Stephen Covey tells of a life-changing experience that happened in a library, of all places! He had some time on his hands one day and decided to wander through the local library. Pulling a book from one of the shelves, he read the following words:
Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response.
In those choices lie our growth and our happiness.
He writes, “An awareness of our freedom and power to choose is affirming…it can also threaten, even terrify, because suddenly we’re responsible. If we’ve taken shelter over the years in explaining our situation and problems in the name of past or present circumstances, it is truly terrifying to think otherwise. Suddenly, there is no excuse.”
To a great extent, we have given up the concept of responsibility in our culture, and replaced it with the concept of blame. If we can blame someone else for our behaviors, we don’t have to take responsibility ourselves. This is the point of my previous blog concerning the firing of Don Imus – we made him a scapegoat for our own love of titillation and the outrageous. The rise in lawsuits, blaming others for our own irresponsibility (like supposedly not knowing the coffee in the cup would burn us if we spilled it!), is another case in point. Too, if I can blame my parents for my problems, then I don’t have to take responsibility for changing them.
But, in the process of giving up responsibility and replacing it with the mindset of victimism and blame, we have given up something else, something we claim to love, something we say we will even die for, and that is freedom. When we play the victim, when we place blame for our actions on others, when we think the responsibility for our choices lies outside our control, we give up our freedom and become slaves to our genetics, our environment, our upbringing, and our education (or lack thereof). We talk about being the “product” of our “nature or nurture.” While these factors do play a part in how we see the world, and, at times, the range of choices we have, we are only defined by our genetic make-up or by our upbringing if we choose to be defined by them.
There is still that space between what happens to us and how we respond to it, and that space is sacred – it is our God-given gift of freedom; freedom to try a different response; freedom to do things differently than our parents did, or our culture does, or even what our own appetites and urges would have us do.
In Deuteronomy 30:19, after Moses has finished sharing with the people of Israel all of the laws that God has given him on the mountain, Moses gives this charge to the people: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.”
From the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden, God has given us freedom – the freedom to choose. And, from the very beginning, when the man and woman made bad choices, they tried to place blame outside themselves, the man blaming the woman and the woman blaming the serpent.
But, the downside of blaming, of not taking responsibility, is that we also give up our freedom…our freedom to choose life, and if we do not have the freedom to choose, where is our hope for a future that is different from the past?
Twelve step programs have a wonderful definition for insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Our hope for sanity and life is not in helplessly claiming we are who we are and there’s nothing we can do about it, but in using that space between stimulus and response to try a different way, to make a different choice.
May we always be aware of the space that lies between what happens to us and our response to it. May we always be aware of the freedom we have to choose life, to choose a different way, even when that means taking responsibility for our wrong choices.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Imus is Us
I was a Top 40 disc jockey when I was in college, and for a year afterward. One of my co-workers subscribed to a radio industry audio “magazine” (you’d figure it would be audio in radio!) that contained various articles and interviews with people in the business, but it also included in each issue what we called “air checks.” Air checks are recordings of radio broadcasts, except they edit out the music and commercials so you only hear the announcer. For the rest of the world, that sounds like the opposite of what anyone would want to listen to, but for disc jockeys, the opportunity to listen to other disc jockeys, especially in large and lucrative major markets, was a treat.
That was how I first heard of Don Imus. In the mid-70’s, “Imus in the Morning” on WNBC, was the most-listened-to radio program in New York City. I still remember listening to his air checks and not believing the kinds of things he got away with saying; racial slurs and sexual innuendo that we would have been fired for saying in the Tampa Bay area. Yet, he was the number one morning show in New York. That was thirty years ago, and the things Don Imus got away with saying then were tame in comparison to the things we hear and see in the media today.
The shameful and offensive things Imus said last week about the Rutgers women’s basketball team have brought a firestorm of reaction and controversy from every segment of society. Some have called for (and have now gotten) Imus’ job. Others have defended, not what he said, but his right to say it, because of our constitutional right to freedom of speech.
It seems to me we are all missing the point. The only reason Don Imus has been around since I first heard him in the mid-1970’s is because people listen to him. “Shock jocks” like Don Imus and Howard Stern are only in the positions they are in, making the money they are making, because we, the American public, like to listen to the things they say. We love to be shocked and titillated by their off-color and insulting comments.
In other words, Don Imus is us. The irony is that we are all up in arms about something he said, when we’ve been encouraging him to come right up to the line, and even stick his toe across it, for the last thirty years. We, as an American public, have been egging him on, and then, when he sticks his entire foot across the line, we get all-fired self-righteous and can’t believe he said it. We shake our heads and say “Shame on him.” But, the truth is, he has only been reflecting the tastes and desires of the American public for three decades, so, if it’s shame on him, it’s shame on us.
