On Yard Work and the Meaning of Life

I spent most of my afternoon off yesterday working in the yard, doing the yearly fertilize-aerate-thatch-seed deal that ensures I will have plenty of grass to mow next spring. We are also turning a big flower bed (Dad’s old garden plot) back into lawn so that I will have even more grass to cut! A big chunk of yesterday was actually spent digging at and chopping on a big stump in the middle of the flower bed that had to be removed before it could be tilled and seeded. Boy, I’m sure going to a lot of trouble to be able to cut grass next year!

I was reminded of a passage from Ecclesiastes while I was working yesterday. Not just the “vanity of vanities” part, but I was specifically thinking of Solomon’s setup in Ecclesiastes 1:3-8a--

3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?
4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north;
round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.
7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say.

He could have just as easily said, “The grass that is cut grows back again; the thatch that is de-thatched becomes thatch once more.” That kinda sounds Solomonic, doesn’t it?

How much of our daily work sounds just like this? The project we complete is simply swapped out for another project; the briefing we present is replaced by another. The house that we clean becomes messy again; the meals we prepare must be prepared again tomorrow. What is the point of doing all of these things that are done but are never really done?

Solomon’s point is that nothing means anything “under the sun.” What gives meaning to life is what comes from the other side of the sun. Nothing ultimately has a point in life unless you understanding the God that reigns over all of life. The mundane and ordinary things of life are infused with meaning because of the God that gives meaning. So Ecclesiastes can say this in Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.

Even the mundane and ordinary things of life are giving meaning because they are gifts of God and ways that that He blesses and teaches us. While the grass that I plant and cut and plant again seem like mundane vanity, the fact that all is done under the rule and domain of God changes everything. “Everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it” (Ecc; 3:14). God reigns in the mundane things of life, and because He reigns, even the mundane things are blessings form God.

People of Integrity

Someone has said that character is the kind of person that you are when no one is around to see what kind of person you are. The word that Scripture uses is "integrity." (See Deut 9:5, 1 Kings 9:4, Job 2:3, Psa 78:72, Prov 10:9, Titus 2:7). The word "integrity" comes from the old Latin word "integritas" meaning "soundness." The word is defined as "The quality or condition of being whole or undivided; completeness." This is the meaning of the word "integer" or "whole number." Integrity is used of the person who adheres to a high moral standard. I like Nehemiah's description of his brother Hanani whom he put in charge of Jerusalem-- I guess nepotism is OK as long as you keep it in the family. He said that his brother "was a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do." (Neh 7:2).

But what looks like integrity isn't always real integrity. Chuck Swindoll, in his book Growing Deep in the Christian Life, tells this story about integrity that is really not integrity at all.

Several years ago, in Long Beach, California, a fellow went into a fried chicken place and bought a couple of chicken dinners for himself and his date late one afternoon. The young woman at the counter inadvertently gave him the proceeds from the day-a whole bag of money (much of it cash) instead of fried chicken. After driving to their picnic site, the two of them sat down to open the meal and enjoy some chicken together. They discovered a whole lot more than chicken--over $800! But he was unusual. He quickly put the money back in the bag. They got back into the car and drove all the way back. Mr. Clean got out, walked in, and became an instant hero. By then the manager was frantic. The guy with the bag of money looked the manager in the eye and said, "I want you to know I came by to get a couple of chicken dinners and wound up with all this money. Here." Well, the manager was thrilled to death. He said, "Oh, great, let me call the newspaper. I'm gonna have your picture put in the local newspaper. You're the most honest man I've heard of." To which they guy quickly responded, "Oh no, no, don't do that!" Then he leaned closer and whispered, "You see, the woman I'm with is not my wife...she's uh, somebody else's wife."

God calls us to be complete, whole people. That is only true when we seek to what is right no matter the setting or situation.

There Is No Justice!

Tonight the eyes of the college football world will be on the clash between national powerhouses Rutgers and South Florida as a BCS bid and possible national championship is on the line. What? Run that by me again! Rutgers and South Florida? Come on! In one of the weirder things to come down the pike, Big East newbie South Florida— which only started playing major college football 10 years ago—is ranked #2 in the BCS rankings and would play Ohio State for the national championship if the season ended right now! All of the pre-season top 10 teams have lost, and all the current top-10 teams may lose again. This has been a crazy year.

So what do you think? Has true parity really really come to college football or is this year just a blip on the radar screne and sanity will be restored next year? Last year showed the flaws of the BCS system when there was no real #2 team to play #1 Ohio State, so Florida was chosen at random (largely because their coach whined so pitifully). Of course. Florida then pasted OSU for the title. This year there is no best team… and that means there is no second best team. As one writer put it, “There is no #1… just a bunch of #11’s that keep taking turns.” So at the end of the year, they will have to pick two teams at random to play for the national championship.

Can we not have some playoffs in D-1 football like every other sport! The current system works only if you end up with two clearly best teams, and that has happened like twice! And this year promises to be particularly pitiful because we may end up with 25 mediocre teams and no real #1. South Florida and Rutgers? The only redeeming thing about this year is that Notre Dame hasn’t won a single game!

So what is the Bible point to this rant? Little know Bible Fact: Job said, “Though I cry, ‘I’ve been wronged!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.” (Job 19:7). Well, he was talking about the BCS system!

Ode to Lice and Radar Guns

Nineteen year old Zachary Skinner was only going 101 mph in his 2006 Hyundai when he flashed past Deputy Grant Steube and his radar gun. He was probably going even faster than that before Steube finally caught up to him with his flashing lights and blaring sirens. When Steube asked him why he was driving so fast, Skinner said that he was rushing to get home before dark because he didn't want to get into trouble for breaking his curfew. As you can probably guess, Skinner was arrested and charged with reckless driving… which meant that he didn’t make it home by dark! You may be wondering why Skinner had a “be home before dark” curfew? Because he had received four other tickets (this was the 5th) in the last 11 months, including two for speeding!

It’s easy to see other people’s hypocrisy, isn’t it? Does it make sense to be so concerned that you make curfew that you drive 100 miles an hour? Not much? How about the Pharisees who so used tithing as an excuse not to care for their aging parents (Mk 7:9-13). Some Jewish women today believe that modesty dictates that their head be covered in public, and they do that by wearing wigs made of human hair and costing thousands of dollars! I heard about one big-hearted guy who robbed a local business because he wanted to give some money to a local charity (maybe he though he was Robin Hood?). Yes, it is easy to see inconsistencies and hypocrisies in others.

But those puppies are a bit harder to spot in our own lives, aren’t they? Robert Burns’ famous poem “Ode to a Louse” ends with the line “O would some Power, the gift to give us, To see ourselves as others see us!” Indeed, it is easy to be blind to our own warts and flaws. I am sure that the Priest and Levite felt completely high and holy when they passed by on the other side and didn’t help the wounded man. Hey, maybe they were on their way to church and didn’t want to be late! But how much harder it is to see when we are the Priest or the Levite!

Let’s do a better job straining out the camels in our own lives, then maybe the gnats (or lice) of others will take care of themselves.

Anything for Love...

