Month: June 2012

In Tension- Father’s Day reflections

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Holidays are weird. I’ve found that they often breed more tension than other days of the year because they come with lots of expectations. Unmet expectations, the wise Kevin Hall once told me, are the root of every relational conflict we experience. But this Father’s day I’ve experienced a very interesting emotion: tension. 

Most of you know my wife Julia and I are expecting a baby girl, Evelyn Rose Mooney, on July 25th, 2012. This has left me in a really weird position during this Father’s day… I’m kinda a father, but not yet fully a father. I have a child, but she hasn’t yet emerged into this world, ready to make it a better place, so I’m left in this awkward tension of kinda father/fully father. I don’t feel like a father yet- I don’t have a little girl to hold, to give baths, to cuddle with yet so I don’t really feel like a father. But I am a father. Though Evelyn isn’t in the world to brighten my day and lengthen my nights, she still is. She exists and is among my family… my wife’s profile attests to it! I have fatherly responsibilities, to take care of my wife, to prepare our home for Evelyn, and to make sure we have all the medical things taken care of (let’s be honest… Julia’s been doing most of that…), but I haven’t fully experienced fatherhood yet, things like teaching my daughter to walk, taking her on daddy-daughter dates, teaching her how to make espr… cookies, how to behave appropriately, etc. 

This tension of having a something already be a reality but not a full reality is exactly the same sort of tensions Christians have felt through the ages. We are currently experiencing the reality that God’s Kingdom is being injected into the world, but it has not been fully realized. Bible scholars and theologians refer to this phenomena as the “already/not yet eschatology.” The word eschatology comes from the Greek word “eschatos” which means ‘final’ and “logos” which means ‘word/reason’ so eschatology is the reasoning (study) of final things, sometimes called the “end times.”

Eschatology, in Evangelicalism, has unfortunately taken on a very “Left Behind” vibe, where the Antichrist will come and some nation, likely some communist country like Russia (wait, they aren’t communist anymore?) or China, will rise up to make the world into a “One World Government.” This paranoia of “the beast” and all sorts of crazy prophecies of Christians coming under intense persecution and such, while having some Biblical merit (highly dependent on how you read Apocalyptic literature in the Bible), strips away much of the important value to studying eschatology from our lives. For the longest time I completely avoided eschatology because there are so many interpretations (some people think Revelation is a prophecy where John was predicting modern technology… other people see many of the forward thinking prophecies as being already fulfilled) and so many people will call you a heretic for having a different interpretation than they do. However, since attending Northwest University, I’ve come to appreciate eschatology in a much deeper way. 

When Christ came to the Earth he began the process of eschatology, the process of God restoring the Earth to the way it was in Eden. Luke 11:20 tells us that with Christ came the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God (Matthew generally refers to it as the Kingdom of Heaven to avoid offending Jewish readers because the name of God was to be used sparingly) is where God’s will is done- both “on Earth… and in Heaven.” The Kingdom of God is now, when Christians gather together to celebrate Jesus, we are participating in the Kingdom of God. When Christians feed the widow and orphan, we are participating in the Kingdom of God. When we comfort the downtrodden and marginalized, we are participating in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God exists now. 

But it is not fully here. We still live in a world marked by brokenness and suffering. We still taste pain and hurt. We still see injustice in the world. We cannot see God’s perfect Kingdom just yet. But it is coming. God will restore our earth from the brokenness we have caused. Through Adam came sin into the whole world, but through Christ sin will be removed- and has been removed! This fallen world we live in will be restored to paradise- we will live in good relationships, we will not harm the Earth, we will not experience sickness, suffering, or pain.

Just like I am a father but not yet a father, so too is this world restored and not yet restored. Take hope! The day is coming where we will experience completion and joy, just like the day is coming where I will get to hold my baby girl in my arms and teach her about God’s graces in this world.

