MBCC Blog

where my girls at?

Attention all Ladies of MBCC!  It's not too late to sign up for the annual Women's Retreat at Westminster Woods!!

The Woods is a PC(USA)-affiliated summer camp in Sonoma County, about an hour-and-a-half drive North of San Francisco.  Nestled among beautiful trees, rocks, and streams, the Woods is a perfect setting for reconnecting with God, nature, yourself, and your fellow LoM (Ladies of MBCC).

A group of lovely LoM will be attending the January 29-31 retreat led by Rev. Gail Doering. The theme is "Soul Food: Nourishment for the Mind, Body & Spirit." There is no doubt that it will be a weekend of fun, fellowship, music, the great outdoors, delicious food, and Jesus!! Can it get any better? I don't know if it can.

Don't miss it! Click here for more information and to register!

Why is there a light bulb in front of our Advent "wreath"?

Lo and behold, Advent is upon us once again.  Amazing how the year disappears.  And so, it is one of those times in the liturgical calendar that MBCC shakes things up.  So next time you come to church (should be it be before Christmas), you will find some different and perhaps perplexing things.  So here is a breakdown.

Advent Theme: The Word Made Flesh (see the first chapter of the Gospel of John)

Advent "Wreath:" Each week we light a candle as we get closer and closer to the coming of the Christ child.  Traditionally, the first three weeks, (symbolizing hope, peace and joy) the candles are purple and the last week's candle (love) is pink.  The Christ candle, lit on Christmas Eve, is white.  True to MBCC form, our manifestation of his tradition isn't quite like that.  The love candle is blue (couldn't find a pink one).  And though many (most?) churches use a wreath, we are using a kinda basic candle holder.  Each week, an elder (or elder to be) will light the candle and tell a story of their experience of the Word made flesh.  These stories, and our sermons for the season, will be made flesh through symbols added to the table around the "wreath".  If you were not in church last week, ask Eliz to here her story and find out why she put a light bulb on the table.

Liturgical Colors:  As Bruce reminded/taught people in his sermon, the "Church" (who exactly chose the colors I do not know) has particular colors for particular seasons.  Advent is traditionally purple.  So when you see lots of purple in church this December and it seems odd, that is why :)

Decor: There is a lot of fabric hanging and there is a reason.  The long version of that reason is here but the short breakdown... Jesus, the Word made flesh, is often discussed as the light of the world.  And so as we wait in the dark night for his coming, we find bits of light that bring us hope that God will fulfill his promise and dwell among us.  The representation of "night" in the sanctuary will change as we get closer and closer to the coming of Emmanuel.  Look out.

One more thing... You will notice that mirrors of varying sizes are throughout the decor and surrounding the Advent "wreath".  Look into one and what do you see? Your reflection.  As we are reflected in the mirrors, as the mirrors reflect the light, we reflect Jesus.  And so, after Christmas, when the Word is made flesh, we will ask the MBCC peeps in the pews to make  covenant with their community, (and if is not too much to presume... God) about how y'all will reflect the light of Jesus to world, be the Word made flesh in the community in the coming year.  During that service, you will exchange the covenant for a mirror.  The mirror will remind your of your commitment and the covenants will be placed in the living room as a part of our communal history.

I hope that I have not confused you (let me know if I have) but rather have given you somethings to ponder throughout this season and next time you come to MBCC to worship.

iPhone Savior finds MBCC

MBCC's 2008 Easter Card featuring the Mii Jesus, was picked up on the iPhone Savior blog post, Bay Area Church Creates Mii Jesus To Promote Easter Sunday Service.

There have been posts popping up all over the place regarding this year's eCard.  I have tried to pull a few that have some content behind them. There are many more that are just forwarded posts.  Here are a few that have some commentary.  Also, be sure to read the comments.  Fascinating!

MBCC Members and Friends

• Ryan
• Daniel

This list will be constantly updated as time allows.

