Church Voices

I don’t talk politics at church.  But this isn’t church.

I’ll tell you now that I  won’t be voting for Clinton or Obama this election (for various reasons).  There is much I could say that I don’t like about their political decions in the past, and their views on the role of government in our country.  But I don’t really need to do that.  What I do need to do is to be challenged to treat others with respect and to love my enemies.  So I would like to share with you one thing that I appreciate about Clinton and Obama.   (There are probably more, and please feel free to share your own positive observations.  No criticizing or I’ll have to bring the smack down on you.  There are plenty of other places and times to do that.)

I appreciate both of these candidates being willing to discuss issues of faith at an event specifically for that.  They were asked questions of varying kinds by different people, including ministers.  The questions weren’t all fluff either.  Were some of their answers evasions and redirects.  Yes.  But they aren’t Bible scholars, they are politicians and trained in that.  And quite frankly, there are many things about God, faith, and Christianity that I find mysterious and don’t have a tremendous grasp on yet.  And when somebody asks me about them, I give the best answer I can but it might not really be a satisfying answer.

One thing that did come through when Clinton and Obama answered their questions was a desire to live out their faith by helping other people.  In Christian circles, we call this “loving your neighbor as yourself.”  Sounds familiar, where have I seen that before?  It is possible that both politicians are saying what will get them the vote.  But I hope they are genuine and that I’m gracious enough to give them room to fail at it.  Especially when I as a minister, preacher, and christian fail at loving my neighbors quite a lot.

For all of the failings of the Democratic party, there appears to be a genuine desire among Democrats to love their neighbors.  Maybe as Christians (not Republicans or Democrats) we can show our communities what that looks like.  Maybe we can even love them as Christ has loved us.

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”

He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth

The resurrection is the entire point of this passage. But lets not forget that who the resurrection is for is the same group that Jonah’s preaching was for.

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

When we gather as God’s family, worshiping the messiah who became sin, and defeated death for us let’s also avoid Jonah’s attitude.

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

The metaphor of God as father is found throughout the scriptures. The relationship between father and children communicates much to us about God. I’ve been a father for a bit over a year now (go to Living and Growing in Owosso for massive amounts of pictures) and I can definitively say that being a father has taught me more about God than almost anything else. The way my son pays attention to me, even when I don’t think he is, how he becomes insecure when he doesn’t have one of his parents in sight, and how when he hurts himself, instead of attending to the hurt he crawls to me. The other side of the coin is what I do for him. Whether its sleep deprivation or getting knuckle deep in a dirty diaper if he needs it I’ll take care of it.

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

I am watching Clifford with my 3 year old and it struck me how relevant the lesson being taught in the show was to church work.  I suppose that many problems we have in the church could be fixed if we were humble and mature enough to admit our immaturity and relearn our Kindergarten lessons.

This particular episode had Emily Elizabeth (Clifford’s owner) and some friends putting on a play for their neighborhood.  One of the friends was the director and began to tell everybody (including the dog stage hands) how to do it “right.”  One of the children was offended and gave up his role in the play because the director seemed to think she could do it better.  Eventually the director took over every job because she could do it better.  She proceeded to practice through the play (enjoying it I might add) until she crashed (literally).  She realized how she hurt her friends and asked them back promising not to interfere.

I’m a perfectionist.  Sort of.  If there is something that I think should be done a particular way (i.e. the right way) then I am inclined to say something and/or take over.  This is not healthy and is not conducive to good friendships.  I’ve had to learn the hard way to not intrude on the work and service of others in the church.  Granted, there are times when something needs to be said or done (not everybody is gifted or skilled in every way).  But for me, it’s usually not being done the way I would do it, and so that would be why I speak up.  I have found that more gets accomplished for the Kingdom of God when I don’t interfere and micromanage the ministries of my brothers and sisters.

Maybe you’ll find God teaching you something valuable in strange places. 

I was reading the Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis, and I noticed something about the friends the demon Screwtape is happy the patient has made. These are friends that can be used to send the patient on a path to damnation rather than salvation. The continuing theme the demon hits on that makes these friends so excellently reliable for the cause of Hell is that they have lost the wonder of the gifts God has given to us. He uses words like “scoffers” to describe them, but what it comes down to is that these people look at the world, and the goodness in it and see nothing but the ordinary.

Lets not forget that part of being a follower of Christ is to see wonder in the world around. To understand that every breath, and minute is quite literally a gift from God.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17

If we allow ourselves to become world weary, to the point where we can’t see all the good things in the world that have come down from the Father of the heavenly lights we spit in the face of God. We become ungrateful, and sour towards what God intended for our good. Its no different than if our children open up a Christmas present from us, look at it and say “is that all?” without much more than a glance.

Lets not forget that God is a God of new beginnings, we are new creatures in Him, and so are others, but, also, lets not get so caught up in the falleness of the world that we forget that good and perfect gifts are rained down on us by our Father.

Americans are fat.  It’s true.  If you don’t believe me, go to Wally World.  So it might not come as a surprise to you that I am a glutton (no, not for punishment).  It did to me, though, especially since I’m 6′1″ and only weigh 155 lbs. Sure, lots of people around me are gluttons, it’s easy to see.  I mention it in sermons regularly.  However, I got some serious attitude correction when I came across the idea that there is a much more dangerous kind of gluttony than eating too much.

