Flashback

I was driving my car daydreaming the other day and for some reason I popped in an old CD I hadn't listened to in "forever". I consciously didn't even think about it's content. It was a tribute album, performed by various artists, playing some classic Larry Norman songs. Larry Norman is quite an interesting character. He is often referred to as the "father of Christian rock", though he began singing about Jesus in his music before "christian rock" really existed. I had the privilege of meeting him and visiting with him more than once. The first time was in 1990 at the Zoe Festival in southern Germany. I found him friendly, interesting, and easy going. I remember giving him a t-shirt from the merch table I had at the festival (if my memory serves me correctly, it was the classic "Be Wiser" shirt). I saw him a week later at Flevo in Holland, where he performed with Q-Stone... one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Later in 1998, I bumped into Larry again at Spirit West Coast in Monterey, California. I was the MC for the Tooth 'n Nail stage, introducing the bands for that stage during the 3 day festival (bands like Switchfoot, MXPX, Five Iron Frenzy, the Supertones, Stavesacre, POD and Grammatrain were on hand...most of them pretty unknown at the time). This photo is me & Larry at that time...hey we look like brothers don't we?! Anyway, as I reminiscence, I thought of Larry's songs, his concerts, his wit and the few times I got to meet him and chat a bit. I suppose that's why I put the CD in. You see, Larry died earlier this year, February 2008, in Salem, Oregon...his battle with heart issues was finally over...yet he never gave up on challenging people to think about Jesus through his music. He was on Capital Records & MGM Records in the late 60's & early 70's...but left mainstream music because of the pressures to censor his music and his mix of spiritual and political themes...it made many uncomfortable. He was also uncomfortable with the burgeoning christian music scene...he felt it was too contrived and limiting, as it also only wanted songs they were comfortable with. So Larry spent most of his career as an independent artist, writing 100's of songs and performing all around the world. Though rejected in many ways, by church people & the music biz alike, his songs impacted artists like U2, The Pixies, Bob Dylan, Keith Green, Randy Stonehill, Collective Soul and Daniel Amos to name a few. This imperfect prophet spoke through his music to anyone who would listen...rejected by Christian & secular alike. Yet through it all his music still impacts today. As I heard one of my favorite songs of his (again) on this tribute album, it was if it was written yesterday...check it out. I found a rough concert video of Larry performing his song "The Great American Novel" on Youtube...I've written his lyric for you to ponder also...may it stir you and challenge you as you hear the ECHO of God's heart through a misunderstood, controversial, yet brilliant guy named Larry Norman.

THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL

I was born and raised an orphan

In a land that once was free

In a land that poured it's love out on the moon

And I grew up in the shadows

Of your silos filled with grain

But you never helped to fill my empty spoon

And when I was ten you murdered law

With courtroom politics

And you learnt to make a lie sound just like truth

But I know you better now

And I don't fall for all your tricks

And you've lost the one advantage of my youth

You kill a black man at midnight

Just for talking to your daughter

Then you make his wife your mistress

And you leave her without water

And the sheet you wear upon your face

Is the sheet your children sleep on

And every meal you say a prayer

You don't believe but still you keep on

And your money says 'In God We Trust'

But it's against the law to pray in school

You say we beat the russians to the moon

And I say you starved your children to do it

You are far across the ocean

But the war is not your own

And while you're winning theirs

You're gonna lose the one at home

Do you really think the only way

To bring about real peace

Is to sacrifice your children

And kill all your enemies

The politicians all make speeches

While the news men all take note

And they exaggerate false issues

As they shove them down our throats

Is it really up to them

Whether this country sinks or floats

Well I wonder who would lead us

If none of us would vote

Well my phone is tapped and my lips are chapped

From whispering through the fence

You know every move I make

Or is that just coincidence

Well you try to make my way of life

A little less like jail

If i promise to make tapes and slides

And send them to ya through the mail

And your money says 'In God We Trust '

But its against the law to pray in school

You say we beat the russians to the moon

And I say you starved your children to do it

You say 'all men are equal all men are brothers'

Then why are the rich more equal than others

Don't ask me for the answers i've only found one

That a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son

(from the 'ONLY VISITING THIS PLANET' lp-1972)

words and music by Larry Norman

be God's!

Brian O

Lead Pastor dude, ECHO

Story

creation

harmony

thorns

blood

echoes

longing

silence

mystery

new wine

signs

vagabond

shadows

venom

broken

garden

friend

skull hill

darkness

scattered

spices

wonder

scars

life

everlasting

by Steven James

be God's!

