I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy

I love top-ten lists. I have a link to David Letterman’s Top Ten List bookmarked so I can check it (without having to sit up and watch the show). But the Top Ten List below didn’t come from Letterman; I ran across it on the internet. These are “Top Ten Things You Things You Seldom Hear in Church.”

• "Hey, it’s my turn to sit on the front pew!"
• "I was so enthralled; I didn’t notice the sermon ran 25 minutes over."
• "You know what we need at this church— more announcements!"
• "I wish people would stop getting to church so early!"
• "Personally, I find witnessing much more enjoyable than golf."
• "Let’s give the $500 a month we pay in country club fees to church."
• "I volunteer to be the permanent teacher for the Junior High class."
• "I just love it when we sing those new songs I’ve never heard."
• "Nothing inspires me more than another sermon on giving!"
• "Nothing is more exciting and enjoyable than church."

How often do we use the words “church” and “joy” in the same sentence? For many people, church is like medicine-- they know that it’s good for them, but it tastes terrible. And maybe like medicine, it is supposed to taste terrible. And it’s not just church. Many seem to approach the Christian life like that. How many Christians look like they were weaned on a sour pickle? How many are joyless pessimists who see life as a glass a half-empty?

We act like we don’t understand that the Christian life to be a life of JOY. The word for joy appears about 131 times in the New Testament; that a lot of joy. In fact, that was the standard Greek greeting. Paul combines this greeting “joy” with that of “peace” (Hebrew “shalom”) to begin his letters.

This is also the greeting used two other occasions. The angel who told Mary she was with child began his speech with “joy” (“Luke 1:28). Jesus met the women after Resurrection with “joy” (Matt 28:9). So joy is mentioned at the beginning (birth) and end (resurrection) of the story of Jesus! The gospel begins and ends with joy. That doesn’t mean that life will always be a happy-go-lucky type of existence. But it does mean that our lives should always reflect the joy of the Lord. I think we all need to be reminded of that occasionally.

The Fine Print

I spent part of my morning downloading pictures. A year ago, I was looking for graphics to use with a sermon series, and ran across great deal. A web site catering to churches was running a $29.95 special that gave you 5000 download credits for pictures, PowerPoint backgrounds, and video clips. I thought that was a great deal. There were 5000 download credits, not 5000 downloads. An average graphic takes 500 points and video about 2000. In other words, I bought some pretty expensive pictures. They just sent me an email informing me that my membership is about to expire and that I can purchase additional “points” at www.fool-u-twice.com. I don’t believe I will do that, but I am downloading the few pictures for which I still have “points” before my membership (thankfully) expires.

I thought the whole setup was misleading, perhaps intentionally so. I wrote them an email and told them that, though I didn’t mention the “intentionally” part. They answered that there was a “details” section below the button where I clicked “Sign-Up Today” that explained the whole racket— uhhh, deal. They said that it was my responsibility to read all the details before I signed up, even if there were three screens worth of it... in 6 point Arial Italics. The “form letter” response meant that they had gotten other letters like mine and had a canned “It’s tough to be you” response ready!

The infuriating part is that they are right. It was my responsibility to understand what I was signing up for before I clicked "OK." The fact that their advertising was misleading does not absolve my responsibility of being mislead. Which is a good object lesson. Jesus said,“Watch out that no one deceives you” (Mark 13:5). Paul warned the Corinthians not to be “led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Cor 11:3). It is too easy to believe what we want to believe. That may be, “Oh look, a great deal on graphics.” Or maybe, “Here's here’s a gospel that guarantees that I’ll be healthy and wealthy.” Or perhaps, “Here’s a way to be a Christian where onedience and discipleship are optional.” Or possibly, "Here's a system where all I do is keep a few rules and I'm in-like-Flynn." People will deceive us with things like that... perhaps intentionally decieve us. But it is up to us to read the fine print.

Who Is Servant and Master?

I always like to support church programs and functions, but I am REALLY looking forward to participating in our “Throw Your Old Cell Phone in Roger’s Box” program. I am so past ready to get a new phone…and in a couple of weeks Alltel will finally be ready to let me have one. I have had constant problems with my phone. First it dropped calls; then it stopped taking them altogether. Every third call or so goes straight to “missed message” without bothering me by ringing. I’ve had the thing in the shop four times, but (of course) where it refuses to demonstrate its "call ignore" feature. So this Christmas I’m going to give myself a phone. I don’t need a lot of bells and whistles… just the bell that rings when I get a call.