By a wide margin, the highest grossing motion picture of all time is Titanic. Well, that makes sense. It is really two movies in one— a love story sandwiched wrapped inside a disaster flick, which makes it the perfect date movie. It is the story of Jack, a fun-loving, self-absorbed penniless artist and Rose, a sad, suicidal socialite being forced to marry a man she did not love. These two people are about as different as night and day, but the boy from steerage accidentally meets the girl from the first class, and they fall immediately and deeply in love. Unfortunately, they don’t live happily ever after; this is after all the Titanic. During the sinking of the great ship, Jack dies so that Rose can live.

Marc Newman uses the movie Titanic to make a point to college students about the nature of true love. The question Newman asks his students to debate in class is this— “Given what we know of Jack’s character, do you think that he and Rose would have had a successful marriage?” After all, their love story didn’t really even get started before it was ended in the great disaster. Would their marriage have worked, or would it have been a disaster. Newman writes—

When push came to shove, Jack was able to make the single grand gesture to the beautiful woman, and give his life that Rose might have a chance to live. But could Jack, would Jack, have married Rose? And if so, could he have put up with the daily self-denials that are required to maintain a marriage over fifty years, when his lover is no longer young and nubile? G.K. Chesterton commented that many people say that they will do anything for love, except sacrifice for it.

Is it possible that dying for the one you love in a blaze of glory is not nearly as difficult as living and sacrificing for them daily? I think Newman is on to something there. Living for someone in a daily sacrifice of love and self-denial is much harder than a single gesture. Maybe that explains why so many people are giving up on their marriages these days. Maybe that explains why so many people are giving up on living for God.

Coincidental Confluence

Well, I had something happen yesterday and today that I can’t remember ever happening before. I have been Max Lucado’s Grace for the Moment Daily Bible for my devotional Bible readings this year. Like the One Year Bible, it divides each day into readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. Unlike the One Year Bible, it also has devotional thoughts by Max Lucado each day. But that is not the reason that I bought it. As I explained in a blog earlier in the year, I bought this daily reading Bible for two reasons— first, it was the New Century Version, and I wanted to use an unfamiliar translation rather than the original language (the NIV). Second, it only cost me $11.00 at Sam’s Club. I was going to use the NLT this year, but it is hard to beat $11.00!

Here’s the point. Yesterday my New Testament reading was from Colossians 1. Today my Old Testament reading was from Jeremiah 7. That is what has never happened before (that I can recall). Last night, the text for my Wednesday night class was Colossians 1. Today I’ll finish writing my sermon for Sunday, and the text is Jeremiah 7. Both my study texts for the week in my sermon and class study were covered in my devotional reading. That might not sound earth shaking to you, but it has never happened before. I have no point to make here—just that this was highly unusual.

If I tried real hard, I could probably find some parallels in the two passages. Jeremiah warns Judah not to “trust in deceptive words” concerning the temple; Paul tells the Colossians that it was the gospel that was “the word of truth.” Jeremiah tells Judah that God did not just give their ancestors “commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices” but the command “Obey me, and I will be your God.” Paul warns the Colossians not to let others judge them “by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.”

I could find more parallels like that, but I don’t have the time. I have to go write a sermon on Jeremiah 7.

A Gospel According to Judge Judy?

Sometimes churches that are new or small don’t have men that are qualified (or feel that they are) to serve as elders. What do you do when you have a church, but no elders? What generally happens is that church decisions are made by a majority of the “Men’s Business Meeting.” Where do you read about that in the Bible? You don’t. It would be Biblical for the whole church to discuss issues, pray about them as a group, and then cast lots (see Acts 1:15-26). But Men's Business Meetings aren't in the Bible.

And sometimes the transition from “Men’s Business Meeting” to eldership is problematic… and traumatic. Very often men who are influential leaders in the Men's Business Meeting model are not Biblically qualified to serve as elders. That means that as the congregation transitions to the Biblical model of elders, these men must to some extent to give up power and influence. Sometime they aren’t willing to do that, and they oppose the move to appointing elders. This can be further complicated when these non-elders have served as trustees, which is required by the state for non-profit organizations owning property.

Several says ago, Alan Smith emailed me a new item (under the subject line "So Sad") that tells of a church in Tennessee that showed up for Bible study only to find the doors of the building had been padlocked closed. It seems that a disagreement had arisen among the leadership concerning the issue mentioned above. The church was moving toward appointing elders, some men opposed that (or perhaps the men who would be appointed). They were trustees, and they seized control of the church building, fired the preacher and padlocked the property… all supported by a legally obtained court order. Perhaps we will being seeing the next Men’s Business Meeting of that church held before Judge Judy!

I wonder if at some point someone thought about what Paul wrote about Christians and property issues in 1 Corinthians 6:1, “If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints?” Having one Christian standing in court against another Christian only serves to advertise to the world that Christianity doesn’t really work. We are supposed to proclaiming a message of eternal salvation and peace that passes understanding… and we sue each other over property? Paul says, “If you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church!” Even the simplest and least prominent Christian is better to mediate property disputes among Christians than Judge Judy. Paul says this—

⁷ The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? ⁸ Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers. (1 Corinthians 6:7-8)

OK, it’s human nature-- We want to be right. The only thing better than being right is to have the courts tell us we are right and then enforce the rights we have because we are right! Paul says that when we get to that point, we have already lost.

Here's the annoying part. I need to be as disgusted with myself about my infernal need to be night as I am with churches in far away places. It fact, it is much more important that is challenge my own pride issues. It's just not as fun.

I Will Sing of You Among the People

I ran across a long discussion yesterday on Mike Cope’s blog on instrumental music and our a cappella worship tradition. I won’t try to reconstruct the conversation. But I also ran across a website that was an affirmation of belief in a cappella only worship music. I won’t try to reconstruct that conversation either. But I did spend some time reading through some of the comments made on both web sites. Now my personal history in our heritage only goes back about 5 generations, but I guess there is something about this whole thing that I just don’t get.

Oh, I get the part about the richness of our cappella tradition. And I get the part about the beauty of human voices blending together in harmony. I can’t do it, but I do get it. (Wasn’t harmony made up about the same time and by the same people who made up the instruments in the church thing? Wouldn’t singing in unison be more theologically significant than 4-part harmonies going off in different directions at once? But then I digress.) And I get the part about the danger of turning participatory worship into a presentation or entertainment where the audience becomes only casual observer. (Though the temptation to “show off’ for the benefit of others is just as real for the guy singing tenor as for soloist or guy playing acoustic guitar). And I do get the beauty and simplicity of a cappella, congregational worship. As one of the praise songs that we sing begins, “There’s no place else that I’d rather be…” I have zero desire to change our a cappella worship music tradition. Zero as it none!

But what I do not get is the idea that heaven and hell rests on whether or not you get why you shouldn't use instruments. There are 17 verses in the New Testament that mention singing. Five of those are from Revelation (like the faithful holding harps of God and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb, Rev 15:2). Five are quotations from the Old Testament. Most of the rest simply say that someone (Jesus and the disciples, Paul and Silas, etc.) sang. There are no examples of singing in a church worship setting, except for 1 Corinthians 14:26, which sounds more like someone presenting a song solo, not congregational singing. The two texts we discuss the most (Eph 5:19 and Col 3:16) are not even in contexts discussing corporate worship at all—they are discussing personal spiritual living. We are a little short on data to know exactly how God wants us sing praises.

