Lent – Reflect and Renew

Well, Easter is almost here. How do I know? Mainstream media are doing docudramas on Jesus. Every year at this time, Newsweek, Time, PBS or some other mainstream outlet produces a show, article or mini-series on Jesus, the church or the gospels. This year is no exception, except for the opportunity to learn.

This year CNN has produced a mini-series entitled, Finding Jesus. They look at various subjects relating to the life of Jesus using various scientific and historical methods of investigation. (Here is a link to information about the series.)

This particular series has been of great invest to me because Dr. Ben Witherington, III of Asbury Theological Seminary is one of the guest scholars who contributed to the series. I had the opportunity to travel to Israel and Turkey last year with him.

What makes this series so interesting for me is that after each episode, Dr. Witherington blogs about the episode. In this way he is able to bring additional insights about the subject.

Dr. Witherington’s posts:

Episode 1 – The Shroud of Turin
Episode 2 – John the Baptist
Episode 3 – Judas
Episode 4 – James

The episode that intrigued me most was about the discover of an ancient document experts called the Gospel of Judas. The episode shows three distinct phases of scholarly study of this ancient document. Our culture is so prone to grab the first headline that comes out about almost anything. The show chronicles the work of scholarship as it continues to analyze and learn over time. Sound bites may be exciting and fun, but they almost never tell the whole story.

During this Easter season take the time to explore and learn a little more from this series. It is important to understand that this series looks at Jesus not from a biblical perspective and an historical one. So take the time to learn some new insights into the history of Jesus and his times.

Pastor Alan

"Deep change… is a spiritual process". that is a quote not from a popular Christian author or preacher, but a business consultant. Robert Quinn is a professor in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. I don’t know anything about his religious life, but he has hit on a core life truth here. Change at the fundamental level of our lives (and our organizations) is indeed a spiritual process. Real change involves a fundamental realignment of our core values and outlook (worldview).

Many of us struggle with breaking bad habits such as over eating or over spending or addictions, because we try changing surface behaviors without changing the underlying emotional and psychological realities of our lives. The same is true of our walk with Christ. Often we come to Christ and have a sincere desire to change and become more like Jesus, but we never allow the Gospel in all its fullness to penetrate the deep places of our hearts. We become content with superficial or ornamental changes and always wonder why we keep falling into the same sins or poor choices.

For change to take place, we must allow the message of Christ to sink so deeply in our lives that our basic and fundamental assumptions about ourselves, the world and others is radically transformed, but that takes time and effort. It takes time to soak in the Word of God, build relationships with other Christians and reflect on the implications of Gospel for our lives. but, as we do everything about us will begin the change, slowly but steadily. That is the kind of change I want.

The Blog of Pastor Alan Cassady

Category: Lent

Finding Jesus

Deep Change