I've learned how to laugh and I've learned how to pray
The story of Lazarus (John 11) is justifiably famous — it’s not often a dead guy walks out of his tomb several days after moving in (so to speak).
The story of the early days of the church from Acts 2 is also famous — it’s not often you hear guys spouting things in languages they’ve never learned.
Today we’re going to do a mash-up — we’re going to look at community, but we’re going to do it using Lazarus' story as our backdrop.
In honor of 121’s first Maundy Thursday event in our new building, my portion of the Journey to the Cross we did eleven years ago tonight, in the first year of our old building.
From this morning’s reading.
For YHWH your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the sojourners, providing them food and clothing.
You shall also love the sojourner1, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
You shall fear YHWH your God;
Him alone you shall worship;
to Him you shall hold fast,
and by His name you shall swear.He is your praise;
He is your God,
who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen.
The ball is going to bounce around a bit today, so buckle your seatbelts and return your tray to its upright, locked position.1
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were watching a lightweight heist TV show when suddenly the lead character starts talking about chicken sexing. (Don’t leave off the suffix, that would have been an entirely different show.) We were rather dubious about what he was spouting, but in the wonderful age in which we live, we can Duck2 that kind of nonsense while the character is still talking. It turns out chicken sexing really is a thing3, and reading a bit further led me to a book.
Andy Stanley recently did a series titled “Who Needs God,” and today’s discussion revolves around one of the sermons in that series. I strongly encourage you to view the entire message; not only will this post make more sense if you do, but you’ll have the full context of the discussion instead of just the parts that I talk about.
Stanley starts with giving us this line from a widely known children’s song:
Jesus loves me, this I know…
You’ve probably already filled in the next line in your head.
For the Bible tells me so.
He then says, “This is where our trouble began,”1
He goes on to say, “The problem with that is this — if the Bible is the foundation of our faith, as the Bible goes, so goes our faith,” then, “If the Bible is the foundation of our faith, it’s all or nothing; Christianity becomes a fragile house-of-cards religion.
Today’s subject is memes, or at least one meme in particular. It’s also going to be slightly controversial, because who doesn’t love a little controversy on a Saturday afternoon? After this I’ll tackle something really controversial, like the clown and the crooked liar that are running for President of the United States1, or the fact that Steak ‘n Shake has lousy steaks and mediocre shakes.
For the uninitiated, meme is pronounced meem, not me-me (which is properly spelled Mimi and concerns another subject entirely).