Chad Brooks

Over the next month or so I will be working on my written work for ordination as an Elder in the United Methodist Church. For those who don't know, this involves answering 16 theological questions that are then followed by an oral examination. Since I came into methodism from another denomination and I went to a school (Asbury) outside of the official schools, the examination might be rather streneous. To not stress, I won't be blogging for the next month or so.

I am also taking the time to really examine what my site and writings will look like in the future. Since moving back into the local church I have been conflicted regarding content. I want to take this time to prayerfully investigate what this side of my ministry will continue to look like.

Thanks for hanging in. I will still be on twitter and facebook, so I won't totally go silent.

Over the last month or so, I have been drumming up folks to read scripture together in the new year. Last week, John Meunier also mentioned reading Wesley's Standard 52 through the year and some people expressed interest in doing so together.

I like reading with people, even if our only connection is via the internet. To facilitate greater interaction, I started two simple little blogs for both projects. They will be tweaked out in greater measure over the next few days, but if you are interested in either project, consider joining and contributing to them sites.

Let's walk this journey together!

standard52.tumblr.com

90daybible.tumblr.com

This Christmas Eve we are having communion together in my congregation. I pastor and lead the contemporary service at my church and over the last few months we have used the more formal Great Thanksgiving liturgy in the United Methodist Hymnal. Due to both time and the fact I we have been pretty high church lately, I decided to use a less formal approach to communion for Christmas Eve.

The tension revolves in the sacramental conviction I have as a Methodist pastor to keep communion in line with the greater tradition of the Church. Specific words do not matter, but the greater story does. I wanted to find something brief but strong and would fit well within our service.

This Advent, my secret weapon for a few special services as been the A Christmas Sourcebook. I found this while in seminary and it has proven its worth several times over. It has plenty small bits that work well in Advent and Christmas services. It is a must buy for worship designers.

Below is what I am using to tell the story of Christ during our communion time. You can find it on pg. 23 of the sourcebook.

The grace of God has appeared, ordering salvation to all men and women. It trains us to reject the godless ways and worldly desires and live temperately, justly and devoutly in this age as we await our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Christ Jesus. It was he who sacrificed himself for us, to redeem us from all unrighteousness and to cleanse for himself a people of his own, eager to do what is right.

I wanted to share this great resource with you. Buy it and be ready for next Advent season.

My message from this past weekends Christmas Carol service

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In the last few weeks Time magazine has announced their “person of the year”. Past folks who have held this title have been John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, Both George Bushes, many other presidents and Mark Zuckerburg, the founder of facebook.com. A few years ago it was even “you” with a mirror like cover showing the face of the person looking at it.

This year, they did something rarely done to announce the person of the year. They selected a grouping of people, who they felt made 2011 a monumentous year. The person of the year is The Protestor. From the sands of North Africa to the concrete streets of the United States, this has been a year marked by protest.

You might wonder why I am talking about protest during a Christmas Carol service. But what I wanted to share with you was the reason we sing. The image of the protestor is perfect for understanding the power of Christian singing in the face of a world filled with death.

In songs, we are agreeing together on the foundational principles of Christian faith. If we were to try to explain such complicated theological concepts in sermons, or casual conversations I think many of us would quickly change the subject. But the words of these songs matter very much.

When we sing these Christmas songs, we are declaring to the world that Christ has come. The Son of God has descended from heaven, came to earth through the womb of a young woman and is here to cause light to overcome darkness. The prophets were true...they told the world to prepare, because the kingdom of God has come.

While these songs give us great memories, warm feelings and are fun to sing together during the season, we need to remember that they contain very dangerous words. These songs and the message the contain, and from our belief, shake the foundations of hell. They mark the time when the light that was before all men, Jesus Christ, came and overcame darkness.

In worship, we make an outpost of the Kingdom. These songs show we are not allowing the world to write our story, but we are part of Gods story. We are rehearsing the great narrative of Christ and his Triumph of the Word becoming flesh and dwelling amongst us.  We declare that this space does not belong to the world...but belongs to a heavenly kingdom where Christ sits on the throne.   In this room, tonight, we are retelling a story of the greatest act of resistance that has ever and will ever take place. When God himself came to this world to bring his people back to him. Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

My good friend Joshua has a great Advent post up. Joshua really hits home the idea that in Advent we are celebrating the fact that God walks among us. In Advent, the Godman has arrived. As Joshua puts it "If your God is so Great, why doesn't he speak my language?"!

