This week we are going to look at the last six of the Ten Commandment:  Honour your parents, do not murder, commit adultery, steal, lie in court, or covet. What we need to understand when looking at these six, is that they were not just rules to live by, but a covenant that told Israel they had worth.  They (Israel, you and I)  mean something to God.

What do I mean by that?  The Big ten told Israel that god, THE GOD, was interested in how they lived with each other because everyone had worth to him.  The God who created, breathed life into humans, that parted the Red Sea and created a new non-slave, liberated community valued humans. How we treat each other reflects that.

You see honouring your parents is much more than just doing what you are told.  It gave dignity and security to the aging.  Do not murder was more than just not taking a life – it was showing deep reverence for God’s creation.  Not committing adultery was more than not sleeping with someone other than your wife; it put value on relationship. Do not steal was way more than taking a sheep, it made sure that the poor and down trodden were not robbed of life.  Not lying in court meant that God’s plan of justice moved forward.  Not coveting your neighbours possessions brought the hearers back to the first three commandments – no other god’s, no idols and no misusing the name of God.

God believes that you have worth – how we live in community is a reflection if we believe that or not.

Listen in on Monday to hear the whole message.

But for your viewing pleasure, here is a clip that is not “worthy!”

One of the great battles of Christianity are the two ideas of grace (Paul) vs. works (James).  We continually wrestle with the notions of just believing or just doing.  Jacques Ellul in his book “The Subversion of Christianity” wrote back in 1984 an amazing response to weld together this dichotomy.  He writes:  Practice (works) is the visible criterion that we have seriously received grace and also that we have entered effectively into God’s plan.  For Paul, as  for Jesus, practice is the touchstone of authenticity.

But that is not the clincher.  He then adds to his argument why Christian faith is not affecting the world. 

“Those who attack Christianity usually do it, then, by pointing first to our disastrous practice”.

Now, this is how us “postmoderns” interpret this.  What we do is a response to what Christ did.  The problem though is that we have not had great success in practice.  Ellul would say  “Maybe there is something wrong with your faith then.”  Which really is the point of his book.

The basis of “The Subversion of Christianity” is that:  what the church has become is not at all what Christianity is portaryed as in Scripture.  There is not just contradiction on one point but on all points.

This is a great read for those who want to be challenged about the modern church and how we live out our faith in grace and practice.  And this book comes to me at a great time as we look at the Ten Commandments and christian consumerism.  Let’s hope that the church can be brave enough to have a good look at ourselves and ask the questions Ellul asks, “How has it come about that the development of Christianity and the church has given birth to a society, a civilization, a culture that are completely opposite to what we read in the Bible, to what is indisputably the text of the law, the prophets, Jesus, and Paul?”

Growing up my mom would ask me what I wanted to do for my birthday.  I always chose to watch a movie.  But back then it was not just going to the video store to pick the latest release.   Video stores were not around yet.  Nope, we would go down to the library, rent a projector and look at the very few National Film Board children’s movies.  And every year I would pick the same one.  A sad movie about a sparrow who did not know how to be a sparrow.  Things have somewhat changed. 

I now have 19.7 days of music on my iPod.

This has even trickeled into the religious realm.  I recently talked to a fellow pastor who made the observation that his community seems almost over churched.  Our culture may be the first ones to say “We are church shopping at the moment” when we relocate.

This week we will be looking at the first three commandments God gave to Moses.  And honestly, things really have not changed that much.  The first three commandments are a response to the shopping spree of different gods in that culture.  Today we can look for a pair of shoes in 50 different shoe stores, department stores, mini malls and strip malls.  Back then you would go from town to town and “shop” for the most powerful god.  The first three commandments face the religion of consumerism, politics and  slavery and gives it hope.  This is relevant today just as much as the day it was written in.

Listen Here:

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This is “worth” the watch -- “Selling Jesus: Christian Consumerism”

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Just recently our family started the brutal process of getting our passports.  It was a rather inconvenient and intimidating process.  Inconvenient in the fact that we had to drive to Thunder Bay, get our pictures taken, fill out endless forms, spend a lot of cash and make sure that our documentation was in perfect order.  Intimidating in the fact that when our picture was taken it was studied for approval, the application needed references, you had to meet a “passport officer” (was I going to be retained for not crossing a‘t’) and waiting for approval.  Do you know what the scariest part of the whole process was though?  Signing your name in the confines of a small green box.  It took me two tries!  My wife did an amazing job of filling out all five applications for the family and of course I botched it up by signing just outside the box with the ‘L’ of my last name.

I fought this whole process for a number of reasons:  the cost, the repetitiveness of information, the inconveniences, and the control factor.  And everyone that would give an ear to my cries would just say “Well, that is the way it is done, you have to do it”. 

Today we are going to begin looking at the Ten Commandments (The Decalogue).  This God given document given to Moses and Israel was not something that original though.  As my friends continually reminded while applying for my passport “that is the way it is done”, so it was with the Decalogue.  With a few variances, the 10 commandments were a contract that resembled other contracts before, during and after the Decalogue was given.  So today we begin a multi-week journey with some goals.

Goal one – try to understand the document in its historical setting

Goal two – understand the contents of the document in its historical setting

Goal three – is the Decalogue relevant for today

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This Sunday we are going to watch the following videos and ask a few questions like:

1)  What kind of questions is the world asking about death/after death?

2)  What hope does the story of resurrection give back to these songs?

3)  The world has some big questions, do we have some good answers?

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There are still Elvis sightings all over the world.  A quick Google search reveals how alive and well Elvis is doing these days.  Well, maybe not Elvis himself, but his fans, those who think they see him and those who think they are “The King” themselves.  Here is an awesome Elvis Sighting webpage to check out: http://www.elvissightingbulletinboard.com

This is quote from their main page:

“We all know that The King is not gone. The Elvis Sighting Bulletin Board is offered as a public service so that the public will not be alarmed when seeing The King at their local supermarket or swimming in the neighbour’s pool. Imagine it, you go to the supermarket in curlers and there, next to you in line is The King! Oh the HORROR & Humiliation!”

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