Our family enjoys watching professional football and, although we're primarily Denver Bronco fans, we're looking forward to the Super Bowl. I am always glad to hear professional players who honor God. Here's a clip from the New Orleans Saints quarterback, Drew Brees:

Manhattan Declaration

I signed the Manhattan Declaration in December but received a letter from them this week. The authors are hoping to collect a million signatures. Here are portions of the letter they have sent out, alerting Christians to this opportunity:

Dear colleague,

Thank you for your support of the Manhattan Declaration.

It is off to an amazing start - over 370,000 signers and growing. And it is indeed historic: Evangelicals, Catholics, Anglicans, and Eastern Orthodox Christians uniting to give common witness to the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage, and religious liberty for all persons.

But we need your help: our goal is one million signatures.

The marketing pros tell us we will never get to a million signatures without expensive advertising. But we want to prove them wrong. And we can: just think if each person who has signed the Declaration were to get just two others to sign. That would be one million people standing arm in arm in defense of the most vital moral truths in our society.

Remember, too, we are not just collecting signatures; we seek a movement of people defending the truth in the public square. We are already witnessing signs of this: Christians in Mobile, Alabama called us 13 days before Christmas to tell us they were planning a large ecumenical gathering for the 23rd of December. I (Chuck Colson) agreed to speak. At 6:00 AM on December 23, 2,000 citizens, led by clergy from all over the city, gathered in a packed hall in the Convention Center for a rousing rally. Seldom have I seen so much excitement in one room - and all of this was accomplished just by word of mouth with only 11 days to organize!

Just ten days ago, Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia, Archbishop Wuerl of Washington, DC, Archbishop Dolan of New York and Archbishop Kurtz of Louisville reached out to all of their brother Catholic bishops asking them to spread this document throughout their dioceses and encourage their clergy and faithful to study it and join as signatories.

The Archbishop of Detroit has planned a grassroots effort throughout his archdiocese. The Bishop of Phoenix has already organized a grassroots effort there.

We are also receiving many reports of evangelical gatherings in a number of areas - and many evangelical pastors referring to the Manhattan Declaration in their sermons.

As with any grassroots movement, the strength and energy has to come from the people. We have no staff and limited budget. We're people who care passionately and deeply about life, marriage, and liberty. So here's what we are asking you to do.

1. Pray fervently. Great movements of faith have always spread on the wings of prayer.
2. Know the issues. If you study this Declaration - and a study guide is available on our website - then you can winsomely explain and defend it to your neighbors and friends. The document itself makes a great apologetic defense for these moral truths.
3. Look for resources on this website as we're able to post them, and search the websites of the Christian organizations that offer resources in these three areas. You can see the names of the various leaders who have signed the Declaration and then visit their websites.
4. Of utmost importance, get your own church involved. As pastors preach, the movement will spread. Prayer meetings and Bible studies on the Declaration are being conducted in many churches, which is a great step.

Just think what might happen in our land if one million courageous Christians declared their uncompromising allegiance to Jesus Christ and to biblical faithfulness on some of the most urgent moral issues of our day.

May God give us the strength to do what He is so clearly calling us to do. From our perspective, this is a cause worth giving every last ounce of effort and energy we have.

Dr. Robert George
Dr. Timothy George
Chuck Colson

ManhattanDeclaration.org

Judging Jenny

You may know Jenny’s story better than I do, but it’s familiar to all of us. Jenny was not only pretty but talented and drew lots of attention from admirers during junior high and high school. She never lacked for boyfriends, opportunities or invitations to parties.

You know where this is going. The parties became an obsession. First it was the drinking (“Everybody does it,” she reasoned. “Harmless.”) Then she sampled some pot. Eventually her family was devastated to hear she was hooked on meth, making bizarre upsetting decisions.

Their once-beautiful daughter was skeletal, eyes sunk deep in her face and a twitch wracking her hands. While they raged, she digging herself deeper into addictions and a bad batch of friends.

Once the "Jennys" were the backstreet junkies but now they are the cheerleader, the quarterback, the poet. Maybe they’re in the youth group or at our family reunion.

What to do? I’m not trained as a counselor and I don’t run a detox unit. But in crisis, I can stand up for troubled youth, supporting them in love and prayer and directing them to resources equipped to help them.

I remember well Paul’s words to the Romans, who were disgusted with the sensual lusting of others: “Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself.” (Romans 2:1 The Message)

To a woman caught in the act of adultery, Jesus said, “Neither do I [condemn you]. Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11)

Rather than judging, we ought to be pointing the way to life and restoration.

You do probably know Jenny’s story well. Because her real name is Britney Spears.

Chameleon strategies

Those cartoon chameleons didn’t have anything on us today. Remember how they could blend in with the background, whether it was green, red or polka dotted? The plaid background gave them fits but they managed it somehow.

I wrestle with that question of blending in. I feel like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, trying to balance the issues: on one hand, it is good to be separate from the world. God commanded his new nation of Israel to be holy (separate for a purpose) and not blend in with the surrounding nations.

On the other hand, I see Jesus entering the world as a man, putting on skin to communicate and touch and save.

He did his work and then he left us here to figure out this chameleon thing. I’ve heard the arguments: be in the world but not of the world…our citizenship is in heaven….our battle is different from the world’s battle.

I’ve ministered with people who walked so close to the edge of this “on the other hand” thing that they fell over. Like that chameleon, they blended in so well that they became.