Even if I'm right in deciding that a cappella singing best fits the New Testament data (and I always think I’m right), can’t I at least admit that there really is a bit ambiguity here? Can’t I be comfortable in the choice that I make each Sunday while respecting brothers and sisters down the street who make a different choices? But since the data is ambiguous, should we not take the safest choice and sing sans the piano? Maybe. Or maybe we should say, “You know, there is ambiguity in what the New Testament says about church music, so let’s go back and see what clues God gives us about praise in the Old Testament.”

I don’t want to change our church music. I think there needs to be an a cappella music tradition in the kingdom of God, and I think we’re in a good position to help out there! But what we need to lose is the idea that God moved heaven and earth to send His Son to die on the cross to take captivity captive and make a public spectacle of the powers and authorities … only to see most Christians go to hell because they missed the fine print (or the absence of a fine print) about pianos and organs. If we think that faithfulness and salvation depends on us figuring everything out correctly-- or that we can have no fellowship with anyone who figures things out wrongly-- then we are doomed to spend the rest of our church lives arguing over praise teams, children’s classes, Bible translations and whether we can eat in the church building. I would like to think that there is room in our churches for those of us who really do prefer singing a cappella praise…. but who really don't think it is such a big hairy deal when someone else doesn't.

I met last night with a couple who are placing membership with us. They came to us from a background that uses instruments. They said that they had some reservations about coming to a church that doesn’t have music because they really enjoy that, but then said, “I was ashamed that I had worried about that because the singing here is so beautiful and worshipful.” That's the point, right? At that moment my phone rang—my ring-tone is the chorus of Philip, Craig and Dean’s worship anthem, “You are God alone. From before time began You are on Your throne. You are God alone.” That’s is the point, isn't it?

On Keyboards, Life and Stuff

Well, I believe that an eight year odyssey finally came to an end yesterday. I think it was about that long ago that my old Northgate programmable keyboard finally died. Northgate was a computer company more for keyboards than computers-- they had a very heavy-duty (and just plain heavy) mechanical switch "clicky" keyboard that was infinitely better than all new modern keyboards (which are made with rubber bands or something). The keyboard weighed more than the computer, it never moved around when I typed, and it clicked when you typed just like the original IBM keyboard.

The Northgate company died, and so when my Northgate keyboard also died, I was stuck with a rubber band keyboard. I have tried several after-market keyboards looking for one that I can type on... OK, so the problem may be with me.. But the mushy keyboards they sell these days just don’t work— even with all their multimedia and wireless bells and whistles. I just want a heavy duty, mechanical click keyboard made of metal the way they did in the good old days of the IBM PC

Well, it cost me $70 bucks, but I found one. It seems that a company called Unicomp obtained the rights to the old IBM keyboards from Lexmark, and they are still making them today. You can buy 15 year old IBM keyboards for $150 or more (no kidding), but Unicomp will make you a brand new one in a variety of layouts in any color you like (as long as it is black or white). They even have one with the Control key back beside the “A” key so if I want to go back to using WordStar (if I could find a copy of WordStar) and its old control diamond, I can do that (actually the keyboard is made for Linux users). The keyboard is great, it makes typing much more precise for me, and now all is well with the world. That is, until Lynn reads my blog and realizes that I spend $70 bucks on a keyboard!

There is a lesson here in miniature, I think. How often have we bought into Satan's lie that things in life will be much better when I get a new thing… a new job, a new car, a new house, a new keyboard. Hey, I’m not saying that I was waiting for this keyboard to make my life more fulfilled, but that would make just as much sense as looking to those other things, right? We have proved this truth to ourselves time and time again-- new stuff has an incredibly short shelf-life as far as its ability to satisfy us. If we are made happy by the new stuff, the fact is that what is new today is old next week, and so we’re right back in the hunt looking for something new. No matter how great a “thing” might be, the one thing it cannot do is stay new!

The only thing that never gets old is contentment. Paul says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Tim 6:6). He also said, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:12-13). Notice that the “I can do all things through Christ” comes right after “I have learned the secret of being content.” Content is not our natural or normal state as human beings. It came only when Paul trusted in Christ and looked to Him.

This really is a great keyboard. But you know, I bet voice recognition software would be even better!

Pass It On

In their book False Assumptions, Henry Cloud and John Townsend tell of a Christian client they call “Roy.” Roy struggled with depression to the point where he began to think about suicide. Christian friends were concerned about him and told him, “Just trust in the Lord” and “Take some time off and rekindle your walk with God.” One friend offered the pious advice, “Just let God’s rod and staff be your comfort.” And Roy did begin to spend more time reading the Bible and in prayer. But the depression and despair finally got the best of him, and one night he sat with a loaded revolver ready to take his life.

What saved Roy’s life was a neighbor who came by to borrow a Phillips screwdriver. He sensed something was wrong, and asked Roy what was wrong. They started talking. Roy poured out his heart to this neighbor. The neighbor just listened, asked some questions, and offered no advice. He then invited Roy out to dinner, and they talked some more. When Roy got home, he unloaded his revolver and started down the road to recovery.

What Roy needed was not sanctimonious talk about God. He didn’t just need to read the Bible more or pray that much harder. No, what Roy really needed was to share his life with a friend. He needed people in his life. God was able to work through the listening ear of Roy’s neighbor in a way that was powerful. And that is often the way it is when God moves in mysterious ways. Sometimes He works through circumstance. Sometimes He parts the Rea Sea. But often, He works through people. Very often God gives us spiritual strength through the strength we borrow from other people. Paul says that God “comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor 1:4). God comforts us so that we can comfort others. Pass it on.

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

I like David Letterman’s Top Ten Lists. I used to never go to bed without watching his monologue just to hear the Top Ten List. And that was back when he came on at 12:30 a.m. after "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" went off. How did I sit up so late back then? I had to "sit up late" last night to watch the season premier of CSI, which goes off at 10:00!) Anyway, some time go I ran across the Top Ten List of “Things You Seldom Hear in Church.”

• “Hey, it’s my turn to sit on the front pew!”
• “I didn’t notice the sermon ran 25 minutes over.”
• “What this church really needs is more announcements!”
• “Personally, I find witnessing much more enjoyable than golf.”
• “Let’s give the $500 a month we pay in country club fees to church.”
• “Who do I see to volunteer to teach the Junior High class.”
• “I just love it when we sing those new songs I’ve never heard before.”
• “Nothing inspires me more than another sermon on giving!”
• “Our list of volunteers is getting to long; we need to cut it down”
• “Nothing is more enjoyable or fun than coming to church.”

Do we often use the word “church” and “enjoy” in the same sentence? Or do we see church as being like medicine… it’s really is good for you, but it tastes bad... and it really isn't good for you unless it does taste bad! And maybe it’s not just church. Maybe we approach the entirety of our Christian lives like that. How many Christians look like they were weaned on a sour pickle? How many believers are joyless pessimists who see life like a glass a half-empty? How many church members are by nature critical of others and critical of things at church?

