Fiat Lux (Let Light Be Made)

Graduates Differ. Do You?

2011-05-30T10:43:00.001-07:00

As the school year comes to a close for many thoughts maymove towards what we value as graduates. I recently attended a Baccalaureate service for my nephew and thespeaker exhorted the graduates to “seek first the kingdom of God.” Is this what some graduates seek? If not what do they “seek first”? Here is a study that provides some empiricalevidence as to what private school administrators think:

WASHINGTON -- The graduatesof Protestant Christian schools have different traits than those who attendCatholic and non-religious private schools,

U.S.

researchers say. Sociologist David Skunk of the University ofNotre Dame and the public policy think tank Cardus says the two-year studysurveyed a representative sample of U.S. religious school graduatesages 24-39 to determine the impact of Christian schools on adults.

More Catholic school administrators ranked the university asthe top priority, while more Protestant school administrators ranked family asthe top emphasis of the school, researchers say.

The research team also surveyed more than 150 Catholic andProtestant school administrators in Canadaand the United Statesto assess the aspirations.

The study found Protestant Christian school graduates:

-- Divorced less and had more children than their Catholicand private school peers.

-- Participated in more relief and development servicetrips.

-- Have lower incomes, but were more thankful for what theyhave in life.

-- Attended less competitive colleges and attended feweryears of college.

-- Talked less about politics, participated less inpolitical campaigns and donated less to political causes.

G. Haraksin

Lead Pastor

NewSong Church

Natural Disasters

2011-04-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

Here is an article relating to the issue of natural evils. Eliot Miller is the editor for the Christian Research Journal. This article was penned back in 2005 yet it applies in 2011 in light of the quake in Japan --and other natural evils. The content may benefit you personally and as you discuss such issues with others. Read, learn, be equipped and benefit. G. Haraksin NewSong Church

Putting the Tsunami into Perspective

Elliot Miller

The following articleis adapted from the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 28, issue 1 (2005).

We are all riveted toour televisions the past several days as we watch the devastation of the nationof Japan after itexperienced a 9.0 earthquake off its Sendaicoast last Friday. As more than 1,000 bodies wash ashore, and fears mount of apotential leak of nuclear material after a possible nuclear plant meltdown,it’s natural for people to ask why God allowed such a horrific tragedy. Naturaldisasters, wars, man-made tragedies (9/11, the Holocaust) continue as historyunfolds but biblical answers to spiritual questions regarding them don’tchange. Back in an early 2005 issue of the Christian Research Journal,editor-in-chief Elliot Miller wrote an article giving biblical perspective tothe then Indonesian Tsunami of December 2004. We hope this article equips youwith a cogent and biblical explanation of how we should view natural disasters.

When Ifirst heard news of the tsunami that struck the Indian Ocean region on December 26 it stopped me in my tracks. “Thiscould be the biggest natural disaster of our time,” I thought. On that firstday the estimated death toll was “only” around 14,000, but as I write six weekslater it is approaching 300,000.

Who has notbeen profoundly affected by the video captures of the approaching wall ofwater, the apocalyptic pictures and reports of devastation and death, theseemingly capricious fates of those who were taken and those who were spared,the heart-wrenching losses suffered by natives of the region as well asvisitors, and the unbelievable evil of those who have seized orphaned childrento sell them into the sex slave trade? Who has not been moved by the heroism ofthose who did not think of their own safety in order to save (or try to save)the lives of others, and the compassionate efforts of people from around theworld to help those who have been struck?

Whenever amajor disaster hits, whether natural or man made, the question is raised aboutGod’s role in it. An Internet search for the words “tsunami” and “God” yieldsWeb pages that contain every conceivable answer to this question. For somepeople the disaster is an occasion for embracing or returning to faith in God;for others it is an occasion for losing faith or feeling justified in theirunbelief. Comments such as the following caught my attention:

“Amid tidalwaves or tsunami, earthquakes or floods, outbreaks of disease or other naturaldisasters, where is God?”

“Thanks forthe tsunami, God! Do you realize what God just did?”

“Is the tsunamiGod’s judgment?”

“Tsunami:God’s Anger Revealed.”

“Tsunami =God’s wrath on non-Christians. “

“God usedwhat unsaved Chinese people call a ‘tsunami’ to wipe out over 100,000unbelievers in one fell swoop.”

“Did God send this tsunami because of thepaganisms so prevalent in South Asia…as only ahint of the cataclysm that is yet to come—the holy judgment of God?”

“TsunamiDisaster—A judgment from God to the Islamic nations!”

“How can amerciful God allow such disaster and suffering?”