Maybe I should give my phone to someone who needs this “call ignore” feature. One recent study showed that 40% of people feel that they can’t cope with life without a cell phone, 35% of people used cell phones to escape their problems and 7% blamed their cell phone for a broken relationship or a lost job. What can be a great tool to help interpersonal communications can actually become a barrier to those relationships. In fact, according to some experts, the use of cell phones has become one more addiction that people need help in overcoming. A recent segment of Good Morning America showed the struggle of one young couple trying to go a week without their cell phone; you would have thought they had "been through the desert on a horse with no name." This is may be an extreme example of a common problem.

There is an old saying that assures us—“Money can be an obedient servant, but it is a harsh taskmaster.” I think that can be said about all of our material stuff. Cell phones can enhance communication and therefore relationships; cell phones can also cripple and replace real relationships. (How deep can communication really be when a single conversation is interrupted 10 times for other calls and text messages? "Hold on" is probably the most used line in cell phone conversation).

This is not a rant against cell phones. I am going to get a new one and laugh manically when I drop the old one in the recycle box. But I think it important to stop every once in awhile and ask ourselves about who is the master and who is the servant. When we get to the point when we are the servants rather than the masters of our lifestyle, it may be time to makes some changes. I think what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12 should give us cause to pause—

“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything.

Black Friday

Today is “Black Friday.” It is called that because it is the day retailers make enough to go from being unprofitable (or “in the red”) to being profitable (or “in the black”). Without the mad rush of this busy shopping day, Wal-Mart may still be little corner five and dime. Stores opened this morning at 5:00 a.m. (so they tell me) and held up unbelievable sales as the carrot-on-a-stick to get us up and out there to spend, spend, spend. Well, it didn’t work with me! I hate shopping and crowds… and I detest each the most when they are combined with one other!

Newsflash. Most of us already have all the stuff we need! OK, my girls would die before they would admit that, but it’s true. So we run around buying stuff we don’t need with money we don’t have. We have to get Thanksgiving Day over so that we can get out and buy more stuff so we will have a good Christmas. Does that seem nuts to anyone? But that is what our consumer-based economic system demands.

The biggest problem most of us have in doing our Christmas shopping finding the right stuff to buy for someone who basically already has everything. Many gift items are designed to be so nutty that it is guaranteed that the person on your list doesn’t have it yet. Like the “Executive Decision Maker” someone gave me once-- a dart board that has things like “take off early” and “go on a coffee break” so you throw a dart and make a decision. There really is a perfectly good answer to the question, “What do you get for the person who has everything?” The answer is “Nothing!” But as logical as that is, it doesn’t go over very well on Christmas morning. And it won’t go over very well in our culture either. Our system won't work unless we buy more stuff. The free world will fall unless you buy that plasma TV!

There is a sense in which our free-enterprise, materialistic, capitalistic, consumer culture is at its very roots antagonistic to the Christian world view. We are so conditioned by the system to want more and more stuff that we find it very difficult to be truly thankful for all God gives us. The world tells us that we have to have the biggest and the best, the latest and the greatest, the new and the improved. God tells us to be content with what we have and to use what we have to bless other people. Those two world views do seem to be at odds! Until we understand they are at odds, then we will never truly be thankful people. Thanksgiving must be so much more than a one day respite to be grateful for our stuff and to rest up before we charge out to get more stuff. Unfortunately, that is what Thanksgiving has become for many-- the day before Black Friday!

The Human Race

People from both of my small groups joined forces last night to participate in “The Human Race,” a charity fund-raising event (our contributions went to help DUCO). It was quite simple—you pay/raised money, show up at Woodside, get bused to beginning of the “Celebration in Lights” at Newport News Park, and then walk through the lights. It is easy to do, helps a good cause, and builds fellowship with your fellow walkers. Of course last night, they threw in at no extra charge a Nor’easter with 30 mph-an-hour winds and a steady, driving rain. Most of us persevered, although there were a few unnamed (you know who you are) fair-weather-walkers who chose to remain behind in their “tents of ease.” Warm and dry tents of ease. But the faithful pressed and were rewarded with the spectacle of the lights. Of course, the lights looked a lot like the above picture through the driving rain!

