disciples of christ

August 2012 Top Posts

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / Leave a comment

August was a HUGE month for the blog.  Even though I did not blog that often due to the busyness of my schedule, records were still set!  During the month of August the blog was visited 4354 times!  That is more that the previous 6 months COMBINED (4335)!

A GIGANTIC thank you for reading, supporting and sharing!!!

Here are the top five posts from the month of August

  1. The Problem With The Chick-Fil-A Debate
    • My thoughts about the “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day”
  2. Robots, Arrogance and the Gospel
    • This is an oldie but a goodie… people are still receiving robo-calls from Prophet Mannesh and they are googling the number…
  3. When Did We Stop Caring for People?
    • My thoughts on the amount of press “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” received verses the amount of reaction people gave to Sikh temple shooting in Wisconsin.
  4. And You Wonder Why People Aren’t Christians: Part VII
    • A church cancels a wedding due to race
  5. Opening Ceremonies = Acceptance?
    • What can  we learn from the Opening Ceremonies?

Thank you again for supporting me and I hope to post more in the coming future!

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

 

When One Door Closes…

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 4 Comments

I haven’t really mentioned it here or on the various social media outlets but tomorrow will be my last day at my current church in Orange, Texas.  Due to the decline of church attendance and the economy, the church informed me back in May that come September 1 I would no longer be able to be paid.

I have spent the last few months interviewing and traveling trying to find a new placement; it hasn’t been the most pleasant of summers.

I guess it didn’t really hit of the finality of it all until last week when I was writing my second to last sermon.  It wasn’t like I didn’t know that the end was coming, but like most things we dread, we try to put it away from our mind; I think the professionals call it “denial.”

And now on the eve of my last sermon at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Orange, Texas I am struck with the notion that it truly is the final one.  I struggled at times to craft the right parting words and realized that no such words exist.  So I composed a hope filled sermon based on the final words and commands of Christ in John.  (I’ll post the sermon audio tomorrow).  Through it all I was reminded that the words that I write do not matter, rather it is the Spirit’s movement in the moment and in the hearer’s life that makes the difference.

It has been a roller coaster of emotions- anger, fear, sadness, grief, etc. and I am not sure what the future will hold.  I am hopeful and I there are good things on the horizon (more of that to come later).

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

Sermon- The “Harsh” Message of Jesus

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / Leave a comment

Today I preached a sermon entitled “The ‘Harsh’ Message of Jesus” based on John 6:56-69 (Common English Bible).

Enjoy!

Sermon Link

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

When Did We Stop Caring For People?

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 1 Comment

Latest article for the Orange County Record

Humans in general are pretty predictable.   We drive to work the same way, we go shopping at the same store, we drink our coffee at the same time in the morning, etc.  However, it generally when things are out of the ordinary that people start to take notice.

A couple of weeks ago, “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” was met with Facebook posts, tweets, blog posts, rants and more than likely sermons all centered around the notion that a company can support anti-same sex marriage policy.  Many people agreed with this and many people did not.

Like I mentioned in my previous article, the problem with this debate is that no one actually talked about the real issue, same sex marriage.  People were marginalized and stereotyped based on prejudices.  Throughout this entire ordeal I became aware that humanity indeed is quite callous and ego centric.

Only a few days after this outpouring of support for Chick-Fil-A, an armed man opened fire on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.  Six worshippers and the gunman lost their lives.  It was a tragic and senseless event.  However, while there were news reports, there wasn’t the outpouring that was seen with Chick-Fil-A.  This, my friends, is quite disturbing.

When did we stop caring for people?  Can you imagine the outcry if someone would have murdered people in a church in small town America?  There would have been candle light vigils, facebook pictures of memorial, tweets of support and prayer and blog posts flooding the internet.  What does it say about our country and even followers of Christ when more time and effort is spent on a chicken sandwich than on seven lives lost?

People sadly only care about what they believe affects them or threatens them.  Because of this many people failed to have the one thing that Christ himself calls us to have, compassion.  If we believe that all of humanity is created in the image of God, then our hearts should break over the loss of life, no matter their religion, belief system, sexual orientation or background.  Christ’s compassion is given to all people, in all place and all times, not just to people who think like us, look like us, work like us or come from the same background as us.  This goes against the gospel message.  When did the gospel of love turn into the gospel of conditional love?  Was God’s love given to us on conditions?  No it was not.  The love of God is given to all of humanity as a free gift.

