The Church That Meets in Beverly

Pentecostalism in Cuba?

jcoopbrowning — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:35:41 +0000

Found this article this morning on WBUR. I found it pretty interesting. The global spread of Pentecostalism is unprecedented, especially outside of the U.S. Read how it’s spreading in Cuba. http://bit.ly/9QfSvq

Being a Disciple…

jcoopbrowning — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:31:47 +0000

“Being a disciple of Jesus is not primarily a matter of getting the right ideas and doctrines and beliefs into your head in order to guarantee proper behavior; rather, it’s a matter of being the kind of person who loves rightly- who loves God and neighbor and is orientated to the world by the primacy of that love. We are made to be such people by our immersion in the material practices of Christian worship- through affective impact, over time, of sights and smell in water and wine.”- James K.A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview and Cultural Formation

A Quote From St. Augustine

jcoopbrowning — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:31:29 +0000

St. Augustine was arguably one of the greatest thinkers in the history of the Church. Here’s one of my favorite quotes from one of Augustine’s most well known book, The Confessions:

“You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.”- Augustine of Hippo, 4th Century AD

The Relational God

jcoopbrowning — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 11:17:06 +0000

“Because the Christian God is not a lonely God, but rather a communion of three persons, faith leads human beings into the divine communio. One cannot, however, have a self-enclosed communion with the Triune God- a “foursome,” as it were– for the Christian God is not a private deity. Communion with this God is at once also communion with those others who have entrusted themselves in faith to the same God. Hence one and the same act of faith places a person into a new relationship both with God and with all others who stand in communion with God.”- Miroslav Volf, After our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity

Missions

jcoopbrowning — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:06:27 +0000

“This trinitarian grounding of mission should make clear that God and not the church is the primary subject and source of mission. Advocacy is what the church is about, being God’s advocate in the world. The church must therefore begin its mission with doxology, otherwise everything peters out into social activism and aimless programs.”- Carl E. Braaten

A Quick Prayer…

jcoopbrowning — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:05:27 +0000

This was the daily prayer for this morning in “The Paraclete Psalter”.

Loving heavenly Father,
you are beyond knowing, but for your revelation in Jesus Christ your Son.
Teach us at all times to fear and love your holy name,
for you never withdraw your guiding hand from those you establish in your love.
We as this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

I highly recommend checking out “The Paraclete Psalter”. It’s a great resource to have that can help us keep a regular schedule of praying and spending time with God. When used daily, you’ll work through the Psalms on a four week cycle. Check it out!

The Paraclete Psalter

A bit of wisdom…

jcoopbrowning — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:11:28 +0000

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Proverbs 3.3

Pastoral Reflections

jcoopbrowning — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:39:29 +0000

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking and meditating on what we need to possess right now to be a “healthy” church… I also realize that the idea of a “healthy church” and what that is, is pretty subjective for many pastors. I’ve been journaling my prayers lately (which up until two months ago, I never would have thought I’d ever do that) and here’s a snippet of what I wrote down yesterday….

Prayers for a healthy church…

1. Love and wisdom.
2. Vision- give us a vision for who You want us to be as a church and how we can serve the community of Beverly
3. Humility
4. Tenacity
5. Steadfastness in the midst of chaos, suffering or the ups and downs of life.
6. People who desire to be changed and transformed by your Gospel of grace, redemption and love.
7. Servants hearts for the members of our community
8. That we would strive to honor each other and seek redemption and reconciliation when we wound each other.
9. A passion for the town of the Beverly and its precious inhabitants.
10. A few more people to come aboard and eventually help shoulder the load of leadership and discipleship.
11. That our church would be dedicated to prayer and the meditation of scripture.
12. Spiritual protection

Lord hear our prayer….

-JcB.

A Glimpse of Redemption

jcoopbrowning — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:12:26 +0000

“When the world looks at the Church, God wants them to see a vision of what a redeemed humanity can look like.”

- Anonymous

Bonhoeffer on Prayer

jcoopbrowning — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:24:17 +0000

Dietrich Bonhoeffer has been, and continues to be, a great influence on my thinking and my theology. This week we’ll begin praying through the Book of Psalms as part of our “Bible Read Through”. While prepping for this week, I came across this quote in Bonhoeffer’s book, The Prayerbook of the Bible.

“The child learns to speak because the parent speaks to the child. The child learns the language of the parent. So we learn to speak to God because God has spoken and speaks to us. In the language of the Father in heaven God’s children learn to speak with God. Repeating God’s own words, we begin to pray to God. We ought to speak to God, and God wishes to hear us, not in the false and confused language our heart but in the clear and pure language that God has spoken to us in Jesus Christ.

God’s speech in Jesus Christ meets us in the Holy Scriptures. If we want to pray with assurance and joy, then the word of Holy Scripture must be the firm foundation of our prayer. Here we know that Jesus Christ, the Word of God, teaches us to pray. The words that come from God will be the steps on which we find our way to God.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer