Tuesday, March 01, 2005
what's your pain?
I'm taking a break from the administrivia that is part of my job. I'm currently experiencing one of the many headaches I get. While the vast majority are not anywhere near migraine level, they tend to be in the least bothersome, and at most painful. They are a distraction, and certainly make it difficult for me to concentrate and focus at times. But I've learned to live them. I've gotten them all of my life. I've prayed for God to take them away. Guess what. He hasn't. But on a couple of occassions, one of my kids has prayed that He would at least heal them in the moment. And He has. Pretty wild. Why am I sharing this with you? Like I said, I needed a break from some admin. But the fact that I have to deal with and live with headaches brings up an interesting question: what does all of this say about who God is? Is He cruel and sadistic? Is He sympathetic? We all experience pain in our lives - it's just the when and where of it that essentially makes us different. What's your pain? What are you praying to God about, asking Him to take away? Has God removed your pain? Has He spoken words of comfort to you in the mean time? Not me. At least not directly. I guess in some way, I know He's not the source of it, nor is He merely sitting back laughing about it. If I truly thought that, I couldn't be who I am. But I do believe He knows about it, and for whatever reasons, my experiencing headaches are, for at least the foreseeable future, are part of His plan for me. Maybe they make me gentler, more compassionate? Then again, maybe not. But whatever His reasons, I believe God is good. All the time. How about you? What's your pain? Do you believe God cares?
Monday, February 28, 2005
What's Wrong With The Church?
This is one of those loaded questions. It's the kind that if I go out to the street and start asking people, I might not like what I hear. Not because I would necessarily disagree with what I would hear - there might actually be some really insightful comments - but because I might agree.
One comment I hear from time to time is this: "The Church is made up of hypocrites!" And you know what? It's true. Everyone who darkens the doorway, everyone who takes up space on a pew, everyone who stands up and sings God's praises - all are hypocrites - including the person who levels the accusation toward the Church while waving their own self-righteous finger from across the street. Yep, we're all hypocrites - including me. And it's not hard to understand why. It just takes some honesty, and some grace - two things which many both inside and outside of the Church often either ignore or forget.
How can I say this?, you might ask; afterall, I work in a church, don't I? Well, yeah, I do, and yeah, I have no problem saying this. Afterall, what is a 'hypocrite' anyhow? Well, I'm not going to run over to my Webster's 2: New Riverside University Dictionary and look up the official definition, but we all know a hypocrite is someone who says one thing, and then does another; they're a person who is inconsistent in the way they believe, live, and talk. And that pretty much describes each and every one of us. That's where the honesty comes in. You and I are hypocrites. How can we not be? No one I know is always, 100% consistent, good or bad. And this is where the grace comes in. We need to forgive each other [hint, hint: as God has already forgiven us in Jesus Christ], and cut each other some slack. We can't keep holding each other's past hypocrisies over one another's heads, waiting for the other to screw up yet again so that we can feel better about ourselves. We need to let God's grace come into us and transform us to be more like Christ Jesus. But here's the caveat: neither should we use grace as an excuse to be even more of a hypocrite than we already are.
Okay, so back to my original question. What's wrong with the Church? We have given ourselves as a Church culture over to hypocrisy, and we don't seem to mind it. Let me just say that what I mean is that we have a lot of people who seem to take for granted that the Church was established by Jesus Christ as new and redeemed community of people who are called to worship the One and True God, and as part of that community, we are to live radical lives that show God is real and at work in our lives. So far no problems. Unfortunately, we have learned to settle for less. And on some level, I put myself in this mix, too. While the pastor is preaching on anything from the Lord's prayer to different aspects of faith, people are merely warming the pews with their bums, lapping up every word from the pulpit, and then walking out, not to darken the door for another seven days. And that leaves me to wonder, "did you hear a blessed thing?"
Okay, so you can sense I'm a little put off by this. I am. But don't confuse my frustration with bitterness. I'm not talking about whacking people over the heads and tossing them out. No, I'm talking about challenging people's understanding of what it means to be the Church. We're called to live beyond ourselves, including the typical Main Line Philadelphia Suburban mindset that is so preoccupied with the Self, high SAT scores for buffy, driving the most expensive luxury car, and making sure biff jr.'s weekly schedule is so over-packed that by the time the best colleges in America accept him, he'll be so burned out that the parties he's been getting drunk at all year won't even be exciting to him anymore. And no, I'm not bitter. How can I be bitter when I know the God of the universe is waiting for His Church to wake up and be that community of redeemed people? But I am frustrated.
