Timing is Everything

I believe the number one self-stated problem for Americans is, "there's not enough time."

Everyone has said this, I have, you have, everyone. Whether it is nearing crunch time for a deadline at work, trying to clean the house after the kids have gone to bed, but before the next day when the parents visit, or trying to balance your career, family, personal health and social volunteerism...oh yeah....that faith, church thing too.

What gets cut out of your life?

See, the secret to having enough time is to whittle down the commitments you say "yes" to, and learn how to say "no" to those things that are not as important. But again, what gets a "no" in your life?

As a pastor who is also a people-pleaser I tend to fill my calendar up quickly with requests to attend a Bible study, preach at a training session, attend a meeting, plan an event, and I set aside time to be with my family. But inevitably, Friday comes and I haven't gotten half of my "to-do's" actually done, and I can't remember what I have done in my time. It's as though there is never enough time. You know the feeling...no matter what you do.

But a wise-man once taught me, "there is a perfect amount of time, no matter how humans have defined it. God made the earth to perfectly go around the sun, creating day and night, so time is a gift from God...not a burden that there is not enough of. So, what I'm telling you is...there is plenty of time, you are simply filling it with too much."

Have you ever thought about God creating the day perfectly? Scientifically, the earth is the perfect distance and rotates perfectly for life to exist, so why would the amount of light and dark be imperfect? We are supposed to get 7-10 hours of sleep, which is close to the amount of darkness there is...perfect?

Including myself, perhaps we need to simply say no to certain things. This might be the hardest thing for many people, as there are many, many, many good things to say yes to. But believe me, someone will take the slack. You can almost argue that people who are engaged in too many things are enablers of laziness in society. What's the old adage, "10% of the church does 90% of the work." I wonder if we intentionally let things slip through the cracks if our own work would be better done, and if more people would step up to serve and lead the church because there is a need.

Of course the problem becomes time again. People often do not fulfill leadership roles, or even consumer roles in churches because they are too busy with their jobs or their kids' sports or other activities that are important as well. But this argument could go two ways.

1) all of the people who typically say yes to church stuff, are usually very busy people, because they say yes to everything. This is not a good thing for them, and possibly not for the church body.

2) what is more important?

If there is a perfect amount of time and you do not have time to fill your spiritual needs, your social needs and your need to serve (all three I believe are things we crave and need to be healthy in our lives), then what is taking that time? What is not important, but we make important?

In the season of Lent, as we are to be refocusing ourselves on the death and resurrection of Christ, perhaps it's time we take a look at our time priorities.

Here's the challenge:

-print out your schedule for the month and add up the total number of hours you are engaged in certain activities.

-chances are, your job will dominate - that's expected

-what is second? How many hours is that compared to your job?

-where is anything faith/service related, percentage wise?

-how much of your schedule benefits someone else or even, benefits the world as a whole?

You Try and Explain This

One of the most often talked about subjects with congregation members is Baptism. It's an intruinging topic, and it delights me to know that people are thinking about it. I think it's so intriguing because of the mystery behind it all. You can't REALLY explain baptism.

It's kind of like trying to explain "art" as a concept. You can't know what art is...you simply have to...know.

Baptism does have a United Methodist explanation, and that is (in my own words), "Baptism is a means of grace. It is the ritual performed to dignify God's grace working on and within an individual, as God's grace comes before any action or choice that we make. This is true for infants or for adults, and is an acceptance by the congregation that this person is a child of God."

Does that tell you what baptism is? For some, yes, for some, no. It describes it as a ritual experience, it tells of God's grace, but how do you describe an internal action or feeling? How do you describe God's grace at work on an infant who can't tell you about it like an adult can? It's simply baptism, acceptance into God's grace.

Some people...have a problem with this conception of baptism. To some, baptism is the moment in which you are saved, your sins are washed away, because baptism is the choice you make, allowing God's grace to come to you. It is no longer a recognition of God's action, it is an invoking of God's action.

In both cases, God's grace is available to all, but in one, God acts first and you dignify that and accept it, and in the other case, you act first and God then rewards you. Like I said...it's a tricky subject, but fun.

I think baptism gives us a good look at the way God works in our lives. We know it's happening to us or another person (perhaps our kids), but we can't totally put words to it. We can try, but we know there will always be more.

So the next time you see a baptism, embrace the mystery and celebrate that God is so awesome and works so many wonders...that we can't explain all of them as well as we'd like to.

Heaven: Is it just therapy?

After a lively discussion this morning's Bible study focusing around the first 4 chapters of Romans, I realized how much of the conversation had centered around who and who doesn't get to heaven. This stemmed from Paul writing about God's wrath, judgment and righteousness in the first 3 chapters of Romans (yes, an uplifting start that gets better).

Interestingly enough, we got on the topic of heaven when someone asked "do we get judged now or later?"

We then sprung into talks about Haiti, 9/11 and other events that people have blamed on God, but the overwhelming consensus was that we are judged later, when we die and have the opportunity to experience heaven.

One person spoke of how comforting this feeling was, that they were going to heaven, that it was a weight off of their shoulders that they did not have to fear death.

Believe it or not, a lay person at Stonebridge UMC was right in line with statements made by Martin Luther, Paul, John Wesley and many of the great theologians from the past. They too were afraid of death and not being in the presence of God, and God's grace allowed them to be relieved and be at peace.

But is the promise of heaven just a therapeutic tool for us? Is it something to give us comfort when things are bad...that things will eventually get better? What is heaven?

Christianity is not the only faith that holds an idea of a "heaven", as Muslims for sure hold the idea of a paradise, and even Buddhists and Hindus have an idea of Nirvana or a spiritual essence that takes you out of materialism. Christians, however, have not always been consistent with their ideas of heaven...causing me to wonder if it is just therapy now or if it is true deliverance.

According to the Gospels, Jesus talks about preparing a place for us with The Father in heaven. Jesus, however, does not talk about streets paved with gold, sitting on clouds playing harps, or even a bodiless existence.

Paul, I do not believe, talks about heaven specifically, but does offer salvation through Christ. So saved from what and to what?

It is possible that heaven can be an extra-bodily existence after we die, in which we are in perfect union with God and at peace...and after that, no one can tell you what heaven is like. We can't even say that's for sure.

But the earliest Christians saw salvation as occuring within this world that they knew. Even Revelation, by many scholars, is about freedom in this world and making this world new. When resurrection of the body is talked about, Paul adamantly argues that our physical bodies and not just our souls are resurrected from the dead, and that we will walk with Christ on this earth.

Is it possible that heaven really is on Earth?

Maybe Belinda Carlisle was right...Let's make heaven a place on Earth.

I believe this takes heaven out of the realm of therapy, although I do enjoy the comfort of knowing my friends and family are in heaven when they die. However, reading scriptures, salvation and heaven are so much more than a retirement community. Heaven seems to be that state on Earth where we are in perfect union with Christ and His mission, and that can only happen when Christ returns and the faithful are resurrected (mentioned in Paul's letters).

But I don't think heaven is the end of the story. It's not the final comfort, but the beginning of an exciting journey where we experience what life with Christ is truly like. When we are so in tune with the will of God that there is no war, hate, violence, suffering, poverty. Where we are shaped perfectly by God.

Donald Miller writes, "The point of a story is never about the ending, remember. It's about your character getting molded in the hard work of the middle."

Maybe heaven is here and now, and in the beyond. Maybe it's both at the same time. The point is, that we'll never know what heaven is like, except that we'll be with God. But heaven is so much more than being reassured that we are special and that we are safe. Heaven is a call to transformation and a call to a life lived with God. Heaven is supposed to mold us here and later, so that in Christ's final victory we might be made perfect, not for a outer-wordly realm, but for Christ's reign on Earth.

Feel free to disagree. I don't know what heaven is, but I know I'm excited about it. But I tend to think that God likes this place, why else would he have created it? I tend to think Paul is right that our bodies are not just jailhouses for our souls. So if we're rethinking bodies, souls and the earth, perhaps heaven ought to be at the front of our minds as we transform these other things.

Stonebridge UMC's Response to Haiti

Hey Stonebridgers (or anyone else that reads this and wants to help),

For the next two Sundays (the 17th and the 24th of January) we will be asking for and collecting health kits and/or donations for health kits to send to Haiti and the thousands of victims of the earthquake there. We ask that you go over and above your normal giving to send hope and love to people who already had very little to begin with, and now their very health is at stake. As God has blessed us, let us bless others.

