Today was a FAB5 at Graceway, a Sunday we set aside anytime there is a fifth Sunday in the month to do baptisms, the Lord’s Supper and other, well … “stuff” we have trouble doing in the normal flash of activity of a Sunday morning. So there is no literary update for the Luke study today. However, I do have something I want to share – Sixteen Seasons.

I just finished a book that I enjoyed immensely. The title of the book is Sixteen Seasons, an imaginative title that speaks to the sixteen seasons (four years) spent by an American family in Tajikistan as witnesses of Jesus Christ. It is very well written, even eloquent at times. Author David James has a gift to combine humor, transparency, reality and biblical insight.

One reason I liked the book is because I happen to know the author. David James is a pen name due to the sensitive nature of his work in a country that is closed to traditional missions. James and his family eventually had to leave their beloved adopted country, but now serve among a related group of people in another country.

Many of you Gracewegans would know David James by his real name because he spoke to us in a conference a few years back and we have repeatedly prayed for him and his family. David and his wife are from the Kansas City area and those of us who know them have been greatly impressed by their genuineness, humility and depth of biblical spirituality.

Reading Sixteen Seasons brought back many personal memories of living with a young family in a foreign culture. We lived in three different countries with our little girls and experienced many of the same joys, delights, frustrations and heartaches as David James and his family. There were times I laughed out loud or wept silently as he touched chords in my heart that only someone who has been through similar circumstances could possibly understand.

Even though the culture described in Sixteen Seasons is literally on the other side of the world from my personal experiences with a young family, I have traveled enough in his region of the world and in similar cultures that I can appreciate just how accurate his word pictures really are.

The reason I am recommending this book is because so many have expressed interest in what a family goes through when relocating to a completely different culture for the cause of Christ. Sometimes folks get a false, romanticized image of what it must be like to be a missionary. Unfortunately some of those people end up in strange places ready to serve God, but have never truly counted the cost or understood the depth of what is in store. James gives you the good, bad, ridiculous, fabulous and tragic. We will probably require people to read this book in many circumstances before relocating in this part of the world or even for an extended mission.

Sixteen Seasons will be coming to the Graceway bookstore or you can get it directly here.

My son-in-law Brian sent me a link today that he knew I would love. I do! The video is available on YouTube, but I thought Michael Hyatt’s commentary on the video was as excellent as the short video. Don’t miss this!

I also linked to this on my FaceBook, but some of you won’t see it there. Of course you could always friend me.

Click here for the link.

As promised in our study of Luke this morning, below is the layout of the parallelism in Luke 1: 5-20. Some of you will recognize this schematic way of diagramming from literature classes in High School or college. All of you who are regulars at Graceway have heard me speak repeatedly of parallelism because it is such a major component of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.

Parallelism is a huge part of the beauty and genius of scripture. Basically, parallelism refers to laying out parallel words, phrases, sentences or other literary units to compare, complement, complete or contrast with each other. Sometimes you will hear terms like chiastic structure, form or redaction criticism used to speak of the literary analysis of any writing, not just the Bible. Here is a quick and basic overview if you are interested.

Upper and lower cases of the Greek letter Chi

Chiastic form is a term derived from the Greek letter Chi that looks quite similar to a stylized capital X in our English alphabet. As you look at the diagram below, you can see that the diagram forms half of an X, of Chi.

This is important because key to understanding the words of scripture, or any words, is context. To properly understand the Bible we must understand the historical, cultural, grammatical and literary context of the words of scripture. From a practical standpoint, parallelism assists us to see clearly the main points, how they are related and to remember the message. As you might imagine, this type of study can be as simple or complicated as you want.

Also, despite the wonderful insight we can gain from learning about literary structure in biblical times, some use such information in an attempt to discredit the historicity or accuracy of the Bible. Like any good tool, its value is in the hands of the individual who uses it.  Parallelism is not a secret code or silver bullet, but simply a literary technique useful to writer and listener/reader alike for the enhancement of communication was well as creative beauty.

In biblical times, no one walked around with a big black Bible under the arm. In Old Testament times, most biblical revelation was preserved on scrolls by scribes. Handmade, large, and rare, scrolls were not immediately accessible to just anyone. As the various books of the New Testament were completed, they were circulated on papyrus scrolls. Only after the first century did it become common to begin to assemble biblical books on papyrus or vellum in a form that would approximate what we think of as a book today.

Instead of owning a personal copy of scripture, people listened to scripture as it was carefully read, whether in the temple, synagogue or church. Literary devices such as parallelism or chiastic structure assisted listeners to understand and remember what they were hearing. This is still true in oral societies to this day.

