A Blog by Jason Salamun

Churches should be like bars and keep an endless supply of grace on tap.

To a parched world, this life often feels like you’ve been working atop a roof on a scorching, hot day.

Churches can either offer an ice cold drink of grace…

Some sour, warm milk of religion…

Or nothing at all.

Too many offer the latter options.

We need more who offer the first.

Churches are to be paragons of grace.

What is the church but a people united by the gospel of grace found in Jesus?

On the cross, the keg of God’s grace was tapped and is available to all.

Forever overflowing into the empty steins of our lives and churches for a reason:

To receive it and share with others.

People can find better products and services elsewhere.

Better communicators, musicians, facilities, production, children’s environments, you name it.

But no one and nothing should outgrace us!

When two become one flesh and express their love through intimacy it may be the most harmonious and wondrous acts we humans can experience.

It’s profoundly beautiful.

It’s a gracious gift from the Creator to his beloved creation to be enjoyed.

The tragedy is how scandalously we’ve treated the gift of sexuality.

Religion has stained it with stigmas, limits, and regulations.

Self-centeredness has emptied it of its potential for meaning, beauty, and love.

What if we embraced the gift as it should be?

Two becoming one.

Naked and unashamed.

Hearts in harmony, bodies in rhythm, eyes in ecstasy.

Seeking to please one another, enjoy one another, for one another.

Marriage is the canvas in which we paint exotic portraits of passion.

We have liberty to explore new colors, try new shapes, or use familiar strokes.

Free from the shallow waters of self-interest and the nasty skid marks of religiosity.

Like heat is an expression of the sun, sexuality, like all of life, is to be an expression of the gospel.

The gospel calls us to live not for ourselves, but for others, beginning in our relationships.

We love recklessly knowing we drink from the endless fountain of God’s love.

Gospeling one another in everyday moments leads to gospeling one another in our intimate moments- and this produces magical moments.

The essence of gospel sex is this:  Love first.

We love first because Christ first loved us.

The raging waterfall of gospel sex comes from the rushing river of God’s love.

Our capacity to love one another is deeper than we can dream, more vivid than we can envision, and more exciting than we can imagine.

Our challenge as husbands and wives is to be selfless, passionate lovers who desires our beloved, cares for our beloved, and continually pursues our beloved for the rest of our lives.

All to the glory of God.

For years, evangelical moralists said Christians shouldn’t read Harry Potter or watch the movies.

Lest his superpowers provoke our children to become witches and wizards.

Curiously, the moralists aren’t outraged by the magic in Chronicles of Narnia or the powers of Superman.

The real issue is a lack of imagination.

The ring in Lord of the Rings isn’t really about the ring.

The Veggies in VeggieTales isn’t really about the vegetables.

The magic in Harry Potter isn’t really about the magic.

It’s art.

Art (and literature) often use symbolism and metaphor to communicate something else.

This is what makes the fantasy and superhero genre so popular.

People enjoy searching for meaning.

And there’s plenty of it in Harry Potter.

That said, I’m not going to say yes or no to Harry Potter.

I’m not a moralist. I’m a Christian.

I would say go with your conscience.

I do believe God is a big God and that every story, intentional or not, is wrapped up in his story.

We just need the eyes to see it.

Besides, the real danger of Mr. Potter doesn’t lie in his magic.

It lies in his influence on culture through fashion:

The dark-rimmed glasses.

Its obvious there’s a grand conspiracy and no one is safe.

Christians from bible college students to middle-aged pastors in mega-churches sport them.

Even poor Rob Bell has fallen victim.

This atrocity must stop.

For the sake of the children.

To Jerks for Jesus from a recovering Jerk for Jesus.

You know who you are.

You quarrel over opinions.

You poke at others with your nit-picky stick of religion.

You sit in castles of exegesis and rarely mingle among the villagers.

You are a jerk for Jesus.

You dissect every word of the preacher and every fault of the people.

You argue the finer points of theology with a knowing grin on your face.

You proclaim your criticisms in the public square about people you don’t even know.

You are a jerk for Jesus.

You believe you’re to watch for the missteps of others.

You talk of your own sin in the past tense.

You are a soldier of destruction, not an engineer of edification.

You are a jerk for Jesus.

You are a coward who hides behind keyboards, big words, and hearsay.

You attack your neighbor when Jesus says to love them.

You smell like ungrace.

You are a jerk for Jesus.

Despite that, you are loved and forgiven.

God’s grace is bigger than your snobbish self-righteousness.

Exchange your big finger for a big heart.

And ask someone for a hug.

Because I think you could really use one.

I was recently asked,

“Do you believe Michael Jackson was a Christian and is he in Heaven?”

My reply is this:

Like a toddler driving a semi-truck, we Christians drive down a dangerous road when we try to sit on God’s throne and pronounce judgments on the souls of people we don’t know.

