Auld Lang Syne

January is named for Janus, the Greek god that had two faces so that he could look two directions at once. And that is what we do during this time of the year-- we look back on the year that was in remembrance and we look forward to the year that will be in anticipation. This is the time of year when you have two different kinds TV specials-- retrospectives that recall the highlights of the year that was and those shows that try to predict the trends of the year that will be. We look two directions at once.

But then, it is much easier to look back, isn't it. The future always looks less certain than the past. It is easier to look back on what was. That’s point of the song we traditionally sing at New Years, "Auld Lang Syne"—

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne (“times gone by”)

It is easy for us to look back at "times gone by.” We can all too clearly see the past with its mistakes and missed opportunities. And we can feel trapped by the failures and choices of “auld lang syne.”

The point of the gospel is that we serve a God that makes everything new. Our past mistakes can be overcome; our past sins can be forgiven. The times when we got off track as people or as a church can be covered over by the ocean of God's grace, and we can be led to full renewal. God makes everything new. That is the promise of this brand new 365 days with which God has blessed us today.

“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:3-5)

Christman Gifts, Re-Gifts and Real Gifts

I saw a piece on one of the morning news shows last week on “the rules of re-gifting.” An expert (how does one become an expert in such things) shared some guidelines on what gifts you receive that you can and can’t pass on as gifts to others. There was a long list of rules, but I do remember two of them—“If it is too tacky for you to keep, it is too tacky for you to give away” and “You can re-gift an article of clothing if the color or style reminds you of the person to whom you are giving it.” I think those two rules go together well—“This is much too tacky for me, but it made me think of you.”

Lynn and I usually don’t give one another gifts. It is an inside family joke that Lynn has returned most of thew gifts I have given her. I can never get the style or the size right. (Did you know there is a difference between a .3 and 3 carat diamond? Go figure.) Lynn is much too practical to keep something she doesn’t really like or won’t really use… and I guess I’m too dense to figure out what she really likes or will really use! One year I gave her a toaster oven—which she liked and used. But for some reason, that didn’t go over well as a gift either. Who would have thought?

As for me, I’m easy. Ever sense I was a kid, I have had one rule of Christmas gifts. Christmas is for toys… period. Clothes are nice, but they are not Christmas. Christmas is about toys—computer games, sporting goods, home electronics, etc. But I really don’t want Lynn picking out my computer games, sporting goods or home electronics. So we have a working deal. We have fun giving the kids stuff, but we don’t buy gifts for each other. It works for us. at least it works for me.

For some reason, Luke 14 just popped into my head while I was thinking about all of this. We generally give Christmas gifts to people who give us gifts. According to the news show I referred to earlier, one of the big reasons we re-gift is because someone gave us something and we had given them anything… and we don’t want to go back out shopping. Well, listen to what Jesus tells people who are giving a banquet in Luke 14:12-14…

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the
resurrection of the righteous.”

Maybe that principle needs to be part of our Christmas shopping as well. Maybe we should give more gifts to the “poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” instead of people that can afford to buy their own stuff that they really don’t need. Sending a card that says, “A gift of $20 has been sent to DUCO (or some other charity) in your name” may make both giver and receiver feel more in the Christmas spirit that getting another pair of socks or something. Maybe that is something to think about for next year.

Christmas Past and Present

It was a very merry Christmas at the Tucker house. Lynn spent the week cooking, and I put a temporary hold on the low-carb diet. So I ate myself silly yesterday—turkey-n-dressing, prime rib, sweet potatoes, collards, macaroni-n-cheese... and several different desserts. We marked Tressa’s 25th birthday with a caramel-covered cake that everyone (except Tressa) loved. Tressa’s boyfriend Tobias is spending the week with us. Tobias played tight end on Harding’s football team, and he is the size of someone who played tight end. But I think I out-ate him!

Tressa’s friend Courtney and her children Jaxon (age 3) and Gracie (age 1) are here, so we had little ones in the house on Christmas morning for the first time in years. That was fun! Jaxon tore through our stack of Dollar Tree presents like a tornado, only stopping to announce “this just what I wanted!” We ended the day watching Jaxon and Gracie's Daddy and the Philadelphia Eagles demolish the Dallas Cowboys and clinch a playoff spot. Actually the highlight was when they showed Jaxon (twice) during the game in a piece where they interviewed several of the player’s kids. Oh, and did I mention that Dallas lost? Badly!