Seems like there should be a metaphor in here somewhere. As drenched as we were, I could say something about baptism! But what really comes to mind is this. It is not so much the things we experience in our trip through life that matter; it is rather the people with whom we can experience them. As an event, The Human Race was pretty much a bust. Well, they did raise a lot of money because everyone paid in advance. But it was hard to enjoy the lights because of the miserable weather. In fact, it was a little hard to think about anything except the coffee and hot chocolate waiting for us at Will and Michelle’s house at the end. (It was good of Will to stay behind-- in the warm and dry-- to have the refreshments ready for us.) But while the lights were not as spectacular as they could have been, the experience was a lot fun (really) because of the people we were with. What would have been a miserable walk alone was actually a lot of fun walking and talking (and complaining?) with people you really enjoy.

We never know what life has to offer. The things, events, experiences that we encounter may run the gambit from very good to very bad. Whatever those experiences may be, they are made better and easier and holier by the people God places around us to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Rom 12:15). It is much easier for us to “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Rom 12:12) as we practice hospitality (Rom 12:12) and sharing of ourselves with others. The true “Human Race” was never meant to be a sprint where the fastest run off and leave the rest behind. We are rather jogging along steadily together as a group to offer support and encouragement as we make our way to the true “Celebration of Lights.”

All This Boring Stuff

OK, this will NOT be another football blog; I had my rant yesterday. But I would like to pass along a bit of football news. You may remember a blog about Torrance “Tank” Daniels. Tank and his wife Courtney are best friends with Tressa and Angelynn, and Tank has been on the practice squad of the Philadelphia Eagles this season. But not any more. He was activated to the main squad yesterday and will be on the field when the Eagles travel to Indianapolis to meet the Colts this Sunday night. That means that right after the hated Cowboys beat my Colts, now I have to root for the Eagles against the Colts! Well, I’ll be rooting for one Eagle to smack Peyton Manning around a bit. Tank is an outside linebacker and now wears #50. Keep and eye out for him Sunday night. The Colts better!

Nabila Nazli is a young mother in New York raising her five children when a fire two almost took their lives. She fought fight through flames to rescue her 4-week-old twins and dropped them out of a window into a blanket held by neighbors. Two other children jumped to safety as well. But when she realized that her 5-year-old daughter was missing, she fought through the flames to go back to find her. Fire fighters found her alive in the burning apartment unconscious from smoke inhalation and still cradling 5-year-old daughter Nimrah to protect her from the flames. Both mother and daughter are in serious condition following skin graft surgery for burns.

Nazli's 10-year-old son Umar was quoted as saying, “She was never really that brave before. Before she was always worried about stuff like nutrition and all this boring stuff. Now she was saving our lives.” Kids. Actually Mom was ALWAYS trying to save her children. “Nutrition and all this boring stuff” is one way that a mother lays down her life for the well-being of her kids. Rushing into a burning apartment is a rather dramatic extension of laying down one’s life, but all the boring stuff is important too.

John tells us, “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (1 John 3:16, NLT). Does that mean we must be ready to rush into burning buildings? Sure. But John focuses on another kind of laying down of our lives. Notice the next two verses--

If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

Jesus said, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13, NLT). But here, the laying down of life means loving each other in such a way that meet needs and share lives. Sometimes “all this boring stuff” is how we lay down our lives for each other.

Big Crummy System

I have a great sense of timing, don’t I? I chose yesterday morning to make a little crack about the Dallas Cowboys. It was an innocent statement about God wanting us to enjoy the blessings He provides… like a big Thanksgiving dinner and the Cowboys loosing on TV. Well, I thought that was a safe statement here in the heart of Redskin country, but I forgot about all those displaced Texas folks that we have at Denbigh. People were ugly to me. And to make matters worse, the Cowboys handed the Colts (my team) their first loss yesterday, making the Colts to look like… well, the Redskins. Do you think anyone will bring that up? Not a chance!