One of the great things about UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief is that all donations or goods donated go 100% to the people who need them. Local churches, like Stonebridge UMC, give money out of our budget to cover administrative costs, so that UMCOR can focus on rapidly and efficiently helping those that need help.

Below are three ways to help out:

1) Health kits.
Put the supplies listed below into a 1 gallon storage bag, seal it, and bring it to Stonebridge UMC or any other United Methodist Church. We will make sure it gets to the right place. All health kits need to be brought to the church by Sunday, January 31st.

1 hand towel (15" x 25" up to 17" x 27")
1 washcloth1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)
1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, No child-size brushes)
1 large tube of toothpaste (4.5 oz. or larger, expiration date must be 6 months or longer in advance of the date of shipment to UMCOR Sager Brown)
6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages

Place these items inside a sealed one-gallon plastic bag.

Important: Please do not include any religious, political or patriotic notes or emblems in any kit. Thank you for your donations. You are helping to make a difference in people's lives.

2) Donate $15 towards a health kit. Checks can be made to Stonebridge UMC, with a memo line of "Haiti Relief". If you go to another UM Church, and tell them it's for Haiti relief. They will know to go through UMCOR.

3) Go to this website and give directly to UMCOR through the United Methodist Advance program:
http://secure.gbgm-umc.org/donations/umcor/donate.cfm?code=418325&id=3018760

Thanks for your commitment to the work of Christ. We know that Christ is the comforter, and the body of Christ is the hands and feet of Jesus.

Peace.

Do You Believe in Miracles?

As part of my sermon series "Unbelievable", I've been realizing that one 12 minute sermon is in no way adequate enough to cover the topics that we're covering. After all, when you're trying to tackle the doctrines that people deem as unbelievable...it takes some argument and convincing. Plus, most of them are so multi-faceted that it's hard to cover all the questions. That being said, here is the supplementary blog if you are looking to dive into your faith, and not afraid to come out on the other side with more questions and more answers at the same time.

This week: Miracles of Jesus

I'm only covering the miracles of Jesus because Jesus is the one person in the Bible that uniquely is God incarnate. We established that we believe in the virgin birth and the incarnation last week, so I want to stick with the person of Jesus as God. The other miracles of the Old Testament and the apostles can more easily be written off as "speculation" or "perspective" than can the miracles of Jesus. Because, if the miracles of Jesus are proven to be unbelievable...then why believe in just an ordinary guy with good ideas? Are the miracles themselves not a proof of divine authority? So...can you believe in miracles?

The argument against:
The argument against and for miracles really comes down to one thing, your belief in the authenticity of scripture. Do you believe every word as sacred, or do you think people corrupted it as it was written? Do you think that God guided every thought, but gave the writers free will, or do you think the writers were simply trying to record a story with an intent behind that process? Whatever you choose, the miracles are going to take on a different meaning.

John Shelby Spong, known to be a demythologizing theologian (meaning that he takes the myth out of the story to find what he feels is the meat) claims that in the Jewish midrash (wisdom/commentary) tradition that all important events in the present must be venerated by great events in the past. This is like saying that all things we hold dear must be grounded in tradition and experience. Not absurd in the least bit. However, when taken in the context of Jesus, who was Jewish and lived in a Jewish world, and in the context of Jewish writers (Matthew, John, Paul) the idea prooves dangerous to those who hold every word as literal. What Spong means is that the parting of the waters of the Jordan River when Jesus is baptized are related to the myth/story of the parting of the Red Sea that was so dear to the identity of Israel's formation as a nation. The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 that were no where near a market or their homes relates back to the miraculous feeding of the Hebrews in the wilderness by God. If I read this as a non-believer I would say that they made this up about Jesus to give him power. From a believer's perspective it means to me that Spong thinks maybe this stuff didn't actually happen, but there was something about Jesus that was special enough that the writers had to venerate him with history. So the miracles would then just be a literary technique to prove a point.

The other opposing argument would be, "what have you shown me lately?" Miracle healings are not exactly a dime a dozen these days, at least not by someone spitting in the mud and putting it on someone's eyes or touching someone. There are denominations that believe strongly in laying on of hands, annointing with oil or praying over someone...but they are not always successful. So why, when we are told we have the power, do we not have the power?

Some say that the person needing healing doesn't have enough faith, which is probably true, but dangerous to say when a drug dealer is shot and miraculously lives because the bullet hit his fat stack of cash. Others would say that God needs others more than the ones that die...which might be true, but I'd like to think that the child who dies in child birth did not get killed by God to serve as a momentary function or lesson for the grieving parents and doctors.

So the question remains..."why isn't the power of Jesus present today in healings and walking on water and stuff?"

The argument for miracles:
First of all, the argument for miracles goes to the same thing that Spong says...perspective. Millions of people over the centuries have claimed miraculous things to have happened, only about an eigth of which are bodily healings. They think they see Jesus in a Cheeto (and subsequently auction it on ebay) or the virgin Mary in an oil stain on a wall. Others claim to have talked to a stranger that led them to another place, only to never ever see the stranger again, but in the other place find a way to help another family or to find healing themselves. Others claim to sense God's presence as their plane was going down or in other accidents and realize that God caused them to be safe.

All of these are miracles in the eye of the beholder, it is usually sceptics that do not agree.

The biggest issue, if we're going to make a case for miracles, is why some people experience them and others do not.

1st answer :: We don't know. No matter who claims to know what God's will is, no one really knows. It's the mystery we have to live with. Although, I would claim that I do not believe that God's will is for some people to suffer at God's hands, in order that they or others would learn. It doesn't match up with the God of love everyone talks about, or else that lesson REALLY needs to be learned. However, despite me saying this...I don't know how God thinks ultimately.

2nd answer :: we need to redefine miracles.

This can include the spectacular of "the car just stopped without me pushing the brake right before I got hit by a train", but I feel that miracles need to be looked at for what the definition is, "an extraordinary event that manifests divine intervention in the world." By this definition miracles can be as small as a calling by God towards a certain school or job, or as large as a miraculous healing of cancer.

This is the best argument I have heard about the existence of miracles, to redefine our expectation of miracles, because so often we miss God's intervention in our lives while we look for what we want to see. I can completely understand why someone would want the result to be the cancer to go away, but sometimes the miracle is the reconciliation that happens between people when one is dying and life gains a whole new perspective. Sometimes the miraculous scene of a car crash, when someone claims that "God was watching over them" truly might have been a miracle...but not that no one was hurt. If God was watching over them, then heaven is an attractive offer. But the miracle might just be the transformation that occurs after that. If we're honest with ourselves...it might have been dumb luck that you walked away. But it is no accident that you believe God was involved and your life changes after that. God often shows up in the accident, not before it. God doesn't cause them...God heals them...and often not in the way we want, but in the way he wants.

I believe that life in a whole sense is more important to God than life in a biological sense, and ought to be for Christians too. It is said by Jesus that someone who gives their life for a friend is the greatest, and that is a physical giving, but there is something behind there I believe that dedicating one's life, allowing your whole person to be in line with one cause is the greatest. Sacrificing makes one the greatest.

Obviously God thinks organs and blood and life is important, and as Christians, I don't think bodily resurrection would be important to us if we didn't think God thought this was important too. However, would God want a bunch of people who are alive...or would God want a bunch of people who are living life to the fullest? I think the latter. Miracles I believe are ways in which God directs us and intervenes in our lives to guide us towards a more full life, which includes reconciliation, compassion, kindness, generosity, prayer and relationship. Many times the blood may go out of us and we don't get the healing we look for, but we take the time to love the dying person or the people around us as we are dying and we get the healing that we need. We revert back to the image of God that we were intended to be. And that is miraculous.

Proverbs 5:1-2: Reflections on the word "poop"

Today was a milestone in the life of my daughter. My wife called me from home and let me know that when she asked my daughter if she was working on a poop, my daughter coyly smiled up at her and said, "poop."

Now, I'm sure it was just a mimicking of noises, as she has been actively trying to do that lately, and at 6 months I'm impressed she's doing that at all! It's also really cute to hear a 6 month old talk about anything, even poop!

As I was sharing this great joy and laughter with the staff at my church, we were in an uproar about the whole situation. One person, however, commented, "yeah...my 4 year old won't stop talking about poop, won't stop calling people poopies...and in general just loves the word poop."