Our Christmas tradition was once set in stone. Along with my sister’s family, we would move in with Mom and Dad for the week. We would leave on Christmas eve to go to Colonial Heights to be with Lynn’s family for a big Christmas Eve dinner at Lynn’s grandmother’s house. Then we went to Lynn’s parent’s home to open presents with them. We made the lonely late-night drive back to Mom and Dad’s so we could have Christmas morning with them. The four girls would go crazy over gifts and Dad would video everything… including Christmas dinner. That was our Christmas for years. Rewind and repeat.

But life changes. Granny went to be with Jesus, and the Ange Christmas Eve family dinner eventually stopped. Mom and Dad moved back to Arkansas, and we don’t camp out there anymore. The four cousins grew up—two got married, one has children of her own… and we added a 5th cousin along the way (go figure). Life changes, and it is hard for either family to all get together now. Old family traditions have to be changed or set aside altogether, and Christmas is very different. This year we didn’t see either set of parents (we did spend 3-4 hours on the phone). Life changes. Sometimes it gets better. Sometimes it gets worse. Sometimes it just gets different.

It is easy to look back with nostalgia on “the good old days” (we have it all on video tape!). And it’s good to look back and enjoy the memories. It’s good as long as you don’t allow the memories of the past (edited to remove the not-so-good parts) to get in the way of living in the present. Memories are good as long as you don’t hold them up as yardsticks against which to measure the present. I do miss those good old days of Christmas past. But I enjoyed yesterday too. Life changes, but a life anchored in God always stays secure.

Merry Christmas

I ran across a list of the “The Top Ten Reasons We Should Keep Christmas.” With all the hustle and bustle of this season of the year, maybe we do need needed to be reminded why Christmas is a good idea. If it were not for Christmas--

• The candied fruit market would completely collapse!
• Our boring, uneventful lives would have no stress at all!
• Eggnog would just be a slimy, high cholesterol beverage.
• Santa would be a strange fat man with poor fashion sense!
• Three words— “No Christmas bonus!”
• You'd have to spend your own money buying stuff that doesn’t fit.
• We would never wonder if reindeer really know how to fly.
• Your cat would never know the joy of coughing up tinsel!
• Number one reason—without Christmas, there could be no Easter!

That last one wasn’t meant to be funny... unlike the rest of them that just weren’t funny on their own! Without the birth of Jesus, there could be no cross and no resurrection. Without the Christmas story, then Christianity has no message of eternal life. Unless Jesus really was born into this world as God in the flesh, then there is no story of redemption.

Christmas was originally a pagan holiday that Christians appropriated and connected to the birth of Christ. Sometimes that is cited as a reason not to observe the holidays at all, or at least not to connect them to Jesus. Actually, I think that was an ingenious move-- keep new converts from reconnecting with their pagan past by connecting their main holiday with Jesus' birth! Hey, I still remember the time when churches would have a Senior Banquet on prom night to keep their kids from going to the prom! Brilliant!

The way we choose to observe or not observe the Christmas holidays is entirely optional as long as our desire is to glorify God (Rom 14:5). What is not optional is the story. If this season reconnects you with the special and central nature of that story of Jesus' birth, then that is a good thing indeed. Merry Christmas.

Father, thank you for sending your Son into our world. Thank you Jesus for humbling Yourself so dramatically that You became a little baby, wrapped in flesh, wrapped in rags. Thank you Holy Spirit for recording this powerful story of selfless love for us, and help us to love this way in return.

Wonderings About Wanderings

Exodus 15 begins with a song of victory over God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt, but the song soon turns bitter in the desert. The victorious Israelites on the bank of the Rea Sea become a mob of grumbling and complaining malcontents in the desert:

• They complained about bitter water (15:22-24).
• They complained because there is a lack of food (16:2,3).
• And they complained that there is a lack of water (17:1-3).

Israel was tasting freedom for the first time, but God led them into a desert of difficulty. In their grumbling, they asked Moses, "Why have you led us here to die?" (Ex. 27:3). Why did God lead them into the desert? Well, they were headed to Sinai to receive the Law. And they were not yet ready for war, so their route in the desert skirted their enemies (Exo. 13:17,18). But there was another reason-- it was in the desert that Israel could learn to rely on God. Later prophets will refer back to this time as the formative years for Israel (Jer. 2:1-3, Hos. 2:14-15). The desert taught Israel to trust in God (Deut. 8:2-3).