I was reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis the other day.  About every chapter I was being challenged, convicted, taught, or stretched in my walk with Christ (made me feel like a worm).  In it, Screwtape (a demon) writes to his nephew Wormwood (also a demon) about temptation leading to a gluttony of the heart.  This is where our decisions, approach to, and even comments about food come from a sinful attitude (Lewis mentions vanity and greed).  Being controlled by the stomache is still what makes gluttony what it is.  But like all things, our actions reflect what is in the heart.

Gluttony has (I really would like to say had) become such a problem for me that I had become mean to my own wife over something so stupid as what we had for dinner.  I could go on to talk about my own vanity and greed and probably (unfortunately) a few other attitude problems that are all interconnected with my bout with gluttony.  All of them dangerous to my spiritual well being, but none so important to me at the moment as how I treat my wife. 

Had I recognized my problem when it was just vanity, I might have prevented this.  But as of now, all I can do is say, Jenny, I’m sorry.  I’m sorry that I have allowed my stomache to control a great portion of my life.  I’m sorry that I was not spiritually mature enough to deal with my gluttony sooner.  I’m sorry that I’ve treated you the way I have.  I’m sorry I hurt you.

So I’m sitting here at iHop. It is 3:30 a.m. People are loud. Dishes are crashing and the service is slow. The restaurant is understaffed; they had no idea it would be this crowded at this hour. Scurrying station to station, making sure they maintain their composure under the stress of the unanticipated business. A man beckons in disgrace. The waitress mistakenly makes eye contact; now she can’t safely ignore what she knows will be doggish treatment. She walks away with a new request to add to the ever-growing list of tasks to accomplish in an ever-diminishing amount of time. She glances at her watch—only 6 more hours until she’ll see her baby wake for a new day. To many, this is a place of refuge.

A cool draft makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The door is opened and a group of five stumble in. The back of my seat shakes as the new guests work their way into the booth conveniently next to mine. Lewd jokes absent of a punch line become the subject of doltish laughter which takes captive the subtle murmur of before. A clumsy and asinine demeanor reminds me of the place I thought I was away from. Well, the bars do close at 3:00. To many, this is a place of refuge.

My attention is stolen by a couple of kids sitting across the isle. Their faces switch back and forth from hearty laugher to a show of serious concern. I assemble the broken pieces of their mutual exchange of thoughts about a better world. They act as if something is actually worth caring about. I return to my food and try to block out the mindless chatter behind me. All of the sudden their cackling is halted by the silence coming from the couple across the isle. I turn my head to see their hands joined and heads bowed. To many, this is a place of refuge.

[God] is a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat…even at iHop during the middle of the night.

For He who watches over you will not slumber.

I like to be right. But I don’t hate it when I’m wrong. I do, however, hate it when I’m in the wrong for so long and nobody else has the spiritual maturity to recognize it and/or say something to me about it. That’s a dangerous place to be for a church, it’s ministry, and it’s ministers.

I hope you will find some value in this post for your own spiritual life and ministry… Read the rest of this entry »

“Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
- John 8:15

This line was spoken by a desperate, hurting woman almost 2,000 years ago. She was coming to a well in the burning, heat of the day to draw water. Generally, women would gather in the morning and the evening to draw water for their households. This woman came in the heat of the day because she preferred the physical discomfort of working in the hottest part of the day to the emotional discomfort she felt around other women. This woman wasn’t just another wife trying to care for her kids and husband, she has had several husbands, and the man she was with now wasn’t her husband at all. A big no-no in her society. And so sweating and working under a hot noon sun was much preferred to the whispers and rejection she would have felt otherwise.

So here she comes down to the well, getting sweaty and nasty, but at least she’s left alone. Then her entire day gets ruined. She’s not the only one at the well. But she’s already come this far, and she does need the water. As she gets closer things are only getting worse. Its a Jewish man. She’s a Samaritan, a half-breed in his eyes, and the long standing religious feud between the two groups guarantees nothing but grief for her in this encounter. But she’s thirsty, and she’s already half way there, and if she doesn’t get water now then she’ll have to get it when the other women of the town do in the evening, so she continues to walk towards the well.

When she gets there the conversation takes an odd turn. From talking about water to talking about the age-old religious feud, and this Jewish man begins talking about living water, and says this living water which satisfies forever is hers for the asking. So she says, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

The Christ stands before her, and her biggest concern is to avoid coming back to get water. Doesn’t that seem a bit short sighted? I mean, the promised one, the one prophesied about for thousands of years by prophets like Moses, David, and Isaiah is here, and she’s worried about chores.

Unfortunately the Samaritan woman isn’t alone. Short sightedness happens to all of us. The gospel message is that Christ has paid the cost of our sins so that we can be re-united with God. We can approach God without fear, as an adopted son or daughter, but all too often we look at the gospel and all we see is a social club, a place to talk about politics or maybe just another charitable organization.

God has pointed his finger at each of us and said, “I want you” and sometimes we get confused and cheer and think, “sweet, now I don’t have to go down to that stupid well every day”. What we’ve been given is something huge, something eternal, something of enormous value, and sometimes all we can think about is how nice it’ll be to not have that long dusty walk out to the city well.

The scriptures are filled with such disreputable people. The kinds of people your momma warned you about. So, without further ado I present to you my favorite people your momma warned you about from scripture.
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