The Bible often speaks of the evil that can come from the tongue. There are many passages warning of the widespread damage such a small organ can cause. But this isn’t really about the tongue of Don Imus, or anyone else, because, if we didn’t listen to them, they wouldn’t have jobs. This is about the trash we allow to pollute our minds and our spirits. Paul tells us in First Corinthians 6 that, even though we are free to say or do many things, that doesn’t mean those things are beneficial or positive. They don’t form us into the people we’ve been created and called to be. And then, in Philippians 4:8, Paul says, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Shame on us for being so surprised and offended by what Don Imus said last week. We’ve been encouraging him to be that way for over thirty years, so it was just a matter of time before he went too far. If more of us would follow Paul’s advice and focus our minds on those things which build up and form us into better people, the Imuses of the world would fade away.
That was how I first heard of Don Imus. In the mid-70’s, “Imus in the Morning” on WNBC, was the most-listened-to radio program in New York City. I still remember listening to his air checks and not believing the kinds of things he got away with saying; racial slurs and sexual innuendo that we would have been fired for saying in the Tampa Bay area. Yet, he was the number one morning show in New York. That was thirty years ago, and the things Don Imus got away with saying then were tame in comparison to the things we hear and see in the media today.
The shameful and offensive things Imus said last week about the Rutgers women’s basketball team have brought a firestorm of reaction and controversy from every segment of society. Some have called for (and have now gotten) Imus’ job. Others have defended, not what he said, but his right to say it, because of our constitutional right to freedom of speech.
It seems to me we are all missing the point. The only reason Don Imus has been around since I first heard him in the mid-1970’s is because people listen to him. “Shock jocks” like Don Imus and Howard Stern are only in the positions they are in, making the money they are making, because we, the American public, like to listen to the things they say. We love to be shocked and titillated by their off-color and insulting comments.
In other words, Don Imus is us. The irony is that we are all up in arms about something he said, when we’ve been encouraging him to come right up to the line, and even stick his toe across it, for the last thirty years. We, as an American public, have been egging him on, and then, when he sticks his entire foot across the line, we get all-fired self-righteous and can’t believe he said it. We shake our heads and say “Shame on him.” But, the truth is, he has only been reflecting the tastes and desires of the American public for three decades, so, if it’s shame on him, it’s shame on us.
The Bible often speaks of the evil that can come from the tongue. There are many passages warning of the widespread damage such a small organ can cause. But this isn’t really about the tongue of Don Imus, or anyone else, because, if we didn’t listen to them, they wouldn’t have jobs. This is about the trash we allow to pollute our minds and our spirits. Paul tells us in First Corinthians 6 that, even though we are free to say or do many things, that doesn’t mean those things are beneficial or positive. They don’t form us into the people we’ve been created and called to be. And then, in Philippians 4:8, Paul says, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Shame on us for being so surprised and offended by what Don Imus said last week. We’ve been encouraging him to be that way for over thirty years, so it was just a matter of time before he went too far. If more of us would follow Paul’s advice and focus our minds on those things which build up and form us into better people, the Imuses of the world would fade away.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Remembering the Passion
Mel Gibson overdid it a few years ago with his “The Passion of the Christ.” Never mind the tension he created between Christians and Jews, just the way he portrayed Jesus’ suffering was overdone. He made up stuff that isn’t even in the Bible to make Jesus’ agony even more brutal and difficult to watch. He didn’t have to do that – the account we have in scripture is bad enough.
But you have to grant Gibson this: he made us stop and consider the events between Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday, and that’s something most of us no longer do. Has life simply gotten too busy to take an hour on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday to remember the passion of our Lord?
I’m afraid it is not just busy-ness, it is a loss of caring. My own Rotary club here in High Point has planned a party at a local gathering place for Maundy Thursday evening. Granted, Rotary is not officially a Christian organization, but my club is mostly good Christian men and women, who, evidently, have forgotten that, while they are gathering for drinks and good times, many of their churches will be remembering Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples, and his suffering and death at the hands of his enemies. Maundy Thursday evening just doesn’t seem the appropriate time for a party.
When Jesus was arrested, his disciples fled, and with the exception of John, the next time we see them is on Easter Sunday. I’m afraid that we, too, however unintentionally, desert Jesus during his time of suffering by only gathering to remember his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. We do not stay awake with him as he prays in Gethsemane. We do not walk with him as he suffers the indignities of being mocked and spat upon. We do not walk with him as he is stripped and beaten, or when a crown of thorns is placed upon his head. We do not walk with him as he struggles to carry the cross through the streets of Jerusalem. We do not stand with him as he endures the unimaginable pain of nails being pounded through flesh, muscle and bone until it finally finds its way into the wood of the cross, even though he suffers it all for us.
And, as a result, Easter’s meaning has become shallow. If there is no death, what meaning is there in resurrection? Bunny rabbits and brightly colored eggs will do. But, if we are willing to suffer with Christ, or at least walk with him as he suffers for us, Easter’s meaning truly comes to life. Watching the Christ candle being carried into the sanctuary on Easter morning only has meaning if you watched it leaving the sanctuary on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday.
So, even though we don’t need to rent “The Passion of the Christ,” I hope you will go to church either on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday and remember Christ’s passion. After all, he did it for us. Remembering seems the least we can do.