It is always wrong to grumble and complain. Grumbling seeks to transfer our unhappiness to someone else, and thus sows discord. So grumbling and complaining is labeled as "wicked" (see Num. 14:27). But while grumbling is bad, we need to face the difficulties of the desert. It is in the wilderness that we face hardships and grow through them... if we can resist the temptation to grumble! James tells us to count our troubles as joy because they strengthen our faith (James 1:2ff). In fact, there are lessons we can't learn anywhere else other than in the wilderness. Brain McLaren suggests that, sometimes, this is the whole point of being in a church. We are here as fellow wanderers in the wilderness learning to trust in God. He says--

The church as we know it, so far from 'ideal,' does in fact turn out to provide the ideal environment in which these virtues can be cultivated. How could I learn patience or forbearance without Brother Sam, who talks too much and demands just a little more attention than I am ever ready to give? How could I develop kindness if the Reynolds family didn't bring their autistic child to our small group – where little Mikey's autism elicits from me a kindness I never experienced before? How could I develop self-giving if I didn't follow through on my commitment to attend that meeting last night, even though I had a long hard day and was so tempted to make an excuse and stay home to 'save' myself rather than give myself? How could I develop forgiveness if I had not been misjudged and gossiped about by the faction in our church led by Mary Ellen Graves? How could I learn courage unless I had to confront Mary Ellen for her divisive attitude – with all due gentleness and humility? Where else would I be stretched in my compassion and generosity if I weren't part of this community of flawed, needy, broken people – who, I must realize, include me in their list of flawed, needy, broken fellows?"

The Christmas Spirit

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go…” At least, that’s what the old Bing Crosby song tells us. And it is-- but the look of Christmas today is a lot different than it was when ol’ Bing crooned “Take a look in the five and ten glistening once again with candy canes and silver lanes aglow.” What would he have sung if he would been stuck in the lines at Wal-Mart or Target? If you haven’t done your Christmas shopping yet (and I haven’t), I doubt there are enough “Silver Bells” or "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" around to get you in the Christmas Spirit.

I ran across the following list on ehow.com of suggestions to help get you in the Christmas spirit. They write, “Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace, love and goodwill to all. But with all the stress and commotion of the season, many of us end up feeling more like Mr. Scrooge than Santa Claus.” OK, now those writers have been in the lines at Wal-Mart and Target! Many of these suggests would have been more helpful a month or two ago, but it is never too early to get in the spirit for next year.

• Shop early. Nothing takes away the Christmas spirit like fighting for parking and struggling through crowds.
  
• Wish people that you meet in stores and other casual environments a happy holiday. Say it with a smile.
  
• Drop spare coins in the Salvation Army collection buckets.
  
• Do something nice for someone. Offer to baby-sit so a friend can do her Christmas shopping, take cookies to your neighbors, or shovel an elderly neighbor's walk.
  
• Volunteer your time to a worthy holiday cause. Even if you are busy, you can spare an hour or two to help people less fortunate than yourself.
  
• Organize a drive at work or in your neighborhood. Collect food and personal items and donate them to a local shelter for the homeless or for battered women.
  
• Play Christmas music.
  
• Watch Christmas movies. "It's a Wonderful Life" is a good one for reviving a flagging Christmas spirit, as is "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
  
• Read "A Christmas Carol" and "A Child's Christmas in Wales."
  
• Decorate your house for the holidays.
  
• Don't spend more money than you have. Anxiety over after-Christmas bills can ruin your holiday.

OK, Jesus wasn't born on December 25, and there is no special festival of his birth commanded in scripture. But this is the time of year when we traditionally pause and reflect on what the coming of Christ meant and means. And this is the time when we are traditionally more open to "peace on earth and good will toward men." That tradition is certainly a lot more positive than the one that has us spending money we don't have on things we don't need for people who already have everything that has become our Christmas tradition. Maybe we need to spend more time reflecting on things that are really important rather than things that only seem to be.

A Piece of His Mind

Angelynn's dog Maggie (Maggie is the the one on the right) used to live for mail time. She would lie on the back of the couch looking out the window for hours waiting for the mailman to come to the porch. When he finally came, she would bark and bark until she had given him a piece of her mind. The she would go back to sleep. Once I accidentally opened the door right as the the mailman came to the porch. She was out like a flash and ran straight to him... skidded to a stop and then ran back into the house. Once she had him, she didn’t quite know what to do with him! Maggie doesn’t do her mail ritual anymore. I guess she finally learned the futility of barking at mailman. (Besides our new couch is too tall for her to jump up on.)

Maybe we experience something of that when it comes to fellowship and Christian unity. We know fellowship is important; we do desire Christian unity. But when it comes down to actually living it out in real life, we don’t know quite what to do with it! Paul says something important about unity in Philippians 2:2, "Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." According to the NIV, Paul tells us we are to have the same mind, love, spirit and purpose. But actually, Paul uses same word for “mind” twice here along with a related word for mind. So the verse could have been translated, “Have the same mind, the same love, a together mind, and one mind.” So Paul, what are you trying to say?