We act like we don’t understand that the Christian life to be a life of JOY. The noun "joy" (chara) appears 59 times in the New Testament; its verb form (chairo) is used another 72 times. So, there is a lot of joy in the New Testament! In fact, that was the standard Greek greeting. You met someone, you didn’t say, “How’s it going?” You said "Joy be with you." This is the greeting Paul uses, along with the Hebrew “shalom” (“peace”) to begin his letters. This is also the greeting used two other special occasions.

• The angel who told Mary she was with child said, “Joy” (Lk 1:28)
• Jesus met the women after Resurrection said, “Joy” (Matt 28:9)

Joy is mentioned at the beginning (birth of Jesus) and end (the resurrection) of the gospel story itself! The gospel begins and ends with joy. That doesn’t mean that life will always be a happy-go-lucky-pinch-me-I'm-so-excited expereince. But it does mean that our lives should always reflect the joy of the Lord. I think we need to consider our hole outlook on life. If our lives are not characterized by a deeper inner joy that expresses itself in some positive way, it is entirely possible we're not doing Christianity right.

Apocalyptically Speaking

Yogi Berra is a hall of fame Yankee catcher, former Yankee manger, successful TV pitch man and philosopher. Maybe philosopher is not quite right; Yogi has a famous grasp of the obvious that has resulted in sayings known as “Yogi-isms.”

• “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”
• “Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel.”
• “Nobody goes to New York anymore; it’s too crowded”
• “I wish I had an answer to that question because I’m tired of answering it.”

Maybe his most famous Yogism was made when the pennant race came down to Yankees and Red Socks just like it did the previous season. Yogi said, “Yeah, it’s spooky; it’s like deja vu all over again.”

Most of us have felt at some point that something was like “deja vu all over again.” You have a conversation with a child or your spouse and think, “Haven’t we had this talk before?” You sit down to pay bills or go out to mow the lawn and think, “Didn’t I just get finished doing this?”
As we talked about a bit in class last night, the Greeks had a “deja vu all over again” philosophy of history, a view that many still have today. They saw history is a circle, a cycle of repeating events that happen over and over. We say, “History repeats itself,” and sometimes it does seem that the human family makes the same mistakes over and over. It’s like deja vu all over again.
But take that “history repeats itself” view too literally, and pretty soon the point of history is that history really has no point. We are on a treadmill, and endless cycle, an unending “Circle of Life” to use the title of “The Lion King” theme song. Mufstafa dies, Simba becomes king, history repeats itself, and the cycle continues— with no real point, no real meaning and no real hope.

Scripture has a totally different view of history. It presents history as not as a circle but a straight line. History had beginning (“in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”), it has a middle (the coming of the Messiah), and history will also have a definite end (Jesus is coming back to end all things). The prayer of ancient believers continues to be the prayer of the church, “Maranatha.” Come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:20).

While I was working on my Wednesday lesson on 2 Peter 3, a thought struck me. It may not be precisely right; that’s the way it is with most of my flashes of insight.

First, some background. I have always had an “amillennial” view of the end time. I think the best way to understand what the scriptures say about the second coming is that Jesus will come back, end time, judge the world and take us to heaven. No literal rapture, Armageddon, or millennial reign. I believe that Revelation is a symbolic picture of the histroical struggle between Rome and the church, and by extension the eternal struggle between good and evil, God and Satan. (See Revelation 17:14). Reverse-engineering the geopolitical events of our day so that they seem to fit into scripture prophesy seems artificial and strained. In fact, every generation from the crusades to the present day have found ways to make Bible prophecy “fit” their day as “the end of days.” We suggested last night that Peter’s point about the end of days is that we be so convinced it is coming one day that we live holy lives today so that we are ready whenever it comes. Peter said, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives” ( Peter 3:11).

So here’s my flash of insight— right or wrong, good or bad. I think people who do accept and stress those premillennial ideas of rapture, Antichrist and Armageddon do seem to be more focused (maybe obsessed?) on the end time than those of us who take all that “figuratively.” I wonder if we need to a bit more millennial in our mindset! I wonder if we would be better off if we were a little more apocalyptic in our world view! Peter ties the certainty of the second coming to our focus on holy living. So maybe we need to be a bit more focused on the last day so we are a bit more focused on living for God today!

So, anyone have an old copy of Left Behind I can borrow?

God's Favor

It seems that these days I keep bumping into the modern American religious belief that God wants His people to prosper. The idea seems to be that our faithfulness to God will be rewarded by prosperity— material prosperity. God wants us to prosper, and He wants us to believe that we will prosper. Joel Osteen, one of the best known spokesman for this idea, says this—

I believe one of the main ways that we grow in favor is by declaring. It’s not enough to just read it. It’s not enough to just believe it. You’ve got to speak it out. Your words have creative power. One of the primary ways we release our faith is through our words. There is a divine connection between you declaring God’s favor and seeing God’s favor manifested in your life. And some of you are doing your best to please the Lord. You are living a holy consecrated life, but you’re not really experiencing God’s supernatural favor. And it’s simply because you’re not declaring it. You’ve got to give life to your faith by speaking it out.

This teaching is variously known as “the word of faith” or “name it and claim it.” One critic calls it “blab it and grab it.”

I’ve been reading Jeremiah a lot lately... Jeremiah as in "The Weeping Prophet." I don't believe Jeremiah subscribed to this health and wealth theology. Frankly, I think Jeremiah would have been offended by the quote above. Jeremiah faithfully declared the word of the Lord to a people that variously ignored him, made fun of him, accused him of treason and tired to have him killed. None of the things that Osteen would call “God’s favor” seemed to attach themselves to Jeremiah. What Jeremiah declared was "the word of the Lord," and it was not a word of favor or prosperity. In fact, a consistent idea throughout Jeremiah's book is that the prophets of prosperity in his own day are false prophets that deceive the people (see Jer. 5:13, 14:13-15, 23:16)

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I had my yearly (well, it should be yearly) physical this week. It would seems that I am as healthy as a horse. Blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. all on the low end of normal. That is truly a blessing from God, and He gets thanksgiving and praise. But it would be arrogant to think that I did something to deserve God’s favor. It would be more than arrogant to think that those who struggle with health concerns somehow did not do something right to declare God’s favor in their lives.

It seems to me that the idea that what we do somehow earns or engages God’s favor in material things (health and wealth) is really not that different from suggesting that we do religiously deserves salvation. God gives grace to who God gives grace. God gives the gifts of wealth, success and prosperity to some. Some (like Jeremiah) receive the gifts of struggle, hardship and
difficulty. To all who seek him and live our their faithfulness, God gives the gift of Himself. That is the ultimate favor of God!

The Dance of the God-Struck

As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart. (1 Chronicles 15:29)

It is not hard to imagine David dancing before the Ark. In fact, we see David’s heart dancing before God all through the Psalms. So, I guess it makes sense that we would see the rest of him dancing for joy as the ark is brought home to Jerusalem. And David's dance here was not some highly-stylized liturgical choreography; it was rather an expression of celebration and thanksgiving. It was not the dance of the stage but rather the dance in the end zone. David’s dance was where worship meets pure joy. (OK, that sounds a little too much like Max Lucado; I must have read that somewhere, but I don’t remember where).