What was really depressing this weekend was that the biggest game of the year in college football ended up meaning nothing. Michigan continues to be ranked #2 in the BCS (Big Crummy System) after loosing the so-called “game of the century” to Ohio State. How can a team loose their last game, finish 3rd in the Big Ten (Wisconsin is #2 on style points), a conference that only has 5 teams with winning records (the Big East has 6, the SEC 8), and still play for the national championship? In the next two weeks, #3 USC plays #6 Notre Dame and #4 Florida plays #5 Arkansas. Unless someone wakes up, those games will mean about has much as 31 of the 32 Bowl games… and just about as much as Ohio State beating Michigan last week. Nothing! Big Crummy System.

Oh well, it doesn’t really matter. It’s only a game. No big deal. Except in the (unlikely) event that Arkansas beats LSU this week and Florida the next (in the SEC championship game). That would make the Razorbacks 12-0 since Sep 2 and the hottest team in college football (except Ohio State). If after that Michigan plays for the title after being 0-1 in their last game and finishing 3rd in the Big Ten, then I’m calling for a congressional investigation! Big Crummy System.

Note: As a Razorback back fan, I must confess that the opportunity to even care about the BCS is kinda fun (for a change). But I still think it is a Big Crummy System.

The Real World

News-of-the-Weird tells about a unique art exhibit in Cardiff, Wales called “Gallery Space Recall.” The exhibit is a completely empty room where patrons are asked to imagine some other art show that they have visited recently. Simon Pope, the “artist” behind the exhibit, suggests that this allows the two exhibits to “exist at two locations simultaneously, both here and there.” He says the exhibit brings to mind the brain-injury disorder “reduplicative paramnesia,” in which a person has a delusional belief that something exists at two places at once. I wonder if any of the patrons to the “exhibit” asked Pope to just imagine the money they had paid for the other exhibit and allow that to “exist at two locations simultaneously, both here and there.”

I started to just post a blank page today and ask you to imagine another blog you have read. (Cute, huh?). But what struck me about this story is that there are some who believe that faith is basically the same process. We live in the real world (the material), but we imagine another world (the spiritual). We live in “the real world” but we imagine a “spiritual world,” and the two realities come to exist at the same time as long as we imagine hard enough. Maybe I shouldn’t admit this out loud, but there are times when my material world seems more real than my hold on the spiritual. They are fleeting times, mind you, but I can empathize with people who have a hard time with this thing called “faith.”

I spent some time yesterday contemplating the words of Hebrews 11:13-14. OK I was contemplating them because my Wednesday night class is working through Hebrews and this was part of our text. (Of course, we didn’t get this far last night, so I’ll get to contemplate some more next week). Here’s the text—

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.

In this paragraph, the writer sums up his point in Hebrews 11, the famous "Hall of Fame of Faith." What made the giants of the faith giants was not their lack of doubt, their perfect obedience, or their other-worldly spirituality. Go back and read the stories of Noah (hit the bottle a bit too hard), Abraham (believed God’s promise but lied to save his life… twice) and Moses (how many lame excuses came one come up with in front of a burning bush?). What made them giants of the faith was that, despite their flaws and occasional doubts, they saw the unseen world as the real world and did their best to live that way. The real world was God, and so they pressed on through their fears and doubts.

Sometimes it is hard to see past this world and focus on the real world of faith. And it is OK to admit that it is sometimes hard. Being faithful is not being correct on a survey or doctrinal issues. Being faithful is not being spotless in your church attendance. Being faithful is keeping focused on the real world of faith. The conclusion the Hebrews writer makes is this. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

Have a great day!

(Final) Reflections on the Election

All of the rancor and nastiness of the recent political campaign is now behind us, and now we can move ahead in a spirit of bipartisan unity and love. In Bizarro world! Democrats have taken both the House and the Senate, and now Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton seem poised to make a run (or maybe a leisurely stroll) for the White House. And so with the “barbarians at the gate,” the prophets of doom predict that Armageddon surely can’t be far away.

An article by Joseph Loconte (a professor at Pepperdine) and Michael Cromartie on the editorial page of Sunday’s paper wars us to “Stop Stereotyping Evangelicals.” The term “the Religious Right” has been bandied about for some time, and it was widely held that Evangelical Christian voters provided George Bush his margin of victory in 2004... and that they abandoned him in the recent mid-term elections, giving Congress to the Democrats. The facts are much more complex. Christians voters have never been a single-contingency voting for a single issue. Christian voters do see abortion and homosexual marriage as key issues, but our interest in social issues extend well beyond those two things. Evangelicals are today at the forefront of issues that can frankly look pretty “Democratic” on the surface-- prison reform, the global AIDS crisis, and the victimization of women in the third world. It was the Church that highlighted Sudanese slave raids and violence against Christians in Sudan, and that work has expanded to protect Muslims in Darfur. It was churches who were the first responders in major disasters like the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia and the Katrina disaster in 2005.

