Jesus, I thank you!
February 02, 2012
Megan Hackman
This summer, I had the privilege of praying with the women of an urban ministry, Widows Harvest. The children at Vacation Bible School had crafted and purchased gifts for the women a few weeks prior. The children had been invited to come and sing, share the gifts, pray, and share a meal with Widows Harvest. Little did I know, I would be the one to walk away with arms and heart full of gifts continuing to bless me today.
These women are veterans of prayer. They passed around a microphone to lift up communal and individual prayers. While the microphone was being passed, they would sing a chorus to a hymn or spiritual song. They thanked Jesus more in that one hour than I have in my whole life.
Their faces and voices permeated my thoughts as my small group talked about our lack of expressing gratitude.
Listen in--
“Jesus, I thank you! I thank you that I woke up today with a sound mind! I thank you for these children blessing us, singing you praise with dance and with loud voices! I thank you for the gifts they brought. I thank you for my son and grandson. Would they know you!”
“Jesus, I thank you!”
“Jesus on the main line…. Tell him what you want. Call him up…”
“Jesus, I thank you!...”
When have I ever been so attentive that every good gift comes from the Father? I am not so willing to thank God for every hardship. I miss the daily blessings from God that made them pour out their hearts in gratitude. Thanking God for a mental capacity, for the presence of children, and for the voice to sing! Right now I am thankful for the memory of their witness! There is much to learn that can’t be learned from the books…
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16
Pay attention today to times in which you might give thanks to God for something small, something hard, and something completely unexpected. If you’d like, come on back and let us know what you’re thankful for today! May we admonish one another!
P.S. Look up Mavis Staples’ “Jesus Is on the Main Line” and be blessed.
Megan Hackman and her husband, Larry, are M.Div. students at Gordon-Conwell's Hamilton campus.
Tags: Author: Megan Hackman , student blogger , thoughtfully evangelical
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MAR: Workplace Theology, Ethics and Leadership
January 27, 2012
Our Master of Arts - Workplace Theology, Ethics and Leadership is a cohort-based degree for those with workplace experience who desire to live out their Christian faith in the secular marketplace. This past week, they spent the week in New York City discussing money, finance, profit, debt, marketing, sales, and consumerism – in the perspective of biblical stewardship, honesty, truthfulness, and diligence. Below are a few pictures from their time in NYC.
Want to learn more? View MAR-WTEL details on our website or request information today and one of our Admissions Representatives will contact you!
Tags: thoughtfully evangelical , student life , equipping leaders for the church and society
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Sabbath: Substance or Merely Shadows?
January 24, 2012
Megan Hackman
Studying Colossians this week has reawakened my thoughts on Sabbath, which we started discussing in December. Colossians 2:16-17 reads, “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” After studying this passage through the week, I spent Sabbath on Sunday considering whether or not the practice of Sabbath for me has become an embrace of shadow or substance.
The shadows Paul is discussing were all good, Old Testament instructions for the people of God. They involved dietary laws, festival guidelines, and Sabbath keeping. They cast an outline of beautiful promises given in the direct presence of God, including rest (Gen 2:3), provision (Ex 16:5), and remembrance (Ex 20:8; Deut 5:15). The unfolding of this promise of Sabbath rest continues straight through Jesus’ proclamation of healing (Lk 13:16) and provision on the Sabbath day (Lk 6:3-5). Finally, it will find its fulfillment in eternity when we enter the Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God (Heb 4:9-10).
So my struggle this weekend centered on recognizing how much of the past two years I have spent enveloped and actually pursuing the promises of the shadow of Sabbath. By practicing Sabbath on Sundays, I actively sought rest and rhythm. These shadows are certainly provided by merely ceasing to work for one day. The promises of Sabbath shadows are good things, but we are able to walk in fellowship with Christ himself (Heb 4:16)! We no longer settle for mere shadows.
So what of the substance of Sabbath? I think it’s possible that in my headlong pursuit of the shadows, I have at times missed the substance of Christ.
Sunday was a regeneration of the pursuit of Christ for me in the practice of Sabbath. I have been asked to expand upon what it means to “tune into the bass line,” as discussed weeks ago. For me, to look upon the substance of Christ and to enter his presence requires stillness, confession, and prayer. Often I will follow that by meditating upon a particular verse. Sometimes I find walking slowly through the woods helps me to converse more naturally with my Creator. I suggest Adele Calhoun’s Spiritual Disciplines Handbook if you are looking for some creative ways to hear God’s bass line call in your life.
