Articles for tag: Mandy Smith

He’s Right Here

By Mandy Smith Outsiders watching Christians take part in the Lord’s Supper over and over might feel sorry for us. We take a tiny piece of bread and a tiny sip of juice and remember someone who had a real meal with his friends a long time ago. It might seem foolish or sad that we keep doing this. “Jesus is gone,” they might say. “Move on.” But they don’t know what we know. We know that when Jesus left, he promised he would never leave. It’s a strange truth, but it’s what he said. Although he stopped walking around

September 18, 2018

Awaiting a Wedding Feast

By Mandy Smith First Corinthians 11:26 says: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” So simply by taking this bread and juice today, we remember and retell the story of Jesus’ death, every time, over and over again. We keep telling the story as we eat the bread and as we sip the juice. We tell it to ourselves as we taste it and we tell it to each other as we do it together. Christians have been doing this for thousands of years, and Christians will do this

September 11, 2018

Jesus’ Controversial Approach to Food and Eating

By Mandy Smith Jesus often caused a stir, and it’s surprising how often food was at the center of things. Whom he ate with caused controversy. When he ate and what he ate upset the religious leaders who seemed to be watching his every move. Mark 2 provides various examples. First the Pharisees judge Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners. And Jesus simply replies, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 17). Then the Pharisees get upset with Jesus because he doesn’t

September 4, 2018

Family & Relationships Parenting

Grandparent’s Day: Paving a Path to Communion

By Mandy Smith We don’t know as much about Timothy as we do the apostle Paul, but we know Paul trusted Timothy deeply. Paul sent Timothy as his representative to churches he had planted. Paul listed Timothy as a co-sender of several of his letters, and the New Testament includes two letters Paul wrote directly to Timothy. In them, we get a picture of a trustworthy and incredibly faithful young leader who had an important role in the development of the early church. So it’s significant Paul remembered the source of Timothy’s faith. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul

August 28, 2018

A Rest from Our Labor . . . and in His Work

By Mandy Smith On Labor Day weekend we reflect on both the value of work and the value of rest. The Department of Labor’s statement on Labor Day says, in part, “It is appropriate . . . that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership—the American worker.” It’s fitting for a nation to show appreciation to those workers by giving them a day off from their work. On Labor Day we rest from our own work. There’s a different holiday we celebrate every Sunday—an invitation to rest

October 18, 2017

Lower Is Better

By Mandy Smith Mountaineer Joe Simpson tells his chilling story in the book and movie Touching the Void. Thousands of feet up the side of the 20,814-foot Siula Grande mountain, Joe”s safety line was cut, leaving him to slide, with a broken leg, into a deep crevasse. After several desperate attempts to climb up and out of the crevasse, he realized his injury made that impossible. And so, against all survival instinct, he made the excruciating choice to lower himself deeper into the crevasse, in the hope that there would be other exits further down. All the time he was

October 11, 2017

Ordinary Sacredness

By Mandy Smith We know Jesus instituted the Lord”s Supper during the Passover feast, which Jews have celebrated for generations. Passover is an annual festival remembering God”s salvation of his people from slavery in Egypt. Like all celebrations of annual holidays, it takes much preparation and is a turning point of the calendar. So, as good Jews, Jesus and his disciples prepared and celebrated this feast together. But Jesus knew this Passover would be different from all he”d celebrated before, because he knew his death was imminent. The food is a central part of the Passover feast, but so are

October 4, 2017

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

Out of Our Depth

By Mandy Smith What makes you feel out of your depth? Starting a new job? Taking an exam? Having a child? So many situations in life force us to face the size of our own limitations. And when we do, we deal with those feelings of fear and inadequacy in our own ways””by running away, by working extra hard, by becoming anxious. Sometimes it”s not until after we”ve tried all those options that we finally stop to ask for help. But asking for help isn”t the first choice, because it requires us to admit to someone else, “I can”t

September 20, 2017

Come to the Table

By Mandy Smith The phrase “come to the table” can mean gathering to find understanding, as in meeting to discuss how to solve a problem or end a disagreement. Lawyers “come to the table” to reconcile quarreling spouses. Warring nations “come to the table” to discuss how to end the fighting. We often think of reconciliation in these legal and political ways. But what if the table were not in an office or a war room? What if, instead of a conference or strategy table, it was a dinner table, groaning under the weight of a sumptuous feast? We often

July 7, 2016

Book Reviews Reviews

Miracles, Marvels, and the Vulnerable Minister

By LeRoy Lawson The Miracle of Dunkirk Walter Lord New York: Open Road Media;Â for Kindle, 2012 The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and theÂ Age of Amazon Brad Stone New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2013 The Vulnerable Pastor:Â How Human LimitationsÂ Empower Our Ministry Mandy Smith Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2015 Just about everything I thought IÂ knew about the “evacuation” of Dunkirk (read “retreat”) was wrong. Or at least wildly romanticized.Â I could picture the thousand-plus boats of all sizes and types crossing the English Channel to rescue soldiers fleeing for their lives from the Nazis. My mind”s eye saw them push up against the