Brian O

Lead Pastor dude, ECHO

Jesus Redefined

We live in a world where many things are being “revised”. We often hear of “revisionist history” where historical events are “re-told” with a new “slant” or “agenda” attached. It’s kinda like a fisherman’s fishing story where the fish keeps getting bigger & bigger with every telling. The story gets embellished with more and more incredible feats of super human fishing prowess and sensationalism. It makes for a good story, but not for a good report on what really happened. Our culture has many revisionist tendency’s within our generation where history, politics, science, WW2, the Holocaust, and even our Constitution are being redefined. Unfortunately each comes with a bias. It’s kind of like a counseling session with a married couple on the rocks. If you speak to one person you are swayed to their point of view. When you talk to the other person, you are often swayed back towards the others view. If you keep talking to them “one at a time” you will most likely bounce back & forth in the view point you are holding to. That is why a good counselor may begin with speaking to the parties alone, at first. But they will always bring both people into the same room for the same conversation in order to get a better picture of what’s really going on. For the most part, the “truth” is usually somewhere in between the two extremes…that’s usually where the reality you are dealing with lives…and then you can begin to tackle the issues at hand. Now history, for example, is not an opinion poll…it is factual. Of course we all can pick and choose the “facts” that support our view point…just like a fighting couple can. But in order to discover the truth of any thing, including God, we need to avoid the trap of “redefining”, based on our preferences, viewpoints or bias. Culturally this happens on the news, in politics, in the classroom and in life in general, all the time. But when it comes to Jesus…it is dangerous to “redefine” Him. He is who He says He is. Jesus has been redefined more than once in history and all it does is sway people away from the reality of who He really is. Humorously, in the news recently, it became a “talking point” to say “Jesus was a Community Organizer”. Well, actually He wasn’t. Jesus never “organized” a community anything. He was not on the PTA, He never opened a Soup Kitchen, He didn’t start loan programs for the underprivileged, He didn’t work for Food For Lane County, He wasn’t a Coach for the local softball team. He was the deliverer of the Kingdom of God as seen in the actions of a compassionate, humble, powerful servant to the broken. He was about transforming lives…not organizing communities. Yet we all know in this case, a political agenda “stretched” Jesus into some kind of “community organizer role”…which is clearly not who He was as defined in the bible. Religions have done the same thing…Mormons would say Jesus is the brother of Lucifer…Muslims would say He was a prophet…Jews would say He was trouble maker, some even might say He was a blasphemer of their God…Hindu’s would say He was one who gained “christ consciousness”…Buddhists claim He is an enlighten one. Some people may say He was just a good man. Some would say He was some kind of delusional, crazy guy who “thought he was god”. Others may think He was a scheming liar with some devious agenda. Yet in the end, we need to clear the air some, in order to get a glimpse of who Jesus really was…IF we really want to explore this history changing character. Both biblical and historical evidence points to overwhelming evidence that Jesus indeed did exist and impacted His followers to such a degree they were willing to die for His cause. Their spreading of His message has lasted for 2,000 years and has impacted billions of people. A ragtag bunch of 12 fishermen & farmers, shook up the world…including the mighty Roman Empire. That is historical, biblical and scientific fact. The evidence is overwhelming…in spite of revisionist attempts to minimize those facts. Does that make Jesus God? No, not necessarily, but it does point out that He is probably worth checking out some…especially, if He is who He says He is. Did Jesus say He was God or did His followers just cook up this scheme for some reason? Some ask this question. Fair enough. The bible says Jesus claimed to be God. Clearly the Jewish religious leaders believed He claimed to be God…because that was why they crucified Him. Jewish historical writings, and Roman history tells us that much. Clearly His followers believed He was who He claimed to be, to the point of martyrdom. History shows us that “not one” of Jesus followers ever denied He was God…even to save his butt from torture and death. Believe you me…if any one of them had just said, “oh man…we were just BS-ing you guys…none of that’s true…we just did it for the power or money or…?” If that happened, surely somewhere in Jewish, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, European or Middle Eastern history it would have been recorded and made known…but it hasn’t. Does that make Jesus God…no, not necessarily…but its another reason to make Jesus worth checking out some. Well, what if the bible was manipulated to make it appear Jesus was who it says He was? Well, first off, the bible has been more researched scientifically, archaeologically, and linguistically more than ANY book in human history. We know it pretty well and have multiple written copies closer to the time of Jesus life than ANY of the world’s most reputed