And I’ve ministered with people who so embraced separatism that they had no voice with their friends and neighbors. They became a clanging cymbal, unheard and irrelevant.

How do I speak the language of new and strange cultures without becoming?

There are no formulas here and I’m not a chameleon wrestling with the blue and yellow plaids. I follow Jesus.

Jesus was in the world, offering what no one else was offering: life. Some got it and some didn’t, but he never stopped offering life.

A chameleon focuses on the background but Jesus focused on the goal.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matt. 11:28

Voicing the celebration

Silence. Some 400 years had crept by without a prophetic peep. God’s people had suffered through the reign of the Greeks, raised a Jewish revolt (led by the Maccabee family) and enjoyed some self-rule before the Romans blanketed Palestine.

All without a new word from God.

But the time of silence was ending. An angel appeared to a priest with a message from God. New words from the Creator King were spoken in the temple to Zechariah, who doubted and was stricken with more silence while others were given new words.

New words came from a pregnant Elizabeth, who rejoiced in God’s blessing.

"The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."

Luke 1:25

Mary celebrated after Gabriel revealed the miracle on incarnation. Words could barely capture her joy.

My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me--
holy is his name.

Luke 1:46-49

Even Zechariah, relieved of his temporary muteness, burst into exultant song:

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come and has redeemed his people.

Luke 1:68

But that was nothing compared to the angels, who tumbled out of heaven in a magnificent ecstasy, proclaiming the most-amazing birth announcement ever made:

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2:14

God brought out the full choir and orchestra for this delivery.

But the words hadn’t stopped. Simeon, that faithful and devout Jerusalem Jew, was alerted by God to meet Mary and Joseph at the temple. On seeing the baby, he celebrated:

For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."

Luke 2:30-32

Words seemed the most appropriate way to celebrate this new birth, this revelation and glory that had come to earth. The plan was unfolding in the midst of song and prophecy.

We are on the cusp of Christmas, abuzz with gift-wrapping and fudge-making. We, as followers of Jesus, have chosen this season to celebrate the birth of our Savior, although there’s no indication that he was actually born on December 25. It’s a day we chose to celebrate.

So let’s celebrate! Do your words – and do mine – dance as Mary’s did? Do we throw our arms to heaven as Elizabeth sang? Do we tumble forward to praise God for his grace?

Can we be, like Anna, give thanks to God and speak about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:38

May these be days of song, of words of delight and joy. Glory to God in the highest!

Reaching out

Harry was determined to love his new neighbors and so, at every opportunity, he chatted with the people in the cul-de-sac where he’d just moved. He and his wife took cookies around the neighborhood and he traded jokes with the kids on their bikes.

One Saturday morning, little Julie Anderson stopped by the garage where he was cleaning his garden tools. “Could you come to our house tomorrow morning for an Easter party? We’re going to do an Easter egg hunt?”

Harry gently refused. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Our family will be in church tomorrow morning.”

Julie was shocked. “Why would you go to church on Easter?”

Reaching out today takes a new language, a fresh conversation. Harry was able to explain the connection between church and Easter but a young child who didn’t know anything about Jesus and Easter took him back. We have to find new ways to talk to people who don't know the basics of churchianity.

Here’s a link from Christianity Today about Starbucks evangelism.

At Allelon, there’s a discussion about consumerism and the church.

As to the difference between evangelism and witness, see this post.

Note that I don’t necessarily endorse every idea in these articles, but think they are good springboards for further conversation about ideas for reaching out in our culture. Let the conversation begin!

A time as this

April had her baby yesterday. April is a radio newscaster in Denver and so the arrival of her firstborn brought lots of comments from her fellow broadcasters. But this time those comments were a little different.

“God bless,” said the sports guy. “Best wishes to April and son,” said the weatherman. “Be praying for them.”

It looks like Jeanne Assam brought God to Colorado yesterday. (Here’s a link to her news conference.)

On Sunday, Colorado was rocked by a gunman who first walked into the Youth With a Mission headquarters in Arvada to kill two missionaries there. He then traveled about an hour south to Colorado Springs where he apparently planned a major assault on New Life Church during the Sunday morning worship time.

Matthew Murray carried two handguns, an assault rifle, and over 1000 rounds of ammunition into the east entrance of New Life Church.

There he met Jeanne Assam, a member of New Life Church and a trained and armed security officer. “I knew I had been given the assignment to end this before it got too much worse,” Assam said.

It was a David and Goliath situation. “God was with me,” Jeanne said calmly at a press conference yesterday. “This has got to be God because of the firepower he (Murray) had versus what I had... I did not run away and I did not think for a minute to run away.”

Jeanne was in the last day of a three-day fast, weak from an intense time seeking God’s direction, when she faced Murray. “I was weak and where I was weak he made me strong. He protected me and many other people. I’m honored that God chose me.”

Journalists reported her words: “God was with me and I asked him to be with me and he never left my side.”

For the moment, it’s somewhat fashionable in Colorado to honor God’s name. Where many like to link God to fearful legalists, they had to face a woman of courage who saved countless lives by trusting in God’s presence to protect her.

Haman once told his beautiful niece Esther: “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this." (Esth 4:14)

Jeanne Assam may have been raised up for just a time as this.

Friday Five: Witnesses

About witnesses…..

Make known among the nations what he has done.

1 Chron 16:8

You are my witnesses," declares the LORD,
"and my servant whom I have chosen,

Isaiah 43:10

So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

Mark 5:20

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;

and you will be my witnesses

Acts 1:8

They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.

Rev 12:11