Josh then gives an extensive quote from Timothy Tennent about the power of Bible translation into indigenous languages. The incarnation radically changes our lives and Christianity must always be functioning within the theological concept of "God with Us"!

Check out the rest of the post here.

I'm Expecting

My use of this phrase might sound odd. Usually, it is reserved for the fairer sex to announce the anticipation of a new child. It can be made plural, as in “we are expecting” as well, with the same connotation. But for me, a male, to say “I’m Expecting”...you probably think I have lost my mind.

But expectation is the best way to think about the Advent season. Expectation (in the pregnant sense) entails a season of hope, anticipation and preparation. A body of emotions is wrapped up and fulfilled in a specific event. At that point, everything will render unimportant as the birth comes. The season of hope will be fulfilled in the joy that comes. The anticipation is finished and any anxiety or nervousness has past. The preparation is finished, because it has to be. The time has now come and “all hands on deck” is the order of the day.   

We are ready for the coming of the Son of God. We celebrate hope and the promises of God. We an- ticipate the season and the change it makes in our hearts. We have also prepared ourselves for it by recognizing both our own individual sin and the sins of humanity as a whole. The ancient liturgical prayer called the Rorate Coeli (based on Isaiah 45:8) expresses the hope, anticipation and expectation of the prophets and priests of the Old Testament and becomes part of our prayers;

We have gone astray; in the multitude of our sins we have been made unclean. Fallen, fallen, stricken as leaves of autumn. The storm wind carries us away, the tempest of our evil deeds. You have turned us from the face of your mercy, and our iniquity has crushed us like a potter's vessel. O Lord our God, look upon your people in their affliction; be mindful of your promises. Send us the lamb who will set up his dominion from the rock of the wilderness to Zion, enthroned on her mountain. There is no other whose power can break our chains and set us free.

 As somber as this might seem, as Christians we understand the hope and glory contained in the glorious thing called The Incarnation. Christ and his passion brings us to a new place. Isaiah 40:1-5 (NLT) gives words to that sense of expectation;

    “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her twice over for all her sins.” Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the LORD! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The LORD has spoken!”

This is a highway of expectation. It is a highway that leads us home. Christ, in his life, death and resurrection leads us along the straight path into the loving arms of the Father. Advent is an active celebration of the church. Let us prayerfully go through the range of emotions which are part of expecting. On Christmas day, we can welcome our savior in the fullest way, because our hearts have hoped, anticipated and prepared for him to come!

Come Lord Jesus!

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This was my article in our Churches Advent Devotion. If you want to see the entire piece, cruise over to our Issuu page and read it.

Earlier today, my good friend Jonathan mentioned he is reading through both the New Testament and St. Athanasius's "On the Incarnation " this advent season and was looking for others interested. I had read through the prophets in the last month before Advent and had been thinking of how I would be reading scripture this season and was really excited to see Jonathan's reading plan. It is ordered a bit different from the standard cover to cover, so I am happy to see a little change.

You can see Jonathan's reading schedule here. We are also reading through a marvelous work by a Church Father, Athanasius. I am excited about spending this season reflecting on the radical idea that Jesus Christ is truly Emmanuel. He is God with Us!

There are a handful of us reading along this season. If you want to jump in let me know. You can get "On the Incarnation" free online through the CCEL.

So far our list is: @chaddbrooks, @bamahank, @jonboy017 and @aaronmansfield2

On of my favorite journal publications is Christian Reflections, published by Baylor University. A topical journal, I look forward to every issue. What is really rad though.. it is a free subscription. They even post each entire journal online!

Last year I mentioned journal #37 Advent Ethics. This quarter is titled "Christmas and Epiphany." You might be wondering why I am pointing you toward a resources for Advent that is seemingly not about Advent. But the newest issue is written in tandem with last year and focuses on the "original trajectories of Christmastide and Epiphany, so we can celebrate them faithfully and winsomely today."

If our congregations struggle to really understand Advent apart from Christmas, it is up to leaders to show the differences and mark the time changes. Our worship cycle tolls the bell for when our posture changes. Advent should be Advent. But Christmas should be Christmas.