Evangelical Christian voters are interested in preserving the sanctity of life, but that interest in protecting life not end in the womb. Christian voters live in a world in which they face real and complex questions like abortion, genocide, ethnic cleansing, poverty, the war, and the list goes on. Christian voters like everyone else must decide which candidate best approaches all of those issues. Unlike everyone else, Christian voters must decide how they can best use their vote to reflect and promote the holiness and justice of God in our imperfect and fallen world. It should not be surprising that many of us will choose differently.

The Loconte and Cromartie editorial was a reminder to both sides of the aisle not to assume that conservative Christians see the political landscape alike or act as a voting block. (The competing brand names on our buildings testify to the fact that we seldom see things just alike). Maybe we also need to remind ourselves of the fact that there is no Christian voting block. What we share in common as Christians is faith in the kingdom of God and a commitment to reflect His love, mercy and justice until He comes again.

You Know What Makes Me Mad?

You know what really makes me mad? Just last week Roger and I got into a heated discussion over college football. I suggested that maybe the dearth of defense made the offenses look so good in the Louisville-West Virginia game; he said that no, their offenses were that great! I said that neither offense would look so great if they had to play each week against defenses in the SEC; he said that I had SEC on the brain and couldn’t be objective. I said that we would never know because Big East teams were too busy scheduling Podunk Tech and never played anyone. Of course, Louisville made my point by promptly losing to Rutgers after getting shut out in the second half. And now Rutgers is now #6 in the nation… because they are in the Big East and only play Louisville and Podunk Tech. Have I mentioned recently that Arkansas is now #5 with a bullet? (I KNOW that just because I said that they will lose Saturday to Mississippi Sate, the SEC version of Podunk Tech!) OK, back to my question, “You know what makes me mad?” Evidently, way, way too many things! (And don’t get me started on the BCS!)

A new study reported on yesterday at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Chicago found a link between anger and heart attacks in patients with heart problems. This study showed a linage between anger and an interruption of the heart’s normal electrical activity. While the research data was gathered from patients with significant heart problems, it shows something for all of us. And that something is that anger is literally one of the deadly sins. Dr. Melvyn Rubenfire, of the University of Michigan, says “The research in this area is burgeoning, with depression, social isolation and job stress all receiving attention along with hostility and anger.” He went on to suggest that research such as done in the study reported upon “will eventually define the proper place of psychosocial factors. I'm prepared to predict they will be as prominent as any other major heart disease risk factors."

There is little we can do about the things that cause our anger. We can’t improve other people’s driving, make our boss less difficult to get along with or make other people smarter about college football. But how we respond to our anger is totally up to us. Totally. Paul says, “In your anger do not sin” (Eph 4:26). He goes on to say that when we hang onto anger, we give the devil a foothold in our lives. We all get angry, but we need to process it in healthy ways so that we “get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger” (Eph 4:31).

How do we do that? How can we respond to stressors in a more holy way? Few of the things that we get “jumping mad” about really matter all that much to begin with, and they matter even less to someone listening to the voice of God and keeping step with His Spirit. Giving our stressors up to God in prayer, sincerely praying for those who make us angry, regular reading of scripture, lifting up God in praise and seeking counsel from a spiritual mentor are just a few ways to help us deal with anger issues.

Anger is bad for your health. Literally. And it is even worse for your spiritual health. When we truly understand that and begin to work on our responses to anger, we may find that fewer and fewer things make us angry.

It's Good to be Home

Our trip to Kentucky went well. It was a long weekend, but we are glad we went. Will and Michelle King drove and we tagged along with them-- Will did most of the driving (yeah!) We got to know them even better, and that is good, but that means that they also got to know me better too. We were able to stop in Nashville and have a long lunch with my sister Sonya and niece Darcy... and at the same time Will got a Tennessee barbeque lunch. I enjoyed the visit; he enjoyed the barbeque-- so everybody was happy. Except the deer. We counted 14 dead deer on the side of the interstate just in the stretch yesterday (we didn't start counting until later). So it was a hard day for Bambi. And it was a hard day for the Volunteers. I got to see 15 minutes of Arkansas’ “Orange Crush” of Tennessee Saturday evening. I'm trying not to gloat... but not real hard!