As followers of Christ, we are to live our life in a way that reflects that divine, perfect and wonderful love.  For followers of Christ we believe that this divine love was perfected in human form in the person of Jesus the Christ.  As we journey throughout our lives we are constantly trying to find ways to show and give this love away to other, with no strings attached.  Unfortunately, humans have yet again found a way to marginalize ‘the other.’  Too often in churches around the world, people are not met with open arms they are met with a list of ways they need to change before they are allowed to enter the congregation.  While this may not be explicitly said, there is however, an undercurrent of moral superiority that takes place within the four walls of some church buildings.

How is it fair to have been given unconditional love but fail to give it in return?

We cannot claim that God’s love is for everyone and then try to put conditions on it.  That is like saying to someone, “I will only love you fully if you do this for me.”  By giving unconditional love we then are opening ourselves up to the possibilities of what God can do through us.  We are able to see someone for who they are, who they were created to be.

I pray for comfort for the families of the seven who died in Wisconsin.  The loss of innocent life is one of the worst things that can ever happen to a family or community.  May the compassion of God rain down.

Opening Ceremonies = Acceptance?

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 1 Comment

Every two years the world sets its sights on a different location in the world for either the summer or winter Olympic Games. The Olympics Games showcase the best of athletic skill and poise. As the games begin the Opening Ceremonies show the world that despite the differences between cultures, religions, belief systems and even war conflicts, the spirit of competition and sportsmanship prevail.

Perhaps we as followers of Christ can learn from these Olympic athletes, not in the sense of striving for athletic perfection but for acceptance. Too often we can have preconceived notions regarding a group of people or even a religion. We jump to conclusions, we make wild accusations and claims, all because we believe we have superior views or concepts over others.

Jesus Christ calls us to a different standard. We are called to welcome the stranger, love the other, and pray for our enemy. Jesus’ command is one that made the law of God harder and for some it too difficult to follow. It is easier to think we have it all figured out and that our ways are the best but as followers of Christ we cannot act this way.

If we claim to be followers of Christ, then we must show it all people at all times in all places; we cannot show the love of Christ when we want or when it is convenient, or when we like the people we are around. By doing so we are putting conditions on love, something God did not do to us. I John 4:19 reads “we love because God first loved us.” The author of I John is stating that the only reason you have the capacity to love another human being is because God first loved you; by putting conditions on love we are limiting the unconditional love that was shown to us and squandering a free gift that was given by God. What makes us the moral standard for people? We are sinful and prideful and arrogant, just like other people. We have been given grace and we must show grace, we have been given love and we must show love, we have been given acceptance and we must accept others no matter their race, creed, skin color, socio-economic status or sexual orientation. All are children of God and deserve our love, respect and care. By denying that from people, we are effectively denying the love of God from them. Who are we to deny people the love of God? It was given to us freely, so we should give it freely as well.

Loving others despite differences is hard and it something that can take a life time and some hard work, much like the life of an Olympic athlete.

Let us remember to love one another because God has loved us so much.

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

And You Wonder Why People Aren’t Christians: Part VI

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 1 Comment

In the wake of the tragedy of Aurora, Colorado, I give you another reason why people aren’t Christians.

I could spend all day everyday on why Westboro Baptist Church makes it hard for the rest of Christianity. The members and leader of Westboro Baptist have made waves for protesting homosexuals, preaching that homosexuality is a sin and because of this sin God is punishing the United States by allowing terrible acts to occur and not protecting US soldiers in the country’s current conflicts overseas. Because of this belief, this group has also begun a tradition of picketing at solider funerals which has caused national outrage.

Well the people from Westboro are at it again.

According to their fearless leader, Fred Phelps, the membership of Westboro are going to Colorado to protest during a vigil for the those killed at the “Dark Knight Rises” premiere. See the tweet below and read the story here

https://twitter.com/WBCFredJr/status/227052440351014912

One of the many problems I have with Westboro Baptist Church is that in my humble theological opinion they are completely distorting the gospel message. Their message is one that is egocentric and one where to have a relationship with God one must also be completely afraid of messing up. This is not the relationship that God is calling humanity to be in. This theological construct makes God look worse than a bully god, rather this particular understanding of God is one where God is a supreme overlord of hate and destruction. No grace, no love, no care, no forgiveness, no acceptance of others. To the members of Westboro Baptist, God is a God who likes things separated into either this or that, your either in or out and surprisingly they believe they are on the “right” side of God, that they believe the correct theological understanding and they have it all figured out.

