WinnNotes

Recently I became acquainted with Sleep Apnea because a member of my family was diagnosed with it. Sleep apnea is a disorder characterized by a reduction or cessation (pause of breathing, airflow) during sleep. Some of the side effects of sleep apnea are:

• Increase the risk for high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity, and diabetes
• Increase the risk for or worsen heart failure
• Make irregular heartbeats more likely
• Increase the chance of having work-related or driving accidents

These related effects are indicated with a general feeling of being tired and listless.
It got me thinking: How many Christian’s have some form of apnea. Apnea means “without breath.” Is that even possible? Sometimes it looks like it may be the case.

If we simply substituted “spirit” for “breath,” we could think of Christians without the Spirit. That sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? But what if, Christians are not totally without breath, which is what most cases of apnea are. It’s called obstructive sleep apnea. The passage for air is simply obstructed and air cannot get in. What if Christians suffer apnea and like their counterpart in the physical world don’t know they have it because it only occurs when they are sleeping. It usually takes someone else, perhaps a family member, to spot the symptoms and try to get the person some help.

After diagnosis, help usually comes by the help of a C-PAP machine. The person with apnea has to wear a mask and the machine forces air through the nose/mouth to keep the air passage unobstructed.

What would be the equivalent of a C-PAP machine for a Christian who has become listless and lifeless because of interrupted intakes of the Spirit? What are your thoughts?

Here is a talk about Pentecost that I gave at Vineyard Community Church on Pentecost Sunday. It takes about 10 seconds before it begins. Enjoy!

The following is an interview of N.T. Wright by Dr. Tod Bolsinger on a variety of topics. Dr Tod Bolsinger is Senior Pastor at the San Clemente Presbyterian Church and Tom Wright is Bishop of Durham for the Church of England.

Enjoy!

N.T. Wright on Heaven

N.T. Wright on the Postmodern Movement

N.T. Wright on Satan and Evil

N.T. Wright on Debate about Homosexuality

N.T. Wright on Women in Ministry

N.T. Wright on Filming the End Times

N.T. Wright on the Authority of the Bible

N.T. Wright on Darwin

N.T. Wright Responds to John Piper

Cherith Fee Nordling is the Visiting Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Wheaton College and recently spoke at the VineyardUSA conference in Galveston, TX. She is the daughter of Dr. Gordon Fee but she is a scholar in her own right. Let me know what you think.

I participate with Vineyard Community Church in Shorline, WA. Any of you folks around Seattle want to celebrate “dark firday.” Here’s your opportunity.

Tom Wright is one of my favorite NT specialist. Below are a couple of Easter idea that come from Preaching Today. If you have not read anything by Tom Wright, may I suggest: Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

Text: Matthew 26:17–28:20; Mark 14:12–16:20; Luke 22:7–24:43; John 13:1–21:25; Acts 10:1–48
Topic: A look at what it means to live in light of the Resurrection

Introduction: Bottling up the wonder of the Resurrection
The Easter stories are full of people getting the wrong end of the stick. Mary thinks Jesus’ body has been stolen. Peter sees the linen wrappings and can’t work out what it’s all about. The disciples didn’t understand the Scriptures. The angels question Mary, and she still doesn’t know what’s going on. Then she thinks Jesus is the gardener. Then, it seems, she reaches out to cling to him, and he tells her she mustn’t. You could hardly get more misunderstandings into a couple of paragraphs if you tried.

The point is, of course, that Easter has burst into our world—the world of space, time, and matter, real history and real people and real life—but our minds and imaginations are too small to contain it. So, we do our best to put the sea into a bottle and fit the explosive fact of the Resurrection into the possibilities we already know about.

At one level the continued puzzlement of the disciples is a mark of the story’s Continue reading Tom Wright on Easter

A bit of the Beatles wrapped up in a bit of Chick-fil-a Americana by Tim Hawkins.

Then, there is Hawkins on Corporate Worship Songs.

Finally, Hawkins on Bible Verses. Versitius can get you into trouble. There is a wonderful Southern lady about half way in who is listening who doesn’t think this is funny. Could have been my mom!

Halitosis can be defined as “the condition of having stale or foul-smelling breath.” We all have been around folks that suffer from this condition and don’t know it. Most likely, we have suffered from this condition and didn’t know it and got a subtle hint when someone offered us a Tic Tac!

Last week I listened to the first sermon of Rachael Clinton, an intern at the church I participate with (Vineyard Community Church, Shoreline, WA). She has worked with kids for many years, but this was the first presentation given to an adult audience. She did good!

During her presentation she said something about missional life and breathing. I wrote a note to myself to remember. When Jesus summarized the Ten Great Words, i.e., the Ten Commandments of the OT in a shortened saying, “love God with everything you have, and love others,” I was struck with how easy that seemed to be to help remember and practice when attached to breathing. We breathe in the love God, and we breathe out his love to others, which is the essence of being Missional.

At a local gathering of Pastors this morning, I suggested how memorable that was for me personally and then my friend Dr. Ed Cook suggested that the problem with the breathing out was that the church often had bad breath, hence the name of this post: The Church Has Halitosis?

That surely is a question that churches should ask as well as a question that individuals should ask. When we breathe out care for others, is it foul-smelling or pleasant smelling? Does it repel folks from further investigation of Jesus or does it draw them toward a journey with Jesus?

Wonder why we don’t have a halitosisalizer so we could check our breath before we breathe either as a church or as an individuals on our community or on others personally.

Spiritual Tic Tac anyone? Wish it was that easy. It seems that one kind of breath fixer doesn’t work for every kind of foul-smelling breath? I suspect that the same is true for the halitosis of the church and individuals. We may need to discover what smell we are radiating and then find a cure for that smell. Well, there’s an afissiparous musing for you…

One Monday evening of this week, Todd Hunter’s new web site went live. I worked as part of the development team that created and launched this site. If you want to know what’s up with Todd then go on over to toddhunter.org and take a look.

Last Friday I went to an early matinee showing of Clint Eastwood’s film Gran Torino. I have always likes Eastwood ever since B/W Rawhide on TV. Of course, that might be a bit before the time of some you who are reading this.

This film is surely packed with theological dialogue and on occasion theological visuals. If you are interested in seeing current culture played out on the big screen with theological overtones, then you should see Gran Torino. Of course, what movies don’t have some theological overtones.

The language could be considered by some a bit rough, but realistic for the character. The cultural clash that drives the plot is fascinating. If you don’t laugh and cry somewhere during this film, you might need to check your emotional meter in for new batteries.

On a different character, Jack is back! Jack Bauer and the latest edition of 24 has returned to FOX. This year’s day (Day 7) has started on the Right coast in Washington D.C. I think someone should, or maybe they already have, write a “Theology of Jack Bauer.” He is surely a new Western kind of hero without the tobacco stain running down his chin.

Why not leave some thoughts about what you think the theology of Jack is and what theological insights you pick up from Gran Torino.