The funeral went well. It was good to see Greg, Jasen and Jessika, and they are doing as well as one could expect. A lot of family came in from out of town as well as several who had known the Ericksen’s in other places. Jasen put together an amazing video and song presentation that was showed halfway through the service that brought tears to many eyes. There was a large group there from the Greenwood Park church that came to support the Ericksen family that they had only recently met, and they provided a huge meal for the family after the service. Jerry Jenkins, the Ericksen’s preacher from years ago, came from Alabama to conduct part of the service.

All of us came away from the experience reminded again of how important it is to have a church family with which to share the difficult parts of our lives. What a burden it could have been to be in a new city less than a month when a tragedy like that hits. But because Greg, Vickie, Jasen and Jessika are part of a large extended family, there were people around them to help and lean on. God never made us to be alone, and He places us within a fellowship, a sharing, in which our lives touch others and are touched by others. There are times in our lives when this makes all the difference in the world. We need to live so that it always makes a difference each day.

Wednesday Night Memorial

Our Wednesday Bible service last night was a memorial service for Vickie Ericksen who passed away suddenly October 31 at the age of 49. Vickie and her family had just moved from Denbigh to Bowling Green, KY, and her funeral will be there on Saturday. Vickie was such a special part of our church, especially to our children, that we thought we needed a time to remember and honor her.

I thought the memorial service went wonderfully. The songs were meaningful and helped point us to both God's comfort and Vickie's victory in Jesus-- singing “Arms of Love” with the words on the screen superimposed over pictures of Vickie teaching our children was powerful. Both Dan and Bob did great jobs with their pastoral prayers. And Roger reading all of those notes from our children was touching. But the largest part (about 30 minutes) of the service was reserved for people to share personal memories of Vickie. And what great stories they were! I wish Greg, Jasen and Jessika could have been here, but we are taking the video of the service to them Saturday.

After the service, I had an idea (usually a dangerous proposition). The elders have been talking for some time about re-evaluating our use of Wednesday nights that can augment our Bible Study time. They aren’t moving toward a single idea; the problem is that they have lots of ideas— Ministry Night, Prayer Meeting, Peak-of-the-Week, etc. At some point, they will talk with each of the Body Life Groups to get yet more ideas.

So here’s my idea. Let’s do what we did last night every week— make Wednesday night a memorial service for people who are still with us. The idea is to take one or two people (or families) each week to honor. We can sing, read scriptures, pray (maybe have a sermonette just so I earn my keep), and then we "eulogize" and say all kinds of nice things about the person or people of the week who are very much alive and sitting there with us. Where is it written that we need to wait until someone is dead until we are free to express our love, admiration and appreciation for them? What hit me last night as I as telling my Vickie stories was, “So why didn’t I tell Vickie that I thought she was a wonderful, whacky and wise sister while she was still around?”

Most of aren’t very good about saying nice and complimentary things about people (Fred White could give us all lessons-- he is good at it). But most of us are even worse at hearing nice things about ourselves from others. I think we need more practice at both of these.

Same-Sex Marriage

The election is finally over… mostly. There will be an excruciating recount of votes in the Virginia senate as the nation watches to see whether the Democrats will take control of the Senate as well as the House. At least there will be no political advertising in papers, radio and TV while we are waiting. If the folks who had spent a gazillion dollars on ads promising to do good things if they were elected would have spent most of that money doing good things, the world would be a much better place.

One outcome that was not in doubt was the “same-sex marriage amendment” which was passed in yesterday’s election by a wide margin (58% to 43%). At the same time I was reading those results, I received a GracEmail from Edward Fudge where an Episcopal subscriber who lament their denomination's majority acceptance of same-sex unions asked, “Is there any biblical or traditional justification for these positions?” Edward answered like this—

We may safely say that there is absolutely no basis in either scripture or orthodox Christian tradition for the same-sex unions, blessings or ordinations which some within the Episcopal Church are urging (and some are doing). Attempts to justify homosexuality by the Bible rely on unfounded historical assumptions, strained exegesis and a willful ignoring of the fact that Scripture always presents such conduct in a negative light. For those reasons, same-sex advocates are increasingly acknowledging that the Bible stands against their view and simply saying that the Bible is wrong.