Christian Reflection #41 jumps into these issues. Read, pray and talk about the difference and how we can be leading congregations to a better pattern of worship during the Church year.

Earlier this week, I mentioned on twitter and instagram that I finished another cycle of reading the bible in 90 days (disclosure..it took a little longer this time). I received several tweets and other questions asking for information on the whole idea...so I thought I would put together a quick info page on what I do.

The Plan:
Zondervan sells a fancy bible that makes it really easy...but why pay for a new Bible. I know of two ways to make it super easy. The first is to simply download the bookmark with the readings on them. The image to the left is said bookmark. The file is a .pdf and has three bookmarks. The second is to use youversion.com's plan. I have done this as well. It is identical to the paper version, but utilizes their bible app.

How?:
Alot of folks tell me it sounds really intense. I guess it is...a little. I spend about 45 minutes reading. Building a pattern of scripture was more important than watching a King of the Hill re-run. In the mornings I read my 90 day plan. That evening, I do a more devotional reading. With the expanse of the 90 days, I find it really important to have a second reading time that is devoted to prayerfully and deeply reading a smaller portion of scripture.

I would also encourage you to find a person or two that will join you. My first time around this kept me on track. My pastor talked me into it and we had a ball discussing it through the week. There has been some discussion of a few people starting together on January 1 and then group blogging through it.

Thanks for being interested in reading more scripture.

For my own experiences with the 90 days here are a few other posts.
Creating a Rhythm of Scripture
Digitizing Devotion...my latest experiment
90 Days through scripture...my ending thoughts
90 days in scripture...take 2

One of the things I love about the internet, blogging and social media is the friendships built. I ran into Julie through a mutual friend and online conversations about worship. Julie is a worship leader and director of children's worship arts at Lynn Haven UMC in Panama City, Florida. She is also a mother of three AND a zombie lover. I asked her to contribute to the blog and she came through with flying colors. Thanks Julie!

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My friend Ryan Kocak pointed me to this video earlier today. In it, we hear some great ideas about how zombies just fit our culture. Scott Poole wrote Monsters in America and has a great perspective on the subject. I enjoyed the video and I hope you will.

Earlier this week I asked the questions "Why Zombies?" and offered a few brief reflections. While it might be obvious, I think the first answer is because people are talking about them. We play games on our cell phones, kids have cartoon t-shirts, adults are watching "The Walking Dead" and they have entered some level of cultural popularity.

While it might be cliched for churches and pastors to talk about zombies just for popularity's sake, they should recognize some level of conciseness is manifesting. Zombie's are popular because they allow us to casually work out some fears and internal commentary regarding society.

For secular society, zombie movies let us joke about deep fears. Categorically, zombie fiction best inhabits a true secular eschatology in how it analyzes destruction and the human nature. In many zombie movies and stories, there is the idea that the disease/virus is the result of divine judgement and the survivors either recognizing or at least mentioning it. Inside of this judgement, humans are allowed to completely consume themselves. It is as though God as stepped away, reversed the incarnation and took away prevenient grace. 

The desires of materialism, lust, power, food, and other flaws have disintegrated society and turned us into consumptive monsters that have reached the ultimate of sins. In our final grasp, we begin to literally feed on each other, and the remaining few metaphorically understand the ills of society and run from being consumed by them.

To best understand why people are talking about zombies, we need to best understand the emotions that make them relevant.

Next we are going to look at how the story of the church can offer an alternative to the story of destruction and consumption.

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall ever be, world without end.

This past Sunday, great television returned to primetime. I, along with plenty others, watched the 2nd season premiere of The Walking Dead (I wrote about the first season here). The western world is taken up with Zombies, they are a pop culture phenom. 

Over the next couple of days, I want to look at the topic "Why Zombies", especially in relation to the way Christians interact within the world. The quick version is that zombies provide a place for our culture to both recognize own our destructive nature while maintaining cooperation in what we see is a flawed society. Zombie fiction inhabits a true secular eschatology, and analyze destruction and human nature. For the church, we must understand how our story functions as an alternative timeline to the story of the world.

So stay tuned over the next week and lets think about zombies together. Till then, check out this post from the past.