books. We have more copies of ancient texts of the bible, closer to the time of Jesus, than we do of Homer’s “Iliad and the Odyssey” for example. We know the places and people groups of the bible did exist and the historical events listed overwhelming “did occur”. The entire Old Testament, has been written and passed from generation to generation within Judaism for thousands of years…so when Jesus refers to the Old Testament writings and prophets, it is well documented what they said, and the accuracy of what He was referring to. It is important to note that the Old Testament is part of the bible, yet the Jewish people do not believe Jesus is the Messiah their scriptures had foretold…so they are not biased “for” Jesus…perhaps it could even be said, they are more likely, as a people, to be biased “away” from Jesus. Yet those very Old Testament scriptures also point towards Jesus and the accuracy of His claims. The scriptures are a worthy source to investigate in our search for the real Jesus. We know this from biblical research as well as historical research from other cultures…Assyrian, Babylonian, Roman, Egyptian, Greek & Jewish history for example. We have evidence that the people, places and events in the bible did exist and were real. Does that make Jesus God? No not necessarily, but it does point to that fact, that the bible is worth exploring if you really want to define Jesus as He really is. It is important to realize that the Jewish people have hundreds of prophecy’s that they claim refer to their Messiah. They are in the Old Testament written hundreds and even thousands of years before Jesus was born. They were NOT written after Jesus was born. The Jewish people still hold to those scriptures. That is further evidence something incredible happened with this dude named Jesus. It is mathematically impossible to “accidentally” fulfill even 10 of these prophecies, statisticians say. Many are impossible to “make happen”…like what your family lineage is, or where you are born. But Jesus fulfilled them all. The odds are so astronomical of that happening, it has to be a miracle of Godly proportions. Does that make Jesus God? No…but we’re getting pretty darn close. It definitely would call for a very close examination, if you want to really know who He really was. Any sincere searcher of truth would have to admit…”hmmm, something’s going on here”. Now, probably the biggest “kicker” here in this exploration of the real Jesus is the claim He rose from the dead after He was crucified. Some write that off as a fairy tale of religious proportions…but history tells us something very different. First Jesus was crucified because “he claimed to be God”…that is important to remember. The Jewish people rallied around their religious leaders who claimed Jesus was a blasphemer for such a claim. During Jesus trial and upon His death, all His followers ran and hid from those very same religious leaders fearing that they could be next. Then 3 days after Jesus died and was buried, something happened. Now history says that the tomb had a multi ton stone rolled in front of the cave tomb opening, cut into solid stone. It was guarded by Roman soldiers to “prevent Jesus body from being stolen”, because they had heard claims that He may rise from the dead in 3 days. These soldiers risked death if they abandoned their post, or fell asleep in their duties. That was the Roman way of that time. Yet something happened. As Jesus followers cowered in fear hiding, a couple brave women went to attend to the body with the usual burial spices, as was their tradition. When they arrived, the stone was rolled back…and Jesus body was gone. He then appeared to them and asked them to tell the “hiding disciples” that He was risen from the dead. It should be interesting to note, that in this time of Jewish culture, the testimony of a woman was considered worthless…so if you were “making this story up”…that detail would be seen as an invalidating error. Yet shortly after being told by the women, that Jesus rose…and the “hiding ones” doubted He had…something happened. Jesus appeared to them, and over several weeks, He appeared to over 500 people. Suddenly, all these cowering followers of Jesus, were willing to risk death and appear on roof tops proclaiming the message that Jesus had indeed proven He was God, and had proven His power over sin AND death! Not one follower of Jesus ever recanted. Most died horrible, martyrs deaths…yet not one denied the claim. And this bunch of “cowards” spread the message of the Kingdom of God as taught by Jesus throughout the Middle East & the Roman Empire. Something definitely happened! The affects of this bunch of people not only changed the mightiest Empire in that era, the Roman Empire, but multiple Empires since, and billions of people to this day. Why? Cause, no one has done the public death…resurrection deal…before. Whoa, now we're in uncharted territory...no one has pulled that one off before! Does that make Jesus God? Hey, it's worth at least a serious look, don't cha think? With an honest heart, ECHO wants to journey with you as you explore this person named Jesus. We want to create a safe environment where you can ask those questions and explore Jesus “as He really is” on your journey for Truth. The same Jesus that history, archeology, linguistics and multiple cultural evidences reinforce…this Jesus who is God in the flesh. That, my friends…is worth exploring. Because if He was and is…then that’s a deal changer…for each of us! And that is worth exploring…