But what does it mean to be of one mind? Well, what it doesn’t mean is that we all must agree with each other on all issues and practices. The only way that will ever think totally alike is if all but one of us stops thinking altogether! But we won’t do that, will we? And we shouldn't do that! The path to this one mind has to do with how treat one another. Paul continues in Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

After calling us to humility and sacrifice, he says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (2:5). The word “attitude” here is the same word for “mind” used twice in verse 2. We are to have the same mind as each other because we all have the mind of Christ! Paul sees the incarnation (see 2:6-11) as the model that we are to follow in real life so that we will have the same mind. If we all reflect the life and attitude of Jesus, then we will have one mind!

No, having the mind of Christ will not ensure that we see every nuance of doctrine the same or have the same preferences in church music. But a Christ-like mind of humility and sacrifice will give us the framework on which to build unity and fellowship despite differences. When it comes to humility and love and sacrifice and kindness… Jesus wants to give us a piece of His mind!

A Cannonball for Jesus?

I’ve heard some funny baptism stories. My favorite is one Millard Gay told me about the couple being baptized in a small church that only had one dressing room in a curtained area beside the baptistery. While the wife was being baptized, the husband was getting ready in the little dressing room. The wife was evidently terrified of water, and as she went under, she panicked and began to thrash around. Being a rather larger person, she pulled the preacher underwater with one hand while grabbing the curtain with the other. She pulled the curtain down, leaving her rather startled husband standing there in his altogether. Not knowing what else to do, he jumped into the baptistery along with the drowning preacher and the hysterical wife. What song do you lead after that kind of baptismal service?

Things happen. This baptismal service was posted on YouTube (obviously from America’s Funniest Home Videos) and sent to me last week by Kate Looney. (BTW, congratulations to Kate and Bob on the birth of Jack Robert born last Friday afternoon). I think perhaps the solemnity of this baptismal service was slightly compromised as well! I look at this thing from the perspective of the poor preacher who is clearly at a loss on what to do or say. I can only imagine that when he did get around to baptizing this kid, he held him under longer that usual… if he ever let him up!

I am often struck by the disconnect between the setting of baptisms and what is actually taking place there. Our baptistery area is junky and cramped; even when the water is clean, it looks murky and green. There is clutter around the area (pool chemicals, a skimmer, etc.) simply because we have no where else to store them. Because we believe that baptism part of one’s faith response to salvation, we baptize people as soon as they come to faith and want to come to Christ (click here for an article). That means we usually have no warning or time to prepare. The water is warm all the time… it is also green and murky all the time. So the setting amid the clutter is anything but an impressive backdrop for a baptismal setting.

But I firmly believe that despite our lack of pomp and ceremony, something dramatic is happening in the heavenly realm. The angels rejoice, or more correctly, “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). That suggests that it is God who is rejoicing before the angels. I don’t know that I can imagine God coming off the throne to high-five the heavenly hosts, but there is rejoicing in heaven. The service may not be impressive here, but God is pleased when people believe and obey Him.

T'was Sunday Night Before Christmas

I grew up a bit schizophrenic about this time a year. I always loved Christmas— time off from school, decorations, presents, and family traditions like Mom and Dad racing to be the first to say “Christmas-Eve gift.” But while I loved Christmas, we always made it crystal clear that it wasn’t really a religious holiday. I made sure all my more liturgical friends knew that this wasn’t really Jesus’ birthday. After all, the Bible doesn’t say when he was born or that we should do anything to observe his birth. So while we enjoyed the HOLIDAY, we had to make sure that it wasn’t a HOLY DAY. We didn’t use religious decorations. Our Christmas cards had winter scenes and a generic “Happy Holidays” greetings. In other words, we were politically correct before being politically correct was cool! We were free to join in the greed and the materialism of seasonal shopping and Christmas lists, and we did that with glee. But we could not mention anything about the birth of Jesus. Curious choice, was not it?

Everything about Christmas is traditional— its sacred and secular practices. Special Christmas services, nativity scenes, Chrtistmas trees, giving gifts, sending cards, taking trips— everything that represents this season is a tradition. Each family (and each church) has to decide which holiday traditions they will observe. I’m glad my family didn’t do the figgy pudding thing, but I do wish we would have sung Silent Night and Joy to the World more. People’s thoughts are on the birth of Jesus during this time of the year. Those songs are being sung. (This year a major motion picture on “The Nativity Story” was released during this season). Reminders of God’s coming into the world are all around us. That's story of Jesus coming is my story, and I'm sticking to it! I am thankful that we are at a place now where we can sing the songs, read the texts and use the powerful images of this traditional season to reflect the fact that God was born into our world.