In this particular situation, how does protesting a vigil aimed at bringing a community together and remember the loss of innocent life bring people to God? Answer in a nutshell, it doesn’t it. Do they truly believe that the family of the 12 people murdered want to hear that God in punishing America because of their ‘wicked ways’ and this same God chose their loved ones out of the 300 million people in the United States to suffer this punishment? Where do they get off thinking that they have the audacity to speak this vile non-sense to the people of Aurora, Colorado? And who would ever want to worship this particular God? And isn’t convenient that they just happen to believe the perfect belief system that God is calling humanity to follow?

Westboro Baptist has been one of the several black eyes that has plagued the world of Christianity. Their message is one filled with righteous indignation. I guess their Bible left out the whole “speck in your neighbor’s eye and log in your own” message of Jesus and the one about the unity and ministry of all believers. While they are busy wasting money promoting the anti-gospel, imagine what good they could have done if they had saved their money (which by the way was donated to the church) and used it for a cause like stopping poverty, violence, rape. Why not give the money to organization that provide clean water for millions of people who do not have access to it? Is their God a God who is solely concerned with homosexuality and “wickedness” that the rest of the gospel message doesn’t matter? I find this hard to believe.

Followers of Christ from all walks of life are called to bring the gospel message of love, joy, peace, grace and reconciliation to the world. It through this love of Christ and devotion to God that one makes the choice to live a different life. It is not “live a different life so God will accept you”, rather it is accepting God will cause a life change. It will because of the overwhelming presence of God and the awareness of the Spirit that will cause the change. Changing for the sake of pleasing a mean, bully, hate-filled God doesn’t help anyone.

The people of Aurora, Colorado need comfort in a time of complete uncertainty and loss. It is not a time to put salt in already gaping wound.

I hope that the people of Aurora will do what the people of College Station, Texas did and make a wall of people around the protestors so that family members and loved ones can mourn, remember and grieve in peace.

And Mr. Phelps or any member of Westboro Baptist Church if you are reading this, go back to your Bible and count the number of times Christ calls us to love one another despite our differences. You might be surprised… Christ tends to focus on it a lot.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of the people of Aurora as well as those who are going to protest.

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

What Is Sacred To You?

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / Leave a comment

Here is my latest article for the Orange County Record.

One of the aims of religion is to determine what is sacred or holy verses what is secular or profane.  Debates have been held to try to navigate this delicate delineation.  In Christianity the understanding of holy is pretty complex.  It is generally understood that the source of holiness in itself is God, but outside of that it is a bit difficult to pin down.

Some people believe that God is calling Christianity to a particular way of life: abstaining from certain actions, alcohol, foul language and pre-marital sex.  However others believe that if the followers of Christ should hold true to the commands of Jesus himself.  Others hold to the teachings of the writers of the letters and epistles more than anything else.  And still others believe in a combination of all three.  As you can see the sacred is not something that one can put in a check list and hope to attain easily.

For every person that proclaims to be a follower of Christ, there are that many understandings of God and expressions of what it means to serve Christ faithfully today.  On top of that, the notion of what is sacred varies from person to person as well.

This however this is not a bad thing when it comes to Christianity.  Too often the church is seen as a place that dictates laws or recites laws that they believe are from God.

The church is not a place that makes rules or establishes what it means to be holy, rather the church is a place where people can come and share their experiences and their expressions of faith.  By changing the mind set about what church is, people might have a better understanding of what Christianity is really about, trying to live as faithfully as possible to the teachings of God and Christ.

The problem that the church has found itself in is that it is trying too much to remove itself and fellow followers of Christ from the secular society, to try to make a holy community.  The problem with is that if we cannot agree on one proper interpretation of scripture then how can we begin to broach the question of what is sacred?

Each person has their own understanding of what is sacred.  I recently attended a seminar in which the keynote speaker stated that every person has their own personal canon when it comes to faith expression.  By canon I do not mean a weapon but an authoritative guide of what is holy.  For Christians the canon which guides their life is the Bible.  But even with that said, the Bible is different between Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant denominations. The word canon comes from a word that means “measuring stick,” so when we claim that the Bible is a canon, then we are stating that we use it to measure our lives and actions against it.