Western literate cultures process information in what many would consider to be linear and logical forms, while many oriental cultures process information by thoughts patterns that are sometimes described as “spiral.” This is not to infer that one is better than the other, only different. Eastern thought processes are more similar to the way people in biblical cultures processed information. Huge portions of the Bible are written in various poetic, literary styles. Writers of scripture wrote understanding that their words would largely be heard with the ears, not read with the eyes.

Please understand that recognition of such literary devices and their use in no way detracts from the divine inspiration of the Bible, nor does it imply less historical accuracy as some might attempt to infer. To the contrary! God chose to work through human instrumentality employing the forms and techniques of the time and culture of the biblical writers. This is the whole point of context. We should also understand how blessed we are today to have immediate and personal access to the words of God, whether in a big black Bible under the arm or on our smart phone!

So, with this brief and simplistic background, here is my own simplified adaptation and wording of of the parallel structure of Luke 1:5-20 that I have studied in the works of various scholars and commentators. Notice how the thoughts parallel each other, A to A’, B to B’. C to C’, etc.

A good way to read this is in spiral form rather than linear. In other words, read both A points, then the B, and so on, working your way to the middle – in this case H or verse 13. This is the writer’s way of signaling that this is THE point. This is also the way the original recipients of biblical scripture would have intuitively processed the content.

Enjoy! I’ll probably be posting more examples as we move through our study of Luke, so check back from time to time.

A – Day apppointed – 1:5

B – Righteous before God – 1:6

C – Stricken in years – 1:7

D – Obedient service – 1:8-9

E – Multitudes affected – 1:10

F – Messenger of God – 1:11

G – Trouble and fear – 1:12

H – The message – 1:13

G’ – Joy and gladness – 1:14

F’ – Messenger of God – 1:15

E’ – Multitudes affected – 1:16

D’ – Obedient service – 1:17

C’ – Stricken in years – 1:18

B’ – Blessed by God – 1:19

A’ – Day appointed – 1:20

Siempre me fascina lo que se puede hacer por medio de la tecnologia. Ayer tuvimos otro webinario – un evento en vivo dónde desde mi oficina me puedo comunicar con un buen grupo de colegas en el ministerio. En esta ocasión compartí algunos pensamientos sobre la manera en la cual determino qué predicar a la congregación, un tema de mucho interés para pastores. Aproximadamente 50 individuos estuvieron conmigo de más de 12 países gracias a la tecnología del Internet.

Por medio de la misma tecnología, otros pueden aprovechar luego mediante YouTube. Por ejemplo aquí está lo de miércoles: Webinario.

A la misma vez, aprevecho la oportunidad para anunciar algunos cambios a nuestro sitio web. En los meses anteriores nuestro equipo se ha ocupado en nuestro cambio de nombre y los correspondientes cambios al sitio web. En el proceso de estos cambios ha sido necesario pensar primero en la utilidad de comunicarnos con nuestra propia congregación. Pero nos es sumamente importante también comunicarnos con ustedes. Y la verdad es que nuestro sitio no ha sido muy “user friendly” para nuestros amigos hispanohablantes. Les pedimos su perdón y paciencia.

Ahora observarán en la faja anaranjada superior la palabra español a la mano derecha. Este botón les llevará a los lugares en dónde tenemos recursos en español. Esperamos que esto les facilite mucho su navegación en nuestro sitio.

Además, me da mucho gusto decirles que uno puede bajar el libro Direcciónes en español gratuita y directamente del sitio de Graceway sin necesidad de pasar por el sitio de Reality Living Publishing. Damos gracias a Dios por la hospitalidad de Reality Living, pero debido a las condiciones de su propio sitio, fue necesario establecer una cuenta,, contraseña y shopping cart para bajar Direcciones, aunque es gratis. Para ustedes que no pueden nada el inglés les fe un poco desafiante y seguramente frustrante. Ahora todo es mucho mejor, y pueden notar en la primera página de Graceway que otros idiomas están disponibles para bajarse gratuitamente Direcciones también. Solamente en inglés cobramos el precio del libro, y son estas ventas que financian la traducción de los demás idiomas. Todavía otros idiomas están en el proceso de desarrollo.

Gracias por el compañerismo de todos ustedes en el reino de Dios. Esperamos seguir trabajando juntos y proveer más herramientas para el ministerio de la palabra de Dios.

Have you noticed how good we are at totally blowing by the meaning of holidays? We just went through Christmas when so many worry about forgetting the meaning of Christmas. Others grouse that we no longer give thanks at Thanksgiving. Is the Fourth of July for celebrating our independence or is it about BBQ and fireworks? Get the idea?

So, here we are on Martin Luther King Day. How should we celebrate? I suppose we could have some sort of special service or commemoration. That would be nice, and many do so.