We are doing that this Sunday as a church in a special way. We will have a time of worship as we together sing carols of praise, read the texts of his coming and briefly reflect on the “reason for the season.” After our devotional, we will have something completely different— a “talent show” that will use prepared dramatic readings and special presentation music. All of this will help us to reflect on this season of the year and what it meant for Jesus to come into our world. Thanks to Anna Caroline Causey for putting all this together. Afterwards we will have our church “Christmas party” as we enjoy a “finger food” potluck together. Hey, we don’t need a major holiday to have an excuse to eat together!

Honor Roll

I remember pouring though pages of tiny print in the Daily Press looking for the names of my daughters published the honor rolls of the various schools in the area. That long list of names wasn’t exactly hard news, but it was fun to see their name in the paper. I appreciated the school and paper colluding to give them this honor. Parents in Needham, Massachusetts no longer enjoy that privilege. Needham High School refuses to publish the names of students who make the honor roll because the school does not want to contribute to students' stress level in “this high expectations-high-achievement culture.” It seems that the honor roll represented “an unhealthy focus on grades.” Hey, that makes sense; I thought my school and parents had an “unhealthy interest in grades” when I was a kid!

Somehow not publishing the honor roll because it promotes “an unhealthy interest in grades” in school seems rather silly. Do the jocks still get to wear their letter jackets or does that promote an unhealthy interest in sports? Do singers in the school chorus and actors in school plays still get their names published in the program? Doesn't it seem rather logical for the school to recognize students for doing well in their classes?

I think we need to publish an honor roll at church. I don’t think the church here does a very good job of recognizing all the things our people do to serve God. I was in the office last night after services and there was Myra Bowser copying the lessons that she uses in her jail ministry classes she teaches. Down the hall, Richard Pitmann was still in a classroom with folks even though class had officially been over for 30 minutes, too wrapped up in people to worry about the time. Hayward Glaspell had been here at the building as much as I had been the last 3 days unstopping toilets and performing other equally glamorous tasks that no one knows about… unless it doesn’t get done. I could go on and on, but here's the point. How many of us know how much Myra, Richard and Hayward do for God?

I wish we had an honor roll to make sure that our churhc knows of all the service and sacrifice that goes on by their brothers and sisters. Yes, Jesus warns us to make sure that we never do our acts of devotion in order to be seen by others (Matt 6:1). But Paul shares the generous giving of the Philippians with the church at Corinth so their example would inspire and motivate others (2 Cor 8:1ff). I think we need to do a better job challenging ourselves with one another’s examples of faithfulness. I think we need to be better at giving “honor to whom honor is owed” (Rom 13:7, ESV). We don’t have an honor roll, but we do have the “Good Egg” column in the bulletin. We have thank-you cards and pats-on-the-back we can share when we catch someone doing good deeds. We need to make better use of all of these.

Glass Barns and Talking Cows

Billy Graham is one of the most recognizable names of our time. He has conducted evangelisitcs campaigns all over the world and was the spiritual adviser to several U.S. presidents. Graham is listed at number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for the 20th century. But a rift that is brewing in Graham’s family over how he should be remembered after death may affect the way he is remembered.

Franklin Graham, Billy’s son and head of Billy Graham Evangelistic association, is leading an effort to build a library (much like a presidential library) to memorialize the life and career of Billy and Ruth Graham. The library is being designed by consultants who used to work for Walt Disney. It is shaped like a large barn and silo as a reminder of Billy Graham's early life on a dairy farm outside Charlotte, NC. It has a 40-foot-high glass entryway cut in the shape of a cross, completed with a mechanical talking cow that will greet visitors (I kid you not). There will be memorabilia and multimedia exhibits to mark his life... and several opportunities to sign up for a mailing lists (I wonder what those are for). And at the end of the tour is a garden where the bodies of Billy and Ruth Graham will be buried. At least if Franklin and his group get their way.

Ruth Graham is saying, “Over my dead body.” She and her son Ned are opposing the library both as tribute and final resting place. Ruth says, “It’s a circus, a tourist attraction.” One family friend who tour the site now under construction told Billy, “You are not that place. It's a mockery. People are going to laugh. Please don't be buried there.” Billy Graham seems to be caught in the middle between the strong wishes of his heir and those of his wife. Construction continues on the library at Charlotte; whether anyone is buried there or not may depend on who dies first.

Billy Graham has had a remarkable life and career. One can only hope that his family pulls together so that their squabble does not overshadow that life and career. But does a glass barn and talking cow seem like the way Billy Graham should be remembered? The true legacy that one leaves beind is the living faith in those you have influenced. The Hebrews writer says--

7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:7-8)

Wherever our body is buried or our asjes are scattered, they will; not be there for long! But a true memorial of faith and influence will last for eternity.