3 Reasons the Church should understand the zombie apocalypse

Yesterday in my sermon I challenged folks to become "imagining storytellers in the great Drama of Scripture." Nice words....they sound pretty nice changed together like that. But I am straight serious. To be Christians in the 21st century, participating in God's mission for the world, we have to understand the Bible as something that actually effects our life.

In the past, we understood its effects as knowledge and moral priority. We read the Bible to find more knowledge about God and to learn the do's and don'ts of the Christian life. These still apply, but perhaps not in the same order or priority. We need to get past a mechanistic understand of the Bible. Instead of it being something we hang on a tool belt, it instead becomes part of our mind and body. With this mindset, the idea of knowledge and behavior come into play, but understood because we are in a relationship with God instead of religious obligation.

Scripture belongs to the life we live now. We learn to talk about ourselves in terms of the actions of Christ, the deliverance from Egypt in the Old Testament and the hymns of hope in Revelation. The people of God have a story. It has been the same story since Abraham was called. The creator of the universe wants to draw all of the world into a redeemed relationship. He Himself came down, and Jesus took care of everything. While Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit now speaks the words of God to us.

The practical side of storytelling means that we need to read scripture. We read it slow, fast, with deep intentions and at a glance. In all points of time the word of God is with us. It means we might have times where we read huge stretches or it might be the verses we memorized as a child. Through reading, we take it in as part of our lives and are then able to tell it to others...as something we own.

In several places in scripture, God challenges a prophet to eat a scroll. As Christians, we ingest scripture, letting it become part of our body. We do this as individuals and we do this as corporate bodes. Scripture becomes as natural as an organ, influncing our life in ways that we don't even realize.

Inside Methodist theology, folks have always looked at what John Wesley might have believed about the end times. In reading this morning sermon 26 (I read one of the standard 52 a week), I came across this snippet. Click here to read the entire sermon on The Lord's Prayer.

I appreciate how Wesley doesn't allow his eschatology to take over. Clearly, it forms a very important part of his thoughts on the Lord's Prayer. The segment that I am interested in was part of the section on the phrase "thy kingdom come." Wesley see's that the thoughts about The End can only be placed in the perspective of the kingdom.

When therefore God shall "give his Son the Heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession;" when "all kingdoms shall bow before him, and all nations shall do him service;" when "the mountain of the Lord's house," the Church of Christ, "shall be established in the top of the mountains;" when "the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel shall be saved;" then shall it be seen, that "the Lord is King, and hath put on glorious apparel," appearing to every soul of man as King of kings, and Lord of lords. And it is meet for all those who love his appearing, to pray that he would hasten the time; that this his kingdom, the kingdom of grace, may come quickly, and swallow up all the kingdoms of the earth; that all mankind, receiving him for their King, truly believing in his name, may be filled with righteousness, and peace, and joy, with holiness and happiness, -- till they are removed hence into his heavenly kingdom, there to reign with him for ever and ever.

For this also we pray in those words, "Thy kingdom come:" We pray for the coming of his everlasting kingdom, the kingdom of glory in heaven, which is the continuation and perfection of the kingdom of grace on earth. Consequently this, as well as the preceding petition, is offered up for the whole intelligent creation, who are all interested in this grand event, the final renovation of all things, by God's putting an end to misery and sin, to infirmity and death, taking all things into his own hands, and setting up the kingdom which endureth throughout all ages.

I bolded the few interesting passages. From a cursory read, it would appear that Mr. Wesley seemed to favor some sort of post-millennial view. What do you think?

Earlier this week I posted about how local churches need to engage with Revelation. To some, this might be an insurmountable task.

The character of Revelation makes an auditory involvement necessary. In country terms; We need to HEAR Revelation.

Those in the company of preachers must learn to call the church to its eschatological dwelling place.  In the enterprise of the earthly church taking Revelation back, local pastors serve both as truck drivers and road crew.  We direct the energy as well as take care of the movement so that the laity can travel alongside. Intentionally preaching eschatologically means a deliberate admonition of the end that comes across as assured as the deliberate notions of beginning. Our role is to theologically play the childhood game of “connect the dots”. We are story-tellers, not date-setters.   

