Church

It’s 2009. Do You Know Where Your Soul Is? By BONO I AM in Midtown Manhattan, where drivers still play their car horns as if they were musical instruments and shouting in restaurants is sport. I am a long way from the warm breeze of voices I heard a week ago on Easter Sunday. “Glorify your name,” the island women sang, as they swayed in a cut sandstone church. I was overwhelmed by a riot of color, an emotional swell that carried me to sea. Christianity, it turns out, has a rhythm — and it crescendos this time of year. The rumba of Carnival gives way to the slow march of Lent, then to the staccato hymnals of the Easter parade. From revelry to reverie. After 40 days in the desert, sort of ... Carnival — rock stars are good at that. “Carne” is flesh; “Carne-val,” its goodbye party. I’ve…

For those keeping score: I just uploaded two new podcasts. Find them here.

As a child, I loved getting a chocolate bunny at Easter. Not the hollow kind, but the solid five-pound bunny rabbit that would take a good part of one month to eat. I’m not sure how many of those I actually finished. “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak ...”But Easter is so much more than chocolate bunnies or grown men dressed up in bunny suits.Easter is a celebration of God’s most awe-inspiring miracle: his ability to bring life out of that which was dead. When Jesus’ burial tomb was discovered empty, angels from heaven asked his followers: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” In other words, Jesus is no longer dead -- he’s alive!The miracle that happened on the first Easter Sunday has happened millions of time since then. In small towns and places like San Diego, all across the world, God has…

Rediscover the basics of the Christian faith. Our new teaching series starts Easter Sunday and will explore such basics as Jesus, the church, our journey, and our mission. Rediscover the essential truths of a healthy, mature faith.Sundays at 10:30 at LifePoint Christian Church in San Diego.

Kobe’s Swap Meet is an adventure. Part garage sale, part living infomercial. In the early 90s I bought a pair of Hawaiian shorts there that last all of about six weeks. But I loved those shorts!My parents never went to a swap meet: they went to flea markets. Is there a difference? Not that I know of. But it’s little wonder that flea markets became “swap meets.” Most people try to get rid of fleas, not buy them.The beauty of a swap meet is the “deal.” It’s finding a treasure that isn’t found in stores (think the early days of the Salsa Master). It’s the joy of bantering and bargaining with the seller. It’s getting to poke around in other people’s stuff and not get in trouble for doing so. Is there a spiritual lesson to be learned from the swap meet? I don’t have any particularly deep, penetrating observations.…