Check that. A world that He so loves.

… please don’t fire me…