But you have to grant Gibson this: he made us stop and consider the events between Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday, and that’s something most of us no longer do. Has life simply gotten too busy to take an hour on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday to remember the passion of our Lord?
I’m afraid it is not just busy-ness, it is a loss of caring. My own Rotary club here in High Point has planned a party at a local gathering place for Maundy Thursday evening. Granted, Rotary is not officially a Christian organization, but my club is mostly good Christian men and women, who, evidently, have forgotten that, while they are gathering for drinks and good times, many of their churches will be remembering Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples, and his suffering and death at the hands of his enemies. Maundy Thursday evening just doesn’t seem the appropriate time for a party.
When Jesus was arrested, his disciples fled, and with the exception of John, the next time we see them is on Easter Sunday. I’m afraid that we, too, however unintentionally, desert Jesus during his time of suffering by only gathering to remember his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. We do not stay awake with him as he prays in Gethsemane. We do not walk with him as he suffers the indignities of being mocked and spat upon. We do not walk with him as he is stripped and beaten, or when a crown of thorns is placed upon his head. We do not walk with him as he struggles to carry the cross through the streets of Jerusalem. We do not stand with him as he endures the unimaginable pain of nails being pounded through flesh, muscle and bone until it finally finds its way into the wood of the cross, even though he suffers it all for us.
And, as a result, Easter’s meaning has become shallow. If there is no death, what meaning is there in resurrection? Bunny rabbits and brightly colored eggs will do. But, if we are willing to suffer with Christ, or at least walk with him as he suffers for us, Easter’s meaning truly comes to life. Watching the Christ candle being carried into the sanctuary on Easter morning only has meaning if you watched it leaving the sanctuary on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday.
So, even though we don’t need to rent “The Passion of the Christ,” I hope you will go to church either on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday and remember Christ’s passion. After all, he did it for us. Remembering seems the least we can do.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
The Age-Old Question
In the past two weeks, we have lost two members of our church family in tragic and sudden ways. One man was killed in an automobile collision, the other man suffered brain damage after choking on food. Although there was approximately 40 years difference in their ages, both deaths have left us in shock, asking once again the old, but always relevant question, why? Why does a loving God allow such pain and suffering?
Because this is such a universal question, I thought I would share the meditation I gave at the funeral of the man, Tracy, who was involved in the collision.
“It is not fair. Something painful has happened, very painful. Something precious has been broken, and it is not fixed. It is going to take a long time to get past this, and in some ways, you never get past something like this.
“Meanwhile, we are going to let God know. We are looking death in the face, and we want God to come and give us life. We are in the dark here, and we want God to come and show us some light. We are lost and confused, and we want God to hurry up with the saving grace.
“The book of Psalms in the Bible is not only filled with beautiful, pastoral poems like the 23rd Psalm, which reminds us we belong to God. It is also filled with lament poems, voices of God’s people crying out to God for help, for understanding, for justice, for life to be fair.
“Here is what we do understand in the midst of all that we don’t: God wants us to open our hearts, to pour out our pain, our confusion, our brokenness, even our anger. God would much rather we pour out our pain than to turn our backs on him.
“Still, the question remains: why? Where is God in this?
“My best answer is to remind you of the story of Jesus’ good friend, Lazarus. Jesus receives word from Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, that Lazarus is sick, dying. Yet, Jesus inexplicably delays coming to heal his friend. We don’t know why – so many of God’s actions are beyond our understanding.
So Lazarus dies, and then Jesus comes.
“There is accusation in the sisters’ voices as each says to Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” No doubt, the sisters are angry, and confused. The numbers don’t add up. They know Jesus loved Lazarus, but why didn’t he come? Why did he allow this to happen?
"If God has the power to stop this, and God loves us, why do these things happen? Where is God in our pain and the unfairness of life?
"Jesus has two responses to the sisters’ words. He goes to see his beloved friend, Lazarus, and he weeps. Jesus weeps. Where is God in our pain, in our confusion, in our tears? God weeps with us. This is a fallen world, not the world God created; not the way he intended it to be, and God weeps at the pain we experience in this broken creation.
"But then, Jesus says, 'Lazarus, come out!' Jesus brings Lazarus back to life. Pain is not the last word – healing is. Death is not the last word, life is. Despair is not the last word, hope is.
"Just as Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, so has Jesus brought Tracy back to life. In the midst of all that we do not understand, let us remember these three things:
"First, let us not turn our backs on God, but let us also say what we mean and how we feel to God. Even Mary and Martha were not afraid to speak their minds to Jesus.
"Second, let us remember that Jesus weeps with us. This is not the way he wants life to be, either.
"Finally, because this is not the way he wants life to be, Jesus has the last word, and the last word is life; life abundant; life eternal; life in his kingdom where, as Revelation 21 puts it: 'he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.'
"Thanks be to God."
Because this is such a universal question, I thought I would share the meditation I gave at the funeral of the man, Tracy, who was involved in the collision.
“It is not fair. Something painful has happened, very painful. Something precious has been broken, and it is not fixed. It is going to take a long time to get past this, and in some ways, you never get past something like this.
