By Yvette Shin

What if you spent an entire year living as Jesus did? Chances are you would like a lot like the person on your right. He is Dr. Ed Dobson, retired pastor of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and author of the new book, The Year of Living like Jesus (Zondervan).

On Wednesday, October 21, Reverend Michel Faulkner and the New Horizon Church of New York hosted a free breakfast and book signing event celebrating the book’s October release at Gospel Uptown (2110 7th Avenue at 125th Street). After providing a brief biography and synopsis his book, Dobson answered questions about his experience.

Inspired by A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically (Simon & Schuster), Dobson decided to pursue a year-long journey of his own attempting to live as Jesus did—eating kosher, growing a beard, observing Shabbat, and following the teachings of the Gospel. Part personal pilgrimage, part social experiment, Dobson chronicles his year of living “Jesus-ly” with dry humor and thoughtful insight.

The self-confessed lover of bacon describes in vivid detail the agony of keeping kosher, a feat especially troublesome when eating out. Dobson encountered circumstances that were not only challenging but also surprising. A non-drinker, Dobson sometimes found himself in a bar consuming alcohol, discussing spiritual matters. “When you’re sipping a beer, it’s disarming,” he muses. After all, Jesus did consume alcohol.

Dobson delved deep into the intricate world of Judaistic traditions by celebrating High Holy days and wearing the tallit katan (a fringed undergarment). More unexpectedly, he explored Catholic and Easter Orthodox prayer traditions, praying the rosary and the Jesus prayer repeatedly during the year.

By far, the most difficult part was adhering to the Gospel. Dobson often found that obeying the teachings of Christ were counter-intuitive and just plain hard, such as giving money to beggars, keeping the speed limit, and loving one’s enemies. While attending the memorial service for his son’s close friend—a soldier killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb—Dobson struggled to love those who were responsible. He obeyed and prayed for those who made, planted and detonated the bomb. He may not have meant it, but he did it.

Probably the most controversial topic in the book is Dobson’s decision to vote Democratic during the most recent presidential election. A life-long Republican, Dobson decided that Obama’s proposed policies were more aligned with the teachings of Jesus.

When asked by Seed contributor Yvette Shin what his message would be to college students, specifically NYU students, who are in a sense embarking on a journey of their own, Dobson had this to say: “Read, study, and try to obey the Bible.” Dobson himself read the Gospels a total of thirty-five times during the year, often listening to them on his iPod and feeling as if he were on the fringes of the crowd listening to Jesus himself. “It was weird,” he adds with a smile. For more information, please visit http://www.livingjesusly.com

This Spring semester is full of some awesome events! Learn the full scoop at our first Monday Fellowship Meeting on January 25th, Kimmel 905 @ 5:30-7pm.

Monday Fellowship – 905 kimmel 5:30-7:30pm
food, fellowship and the word

Thursday Prayer Meeting – Children’s Aid Society 7:30-9pm
a time of prayer, petition and meditation set to music

Saturday Group Bible Study – 13th floor Warren Weaver Hall 3-5pm
textual biblical examination and discussion, every-other-week

Spring Overnight Retreat - February 14-15
Spruce Lake Retreat Center, PA
an opportunity for deep reflection away from the city bustle

Newsletter compilation submission deadline – March 10th
be heard! share your thoughts with the campus through our semesterly publication

Mentorship activities – ongoing
find a mentor or be one

A video slideshow to highlight the fun, learning and fellowship we had at our NYU Seed Fall Retreat on Oct 9-10th, 2009. Thank you, Lord, for blessing our retreat. Please use us as your instruments and prayer servants for NYU campus ministry!

http://www.youtube.com/nyuseed

What are they sorry for? Corporate fraud? The bad economy? Subway fare hikes? High tuition costs?

These placard-toting do-gooders in Washington Square Park are continually asked, “What are you sorry for?” In response, passers-by are quietly handed a card that reads, “Have you ever felt pushed away or like you didn’t fit in at church? As Christians, we are sorry. That was people, not Jesus.”

It’s an effective message that has touched many. About once a month, members of the The Awakening Church (www.theawakeningnyc.com) appear in the park to tell members of the community — atheists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, old, young, every race, every class, those with tattoos and those without, essentially EVERYONE — that they are sorry if anyone has ever felt pushed away from the church.

And the members of the church do not claim to be morally superior or have all of the answers. “The Awakening Church is in the heart of The Village brining spiritual Truth through cultural relevance,” the card reads. “Jesus never candy-coated life and neither do we. We are spiritually messy people following a perfect Savior.”

No hidden messages — just a simple “We are sorry.”

SEED – Fall 2008 Issue (PDF format | 3.5MB)

The Spring 2009 issue is coming soon.

this fall 09-10 semester is full of awesome weekly events! join us and help us making our nyu seed community even better! we’d love to meet you.

learn the full scoop at our first meeting monday sept 14th, kimmel 905!

monday fellowship 906 kimmel 5:30-7:30p
food, fellowship and the word

thursday prayer children’s aid society 8-9:30p
a time of prayer, petition and meditation set to music

saturday group bible study 13th floor weaver hall (next to stern) 3-5p
textual biblical examination and discussion

overnight retreat spruce lake retreat center, canadensis, pa oct 9-10
an opportunity for deep reflection away from the city bustle

newsletter compilation submission deadline nov 4
be heard! share your thoughts with the campus through our semesterly publication

mentorship activities ongoing
find a mentor or be one

nyuseed.com

Join us in prayer for New York City!

Seed Weekly Prayer Night

8pm on Thursdays
Children’s Aid Society, 3^rd Floor
219 Sullivan Street, between West 3^rd & Bleecker (map)

Christianity has an image problem. And at the center of it lies the Church.

