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All posts for the month October, 2009

Scriptures That Bother Me — Hebrews 1:3

Posted by Jim Thornber on October 27, 2009
Posted in: Religion, Service, Worship. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 10 Comments

Got Character?

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (Hebrews 1:3)

coinA few years ago, a church I attended in Arkansas hosted a Thanksgiving service, which served to raise money for the ministerial alliance. The alliance asked our church to lead in the praise and worship, and I played the piano on the worship team. Looking over the congregation, I noted a pastor from another church who, no matter what we sang, refused to either clap his hands or raise them in worship. He simply sat in his pew with his arms folded.  That struck me as strange, because outside of church he was a happy, vivacious, demonstrative man.

I have never been known for my extreme subtly or bashfulness, so as we gathered for refreshments after the service, I questioned him his about posture. “Why, when Scripture instructs you to lift up holy hands to the Lord, and you have a chance to do so in a public service, did you sit with your arms folded across your chest?”

“Well, you see,” he began to stammer and laugh, “I’m a . . . .” and he named his denomination. I cut him off and said, “Are you a denomination first or a Christian first?”

At this point, he began to look around for help from the people who had gathered, including my pastor. He asked, “Is he always like this?” to which my pastor replied, “Hey, he’s going easy on you.” Everybody gathered around laughed.

It is sad that many church members (or goers) around the world are more concerned with offending their denomination and the people in the next pew than they are in obeying the Word of God. Continue Reading

God Is Thinking Of Me?

Posted by Jim Thornber on October 20, 2009
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Spiritual Gifts. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand”— Psalm 139:17-18

ThinkerI like the honesty of King David. Up until verse sixteen of Psalm 139, David is contemplating ways he could hide from God. (I’ve done that – I just don’t readily admit it.)

Then David realizes that there is no place in the Universe he can go to avoid God.  He even concludes that God knew Him and counted all of his days while he was still forming inside his mother’s body. After meditating upon all of this, David finally says, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!” As this Psalm clearly shows, the thoughts of God have been resting upon David, and David tells us that those thoughts are more numerous than the grains of sand (vs. 18).

Think about that. God has more thoughts about you than there are grains of sand on the earth. And those are precious thoughts, not angry, disappointing thoughts.

God is thinking about His creation, and His thoughts are precious as they pertain to man—so precious, in fact, that God has chosen to crown man with glory and honor (Ps. 8:4-5; Heb. 2:7) and to one day set his stature eternally above that of heavenly beings.

When we truly understand that God is thinking precious and positive thoughts about us, and even wants us to live crowned with glory and honor, not burdened with sin and shame, will it change our way of life? Continue Reading

Scriptures That Bother Me — Galatians 5:6

Posted by Jim Thornber on October 15, 2009
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion, Worship. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

The Faith To Love

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galatians 5:6

faithI’ve been around Christians and Christianity for thirty-five years now. I’ve been associated with Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic and non-denominational organizations and churches. I’ve seen mysterious, authentic movements of God’s Spirit that have transformed people’s lives, and had conversations with pseudo-religious nuts who proclaimed they were the only ones who held true to “The One True Faith.” It’s been a wild ride.

Since I was saved in the 70’s, I’m quite familiar with the Faith movement. You know, those who liked to “name” their blessing and “claim” it in Jesus’ name. However, Galatians 5:6 sets that idea on its head, for Paul says that the ultimate expression of faith is not for the accumulation of things, but to express itself through love.

Scripture does not encourage us to have faith for prosperity, ministry, jobs, success, popularity, houses, the newest cell phone or a huge 401k. True, we are to have faith for our “daily bread,” but mostly we need to have a faith that expresses itself through love.

Continue Reading

Scriptures That Bother Me — John 13:1,4

Posted by Jim Thornber on October 13, 2009
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Service. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

Tale Of The Towel

BEFORE the Passover Feast began, Jesus knew (was fully aware) that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. And as He had loved those who were His own in the world, He loved them to the last and]to the highest degree. . . .took off His garments, and taking a [servant’s] towel, He fastened it around His waist (John 13:1,4, Amplified).