“God killedmore than 150,000 people with a tsunami....This terrible tragedy only provesone simple thing: There is no God, only religious rhetoric.”

Evil andhuman suffering do pose a problem for faith in God. There is no reason,however, to see the occurrence of a tsunami or any other disaster that takesits toll on human life as a direct act of God. The earthquake that displacedocean water and produced the tsunami resulted from the very structure andnormal operation of God’s creation, in which geologic plates grind against eachother and eventually shift to release tension. We know from observation andexperience that disturbances in nature often occur, sometimes with tragic resultsfor human beings and other forms of life.

If anyoneis going to believe in God in the first place, it has to be against thebackdrop of this knowledge of our perilous universe; in other words, one’sreasons for believing in God must withstand the reality of evil and humansuffering. The occurrence of any particular disaster, then, should have noeffect on one’s belief in God.

If oneknows that God is, and what He is truly like, no event should cast doubt onthat knowledge. Natural revelation affirms that God exists; biblical revelationconfirms what God is like. The account of the fall of man in Genesis 3 revealsthat God is not responsible for human suffering, and the Bible’s record of Hisacts of mercy—especially in the cross of Christ—assure us that He is a God oflove. We know that this is so despite the existence of tsunamis and earthquakesor terrorists and holocausts. Scripture also assures us that a time will comewhen suffering, sorrow, and death will be no more (Rev. 21:4).

I am notdenying that God sometimes does use natural disasters to execute His judgment.The problem, however, is one of presumption: the canon of Scripture is closedand no one today speaks with the authority of the biblical prophets; no one cansay with certainty that the tsunami or any other disaster is an example ofGod’s judgment. In God’s sovereign purpose, there can be many reasons forallowing humans to suffer, and it is not always as a punishment for their sins(consider the example of Job). If we proclaim that the tsunami is a judgment ofGod against pagans or Muslims, we might find ourselves having something incommon with the Jews Jesus rebuked: “Do you think that these Galileans wereworse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? Itell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:2–3NIV).

—Elliot Miller

Garage Sale God

2010-10-25T13:27:00.000-07:00

I had a garage sale last week. It had been 3 years, and it was time. I respect garage sales-and I really like garage sale people. Some of the buyers see the obvious: the choco-brown plush jacket, bought and never worn; the vacuum seal Food Saver in virgin condition. And then there are those who see the good in what is less-than new: a large TV with a broken VCR-but who still has videos on their shelves (besides me)? A very-dated-but-not-yet-antique Singer sewing machine, a well-used toilet snake and a smaller one for sinks (not quite sure how it really works), and 4 partial quarts of paint from 2003. Then there was the creative woman who spied a box of jars: some for canning, some just washed out salsa bottles, with other odds and ends thrown in. She wanted them all. People on an overcast weekend, looking for the treasure in another person's "junk"--the cast offs, the no-longer wanted, the "what is it?", the broken and seemingly beyond repair things.
Garage Sale People display the image of their Creator, because God sees beyond the obvious, beyond the external. He looks at what we call junk, sees Divine Design, and reclaims it for divine purposes, whenever we let him. God has an eye--and a heart--for the broken, the cast off, the seemingly useless, the old and tired, the one passed among many owners.
Every analogy about God breaks down at points, so don't push too hard. But this one is strong at it's center point of redemption. God is a Rummage Sale Redeemer! Have you experienced that yet? If you have, you know that "you are not your own; you were bought at a price"--the highest ever paid--on a darkly overcast weekend, long ago.
I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Psalm 40: 1-3a

Diann Elyse Enderby
NewSong Church
Director of Care & Missional Development

A Child's Question

2010-04-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

"How did God become so powerful?" was the question I received this past weekend from one of our children in the congregation. She wrote with intensity on one of our communication cards. Here is my response (before you read my response, think what would yours be?)

Caroline,
Thank you for the great question you wrote on your communication card this last week. I always encourage both kids and adults to ask the best questions they can about God, His creation, and His relationship to us. Your question is a good one.

You ask, “How did God become so powerful to be able to make the world what it is today?” You could probably write a whole book on this question but here are some thoughts for you—feel free to respond back to me with further questions.

In short, God never “became” anything but, rather, has always existed from everlasting to everlasting. God is eternal, that is without beginning or end. So God has always existed with all powers, abilities and knowledge within him. In the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, he states that “The Lord is the only true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King.” (Jeremiah 10:10) In addition, Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made.”