Proclaiming from a pulpit, pew, or pub whether Michael Jackson was a Christian or not, and as a result, in Heaven or hell, reeks of Genesis 3 and the fall of humanity when human beings originally tried to sit in the Drivers Seat of God’s Big Rig.

Michael Jackson never invited me to Neverland to ride a merry-go-round or talk about Jesus, so I am in no position to say yes or no to the question.

If we were close, I could look at the fruit of his life and perhaps come to a conclusion.

But I never met him.

I only saw what was presented via the media, which is based on perception more than reality.

We don’t know his heart, but we can pray for those he’s left behind.

For his children, family, friends, and fans.

That they would examine their hearts, realize we all live forever somewhere, and for Jesus to be their comfort, joy, and salvation.

The death of Michael Jackson, and the recent slew of celebrity deaths, has reminded me that the end of this life ends with a comma, not a period, and to live like today’s my last day here on earth.

Let’s leave it to Jesus to determine who belongs to him and who doesn’t.

1 Corinthians 4:5: “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”

You can start a church.

It’s not as complicated as you would think.

First of all, some questions.

Do you love Jesus?

Is there a spark of desire in you to start a church?

Did God put it there or are you some weirdo?

Does 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 describe you?

Do people who know you well agree?

If yes, throw a shindig at your house and invite your friends and acquaintances.

If you don’t have friends, go make some, then throw a shindig at your house.

Together, dig in the scriptures and discover what the church should look like.

See who wants to join you in beginning that kind of church.

Of those who are on board, who’s good at what?

Leadership. Teaching. Administration. Children. Music. Hospitality. Etc.

Activate those gifts.

Start gathering regularly as a gospel-centered community to connect, pray, sing, and learn in worship to Jesus.

Love each other as family and love people in your city in worship to Jesus.

Live your everyday lives in worship to Jesus.

Continually invite people into your story in worship to Jesus.

When you grow, move your regular gathering to a larger venue, or better yet, add a second spot.

The where is flexible.

A house, movie theater, school, bar, coffee shop, whatever.

Repeat it all over again.

Together, dig in the scriptures and discover what the church should look like.

See who wants to join you in being that kind of church.

Of those who are on board, who’s good at what?

Leadership. Teaching. Administration. Children. Music. Hospitality. Etc.

Activate those gifts.

Gather regularly as a gospel-centered community to connect, pray, sing, and learn in worship to Jesus.

Love each other as family and love people in your city in worship to Jesus.

Live your everyday lives in worship to Jesus.

Continually invite people into your story in worship to Jesus.

When you grow, move your regular gathering to a larger venue, or better yet, add another spot.

The where is flexible.

A house, Asia, movie theater, Europe, bar, Middle East, coffee shop, Utah, whatever.

Repeat it again.

All to, for, and because of, Jesus.

Is this simple? Yes.

Is it easy? No.

It’s not complex.  It’s just hard.  But it’s worth it.

If you’re called, go! and make disciples who love God and people.

It can be done.

It will be done.

The question is, will it be done by you?

Here are a handful of tweets I’ve written on Twitter.

Twitter is what you make it. It’s not Twitter’s fault if you think it’s pointless. You just haven’t made a point yet.

Trying to run away from your problems is like trying to run away from the gum stuck on your shoe.

The chasm between doing and doctrine and being and belief is where we uncover the tragedy of hypocrisy.

Listening is a tangible expression of love.

Break the chains of monotony & unleash a life of adventure. Start with small things- like eating a banana from the side.

Days wasted = Lives wasted.

People who’ve experienced grace are the only people who can offer it.

Authenticity is not having to pretend we’re any more, or any less, than we really are.

You can’t be everything to everyone but you can be something for someone.

Something’s gone terribly wrong when Christianity doesn’t look like Jesus.

If you’re not a leader, don’t give leadership advice.

Love God. This will fill your heart. Love people. This will give you meaning. Collect experiences. This will give you stories.

Some days it feels like I’m climbing a mountain of sheer ice.

Love is theology on wheels.

Have you exchanged the thrill of dream chasing for the pill of rat racing?

We reside in a culture that shouts, “chase your dreams” to our face yet whispers, “don’t cause a scene” in our ear.

Community isn’t staring at each other in a circle. It’s standing beside each other on a mission.

It’s better for a leader to leave a footprint than cast a shadow.

Have you exchanged the thrill of dream chasing for the pill of rat racing?

Be a carrier of grace, infect all those around you, and see what happens.

God not only mends broken hearts, but he puts the shattered pieces back together again.

Picture a little girl who wanted to fly.

She inflated a big red balloon with helium, shut her eyes, and her imagination told her she was flying.

She loved it.

Her grip on the balloon grew tighter until, POP!, the balloon burst.

The girl opened her eyes and saw her feet on the ground.

She cried because she wasn’t flying any more.

Little did she know, she never was.

The same is true for you and I.

Only the red balloon is our ego.

May we open our eyes before it pops.