Thank God!

Here's the artwork for a stand-alone sermon on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Excited for Pastor Harvey and Pastor Kyle Bateson to bring the heat!

1 Corinthians: Dear Reno | Gospel Mission

For specs on the making of the graphics, comment or message me. And... if you can name all the icons in the collage... you will get a prize. Promise.

This month, we begin another leg in the trip through 1 Corinthians at Living Stones. We'll be tracking though a lot of tough passages, but--ultimately--what has struck me the most is the reminder that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17). We are free to behold him. We are free to approach him with unveiled face. We are free to display his glory before all men. This seems to be an overarching theme of the Lord's work in my personal life as well as in the lives of those I'm encountering; it is also a necessary hinge upon which gospel mission may move. I pray that we all will experience our freedom in Christ--casting off all that hinders the gospel from multiplying in our lives--as we continue on.

Old Souls

"Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD according to the directions of King David of Israel. They sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, saying, 'For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.' And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away." --Ezra 3:10-13

You don't have to scour retirement homes to find them. They may not be at the point where they need to 'Fixodent and forget it.' There is a group of delightful people in the world that are referred to as old souls. And, regardless of age, they offer a side of the story that needs to be told.

Ezra offered me this reminder this morning as I read the account of the foundation of the 2nd temple being laid. Understandably, this was a time of great rejoicing for God's people. This kind of redemption is certainly not something to be taken lightly. However, as the young bucks who labored over the temple celebrated with shouts of joy, some of the old-timers wept. There is much depth to this reaction, depth that I want to know.

For those old enough to remember (or wise enough to not forget), this moment was an unprecedented encounter with God's mercy. Memories of fish hooks, fire and famine suddenly gave way to redemption and rebuilding. God, by his grace, disciplined his people--and with that same grace, he brought them home. I can't help but imagine that every tear carried a certain measure of reverence. God could just as easily destroy this second foundation as he did the first in his fatherly, disciplinary love. He is sovereign in both his pardon and his wrath. These two realities working in tandem amount to an overwhelming response, to say the least. 

The passage goes on to describe how the sounds of rejoicing and the sounds of weeping married and were carried off in the distance. I am reminded of how we desperately need this balance. We need shouts of joy just as much as we need cries of sorrow. We need brokenness just as much as we need rebuilding. We need stories of victory just as much as we need cautionary tales. Why? Because the two combine and carry God's glory immeasurably further than one or the other could do on its own. The world needs to see and hear the whole story... not just one part. This is mirrored in the life of Jesus, who exemplified--in himself--perfect anguish and perfect victory. 

I long to tell both sides of the story in my own life... to be rid of cynicism enough to praise and rejoice like a child and filled with wisdom and depth of experience enough to weep when awestruck by God's glory.  

Dear Reno II

It's almost time for the next sermon series in 1 Corinthians to begin... and we've got an array of light, summer fare to offer. Here's a sample of the assortment:

• Gospel Growth
• Building Gospel Communities
• You Are Christ's
• Arrogance and Authority
• Church Discipline
• Grieve(ances)

Is that light and summery enough for ya? That's what I thought. Nothing light or summery about it.

I find myself thankful -- really thankful -- that I have the honor of sitting under preaching that doesn't shy away from what is messy, difficult and/or problematic. I'm thankful to be part of a community in which those who are messy, difficult and/or problematic are being healed, renewed and remade.

I pray that we will be ready to receive what the Lord has for us, to plumb the depths of difficult truth and to experience subsequent depths of grace.

Voices

For 5 weeks during the summer, we'll be taking a short break from I Corinthians: Dear Reno and doing a sermon series called Voices at Living Stones. Each sermon will be preached by a different member of the LS Community or by a guest preacher from around the region. These "voices" will come with their respective soapboxes in tow, each sharing the truth, concept or topic that fuels him the most. Not only will it be an opportunity to enjoy some diversity, but -- let's be honest -- when someone gets the chance to teach about that one thing that ignites his soul above all else... we would do well to listen.