“Meanwhile, we are going to let God know. We are looking death in the face, and we want God to come and give us life. We are in the dark here, and we want God to come and show us some light. We are lost and confused, and we want God to hurry up with the saving grace.
“The book of Psalms in the Bible is not only filled with beautiful, pastoral poems like the 23rd Psalm, which reminds us we belong to God. It is also filled with lament poems, voices of God’s people crying out to God for help, for understanding, for justice, for life to be fair.
“Here is what we do understand in the midst of all that we don’t: God wants us to open our hearts, to pour out our pain, our confusion, our brokenness, even our anger. God would much rather we pour out our pain than to turn our backs on him.
“Still, the question remains: why? Where is God in this?
“My best answer is to remind you of the story of Jesus’ good friend, Lazarus. Jesus receives word from Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, that Lazarus is sick, dying. Yet, Jesus inexplicably delays coming to heal his friend. We don’t know why – so many of God’s actions are beyond our understanding.
So Lazarus dies, and then Jesus comes.
“There is accusation in the sisters’ voices as each says to Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” No doubt, the sisters are angry, and confused. The numbers don’t add up. They know Jesus loved Lazarus, but why didn’t he come? Why did he allow this to happen?
"If God has the power to stop this, and God loves us, why do these things happen? Where is God in our pain and the unfairness of life?
"Jesus has two responses to the sisters’ words. He goes to see his beloved friend, Lazarus, and he weeps. Jesus weeps. Where is God in our pain, in our confusion, in our tears? God weeps with us. This is a fallen world, not the world God created; not the way he intended it to be, and God weeps at the pain we experience in this broken creation.
"But then, Jesus says, 'Lazarus, come out!' Jesus brings Lazarus back to life. Pain is not the last word – healing is. Death is not the last word, life is. Despair is not the last word, hope is.
"Just as Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, so has Jesus brought Tracy back to life. In the midst of all that we do not understand, let us remember these three things:
"First, let us not turn our backs on God, but let us also say what we mean and how we feel to God. Even Mary and Martha were not afraid to speak their minds to Jesus.
"Second, let us remember that Jesus weeps with us. This is not the way he wants life to be, either.
"Finally, because this is not the way he wants life to be, Jesus has the last word, and the last word is life; life abundant; life eternal; life in his kingdom where, as Revelation 21 puts it: 'he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.'
"Thanks be to God."
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Ruthless, Part Two
Back in November, when I began this blog, my very first entry talked about Dallas Willard’s advice to John Ortberg to “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from you life.” My invitation was to experience Advent in a new way, without the hurried pace that seems to make the season so unenjoyable and exhausting.
Well, Advent and Christmas are long gone, but, I was wondering how you were doing with battling the demon of the hurried life. As I have continued to focus on being ruthless about living an unhurried life (notice I said I’m focusing on it, not necessarily always being that ruthless about it!), I have discovered some things about myself, and learned some things, also, about what it means to eliminate hurry from my life.
One thing I’ve learned about myself is how much my identity is wrapped up in being a busy person. I am working hard at not including the word “busy” in my answers to those who ask how I’m doing, and I’m discovering it’s hard to do. It’s a sneaky way to say how successful I am, and also to say, “So don’t ask me to do anything that will take up more of my time.” It’s a clever way to put people at a distance.
Another thing I’ve learned about myself is that I like not being hurried. I’ve had more time to spend with Suzette and my family, and that’s great. I’ve spent more time enriching my spirit and my relationship with Jesus, and that’s great, too.
Some other things I’ve learned:
1. Busy and hurried are not always the same thing. Often, being busy is energizing and fun. As long as I learn where the line is between being busy and packing my calendar so full that I’ve eliminated time for the most important things, like rest, prayer and relationships, I can handle being busy and not feel drained or distant from God or others. By the way, I’m still learning where that line is.
2. Ruthlessly eliminating hurry does not necessarily mean that I have permission to stop doing important things. It means I have to take a closer look at what fills my calendar. Eliminating hurry usually ends up meaning that I eliminate the unnecessary and unimportant time-wasters, which, when eliminated, allow plenty of time for the important things.
3. It’s easy to play the victim, to pretend it’s not my fault that my life’s so busy and hurried. And, therefore, it’s not my responsibility to do anything about it. I’m just the innocent victim of a crazy world that demands too much of me. That’s so not true, but learning to take responsibility for my draining, hurried life is still a challenge for me.
4. Related to that, I’ve come to believe that God gives us plenty of time to do all of the things God created us and wants us to do. If we don’t have time to stop and help someone, to spend time in prayer, to read the Bible, to engage in regular acts of service, then we’ve filled God’s time with activities God didn’t have in mind. It’s like money – if we don’t have enough to use it the way God intended, we’re spending too much of it in ways God didn’t intend.
5. But, that doesn’t mean eliminating play from our lives. God does want to us to play, to enjoy the life God has given us.
If Advent was a good time to work on eliminating hurry from our lives, Lent is an even better time. Why not give up hurry for Lent?
