I've been using my iPad for almost a month now. It's become a standard item in my backpack, just like my pocket-sized Bible and my journal (with a pen hooked onto the spine). Even though the iPad is technically capable of functioning as a "pocket-sized Bible," as a "journal," and as a "pen" -- I haven't given up these most basic, tried-and-trusted tools of my trade. Still, the iPad is becoming more and more integrated with my daily pastoring responsibilities. And I'm becoming more and more appreciative of its capabilities.

This past Sunday, I decided to use the iPad for my message notes, during our church's worship gathering -- and it worked out better than I might have expected. Instead of printing out my notes in 1.5-spaced, 14-point font on a stack of one-sided paper -- I "printed" my notes as a PDF file (using the typical formatting) and accessed them from the iBook application within the iPad. Legibility was totally not an issue (if anything, it was even easier to see my notes than usual). I didn't have any problems "turning pages." The settings were easy enough to adjust so that I didn't have to constantly be tinkering with the thing to keep it awake. And in general, it didn't seem to be a distraction for my listeners (i.e. no strange white glow visible to others, no extra foibles on my part as I tried to adapt to the new technology). I think it could be a very workable scenario. The only real issue that I still have with using the iPad for preaching is not being able to see two pages at one time, which is something that I had gotten used to with my old one-sided paper system. We'll see how this issue works itself out over time... But in any event, it was a worthwhile experiment.

I also really appreciate the iPad's usefulness in counseling situations. It's a really nice way to take notes -- because it has the feel of a simple pad of paper (with no vertical obstacles to communication, like there would be with a laptop screen), yet the output is still digital and thus much more easily archived and integrated into other systems that I have in place. The iPad also works well to take the place of print-outs, saving both time and money. For instance, I can use the iPad to access my own copy of a couple's individualized pre-marital counseling materials, while the couple can look on their own printed copy. Since the iPad is capable of storing thousands of documents without taking up any extra physical space, I rarely have that phenomenon of "Oh, I wish I had a copy of that document with me right now, to show you..." I use a free application called DropBox, so I can keep all my files up-to-date and on-hand. Very convenient.

E-mailing, e-reading, word-processing, and Skyping also work really well with the iPad -- and since I have a desktop computer that I use with my home office, I genuinely think I can get by without ever needing a laptop computer again. Up to this point, my only point of complaint with the iPad is its lack of ability to upload files. It would be so nice if the DropBox application could work both ways: downloading and uploading. But really, the only effective way that I've discovered to get around this design deficiency is to e-mail documents to myself. It's not the most difficult problem in the world to overcome... but it can be annoying.

In general, I'm very pleased with these current experiments in "pastoring with an iPad." In spite of the fact that I'm writing about it here and now, I have no plans to become an evangelist for the Apple Corporation. As a matter of fact, I've grown to really like having the black leather carrying case as a kind of camouflage for the technology itself -- so that I'm not flashing the Apple logo whenever I pick up the machine, and advertising the fact that I'm using a fancy piece of technology. Most of the time it just looks like I'm carrying an extra leather-bound portfolio that could just as easily be filled with paper and pens as with a tablet computer. Still, I appreciate the fact that this iPad is a valuable resource for my day-to-day ministry. And I'm thankful to God that He provided the resources for me to get it.

I'm really glad to live in a place that values tolerance and personal freedom so highly. Even as a devoted follower of Jesus, my life is genuinely enriched to have Muslim friends, and gay friends, and Communist friends. It's so good and healthy when people get to interact with each other and cut through all the prejudices which can so easily create societal division. I truly appreciate, for instance, that when my children hear the word "Muslim," their first associations are not with "extremism" or "terrorism" -- but more readily with "Suikerfeest" (or Eid ul-Fitr, the end-of-Ramadan celebratory feast) and its really delicious tea, which our school's Muslim families serve at an annual after-school party. Unlike so many Americans brought up in the post-9/11 era, our family is greatly benefited by having individual, personal relationships with real people who practice the Muslim faith, and not just caricatures of Islamic militants. Do you know what I mean? It's nice to build real human relationships without having to wade through propaganda or feel like we're forcing each others' agendas down each others' throats. I also hope that our family might similarly help to improve others' perceptions of "Americans" and "Christians."

Even so, I've been really challenged lately through reading the Book of Philippians. I've been really challenged by the zeal and zest for the Christian cause which the Apostle Paul (the book's author) demonstrated so consistently, despite his difficult circumstances. Even though Paul was beaten within an inch of his life, his freedom was taken away from him, and he probably realized that he would eventually be executed because of his faith in Jesus Christ, at the time of writing his letter to the Philippians -- he was still crazy about advancing the cause of Christ!

