JR. Forasteros - December 25, 2016
Go Tell it on the Mountain
Why do we sing at Christmas? Because song is the natural way we celebrate God becoming one of us. On Christmas we sing because the battle has been one and God is making all things new!
From Series: "Pure Imagination"
In a world increasingly divided and hopeless, even something as simple as respectful disagreement seems impossible. But the prophets who taught Israel how to long for the birth of the Messiah made bold promises: weapons formed into gardening tools; wolves and sheep living in harmony; deserts blooming. Such promises seem impossible - like pure imaginative fiction. But God's promises aren't fiction. They're a future God is bringing into existence. Jesus birth proves God is with us, that God is working. We can have purified imaginations, see the world as it will be, and begin to work for that world now. What does it mean to be a people of Advent? Advent means the impossible has been made possible!
More Messages From JR. Forasteros...
Powered by Series Engine
When I was in high school, a friend of mine invited me to play Dungeons and Dragons. This was exciting to me for a couple of reasons: first, I am and was a huge nerd, so D&D had always been something I wanted to check out. And second, I didn’t have a lot of friends in high school, so this invite was exciting to me!
There was only one problem: I was a child of the 80s, which means I grew up during the so-called “Satanic panic” when America was convinced there were covens of Satanists behind every rock and tree. D&D was alleged to be one of their primary recruiting tools. So my mom was not thrilled that I would be summoning demons with my friends so that we could sell our souls to the Dark Lord.
I’ll spoil the ending: she eventually relented, and my friends and I played D&D for several months straight and no one ever even saw Satan.
We certainly weren’t interested in selling our souls.
But even today, in many churches, bring up D&D and people who wouldn’t know a d20 from a d10 are convinced that D&D is a tool of Satan, along with rock n roll music, high school dances, and a host of other activities.
Which begs the question: really? And, in light of our last series about asking better questions, “Are those the right places to be looking for the devil?”
Today, we’re going to see the answer to that last question is, “No. Actually, if you want to find Satan, you might want to start by looking at religion. Because according to Jesus, one of Satan’s favorite tools is not D&D, but the kind of religion that shields us from looking closely at ourselves.
There’s a way to be religious that keeps us from being honest about our sin, so it actually keeps us from God.
The good news, though, is that Jesus offers to shine the light of truth on our satanic deception, freeing us to follow him into God’s life!