Well, Advent and Christmas are long gone, but, I was wondering how you were doing with battling the demon of the hurried life. As I have continued to focus on being ruthless about living an unhurried life (notice I said I’m focusing on it, not necessarily always being that ruthless about it!), I have discovered some things about myself, and learned some things, also, about what it means to eliminate hurry from my life.
One thing I’ve learned about myself is how much my identity is wrapped up in being a busy person. I am working hard at not including the word “busy” in my answers to those who ask how I’m doing, and I’m discovering it’s hard to do. It’s a sneaky way to say how successful I am, and also to say, “So don’t ask me to do anything that will take up more of my time.” It’s a clever way to put people at a distance.
Another thing I’ve learned about myself is that I like not being hurried. I’ve had more time to spend with Suzette and my family, and that’s great. I’ve spent more time enriching my spirit and my relationship with Jesus, and that’s great, too.
Some other things I’ve learned:
1. Busy and hurried are not always the same thing. Often, being busy is energizing and fun. As long as I learn where the line is between being busy and packing my calendar so full that I’ve eliminated time for the most important things, like rest, prayer and relationships, I can handle being busy and not feel drained or distant from God or others. By the way, I’m still learning where that line is.
2. Ruthlessly eliminating hurry does not necessarily mean that I have permission to stop doing important things. It means I have to take a closer look at what fills my calendar. Eliminating hurry usually ends up meaning that I eliminate the unnecessary and unimportant time-wasters, which, when eliminated, allow plenty of time for the important things.
3. It’s easy to play the victim, to pretend it’s not my fault that my life’s so busy and hurried. And, therefore, it’s not my responsibility to do anything about it. I’m just the innocent victim of a crazy world that demands too much of me. That’s so not true, but learning to take responsibility for my draining, hurried life is still a challenge for me.
4. Related to that, I’ve come to believe that God gives us plenty of time to do all of the things God created us and wants us to do. If we don’t have time to stop and help someone, to spend time in prayer, to read the Bible, to engage in regular acts of service, then we’ve filled God’s time with activities God didn’t have in mind. It’s like money – if we don’t have enough to use it the way God intended, we’re spending too much of it in ways God didn’t intend.
5. But, that doesn’t mean eliminating play from our lives. God does want to us to play, to enjoy the life God has given us.
If Advent was a good time to work on eliminating hurry from our lives, Lent is an even better time. Why not give up hurry for Lent?
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Katrina Clean-up Continues
It’s been a year and a half since Hurricane Katrina made landfall just east of New Orleans, right along the Mississippi-Louisiana border. But you’d think it was only a month and a half by the level of devastation and disorientation that continues along that part of the Gulf Coast.
A group of nine folks from our church made the twelve hour drive to Orange Grove, Mississippi, just north of Gulfport, two weeks ago. We went to spend three days helping in some small way to enable people to put their lives back together. We worked on two houses that had suffered water damage when their roofs where blown off and the rain poured in for hours. Ceilings sagged and, in some places, had fallen in; walls were ruined; mold and mildew grew on the wooden studs inside the walls. Drywall on ceilings and walls had to be ripped out and replaced. Kitchen cabinets and countertops were replaced in one house, while repair of a bathroom that had been ruined in another house was completed.
The most heartwarming and rewarding part of the trip is always the appreciation we receive from the families who, with our help, come one step closer to having their homes and their lives back. It was not only heartwarming, but deeply symbolic, as well, when a couple of our team members hung a ceiling fan and light in the living room of one of the homes. When the switch was flipped and the light came on, Mary, the woman who lived there, cried out in delight and said that was the first time she had had light in her living room since Katrina came through eighteen months ago.
There is still a great deal of darkness in the lives of the folks living just a twelve hour drive away from us, and it will continue to be so for another three to five years. Just because you don’t hear about it on the news anymore doesn’t mean the problem has gone away, so let’s not forget this important way we can reach out in love, and help to bring hope out of chaos.
We have two more trips planned this year, one from June 10-16 and another in either September or October. If you can take a few days and come help us, please do so – no experience required, we’ll show you what to do! If you can’t go there yourself, prayers, encouragement, and Lowe’s gift cards are greatly needed to make each trip possible.
Let’s keep bringing light into the darkness!
A group of nine folks from our church made the twelve hour drive to Orange Grove, Mississippi, just north of Gulfport, two weeks ago. We went to spend three days helping in some small way to enable people to put their lives back together. We worked on two houses that had suffered water damage when their roofs where blown off and the rain poured in for hours. Ceilings sagged and, in some places, had fallen in; walls were ruined; mold and mildew grew on the wooden studs inside the walls. Drywall on ceilings and walls had to be ripped out and replaced. Kitchen cabinets and countertops were replaced in one house, while repair of a bathroom that had been ruined in another house was completed.