"My child, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, so that you may hold on to prudence, and your lips may guard knowldge." - Proverbs 5:1-2.

To be honest, it was kind of a buzzkill, although I still think it's awesome that my 6 month old can say "poop", but it got me thinking about our kids maturing and growing up. How much of what we don't want our kids to do, do they really learn from us? How many of the words they say, that we wish they wouldn't, slip out of our lips? And the really tough question, is even if they don't hear it, how many words do we say in private that we don't want them to say at all?

I remember growing up and playing sock baseball with my dad, and I don't know why, but I said the word "fart". Now, most dads would be proud of me or not care, but I remember my dad telling me that we don't use that word. So, as a kid who loved his parents, I didn't say it. It became one of those words that wasn't acceptable to say.

Is there harm in the words "fart" or "poop"? No, they are slang words for bodily functions that are natural and help our body maintain health. The reason we don't use them in public is because in Western society it is unacceptable to talk about bodiliy functions...as though not everyone did them.

But what words do we want to teach our kids to stay away from? Is "poop" your worst fear? If you condemn the word "poop" will you have trouble with potty training?

What about the word "kill" or "hate"? I know "hate" is usually one that parents try and stear away from, but it's hard when mom and dad are watching a football game with some friends and casually say, "I just hate the Washington Redskins." Do you really hate them? No. Does your kid really hate the person they say it, mimicing you? No. Does the other person know that. No.

The way the world is now, I still laugh at a 6 month old saying poop and I'm not too concerned if she keeps saying it in public. But I would be worried about my own actions and attitudes if she started using words like "hate", "kill", "steal", "useless".

Perhaps as we are trying to hold onto wisdom in our children's lips, we should rethink the words we let them say. Perhaps we should rethink the video games and movie that are okay and not okay. Did you know that the majority of Americans will let their kids watch a Rambo movie willingly, but will freak out if people are kissing on screen or there is a touch of nudity? I'm not in favor of immature children being exposed to things too early, but there is something wrong when violence is considered more acceptable than appropriate displays of affection.

So maybe scripture should read this, and more for me as I am a new parent:
"Parents, be attentive to God's wisdom; incline your ear to God's understanding, so that you may teach prudence, and your lips may express knowledge."

Why not give a gift the gives life this Christmas?

Alternative Gifts

“The greatest gift is a portion of oneself” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Love is, above all, the gift of oneself” – Jean Anouilh

This year, consider giving gifts that give life, rather than gather dust.

· Stonebridge UMC – Help to ensure the ministries of our congregation so that we might be ambitious in our leadership in making disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. (www.mysumc.org)

· The Samaritan Inn – Assist those recovering from job loss, poverty, homelessness, hunger and addiction as they seek to reorder their life with affordable housing and meals. (www.thesamaritaninn.org)

· Heifer International – Give the gift of sustainable living through giving seed or animals, as well as the education needed to avoid disease and poverty. (www.heifer.org)

· ZOE Ministries – Educate AIDS-orphans in Africa on sustainable living through a gift to a work and education group. (www.zoeministry.org)

· Proyecto Abrigo – Give the gift of a house, windows or a door to a family in Juarez, Mexico. (www.proyectoabrigo.org)

· Appalachia Service Project – Help those in need of home repair, running water, education and more in the Appalachian Mountains, the poorest part of the USA. (www.asphome.org)

· Send Hope – Give the gift of dental and medical care, a house, education and more for people who live on the Moskito Coast of Honduras, one of the poorest areas in the world. (www.send-hope.org)

· Habitat for Humanity – Give the gift of affordable housing and money management education. (www.habitat.org)

· Alley’s House – help break the cycle of teen pregnancy and support those already in need. (www.alleyshouse.org)

· UNICEF – Help children in poverty around the world. (www.unicef.org)

· UMCOR – The United Methodist Church’s missional arm in the world. Use the “Advance” feature to donate to specific domestic and international ministries and relief efforts. (www.umcor.org)

Do You Know What I Know?

One of my favorite Christmas carols is "Do you Hear what I Hear", and I prefer the versions by Whitney Houston and Third Day. There is something about the passing of information from the lowliest of shepherd boys to the mighty king that I think shows the correct order of how God works. I also love the image that the good news is immediately loved and passed. If only it happened this way. As Lyndsey and I were putting up the Christmas tree and letting our baby ogle at the lights this song came on the ipod speakers and a specific phrase shouted out to me.

"A child, a child, sleeping in the night. He will bring us goodness and light."

During the season of Advent thousands of churches across the world will help to shift the focus off of "the perfect gift", "the perfect meal", "the perfect family", and all of the other misconstruals of perfection that we try and make happen around Christmas time. Seriously, at no other time in life do we try and make everything Norman Rockwellish.

I love Christmas time. I love the Advent season leading up to it. I even love the decorations, jingle bells and Santa Claus. But when family dynamics change for one day and then go back to normal the next, or when people put on their perfect face for just one day...it just seems to drive me crazy.

I think it is because I'm Methodist to the core. I believe in perfection. But for a long time I believed that I could work towards perfection and achieve it myself. This standard still haunts my ego as I continue to fail or upset others. It has only been recently that the phrase, "We don't have to be perfect, because God is." has helped to form my life. God is the one that perfects us...we simply have to learn to trust, learn to follow, learn to believe.

"A child, a child, sleeping in the night. He will bring us goodness and light."

Amazing that we're leading up to a night in which our Savior, our Messiah was born as a little baby in adverse conditions. Amazing that this little child is the one that allows God to see us as perfect and clean. Amazing that the Christ-child is the only one who brings us goodness and light.

This Advent season, enjoy putting up the lights and the tree. Go caroling sometime. Go look at other lights. Give presents that are meaningful and not just junk. And most importantly...go to church on other days besides Christmas Eve. This time of preparation is meant to set our hearts in a right place to follow the Christ-child, not to simply worship him and leave. Prepare your heart to accept goodness and light from the only true source of goodness and light.

Church Giving: 101

Our church right now, as are our most churches, is going through one heck of a financial crunch in the last quarter of the year. We are already behind in our operational budget, so making it up and achieving the budget for the last quarter is a difficult task for what I suppose we can call a "struggling economy". A group of the executive lay team and pastors met the other night, and strategies were implemented to save costs (i.e., less use of the building, less accrual of money for HVAC units, etc.) and raise money. We discussed different fundraisers, but as we were discussing, we began to notice that the majority of these fundraisers would simply all be stepping on each others' toes and targeting the congregation.

What occurred to me was the thought, "does today's 'average' church member really know how to give joyfully?"

I suppose I had asked this question before when I was a youth minister in Kansas, as it seemed a quarter of my job was fundraising, after coming from a church where the youth ministry budget was so large we could buy whatever we wanted most Sunday nights. I also ask this question as someone who has given to the church for a while...but has never achieved that mysterious 10% number.

Church giving: 101...

-Giving is different than tithing.

Giving is that which you feel lead to contribute over and above your tithe. A tithe is an act of faith, trust and loyalty to God, through the avenue of the local church. It means pledging a percentage of what you earn and giving to God, because you trust that the rest will be enough and God will provide any needs. And let's be honest. I know that myself and about 50% of the population of the United States could afford to give over and above our tithes. We may not think so, because we wouldn't be able to pay the cable bill or our iPhone bill...but I suppose the question should be, "does God promise us an iPhone or cable?" Giving then becomes less about the trust and faith that God has already provided enough, but it becomes a joyful response each week or each day to the love that God has for you and you have for God. Sometimes it is the 50 cents you have in your pocket, and another time it might be more. There is no standard for what God is calling you to give.

-Giving can be done in multiple ways

There is a debate amongst church people about the appropriateness of people giving to "specific projects". I will say, that in good times, it does not matter. When the church is rolling and the pledges are being fulfilled and the giving is steady, then I believe it is absolutely okay for people to pay for items/stuff for the church or to donate to specific ministries.

However, in the situation that we have at my church we are so behind as a whole church, but still we are tempted to take a stock market approach to ministry. We are tempted to invest in ministries we think will bear fruit or ministries that are already successful. This is not giving, but investing. It's not bad, but in the situation we are in, we are looking for the church to band together and work for the good of the whole. We are looking for people to give without expectation, just to say "we love what is going on here, and trust God and you will use it to fix things."

