Easter and Other Happy Things

This Easter was so good. 

First off, I woke up on my own which never happens

and I had time in the morning to get cute, go get coffee, 

come back home and make breakfast tacos. And get to church early. 

It was beautiful.

It was the first year that I haven't been in charge of anything in a long time 

(besides making some costume accessories for our drama team).

Our church scaled back- 

no community Easter egg hunt, no sunrise service, no grand musical productions.

But I was so grateful for this. 

It focused our hearts away from the services and activities and onto our Savior. 

We took the Lord's Supper and had a drama about the Roman soldiers guarding Jesus' tomb.

There were only two actors in the production, and they did an amazing job!

But even without all the fanfare and glitz and candy and busyness

Jesus was glorified

His name was lifted up

and we were reminded that Jesus conquered death!

I got to wear this beautiful floral dress that y'all insisted I go back and buy

(When I went back to the store is was marked down from $35 to $19... score! 

Good things come to those who wait!)

Other miscellaneous, lovely things from my week:

I got to hang out with my brilliant and beautiful little cousins

They are seriously the best

We played Trouble, watched movies, and made puff ball animals. So fun!

Pretty new spring nail polish

Austin Restaurant Week date with my roomie at Botticelli's!

During ARW, lots of top-notch Austin restaurants create a menu 

highlighting some of their best menu items and offer it at a reduced price.

This is still more than I'd normally pay for a meal... 

and I felt poor sitting at the [white tablecloth-ed, multiple forks, 

extensive wine menu] restaurant

but it was way fun and definitely a culinary experience!

And you know how much I love food ;) 

seared sea scallop with grilled strawberries

roasted beet salad with fennel and Parmesan

mushroom stuffed ravioli with the best cream sauce eva'

white chocolate raspberry cheesecake

It was delicious. I was so glad I wore an elastic banded skirt. 

Bluebonnets!

I took these three guys to the Youth Ministry Lab at SWBTS 

and they were awesome and let me stop and take pictures in the bluebonnets.

How was your Easter? I'd love to hear how you celebrated!

linkin up! 

    

A Discerning Spirit

I've had no less than thirty friends on Facebook post this video this past week. 

It definitely has some poetic and legitimate points about God's grace 
and being an authentic Christ follower.

But the theology is a bit off, and without a discerning spirit, it's very easy to let some beautiful truths mingle with half truths, misleading phrases and blatant lies. 

We watched it and discussed this video in Sunday School this week because I wanted to be sure that my students were thinking for themselves. I want them to listen to a sermon, a study, or a video claiming truth about Jesus and be able to test it against the scripture they know in their hearts. 

My biggest concerns with this particular video were 

1) the claim that Jesus came to abolish religion and hated religion, and 

2) the inappropriate use of "It is finished" at the end of the video. 

First, the poem's thesis is that Jesus and religion are two 

completely separate and opposing entities. 

Now, it is a matter of semantics, depending on your perception of the word religion.

And I really think that what Bethke means is self righteousness, or legalism. 
But that's not what religion means, although there may be negative connotations associated with the word religion itself. Depending on the dictionary you use, religion means something like: an organized set of beliefs concerning a higher power, or organized worship. 


"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophet; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." Matthew 5:17


Christianity is a religion, one that is centered on Jesus.  
So I don't think He hates that 
(although people who follow Christ still sin, and He does hate sin.)


In fact, James 1:27 says "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. "


And as much as it's easy to call out the church on everywhere it screws up, the church is there when natural disasters strike to help feed, clothe and rebuild communities; the church has helped raise awareness and crazy amounts of money to end human trafficking; the church has begun a nationwide trend in adoption that is NOT a last resort for families who can't have children, but rather an outpouring of love for children who need families. 


That is pure, undefiled religion.


As far as the ending, the final verse of the poem says,
"So for religion, no I hate it. In fact I literally resent it.
Because when Jesus said, "It is finished" I believe that He meant it.


Now if we refer to the fact that Bethke probably means legalism or self righteousness in place of that word religion, that line is understood. However, when he quotes Jesus, it can be misleading to the reader. It makes it sound like Jesus was saying that religion is finished, when in fact it was Jesus' sacrifice. It was the power of sin that was finished. It was God's separation from man, and salvation through keeping the law that was finished.  And using that quote out of context to serve the purpose of the poem is just not good, y'all.

I definitely appreciate the passion behind Jefferson Bethke's poem. 
His words aim to call a culture of church goers to be Christ followers
I know that a lot of older, wiser, more educated people have put in their two cents on the theology of this poem/video, but I thought that it was important to emphasize that we need to be examining whatever we put in our minds carefully. 


And because we are to represent Jesus in everything we do (Col 3:17), let's make sure that we know who Jesus is so that we can represent the true Christ, and not what we want Him to be or what's trendy in the young Christian subculture.  


I'd love to hear your thoughts if you've seen the video
or if you're so over this discussion already,
how are you careful to distinguish the true Christ
from what's trendy at the time?