The most heartwarming and rewarding part of the trip is always the appreciation we receive from the families who, with our help, come one step closer to having their homes and their lives back. It was not only heartwarming, but deeply symbolic, as well, when a couple of our team members hung a ceiling fan and light in the living room of one of the homes. When the switch was flipped and the light came on, Mary, the woman who lived there, cried out in delight and said that was the first time she had had light in her living room since Katrina came through eighteen months ago.
There is still a great deal of darkness in the lives of the folks living just a twelve hour drive away from us, and it will continue to be so for another three to five years. Just because you don’t hear about it on the news anymore doesn’t mean the problem has gone away, so let’s not forget this important way we can reach out in love, and help to bring hope out of chaos.
We have two more trips planned this year, one from June 10-16 and another in either September or October. If you can take a few days and come help us, please do so – no experience required, we’ll show you what to do! If you can’t go there yourself, prayers, encouragement, and Lowe’s gift cards are greatly needed to make each trip possible.
Let’s keep bringing light into the darkness!
What's Wrong with this Picture?
“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” seems to have been the philosophy of a lot of churches this past Super Bowl Sunday. Take Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis, for example. Right there in the hometown of the now-champion Colts. Instead of trying to compete with the Big Game for people’s attention, Fall Creek planned a big Super Bowl party at the church. For a small fee to cover the cost of snacks, folks could come to church, enjoy some fun and fellowship, and watch their Colts on a big screen projection TV.
Until, that is, NFL officials spotted the announcement for the event on Fall Creek’s website (do they have nothing better to do than browse church websites for copyright violations?). Lawyers for the NFL contacted the church and informed them that it was illegal to charge people coming to the event, it was illegal to use the copyrighted title “Super Bowl” in their publicity, and, it was illegal to show the game on a television screen larger than fifty-five inches wide.
Fall Creek Baptist Church, not wanting to break the law, canceled the party.
Why do they have such laws? Because Nielsen ratings, on which advertising rates are set, do not cover mass viewings of football games in one place. In other words, it hurts the television ratings to have people gathering in large groups and enjoying the game together, and what hurts ratings hurts revenues, and we can’t have that!
But here’s the kicker (pun intended). Sports bars can have all the big screen TV’s they want for as large a crowd as the fire marshal will allow, because they’re exempt from the law that applies to everyone else. So, you can get together with friends at the local watering hole where they can charge you for the food, the barstool, and the alcohol, but you can’t get together with friends in your local fellowship hall, even if the food is free and the environment child-friendly.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Greed is what is wrong with this picture. That’s as clear as a high definition, big screen projection television.
Until, that is, NFL officials spotted the announcement for the event on Fall Creek’s website (do they have nothing better to do than browse church websites for copyright violations?). Lawyers for the NFL contacted the church and informed them that it was illegal to charge people coming to the event, it was illegal to use the copyrighted title “Super Bowl” in their publicity, and, it was illegal to show the game on a television screen larger than fifty-five inches wide.
Fall Creek Baptist Church, not wanting to break the law, canceled the party.
Why do they have such laws? Because Nielsen ratings, on which advertising rates are set, do not cover mass viewings of football games in one place. In other words, it hurts the television ratings to have people gathering in large groups and enjoying the game together, and what hurts ratings hurts revenues, and we can’t have that!
But here’s the kicker (pun intended). Sports bars can have all the big screen TV’s they want for as large a crowd as the fire marshal will allow, because they’re exempt from the law that applies to everyone else. So, you can get together with friends at the local watering hole where they can charge you for the food, the barstool, and the alcohol, but you can’t get together with friends in your local fellowship hall, even if the food is free and the environment child-friendly.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Greed is what is wrong with this picture. That’s as clear as a high definition, big screen projection television.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
They look like normal kids, kids we might have met on one of our church's mission trips to Peru. Poverty-stricken, wearing hand-me-down American clothes, but they are children of war.
I received the following email from Skip Queen, a member of my church. It is from an Army soldier serving in Iraq named Chauncey Calloway, and, well, I'll let him tell the story.
It is Sunday afternoon here and at first I was upset because i didn't get to go to church because we were on the road but I think I got my blessing anyway. I am going to give you the condensed version because we are at the US Embassy and my time is limited. While in the "green zone" we had to drop our interpreter off at some building and while sitting in the truck waiting four or five kids came running up to the truck. I quickly turned around and inspected them for weapons or bombs but they were completely harmless. I knew I was in the green zone but I still wasn't taking any chances. My buddy SFC King and I were the only ones in the truck. I yelled at him because he had just walked around to the other side of the truck to work on a radio. Some of the kids went up to him while the others yelled at me in the turret behind my .50 cal. "Mister, mister, candy?", they shouted. At first I was hesitant but then I thought about it, they are helpless, hungry, poor children. It was very sad. They were dirty with either no shoes or sandals. Their clothes were ragged and dirty. Everyone knows how easy-going I am. I reached in my pocket and had a couple of starburst and tossed them down to them and they acted like I tossed a hundred dollar bill to them. King scrounged around and gave them some candy and he gave them a pair of gloves. We both had little flashlights on our vest and he asked me if mine worked. I told him yes and he asked for it to give to them. Anything from the Americans was like gold. By this time King and I were rambling around the truck trying to find anything that we really didn't need or could afford to give them. I gave them a soda and hopped down from the turret to take a picture with them. Last night another sergeant gave me a box of vanilla almond cookies that I tossed in the truck just for snacks. After I took a couple or pictures with them I gave them the cookies. The kids will try to get anything from you. They asked for my glasses and my camera. I told them I can't give that to them. It was really touching and I was glad that I had something to give to them. Although they may grow up to hate Americans, I didn't contribute to it. I think that was blessing enough for me. It wasn't church, but I was spiritually uplifted.