In the situation we are in now, giving a direct donation marked for Children's, Youth, Sports, Praise Band or whatever, is essentially signing a letter to cut another part of the budget out. It also sends a message that the other ministries and staff people are not in your heart as much as the one you donated to.

This is natural, it's fine, but I don't think it's ideal. I think ideal is giving your money joyfully and trusting that it will be used in a manner worthy of the Gospel message. If you want to make sure that a certain ministry is going to thrive...volunteer your time and get involved. That's another message though.

-Giving is joyful.

As said earlier, giving isn't as planned as the pledge/tithe that you make to the church. Giving is often spontaneous, in response to need or in response to your experience with God. Seeing as God is good all the time, has already loved us more than we can ever deserve and there is always a need...giving is a constant thing. What is right though is to give joyfully, without expectation on how the money is spent and without a thought of "should I really give that much?" It would be similar to feeling called to adopt a child, but only loving them part of the time, and only if they are going to be a doctor.

I want to add a non-traditional view of giving, however. In the situation that we're in, we need money to cover staff salaries, operation costs, building loans and things that require cash, but I will posit the opinion that in the best of times giving includes those physical things to places outside the church. The church already coordinates several efforts for non-profits and gives part of it's budget to The United Methodist Church's apportionments, which includes several agencies trying to change the world. But there comes a time when everyone seems to say, well I gave to the church, they will take care of this other need, but often the church is engaged in organization and time management of people. We often do not have the monetary resources to keep these missional organizations running and stocked. I encourage most church members to tithe what they can, to give joyfully on top of that, and then find one non-profit or mission-based organization in town or around the world and give monetarily or in physical goods to that group as well. For the majority of people that I've seen do this, they realize two things: 1) they didn't need the money anyways and 2) when you give like this you often are way more content than if you spent the money on every summer blockbuster or every night at the bar.

-Last but not least, giving affects you more than the church

It's true, we get the money, but I know when I give joyfully then my spirit is so full of The Spirit that I never miss the money. Most others will tell you the same thing, whether it is time they donate or money, if it is done with no strings attached, but just in love...then I would wager that 100% of the time those people have a happier life. They feel they are engaged in something bigger than themselves, but do not have any thoughts that they are buying salvation...that would be something too large to pay. When we give freely, we begin to feel part of the healing work of Christ in the world, and that is what we are here for, it is our mission on Earth.

Have you ever taken someone out to lunch, dinner, a movie, simply because you love them? That's what giving feels like.

I hope this helps anyone who reads it.

What if we started with grace?

During our youth group small group time on Wednesday night we were given a list of compromising or difficult situations and asked to write out what grace would look like in the situations. They included "a kid gets caught with their hand in the cookie jar" and things like "in a marriage relationship, one party says regretful and hurtful things to the other". It was interesting to think of what grace looked like, and even more interesting to hear what others thought.

One situation really grabbed my attention, however. The situation was "a student gets caught cheating on a test", and another related one was, "a student turns in a term paper late." It wasn't interesting purely because of the situation, but in how most of the students responded. The immediate responses were:

"the teacher should realize how hard it is to be a student"

"the teacher should let us get away with it"

and similar...

Every youth in the room knew that they would fail or get kicked out for cheating, and also knew that most teachers will not take late term papers, or at least give you a hefty deduction of points.

But the point that almost all of the students in this small group began commenting on how mean, rude and apathetic the teachers were struck a hard chord in my body. After all, I'm a very academic person at heart, as well as also one who believes in earning what you get, so I'm thinking immediately, "it's your fault for doing the wrong thing!" But grace doesn't always work this way does it?

I began to challenge myself that maybe grace in this situation looks like the teacher giving the student a second chance, a day extension, a new test to retake...but I couldn't get over the issue that the student completely didn't live up to the covenant with the teacher, no matter what the circumstances. So what does grace look like in the student's case?

Grace is generally thought of as something that a superior gives to an inferior, which is the way that many see God giving us grace, as something that we do not earn, but is only given. This is theologically sound, but I'm not sure the power dynamic needs to be there in human terms. It is true that a teacher has the power in the classroom ultimately, but the students hold a share when they are themselves apathetic, rude and disruptive. They then undermine a teacher's effort to educate, causing the teacher to then shut down.

So, in essence, the education system is having to deal with students who walk into a classroom with the immediate assumption that "the teacher hates me" and teachers who walk into a classroom with the immediate assumption that "the students hate me." Not a lot is going to get accomplished.

So maybe instead of "what does grace look like" we ask the question, "what does grace accomplish?" What is the end result of grace, because we need to know that if we're going to inspire people to act.

The end result of God's grace towards us is that we are able to live fully in the vision and mission of God, to be the humans that God created us to be, because of the mercy and grace given to us through the incarnation, death and resurrection of God in the person of Jesus Christ. We gain eternal life and a life with meaning in this world.

In this relationship, there is still a relationship, however. We have to accept that grace, even though it is freely given. It's not forced upon us. So when we accept it, that's when the special stuff happens.

What if we extended this to all of our relationships? What if we didn't respond with grace, but we preempted with grace like God does?

Imagine a classroom in which the teacher prepared for the first day of school with an open heart and the attitude that "no matter what, I am going to love these kids and teach my heart out for their benefit." On the other side, what if the students walked in with the attitude of "no matter what I think of this teacher, I am going to love and respect them and work as hard as I can to learn from them."

If people stayed true to this ethos, do you think people would cheat or miss an assignment? Perhaps, we're human, but I bet people would take more responsibility for it. Do you think there would be as many fights among friends or spouses? If we truly went into every encounter with every person with the assumption that I was going to treat them with the utmost love and respect, even if they don't deserve it...I wonder if we'd have to do as much reacting.

The issue of course comes from the problem of getting people to do this and keep doing it. It's hard to bring grace first, because we want people to prove themselves to us, or we want people to "earn" our trust...as though we couldn't just give it for free. We might get burned sometimes, we might get taken advantage of sometimes. But won't we be an incredible witness to the doubters, skeptics and all those who claim that Christians are more judgmental than the rest.

I'll be thinking about this for my next blog post..."can a Christian really stage a protest and not be accused of judging his/her neighbor?"

Life lessons from the men's room

This is going to sound weird, especially since I'm writing this on a church blog, but I had a realization about conflict management in the men's restroom today.

Yes...brace yourselves.

Today I was followed into the men's room by a worker doing maintenance in the church into the men's room, where I knew that one of the urinals had broken yesterday and spewed water out onto the entire bathroom floor and almost into the hallways. My initial thoughts went straight to another half hour of John, Cindy and me with mops trying to maintain the mess. The problem came, however, when I realized that it's just not cool to talk to another man in the bathroom. It's just this weird etiquette thing that goes on...but who understands guys anyways. How was I going to make sure this guy didn't cause another waterfall that would lead to more wasted time, more damage, and more of a headache for the staff.

In this brief 5 second span I had a light go off in my head. Speaking of men's room etitquette, you are not allowed to use the urinal next to another person, unless every other one is filled up. I acted fast to grab a strategically placed urinal next to the broken one so that the man would surely use facilities two spots away from me. Success!!!

I like to count myself a creative person, but for whatever reason this simple knowledge of bizzare men's rules, I believe helped me avoid a conflict today, not necessarily between the man and I, but between me and the mop. I suppose I could have sucked up my pride and just told the man, but that would have broken "the code."

I wonder what other kind of dilemmas we could avoid with a little creative thinking. I might also, in a Wesleyan quadrilateral kind of way, call it our reason. We just finished a Sunday talking about "open minds" in our faith, how God gave us intellect for a purpose, and too often we just turn that off. Opening minds also involves compassion, and sometimes creativity. Do you think the man would have appreciated me telling him what urinal to use, despite the circumstances? I don't think he wanted me thinking about him period.

I was shown a clip of a movie, "Inherit the Wind" today by our senior pastor, who has a flash of brilliance every now and then, where Spencer Tracy's character is the prosecuter in the Scope's Monkey Trials. The jist of his argument comes down that he is not destroying The Bible or anyone's faith, but that reason can enhance one's faith and get you not only out of jams, but make your faith more valid, more inspiring and more real.