But David’s wife Michal is right there to throw the flag on David for "excessive celebration." As she watched David’s dance from a distance, there was nothing but coldness and criticism in her heart. The word here “despised” means “to hold in contempt.” It is the same word for used to describe how Goliath dismissed David in 1 Samuel 17: 42. David was lost in joy and thanksgiving before the Lord; Michal was lost in her own critical spirit.

What is the point of this story? It’s not that we need more dancing in church. But maybe what we do need is less criticism of the worship of others. This story is about David’s heart. Worship, ministry and piety must come from a heart that overflows with God. Michal saw a lack of protocol and propriety; David just saw God. The heart that finds it easy to be judgmental and dismissive based on external appearances is a heart that will not see God. In an article entitled “The Dance of the God-Struck,” Mark Buchanan puts his finger on the essence of this story--

Occasionally we get glimpses of Deepest Reality, intimations of what remains after all else has been shaken out and burned up. This is the reality that earthy things sometimes hint at and sometimes hide… Glimpsing it, that Deepest Reality, can make you do funny things. You can become stony still. Or giddily happy. Or chokingly afraid. It can calm you with uncanny peace, or disrupt you with implacable dread. It can make you, simultaneously, not yourself and fully yourself. It can make kings dance.

Suing God

A Nebraska state senator is suing God, seeking a permanent injunction ordering God to cease all harmful activities. The suit charges God with causing, “fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects, and the like.” Chambers also says God “has manifested neither compassion nor remorse.” He asks for the court to grant him a summary judgment and enter a permanent injunction enjoining God from engaging in the types of deleterious actions described in the lawsuit. State Senator Ernie Chambers has filed this lawsuit to prove a point about frivolous lawsuits. He says, "Anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody- even God." So he decided to prove his point by suing God.

Who is to blame for “fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes” and the other things mentioned in the lawsuit? Obviously, the blame for much (most?) of what is wrong with the world today can be laid directly at the feet of human beings. Much of human misery comes from things like war and crime, which are purely human constructs. Even much of the suffering from things called “acts of God” can be traced to human rather than divine fingerprints. Many famines have been created or made worse because of human greed; the suffering following hurricane and tsunami is often made worse because of a failure to properly allocate needed supplies. The lion’s share of blame for the state of our world rests solidly on the shoulders of mankind.

And properly understood, the rest of the blame is ours as well. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God and introduced sin into the world, something shifted in the order of things. The world fell. Not just Adam and Eve— something shifted on its axis in the entire created order. Paul describes a creation that groans under the curse of the fall—

19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (Romans 8:19-22, NLT).

When Adam and Eve rebelled again God, there was something fundamentally broken. Not broken just in humans; broken in all creation. We should not be surprised by the seemingly random and unfair suffering that happens in our world. The world is broken; we broke it! Senator Chambers may be making a statement against frivolous lawsuits, but he has the wrong defendant. He should be suing us!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I just got back from the doctor’s office, and my yearly check-up (which I have without fail ever 2-3 years) reveals that I’m in excellent health. The nurse wanted make sure that I was awake when my blood pressure came back 102/68. But then, it’s Monday; I’m lucky to have a blood pressure on Monday! People that don’t preach have no idea how much a Sunday takes out of the preacher. I don’t get a 30 minute nap on Sunday morning like everyone else!

It took a bit longer than usual to out-process me after my visit. So I’m standing there by the window to the office when I notice a very familiar (and very strong) smell. It was a smell that took me back to my childhood— Fedron. I knew instantly it was Fedron. I looked around the corner and sure enough, there was a repairman working on one of the two office typewriters that they still use to type labels and fill out forms (how quaint). The repairman was using Fedron, and the distinctive smell took me on a trip down memory lane. (Sniff that stuff long enough and it will take you on another kind of trip!)

My Dad was in the office equipment business for years. Fedron was the industrial strength solvent that he used to clean and restore typewriter platens and dissolve the “gunk” (technical jargon) on the typewriter keys. According to a supplier who will sell you a 4 ounce bottle for $10, Fedron is “a clear liquid, blended of highly refined pure chemicals, specially formulated for cleaning rubber, metal, Teflon, silicon, and similar materials.” What they don’t tell you is that it will eat through almost anything else!

Dad bought it in 10 gallon drums or something, and he used it for many different applications. When we bought our first house, the floors were saturated with the smell of the 6 or so adult dogs that the previous occupant kept inside… without ever letting go outside. I mopped the floors with a bucket of Fedron that Dad gave me, and it killed the smell of the dogs. It would have also killed the dogs had they been around! This was strong stuff.

I never thought I would grow nostalgic over the smell of a commercial solvent, but I did. As I stood there smelling the Fedron, I was taken back to summers working for Dad hunched over an Adler 21-C electric typewriter at Bethel High School cleaning the gunk off the keys and getting paid 75 cents an hour… and getting a headache from smelling Fedron. I have a headache now from smelling it in the doctor’s office, but somehow I don’t mind.

Enjoy every day that God gives you. You never know which day you will look back upon as “the good old days!”

Where Were You When...

Where were you when… There have been three events in my lifetime that were so monumental that everyone remembers where they were then they heard that the event had taken place. Oh, there are many personal monumental events that I will always remember— when I was married, when my children were born, when Arkansas beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. But three events are so universal that most who were alive then remember where they werewhen they heard

First, “Where were you when you heard President Kennedy had been shot?” I was in Miss Riddle’s first grade class at deer Park Elementary. They closed school early and sent us home. I remember being really upset when I learned that the president had died. I remember Mom saying, “That’s really a bad thing, but it won’t affect little boys in Virginia.” That made sense, so I went outside to play.

Second, “Where were you when you heard that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had landed on the moon?” I was in the first bottom bunk on the left side of Cabin #2 at Idlewild Christian Camp listening to the radio. (Later it would be against rules to have a radio, but we had a radio that day.) That when we heard that “The Eagle has landed.” I thought that was cool, but I thought it was even more cool that I were getting ready to play softball.

Third, “Where were you when you on September 11, 2001 when you heard about the attack on the World Trade Center.” I was at the church building. We had just started a program where Elaine Denman came to the building once a week to do Christian counseling. Someone called, and we set the TV up just in time to see the second plane hit. It was the most surreal morning that I can remember. Seeing the second crash… hearing of the Pentagon… watching the Twin Towers fall. Unlike the shooting of JFK, we knew that this was going to directly affect us for the rest of our lives. Terrorism came home. It got real.

God has blessed us with many things in the world, but what He does not ever promise is a world without hardship, tragedy and death. What God gave us is a world in which we are free to make our own moral decisions. That freedom allowed a handful of evil men to turn airplanes into bombs and turn the murder of 3000 innocent people into a political statement. But that freedom also allowed those brave fire fighters and police to rush into the burning Twin Towers and military personnel to climb through the flames at the Pentagon in a valiant effort to save others.

Lisa Beamer became probably the most visible face of 911 in the weeks and months following the disaster. Her husband Todd died during the battle to take back the plane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field but was supposed to crash into the Capital. She became a source of inspiration and strength with her book and many appearances. Todd’s final words “Let’s roll!” became our unofficial national motto. Lisa shared how it was that she was able to roll on after Todd’s death—

If I were trying to hold my life together based on my human strength, I wouldn't get out of bed. I am so thankful to have my God-given strength and courage. Every day seems like such a dichotomy, because I'm human, with emotions of sadness and grieving. But on the other hand, my perspective is much bigger than just the things that happen in this world.