Frankly, Paul's passion for proclaiming the Good News about Jesus unsettles me.

Here I am: a Christian living in a society with unprecedented freedoms. I’m a pastor, even -- making my living from advancing the cause of Christ. Yet I don’t think I have anywhere near the level of concern for advancing the cause of Christ as Paul seems to have, here, in writing this letter to the Philippians... I mean, I really like Jesus. I’m glad for the Good News, and I think it’s great when I get to tell other people the story. On the theoretical level, I’m absolutely in favor of advancing the cause of Christ and proclaiming the Good News to the world around us. But how much do I actually live in this way? Or how much do I shrink back from opportunities to proclaim the message about Christ, whenever I hit any little whiff of "persecution" -- even if it's just a funny look, or a critical question, or just a "bad vibe."

As I consider the situation, it occurs to me that many of us Christians have become very good -- and perhaps a bit too good -- at functioning as “Jesus’ Public Relations Department." Do you know what I mean? We can live our lives as some campaign to show the world that Christians can be cool... and intelligent… and socially-minded… and appreciative of fine wines and good art. And I’m not saying that these are bad things at all! In fact, I really do appreciate the ways our church in Amsterdam finds to balance the dorky, dogmatic, self-righteous, and simplistic branches of Evangelical Christanity around the world. Still I worry that we might be sacrificing some proclaiming possibilities, in the process.

Even in our own lives, I wonder if our faith is somehow weakened, when we function as “Jesus’ PR Department,” instead of actively proclaiming and promoting the cause of Christ. Specifically, I wonder what kinds of problems we have to deal with because we don’t even allow ourselves the tiniest exposure to persecution. When there’s no persecution, there are none of the benefits of our motivations being purified; so we end up with a lot of mixed motives. We’re not forced to strip away all the unnecessary and unimportant stuff; so our lives and our faith end up feeling very cluttered and chaotic. We don’t end up with many opportunities to see true faith in action; so we struggle more profoundly with doubt and disillusionment. As I read through Philippians and consider the circumstances around me, I feel like there is a link in these phenomena: the inaction and the angst. But I don't know exactly what to do about it.

I genuinely don’t know if we should thank God for the fact that we’re not persecuted (which certainly has its advantages!), or if we should ask God for more opportunities to experience the joy that comes from being "counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name" (like it talks about in Acts chapter 5). But in any event, it seems to me that we could learn a lot from considering the plight of persecuted believers, like Paul, whose difficult circumstances were actually the very factor that helped the believers in Rome and in Philippi to gain "confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear" (in this vein, I greatly appreciate the resources published by the Voice of the Martyrs at www.persecution.com). And furthermore, it seems like we could grow in letting ourselves step away from the role of being “Jesus’ PR Department” and more actively proclaiming God’s message to those around us. Maybe we could stop, mid-conversation, and pray for our non-believing friends or family members, when they share some problem or pain in their lives. Maybe we could invite our neighbors in for coffee and trade life stories, including how we chose to follow Christ and what that means for our lives today. Maybe we could invite our colleagues to come along with us to one of our worship gatherings, or to a Bible study with our communities, or to our church's next Alpha Course. Or maybe we could even bring a little crate to the Dam and stand up, next to the living statues and street performers, and shout out God’s love for the city of Amsterdam. It’s true that we might get rejected. People might laugh at us or argue with us. Things might get a little bit awkward among friends and neighbors after making a step to advance the cause of Christ. But I think we could probably live through it. And we might even find ourselves experiencing more life, more joy, and more awareness of God’s work in and around and through us! What do you think?

I'm not single. I'm not a woman. And honestly, I'm not much of a poetry connoissieur...

But I found this poem/performance to be especially beautiful, enjoyable, and insightful. So I thought I would share it here. I hope you find it as meaningful as I did.

I'm preparing to preach this Sunday on David's ascension to the throne in Israel (2 Samuel 5-7). There are some great stories and some great theological insights in this part of the Bible -- so I'm really enjoying the process of developing the text for my message.

But textual preparation is not the only part of message preparation for me.

Because of my background in visual communications, I tend to consider the images that I use during my teachings to be nearly as important as the words that I use. I find that the work of Rembrandt van Rijn is often as valuable a study companion as that of Matthew Henry. So whenever I'm working on a message, I'm simultaneously developing a Word document and a PowerPoint presentation. I realize that some people may not care that much about the imagery associated with a sermon, but the visual reinforcement is that important to me. And besides, there's such a great artistic history of biblical imagery, too, that it seems almost silly not to take advantage of these resources in preaching.