It is also urgently important to say that we should not hate homosexual people, regard as sinful any person of homosexual orientation who lives a godly life, or deny anyone their civil rights. No Christian ought to tell homosexual jokes, or use derogatory labels, or taunt someone regarding sexual orientation. There is no excuse for behaving cruelly toward anyone, or treating any person other than with dignity, kindness and respect. It remains unclear, in my opinion, whether homosexual orientation is a matter of nature or of nurture. Ours is a fallen world, a fact which affects us all, and either explanation now seems possible.

The church in every age must compete with the spirit of the world, and the gospel's call to purity of life is always at odds with our own sinful natures. Some of these sexual issues happen to be in the forefront of the present struggle for the soul of various mainline denominations. However, the same larger spiritual struggle is underway daily for all Christian people, heterosexual or not, and ultimately it is won or lost on an individual basis. Our most pressing concern therefore is our own faith relationship with God, and our own walk -- with all its implications -- in the Spirit of the Risen Jesus Christ.

Election Day

Today is Election Day. At last. One of the harshest and dirtiest campaigns for a mid-term election in recent memory has finally come to an end. I will go to Sanford Elementary and cast my ballot later. I’m hoping to see several more of those great political commercials before I vote. I especially like the ones where one candidate blasts the other for running a negative campaign. I got several phone calls last night, one from Rudy Giuliani, urging me to vote for George Allen. At least, I guess that is what they were going to urge me to do. I hung up— they were interrupting a Thelma Drake and Phil Kellam commercial-a-thon on TV. Of course, I then had the thought, “What if that wasn’t an automated calling system and Rudy Giuliani really was calling me… to ask directions to church or something?”

I am going to vote. I won't tell WHO I'm going to vote for-- always a chance that I'll see one more political commercial and make up my mind... to vote for the other guy. After all the mud-slinging and dirty politics this year, I’m not sure whether we need an election today as much as a shower! But I am convinced of two things—

First, our political system is terribly flawed and imperfect— until you compare it to every other system in the history of the world. We are blessed to live in a governmental system that not only allows us to participate, but our participation IS the governmental system. Our voice makes a difference. Remember the election board in Florida going though ballots one by one struggling with hanging and dimpled chads? Every 2 or 4 or 6 years, the voice of the people has the power to “throw the bums out.” Maybe we need to do that occasionally just to make sure they are listening.

Second, our political and governmental system will never bring peace on earth, justice to the oppressed or righteousness to the land. Only the in-breaking of the kingdom of God into our hearts and lives can truly do. There is a fundamental sense in which the kingdoms of men and women (even if they are led by good men and women) will remain at odds with the kingdom of God. The kingdoms of men are all about POWER-- acquiring, maintaining and using power. The kingdom of God is about laying power down before God to serve others (see Matt 20:25-28). To put our “faith” in governmental systems and political leaders is to set ourselves up for disappointment.

Put your faith in God and keep an skeptical eye on your leaders. And vote.

Not An Option

I ran across an old Reader's Digest story the other day. Well, it wasn’t so much a story as a paragraph at the end of a story to take up extra space. I was going to use it in a sermon, but it didn’t make the cut. Fortunately, the standards are a little lower here on the ol’ blog, so here it is.

It seems that the NY Yankees were suffering through a particularly difficult slump when Yogi Berra was the manager. They had just dropped a double-header in Boston, and everyone was silent as they boarded the team bus. When infielder Phil Lenz got on the bus playing an upbeat song on his harmonica, Yogi flew into a rage. You don't play O Susanna or whatever on the harmonica when you're playing baseball as poorly as they were playing. A shouting match ensued, and Yogi fined Lenz $300. (OK, this is an old story; Chad Johnson of the Bengals was fined $5000 yesterday for changing the name on his jersey). The incident was quickly forgotten until it became time for Lenz's contract renewal. When he got his contract, he was surprised to find he had been given a $300 bonus. When he asked what the bonus was for, Yogi said, “For harmonica lessons.”