Today we seek that divine perspective as we remember one of our darkest days as a nation. The courage and sacrifice of those at Ground Zero and the response and resolve of millions across the country help us to see that through the darkness the light still shines brightly. May we always remember those who died that day. May we live daily top bring the light of God into our dark world.

The Dark Night of the Soul

The cover of the September 3, 2007 edition of Time has the picture of Mother Teresa with the provocative title “The Secret Life of Mother Teresa.” (Did they select that title hoping that people would assume something lurid, like she ran a dog-fighting ring or something?) The “secret life” of this the most recognizable nun of history was her constant struggle for faith. In 1946, she heard what she believed to be the voice of God calling her to minister to the poor. Though the voice of God grew quiet, she devoted her life to serving the poor. She lived in what appeared to be cheerful faith to those around her, and that made the publication of her letters expressing doubt that much more jarring. In those letters she felt abandonment; the vividness of her memory of God’s love and voice made His silence that much more unbearable. She writes—

Lord, my God, who am I that You should forsake me? The child of your love— and now become as the most hated one— the one You have thrown away as unwanted, unloved. I call, I cling, I want, and there is no One to answer

Sunday’s Daily Press paper carried an editorial by Michael Gerson, an op-ed columnist for the Washington Post and a former speechwriter for President Bush. He discusses Mother Teresa’s faith-struggle and asks what it might mean for our faith. All believers go through what St. John of the Cross called “the dark night of the Soul.” Perhaps what Mother Teresa reminds us of here is that faith and doubt, struggle and service, questioning and faithfulness can all take place in the same soul at the same time. Gerson says this—

There are lessons in this complicated spiritual life-- that holiness has more to do with obedience than spiritual feelings; that faith can coexist with suffering and doubt; that sainthood can be harsher and more difficult than we imagine… There is no easy answer here, but the question is central to the Christian faith. Other noble religious traditions promise serenity, detachment from striving and release from the suffering of the world. Christianity, in contrast, teaches that grace is found in the worst of that suffering, and through a figure who despairs of God's presence in his parting words. This anguish is not convenient -- "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" is hardly the best religious marketing slogan. But for millennia this abandonment has offered hope that God might somehow be present even in shame, loneliness and betrayal, even on the descending path of depression, even in the soul's hardness and doubt, even in the silence of God himself -- and that all these things may be the preface to glory.

Jesus quotes David from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Both David and Jesus absolutely feel forsaken when they speak these words. But I have to wonder that they also speak those words because we so desperately need to hear them. The act of crying out to God is an act of faith, a desperate faith certainly, but an act of faith. We may read in Mother Teresa’s letters a sense of her feeling of abandonment, but what we see in her life is her absolute abandonment to absolute obedience to the voice of God... even when for her that voice had gone silent.

Only a Step

On December 30, an Arizona driver in a 1991 GMC pick-up was traveling east on State Route 59 just outside of Hurricane, Utah. (Hurricane? I’m sure they get a lot of those in Utah). The driver told police that he was traveling 55 mph (though skid marks indicate he was going closer to 83 mph) when the truck left the roadway. The truck left the road onto the right shoulder when the driver overcorrected and shot back across both lanes and hit and broke through a cement barricade that separated the road from a roughly 200-foot drop down the canyon. The truck finally came to rest and the driver was fine.

Well, he was fine until he looked down! This second pictures adds a little perspective to things, doesn't it? The truck evidently went through the guard rail so fast that it was propelled through the air, spinning it 180 degrees along the guardrail clearing the concrete drainage culvert and coming to rest on a small ledge over looking the 200 foot drop to the bottom of the canyon. There has been a lot of debate if this is real or Photoshop, but the police evidently say that it is real. One Web site ran these photos under the headline, “I bet this guy will be in church Sunday!”

This was an especially close call, But then our lives are really nothing but a series of close calls. Even if you obey all the traffic laws, you are still hurtling down the interstate at nearly a mile minute sitting in a contraption of metal and plastic surrounded by other people doing the same thing. Our hold on life is always very tenuous, is it not? David told Jonathan, "Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death" (1 Samuel 20:3). Maybe you don't have Saul breathing down your neck trying to skewer you with a spear. May all you are doing is driving to work... while the driver above is driving on the same road in a new truck! Only a step.

The only way to be ready when your appointment with death comes is to live ready at all times. And obey the speed limit.

I Have Hidden Your Word in My Heart

So, need any more good reasons to keep your Bible close to your heart? How about the case of Pfc. Brendon Schweigart from Andover, Maryland. Schweigart was serving in Iraq when he was hit by a sniper's bullet. The bullet injured him, but not nearly as severely (or as fatally) as it could have because it lodged in the Bible he carried in his shirt pocket. Schweigart says that the Bible “definitely prevented more serious injury, because if it wouldn't have been there, it would have ricocheted off my bullet-proof plate and more than likely would have gone back into my chest, causing more damage.”

Several things came to mind when I read this— “Just think how effective his Bible would have been had it been a hardback study Bible with a concordance, maps and study notes!” Or maybe “The bullet probably stopped in Leviticus; a lot of people stop in Leviticus when reading through the Bible.”

God intended his word to be a protective shield. David said, “I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:10-11). When Jesus confronted Satan in the desert temptations, He resisted by quoting scripture. The Bible says, “The word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.” In fact, it says that three times (2 Sam. 22:31, Psa 18:30, Prov 30:5).

On one of our mission trips to Ukraine, Tom Gilliam, became separated from the group when he got off the trolly bus at the wrong stop alone… and the buss pulled away before he realized his mistake. So Tom was alone in the middle of a strange city in the middle of the night… and none of us even missed him! We had been traveling across the city to hand out Bibles, and Tom was carrying several heavy bundles of Ukrainian Bibles. When we found him later, he later told us that he had decided that if anyone attacked him, he would have just hit them with his Bibles! God’s word does come in handy, doesn’t it? Ask Brendon Schweigart. Ask Tom Gilliam.

Living Above the Routine

It officially became Fall last night. I say that because I attended the first high school football game of the new season. Tressa is living out what was once her dream—teaching at Denbigh and coaching the cheerleaders. So we were there to watch her working with her girls… for some reason, the image of “herding cats” comes to mind here! (If Tressa were writing this blog entry, it may be entitled “Careful what You Wish For”)

Although it was a brand new season, it was very much the same old Denbigh football team. There were some flashes of promise, but we got pushed around pretty well by Woodside in a 34-14 loss. And unless Woodside turns out to be very good, Denbigh may be looking at another very long season.

But the game itself was overshadowed by what happened with 5:00 minutes left in the second quarter. After a pretty routine play, the line judge—a man named George French— went down on a knee. The play had been run his way, and I thought maybe he had been bumped by one of the players. But then he just collapsed to the ground, falling over hard on his face. Within a few minutes the rescue squad was frantically performing CPR, and before long an ambulance came and took him to the hospital. He apparently had a heart attack, but as of this morning, there has been no word available on Mr. French’s condition. Keep him in your prayers.