When God created the world he placed within the world (or universe) powers that would allow the world to grow and create all the wonderful galaxies, stars, and the planet we live on. Some people call our planet the “special or privileged planet”. Why? Because God set up the universe just right to have life. The universe is very large but that is the exact size we need for it to be in order to have life exist on a planet like ours. God wasted no space and created a hospitable place for us to live and work out His plan of salvation.

So, Caroline, God has always and forever been the greatest possible being you could ever imagine! Though you and I have to have our bodies grow, learn how to talk and ride bikes, and scrape our knees, God has always been all-powerful, all-loving, and all-knowing. You may be thinking or asking, “What about Jesus becoming human, doesn’t it say in Luke 2:52 that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and people?” Yes he did but we will have to answer that one later…

In Christ,

George (Mr. Haraksin)

NewSong Church

Prayer and Acts of Kindness for Haiti

2010-01-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

The Red Cross has just reported a little bit ago that they have run out resources in Haiti. We continue to pray and offer actions of kindness towards the people in Haiti in the midst of the horrific earthquake.

What is 'Advent'? Because people keep askin' me...

2009-11-30T11:13:00.000-08:00

The term "Advent" comes from Latin word ad-venio meaning "arrival." For well over 1,000 years, the Christian Church worldwide has designated the four weeks prior to Christmas as a time to prepare for Christ's coming into the world. We seek to prepare ourselves as a community, as individuals and, ultimately, as those who anxiously await Christ's Second Advent (arrival/coming).

It is no coincidence that Advent falls during the darkest time of the year: Until December 23, our hemisphere of the earth continues to tilt further and further away from the sun, resulting in shorter days and longer periods of darkness. During this time, we frequently find ourselves longing for more physical light and warmer temperatures amidst the longer and colder evenings. Consider the days when electricity and heating beyond fireplaces were unavailable—the dark and long days certainly stoke the desire for spring, light, and life.

The early Christian church did not know the exact date of Jesus' birth, but they believed that Christ was indeed the Light of the World (John. 9:1-41). It made sense to these early Christians to celebrate the birth of the Messiah during a time of the year when everyone was most aware of the lack of light in the world.

During this Advent season, we acknowledge the "lack of light" in our lives, the sorrow, hurt, grief, and even despair. We cry out for God's presence, His healing and transforming touch. We seek to prepare our hearts to be receptive to Christ, our Savior, and we eagerly await the celebration of His birth at Christmas.

We invite you to join us during this 2009 Advent season in preparing room in our hearts, minds, homes and gatherings for our Savior, Christ the Lord.
George R. Haraksin II
NewSong Church
November 2009

iPods, Idols and the Technology of Worship

2009-10-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine (Eric Herron, a former staff member at NewSong, now missionary worship artist—who still leads worship for us from time to time) writes, “Is technology appropriate for incorporating into worship? If so, how much and toward what end?” He continues, “Simply put, worship is the dialogue between God and humans, in which God initiates the conversation and humans respond in cyclical fashion. The goal, then, would be to facilitate this dialogue (to the extent to which we can). Once we have agreed upon our goal or definition of worship, there are more questions to ask that are specifically relevant to evaluating the technology in question. For instance, we might ask: How will this technology help us ‘hear’ what God is saying to us?” I think this will remain a vital question for leaders and participants in a worship community. We must keep aware of our ends and means in worship. Another way to state what Eric is saying is that we need to critically pay attention to both our functions and forms in and of worhip. Our function (to worship God, and enjoy Him forever) is logically prior to the form (reading a psalm, singing with a worship band). As Eric states, some in the contemporary church have thought that we can use whatever form we want as along as it accomplishes our function. Yet this is not the case, and great harm can come as a result in buying into such an idea. Just as the ends do not always (or ever) justify the means in ethics, a similar principle may apply in worship of our God. Some forms shape us in ways that are antithetical to our function/goal. Such consequences may be unintended but it surely happens and we must repent (that is, change our ways). For instance, a person can become accustomed to listening to his personally selected playlists of worship songs on his iPod or mp3 palyer. She may then arrive at a gathering (church) to worship with other Christians. She may discover a difficulty in submitting to the selection of songs the worship leader has chosen or the order and hymns the liturgy dictates for that particular day. Feelings of disconnectedness, discomfort, and dislike can arise in her soul and she can become dissatisfied and critical of the so-called “worship time.” This seems to be harmful albiet an unintended consequence. The iPod in the case becomes a modern day idol, standing for authority and supremacy of our individuality, preferences, and choices over others. Surely there are disciplines that can counteract its affect, such as fasting, submission and confession. Perhaps we can generate a list of contemporary forms and describe the unintended ways that some of those forms can move us away from our goals. We may then suggest spiritual disciplines that can help place us in a posture where God can help change us, shape us, keep us on the road of walking and worshiping rightly with Him–while still using some the technologies we have learned to like and cannot seem to do without. In our journey through the technological lanscape we must be mindful of our modern idols and how they come to us, because they can subtly be rationalized and justified as a means to us worshipping God.

