epiphany

Today is Epiphany, a day celebrated by the ancient Church to mark the manifestation of who Christ is and what He came to do. It is historically observed on the 12th day after Christmas.

Even though we are a new church that desires to experiment with innovative and creative expressions of our faith, we will always root the future in our past. We are a small part of something Bigger. We want to orient ourselves in this larger Story and remember who we are and who we have been.

So with this in mind, we are exploring a series that flows out this season of Epiphany. Our creative, catchy title will blow you away. It's called... wait for it... wait for it... Epiphany. Crazy, I know.

Here are a few scattered thoughts from the messages so far:
Luke 2:21-40 (Jesus dedicated in the Temple)
-Epiphany means "sudden realization or manifestation of meaning."
-It is not about digging up deeply buried treasures, but about recognizing treasures that are hiding in plain sight.
-It is not about opening up new and far off frontiers, but about opening up our eyes to the truth right at our feet.
-The truth, beauty and goodness of God are begging to be discovered. Look with the wonder and awe and freshness of a child and you will experience Epiphany. Your heart will say, like Simeon in the Temple, "My eyes have seen your salvation, prepared in the sight of your people, a light for revelation..."

Matthew 2:1-18 (The visit of the wise men)
-The only thing worse than the person who has all the answers to every question is the person who will accept no answer to any question.
-Our hearts are ships at sea, sojourner souls on a quest for meaning. We encourage the journey because we have experienced a small glimpse of the destination. We honor the quest because we worship the King that waits at the end of it. We celebrate The Searching because we believe in The Finding. Epiphany is possible.

our first baptism

We celebrated our first baptism this Sunday. It was an incredible experience. We gathered and huddled and slipped on the muddy banks of a cold Morgan Creek. On a 40 degree day in December, we celebrated and participated in the new life of our friend Tony. Two weeks ago Tony asked how he could embrace the new life that is offered through the love and grace of Jesus Christ. He is Jeanine's brother, and right there in the room where he has crashed countless weekends on their couch, Justin walked Tony into the Kingdom.

Tony is a Marine, soon on his way back to Afghanistan. There's this thing he does when he shakes hands--a Marine thing, he says--where instead of the normal grip, hand in hand, he grips higher up on the inside of your forearm, while you're gripping his. The test then, is to see who is the stronger man, who has the strength to wrestle and turn his arm on top. In all of my personal experience, Tony has never lost.

Until Sunday.

As he went beneath the frigid water (yes, even cold for a hard core Marine) he let Someone else win. He surrendered. He submitted. He humbled himself to a stronger man... One strong enough to save.

This is the beauty of baptism. The submission and submersion, an old life buried beneath the water. A new one raised fresh and new. (And really, really cold.)

Watch the video of Tony's baptism here on Justin's blog. And as you watch, remember what it was like when you were baptized. And in your heart, go under with him, reaffirming the work God accomplished in you. Remember what it was like to come up new and alive, soaking wet and drenched in grace.

a shared journey

Jesus sat down on a hillside, opened His mouth, and reshaped the world.

Every Sunday over the next several weeks, we are walking through His revolutionary teaching known as The Sermon on the Mount. These words have transformed history. They can do the same thing in our hearts.

So, we are inviting you to join us on a shared journey into the life and teachings of Jesus. Over the next 40 days we will immerse ourselves in His story as told by the good news writer Matthew. We are going small with this thing, reading just one chapter of Matthew a day. And going even smaller with the three chapters that make up the Sermon on the Mount. We will move intentionally slow through this portion, sinking into the words and letting the words sink into us.

Join us on this journey into the words that reshaped the world. And let them reshape you as well. Read along each day here.

the varsity

This Sunday, October 4, Love Chapel Hill will find our first home in the historic Varsity Theatre on Franklin Street.

The Varsity is a classic. It is a landmark, an icon, a central piece of Franklin Street's cultural landscape. Since we are a church with a heart for Chapel Hill, it is fitting that we make our home at the heart of Chapel Hill. But we want to make it clear to the community that we are not the new owners and we are not turning it into a church building. We love the history and heritage of this place, and want to see it continue to be a vibrant center of creativity and community.

Thank you to all of our friends who have prayed with us for a location. We are humbled by God's goodness in this. We can hardly believe it. I have a whiteboard on my wall (I know that makes me a nerd) where I've brainstormed possible meeting places. One by one, most of our best backups fell through. And at the end of it all, we are left with our first (and most far-fetched) hope.



I've said before that I've dreamed of this since high school or college. But I'm not sure 'dream' is even the right word. As I think back, it's almost more like a memory that I couldn't even understand at the time. Like God was planting a seed back then that He would slowly and patiently cultivate into a dream years and years later. I am sure I would have never thought of this. But somehow, the subtle memory of it is there. So, really what we are walking into is not our dream or vision or idea, but God's genius and goodness and generous kindness. This is the extravagance of His grace, up in lights and splashed across the marquee.

grace-onomics

Chris Wang (left) is an economics major at UNC. We met this summer by the Old Well on campus. One night I was sitting on a bench, nervously thinking and praying about our first Worship at the Well the next day. He walked by twice, so I said hello. He asked, "What are you reading?" I answered,"Oh, my Bible." He excitedly sat down next to me and said, "I just became a Christian three months ago and this is my first week in town. Can you tell me where I can find a good Church?"