For the Voices artwork, I decided to go green. Not for any sort of symbolic reason... mostly just because I Corinthians: Dear Reno was red heavy. No big whoop. : )

If there is any symbolism to be had, it's in the fact that it's kind of a mess. The colors are a little muddy. Some of the words are deliberately out of focus and all seem to be competing for a place to call their own. There are all kinds of splotches contributing to the chaos. To draw the parallel, there are times when the noise in our lives gets so piercing, the fuzz so thick, that the one voice that matters most grows faint. I think that may be where my heart has been for the last week -- straining to hear Him through the busyness of life. I had the blessing of slowing down and taking communion tonight with one of my Small Groups and read John 6:55-58 in the process:

"For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."

Jesus is the ultimate satisfaction, the ultimate nourishment, the ultimate fulfillment. His voice will cut through all of the noise and will silence every doubt, every hunger pang, every naysayer, every fear, every boast, every selfish thought.

Ironically enough, if I were ever given the opportunity to take my soapbox and set it up somewhere (regardless if anyone is there to listen), that is what I would want to talk about: abiding in Christ. I would contend with the saints and urge them to believe that the very Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in them -- and that this changes everything. I would plead with those who do not have a relationship with Jesus to connect to Him, the True Vine, and have life. To all I would say that Christ in you is the only hope of glory.

I've borrowed these words from a song we sing at LS from time to time, but I think it sums up my hope for the Voices series: "may Your voice be louder / may Your voice be clearer / than all the others / may Your face be dearer / may Your words be sweeter / than all the others in my life / please keep my eyes fixed on You / please root my heart so deep in You / keep me abiding / keep me abiding / so I might bear fruit."

Baptized into the Triune God

I haven't done this in a while, but I'd like to get into the habit of sharing my artwork on a more frequent basis. I am always appreciative when others share, so -- for those who are interested -- here's a portion from me. Let me give you a quick rundown of some of the nuts and bolts:

• I wanted the words of this sermon title to do the talking (imagine that). So, I chose to make the words themselves the main focus of the graphic by keeping everything else fairly muted and simple. The background is a dark blue overlayed with a vertical stripe fill pattern. I rasterized the pattern and hit it with an eraser to tone it down a bit.
• The arrows are a mixture of several brushes (free brushes) available on Brusheezy. They, too, were treated with the same eraser in order to mute and texturize them.
• And now... the moment all the font-o-philes have been waiting for... the names of the fonts I used for the main text. "Baptized" is in REBOARD, "into the" is in Marcelle Script, "Triune" is in Night Stalker and "God" is in White Tie Affair. I love playing with the free fonts on Dafont.com -- you should, too. Each word has been rasterized, texturized and shadowed for extra visual interest.

Ultimately, I hope that God Himself will be more evident than anything that is seen or heard this weekend. If you're part of the Living Stones Community, I can't wait to celebrate Him with you this weekend at 11am in Lawlor's main arena! And... if you're getting baptized (or are still thinking about getting baptized), I'm praying for you!

He Came To...

It's always a little unnatural for me to set my sights on Christmas before the turkey has gone in the oven (I'm one of those people who will usually refuse to listen to Christmas music until Thanksgiving has come and gone), but this -- and by "this" I mean, the topic -- is definitely an exception. For Christmas this year, we'll be doing a two-part series called "He Came To" at Living Stones. Part one (December 20th) concerns the work of Christ in defeating sin. Part two (December 24th - Christmas Eve) walks us through Jesus' power to justify us. Such tidings of comfort and joy came at a great and gruesome price... but there's no better news than that of God coming near to save sinners and no better time to celebrate than now.

Here are some of the nuts & bolts of the artwork for those who are interested in playing around with the ideas:

• I started with a green background and overlayed it with a gold texture set at 30% opacity.
• Sandwiched in between is an old Polaroid photograph of a tree & ornament, set at 50% opacity. I also applied a cut-out filter to make the image a little less refined.
• The border was made by erasing the edges of the gold texture layer with a pattern (courtesy of Brusheezy) called "Indian Ornaments."
• The text was done in a font called "Stereofidelic." (I wonder who thinks of these names...) In order to hug some of the curves, I set some letters at different baselines.

I'll probably be tweaking these graphics for the next few weeks, so -- if anyone wants to weigh in with some ideas or recommendations -- please do!