So here's at least part of the solution to this problem: take your part in this redeemed community more seriously than your membership at LA Fitness or your child's sports team. Find your small group, where you'll be known and cared for. Find your ministry, where you can exercise your gifts, talents, and abilities for God's glory and the benefit of others. Take your faith and your calling as God's chosen seriously, and stop treating it like something akin to the latest mailer from the local cable monopoly to have three months of reduced cable before it goes back to its ridiculously overpriced cost.
If we, you and me, the Church, could get this part in order, I think we'd shut up a lot of people. And you know what? We might even impress them enough to want to warm the pew next to us. What do you think?
One comment I hear from time to time is this: "The Church is made up of hypocrites!" And you know what? It's true. Everyone who darkens the doorway, everyone who takes up space on a pew, everyone who stands up and sings God's praises - all are hypocrites - including the person who levels the accusation toward the Church while waving their own self-righteous finger from across the street. Yep, we're all hypocrites - including me. And it's not hard to understand why. It just takes some honesty, and some grace - two things which many both inside and outside of the Church often either ignore or forget.
How can I say this?, you might ask; afterall, I work in a church, don't I? Well, yeah, I do, and yeah, I have no problem saying this. Afterall, what is a 'hypocrite' anyhow? Well, I'm not going to run over to my Webster's 2: New Riverside University Dictionary and look up the official definition, but we all know a hypocrite is someone who says one thing, and then does another; they're a person who is inconsistent in the way they believe, live, and talk. And that pretty much describes each and every one of us. That's where the honesty comes in. You and I are hypocrites. How can we not be? No one I know is always, 100% consistent, good or bad. And this is where the grace comes in. We need to forgive each other [hint, hint: as God has already forgiven us in Jesus Christ], and cut each other some slack. We can't keep holding each other's past hypocrisies over one another's heads, waiting for the other to screw up yet again so that we can feel better about ourselves. We need to let God's grace come into us and transform us to be more like Christ Jesus. But here's the caveat: neither should we use grace as an excuse to be even more of a hypocrite than we already are.
Okay, so back to my original question. What's wrong with the Church? We have given ourselves as a Church culture over to hypocrisy, and we don't seem to mind it. Let me just say that what I mean is that we have a lot of people who seem to take for granted that the Church was established by Jesus Christ as new and redeemed community of people who are called to worship the One and True God, and as part of that community, we are to live radical lives that show God is real and at work in our lives. So far no problems. Unfortunately, we have learned to settle for less. And on some level, I put myself in this mix, too. While the pastor is preaching on anything from the Lord's prayer to different aspects of faith, people are merely warming the pews with their bums, lapping up every word from the pulpit, and then walking out, not to darken the door for another seven days. And that leaves me to wonder, "did you hear a blessed thing?"
Okay, so you can sense I'm a little put off by this. I am. But don't confuse my frustration with bitterness. I'm not talking about whacking people over the heads and tossing them out. No, I'm talking about challenging people's understanding of what it means to be the Church. We're called to live beyond ourselves, including the typical Main Line Philadelphia Suburban mindset that is so preoccupied with the Self, high SAT scores for buffy, driving the most expensive luxury car, and making sure biff jr.'s weekly schedule is so over-packed that by the time the best colleges in America accept him, he'll be so burned out that the parties he's been getting drunk at all year won't even be exciting to him anymore. And no, I'm not bitter. How can I be bitter when I know the God of the universe is waiting for His Church to wake up and be that community of redeemed people? But I am frustrated.
So here's at least part of the solution to this problem: take your part in this redeemed community more seriously than your membership at LA Fitness or your child's sports team. Find your small group, where you'll be known and cared for. Find your ministry, where you can exercise your gifts, talents, and abilities for God's glory and the benefit of others. Take your faith and your calling as God's chosen seriously, and stop treating it like something akin to the latest mailer from the local cable monopoly to have three months of reduced cable before it goes back to its ridiculously overpriced cost.
If we, you and me, the Church, could get this part in order, I think we'd shut up a lot of people. And you know what? We might even impress them enough to want to warm the pew next to us. What do you think?
Friday, February 25, 2005
Going without Food
In our [United States] culture today, the idea of going without food is seen as anywhere from worrisome to troubling. The idea that anyone would purposefully and willingly go without food can only be conceived of in the context of some form of medical necessity. God forbid that we, as Americans, would willingly choose to go without a meal. Well, I for one, am generally one of those Americans. After all, my ancestors fought so I would have the freedom to eat three times a day, not to mention snacks here and there. Right?