He's been with us ever since.

This Saturday night, we were hanging out around a table and Chris said, "You know what I don't get? I don't get grace. I study economics, and it just doesn't make sense."

It struck me as one of the most beautiful sermons on grace I've heard in a long time.

Then, grabbing a piece of paper, he attempted to force it into the realm of reason. Scratching out multiple graphs, Chris tried to make it square with the laws of supply and demand. His final thought: "If price is free, and supply is infinite, then demand is satisfied."

good friday

It's Friday morning. Good Friday morning. And that word "good' won't let me go.

"Good" is possibly one of the most important ideas to ever find its way into our theology.

In most cases, good is not as good as great. But today, I can't help but think that good is greater than great. Confused yet? Here's what I mean...

Anyone would assume that if there is a God, then He is great. By pure definition, He would have to be. If He is God, then He is immensely powerful, unrivaled in strength and might. To create and control all that we know, and have yet to discover, would require utter greatness.

That God is great is no surprise. Anyone would expect that. Even assume it.

But here is the surprise. Here is the 'better than you could have hoped for' revelation. Here is the twist in the plot that even the most optimistic and romantic among us would never dare to dream. God is more than great. God is good.

While limited power has corrupted the best of us, His purity of intention and motive only enhance His strength. His is a power that is not fueled by pride, but by humility. He demonstrates His might by mercy toward us. He moves with kindness and compassion. When our sin separated us from Him, His love launched a rescue mission to come and win us back. Setting aside His greatness, He became one of us. He embraced humility, and on this day on the cross, even humiliation.

He died, and took our sin with Him to the grave. He was raised back to life, and leads us into the new reality of resurrection.

Our selfish pride sealed our fate. His humble love changed the stars.

Yes, God is great! But, even more, He is good. He is full of mercy. He moves with kindness. He pursues us with forgiveness. He captivates us with grace. God is good.

bailouts, ben harper, and a better way

Rollin' down the street (makes me think of a snoop/dre classic, circa mid 90's) this morning, listening to npr ('as was his custom'). Much of the talk swirling around the current economic crisis, and the so-called bailout bill that the Senate passed with all of the enthusiasm of a kid downing a spoonful of doctor's orders. Closing eyes, holding nose.

Needing a break from the bailout, I turn on some music, via the handy "oh just surprise me" shuffle list. Enter Ben Harper- who strikes me as part pirate, part prophet- singing about a better way...

What good is a man who won't take a stand / What good is a Senate with no better plan / But I believe in a better way.
Reality is sharp, cuts like a knife / Everyone I know is in the fight of their lives / But I believe in a better way.

This post is not an indictment of our leaders. Nor is it intended to be political commentary.
It's a reminder of what is bigger. And better.
Here's to the Better Way. And to The Pioneer who paved it, drawing us in behind Him.

i am a tree

My good friend Jeremiah introduced me to a beautiful song, ‘How He Loves Us.’ You should watch the video on his blog and read his post about it. (Disclaimer: In about 2 and a half weeks this song will probably be huge and possible overexposed, and I’m gonna look like a dork for writing about it. But as my older brother Kris would say, ‘Oh well.’)

What strikes me about the song is the creative language and imagery used to describe the utterly indescribable love of the Father. The beauty is not only in the writing, but in the truth that the writing is somehow able to capture. Lines like ‘If grace is an ocean, we are all sinking.’ And the first verse which says, ‘He is jealous for me. Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.’

Last weekend I took a quick trip down to North Carolina’s Outer Banks to visit my grandma on Harkers Island. With this song still ringing in my heart, I noticed something. I noticed the trees.

The trees on Harkers Island are flat out mangled. They are twisted and bent and often the branches look like they are all leaning in one direction instead of sprawling outward in different directions from the trunk. Like many coastal communities, HI has experienced the blunt power of hurricane force winds barreling up the coastline. Long after the gusts have died down, and the boards are taken off of the windows, and the gas prices return from their astro-adventure into the outer reaches of the earth’s atmosphere, certain signs stay behind. The trees still bear the marks…proof of the pathway of a violent storm… forever bent beneath the weight of the wind.

He loves like a hurricane. I am a tree. I am mangled up and twisted by the sheer force of unbridled Grace. Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy, until I am utterly reshaped, unable to return to the stately posture I once held, when I once held my ground.

hope

Last Sunday our friend Maggie invited me to preach at an outdoor worship service she started called Green Chapel. She asked me to share on ‘hope for today.’ Luke 4:14-21 was the passage of focus, zooming in on these mind-bending words of Jesus: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” The following is a collection of thoughts taken from the message.

‘Hope is a seed in the ground waiting for the harvest.’

‘Hope is heavy with expectation, a word weighed down with beauty and confidence.’

‘Hope is most often associated with a day far off…as yet unfulfilled…situated firmly in the future. But Jesus takes what is far off, what is future, and drags it into the present.’