I'll never forget reading the book "The Sacred Canopy" by Peter Berger, in which for the first time I realized that not everyone thinks like me, not everyone has had the experiences I have had, and that it's really, really difficult for me to make blanket statements about God's experiences with humanity that are true for all people. But luckily there is a different urinal to guide people to. Luckily, we can be creative in our experiences and be intelligent in our evangelism to not simply go for the "yes/no, right/wrong, black/white" type of faith, but we can present a faith of thinking Christians who are not afraid of challenging each other to seek more right and more truth in God, rather than just settle on what someone has told them.

Creative reasoning seems to be a lost art, and I really feel that it would get us out of more and more situations in which someone can get hurt by the Church because we are too set in our "codes" to help people not use the broken urinal.

Why I Know Prayer Works

In college I went through a phase where I HAD to have the answer for everything that I believed. I was in the middle of my religion degree, which was more sociology, psychology, history, theology than it was Bible, and my mind was racing a hundred miles an hour. Some of the issues were (you might find these familiar):
-Is Christianity really the only "right" religion?
-What happens to other non-Christians?
-Could all of this been a legend that gives us comfort, but really isn't true?
-Is the Bible more of a story than a fact book?

...and so on.

However, one of the issues that ate at me the most was the issue of prayer. Every other aspect of Christian faith seemed to have its place intellectually for me, but prayer was a mystery, at attribute of my faith that was superficial at best and one that I only participated in when others asked me to.

I began to feel that it was a psychological thing, because if God already knows what's going to happen, then God would have already made up God's mind, and who am I to change God's mind by asking God for something? And if I'm praying to thank God for things...well, what is worship for then? It seemed to be just something we do to make ourselves feel better.

I have heard of people receiving answered prayers, and know that I have as well...but that would hardly convince someone that prayer works. Miracles and callings, unless experienced, are merely figments of others' imaginations.

However, this past Sunday our church, Stonebridge UMC, held a prayer walk for McKinney ISD schools. Every school was covered and we walked around the outsides of the schools and prayed for the students, the teachers, the administrators, the custodians, the parents, the building, everything to ask God that our educational system would raise up young people that had every opportunity in this world to succeed where God calls them to be. We prayed for equality, effort and passion from the teachers and students. We prayed that the parents would be involved and active in their student's life.

We were asked if it was a success...we will have to wait and see I guess.

But for now, I will say yes, prayer works, because I drive close to Finch Elementary School, McKinney High School, Malvern Elementary School, Evan Middle School and a school that I don't even know the name for yet and ever since this time I have looked upon these schools not as educational centers but as the future of our world. I feel personally invested in these students' lives and want to cheer the teachers on to success. No longer are the kids just kids, but they are my kids in a sense...I want God to bless them all, and I want them all to follow God to where they are called to be. The schools are now grounds for future leaders of the church, future business leaders, future wonderful human beings...and there's no one else I want watching over them but God.

So when I say prayer works, I'm sure that there will be students that fail classes and parents who undervalue education. I'm sure that there will be teachers and principles who go to school dreading the day and waiting for happy hour to arrive. But I know that prayer works because my mind through prayer with God has oriented my view of that school as a place where God is at work...even if you can't talk about God. God has changed my heart to see the schools as awesome, valuable parts of our society, because education is really the key to happiness I believe.

I've come to see that prayer may not be about what I can make happen, or what I get out of it, or even showing God what I'm thankful for. Instead, I now have come to see prayer as a way of letting God focus me on the way God wants me to see the world...and that has worked. I have come to see my petitions to God as a way of me wondering how important my petitions are...and that has worked. Sometimes I don't even have to actively pray for an answer and God will lead me there.

So, rethinking prayer, I completely agree...prayer works.

Would you Pay for Jesus?

When I first started into ministry I wanted everything to be free and hated talking about money with the congregation. Even youth trips I lost money sometimes because I felt so bad about making people pay money for going on a misson trip. I was lucky sometimes if I covered basic costs. Luckily, I turned out to be good at fund-raising events...who knew?

But I am in a ministry situation now where money is an every day topic of conversation.
"Do we have enough to cover the budget?"
"Can we start a new ministry?"
"Can we raise money for organization x, y, z and the whole rest of the alphabet?"
"How are we going to pay the musicians?"
"Sorry, we can't give you that space because it's too expensive to have the AC on at that time."

And on and on...

I've gotten a little more comfortable due to exposure, but also I've realized reading through scripture that Jesus talks a ton about money. It's amazing, almost every parable has something about money...it's almost as if money were a prevalent thing in our society...go figure.

But I've still been stressing about mentioning offering statistics, charging people for sports activities, etc. It just seems like God's love is free, church stuff should be free too. As one person said, "It's like they have to pay to come to church. That's not right."

But I got to thinking about the old adage, "your heart lies at the same place as your checking account." The tickets to U2, my favorite band, were outrageous prices for this tour. To watch a football game at the new Cowboys stadium it will cost one person well over $100 for the worst seat and parking. Cable television costs an arm and a leg, internet is expensive, and gasoline is never going to go down it seems.

But people pay for it.

It's the old law of supply and demand. Essentially, whatever is important to people is going to cost money. So the conclusion I feel I can draw is: "entertainment is essential." People pay outrageous prices for extravagant experiences that are deemed once in a lifetime events (until they go to the ballgame the next week again).

So here's the question: Would you pay to go to church?

What about this? Would you pay to meet Jesus face to face? People pay to meet Bono, Troy Aikman, Barack Obama and Madonna...is Jesus any less important?

I'm not talking about offering money, because that is supposed to be a free gift of devotion and sacrifice that is done joyfully to show commitment to God, rather than our own bank accounts. This just isn't as common as it once was. People haven't learned about giving like they used to assume it.

And I know that if we charged admission to church, a la Joel Osteen for his conferences around the country, people wouldn't come unless it was extremely entertaining. It would have to have the lights, the show, great music and one kick butt sermon...and then it would have to be better and better each week, or people's money may start going elsewhere where their investment on entertainment is bigger.

What I'm really wanting to know is if you'd plop down any amount of money to meet Jesus Christ in person?

People say Jesus is their hero, boyfriend, homeboy, savior, lord, etc., etc. but they pay $50 to go meet a celebrity and it is the highlight of their life. And after all...Jesus is supposed to be free right? You can't take my Jesus from me and sell him, he's mine. Jesus is public property, he's for anyone and everyone. And like most public property that is free...it's not as valuable.

Sure, when you are in college, free pizza from the worst pizza place tastes wonderful...because it's free. But when you've got money to spend on pizza...you're going to Pizza Hut or some gourmet place, because the free stuff isn't as good then. You start to wake up to the taste.

I think many people feel this way about Jesus. If I need him, he's there, he's a great taste when I get in trouble...but I'm not going to spend the big bucks on him. In fact, many people skip church to go to concerts, to play baseball in hopes of the big leagues or simply because Jesus will be there next week and the week after that.

It's almost as if Jesus is old news. Churches are dying. No demand...no supply.

Should we make church more entertaining? Does it need to be more meaningful? Or should people just make it a higher priority. Maybe, yes and yes. It's our fault...and by that I think we're all to blame. From the holiest of Christians to the worst run churches in America.

I really would like to hold an event that was set up to be a "Meet Jesus Live!" Event and charge just $10 admission and see who would come. Can we really put our money where our mouths are and put our most prized assets towards the most prized Savior?

Maybe...just maybe, Jesus is too valuable for admission tickets. Maybe that's why He's free to all. He's priceless and we can't comprehend that in our value driven world. They do say the best things in life are free. And this time we're not talking about cheap pizza.

How to Make Your Whole Church Mad

I joked with The Bridge congregation at Stonebridge UMC this past Sunday that I would blog about how to make the whole church mad at me, after I had rolled off a few purposefully stereotypical assumptions about a few universities and their supporters. I believe I called OU "hillbilly hicks" (which is very intelligent sounding in itself), and UT "liberal, hippy weirdos." Ironically, I hadn't planned that part...it just came natural. I did manage to not bash TCU at all....I wonder why?

But in the joke, I began to wonder what the top ways to make an entire congregation upset with me would be. You might think this is easy, but in all reality there is such a wide variety of people in most churches that one ethnic slur might make some happy and others outraged. One cuss word might make one person more inclined to come and others offended. So here's the list I came up with (in no particular order):

(Blogger note :: Please come into this with a sense of humor and the ability to laugh at ourselves, otherwise, please don't read. I'm making fun of myself more than anyone.)