My aim is to not just embrace the outline of God’s promises, but to embrace He who casts the shadows directly. I am inhibited from doing that the more I emphasize the pursuit of physical rest. Instead, when I envision the Lamb in the throne room or the man walking along the road of Emmaus, I can begin to dialogue with and expose myself to my God for transformation that satisfies the need for both physical and spiritual rest and that continues throughout the week.
That designated, full-day intimacy is worth the pursuit of Sabbath. It helps me embrace of the very substance of Christ in the rest of the week.
Megan Hackman and her husband, Larry, are M.Div. students at Gordon-Conwell's Hamilton campus.
Tags: Author: Megan Hackman , biblically-grounded , student life , thoughtfully evangelical , student blogger
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The Final Year: Trouble Focusing and the Need for a Jedi Master
January 20, 2012
Brian Gronewoller
Author’s Note: Journeys are strange. You hardly ever end up where you thought you would, and you definitely never get there in the manner that you conceived. That has been as true for me as it was for Jonah the morning he woke up to take a leisurely cruise to Tarshish. Over the next few weeks I will be writing a series of blog posts exploring how I came to and through seminary. It’s a strange tale with no straight lines. But it’s my story, and it is the path that the Lord has led our family down. It’s not idyllic. I hope that encourages you. Also, in case you just joined the conversation, Part 1 can be found here; Part 2 can be found here; Part 3 can be found here; Part 4 can be found here; Part 5 can be found here; Part 6 can be found here. Part 7 can be found here; Part 8 can be found here.
Remember senioritis? It hits everyone at some point during your final year of high school. For some people, it even starts in your junior year. But then you go to college and you are mature. You live on your own, you do your own laundry, you go to bed when you like and you eat what you like. Yet, when your senior year of college arrives, there it is again – dwelling in your being like a severe case of cabin fever for six straight months. You can’t think, you can’t focus, and that final exam just doesn’t seem as important as it did the year before. At times like these you need a Jedi master to sit down with you and say: “Discipline, young padawan. Be mindful of the present.”
The final year of my Master of Divinity, I was in my early thirties and had been in the work force for nearly a decade. So, I was completely blind-sided when senioritis hit me during the Fall semester of my final year in seminary. Yep, I suppose you’re never too mature for this plague upon students. Every time I sat down to read, a flock of thought-mosquitos would begin to buzz around in my brain (yes, I just made that word up… ‘thought-mosquitos’). Where would our family be next year? What would we be doing? Where would we live? On top of that, to help save money since I was no longer working, I studied during the days while also watching our youngest child. So, the few times that I was able to swat all of the mosquitos away, I would just begin to focus when a small cry would rise up and a bottle would need to be made. It was crazy. Yet somehow I made it through. And you can, too. How?
I needed a Jedi, as well. Someone tall, yet calm, with a beard. And an Irish accent (Yes, I love Liam Neeson). I needed him to sit down with me and remind me to be mindful of the present. But, unfortunately for us all, Jedis and midichlorians don’t really exist in our world. So, I had to look elsewhere. And I found my counsel in Scripture:
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11)
Yes, I know that this is not spoken to each of us as individual Christians. This is something that God said to the surviving elders of the Israelite exiles. But it tells us of the type of God that we have. One that has a plan for us. One that has an eternal plan to prosper us and not to harm us. So I took that step – that hardest of steps for people like me – and I decided to stop worrying about my future. I set aside time to think about it, but then I entrusted it to God, knowing that he has a plan, and I was able to study. Indeed, it can be said that the Scriptures were my Jedi. And it can also be said that trusting God with my future was my mosquito spray.
Brian Gronewoller has an M.Div. (2010) from Gordon-Conwell’s Charlotte campus, a Th.M. (2011) in Historical Theology from the South Hamilton campus, and is currently strengthening his language skills while in the MACH program. He hopes to matriculate into a doctoral program in August 2012 that will allow him to continue in his study of the thought of Augustine of Hippo. He has a wonderful wife, three great children, and spent ten years in ministry to teenagers, primarily with Young Life International. Besides writing here, he also writes on his personal blog at www.theologyunderconstruction.com.
Tags: Author: Brian Gronewoller , student blogger , thoughtfully evangelical
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Alumni Profile: Dr. Paul Borthwick
January 18, 2012
Ever wonder what people do after seminary? In the video below, we talk with Dr. Paul Borthwick (M.Div. '80, D.Min. '07), professor at Gordon College and on staff with Development Associates International about how his experience at Gordon-Conwell equipped him for a lifetime of missions work.
Tags: Alumni , current students , future students
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