Be God’s!
Brian O
Lead Pastor dude, ECHO

Touching the Unseen

you seem so far away from me today
just out of reach
or maybe i'm the one who's out of reach
out of touch
what is it in me that makes you so hard to see?
i need new eyes, spiritual eyeballs that look past
the bills that need paying
and the car that needs fixing
and the e-mails that keep coming
to see what lies beyond.
eyes that can see in the dark.
and through the dark.
to you.

i've been looking
in the wrong place all this time--
in myself rather than in you
within this world rather than
beyond it where the kingdom
of God resides, where you live,
and secretly smile at my shortsightedness--
and wait.
i'm glad you're so patient.

quest.

by Rick James (no, not the funk singer who sang "Super Freak")

be God's!
Brian O
Lead pastor dude, ECHO

What if...?

In Canada there is this interesting sculpture of an upside down church. It's pretty well known, and though I do not necessarily know the artists intent with this piece of art...I know it brings several thoughts to my mind...how about yours? It first brought me back to the time just after Jesus walked the earth...when a group of ragtag fishermen & farmers (for the most part), along with a few hundred fellow followers of Jesus...turned the world upside down! When you think about it, it really is quite amazing. Here we are 2,000 years later, and the message this bunch spread of God's Kingdom, has reached close to 90% of the world's population...now that's amazing! Even within a few hundred years after Jesus, the world's most powerful Empire was dramatically changed for all of history to see...The Roman Empire! History, archeology, and science shows us that the most powerful Empire in the world, was radically altered by this rag tag bunch sharing the message of God's Kingdom as taught by Jesus. They say, it literally turned the world upside down! That's not just amazing...it's downright miraculous! It would seem to have God's fingerprints all over it...because nothing else seems to be a reasonable explanation for this phenomena. Now here we are 2,000 years later, and I wonder... "What if...?" What if our churches got back to the simplicity and passion of those early years? Obviously God was doing something there, why have we strayed so far from it? What if the love we expressed through our churches was so overwhelming evident & real, that people were drawn to it? What if churches used their resources like the early churches did? Would more people see Jesus in that? Would more people see "grace with skin on" in how we live and function with each other...and with them? Maybe, this time, we need our churches to be turned upside! 2,000 years ago the followers of Jesus flipped the world on its head. Perhaps now its time for God to stir us, to flip ourselves on our own heads? Perhaps we have focused so much on marketing, programs & fancy buildings...not realizing that our appearances do not transform lives. In fact, some of those things appear very "unattractive" to the very people we hope to reach. But "what if" we cared more about people than buildings & programs. What if authentic relationships (as messy as they often are) were more important than our "image" and "appearances"? What if we used our resources much like the early followers of Jesus did? The New Testament shows us 3 main areas that financial resources & possessions were used by the early followers of Jesus: to support those who taught the scriptures (i.e. pastors); meet the needs of those within the church family; and also meet the needs of the community around them (i.e. orphans, widows, the poor, the fatherless, the sick, the imprisoned, the downtrodden etc...) Today we do seem to support our pastors (to a degree, depending on the church); yet rarely are we known to take care of the needs within our church families, and the greater community we live in. If we do, it is a very small percentage of our budgets...far less than say our "marketing" or "building funds" would suggest...and there is something seriously wrong with that picture isn't it? Perhaps this is why the early followers of Jesus caught the attention of those around them..."see how much they love each other" the bible says. When is the last time you heard that type of comment about a church or Christian? At ECHO, we believe it's time to turn the "church" upside down, and shake out some of the crap that has been weighing us down...even hampering our ability to become the people God has designed us to be. We are called to "re-present Jesus" to our world...we are the "body", the picture of Jesus that people see. It is a huge responsibility, that needs to be free from personal agendas, wrong motives, distorted concepts and self serving methods...it's time to re-examine what God has originally called His followers to be... individually...and collectively as church families. We need to allow Him to flip us upside down, and shake it out of us, if necessary. What if we allowed that to happen? What if we became more like those crazy, passionate, Jesus loving freaks of the early church? What if we radically dared to loved people...no matter who or what... the way Jesus does? What if we actually became the kind of people that oozed Jesus likeness to the point...that people were actually drawn into the Kingdom? What if...?

be God's!
Brian O
Lead pastor dude, ECHO