But what if there were more to life than just eating well each and every day? what if God blessed us with abundance in food so that we would see the hungry of the world with some compassion, and actually be moved to do something for those whose daily diet was far less than our own?
The reason I bring this up is that I have several students and a couple of other adult leaders who are doing something special. As I write this, we're almost four hours into something called the '30 Hour Famine.' Put on by an international aid organization called 'World Vision', the '30 Hour Famine' is a way to both raise money (for projects that will directly benefit children and villages around the 2/3's world) and awareness (yours, mine, and those who give their support of the day-to-day situations faced by so many in the world). We're meeting up with other church youth groups from around the Philly suburbs tonight. We'll worship God together, pray together, talk together, do service projects together, and we'll go hungry together.
I've done this many times, and over the years, I'm always amazed at the reactions of some parents here and there to the idea of their little baby bunnykins missing out on a meal, or the idea that "I could never do that!" But much of that comes from a lack of understanding, both of God, and of going without food for the purposes of God. There are many passages in the Bible where God called people to go without food for a particular period of time, something called 'fasting'. I know some people see that as an Old Testament thing, something Moses and the prophets did. But what do you make of the fact that Jesus did it, too? The best example is from Luke 4, where, filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus headed into the wilderness for the final preparation to the start of His public ministry. Okay, okay, that was for 40 days, and was certainly supernatural. But in the end, I find it an unbiblical and hollow argument to bring God into a discussion against fasting. Even the history of the Christian Church is repleat with teachings and examples of the proper place of fasting in the life of believers. Why, John Wesley is even reported as having said that he wouldn't even ordain a man who wasn't already fasting at least twice a week. Our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters often fast during Lent and other holy observances.
Personally, I wish Protestants did more these days to teach on fasting (as well as other practices of spiritual formation). Fasting, like anything else we do as Christians, isn't going to make us more spiritual. But fasting does do a few things. For one thing, it helps us identify with those who are not as blessed as we are. Secondly, in creating the space for hunger, our hearts and minds are more teachable as to our hunger for God. And third, in the time, and with the money we would have spent on a meal, we can focus that time and the resources for the purposes of God.
Anyhow, as you read this, consider how giving up food can be an opportunity for God to speak to you. Consider how you might experience a different form of freedom that only Christ could fight and die and live again for you to have and know. Consider how going without food for one meal might bring glory to the Heavenly Father.
But what if there were more to life than just eating well each and every day? what if God blessed us with abundance in food so that we would see the hungry of the world with some compassion, and actually be moved to do something for those whose daily diet was far less than our own?
The reason I bring this up is that I have several students and a couple of other adult leaders who are doing something special. As I write this, we're almost four hours into something called the '30 Hour Famine.' Put on by an international aid organization called 'World Vision', the '30 Hour Famine' is a way to both raise money (for projects that will directly benefit children and villages around the 2/3's world) and awareness (yours, mine, and those who give their support of the day-to-day situations faced by so many in the world). We're meeting up with other church youth groups from around the Philly suburbs tonight. We'll worship God together, pray together, talk together, do service projects together, and we'll go hungry together.
I've done this many times, and over the years, I'm always amazed at the reactions of some parents here and there to the idea of their little baby bunnykins missing out on a meal, or the idea that "I could never do that!" But much of that comes from a lack of understanding, both of God, and of going without food for the purposes of God. There are many passages in the Bible where God called people to go without food for a particular period of time, something called 'fasting'. I know some people see that as an Old Testament thing, something Moses and the prophets did. But what do you make of the fact that Jesus did it, too? The best example is from Luke 4, where, filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus headed into the wilderness for the final preparation to the start of His public ministry. Okay, okay, that was for 40 days, and was certainly supernatural. But in the end, I find it an unbiblical and hollow argument to bring God into a discussion against fasting. Even the history of the Christian Church is repleat with teachings and examples of the proper place of fasting in the life of believers. Why, John Wesley is even reported as having said that he wouldn't even ordain a man who wasn't already fasting at least twice a week. Our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters often fast during Lent and other holy observances.
Personally, I wish Protestants did more these days to teach on fasting (as well as other practices of spiritual formation). Fasting, like anything else we do as Christians, isn't going to make us more spiritual. But fasting does do a few things. For one thing, it helps us identify with those who are not as blessed as we are. Secondly, in creating the space for hunger, our hearts and minds are more teachable as to our hunger for God. And third, in the time, and with the money we would have spent on a meal, we can focus that time and the resources for the purposes of God.
