Cool Quote

To "listen" another's soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another. - Douglas Steere

God be with you in the Journey!
Kevin

Why?

Why is the Christianity I read about it Acts so radically different than the Christianity I see here in America?

This questions was stated by Matt Carter on a Right Now video.  I think it is a good question that many people are asking and that has many answers.  What do you think?

God be with you in the Journey!
Kevin 

Inventive Church can be sloppy

Here is a link to a story about church as inventive.  When you get into the whole article, you can see illustrations of the sloppiness of life together!  I hope you enjoy it.

God be with you on the Journey!
Kevin

Why do we have a problem with Sloppy?

I really enjoy the contemporary Christian song How He Loves that was written by John Mark McMillan, sung by artist Kim Walker, and then altered slightly and put on David Crowder Band's Church Music CD.  The song helps me experience God's grace, mercy and, above all, His wonderful love.  I like the video too (link below). Some folks like to discuss this song, tear it apart and critique it.  Nothing wrong with that, but I think it is interesting that so many people get hung up on the line that Crowder altered:

So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest 

Crowder made it into "unforeseen kiss".

In his discussion of this McMillian says in his Sept. 14, 2009 blog entry (click to see entire entry):

"I don’t have a problem with David changing the line because he knows the people he is serving, and that line would have isolated the song from those people.

What I do have a problem with though, is that the condition of greater Christianity would be as such that he would even have to change it. I think the fact that a line like 'Sloppy wet kiss' could be controversial is ridiculous. Are we in kindergarten? Has any one out there not had or at least expected to some day, engage in a sloppy wet kiss?
  ...It seems that people either hate it or love it because they think I’m some how talking about kissing God. Please folks, I never ever, ever, ever, thought of this line as though it was talking about kissing God. Please read the words.

'HEAVEN meets EARTH like a sloppy wet kiss'

The idea behind the lyric is that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth converge in a way that is both beautiful and awkwardly messy. Think about the birth of a child, or even the death of Jesus himself. These miracles are both incredibly beautiful and incredibly sloppy ('gory' may be more realistic, but 'Heaven meets earth like a gory mess' didn’t seem to have the same ring). Why does the church have such a problem with things being sloppy? Do we really think we’re fooling anyone on Sunday morning, especially God? Are we going to offend him? I mean, he’s seen us naked in the shower all week and knows our worst thoughts, and still thinks we’re awesome. What if we took all the energy we spent faking and used that energy to enjoy the Lord instead? That could be revolutionary!"

I can't agree more.  I see too many hurt and broken lives in need of God's amazing love to have a problem with sloppy.  I also like things a bit sloppy because it keeps us from faking it.  I hope you can experience His great love today!

God be with you on the Journey!

Kevin

click here for the youtube video


lyrics:
He is jealous for me
Love's like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.
Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so.

Yeah, He loves us
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves.

So we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean we're all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way

That he loves us,
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves

He loves us,
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves

Making the Gospel Real

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove  http://jonathanwilsonhartgrove.com  lives in a "new monastic community" in Durham, NC.  The group is called Rutba, named after a town in Iraq that showed Jonathan and his wife, Leah, hospitality while they were traveling there. 

In an article Jonathan said: 
“I’m convinced that we don’t fully comprehend the gospel until we have been forgiven for something particular, not just general forgiveness for general sins,” he says. “I had to live in community to learn the parts of my personality that hurt other people and hear them say, ‘We still love you and we’ll keep living with you.’ That made the gospel real for me.”

What particular thing has God used to show you real forgiveness and the power of the Gospel?


We judge our worth way too much on how good things are or are not going in our life.  When really, it is the mess up's and failures that tend to show us the real power of God's love.  The deep trials of my life have been times that God has molded me and made me into a person that is holding on to fewer idols for myself and experiencing the good news that I am loved no matter what!  That is an awesome experience.  


In my life, when I have seen things going "good" and as a sign of God's blessing, I would often later find out I was trusting in an idol or limiting what God really wants to do with my life, or just judging "blessing" by the wrong standard. Often then God would show me how I was hurting myself or others with a particular sin that needed to stop.  It always hurts, but in the end I have always seen His love bigger than my failures and pain and I hear him say something like, "I still love you and I will keep living with you!"


I hope the Gospel is being made real in your life today.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"  Matt. 5:3


God be with you on the Journey!
Kevin

Picture of Prayer time in Senate

Things went well on Monday.  I really enjoyed my time in the Senate.  Here is a picture taken while I was praying.  Obviously, Lynnette was not in the praying mood, so she could take a picture.  Just kidding!  I am the one directly above the white circular emblem on the wood rail. 

God be with you in the Journey!
Kevin

Prayer at Virginia Senate

I really get nervous about praying for a government meeting like this.  I am such an advocate of separation of church and state, but appreciate the opportunity that is before me.  I have been reading some of Peter Marshall's prayers and others that have prayed in these situations often.  I mainly see a need for peace, guidance and the willingness to love our enemies as ourselves.  I do not know if this attempt at a written prayer does anything advantageous for the Kingdom of God, but here it is below.  If you might have any pointers, I will check my email before I leave in the morning.  

God be with you in the Journey!

Kevin

Senate of Virginia

Monday, January 24, 2011

Opening Prayer

By

The Reverend Kevin D. Ritter, Centerville Baptist Church, Chesapeake, Virginia

Dear Holy God, Creator and Sustainer of all, we recognize your presence here, and ask that in this new day, you grant your guidance and blessings upon these Senators who come as willing servants and leaders of the people of Virginia.

Help the Senators and all who work with them

-         to desire what is correct and upright,

-         to be tools of peace and wisdom,

-         to have the courage and strength to make the difficult decisions that are for the true benefit of the people according to your will,

-         to be faithful in admitting their own mistakes and forgiving those mistakes they may see in others, and

-         to open their hearts to see your wonderful love moving through everyone they might be in contact with today.

We thank you for your amazing love and for hearing our prayers today.  We pray for your glory to fill this place, Amen.