Since it’s late and I’m loose, I’ll risk telling you what I really think. It seems to me that a lot of the special services are about black churches and white churches having a celebration together and acting like everything is solved thanks to Dr King. We exchange special music, read quotations or watch a video clip of Dr. King and play like we all adored him all along.

I don’t know about you, but I’m old enough to remember being a white child in the South and hearing grownups talk about MLK being a “card-carrying communist” and wanting to make Americans a “mongrel race.” I never really figured out why a communist would want to carry a card, and the repulsion to intermarriage just sort of slipped over my little head. I just knew the adults who were taking were not speaking kindly. Since then, I have learned enough about human nature to imagine that those same types of attitudes are still alive and well in many places, including some churches and/or church people.

Since I didn’t grow up African-American, I can’t answer to what attitudes and comments were being made (or still being made) in that community. You’ll have to fill in those blanks for me. I’ve been alive long enough to know that some progress has been made toward racial equality in our nation, but the same experience constantly reminds me that we still fall short of the ultimate goal.

Here’s what I struggle with. After the celebration everyone goes back to the way it was, only we feel a bit more proud of ourselves because we played for a day that everything is OK. It’s not. Our society is still ill with horrible prejudice, stereotypes, discrimination, bigotry, hatred and bitterness. And, it goes way beyond black and white.

The root is definitely racial – the human race. We are sinners. Pure and simple, we are sinners.

Again, it seems to me that this is where the church is supposed to come in. What are we missing here? Why is it that after the celebration, we all go back to our black and white churches and have not much more contact for the next year?  That just seems to me to be smashing the dream and not working to realize it.

People often ask me how we managed to have a multi-ethnic church. The truth is we did nothing to have a multi-ethnic church, except welcome and embrace it when God dropped it in our black, white, brown, yellow and red laps. I don’t even believe it is realistic to think that every church could or even should be multi-ethnic. If the neighborhood is 99% one thing or another, then the church in that neighborhood will probably reflect that same demographic in most cases. I really don’t think we would have more success trying to forcibly change the demographics of churches than we have had overall with schools.

So, maybe it’s the heart attitudes we should work on instead of the demographics. I know a great Book that deals with these issues pretty well. You really should study it sometime.

I think that every so often God just raises up churches like ours as a model to which others can aspire. Has it been easy? Nope! Has it been worth it? Yep!

This brings me back to MLK Day. This year we decided to honor Dr. King by encouraging our people to serve. We played a clip of Dr. King preaching on the subject of serving. We sent folks to work at the City Union Mission, at its warehouse for thrift stores, at the Jewish Vocational Center and at the Salvation Army’s Three Trails conference center. Also, we delivered culturally-sensitive food baskets to a bunch of recent immigrants to our city. Pastor Jay and I began the day by scrubbing down the exercise room at the mission. Then we went around and visited each team on site. It was a good day and I am thankful for everyone who participated.

You can see the danger, can’t you? I just said it talking about the special services and celebrations. So, we go out and spend the day volunteering to serve in honor of Dr. King. Then tomorrow we go back to our normal self-focused lives, only just a bit prouder of ourselves because we spent a few brief hours serving.

Don’t take me wrong. It’s great to have a special service, and it’s equally great to go out and serve in the community. But, our main objective and prayer should not be simply to serve, but to trust God to make us serving people – every day and with every person. In our Why Church series last Fall we talked about six marks of a disciple of Jesus Christ. One is that they were always serving. They were  always serving because their faith was transforming them into serving people.

As an adult listening to the preaching and speaking of Dr. King, I am amazed at his skill and gifts. I am truly moved by his courage and leadership. There is no question that God used him in mighty ways. I wonder what it would have been like to have heard him preach live as an adult believer.

I’m pretty sure that Martin Luther King was never a “card carrying communist,” but I do know that he had his share of human flaws. We all do. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln had their own quota of human flaws, fully-known and often ignored. God used them all. But Presidents Day and Martin Luther King days are not times to focus on flaws. They are occasions to remember lessons learned from men who were thrust onto the center stage of history and gave the best performances of their lives, from which we have all benefited.

I’m just sharing from my heart here and don’t mean to offend anyone or judge anyone’s efforts to follow Dr. King’s dream. One of the ways we can celebrate Dr. King’s life and legacy is simply to keep the dream alive and live each day as a servant of God, allowing him to use us in any way to be transformers of lives and society – beginning with ourselves. I bought into the dream and hope you do too.

If you’d like to hear the original 17-minute speech delivered by Dr. King, you can find it here. Not that much time right now? Here’s a brief excerpt.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.