Anyhow, as you read this, consider how giving up food can be an opportunity for God to speak to you. Consider how you might experience a different form of freedom that only Christ could fight and die and live again for you to have and know. Consider how going without food for one meal might bring glory to the Heavenly Father.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Testing Your Faith
It's amazing what tests your faith these days. Technology, for instance, is a wonderful and challenging way to test one's faith. And so it is with me. Saturday morning, I received a call on my cell informing me that in the process of regular computer whatnot on my office desktop, my computer "crashed". Now, it's important for everyone to understand, I do not hold the person responsible. First, he's far more computer savvy than I; and second, it was one of his routine check ups, as he's the head of the technology ministry at our church.
But alas and alack, the computer has crashed, and because of someone ongoing spyware or something or other problem, I had not logged off the network for several days. You may or may not understand the severity of my problem. Not only am I not able to work on my computer, the files, documents, and organizing I've done on my desktop over the last week are now threatened with extiction on the same level as the Dodo.
What does this have to do with faith? Good question.
My answer: everything. Why? Because you need to know how I responded - because how I responded (and continue to respond) is something of a direct commentary on my faith in God.
Having been informed Saturday morning, it was far less stressful coming in on Sunday morning, knowing that I was going to have to scrammble. I still had some finishing touches to put on the powerpoint slides for our Preworship. I'll admit it; I was stressed. It was not the way I wanted to start out my Sunday morning.
However, it did make me more attuned for my need for worship. Worship is about focusing on God, giving Him the praise and the glory, of putting my problems in the perspective of eternity. There was part of me that just wanted to sneak upstairs to the Upper Room and crash on a sofa. But those temptations aside, my soul was in need of what only worshipping the One, True God Almighty can offer. My perspective was at least partially restored.
I'm sitting here on a dreary, wet and cold Monday morning, typing on a computer in the church's copy room. Not ideal, one could say. I say, I can't wait for my office computer to get fixed, but until then, Praise the Lord that we have an extra computer that I can jump on until then.
In the mean time, Praise the Lord. For even the testing of one's faith through technological terrors can draw us closer to God. And if that's the result of the testing of our faith, then the test was a success. What do you think?
But alas and alack, the computer has crashed, and because of someone ongoing spyware or something or other problem, I had not logged off the network for several days. You may or may not understand the severity of my problem. Not only am I not able to work on my computer, the files, documents, and organizing I've done on my desktop over the last week are now threatened with extiction on the same level as the Dodo.
What does this have to do with faith? Good question.
My answer: everything. Why? Because you need to know how I responded - because how I responded (and continue to respond) is something of a direct commentary on my faith in God.
Having been informed Saturday morning, it was far less stressful coming in on Sunday morning, knowing that I was going to have to scrammble. I still had some finishing touches to put on the powerpoint slides for our Preworship. I'll admit it; I was stressed. It was not the way I wanted to start out my Sunday morning.
However, it did make me more attuned for my need for worship. Worship is about focusing on God, giving Him the praise and the glory, of putting my problems in the perspective of eternity. There was part of me that just wanted to sneak upstairs to the Upper Room and crash on a sofa. But those temptations aside, my soul was in need of what only worshipping the One, True God Almighty can offer. My perspective was at least partially restored.
I'm sitting here on a dreary, wet and cold Monday morning, typing on a computer in the church's copy room. Not ideal, one could say. I say, I can't wait for my office computer to get fixed, but until then, Praise the Lord that we have an extra computer that I can jump on until then.
In the mean time, Praise the Lord. For even the testing of one's faith through technological terrors can draw us closer to God. And if that's the result of the testing of our faith, then the test was a success. What do you think?
Monday, February 07, 2005
Mi Familia
My family is a wonderful, living testimony to just how good God really is. I consider the "evolution" of my family, from the time I was born til today. It's pretty amazing that out of my parent's divorcing when I was four, living with my grandparents until I was about 12, and my mom getting remarried to Jabba the Hutt, not to mention all the other details that go with all of that, that I can sit here and say that today, I have a great family. Praise God, I say, because it wasn't possible without Him. I look back on where my family was twenty years ago, and it was dismal. It was out of that heartache, dysfunction, and just plain old pain that I considered killing myself. It was in the midst of all of that crap that I realized that God was real, and that Jesus Christ died for my sins, and my reconciliation and restoration with God. Now, becoming a Christian didn't solve all of life's problems. It didn't end the pain. But God's reaching out to and saving me did change my direction, my focus, and my life. And so almost 20 years later I'm married (almost 11 years!!! :) to Sarah, and we've got three wonderful kids, and it's very good. Not normal. But very good!!! God is good. All the time.
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