God bless Chauncey Calloway and all those men and women like him who find themselves in such a dangerous place that even poor children pose a threat. God bless the children who find themselves the victims, and sometimes even the weapons, in a world they didn't create. And God forgive us all for the wars that have been fought through the centuries, by Christians, Jews and Muslims alike, in God's own name.
Shalom.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Karma in a Can
I guess karma is making a comeback. One of the most popular TV sitcoms, “My Name is Earl,” is about this guy who realizes that all the bad things he has done to people have started coming back to haunt him, and if he wants to be happy, he’d better fix his broken karma. (If you have a broken karma, do you take it to a karma-chanic?)
Then there is Alicia Keyes’ song of the same name, and I understand Motorola has a marketing campaign that is supposed to help people improve their karma, according to the LA Times. But here’s the kicker: Karma in a Can. A guy named Andrew Loren Klamer has “invented” a line of aromatherapy sprays that consist of a mixture of seven “good herbs for good karma.” What kind of herbs improve your karma? Well, three of them are ginseng, lavender and peppermint, but Klamer isn’t revealing the others.
Although Klamer is quick to admit that you can’t really improve your karma by spraying something, his marketing agent seems to think maybe you can. She is quoted as saying, “Just with a spritz, everything is OK again.” That’s what I call instant karma.
In a way, I guess it is comforting to know that our culture has become an equal opportunity abuser of religious principles, and it’s not just Christian ideas that are being kicked around anymore. Karma is a sacred Hindu principle of action and reaction which basically means that a person’s actions return to them, that we, in a sense, create our own future. If you do positive things, you find positive things coming your way, and vice versa. And, of course, karma is also related to the Hindu idea of reincarnation – our karma may not reward or punish us until another life.
We Christians are not strangers to this action-reaction principle. Paul writes in Galatians 6, “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.”
But that’s not the entire biblical teaching. The book of Job instructs us that sometimes bad things happen to us when we’ve done nothing to deserve them, and there isn’t always a direct line of cause-and-effect. But more than that, we have the good news that, because of Jesus’ willingness to take the effect of our sin upon himself, we do not have to suffer the ultimate consequences of our sin. Nor do we have to keep coming back to this world in repeated reincarnations until we “get it right.” Ultimately, we do not create our future, Jesus has created it for us.
We have been offered grace, the grace of a loving God who breaks the cause-and-effect, action-reaction cycle and removes our sin from us. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter what we do with our life, nor does it mean we are not responsible for the consequences of our actions. But, as Paul also says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” No matter how well we live our lives, we cannot of our own right actions and thoughts earn or achieve eternal life. It is a gift, a free gift. It is grace, something you’ll never be able to buy… in a can or any other way.
Then there is Alicia Keyes’ song of the same name, and I understand Motorola has a marketing campaign that is supposed to help people improve their karma, according to the LA Times. But here’s the kicker: Karma in a Can. A guy named Andrew Loren Klamer has “invented” a line of aromatherapy sprays that consist of a mixture of seven “good herbs for good karma.” What kind of herbs improve your karma? Well, three of them are ginseng, lavender and peppermint, but Klamer isn’t revealing the others.
Although Klamer is quick to admit that you can’t really improve your karma by spraying something, his marketing agent seems to think maybe you can. She is quoted as saying, “Just with a spritz, everything is OK again.” That’s what I call instant karma.
In a way, I guess it is comforting to know that our culture has become an equal opportunity abuser of religious principles, and it’s not just Christian ideas that are being kicked around anymore. Karma is a sacred Hindu principle of action and reaction which basically means that a person’s actions return to them, that we, in a sense, create our own future. If you do positive things, you find positive things coming your way, and vice versa. And, of course, karma is also related to the Hindu idea of reincarnation – our karma may not reward or punish us until another life.
We Christians are not strangers to this action-reaction principle. Paul writes in Galatians 6, “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.”
But that’s not the entire biblical teaching. The book of Job instructs us that sometimes bad things happen to us when we’ve done nothing to deserve them, and there isn’t always a direct line of cause-and-effect. But more than that, we have the good news that, because of Jesus’ willingness to take the effect of our sin upon himself, we do not have to suffer the ultimate consequences of our sin. Nor do we have to keep coming back to this world in repeated reincarnations until we “get it right.” Ultimately, we do not create our future, Jesus has created it for us.
