I have a new book out called Death By Church. I am a bit embarrassed to do this, but it got a great review in Publishers Weekly and I was so excited that I had to share it! Please forgive me :)

Death by Church: Rescuing Jesus from HisFollowers, Recapturing God’s Hope for His People Michael Erre. HarvestHouse, $13.99 paper (250p) ISBN 978-0-7369-2496-2

Entertainment-oriented. Hypocritical. Idolatrous. Consumerist. A mess. These are only some of the terms Erre uses to describe the plight of the church incontemporary American culture. A teaching pastor at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa, Calif., and author of The Jesus of Suburbia, Erre delves into the Bible and church history to make the case that the church needs to recover its communal, subversive, confrontational, countercultural truth-telling mission of incarnating “the upside-down way of the kingdom of God.” Drawing on the writings of scholars in and outside of the evangelical tradition, the writer takes a fresh and compelling look at how a kingdom-focused community would approach such Christian fundamentals as mission, worship, evangelism, the Eucharist and apologetics. A culturally marginalized church, he argues, can still be a place of hope, engaging theworld and pointing to God’s rule. While ceding no ground on traditional Christian doctrine, this thought-provoking book is a powerful bill of indictment and an inspirational template for church reformation that may resonate with believers and nonbelievers alike. A too brief postscript offers suggestions for clergy who want to create the “kingdom-focused” church in their own congregations. (Jan.)

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He's here! Seth Erre (or, as my daughter calls him sef-e-sef)  arrived the day after Christmas. We delivered at UCI Medical Center and Seth ended up staying a week in their NICU. Mom's C-section went well as did surgery to correct Seth's intestines. He and momma are home now and we are adjusting to life with 3 kids.

 I have been learning a lot. He has Down Syndrome. Despite our prayers, God saw fit to give him to us in this way. I have learned that 92% of the people who receive the diagnosis we did, when we did, choose to "terminate" their pregnancy. Over the last 10 years, the numbers of Down Syndrome births has plummeted dramatically as technology has increased to the point where genetic disorders can be diagnosed earlier in the pregnancy. 

To be honest, I can't believe anyone would turn one of these little ones down. Seth is amazing and God has given us the grace to be completely joyful that he is here. It is so much easier for me to deal with him face to face, rather than just working through the implications of some abstract diagnosis. God has been faithful to answer our prayers: a short hospital stay, red hair (my wife asked for this so he would look like our other two kids), no complications from surgery, and no sign of the many long term health complications that often accompany  this disorder. 

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I am incredibly blessed by your comments. Thank you very much for your wisdom and concern.

The author of Ecclesiastes writes, "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart " (7:2). Two verses later, he says something similar: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure."

Most of us believe this to be true (at least in an abstract sort of way). At funerals, people are often more open to thinking of significant issues and eternal things.  Gravesides, nursing homes and hospitals confront us with questions regarding the ultimate meaning and purpose of human life. Certainly, this has to be part of what the writer of Ecclesiastes means. It seems obvious that when we consider the end of our lives it (should) effect how we live today. But I have wondered if there isn't more to it than this. 

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Attached is a pdf chapter of my newest book "Death by Church."  I hope you enjoy it. Blessings.

Mike 

In the gospel of Luke, the most familiar account of the Christmas story—the one most commonly read in churches and homes—is firmly rooted in history.  The narrative begins, “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken” (Luke 2:1).  Luke’s mention of Augustus isn’t incidental or minor.  It sets the whole backdrop for the Christmas story.

Augustus was known as the “Savior” of the Roman Empire, bringing “peace” and “salvation” to his subjects.  He was called the “Lord” and came to be worshiped as god on earth.  Roman citizens were commanded to pray to him and offer sacrifices.  Temples and shrines were built in his name.  The census ordered by Augustus was one of the ways he controlled the empire.  By demanding taxes (or tribute, more specifically), Caesar could provide for his far-flung armies as well as humiliate the peoples under Roman “peace” by reminding them they lived at the will of Rome.

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This is a stunning visual display of what Americans consume...seems appropriate in light of the 475 billion dollars we'll spend between Thanksgiving and Christmas...

 http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php

Thanks to those of you who have commented - I appreciate your responses.  I know it sounds obvious, but I want to start by simply noting that grief is an appropriate response to much of life in a fallen world. I feel compelled to start here because there seems to be an undercurrent in the Christian community that real grief - the kind that isn't to be expressed in polite company - is somehow a demonstration of a lack of faith in God's goodness or his purposes. I received an email recently that began, "There are worse things than having a downs syndrome baby...." And yep, they're right.  But dang, do you lead off by telling a woman who's been raped that there are worse things that could have happened? Or by telling a cancer patient that at least they don't have heart disease? Why lead with that? Especially when this person has two perfectly healthy children...

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My wife and I have two children. Nathan is five and Hannah is three. We have a third child, Seth, who is due later this month. On September 18th we learned that Seth has Down Syndrome. We knew the odds for Downs increase a couple grows older, but we were not at all ready for this diagnosis. 

 We had already been dealing with some developmental issues with one of our other kids, and so we were especially hurt/grieved/angry/disappointed on hearing this news.  For the last couple of months (and the last couple of years, really), I have been thinking about what it means to grieve and how little we in the American church know how to comfort those who are grieving. 

As a pastor, part of my role is to (try to) bring comfort and hope to those who are troubled.  But having lived a bit as one who needs comforted, I have a little different perspective.

Adam and Eve had it good! Living together (naked, no less!), in perfect union with each other and God in a garden whose name meant “delight.” No guilt, no shame, no grief, and no death.

There was only one restriction: don’t eat of the fruit of a specific tree. In a garden full of “yeses’ there was only one ‘no.’ Of course, we know how the story goes. The tempter comes and his first move is to direct their attention to the one thing they couldn’t  have.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

Human nature hasn’t changed much since then. We can have a life full of blessing, but our temptation will still be to focus on what we don’t have or can’t do.  Why is it that ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ are two of the hardest words to teach our kids?

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