• on Digg
• http://kotaku.com
• http://forums.gametrailers.com
• http://alexschwindt.typepad.com
• http://www.eurogamer.net
• http://videogametop10.com
• http://www.wiiwii.tv
• http://gonintendo.com
• http://whatifgaming.com
• http://www.fragland.net
• http://www.ludology.org
• http://truemors.com
• http://www.joystiq.com
• http://www.petpeeving.com
• http://www.popmatters.com
• http://nintendo-wii.blogscene.net
• http://www.ps3forums.com
• http://boardreader.com
• http://forums.tidemedia.co.za
• http://www.gamegrep.com
• http://mcdevzone.com
• http://www.g4tv.com
• http://www.thecomicforums.com
• http://currentchristian.com
• http://branthansen.typepad.com
• http://www.mywii.com.au
• http://message.snopes.com
• http://www.thetanooki.com
• http://www.gamernode.com
• http://forums.e-mpire.com
• http://www.360voice.com
• http://lonewolf-csu.livejournal.com
• http://www.gamervision.com
• http://factorygirl.org
• http://www.gaxonline.com
• http://www.alittleleaven.com
• http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com
• http://forums.tidemedia.co.za
• http://forums.e-mpire.com
• http://withashout.net

PODCAST

• http://www.australiangamer.com

Unconditional Forgiveness?

I’ve been reflecting and thinking a lot about what Bruce had to say on Sunday and I wanted to raise a question or thought around this idea of forgiveness, especially unconditional forgiveness. In this season on Lent I’ve been contemplating a lot about the saving work of Jesus Christ and what it means to me and how I understand what happened in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus both in the context of society and personally.

In light of that, I’ve just recently finished a book called Proverbs of Ashes  that shook me to the core. It is about what we as the church may be telling people about how to live out their lives. The book focuses on how the use of the Christian theory of atonement can perpetuate the cycle of violence in relationships. The classic view of atonement is critiqued by these two women’s experience with violence and abuse. So my question is, does the idea of “unconditional forgiveness” tell people (especially women) to forgive without change in action (by the other) to stay in an abusive relationships?

Do we get too caught up in trying to tell people that God wants to have a relationship with them "how they are now" that it leads us to do damage? I believe that we have to be extremely careful when we talk about unconditional forgiveness especially when we are doing it within the Christian framework. I appreciated Bruce talking about how forgiveness is reconciling relationships and I agree that Sin should be talked about in terms of broken relationships not moral miss-steps or laundry lists of bad deeds. I agree that we should do our best to reconcile relationships with one another regardless of the horrific atrocities that we can impose on one another as human beings. But how do you tell someone who is being dominated by another human being that forgiveness should be unconditional? 

How does “unconditional forgiveness” display itself in scripture? Is Jesus unconditional in his forgiveness? Is God? Looking first back through scripture I’ve come to understand that God acts in covenants with humanity, the covenant with Noah, with Moses, and even Jesus talks about the “new covenant.” If God is a covenantal God does that make God conditional instead of unconditional? Covenant means a solemn contract, oath, or bond. So what does it mean for us to understand God as having conditional oaths with Israel in the times of the Hebrew Scriptures? And how does that affect our view to offer unconditional forgiveness? What might be our role in a two-sided covenantal agreement?

I agree with Bruce who used some great passages (Matthew 26: 14-30, 47-55, 69-75) to talk about denial and forgiveness from Christ. Based on what I read in the Gospel accounts I think that Christ shows us someone who acts with unconditional forgiveness. He is someone who is more interested in the healing and creating right relationships than swearing them to uphold an oath (or even doctrine?). 

But this all brings me back around to Rebecca Parker and Rita Brock in Proverbs of Ashes and their experience that being told to forgive unconditionally just drives people to stay in abusive relationships. How can we talk about this Christian unconditional forgiveness without telling people to stay in abusive broken relationships?

Follow up to "Can I Afford to Follow Jesus?"

For those of you who were not able to be at church in Sunday, here is a little teaser/recap.  I had hoped that we were going to be able to VidCast, but of course, technology is not cooperating.  We may soon though start PodCasting, so stay tuned.

In any case . . . we began this series, "Christ-follower/s: The Complexities of Committing Your Life to Jesus" by looking at some of the realities of this journey we are undertaking.

One of the assumptions that that I made/proposed was about how we may  engage in this process of growing in our relationship with Christ.  I proposed as follows . . .