As pastors we must tell people about the other world,  living in the the subversive act of preached hope. Instead of romantic historical meanderings that lament morals gone amuck, we focus on preached time. Preached time creates the path to New Jerusalem.  This alternate narrative answers the question of who really is in charge.

Whenever I teach Revelation to a new group of people, I start with a question. It goes something like this; "I am going to let you make a decision as to how we will read this book and how I will teach it to you. We can either let Revelation be a book that only pertains to a distinct group of people at only one time in the history of the world or we can read it as though it has informed the church for 2000 years and will continue to speak to us."

I have never had a group take option A. Even if they are hardcore Left Behinders, the second choice just sounds better. If teaching Revelation freaks you out, let the congregation make the first choice. Present to them a basic reading strategy. It will allow you to stay away from so many testy issues.

Revelation doesn't work in a passive setting. We have to be intentional and deliberate with it, but shouldn't we with all scripture?

Related Posts:
The Apocalyptic Pastor
Preaching, Mindmapping and the Apocalypse of John
Christian Time and the End of Times

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall ever be, world without end.

So it didn't happen. The internet is abound with jokes, judgements and taunting. Alot of it comes from the mouths (and fingers) of Christians, critiquing what was rightfully an ill found theology.

Several of my readers asked me last week why I was absent from speculation, linking and commentary. I was actually really busy these last few weeks, but as Saturday grew closer and closer, I felt the pit of my stomach aching for what was going to be a bad weekend for Christians. It was bad for those who hoped Camping was correct and it was a bad weekend for those who will now be lumped in with the disappointed. It will also be a bad weekend because many other Christians are slowly showing our stripes, and earning the the stereotypes of judgemental, arrogant and know it all.

The simple fact: It is easier to make fun of a bad eschatology than a developing a good eschatology.

While many pointed out that Camping was wrong, I did not see many good theological contributions as to why he is wrong. We can point our fingers, but the task of eschatological leadership is hard. While the church (and society) can postmodern away the stickier pieces of eschatology, those in it for the long haul must roll their sleeves up.

We need to learn to talk about judgement.
We need to learn to talk about finality.
We need to relate to secular apocalyptic vision.
We need to understand the actions of immanence pertaining to the words of Christ.
We need pastors who teach about eschatology.

In the words of Robert Jenson, "We need to become fiercely eschatological."

Eschatology is the orientation of the church. Without the promised 2nd coming, we have a worthless faith. We essentially sit around talking about Christmas while it is December 27th. Instead, let this infatuation with the return of Christ stay on our minds.

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall ever be, world without end.

When running in a multiple vehicle caravan, you have several different types of vehicles needed. A couple of self sufficient larger trucks. An armored school bus for carrying people. An RV can serve as the mobile command center. You might want to lash a few motorcycles to the back of the bus for recon missions or to gather supplies. To think that a random assemblage of running cars and trucks will work sounds like a quick way to become one of the undead.

In the infancy of WWZ, one of the key pieces to any successful roving tribe of the alive is the point vehicle. You have to have one. All anyone needs to do is watch the Road Warrior to see what a carefully driven post apocalyptic hot rod can do.

This prime example sits in my favorite used car lot, where several of our Zombie Trucks of the Week have been found. I secretly think the owner is doing some pre-planning.

When choosing a your point vehicle, several qualifications need to be looked for.

1. Popular model. You don't want to be scavenging for parts for a Ford Pantera while evading the undead. It simply isn't a good decision. The popularity of the mullet mobile in America probably is linked to the popularity for Bon Jovi. Wherever there are rednecks, you will find plenty of Trans Ams. Trust me.

2. Easily accessible engine. A mid 80's Nissan 300 ZX could fit most of the bill. But good old fashioned American Heavy Metal means an engine compartment that can actually be accessed. Unless your tribe resembles the carefully selected cast of Discovery's The Colony, you probably won't have an automotive engineer and three grease monkeys back in the armored bus.

3. Heavy Frame. You will want some options here. Attaching a cattle guard to the front of your point vehicle allows it to clear a path for itself. It doesn't need to be massive, just enough to easily get in and out.

4. T-Tops. This Trans Am doesn't have them, but any mullet mobile with a poor mans convertible will help you gain several shooting positions in case you get into a hairy situation.

With all this in mind, what vehicle would you choose to run point in YOUR zombie caravan?