10) Renounce Jesus Christ. I typically think in a Christian community this is generally a bad move to hold Jesus to no importance or value. When you take the lynch pin out of the whole faith, it's generally hard to keep people. This was the freebie for my mind.

9) Say something about nakedness, nudity or sexual relations. At least in the United States people want to think about, talk about and participate in these three things every place but church. I had to laugh when I was working at one church and was hanging out with chaperones on a youth outing on Saturday night where they were making many, many jokes about beer, sex and other "vices", and when I sat next to them on Sunday morning they were concerned about the use of the word nude when talking about Adam and Eve. My how sanctuaries stifle us.

8) Bring to light all of the Bible passages that are not happy. Tamar, Sodom, even the Noah story or Jesus killing a fig tree. They don't make VeggieTales about these, so they are not in the Bible obviously. I joke about this a little, but it's true, don't make the Bible a book full of humans...it'll only go down-hill.

(Exception :: for those people who really think church is too high and mighty this is actually a great evangelism strategy. Imagine a book full of real people trying to come to life with a real God. Revolutionary.)

7) Misspell the matriarch's name in the church bulletin. Not everyone will be mad at you, but no one will have the guts to defend you. Proof-read.

6) Buy a car that is more expensive than what your church members drive. Not that you need a really expensive car to be a pastor, but people talk in churches. Obviously if you are driving a hybrid BMW with leather seats and optional conversion to F-15 fighter jet...then they are paying you too much and not focusing enough money into missions, curriculum and tapestries. Most people in America get outraged when people are paid too much. Of course, this doesn't include all professional sports or congress.

5) Live a double life. You'd be amazed at how forgiving people can be (see Ted Haggard's church), but this tends to get anyone angry at you. When you tell people to give, pray, love, not judge, etc., etc., and you like to not give, not pray, drink, glutton, take drugs, commit adultery, etc., etc. people don't really enjoy your preaching anymore.

4) Talk bad about orphans and widows. Surely you won't do this if you've read the Bible, they're the two groups that Paul loves the most. Which is why, if you talk bad about orphans and widows, you will not be popular.

3) Change something. Now I will tell you that I'm in a great situation that enjoys new and different, but most churches will snap on you in an instant if "Here I Am" is not the last song played in worship or you don't continue the lock-in the day after Thanksgiving because you dared to take vacation. For some reason the dyanamic movement of Christianity has become immersed in the notion that 11:00 is the absolute time for true worship and the songs that we sing and the decorations on the wall are more important than the people that come in.

(Note :: I will say this is cynical, but probably true. I am fortunate to have a supportive congregation that likes to renew itself, but many churches want to do the same stuff year in and year out. No wonder people get tired of it.)

2) Mention or spell the word money. This isn't a one time and done thing that will ignite everyone, but you can sense the collective groan throughout the congregation when it's stewardship time. Even though it's supposed to be "joyful" giving, sometimes I imagine people would be more willing to sign up for toilet cleaning duty than joyfully give. Others give because they know they need to, but I dare you to talk about money more than once a year.

(Note :: I have talked about money more than once this year and it's not stewardship time, either it's not as bad as I thought or people just don't listen to the sermons...hmmm)

And the number one way to make everyone in the church mad at you....

1) Don't do anything. Seriously. If you change the pews or the worship times...some people will come back. If you line up controversial lesson plans and sermons...some people will be challenged and love it. If you do any of the dangerous things, some people will love them. But there are plenty of churches that die because they don't stand for anything. They are not active in the community, they don't care about world events, they don't really even care about God that much anymore. There are pastors who have more interest in their pension fund and golf score than the depth of worship, and a lot of us may slip in and out. The one way I've found for pastors to make a church die and upset is to literally have no mission, nothing to stand for, and no reason for being.

I suppose all this is to say that no entire church will ever totally love one pastor...but it is the ones that dare to dream big, the ones who choose to ruffle some feathers, and the ones who pay attention to the needs of the congregation and love them...that will be loved the most. Here's prayers to not making your whole church mad...maybe just a part of it.

Are We Shooting Our Churches in the Foot?

Are We Shooting Our Churches in the Foot?

I’m not sure what my reaction would be to a gunshot wound, but I’m pretty certain it wouldn’t be appropriate for young children. In fact, I might be even too stunned to speak. And for anyone getting any ideas out there, this is not an invitation to see what the results would be…thanks.

However, there is a movement in the church today that just might be what we’re looking for in order to be relevant, but it also just might be what ends up killing off more church families. The movement I speak of is most commonly called “social networking”. The use of Twitter, Facebook and MySpace by church communities has exploded in recent years, I, myself, being one of those users. I have enjoyed engaging theologians through Twitter and actually having church members help pick and write sermons with me through Facebook. What’s wrong with connection?

In fact, being a United Methodist pastor, I really am all about connection and have really enjoyed using Facebook during work to stay connected with churches past and present, as well as ministry colleagues. However, I received an article on my desk from a member just a couple of days ago about the growing use of Twitter in worship services, both the good and the bad sides.

Twittering worship services has gotten some church communities a lot of press recently and made them “hip” in the eyes of unchurched teenagers who want a place that speaks their language. The idea behind the church tweets is the expansion of the worship service to the whole world. Anyone can now get the message of the sermon and experience in a small portion the teaching of God’s Word. This also occurs through applications and status updates on Facebook, and in fact, it has never been so easy to reach so many people with the Word of God then in the present day.

But at what cost?

I shared with a friend of mine about my infatuation with Lifechurch.tv and their online worship experiences. I don’t necessarily think they are the greatest speakers in the world, but I’m fascinated with the idea of reaching as many people for Christ where they are…on the world wide web. I have this dream of 10 different people watching our service in a completely other state and finding a way to hook those people up in an actual community together. But my friend was less optimistic.

How would they receive communion?
How would they receive baptism?
Would they even know how to talk to anyone else face to face?
Is there really a community of trust and love if you never see the other people?

We might be shooting ourselves in the foot. When we tell people to engage in church electronically are we saying the same things as Amazon.com and online shopping? “Don’t bother to come, we’ll make it easier on you. Just tune in to Twitter and get the 140-character sound byte.” It’ll almost be as though CNN took over sermons. We’ll have sermons that are 2 sentences long to explain a scripture passage that is 2 pages long. Already, I can hear the masses getting excited…shorter lines at restaurants at 10:15 than at 10:45.

I’m nervous about the amount that churches are attempting to push people online, despite my growing interest in engaging in it. I wonder if we can truly say that you’re engaging in the Body of Christ if you never partake of the same loaf together. I wonder if we can initiate you into the Body of Christ, if you never see the faces, or feel the touches of those you are to be in a family with. I also doubt the effectiveness of a wonderful text message verses a passionate one on one conversation. There is a reason that people move from e-harmony.com to actually sitting with each other in a restaurant.

I hope that we can truly utilize modern technology to the glory of God’s Kingdom, but I also hope that by trying to ride the wave of change that we do not change too much into a Body of Christ that never quite joins together. Imagine the destruction that could happen if we can’t come together to build a Habitat for Humanity house because we just never get together. Imagine the loss of community that comes from never holding hands as you pray (sorry, emoticons and cute parenthesis use won’t cut it).

May God use all of humanity’s creations for the glory of God’s will and let us join in that movement, and let us more importantly not get in the way.

How Soccer Explains the World (and our faith?)

This may seem a funny way of looking at the world, but I remember reading two author's comments in "How Soccer Explains the World" and "Soccer Against the Enemy" that argue otherwise. The argument they make, essentially, is that if more people around the world care about their soccer team more than they do the elected officials of their country...it speaks volumes. Sport has always had a huge effect on society, all the way back to the days of gladiators in Rome and Olympic champions in Greece.

In these two books and even in some History Channel documentaries on the history of sport, the argument is made the sports, especially soccer, is manipulated to manipulate the masses. There is a reason that Dyanamo Kiev wins in Ukraine a lot and CSK Moscow wins a lot in Russia...they are both owned and backed by the government. If they win, it makes the government look better. In Scotland, if Rangers win then Protestants look better, but if Celtic win, then the Catholics take the spoils. And it's true in America as well, even though we don't appreciate soccer as much as we should. Have you ever seen the hatred towards a football coach who leaves a mid-level college compared to an executive who does the same thing in the corporate world? Sport, for no apparent reason, has become the end all, be all showcase of loyalty and dedication to one's cause. Who you support says a LOT about who you are.