 

30 Hour Famine Recap

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  1. Here’s a recap I wrote up for our youth ministry’s 30 Hour Famine event- I posted this via Storify.
    When students first showed up to Hope Church in Everett, WA on May 18th, they walked in the door and checked in. When they checked in they received 1 cup, a “tribe” to be in, and a disability.
  2. MaxwellAMooney
    30 Hour Famine. You. Should. Be. Here. (at Hope Church) — http://path.com/p/295S8L
    Maxwell Mooney
    Fri, May 18 2012 20:45:34
  3. The cup had to be kept the entire event, symbolizing the limited resources often available for those in destitute poverty. The “tribe” they were a part of was their group that they were a part of, each tribe was named after a country World Vision is working in. Finally, each student had a disability that they had to work with during certain activities over the weekend- this was representative of the disabilities that many malnourished people have to overcome just to get food. A sample of the disabilities: healthiness, weakness imposed by hunger, weakened knees, partially working hands, muteness, and blindness.

    One of the first things each tribe had to do was to create a flag for their tribe.

  4. 30 Hour Famine flag
    MaxwellAMooney
    Tue, May 29 2012 20:00:00
  5. After the tribes made their flags, they had to head outside to erect their shelters for the night. The activity was centered around cardboard- a staple for many low-income shelters. This was filled with much “creative bending of the guidelines” with some teams using rope, trees, fence structures, and even one team lead by one Mr. Mike Lee breaking out PVC pipe and powertools.

  6. 30HRF 6
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00

  7. 30HRF 5
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00

  8. 30HRF 8
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00

  9. 30HRF 3
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00

  10. 30 HRF 2
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00

  11. 30 Hour Famine 1
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00

  12. 30HRF 7
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00
  13. After the building of the shelters, we had a short juice break, then we engaged in “Disabled Kickball” where we had a game of kickball in which every student was effected by their disability. The blind were definitely at a disadvantage during this particular event!

  14. 30HRF 9
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00

  15. 30HRF 10
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00
  16. Students standing in the kicking line

  17. 30HRF 11
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00
  18. Pastor Beau provided hilarious commentary.

  19. 30HRF 12
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00
  20. After Disabled Kickball, we had a couple of relay races to get water into a pitcher using only one small cup. This represented the often difficult journey to fetch water that many have to take in poor countries.After the relay race, we learned about many of the issues that affect those entrenched in poverty and how World Vision has been able to address many of the systemic issues that developing nations face. After watching informative videos (and some not so informative. WE spent some time watching HomeStarRunner videos) we settled in for the night. Some students chose to sleep in the shelters they built. Others chose to sleep in the building. And some who slept outside deserted for the inside.That morning, those who slept outside were awoken rather abruptly thanks to Pastor Beau and the crew blasting some classic 90’s music, blowing air horns, and rushing the shelters were people were sleeping. The rest of the day was spent busily cleaning up the church and preparing for the days events.

    We split up into two groups: one group headed down to Seattle to pass out sack lunches to homeless folks, the other group did a canned food drive by going door to door asking folks for contributions.

    The Seattle crew went to Pioneer square where all of the sack lunches (close to 150 of them) were gone within 5 minutes. Then they met a group from another church that was providing lunch for the homeless and sharing the Gospel with them. We helped out by cleaning and singing Amazing Grace with them.

  21. 30HRF Seattle2
    MaxwellAMooney
    Mon, Apr 30 2012 20:00:00
  22. The canned food group was able to bring in over 400 pounds of canned food! An impressive feat indeed! The food was donated to the Everett Food bank, so we were able to provide direct relief for local needs as well.The whole event was a huge success. Students were able to raise money (EFC youth raised over $200!!!) and awareness for global poverty, but they were also able to help with local poverty and hunger, which is also a massive issue. Overall, 30 Hour Famine was a powerful testimony of the ability of students’ making a difference in the world by being Jesus with skin, and bringing the life of Christ to their community and world.Blessings,

    Max

  23. Update: The official 30 Hour Famine twitter account Retweeted this article. Many thanks to Pastor Beau and crew for putting together such a great event!
  24. 30HF
    Thanks for sharing your weekend with us! Great ideas for Famine Leaders! RT @maxwellamooney: 30HF recap here: http://sfy.co/11gn #30HF
    30 Hour Famine
    Wed, May 30 2012 17:05:11