We have been offered grace, the grace of a loving God who breaks the cause-and-effect, action-reaction cycle and removes our sin from us. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter what we do with our life, nor does it mean we are not responsible for the consequences of our actions. But, as Paul also says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” No matter how well we live our lives, we cannot of our own right actions and thoughts earn or achieve eternal life. It is a gift, a free gift. It is grace, something you’ll never be able to buy… in a can or any other way.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Limbo in Limbo
The existence of Limbo is now, well, in limbo. According to Christian Century magazine (October 31, 2006), Pope Benedict XVI is expected to make an official disavowal of the idea first theorized by St. Augustine. Augustine, speculating on the ultimate destiny of unbaptized babies and those who lived before Christ, suggested that they might live “on the limbus (or border) of heaven.”
No word on whether the pope’s excommunication of Limbo will also be accompanied with an explanation of exactly where those poor babies and unfortunates born too soon to hear of Jesus might actually be. One can’t help but wonder how Augustine would react to hearing that his musings on mortality became official church doctrine for sixteen hundred years.
To determine that babies and those who lived before Christ are now anywhere but in the loving presence of God is to resort to a works righteousness that contradicts the basic biblical teaching of salvation by grace, which is certainly by faith for those who have been given the opportunity to believe, to accept the Good News. But to say that those who have not been given the opportunity to believe must therefore be outside the gates of heaven, whether on its border or anywhere else, is to deny the gracious power of God to save anyone God wishes to save.
And it hardly seems to reflect the will of the One who said, “Allow the children to come to me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven,” and, “Unless you become as a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.”
No word on whether the pope’s excommunication of Limbo will also be accompanied with an explanation of exactly where those poor babies and unfortunates born too soon to hear of Jesus might actually be. One can’t help but wonder how Augustine would react to hearing that his musings on mortality became official church doctrine for sixteen hundred years.
To determine that babies and those who lived before Christ are now anywhere but in the loving presence of God is to resort to a works righteousness that contradicts the basic biblical teaching of salvation by grace, which is certainly by faith for those who have been given the opportunity to believe, to accept the Good News. But to say that those who have not been given the opportunity to believe must therefore be outside the gates of heaven, whether on its border or anywhere else, is to deny the gracious power of God to save anyone God wishes to save.
And it hardly seems to reflect the will of the One who said, “Allow the children to come to me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven,” and, “Unless you become as a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Standing on the Side of the Road
There are several places in the New Testament where the Christian life is compared to running a race. Have you ever thought that part of running our race as Christians is standing on the sidelines for others as they run their race?
Back in the day, before my hips got old, I used to love to run. Well, jog, actually. Runners don’t have speed walkers passing them. But, still, I loved it, and for several years I enjoyed running, er, jogging, in races, from 5K’s to my longest, a thirteen mile mini-marathon. To my constant surprise, at every single race, people would show up along the route and cheer the runners on, cheer me on. People I never met would call out words of encouragement to me. Trust me, I was closer to the back than the front of the runners, and we’re not talking about the Boston marathon, these were just local races. But folks would stand along the road, applaud and call out, “Keep up the pace, you’re doing great!” “You’re almost there, don’t slow down!” “Looking good, keep going!” And you know what? It worked. Their cheers and applause lifted my spirits and my energy, and I found myself pushing a little harder.
I ran my race a little better because they cheered me on.
Nearly every one of Paul’s letters contains the word “encourage.” Either Paul is sending someone to his readers to encourage them, or he’s encouraging his readers to encourage one another. It is an important part of being a Christian to encourage those around us. An uplifting word, a hug, a pat on the back, or a compliment can do amazing things to someone for whom life seems to be an uphill run. It lifts their spirit, boosts their energy, and helps them run their race a little better.
So, it really is a part of the race we run, to stand along the road and encourage those we see working hard to run their race.
Back in the day, before my hips got old, I used to love to run. Well, jog, actually. Runners don’t have speed walkers passing them. But, still, I loved it, and for several years I enjoyed running, er, jogging, in races, from 5K’s to my longest, a thirteen mile mini-marathon. To my constant surprise, at every single race, people would show up along the route and cheer the runners on, cheer me on. People I never met would call out words of encouragement to me. Trust me, I was closer to the back than the front of the runners, and we’re not talking about the Boston marathon, these were just local races. But folks would stand along the road, applaud and call out, “Keep up the pace, you’re doing great!” “You’re almost there, don’t slow down!” “Looking good, keep going!” And you know what? It worked. Their cheers and applause lifted my spirits and my energy, and I found myself pushing a little harder.
I ran my race a little better because they cheered me on.
Nearly every one of Paul’s letters contains the word “encourage.” Either Paul is sending someone to his readers to encourage them, or he’s encouraging his readers to encourage one another. It is an important part of being a Christian to encourage those around us. An uplifting word, a hug, a pat on the back, or a compliment can do amazing things to someone for whom life seems to be an uphill run. It lifts their spirit, boosts their energy, and helps them run their race a little better.
So, it really is a part of the race we run, to stand along the road and encourage those we see working hard to run their race.
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