Wouldn’t the world be a better place if more of us held a grudge like Yogi Berra? How many carry around burdens they really don’t need because of past slights and offences— real or imagined? It is hard to misconstrue Jesus meaning when he speaks of God’s wrath and then says, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matt 18:35). Paul is also crystal clear when he says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Eph 4:32). But in case we don’t get it, he also says, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Col 3:13). It would seem that forgiving others is not an option for those who want to be forgiven.

Our Hero

It appears that the new pop icon for college kids and others is Chuck Norris. Yeah, that Chuck Norris— the 1970’s B-Movie action hero and star of the long running “Walker: Texas Ranger.” Chuck Norris is now cool, thanks to a long-running Chuck Norris gag on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. The movie Talladega Nights had Will Ferrell’s character name his sons “Walker” and “Texas Ranger.” I hadn’t seen any of that, so I didn’t know that Norris had become trendy. Thousands of Chuck Norris “facts” are sent around the Internet by students and bored office workers, and these “facts” have made their way into military briefings in Iraq. Trading these “facts” is called “upchucking.”

• Nails wish they were as tough as Chuck Norris.
• Napoleon had a Chuck Norris complex.
• Bill Gates lives in constant fear that Chuck Norris’ PC will crash.
• Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups; he pushes the earth down.

I find this hysterical. Not the jokes (OK, some of them). But the idea that a 66 year old actor who sells home gym equipment on infomercials is now the epitome of cool and toughness… that’s funny. Of course, I doubt that I would bring that up should I meet Mr. Norris in a dark alley.

OK, I’m probably reading too much into a fad that is likely no deeper than pet rocks. But we do live in a world that seems for all the world to be out of control. I wonder if the appeal of a caricature of this ultimate tough guy really a visceral desire for order and justice in the world? One soldier in Iraq jokes, “If we brought Chuck Norris over here, the war would end a lot sooner. Send us home.” Is that a joke? Is it an accident that the most popular movies in recent years have been based on comic book heroes like Spiderman and the X-men? We want “Truth, justice and the American way” and we need a hero to bring it. If that means ol’ Chuck roundhouse kicking a few bad guys around, so much the better.

Our world is out of control… it always has been. Our world has been broken by sin to the point where “all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Rom 12:22, NLT). Sin, sickness, suffering and death are part of our world, and that means that at times we are overwhelmed by injustice, randomness and chaos. And so we “groan” as we “long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering” (Rom 12:23). We may not live everyday in the shadow of struggle, but we never live for long without it. The world will never be a safe place for us. Sin and rebellion drove Adam and Eve from paradise, and sin and rebellion continue to this day.

Only a true hero can bring us truth and justice. In Hebrews 2:10, Jesus is called the “pioneer” (RSV) or “founder” (ESV) or “perfect leader" (NLT). The word used here suggests a leader who goes before as a trailblazer for others to follow. “Hero” would be an acceptable translation. Jesus is the hero that makes sense our of suffering and bring true justice and is true justice. I’ll refrain from the imagery of Jesus roundhouse kicking death in the teeth, but that sounds a little like what Hebrews 2:14-15 says—

He too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him
who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their
lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Jesus is the only hero who can make sense our of our senseless world. One day he is coming back to make ultimate justice a reality. In the end, the good guys do always win. In the end.

Goodbye, Miss Vickie

We just received word that Vickie Ericksen, our dear sister in Christ, left this world last night to be with her Lord forever. What is for Vickie a victory beyond imagination, is for her family a devastating loss, and our prayers and thoughts are with them during this very difficult time. Vickie had a severe reaction to an insect bite that was for her much as would a rattlesnake bite be in others. While she underwent emergency surgery to remove damaged tissue, the infection was so widespread that her organs began to shut down. After several days, she just slipped away...and the angels rejoice as she takes her place in paradise.

The Ericksen’s moved away from Denbigh less than a month ago to Bowling Green, Kentucky so that Greg could start his new career after retiring from the military. Vickie served the church here faithfully in our children's ministry; in many ways, she was our children’s ministry. It is impossible to know the number of lives that she touched because she loved children so much...and loved God so much. I think many of us will think of Vickie each time we walk past the toddler room. It’s hard to believe we'll never again hear her laugh on this side of Jordan.

Our hearts and prayers go out to Greg, Jasen, and Jessika. They knew that this was going to be a time of transition when they moved to Kentucky. They could not have known how big a transition it was going to be! Keep the family in your prayers.