‘Yes, we look forward to going to heaven. But we must remember that heaven has already come to us. Hope is not there and then, but here and now. It is not out there. It is in you.’

‘That’s the thing about hope. It is restless. And it refuses to stay politely put. It first takes root in our deepest places until swelling up and spilling out into every corner of our lives and every corner of our world.’

5 years!

Today we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! It was a great day of reflecting back on the moments that have made up our journey so far. God is true, beautiful, and good. And He has used these five years to continually reveal that to us.

Thank you to our friends and family who have added rich layers to our lives together. We are blessed by your wisdom, encouragement and grace.

Photos by the talented Carissa Martin.

obi-wan wisdom

Today in Chapel at Asbury, Dr. Robert Mulholland (spiritual formation guru and Asbury's version of Obi-Wan Kenobi) talked about the interesting distinction between the following two ideas:

Be in the WORLD for GOD.

Be in GOD for the WORLD.

Any thoughts on the differences between the two?

a city on a hill

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
-Matthew 5:14, 16

The way of Jesus is more than a faith, more than a collection of common beliefs. The way of Jesus is a movement, leaving a trail of transformed lives in its wake. It is a rolling, rising tide of grace. And we have been swept up in it.

The same grace that searched us out with the hope of rescue is sending us out with this message of Love.

We have answered an unshakable call to plant a new church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. To form a new community of Spirit-filled Storytellers, creatively expressing the mercy of God. To live as captives to the truth that sets souls free. To become what the prophet Isaiah called, "a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor..."

To be light in the dark, like a city on a hill.

wildland

Every head bowed
Every heart opened
Coming together
Set apart

Hiding in the nooks and crannies of a holy place
Stretched all out
Tucked away
Proper pews become primal tents of meeting

Communion
No loaf to touch
No cup to pass
But the Bread is being broken, and souls are drenched in wine
A taste you can’t shake from your mouth

Canopies of praise
Cathedrals of worship
Cloaks and crowns of prayer
Falling over shoulders and brows with a perfect fit

Draw me in with you
This fertile wildland
Until I’m caught in the crossfire of the Love
Holdng the Three as One

abide in me

The new Asbury Reader launched this week. This is one of the projects that I get to work with in my new role here at the seminary. Here's the deal: Each semester we walk through Scripture together, sharing this story that we find ourselves caught up in. This time the journey leads through John, wrapped around Jesus' invitation for us to 'abide in the Vine.'

To go along with each chapter of John there will be a bonus podcast, featuring companion commentaries from our faculty. Check out the introductory interview here.

We'd love to have you join us in this. We'll be updating it online everyday at asburyreader.com

(props to Teresa VanderMolen for her beautiful design and Chad Brooks for this animation.)

Maw Maw

This weekend we had a surprise 80th birthday party for my grandma, better known to the world as 'Maw Maw.' She is an amazing woman, widely admired for her blazing heart for Jesus, her sensitivity to the Spirit, and the depth of her intimacy with God. One of my favorite things about Maw Maw is her lively sense of humor... 'spunky' even. There is a real joy that flows out of the deep wells of her young spirit.

While she was opening her presents, with every eye locked in on her, she started leading the whole group in singing 'Blessed Assurance.' A cool old man in the back row broke out his harmonica and started playing along. It was amazing. In a way, that tells the story of who she is. Even though she was the center of attention, she quickly turned it away from herself and onto her greatest Love.

If at the root of sin is the shifting of our focus away from God and curving it inward upon ourselves, then maybe at the heart of holiness is turning our focus away from ourselves and humbly submitting to the unrivaled reign of God. Maw Maw is a beautiful portrait of this kind of surrendered life.

Social Mercy

It is incredibly encouraging to see a generation awakening to issues of social justice. Young idealists and dreamers are channeling their ample creativity, energy, and passion towards the poor and oppressed of our world. Even if (when) the celebrity culture loses focus and moves on to the next frontier of the carefully cool, I believe an impassioned core of committed will remain.

This renewed thrust is a return to our roots. Social justice is a proud part of our holiness heritage, a mark of the Wesleyan movement. Not to mention a central concern in the legacy of a man named Jesus.

But lately I’ve begun to wonder if justice alone is enough. We are compelled to fight for justice on behalf of those who have been denied it. But shouldn’t we fight for more than justice? Is there a step beyond it?

I believe that the ‘more’ is mercy.

Mercy and justice are not the same. They are two sides of the same coin… partners in an intimate and intricate dance, each taking the lead when appropriate…they embrace…they kiss. But they are not the same. A beautifully compatible contradiction.

Justice is fair. Mercy is anything but.
Justice sets things right. Mercy sets things free.
Justice establishes equality. Mercy unleashes extravagant love.
Justice wins for us our rights. Mercy gives us more than we deserve.
Justice is spreading the wealth. Mercy is emptying the purse.
Justice is concrete. Mercy is mysterious.
Justice is the cause. Mercy is the motive.

So, let’s coin a new call: Social Mercy.
A call to set right the laws of man, while setting loose the love of God.