09 September 2006

Tomorrow--A New Series

I don't know about other Pastors, but I get geeked when we're starting a new series. Tomorrow, we start one titled "kata Lukan (according to Luke in Greek) beyond the shadow of a doubt, the evidence of eyewitnesses." This will be a long one, even with few interruptions. So, part of my excitement is the sense of investment being made as we dive-in to this together. Beyond the normal "new-series-geekedness," I'm excited for some other reasons.


First, I'm pleased to be back to focusing on Jesus--on what God was doing in and through Him. So much of our time seems to tack towards how we live our lives. So many of our assumptions and images about our lives come from cartoon caricatures of Jesus. His raw complexity is something that we skim over. It's good to go back and just listen and watch through this physician named Luke's research and reporting.


Second, I'm really looking forward to approaching this account as Luke meant to convey it. Beyond the individual pericopes, events, and teachings, we have four accounts of the good news because each man set-out to communicate something specific about Jesus. God didn't give us one unified vanilla tale of Jesus' life. Rather, He let us see it from different perspectives through these guys.


Third, I'm excited about the way in which Luke just lets it hang out there. The more complete scenes, the more abrasive teachings, the more difficult sayings--Luke just goes for it. Likewise, the themes he emphasizes are things which really provoke me to thought and (I hope) response these days--they should for all of us North American Christians. Luke writes about:
  • the gospel for Gentiles (my interest? obvious) in God's plan
  • the meaning of salvation in its fullness
  • the real nature of the gospel when lived
  • God's rule (the kingdom) made real and present now
  • money as a hindrance to discipleship
In his great two-volume commentary, Darrell Bock summarizes with these great words:
"Luke's Gospel is pastoral, theological, and historical. The reality of God's plan influences how individuals see themselves and the community to which they belong...There is to be no doubt that the message of Jesus is one of hope and transformation...being a disciple is not easy, but it is full of rich blessing that transcends anything else this life can offer"(Baker Books, p. 43).

Finally, I'm excited that you guys will have numerous chances to more deeply participate than in the past if you take us up on some of them like the weekly text readings, study and reflection guides, interaction time on Wednesday nights, and the occasional post here.


I hope you get as geeked as I am as we get into it. [For those who don't attend WCC, online message downloads will be available on http://waterfordwired.org as soon as the equipment comes in. I'd love to have you along too!]

2 comments:

Organized Chaos said...

I'm sorry...but can you define "geeked" and "geekedness"?

etoc said...

Thank God for Google. According to that definitive reference work widely accepted in scholarly circles across the globe rap dictionary, "geeked" has two meanings as an adjective: (1) High on drugs. Usually refers to being high on cocaine. "I was geeked last night." (2)Excited about something. Hopefully, it's obvious I was thinking #2. "Geekedness" would then be the transitive (?) state of being geeked. I sorry too...