When Christ Appeared

We are just finishing a long study of the book of Hebrews in our Wednesday night class. If I could somehow figure out how to get the Flash presentation into MPEG, AVI or WMV, I’d use this as my conclusion to the book. You need to take the time (8 minutes) to watch this video of Hebrews 9-10. There are no props or special effect. It is simply scripture quoted from memory... in a very dramatic way.

The presentation is by Ryan Ferguson. Ryan has memorized the entire book of Hebrews from the English Standard Version of the Bible, and he presented chapters 9-10 at the WorshipGod06 Conference hosted this past august by Sovereign Grace Ministries. Ryan is a member of North Hills Community Church in Greenville, South Carolina; he is the Manager of the Fine Arts Center at Anderson University and also serves as a director in the theater department. As you can tell, he is a very gifted presenter.

Ryan's "interpretation" of these two important chapters well sum up the message of Hebrews. During this time of year when we traditionally reflect on the birth of Christ, Hebrews helps to remind us what the birth of Jesus means. There was no mystical “peace on earth” that broke out because this baby was born; there was no magical armistice that ended all human conflict. Jesus came to be with us to show us the way that we can be with God. He came near to live as the perfect High Priest so He could die as the perfect sacrifice of atonement.

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11-12, ESV)

A Bad Hair Day and a Good Movie

I think I got the worst haircut in history last week. OK, it wasn’t as bad as the one General Custer got at Little Bighorn, but close. One of the handicaps of wearing glasses is you can't see when your hair is in the process of getting clipped too short. I had a great conversation with the stylist as she kept cutting and cutting… and cutting and cutting. After she was done, I didn’t know whether to complain or go out and join the Marines! Come to think of it, the girl at the counter at the movie last night (The Nativity Story) did ask if I got the military discount. Must have been the haircut! When Fred White said something to me about my haircut, I told him, “Yeah, well, at least mine will grow back!”

The movie was great! Everyone in our small group seemed to really enjoy it. I thought that the story was told with a great deal of respect and attention to detail. One "dramatic license" had the Magi to visit Jesus at the stable on the night of his birth. Matthew makes it clear that Jesus was in a house by the time the Magi arrived (Matt 2:11). While Luke calls Jesus “an infant” (brephos), Matthew refers to him as “the child” (paidion). The movie has the slaughter of the innocents and the flight to Egypt take place on the same night that Jesus was born while Luke had Jesus presented at the Temple after the time of purification (33 days), which would not have happened if he the family was already on the run from Herod.

There may have been other miscues, but I didn’t notice them—I was too wrapped up the story. And that says something—this is a very familiar story and yet the movie managed to keep us engaged while telling it. The social stigma faced by Mary and Joseph, the faith with which they faced their situation, the relationship between Mary and Elizabeth, the struggle of the poor and desire for the coming of Messiah, and the insanity that drove Herod—it was well done. The only shocking thing about the movie was the $9 ticket price. OK, so it's been awhile since we've paid full price to see movie!

One of the secular reviews I read suggested that The Nativity Story was beautifully filmed but lacked any real spirit with which to engage the audience. I totally disagree. The audience I was with was definitely engaged and thought the movie had plenty of spirit. But then, we know the Star!

Greedy Churches?

Have you ever gotten one of those emails from Nigeria asking you to help someone smuggle some money out of the country that you can keep if you help? One website lists 542 different examples of this basic email scam involving free money from Nigeria. Of course, to get the free money, you have to give them money, open them a bank account, or give them a credit card. Hint: The friendly folks from Nigeria are interested in getting your money, not giving it away.

According to a report that will air tonight on ABC’s 20/20, these spammer-scammers are now targeting American churches and ministers, cheating them out of millions with the promise of helping them improve their church building or finance their ministries. Of course, the church has to pony up some legal fees, taxes and expenses up front. Gotcha! The scam cheated members of the Hickory Ridge Community Church (Sussex County, Del.) out of $350,000 on the promise that they would receive $41 million. An accountant hired by the church was duped when the Nigerians confessed faith in Christ and professed that they want to promote the gospel with the money. This scam has done more than deplete the church treasury. According to prosecutors, Mary Winkler, the Tennessee preacher’s wife who shot her husband had been duped by this same scam. They suggest (her family has a different story) that she shot her husband after he confronted her about the scam.