George Haraksin II
Pastor of Christian Formation
NewSong Church October 2009

God, Time, & Eternity

2009-09-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

God, Time, and Eternity (2009-09-13)

Is God beyond time or in time or both? If you think both then you need to provide a model or some way of understanding how God can both be in time and beyond all time.
God is eternal. He lives from everlasting to everlasting. God is the creator of time. He existed without time. He is not restricted by the dimension of time. This week in his BIG series lead pastor Dennis Bachman taught on the issue of God being eternal yet he God “all the time”.
God was, He is, He will be. He is called the “Alpha and Omega,” the “Beginning and the End.” The Epistle of Jude states in 1:24, “Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, without blemish before his glorious presence, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.”
I think there is a way to resolve the paradox of God being both beyond time and in time. God is timeless without creation, and in time subsequent to creation. That is, without creation there is no time and God simply exists atemporally. Yet, God really relates to us in time. In fact, God became man, a human being, in time, for yours and my salvation. However, God’s nature does not grow or develop in any substantial way thereby undergoing an essential change in His nature.
The fact that God is not bound by time does not mean that He is not conscious of and concerned for what is now occurring in human experience. God is aware of what is happening, has happened, and will happen at each point in time. Yet at any given point within time He is also conscious of the distinction between what is now occurring, what has been, and what will be.
God has from all eternity determined what He is now doing. Thus His actions are not in any sense ‘thoughtless’ reactions to events taking place. He does not get ‘taken by surprise’ or have to formulate contingency plans. God is neither diminished by time, nor is he wearied by it. What this means is that “time” is good, though we think of it as a commodity or something to be managed in America. God is the creator of time and space. Time is created by grace, just as our salvation is by grace. God enters time, he condescends to it just as God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, condescends to space by becoming human. Reflection on such topics is not an act of intellectual gymnastics but means of devotion and worship that should awe and inspire us.
The fact that God is timeless sans (without) creation and endures throughout all time should help us rightly engage His world, with His patience, with His sense of urgency—is we can all it that, and with His long-suffering.

George Haraksin II
Pastor of Christian Formation
NewSong Church

The Paradox of Choice: Freedom, Choice, & Fruit

2009-08-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

Freedom and choice seem to logically go together. In order to have freedom, in some sense, there must be some choice available to me. Choice in our culture has become a sacred right, not a means to responsible freedom. In the message at NewSong this week we covered Galatians 5 (Listen to Message). I suggested—though not original with me, many others have made the observation—Paul demonstrates that the follower of Christ possesses four (4) freedoms: 1) Freedom to love, 2) Freedom by the Spirit, 3) Freedom from slavery to sin, and 4) Freedom to/for transformation. The coin of freedom has two sides, a positive and negative side: freedom from (negative, not in that it is ‘bad’ but that we are free from something) and freedom to/for (positive, we may or can choose some action X or Y). These freedoms should result in the what the Bible calls “fruit” in our lives. Fruit is the resulting character virtue(s) that make us Christ-like from the inside-out. One culturally embedded obstacle to growing this fruit is “choice” oddly enough. It is not that choice itself is bad but the particular presumptions we have about choice and the unintended consequences to our lives that results from a culture of choice. This is what some sociologists have titled “the paradox of choice”.

The paradox of choice is that it becomes “the tyranny of choice.” Barry Schwarz in his powerful book The Paradox of Choice exhorts that we need to love constraints saying, “As the number of choices we face increases, freedom of choice eventually becomes a tyranny of choice.” As we decide to follow a rule (e.g. wearing a seat belt) we avoid having to make a deliberate decision again and again. This kind of rule-following frees up time and attention that can be devoted to thinking about choices and decisions to which rules don’t apply.

Schwarz observes in a section of his book entitled Choosing How to Pray that we “religion consumers” shop in the market until we find what we like. Even when people join communities of faith and embrace at least some of the communities practices they simultaneously expect the communities to be responsive to their, needs, their tastes, and their desires.

We who follow Jesus and ‘walk in step with his Spirit’ (Gal. 5) would be served well by examining our understanding of freedom, reflect on how we view and engage choice, and take times in solitude and prayer before God to see if we are growing our ‘fruit’ well.

Thoughts?

George Haraksin
Pastor of Christian Formation
NewSong Church