Being a huge soccer fan, I made sure to tune in to watch the USA play valiantly against Brazil in the final game of the 2009 Confederations Cup. It would have been HUGE if the USA won this game, but they still came out with a good image. After the game was over, I was stunned that the USA had blown a two goal lead, but from the corner of the TV my heart and attention were grabbed. Kaka, the best player on Brazil's squad (and some say in the world) had taken off his jersey to reveal a white, hand-decorated t-shirt stating clearly, "I belong to Jesus." I noticed that amidst the huge celebration other popular Brazilians players had very similar looking shirts saying the same thing or other variations of "I love Jesus." This is a bold move for macho soccer players in front of millions of people on TV. Especially when the whole of Brazil is now engorged with national pride. Wouldn't they want to celebrate the strength of their country during a time like this?

How soccer explains the world in this case takes a little background. While the USA and Europe have always been thought of as traditionally Christian, there has been very little growth and in fact decline in the number of churches and Jesus-professing Christians for a while now. We don't like to say it, but that's the case. I'm guessing most of the USA players would not have had shirts like this on, because in the USA we take it for granted. Things are not happening like they should all over the country.

Brazil, on the other hand is one of the countries in South America and Africa that has been exploding for a decade with Christianity. I mean exploding! Pentecostalism is huge in Brazil, Africans are going crazy for United Methodism, so it is no wonder that on the biggest TV stage of the year, the Brazilians are going to give credit to the biggest reason they are there to begin with.

It served to me as a reminder that I shouldn't be ashamed of my faith in Jesus. I shouldn't glorify myself or any other above the name of God, and even in the most trivial things like a soccer game, I use that platform to show people the mission and love of Christ. That is what we are called to do as Christians, from Africa to South America to right here in the USA. We are called to glorify God in all that we do, and called to spread God's love in all that we do.

I think not only our soccer, but our words, our actions and our attitudes ought to explain the heavenly realm we are a part of to the rest of the world. Thanks Brazil for reinvigorating this pastor's enthusiasm.

Does God have a Plan for the World?

This Sunday morning I invited The Bridge service at Stonebridge UMC in McKinney “Inside the Pastor’s Studio.” The experience was designed to invite all 480-500 people inside my office for some theological discussion about the most popular theological inquiries I’ve been presented with over the last 4 months.

This sounded really fun, until I really took a look and started researching the questions:
-“Does God have a plan for the world, and how does God control it?”
-“The Old Testament God seems mean, does God really get mad and smite us?”
-“Does God really care about everything?”

The first one was this past Sunday and of course there was not near enough time to go over this question in detail, even if we did run over time by 15 minutes. So here is a further attempt to dive into a question that just might be unanswerable.

As I presented in worship, there has generally been two viewpoints in theology about God’s activity in the world, and many derivatives of these two. On one side there is Predestination, brought forth by popular theologians such as Augustine and John Calvin (and others). This view originated out of the concern of God’s sovereignty, that they felt God was in control of THE ENTIRETY of creation. In other words, there is nothing that happens in this world that God doesn’t control. The concern began over salvation, as no work of human kind should dictate salvation, and the choice of following Christ was deemed a work. Augustine’s works became translated differently in Western Christianity, especially America, later on, and the modern view is that anything and everything that happens during your day is the result of God willing it to happen. Have you ever thought about spilling your drink on your lap having a purpose in your salvation?

The other viewpoint has come from many, but was popularized by Pelagius, Jacob Armenius and others. The view maintains that God gave human beings free will, and thus God cannot dictate the salvation or events of a person’s life. Otherwise, God would not be consistent, would resemble a Roman view of gods and many Christians have held God being wishy-washy to be a bad thing. So these men decided that God kick-started the world, and only intervenes to save those who have been asked to be saved. Overall, God is the big boss, but salvation comes from a human choosing to be saved. Also, all events in one’s life come from natural means, choices and random chance.

The question is…”Does God have a plan, and if so, how does God enact that plan?” This could be tricky.

When we look at scripture we see both views. We see from the beginning God saying to Adam and Eve they can eat anywhere, name the animals and make choices, as well as Jesus even asking God if he can forego the cross. However, Paul writes that all things are preordained to God’s will, and we see God intervening throughout the Bible to heal people, win wars, etc. It’s not really clear cut.

The truth is, is that this debate exists in scripture, but is not answered in scripture. The debate is really between human beings, and you know how we tend to mess things up. The issue that I have with both of them, is that they are extreme reactions to a fear. A fear of God not being in control or a fear that humans are not worth much to God.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, certainly had his fears, but the cool thing about his journey with Christ was that he had so many different religious group experiences that his theology that we adopt and apply is a middle of the road approach with logic and experience involved. Wesley realized that we need to rely on scripture for all answers, but the answers aren’t necessarily just in there like a science book.

So Wesley’s answer to this question is that God is absolutely in control of the world, and as we see throughout the Bible, God has a plan for things in creation, right down to the individual…all the way up to the world. However, Wesley also allows for things to simply happen, because humans make choices that impact their environments.

I think we can safely say that the plan for the world is to reconcile all of creation to God’s original intent. That the earth would be healthy, that life would exist without death, and that all humans would bow before God as their creator and savior.

The hard part comes when we start to think about the individual plans for each person. I once heard a person say that God had blessed him that day by finding a 20 dollar bill on the sidewalk. My initial thought was “God must hate the person that lost it.” Of course, I’m saying that sarcastically, and the general response would be something like, “Of course not, the man who lost the money was simply needing a lesson in patience and humility.” The problem is, is that we speculate on this, we guess who the man is. I have no problem with saying that God causes things to happen and compels people to work for God’s mission on Earth, but I do have a problem when we try and figure it out for others. When we try and assume that my friend’s passing in a car wreck was so that others would be touched and come to know Christ. Why does that make sense at all? Why would God have to kill more people if Jesus’ death was supposed to be for all people? Why can’t we believe that death happens to us, just like plants? I’m assuming here that everyone feels that plants come from God.

It’s easy for me to talk about a plan of God for me, because I believe I have felt very strongly a plan for my life to serve in ministry at a local church. There are people who feel this, and it crashes and burns. And that is where we have to reflect. God’s plan isn’t just for you, it’s for the world. When I think about people who I know that have been called to ministry, I look at the people around them…people affirm it. I look at the work they do…and it points to the desires we find from God in scripture. I look at the people whose lives are changing. My point, is that when God’s plan really does occur in someone’s life…you can tell. There is fruit for them, for their family and friends, and most importantly I believe for the universal and local Church.

This means that God could have a plan for us, but we can totally ignore it. We can live our lives, and maybe even by happy, and maybe even be brought into the glory of heaven, without ever touching on the true versions of ourselves. We have the choice, but God has the plan. It is our mission to pray and realize that plan for us and get on board. After all, God is the one at the end of the tracks.

So maybe the real question should be… “how much have we made a plan for God?”

Have we made church too soft?

Jesus: A Real Man

I read an article today discussing the church’s impotence (not a random choice of words) when it comes to attracting men towards church membership and involvement. I remember this very discussion in seminary and doubted it, until I realized I was sitting in a room with more doilies and china cabinets then Bibles.

So I wonder, is church too girly?

Recently our church ran a dodgeball league for adults (infiltrated by some youth for fun’s sake) to help get them in shape, build relationships and create a “safe” venue for people to enter church. In fact, one of the whole goals of sports ministry is to give a place for active, competitive people to learn about and experience community and God’s grace. Overall, this whole experiment was great. We had new people coming in the doors, we had people meeting each other for the first time, everything was going well. But soon we realized how competition overwhelms people and we freaked out! We probably overreacted to some of it, but we were so nervous that new people to the church would think that Christians just yelled at each other all the time, or didn’t really practice grace towards others or in their lives.

But reflecting on this experience in light of the question above, I wonder if we are too soft?

I know a camp in Georgia that encourages the guy counselors to teach their young men how to wrestle, tackle and other “manly” things so that they will be fearless warriors for Jesus (John Eldredge, you can get excited). So by discouraging the emotion that happens during competition are we limiting the opportunities for men to enter into church?