Greed. When it came time for someone to draw up the list of seven deadly sins, greed was put on the list. And it should be. Paul says that greed (somehow the older “covetousness” doesn’t seem as severe) is like the sin of idolatry (Col 3:5). The word here (pleonexia) is related to the word for "exploit" (pleonekteō), and it makes sense. Those who are greedy sure make it easier for others to exploit them, right? Somehow I’m not as frustrated with those behind the Nigeria scam as I am with the churches and ministers who seem to be so easily duped. Were they just naive, or were they greedy? Paul was able to say with a clear conscience that he neither showed greed nor exploitation in his ministry, “You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness” (1 Thess 2:5). We need to be able to say the same thing.

BTW, the news article that reported this in ABC’s website is basically a blog that allows reader’s comments. Do you know what most people said in response to this story? Here’s a very representative comment, “These churches are probably just seeing dollar signs, like usual. And besides, many of them scam money out of people every Sunday (every day of the week on the television). What goes around comes around.” Oh, sure, churches and ministers are just interested in getting money! Where would they get that lame idea? Hmmm…

A Slumbering Giant

Today is the anniversary of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, a day that continues to live in infamy. Shortly after the attack that all but decimated the United States Pacific fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of Japan made this observation, “I fear that we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve.” His statement turned out to be prophetic. It was the entry of the United States into World War II with all of her “terrible resolve” that would eventually spell the end of the Empire of Japan and the fall of the Third Reich.

When good stands united, then evil is given no place to stand. How the church needs to understand that truth! We can get so torqued with one another over differences in our understanding over issues, differences of opinions on ministry options, and differences in our preferences over forms and formats. We must understand that these differences are inevitable; different people are and will always be different. We will never agree on a lot of things that relate to how we do church, and sometimes those differences will seem pretty profound.

But then we see our little church logo and we remember— we are God’s family under a cross. It is the cross that makes us one despite our differences; the cross that proclaims that our differences ultimately make no difference at all. And it is the cross that makes us one family. Paul says in Galatians 3:26-28

So you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like him. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians—you are one in Christ Jesus. (New Living Translation)

God made us one at the cross. We don’t become one in Christ when we are able to agree on all the forms and formats of how we do church. We are one in Christ simply because of Christ. Whenever we see that and come together as one, then the slumbering giant of the church will be awakened… and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

New Slant on an Old Debate

The only blog that I read with any regularity (other than my own, of course) is that of Mike Cope, preacher for the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene. On December 3, Mike posted an article by Leroy Garrett discussing the decision by the elders at the Richland Hills Church of Christ (in the Dallas-Fort Worth area) to offer an alternative worship service using an instrumental praise band. Richland Hills is not the first of our churches to offer an instrumental service-- I have a great “live” worship CD recorded years ago at Oak Hills in San Antonio (where Max Lucado is the minister). But Richland Hills is the largest church in our fellowship, and their decision will get people's attention-- either in a good or bad way. I encourage you to read the article and the discussion it generated... and then look at Mike's summary posted the next day.

I don’t know what your personal views of instrumental music are, but I imagine that Denbigh has about as much diversity on the topic as was generated on Mike’s blog. I rather believe that most of our people see instrumental music as a matter of opinion (rather than sin) but that they are perfectly happy with our a cappella tradition. Even on those occasions when we do use instrumentals (like our upcoming “Sunday Night Before Christmas” presentation), we do make a distinction between that and our usual mode of worship. I don’t think anyone wants to make a issue of this at Denbigh--I know I don’t.

But I am convinced that God is much more interested in our hearts and in our attitudes than He is in how we stand on this issue. What divided our fellowship 100 years ago was not a piano-- it was a heart on both sides that cared more for being right than about following Christ. One side introduced a piano; the other side walked out. The spiritual descendants of both sides have their own way of telling the story so that they were the ones standing for the truth. I doubt God was smiling at either side!

You don’t often get a second chance in church history. But our fellowship now gets something of a "do-over" when it comes to the instrumental music question. Can we stand together with brothers and sisters in churches like Richland Hills that take a different slant on our cappella worship tradition? Can churches like Richland Hills offer alternatives with which even some of their own members are not completely comfortable? Can we allow ourselves as a people to be informed by our traditions without being controlled by them? Can we remain one fellowship even if we have two ways of offering our praises to God? That remains to be seen. You know what? I think we can pull it off this time!

Rules of the Game

When Tressa and Angelynn were little, our favorite games were ones that we made up. In fact, we invented two new sports that really should have been added to the Olympics. While these sports didn’t catch on with anyone else, they provided us provided us with hundreds of hours of fun… and got us fussed at a time or two for breaking stuff.

• With Tressa, the sport was “Roofball.” You throw the ball up on the roof, and whoever catches it when it bounces off wins a point— five points wins the game. Tressa got points for “direct catches,” those where the ball came off the roof. Dad only got points for “indirect catches” off the rebound where the ball first bounced off Tressa’s hands. We also played Dogeball, Whiffleball and other games, but Roof Ball was our favorite.
  