Dan Kimball�s book, �They Like Jesus But Not the Church� states, rather bluntly, how emergent generations feel about the Church at large. Rather than simply state the obvious, Kimball carefully scrutinizes the problem, seeking input from friends and acquaintances outside the church community. He tactfully avoids pointing the finger (or giving the finger) to the Church, and offers explanations and solutions.

Haven or Hideout?

To many, the Church is a haven. But those too comfortable inside the protective bubble of the church community sometimes fail to venture out into the real world thereby creating a subculture replete with its own language, music and philosophy. Church can become a cliquish, exclusive entity, isolating itself from the world it was meant to serve.

They Like Jesus�

When asked their impressions of Jesus himself, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Kimball�s interviewees speak of Christ as �an all-loving person�, �a man who taught beautiful philosophy�, and �a pirate� who rebelled against corrupt religion. However, when asked their opinions of the Church, the tone becomes decidedly negative.

�But Not the Church

Kimball groups these gripes against the Church into six main categories:

The Church:

• is an organized religion with a political agenda
• is judgmental and negative
• is dominated by males and oppresses females
• is homophobic
• arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
• is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

Kimball devotes an entire chapter to each topic, sharing viewpoints from both sides. Some are the result of a vociferous Christian minority intent on pushing a specific agenda. Some are rational opinions based on the Church�s less than stellar past behavior. Some come from simple misinformation. And some are dead on.

What the Church Can (and Should) Do

The normal reaction to such scathing accusations is to become defensive. A more helpful strategy however is not a counter-attack but humility. True or false, founded or unfounded, the Church must listen�and listen carefully. Many of these complaints are not aggressive, preemptive assaults, but rather the product of wounds inflicted by the Church. As James wrote, �Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry� (Jam 1:19, NIV).

The Real Jesus

Perhaps the best solution to the problem is to go back to the source: Jesus Himself. Those outside the Church would benefit from knowing the full story of Christ, not only His teachings and character, but His suffering and death on the cross, and the circumstances that led Him there. Those inside the Church could invest effort into understanding and imitating the person of Christ, that part of him that has connected with so many for so long. Whichever the case, we all have our homework.

Kimball ends the book optimistically, envisioning true resolution in the future. Perhaps one day he will be able to write a sequel titled, �They Like Jesus and The Church.� We can only hope.

A Christian is not someone who believes in Jesus Christ. Yes, you read that correctly. Believing in Jesus is the product of His grace. There is nothing that anyone can do to be Christian because everything has been done by Jesus. It if only through His grace that we are afforded the gift of being called His children.

But to believe in Him, we must first know Him. And so we�re presented with a difficult task: how can someone so limited comprehend an unlimited God? Is it possible to fit an ocean into a cup? The answer is no, but knowing this, God has given us enough to savor, appreciate, and love Him. He�s given us His word (the Bible), and the ability to talk to and meditate on Him. But most importantly, He�s given us His Spirit by which He abides in us, and we in Him.

Once we know Jesus, we must act on the truth we know. This is where we come in because although His grace is unmerited, we must make a conscious resolution to follow Jesus. Christianity is very much an active religion. As children of God, we�re called to obey Him and His commandments by which we achieve our Christian perfection.

Being a Christian means knowing the true God and following Him in truth. It is being saved by God�s grace through faith and seeking to please Him in deed by following his commands (Ephesians 2:8). This obedience does not save, but is rather motivated by love and is a response to being saved.

There was a multitude of people from different social strata of Judea all huddled around an average looking guy. There was nothing exceptionally impressive about him. In fact, he was nothing more than a carpenter from a small town. Yet the atmosphere of the crowd was tense–mixed emotions of peace and desperation–but pervading all other feelings was hope.

In fact, surrounding this man from Galilee was a multitude of hopes. The sick came with a hope of being healed, the blind with the hope to see, and the deaf with the hope to hear. Then there were those who came with the hope to receive a free meal after rumors had spread that this Jesus could feed five thousand with only five loaves and two fish. There were some public sinners, who came with the hope of being accepted and forgiven by this Jesus who claimed to have the authority to forgive sins. There were teachers of the law, who came with the hope of trapping this heretic who claimed he was the Son of God in his words, teachings, and actions. There were his disciples, who followed with the hope that he would establish an empire where they could be his administrators and hold other positions of power.

Standing at the front of this vast procession heading towards Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples, �Who do people say I am?�

Who is Jesus that he continues to instill so much hope and inspire generations of people to this day?
The account of the historical Jesus is recorded in four reliable manuscripts preserved from the ancient world of those times. They were backed up by accurate eyewitness accounts, an empty tomb of where Jesus laid, and the dramatic spread of the Christian faith throughout the Roman World by former skeptics.

The disciples replied to Jesus saying, �Some say John the Baptist; others Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.� The teachers of the law claimed Jesus was a blasphemer and a lawbreaker. Indeed there was confusion about Jesus� identity and mission in those times, and today there still is much confusion and an elusive mystery that surrounds the very person of Jesus. Some say he was a magician, a politician, a doctor, a storyteller; others say he was married to Mary Magdalene, or that he did not even exist. Jesus knew all the speculations about his identity and authority going around, and that is probably why he asked his disciples, �Who do people say I am?� There seemed to be no distinct consensus about who Jesus was.

And this continues still. In any given generation, there will never be any clear consensus about who Jesus is. The good thing is, Jesus does not care what people think about him, and he never has. He cares what you believe about him; and this is what he really seeks when he asks, �But what about you? Who do you say I am?