The answer might be yes. The answer might also be no. Let me tell you why:

Yes:
-we encourage men to not have to conform to 1950’s stereotypes of toughness, they might actually get to cry once in a while. While this is helpful ultimately, it tends to make some new men into the church turned off about being without any “real men” friends.
-in our appropriate sermons on God’s love and grace, it sounds as though God is a cuddly teddy bear to take running through the fields. For some reason men like expectations and consequences, and taking those away from God makes God a sissy.
-church is traditionally a place to sit still and listen. A lot of people like to be active, men especially.
-we like everyone to get along, sometimes, for whatever reason, men like to wrestle and fight.

No:
-see reason 1 under yes. Jesus cried openly when his friend died. Are we tougher than Jesus? Today’s man needs to deconstruct stereotypes and try and be more like Jesus rather than cultural expectations.
-Jesus really was about peace, grace and forgiveness. If you need a Jesus that goes in the UFC octagon to duke out the Pharisees, you’re not going to find it. However, Jesus was aggressive, ambitious and in your face. Maybe we should stop trying to make Jesus a bunny rabbit.
-church does not have to be a place to sit still (even if you could use it every now and then), because getting involved in missions, teaching, and all sorts of other things require you to be active with your brains and muscles.
-if you are afraid of love as something too soft, you probably need to focus on more relationships than just your relationship with God. You might need to rethink that.

I will be the first one to mention that churches are too docile. We come for an hour and sit and listen to people sing and preach, then go to Sunday school or Bible study and sit and talk. Although, there are probably some people who could put a little more effort into their singing and would get a lot more energy out of it. But why can’t worship be centered around activity? Why can’t we challenge people more with tasks in the week or even to get done Sunday morning? Why don’t we take that aggression and put it to a good task?

For the men out there looking for competition and aggressive church, I’m with you. But I’m totally against you if you want to use those natural characteristics for domination or embarrassment. Even if we’re playing dodgeball, trying to win an ice cream social or playing ‘who can sing the loudest’ there is nothing about Jesus that is demeaning to another. There is also nothing about Jesus that tells us to argue for our own benefit. But if you want to use your “manly” characteristics for good, come see me. I’ll challenge you with evangelism, with teaching, with leadership, with mission and with disciplined living. If you want a challenge, Jesus will give it to you…if you’re not afraid to leave your preconditions behind you.

Jesus is no sissy.

A Quiet Place...

This past week in The Bridge we started off our series called "Recharge: Filling up our Spiritual Batteries." This series is designed to teach people, inspire people and help them understand that Sunday is truly the climax of the week that we get ready for...as well as being the kick off to the week that fills us up. I do wonder what worship would be like if we spent all week getting ready for the main event.

This past week the theme was "prayer." If you know The Bridge, you know that we don't do things normally, we like to let the congregation experience the theme, rather than hear about it. So after we let the prophet/poet Robert Morris inspire us with prayer through poetry and listening to God we had the chance to experience "listening" with a silent video that was 6 minutes long. It was really interesting as you could hear many feet start to tap, many chairs start to scoot around, and people were obviously uncomfortable with the quiet place we created.

It got me to thinking, what would life be like with more silence in our life? Many people commented on how awesome worship was, not only in a powerful sense, but in a restful, redeeming sense.

I truly think we have sinned too long in tricking our own minds that we need to be stimulated at all times. We have become afraid of low test scores and blamed understimulation in schools and not enough time studying. We have pushed young kids in athletics starting at age 4, in hopes that they will get the most posh job in the world, professional sports...also the most idolistic. But what is we let our souls be stimulated by God in the silence?

I know that God can speak through music, sermons, conversations and any way that God is revealed, but there is something organic in silence that is natural and relaxing. There is a strange eerieness that something is there, but it's not obvious. That is God. I truly believe that God is always present, and is most present when it's the least obvious. These are the times that hit us 10 minutes, an hour, a day, a week later and blow us away, leaving a smile on our hearts and a joyful spirit in our souls.

I've been doing my best to take more time away from the office this week, even eating by myself in silence, or coming home to relax a little more in silence...simply to reconnect to life without all the things we think we need, but don't. And I have found that the silence has helped me in conversation with my wife, church staff and friends because now I have listened and know how to listen to them. I also am not overstimulated and wishing they would stop talking. Instead I hlove their conversation.

When God's voice is the only one present...it is restful, not bothersome. It is inspirational and sometimes kicks your butt. When God's voice is the only one present in the silence, it is unsettling, but invigorating.

I encourage you to take more time for silence and solitude. Train yourself to turn off the TV, the radio, your cell phone, the ipod you can't live without. Sit, lay, walk, run, stand in silence. Start with 4 minutes and add a minute each day for a week. Then on the next week start at 10 minutes and add a minute each day. Work your way towards 30 minutes a day, and maybe more after that. Make your schedule look like someone who wants to hear God's voice.

When Celebrities Give Credit to God

I remember sitting around the TV for several nights with my new friends in Atlanta, as we bonded around the stunning comeback of the Boston Red Sox over the New York Yankees in the ALCS, and then marveled as the most storied "cursed" team in the Red Sox prevailed in the World Series, their first since 1908.

The curse was broken, it was amazing! And even more amazing was the list of "reasons" why the curse was lifted, and why the Red Sox were able to win the game. Personally, I think having a 100 million + payroll helps, as well as a short fence in right and a short distance to left field for their big hitters...and the best pitching money can buy...I think these all help.

But another reason came right after the last game of the World Series, in the infamous "bloody sock game". In this game Curt Schilling had stitches come undone from an ankle surgery, but still managed to pitch up to his high level, it was a heroic performance. Of course, he was the interview target after the game and my seminary friends and I were left a little more stunned at Mr. Schilling's response to a question about how the Red Sox won.

"I want to give thanks to God for this victory, because God really favored us today and gave me the strength to go out and pitch this team to victory."

It wasn't that exact quote, I can't find the exact quote, but this is similar to just about every other athlete, actor or musician giving thanks to God for the victory. "God gave me the strength, God helped our team to victory."

Really? Don't get me wrong, I am happy that God is getting recognized nationally and that these celebrities have a relationship with God, but I'm not sure I'm happy with God choosing sides in a sporting event or an oscar ceremony. Do I think God cares about these things? Absolutely. God cares about all things, God is everywhere and ought to be recognized in everything.

But does God change the wind so a kicker can kick a field goal just a little further? Does God cause other batters to miss the ball on purpose so one team can win? Does God influence the voting on American Idol?

I hate to say it, but I don't think so. I don't think God influences the events in our lives in a definite sense. I don't think that God causes one team to win, one singer to win or one actor to win because God favors that person more than the others, or wants to smite the other people for something they did. I don't think God works like that.

Instead, I definitely think that God blessed the musician with the talent, dexterity and creativity it takes to be appreciated by the Grammy's. I definitely think that God calls people to powerful roles in films that speak to people (not many Oscar's go to "Dude, Where's my Car?"), and I think that God blesses some with athletic ability...although possibly not for sports...those are our creation, as is acting.

God allows us to get in line with God's plan, God doesn't force it upon anyone. Yes, sometimes think work out when they shouldn't, and sometimes things just flow together so perfectly that I think God was very convincing in those moments...but in the course of our lives, God is not forcing us to win or lose. God is not forcing us to spend beyond our means or divorce our spouses. God is not forcing us to love people or give to charity. God gives us the opportunity to live up to the greatest ideals possible for a person with our gifts and talents, and it is up to us to respond. It is when we respond that we are choosing to love God fully, and God will fully sanctify us in our response.

There was a celebrity recently that I really appreciated. I was watching the Today Show with my wife and Jennifer Hudson was singing. I love her voice and style, although I'm not what you would call a massive fan, but the question came..."how can you get up here and sing like this after what you suffered with your family situation?" (Her family had been killed recently)

Her answer was one of the best I'd ever heard on national television.

She unasbashedly answered, "It's all about forgiveness, I had to let myself forgive and realize that situation is in God's hands, and those people are in God's hands...but me, I just have to focus on forgivness."

God didn't kill her family, but God will ultimately be with her family and the killers. God didn't give her a super-power of courage to get up on stage again. Instead, God gave her a peace of forgiveness and humility...and through that she found joy again in singing.

That is how God enters the world. Through Jesus Christ and the way that we react to the love and grace that is offered to us through Jesus Christ. Amen.