Jesus washes feetPerhaps the best-known passage that shows us the servant heart of Jesus is John 13, where we see our Lord and Savior, the creator through whom God made the universe, washing feet.

Jesus was fully aware of who He was in God, where He was from, and where He was going. As such, He was not serving His disciples while He waited for God to bring Him into His “real” ministry. He didn’t wash feet as a way of passing the time before He got on with His studies at Seminary or waited for His first call to pastor a church (those are the things I would do). Service was at the heart of the life Jesus laid down for His friends.

What challenges me most about this episode is the fact that Jesus gave credibility and integrity to what He did because of who He was, while most of us are inclined to get that backwards. We have the tendency to define who we are by what we do. For example, if you go to any gathering or social event and meet somebody new, watch how long it takes for one of you to ask, “So, what do you do for a living?” Most of us define and categorize ourselves not by who we are in God, but by what we do in life. But in Luke 9:18-20, Jesus did not ask His disciples, “What do the crowds say I do?”, but “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

We must all ask a similar question: “Who does God say that I am?” Continue Reading

Changed by Worship

Posted by Jim Thornber on October 8, 2009
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Worship. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

For four years I was an Assemblies of God minister and a monk with the Brothers and Sisters of Charity at the Little Portion Hermitage. This is an excerpt from an unpublished book I’ve written called Taking Off My Comfortable Clothes.

upper roomPerhaps it is just me, but I don’t think the believers in Acts 2 were very surprised when the wind blew and shook the upper room when the disciples gathered for prayer and worship.  Jesus said, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matt. 18:20). Would you really expect God to enter a room and not make just a little bit of noise? When God arrives, change is in the air.

When I was a monk, we gathered in the chapel at the Little Portion with an expectancy that we would meet with God. The physical acts of worship — kneeling, standing, raising our hands, making the sign of the cross — are designed to involve the whole person in a spiritual act of worship. We cannot separate the spiritual from the physical. Any truly spiritual act will find an expression through our bodies, whether that be in raising our hands as we sing of God’s glory, or stretching out our hands to serve those less fortunate.

You may think it very spiritual to be a monk or a nun who spends most of their days in prayer and contemplation of God. But I know of no monastic tradition, even those who spend up to 19 hours a day alone with God, where no work is done. Please do not get the impression that you’d be more spiritual if you didn’t have a job to go to and all that was required of you was to sit in a comfortable chair and worship God while heavenly music played in the background. Continue Reading

New Pastor, New Responsibilities

Posted by Jim Thornber on October 1, 2009
Posted in: Spiritual Gifts. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 5 Comments

Pastor Jim signLook at that picture. Yep, that’s me. “Pastor” Jim Thornber. Even though I see the title, I truly do not comprehend the immensity of it all.

In a previous article called Saying Goodbye To My Beautiful Title, I wrote, “It is amazing how complete is the delusion that titles equals significance.” I’m not any more significant now that I’ve got a title once again – I’m more responsible.

Before my election as pastor, only a handful of people looked to me for wisdom, advice, direction, guidance, vision, counseling, etc. Now an entire church is waiting for waterfalls of wisdom to come pouring out. And that thought makes me want to crawl into a hole and hide.

Being a pastor of a church is a calling that is bigger than any one person. No single individual can be the leader of a congregation. Therefore, the local church needs every member to use their gifts for the Kingdom’s sake or we will never fulfill the King’s agenda. As I try to wrap my brain around the enormous task ahead of me, I realize that now, more than ever, I need every gift and talent God has brought to this small congregation He has guided me to. And your church needs you, too.

After installation service, with Bishop Drake. A good looking couple, eh?

After installation service, with Bishop Drake. A good looking couple, eh?

After I found out I was the pastor of Cathedral of Praise, I wrote on my Facebook page, “Pastoring is not an arrival. It is just a pulling into the station of your destination where the real work begins.” There is a lot of work ahead of us in our small congregation. But even if you are part of a mega-church, you still have a part to play. I encourage you to find your part and use your God-given gifts for God’s glory. And believe me when I tell you, your pastor will appreciate it.