• With Angelynn, the sport was "Hall Soccer." It consisted of closing all the doors in the hall (of our old house) except the ones on the end and then kicking a nerf ball through the open door to score a goal. Not only was ricocheting the ball off the walls and ceiling permitted, it was expected! We played other games— though not much Whiffleball. Giving Angelynn a stick to swing at people wasn’t a wise move!

Angelynn almost always won our Hall Soccer battles, and Tressa usually won Roofball. The reason for that was not that I am not competitive by nature (far from it). Neither was it because I had grown old and slow and fat. Well, I had, but that wasn’t the reason I lost. I always lost because the girls were always the ones in charge of making up the rules of the game. Every new situation that came up would necessitate them making a new rule. Putting a spin on the ball before you throw it on the roof is illegal. Blocking a shot with your hand is OK if you’re short. And so it went. If the rules need to b changed in the middle of the game, then so much the better.

There is something fundamentally flawed about allowing the players of the game the right to make up the rules as they go along. But that is where we are in our culture today. The rules of right and wrong are constantly shifting, morphing to make it easier on the players. Things clearly right and wrong a generation or two ago are no longer so. Marriage is no longer marriage; life is no longer life. We demands freedom to lives any way we please, and so we change the rules.

Jeremiah said, “I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps” (Jer 10:23). Petersen’s The Message renders Jeremiah’s words like this, “I know, God, that mere mortals can’t run their own lives, That men and women don’t have what it takes to take charge of life.” No, we don’t have what it takes to take charge of life. “Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Eccl 12:13). Let’s keep in the game and leave the rules to God.

Communal Faith

We know that we are all supposed to have a personal relationship with Christ. The Bible doesn’t use that language, at least not in any of the English versions I have. But we are indeed to come to know the God Who knows us personally and intimately. But for many, “personal relationship” with God seems to mean “private relationship.” I have heard people say that their faith is a personal thing and that no one else has the right to intrude on that in any way. That is just not true. In Acts 2, those first disciples who put their faith in Jesus were added to a church that nurtured and cared for them. All through scripture, the practice of Christianity is communal, centered in a relationship with other people who also have a relationship with God. Faith is not a private thing at all, it is something lived out within a family. William Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas put it like this—

Salvation in Christ is being adopted (baptism), made members of a people, Israel, and the church. We really believe that if we were not part of this people we could not be saved. So when the church has opinions about how you spend your money, how you have sex, how you vote, this is salvation. You are not simply being saved from personal greed or licentiousness, you are thereby being made a member of God’s people.

Do we believe that? Do we believe that when the church’s opinions about how we should live our lives should matter? Do we believe that the community of faith should impact our financial lives, our sexual lives, our political lives? Or are we more of the opinion that church is where I come to worship and that my spiritual life is really no one else’s business?

There is an excellent article you should read on New Wineskins by Lauren winner that is actually an except from her book Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity. She tells about a Christian friend who was spending a lot of time alone with her boy friend at night, sometimes spending the night. They were not having sex... but were doing just about everything else but. Her Christian roommates knew about it, but no one even mentioned the impropriety of her behavior. They were all too embarrassed to raise the issue of chastity; they didn’t want to intrude. Winner responds--

But the Bible tells us to intrude—or rather, the Bible tells us that talking to one another about what is really going on in our lives is in fact not an intrusion at all, because what’s going on in my life is already your concern; by dint of the baptism that made me your sister, my joys are your joys and my crises are your crises. We are called to speak to one another lovingly, to be sure, and with edifying, rather than gossipy or hurtful, goals. But we are called nonetheless to transform seemingly private matters into communal matters.

Of course, premarital sexual behavior is just one of many instances of this larger point. Christians also need to speak courageously and transparently, for example, about the seemingly private matters of Christian marriage—there would be, I suspect, a lot fewer divorces in the church if married Christians exposed their domestic lives, their fights and tensions and squabbles, to loving wisdom, advice, and sometimes rebuke from their community. Christians might claim less credit-card debt if small-group members shared their bank account statements with one another. I suspect that if my best friend had permission to scrutinize my Day-timer, I would inhabit time better. Speaking to one another about our sexual selves is just one (admittedly risky) instance of a larger piece of Christian discipleship: being community with each other.

Does this jind of "fellowship" (the "church word" for sharing) make you uncomfortable? Does that kind of community seem too extreme? Are we even willing to admit that we might be a bit better at living for Christ if we were a bit better at sharing our lives in Him with one another in concrete and real ways?

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.

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.