The reaction insider the stadium during this drama was interesting. As you might expect, a hush came over the whole crowd when he collapsed. The other officials gathered around him, one frantically waving to the sidelines for help while another walked about 15 yards away and went down on one knee in obvious prayer. After a brief minute, the announcer in the press box haltingly said, “Uhhh.. now for some scores from some other games.” And in very few minutes, the crowd was back to buzzing and Tressa was back to fussing at her cheerleaders.

You never know when the routine of life will become very un-routine. James says, “You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing” (James 4:14, The Message). We know that… but we don’t seem to live like we know that. We live our lives as if the daily grind is all that matters. But we never know when a routine play (or day at work or short drive or whatever) will turn into a life and death drama. That happened last night at Todd Stadium. It can happen today wherever we happen to be. We must live our lives above the routine so that we will be ready when the routine is shattered.

Spiders and Snakes

Christina Ryan is the reigning Mrs. Tennessee and is in Phoenix to compete in the Mrs. America Pageant. She was just getting ready to walk up an outside staircase at the resort hosting this weekend's competition when she saw a spider on a step. She instinctively jumped away from the spider… and onto a rattlesnake which bit her on the right foot. So she spent a day in the local hospital receiving ten vials of antivenin. She’s fine now… except that she has to walk in high heels in the pageant on a very swollen right foot.

There’s gotta be a metaphor for life in there somewhere! Just when you think you’ve got the spiders beat, up pops the rattlesnake! It’s just like Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say, “It’s always something!”

This story made me think of Jim Stafford’s 70’s hit song “Spiders and Snakes.” More seriously, it also made me think of Amos 5:18-20—

It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

Amos describes the smug, self-satisfied and materialistic Israelite who looked forward to the “Day of the Lord” because they thought this would be the time when God would destroy their enemies and give victory to Israel. The Day of the Lord was the time of God's judgment, but it would be directed at them! God would hold them accountable for their sin, and they would not escape His wrath. It would be as though they ran from a lion right into a bear, and then escaped only to be bitten by a snake in their own house. They would not get away. God tells his people that when His day came, in the immortal words of Rambo, “I coming for you!”

OK, besides pegging the meter for references to 70’s pop culture, what is the point here? Actually, Amos makes it rather plainly, doesn’t he? True, eternal safety exists only for the people of God… and only as they live like the people of God. We can’t buy God off with the right rituals and church done “decently and in order.” God is looking for hearts that beat for Him and lives that are lived for Him. Amos continues (Amos 5:21-24) with what for me is some of the most dramatic words of the Old Testament—

"I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
I cannot stand your assemblies.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Lost in Translation

"This is next are acts. Calling to inform you. That your order 1. 822. 5. For. 3. 5. When she had gone. Tuesday. this plenty 8. And should arrive within side. Business days or sooner. If you chose to exit out your order. Thank you from next Iraq's. Goodbye."

That is a message that we received today on our voice mail. Well, actually that is the message as translated by Vonage, our VoIP phone company (at least until Verizon shuts it down). Vonage has this neat feature that takes voice mail and translates it to text and emails it to you. That way you have the message you missed at home sent straight to you wherever you are.

So what is the above gobblely-gook? This is a computer-generated message sent to a computer-based voice mail interpreted by a computer algorithm with no human interaction at all. Very helpful, isn’t it? The message, whatever it is, is lost in translation. Don’t computers make our lives so much easier?

Lost in translation. I wonder if that is what happens with our Christian lives among our non-Christian friends and co-workers.. How often is there a 'lost in translation" disconnect between what we say we believe and how we actually live. We speak of a “peace that passes understanding.” What others see in our lives is the same full-bore, flat-out rat race dominating our life just as it dominates theirs. We may talk about faith in a God that controls the world while what they see in us may be the same fretting, fuming and fussing over life that would be there if God were NOT in control.

Does the gospel lose something in translation between what God calls us to be and what others see? Peter says, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God” (1 Peter 2:12). Boy, talk about a verse that is easier to quote than to live! But then, most Bible verses are that way. How much of the gospel is lost in translation by the way we live it… or don’t live it?

O Fill My Cup

I don’t know whether anyone out there in Blogville gets Al Maxey’s e-newsletter Reflections. Each month there is a long article by Al that appears in Reflections, and all of the articles are posted on his website. Many of his articles, though by no means all, raise questions about some of our traditions in Churches of Christ. Such is the case in the issues I received yesterday.

As you may know, there is a branch of our movement that practices communion with only one cup. There is nothing wrong with that, of course. I have been places that used one cup to emphasize the unity of the church in communion, though I was careful to make sure I sat on the front row so I got the first sip. (In was also wine rather than grape juice; a little germ killer “for thy stomach sake” isn’t a bad idea in such a setting). The problem is that these brothers and sisters insist that one cup is the only right way to do communion. Multiple cups are sinful.

Maxey’s article points to a publication called The Old Paths Advocate (which he renames Odd Paths Advocate) that raised the question of whether or not it was scriptural to refill the one cup during communion. The question was, “What should be done if the assembly proved too large to be able to commune together from the cup normally used by the congregation?” The Old Paths writer points to an elder who decided that the cup could be refilled and then communion continued from that point. That elder argued that as long as one cup was used, it could be refilled as often as was necessary to serve everyone. But this was heresy to the writer in Old Paths Advocate. I'm not making this up; here are his words--

Where is the Bible passage that either explicitly or implicitly authorizes a congregation to refill the cup and continue with the distribution of the fruit of the vine at the place in the assembly where the first cup was exhausted? There is no such scripture… We do not intend to consider even for a moment the idea of 'refilling the cup in an emergency' as described in this article. Such would entail sin and digression. We will not, must not, countenance such a corruption of the Lord's Supper. Uncertain sounds concerning the doctrine of Christ cannot be tolerated.

I thought I had LONG AGO run across all the strange ideas and practices that my religious tradition has come up with in an effort to be scriptural, but this one is a new one to me! I kept waiting for there to punch line in there somewhere. I had a professor who liked to say, “Some positions are so absurd that they must only be stated to be refuted.” This one qualifies, I think.

God calls us to be faithful to Him, and it is through scripture that He reveals His will to us. But continual arguments and divisions over logical nuance has caused more harm to the church than any direct attack of Satan. Paul warns Timothy to warn his people (and us) about such issues, “Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen” (2 Timothy 2:14). And later he says to Timothy, “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels” (2 Timothy 2:23).

So if you will excuse me, my coffee cup is empty and I need to go refill it… if that is OK!

The HOW Versus the WHAT

Several years ago I remember someone asking the question, "What would happen if Paul came to town looking for Christians with whom to worship?" I don’t know exactly how this would happen, but imagine you are coming out of Big Lots or something and there is Paul says, “Excuse me, but can you tell me where the Christians be meeting this Sunday for worship?” The exchange just might go something like this—

You answer, "Sure, they meet right down the street there at the church building right beside the high school." Paul looks a bit puzzled and asks, “Church building? What is a church building?”

You smile and answer, “You know, the church building is the place where we have the auditorium (or “sanctuary” or “worship center”) in which we assemble for worship." But that only leads Paul to ask, “Auditorium?” (or “Sanctuary?” or “Worship Center?”) “What is that?"

