Living Like Jesus

I am reading The Year of Living Like Jesus by Ed Dobson (no relation to James Dobson as far as I can tell) and have been captivated by it. I am not sure whether or not to recommend the book or not. On the one hand, it is hard to put down and am I captivated by Dobson's authentic struggle to live the new life in Christ. On the other hand, I find myself amazed by how little of the fullness of the Christian faith he seems to have experienced, in terms of other non-evangelical Christian denominations.

A few things worth sharing have struck me so far:

1. The importance of regular, fixed prayers for the life in Christ.

Throughout the book, Dobson tries praying using the Catholic rosary, the Orthodox prayer rope and Episcopal prayer beads. He also finds praying the Scriptures to be a transformational experience. I too have found that fixed prayers have been the bedrock of my prayer life.

2. The link between practicing faith and the desire of faith.

Dobson tries to listen to each of the four Gospels every week on his iPod: a noble venture, to say the least. Every once in a while he comments that he is sick of listening to Scripture and praying and takes a short break. In doing both he shares this profound truth: The more he reads Scripture and prays, the more he wants to read Scripture and pray. On the other hand, the less he reads Scripture and prays, the less he wants to. I would echo this truth he has discovered: that there is a deep link between simply "doing" faith practices and the desire to do those practices. What is fascinating to me is the reality that doing precedes desire and not the other way around.

So if you are in a faith rut, just pray, just read Scripture--and let the desire follow!

3. The difficulty of walking in the Way of Jesus.

Anyone who has ever read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, chapters 5-7) realizes how difficult it is to authentically walk in the Way of Jesus. This is the greatest strength of Dobson's book as he wrestles with what it means to live in Christ in every aspect of his life.

In other news...

The Techno-Future? Email or Social Media?

I am not sure how I want to continue to update these posts. I am leaning away from email and more toward social media. You can be come a fan on Facebook, where I will post a link when I write a new piece on this blog. This is also linked to my Twitter account (MattMusteric). And our congregation has its own Facebook page as well. Another easy way to follow along is to subscribe to this blog through and RSS feed reader such as Google Reader. The idea, I suppose, with all of this is to put the information in the hands of those that are looking for it. So if you have not received an email in a while from me, check out new posts here on my blog.

Epiphany is Theophany

This weekend we will celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. The focus is squarely on Jesus and his baptism in the waters of the Jordan at the hands of John the Baptizer. But something much bigger is going on as Jesus emerges from this full-immersion river baptism.

God in all his fullness is revealed as Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Epiphany is Theophany.

In the most ancient tradition of the Church, Epiphany was celebrated before Christmas; the manifestation of God was celebrated before the birth was put on the Church calendar. In the Christian East, the focus of Epiphany was on the Baptism of our Lord. In the Christian West, Epiphany developed into a three-part celebration: 1) the visit of the wise men, 2) Jesus' baptism in the Jordan and 3) the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee in which Jesus turns the water into wine.

This weekend we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. The skies are torn open and God is revealed as Holy Trinity. The Father speaks from heaven; the incarnate Son who is fully God and fully man emerges from the water; the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove.

In truth all Christian celebrations are celebrations of the Trinity, because this is who God is for all eternity. God was, is and always will be Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Before there was anything, any creation, before there was any "was," God was: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God in three persons, existing in himself as perfect community, perfect communion.

What does this have to do with the Baptism of our Lord? With us? In the Baptism of our Lord, the Most Holy Trinity graces the waters of baptism and enfolds us into his life. In our Baptismal washing, we are enfolded into the One Who is Perfect Community and granted, by grace, a share in God's life, the life of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Happy Theophany!