lifeasmission

Mr. Deity and the Skeptic

September 24, 2009 // 1211No Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2009/09/mr-deity-and-the-skeptic/Mr.+Deity+and+the+Skeptic2009-09-24+16%3A54%3A14JR+Rozko

If you haven’t come across Mr. Deity yet, you ought to check it out and subscribe via iTunes.  If nothing else, it’s a fascinating window into the social standing of the Christian faith.

Thought it was interesting that shortly after posting previously, I made it around to watching the most recent episode.  Anxious for your thoughts.

Posted in decisions, salvation, video

On Salvation

September 23, 2009 // 120719 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2009/09/1207/On+Salvation2009-09-23+16%3A56%3A05JR+Rozko

A long while ago I had some thoughts on understanding salvation as a sort of cosmic dance.  This past weekend, as our missional church community gathered, we proclaimed this truth…

God’s Salvation is cosmic and we receive it only by participating in it.

This is vastly different than the more common evangelical take on salvation as something we receive by virtue of a decision we make, illustrated thusly…

Anyone care to offer any thoughts on the subject?  I’m particularly interested in what others might thing is the central implication for the life of a church community if this difference is to be reckoned with.

Posted in LOV, salvation

Advent Conspiracy

November 29, 2008 // 8284 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2008/11/advent-conspiracy/Advent+Conspiracy2008-11-29+16%3A13%3A27JR+Rozko

I am really proud to be part of a church that is participating in Advent Conspiracy this holiday season.  We have been talking and praying as a community about rethinking gift giving, generosity, and remembering the poor.  Here’s a short promo video for the movement.

And here’s something a few folks from Living Hope put together for our community.

Posted in Jesus, capitalism, consumerism, justice, salvation, video

An Afghan Experience

September 2, 2008 // 6874 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2008/09/an-afghan-experience/An+Afghan+Experience2008-09-03+02%3A31%3A33JR+Rozko

I could never do justice in a blog post to all that I have seen, felt, and been a part of for the last 10 days or so as I traveled with a small team of others to Kabul, Afghanistan. So, rather than giving you my journal of the trip, let me try to catch the highlights.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Aside from being a 3rd world country with no money, few resources, and a corrupt government, Afghanistan suffers from 30 years of armed conflict. Beginning with the Russian invasion of 1979, peace is not something the current generation of Afghans knows much of. Everywhere you go you see bullet holes, bombed out buildings, and people devastated by war. Kabul is home to about 4 million people, 3 million more than the city is built for. Everything is covered in dust, much of which is feces due to a lack of sanitation. The streets are lined with shops – metal shops, wood shops, meat shops, fruit shops, and every other sort of shop you can imagine. Driving is utterly maddening. Imagine driving in NYC with no lanes and no stop lights or stop signs and you will start to get a picture of what maneuvering the streets of Kabul is like.

Armed police and military patrol the streets. While we were there a suicide bomber struck within the city limits and someone fired a rocket on the airport. Security is tight everywhere. We could would never stay on the street very long as the phenomenon of kidnapping is on the rise.

There are redeeming glimmers of hope and light however. I met a man who, against great opposition has started a provate hospital, offering quality care (often for free) to many Afghans, most of whom would otherwise have to go without it. Another group we are acquainted with has adopted a village of refugees who were tossed away like garbage by the government in the middle of the desert. A healthy number of Afgans responded positively to a presentation on the practice of hospice care, a brand new concept in Afghanistan. Finally, what I was most directly involved with was teaching servant leadership material. Those in the class represented various businesses and sections of the government. The average Afghan has absolutely no confidence in their government or hope for their future – whether personal or corporate. Bribery and extortion are such regular occurrences within the government that people can scarcely imagine a future without them. So, teaching servant leadership principles, especially to younger leaders is perhaps one of the most meaningful contributions to the future of the country that I can imagine.

There is so much more I could say about the trip – the great value of my teammates, the wonderful hospitality of the folks who housed and served us, the delicious food we enjoyed. But mostly I feel overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the suffering and despair of the Afghan people. Overwhelmed by just how inconsequential and perverted the life and faith of the church in the West has become given the gravity of global affairs and the persecution of the global church. Overwhelmed, ultimately, by desire for God to act quickly and decisively in the world for sake of God’s name and God’s Kingdom.

I was more than happy to travel to Afghanistan and serve alongside others who similarly desired to use their skills and gifts to make a difference in the lives of others and the fallen systems of a country, but mainly I am excited that God has furthered my passion for the continued conversion of the church in Western culture – a church who, like Israel of the First Testament, has mistaken its responsibility for privilege, only to be scandalized by God’s great work amongst the very people we have abandoned and neglected. How terribly frightening, how magnificently wonderful, it is to realize that the very nature and essence of our salvation is bound up with the salvation of those on the margins of society!

Posted in salvation, travles

The Pursuit OF and IN Marriage

August 5, 2008 // 5575 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2008/08/the-pursuit-of-and-in-marriage/The+Pursuit+OF+and+IN+Marriage2008-08-06+01%3A22%3A33JR+Rozko

I am the lone single person amongst a group of folks (7 couples) trying to figure out what it means and looks like to let what it means to be the church flow from our sharing of lives together.  A couple months ago we decided that we would spend a number of weeks hashing out the implications of a DVD series around the book Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs.  I have really enjoyed the discussions we’ve had as a result and in the midst of one of those a while back, I had this thought…

I wonder if many people struggle in marriage because they stop pursuing the other person.  We spend so much time pursuing someone for the sake of getting married to them, but once we are, we get more focused on the state of marriage than the pursuit of another.  It seems to me that it’s when we enter marriage that the real pursuing ought to begin.

I am taking my cues from the extent to which marriage is a parable of the relationship which exists between Christ and the Church.  I would say that we have an equally unfortunate idea about salvation – that what really matters is some beginning point and not all that follows after.  Just as I would say salvation is a journey in which we pursue God and are pursued by God with ever increasing depth, I would say the same for marriage.  It is in relationship that we have the truest freedom to pursue the other.

When we cease to pursue God (He never stops pursuing us by the way), we get bored with our faith and vibrancy is lost.  So too in marriage, when either party stops taking initiative to pursue the other in terms of who they are becoming, marriage loses its vibrancy and excitement.

I am under no delusion that this would ever be an easy thing, but I am not sure many people look at marriage like this – at least I haven’t heard them talk about it this way.  I wonder what marriages would look like if we thought of the point at which we enter them as the starting and not finish line?

Whether the journey of discipleship or the journey of marriage – what seems to matter most is the pursuit as opposed to the status.

Posted in books, love, marriage, salvation

What the Gospel is Not

July 2, 2008 // 5654 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2008/07/yay-for-john/What+the+Gospel+is+Not2008-07-02+20%3A21%3A15JR+Rozko

I saw this in my friend Laura’s blog.  Though I differ from John Piper on some issues, this video is not one of them.  I think maybe what I like most about John is that he is not wishy-washy.  He’s not afraid to say what is wrong and what he is against.  The prosperity gospel is wrong, I am against it, it is damnable.  Thanks for your voice on this pastor.

Posted in gospel, salvation, video