The search for the perfect images to accompany the words of my sermon often takes a lot of time and energy. I've used Google Images, or Flickr Photos, or the excellent on-line resources of the Rijksmuseum, and I've learned how to craft my search queries in such a way that they yield maximum results. Still, I've recently discovered one particularly useful website, developed by a Norwegian school-teacher, which I've found to be particularly helpful in finding biblical imagery.

The site is called Biblical Art on the WWW, and I highly recommend it to anyone who preaches or prepares visual accompaniment to teachings from the Bible.

The site is searchable by Biblical Text, Biblical Subject, Artist, or Word -- and it's crazy the breadth of imagery that can be accessed through this site. It includes everything from illustrations to children's Bibles... to the classic Gustave Doré etchings (which you have probably seen numerous times, without realizing who it was that created those images)... to works by the Italian Renaissance masters... to works by Rembrandt van Rijn and Marc Chagall (two of my personal favorites)... to images from Medieval illuminated manuscripts (which I think are especially cool)! All three of the images within this post were drawn from this site (as only a very small, representative sampling of the offerings), and all three are representative of themes that I'm covering in my message this Sunday.

Pretty cool, isn't it?

The only way the site could get better, I think, would be to include images from stained glass windows -- which I also find to be especially beautiful for electronic projection in a church setting -- but even without this added touch, I've been especially pleased with this internet resource, so I figured I would pass it along.

Two weeks ago, I asked if it was possible to contend without being contentious. As a Christian leader, I believe that there are absolute truths which require us to stand up and contend for what's right; however, I'm also challenged by the biblical directives that a Christian leader is supposed to be "temperate, self-controlled, respectable... (and) not quarrelsome" (see 1 Timothy 3:1-12). Christians are supposed to be characterized by a sense of love and unity, not arrogance and antagonism. But seldom is this ideal truly realized; sadly, it's often the exact opposite.

So I've been thinking about different ideas for how to contend with this contentious characteristic of contemporary Christians -- and I thought I would share a few of my suggestions here. It's not a complete list, but perhaps it's a starting point:

1. Pick your battles. The number one way to come across as a contentious Christian is to have a strong and unwavering opinion on every single issue. And why?!? It's exhausting, unneccessary... and unbiblical! The Bible directly addresses this by saying, "Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters" (Romans 14:1). So when experiencing friction with other beliefs or opinions, it can be very helpful to ask: "Is this a hill that I'm really willing to die upon?" Most of the time it probably isn't. So don't.
2. Believe the best about others. The truth is that the vast majority of people -- even the most disagreeable or misinformed individuals -- are motivated primarily by good intentions. They love their friends and family. They don't like to see others suffer. They feel normal human emotions and think normal human thoughts. Unless you're dealing with Hitler or Stalin or some other notorious sociopath, it's doesn't do anyone any good to demonize a person with a different view on any given subject. Oh, and in case you're tempted to believe that you're dealing with a Hitler or a Stalin, you're probably not. Seriously. You're not.
3. Start with self-examination. When contending with someone on a particular subject, a particularly effective, non-contentious way of interacting with the issues at hand is to approach things from an attitude of self-examination. How do you fall short of your own ideals? Which mistakes can you own up to, even if they might have come from good intentions? Self-deprecating humor can work well, too. It's surprising how agreeable others can become, if you're just willing to put yourself in the hot seat instead of attacking others.
4. Argue from the positive side of things, as much as possible (if you really must argue). As my friend Marco recently put it, "If someone is convinced that Apple is better than Microsoft, it is more compelling to me when they focus more on the arguments 'for' Apple, rather than putting much emphasize on why Microsoft would be so bad." How much more true should this be for more important personal and spiritual issues! If you can't come up with the positive points for whatever it is that you believe, then maybe you should be reconsidering your own position.
   
5. Admit that you might be wrong. A tiny bit of humility goes a long, long way towards reducing contentious communication. Even if it's only the tiniest 0.00000001% chance that you might be wrong on a given topic, just admit it.

What do you think? Any other tips that you might suggest for contending without being contentious? Or do you want to fight me on any of these suggestions. :-)

I should offer the disclaimer that my goal in addressing this topic is not stripping ourselves down to totally non-offensive, vanilla-flavored, non-committal communication! An excessively argumentative attitude is not good, but neither is elusive agnosticism about everything. The extremes can be unhealthy in either direction. I've said before, and I'll say it again: balance is best. But even as I express this wish for balance, I freely admit that I'm hopelessly pastoral in thinking through these things -- even while I appreciate the value of those with strong prophetic gifting. My main hope in laying out these thoughts is to create a dialogue in things like this that allow us to stick closely to the ideal expressed in Ephesians 4, with different people using their different expressions of God's grace "so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."