Many things can be sacred to people: scriptures like Psalm 23, 1 Corinthians 13, 1 John 4.  Things like music, art and dancing can bring us to a place of connection with the Divine; they can renew our faith and soul.  All of these things transport us to a deeper relationship with God and you may never have to set foot into a ‘church’ to find it.  During our life when the hard times set in we will all return to that place of comfort and rest; we will go to our sacred canon.  We will return to that place to seek out God once more.

Most people’s canons will grow and change over time and that is just fine.  Our relationship and understanding of God can never be static.  As we mature and have differing life experiences our view of God will change; this does not mean that the central driving message of God’s love for all and the acceptance of all people changes, rather the way that we understand God moving and working in the world does.

What is sacred to you may not be sacred to me.  What connects you to the divine may not connect me.  But by having conversation with the central understanding that we are all serving and worshiping the same God, then we might actually learn from one another.  I might not be a practicing member of an Orthodox church but I can learn from their liturgy, I might not be a practicing member of a Catholic church, but I can learn from their devotion to prayer and confession.

In the week ahead come try to find those places what connect you to the divine.  Do not try to find them in a list of rules or commands, rather in nature or art or in the so called secular world around you.  If we claim that God is everywhere then why are we only looking for God in a set of rules?  God is found a stream in the forest and in a painting by Van Gough.

Where will you see God and experience the sacred?  You might be surprised where you have overlooked God.

Sermon- Man Vs. Wild

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / Leave a comment

Today I preached a sermon entitled “Man Vs. Wild” based on Matthew 4:1-11.

Sermon Link

In Christ,

 

Rev. Evan

And One More Time… Camp: Part III

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / Leave a comment

Here we are again… I am going to my third camp of the summer but at this one I will not be speaking at it.  I am looking forward to this particular camp because it will be held at the camp I grew up going to as a youth, Disciples Crossing in Athens, Texas.

This camp is the Leadership Seminar for youth servant leaders from around the states of Texas and New Mexico.

When I attended this seminary back in High School it was great to meet people from all over the state and hear how they were running their camps and how they were being a part of the body of Christ.  I hope to have the same expereince as an adult leader.

Be sure to check out my twitter page (click here) for updates along the way!

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

“What Does Your Church Believe?”: Part IV- Baptism

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 1 Comment

This is the fourth installment of my “What Does Your Church Believe?” series.  So far I have looked at the importance of open communion to DOC theology (post link), the notion of freedom of belief (post link) and the belief in the oneness of the church (post link).  Today we will look at Disciples of Christ’s belief in baptism by immersion.  This does not mean however that if someone has been baptized as a infant that their baptism is invalid.  The Disciples of Christ recognized and affirm all baptisms.

Baptism for many is a seen as an act that symbolizes one’s commitment to the teachings of Christ and by making a physical, public act; they are stepping out in faith to make an outward sign of what a deep spiritual commitment.  In the Disciples of Christ Church our practice is to do this when a person believes that she/he is ready to join God on the journey of faith– there is no specific age requirement.

The Disciples of Christ believe that “Baptism, as a gift of grace, received by faith, expresses its meaning in a variety of images: new birth; a washing with water; a cleansing from sin; a sign of God’s forgiving grace; the power of new life now and the pledge of life in the age to come. The meaning of baptism is grounded in God’s redemptive action in Christ, it incorporates the believer in the community in the body of Christ, and it anticipates life in the coming age when the powers of the old world will be overcome, and the purposes of God will triumph.” (via disciples.org)

The practice of immersion is one that is full of symbolism.  The general belief is threefold.  First, when one enters the waters of Baptism they are coming as they are, ready to receive the cleansing and grace found in God.  Next, when they are immersed they are symbolically dying to their old ways and past sins and when they arise out of the water they are rising with Christ to be God’s servant in the world.

Baptism is a beautiful act that the church does.  It is full of symbolism and faith.  For centuries the faithful of God have traveled to churches, rivers and fonts to enter into the covenant with God and to start their life as a follower of Christ.

Some believe that one must be baptized to be “saved” or inherit the goodness of God.  The Disciples of Christ do not believe that baptism is absolutely necessary, rather an outward sign of an inward reflection.  Many theological and church debates have happened over the concept of baptism. Whether sprinkled as a child or immersed as an adult, all signify the faithfulness of followers of Christ throughout the centuries.

In Christ,

Rev. Evan