Assumption: as “church” we engage in a process of growing in our relationship with Jesus

• Exploration - yearning for God
• Conversation - interacting with others
• Discovery - discerning beliefs
• Transformation - changing our life
• Emergence - living into God’s intentions for all of us

There is also some stuff about "Rules for being a good Christian . . ."

I would be curious to know if/how this (or other parts of the sermon) resonated with folks.

[DOWNLOAD PDF]

Worship Series: Christ-Follower/s

Christ-follower/s :: the complexities of committing your life to Jesus.

Series Details for LENT and HOLY WEEK
February 21/25, March 4/11/18/25, April 1/5/6/8

What does it mean to actually make a commitment to follow Christ in the world today? Is it as simple as saying set of words or obeying a list of rules?  What does it take?  What might we experience?  Why would we do it?  What does it really mean to live a Christ-like life? The answers to those questions are never simple, and neither is a faithful commitment to follow Christ.  In this series we will try to address some of those questions as we strive towards some kind of commitment that leads to real transformation. 

February 21 - Ash Wednesday
Location/Time: TBA
Scripture: TBA
Topic: Preparation for the Journey
Focus: TBA

February 25 - First Sunday in Lent
Title: "Can I Afford to Follow Christ?"
Scripture: Luke 9:57-62 and 14:25-35
Topic: We will explore the "costs" of following Christ and whether we are willing or able to make the sacrifices that are required.

March 4 - Second Sunday in Lent
Title: "The Art of Forgiveness"
Scripture: Matthew 26: 14-30, 47-55, 69-75 
Topic: Ultimately following Christ is to understand the great gift of forgiveness.  What does it mean for us when Jesus is betrayed by so many, yet lives, dies and is resurrected for all of humanity?  What does that look like for us today and can we do the same?

March 11 - Third Sunday in Lent
Title: "Sitting in the Sadness"
Scripture: John 11:17-37
Topic: Following Christ does not mean always being happy.  In fact we know that Jesus experienced grief in his life, yet his understanding of God remained strong.  How do we too see God in the midst of sorrow and remain strong in our commitment?

March 18 - Fourth Sunday in Lent
Title: "The Risk of Rejection"
Scripture: Matthew 18:12-14 and Luke 13:31-35
Topic: Even with the best of intentions and faithfulness, there will be times when people will not understand the commitment that folks have made to follow Christ.  Dealing with rejection of what we believe will happen and how we handle that rejection is a crucial part of our life in Christ.

March 25 - Fifth Sunday in Lent
Title: "Weakness into Strength"
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Topic: We should not expect the journey to be easy or without struggle, but if we rely on Christ and not on ourselves we might just make it.  We need to balance a confidence in Christ without crossing the line of arrogance in ourselves . . . never easy.

April 1 - Palm Sunday 
Title: "The Innocence of Hope"
Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11
Topic: Palm Sunday is the day that Jesus is welcomed back into Jerusalem.  The joy and hope that comes from the people is real, though only the beginning of a painful week for humanity.  What does it mean for us to be hopeful and joyous despite knowing that humanity is filled with such pain and brokenness?

April 5, 6:30-8:00 - Maundy Thursday - COMMUNION  
Simple Soup Supper and Service
Title: "To truly know humility"
Scripture: John 13:1-15 and Matthew 26:17-30
Topic: What does it mean for us to truly be a servant to others.  As we remember the Last Supper we will begin to know what it meant to truly bow down before God and serve.

April 7 - Good Friday
Below are some various Good Friday Services:
TBA

April 8 - EASTER SUNDAY BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
Celebration Lunch, Egg Hunt, Holy Party-time!!!!!
Title: "We can't believe my eyes, or can we?"
Scripture: Romans 5: 1-10 and Matthew 28:1-10
Topic: Following Christ means believing that there is something in the life, death and resurrection that is life-giving.  Does believing in the resurrecting power of Christ mean that we ignore our minds, what we know or what we can prove?  Do what we believe on faith and what we know as fact have to always be in total agreement or can we live in the midst of joy-filled ambiguity?  In case you were wondering, yes.