Now you are getting a bit frustrated and answer, “Oh, that's the big room where we meet that has all the pews (or chairs) and the podium.” Of course, Paul says, “Podium? What is a podium?”

You answer, “Duhh, that’s where the song leader stands when he leads singing.” And of course, Paul asks, “Song leader? What is a song leader?”

OK, face it-- it is a little bit annoying for those of us in a "Restoration Tradition" to have to admit that there are very few things that we do in the worship and work of the church today that looks anything like what it did in first century. Church today looks so different from the first century that it is unlikely that Paul or Peter would even recognize it as church! Now I think that we are hitting at WHAT the first century church was doing, but we don’t do those things anywhere near HOW the first Christians went about them. We aren’t even close.

And yet, most of our squabbles and fractures in fellowship today is over HOW we do things! It really is hard to imagine Paul getting all worked up over the issue of a single song leader with a mike verses multiple song leaders with a mike when Paul’s church not only didn’t have mikes, we have no reason to believe they song song leaders (“When you come together, everyone has a hymn,” 1 Cor 14:26). The stately hymns of Isaac Watts and gospel songs of Fanny J. Crosby would be just as foreign and strange to Paul was the contemporary anthems of Dennis Jernigan! Flannelgraph would be as much an innovation to Paul as would PowerPoint!

It is all too easy for us to ourselves to get worked up over the HOW’s of church that we ignore some very plain WHAT's. Peter is pretty plain about the WHAT when he says, “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble” (1 Peter 3:8). How are we supposed to do that? The HOW is up to us, but we must do WHAT Peter says here, right?

May we never ignore the WHAT because of our understandable and unavoidable differences over all the HOW's of doing church.

A-Rod and Avalanche Ranch

I was watching sports on ESPN yesterday—one of the few times ESPN bleeds over clearly enough for me to pick it up. (This year we will "real" cable during football season, especially if Tank makes the Eagles again). They were discussing an award given to Alex Rodriguez for reaching the 500 homerun mark in his career. They had a little ceremony with some baseball officials standing with A-Rod on the field. The unveiled the award with a flourish-- too much flourish. The easel folded up like a cheap suit and the plaque bounced down the first base line like a bad bunt! The commentator said, “What was with this award; it looked like something a bunch of kids made in VBS.” The other commentator looked at him blankly; he had no clue what was meant by "VBS." Some people are just culturally challenged like that.

Well, we know what VBS is around here! We are right in the middle of our Avalanche Ranch VBS this week. We’ve had a really good crowd of kids (more than we were expecting) the first two nights, and I don’t see any reason that this trend will not continue. When I was a kid, VBS meant we got a cookie and Kool-Aid. Well, its a bit more than that now! It’s been great watching all the excitement, enthusiasm and childish wonder… and that’s just been Len doing his cowboy imitation during praise-n-worship! I do appreciate all the hard work so many have put in, especially Kati heading everything up and putting it all together.

For some pictures, take a look at http://www.denbigh.org/Events/AvalancheRanch/. If you think these pictures look a bit grainy, you should have seen them before Photoshop. Will King will take some good pictures later, but these will give you an idea.

It's All About God

I made it through our recent trip to Arkansas by listening to several books on CD. Getting lost in a good story is the best way for me to make monotonous miles bearable. OK, I know I should “enjoy the journey” and all, but after 30 years of that same trip (I-64 to I-81 to I-40), the only thing I enjoy about it is getting it over. And listening to books is the best way I know.

The most interesting book was Alice Sebold’s 2002 novel The Lovely Bones. It is the story of Susie Salmon, a 14 year old girl murdered and dismembered by a serial killer who was her neighbor. Susie narrates her story from heaven as she watches her family and friends deal with the aftermath of her death. This was not an easy book to read… but it was even harder to put down.

Susie inhabits her own unique heaven. All the buildings look like 1960-era school building. There are lots of dogs. She has an intake counselor to help her adjust. At times her heaven intersects that of others, so she does have friends. In one chilling scene she meets other victims of the same serial killer. Mostly she sits in a gazebo and watches earth—and she is variously worried, afraid, sorrowful, lonely and bored. She watches her family grieve and struggle and fall apart… and then eventually pull together and survive. She watches her killer evade justice. She watches the place where her “lovely bones” are buried and are never found. She watches her friends grow and change. Mostly she longs to return to her life… which she does in one strange and never fully explained scene.

Susie’s heaven is a stopping place before she moves on. She is told that once she stops longing for life on Earth, then she will go to a heaven that bigger and brighter and fuller. But there is nothing really that compels her there. She sees only earth, and she longs for life there. Ultimately the only real peace she experiences is when her family starts to find their own peace with her loss.

What is missing from Susie’s heaven is God. At the center of the heaven of scripture is a throne. There is no sun and no night because God is the Light. Those in heaven are not looking back on their lives on earth; they are too focused on the glorious joys of being with God. There will be no sadness or fear or pain or loneliness because God is there. We will not long for what we lost on earth because the peace and joy of God will be too great. I liked Susie; I wish she’d have seen the real heaven—the one with God. That is the real point of heaven.

And that is the real point of Earth. We shouldn’t get too focused on Christianity as a way to live so we can see God someday. It is really about living in relationship with God both NOW and FOREVER.

The Daily Grind

Well, my week-long sojourn in Arkansas has come to an end and I’m back home to the old daily grind. (Well, the real daily grind doesn’t start for 2-3 weeks when Lynn goes back to work. I get a little extra sleep when her alarm doesn’t go off at 4:45 a.m.) Angelynn is one of the trainers for Harding’s football team, so she had to be back before the football team starts practice today, so her summer break ended in July. Fall practice has also already started for Coach Tressa who already getting her Denbigh High cheerleaders in shape for football season. Just so that things don’t get too quiet with Angelynn gone, Courtney and her kids are with us for awhile while Tank is in training camp with the Eagles. So the signs are that summer is heading toward being over. Boy time flies when you are having fun, huh?

Or maybe time just flies. Why does time seem to fly faster and faster as you get older? When we were kids, it took forever for Christmas or birthdays to come around; now they come and go with increasing rapidity. While time is fixed and precisely measured, our perception of it is very relative. Two minute seems pretty short when it’s a coffee break but an eternity when you are holding your breath underwater! Does time fly faster as we get older because of the percentages? To a child, a month is a large percentage of their entire life; it not that large of a percentage to us geezers. Or is it that children are more finely tuned to the moment—they enjoy, experience and endure each moment in the moment. As we get older, we fill our present moments with "the daily grind" and put off living for the future moments-- evenings, weekends, and vacations.

It is easy to view Christianity as anything but living in the moment. We look back to the cross (past) that saves us so that we can go in heaven (future). If we are not careful, we may sanctify the past and look the future while we forget all about the present. But Jesus tells that faith means trusting God for today, right now, rather than being anxious about tomorrow. He says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matt 6:34, NLT). Today's troubles are enough for today. So is today's joys. And today's daily grind.

Trusting God today means that we won’t to worry about what will come tomorrow. So we must live in the moment… remembering the past (cross) with an eye on the future (heaven). But we live right now in the moment. Today with its "daily grind" is a precious gift from God.