April 8, 2016

Holy Spirit Theology & Bible

WHAT’S NEXT?: Remember the Spirit

We asked several Christian leaders,Â “What should churches served byÂ CHRISTIAN STANDARD strive to be orÂ do or look like in the next decades?” ____ By Mandy Smith We in the Christian churches have the Cane Ridge Revival in our history, but we”re not comfortable with the Holy Spirit. We”ve seen so many abuses of the Spirit that it”s easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater. So what would it look like to rediscover a scriptural approach to the Spirit”s work in our lives? I”m still learning this, but let me share two ways I”m stepping into it: 1. Guidance “But

February 12, 2016

Doctrinal Issues & Debates Theology & Bible

My Theology and My Approach to Pain

By Mandy Smith There are many ways we can horrify our dentists. I horrified mine last month by saying, “It”s OK if I have to live with the pain.” It was unthinkable for him, but in spite of his best efforts, I”m still left with a dull ache when I bite into an apple. I”m OK with that. We have become intolerant of pain””physical, emotional, and spiritual. Does that deny the opportunity God sees in pain? As a pastor, I often walk with people along the edge of emotional and spiritual pain. As they see it coming, it”s natural to

September 10, 2015

Church Leadership

I Felt Most Appreciated When . . .

Six seasoned church leaders shareÂ appreciation testimonies. I”VE FELT MOSTÂ appreciated when offered opportunities to move to a larger church or a bigger salary. Those moments forced me to reflect on my current situation and to realize I would never find a church that loved me more or treated me better than the one I am in. I”ve been with this congregation more than a quarter of a century, mostly because of the way I”ve been treated. “”Mark Atteberry, preaching minister Poinciana Christian Church, Kissimmee, Florida ___ I FELT MOSTÂ appreciated when, during a time of crisis and great stress, the entire eldership

June 26, 2015

Worship Worship & Prayer

Three Ways to Sing a Common Song

By Mandy Smith For many Christians, singing hymns in a group is still a meaningful experience. An a cappella version of “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” can induce goose bumps, especially when those harmonies chime in on the “A-men.” While we don”t usually dissect the meaning of this practice, there are reasons why singing as a group is powerful. The simple act of singing old songs about God to God with each other reinforces three things that are central to our faith: We are devoted to God through Christ, We are devoted to him together, and We are

June 19, 2015

Ordinary Sacredness

June 12, 2015

Communion, Our Constant

By Mandy Smith The old Sunday school song goes, “Since Jesus came within and cleansed my soul from sin, I”m inright, outright, upright, downright happy all the time.” But very few Christians could honestly say they feel happy all the time. While we may retain an undisturbed, deep joy, it”s normal for any Christian to have moments of spiritual high and spiritual low, to feel close to God and far from God at various times, to have times of great faith and times of great doubt. One helpful practice that allows us to survive the darker times is to overlook

October 18, 2013

Culture & Public Square

Flash Mob

By Mandy Smith On a seemingly ordinary morning, in a busy Belgian train station, the announcements of arrivals and departures were suddenly interrupted by Julie Andrews”s familiar voice intoning, “Let”s start at the very beginning . . .” A few commuters paused for a second to wonder why the train station would air “Do-Re-Mi,” before returning to their morning rush. Then, in the center of the atrium”s tiled floor, a single man started to dance, and before long a passing little girl had joined in. A crowd began to form to watch the spectacle but, at each measure, members of

July 5, 2012

Culture & Public Square Politics & Government

You May Not Know You Know Me

By Mandy Smith Meet Marco Saavedra-Mendez, a young man as “American” as any you”ll meet. An undocumented immigrant with an uncertain future. I”m an immigrant to this country. I first came on a student visa, then had a temporary work visa, then a permanent work visa (or “green card”), before becoming a citizen. I read the fine print, filled in all the right forms, provided all the required information, consulted legal professionals, paid the visa application fees. And waited. Many times. So when the immigration issue comes up, my initial thought is often something like, I had to go through

October 29, 2011

Book Reviews Reviews

You Must Read This . . . Recognizing Leadership Potential

By Mandy Smith The Contrarian”s Guide to Leadership Stephen B. Sample San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003 It seems the church is ready for some contrary thinking on leadership, not for the sake of being contrary, but to challenge assumptions that may not be scriptural or right for our era. Consider several examples: “¢ Rex Miller explains that for the past 60 years, organizations have rewarded “skills like persuasion, a high-profile image, innovation, risk taking . . . leaps up the success ladder, interpersonal skills, the ability to think on one”s feet, and so forth. . . . But congregants in the

October 17, 2011