An Inconvenient Truth

A recent study suggests yet another reason why divorce is bad—it harms the planet. Two researchers at Michigan State University found that divorced households used much more electricity (73 billion kilowatt-hours) and water (627 billion gallons) than married households. They found that about 38 million extra rooms were needed with associated costs for heating and lighting because of divorce. Divorced households use 42-61% more resources than their married counterparts, and they spend 46% more for electricity 56 % more on water. So this study reveals another inconvenient truth-- divorce is not green.

Divorce has many negative impacts, and this is only one surprising one. Of greater concern is way divorce impacts children. Paul Faulkner points to a study that shows that adolescent boys from families that experience divorce begin sexual experimentation at a much earlier age. Teenaged boys who had not experienced divorce were 59% more likely to be virgins, and only 18% of teenagers who acted out in antisocial or delinquent behavior came from intact families. So the ripples of broken marriage vows spread to affect more people than just the two people getting the divorce.

The simple fact is that everyone believes that divorce is a bad thing. Perhaps those who have been through it will be the first to say that divorce is a bad thing. But then, those who have had root canals will say that it is a bad thing—it is just that sometimes it is necessary to get one done. I think that may be the inconvenient truth for many Christians and divorce. We know it is a bad thing, but we also suspect that sometimes it may just be unavoidable. That attitude just might keep divorce on the table as an option for us. It must—the national divorce rate and the divorce rate among Christians is virtually the same rate. That is another inconvenient truth.

In God We Trust

Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow sued the Elk Grove Unified School District in federal court for forcing public school children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance because referring to one nation "under God" violates children's rights to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.” I guess that if nothing else, Mr. Newdow is consistent. He also has sued the federal government to remove "In God We Trust" from our currency, claiming that it violates the separation of church and state. One can only hope that when the Supreme Court makes a final ruling (and there seems to be little doubt that eventually the high court will have to rule), the court will allow “In God We Trust” to remain on our money and forbid Mr. Newdow from having or using money, thus not offending his conscience. That would be consistent!

Should the courts stay out of all issues that relate to faith? The courts recently ruled that a Jehovah’s Witness family could refuse blood transfusions to a critically ill child-- the child died not long after the ruling. Is it a misuse of scripture to forbid transfusions as a violation of Leviticus 7:26-27, "You must not eat the blood?" Yes. Should the feds be able to step in and force treatment against the religious beliefs of the family? Does that violate the “in God do we trust” for that family? Would that not allow the feds to step in and prevent me from following what I believe the Bible teaches (which, of course, would be the truth)? I think I have strong feelings both ways on this one!

One thing is certain—the stamp of approval of the federal government on religious beliefs will not make them any more or less right or wrong. We must see to live faith even as doing so falls out of favor in our culture. Of one thing I am certain-- we must continue to trust in God whether or not that continues to be printed on our money!

What a Day!

What a day! Our friends and family “Jubilee Sunday” went great. OK., so maybe the title “Pig-Out-After-Church-Sunday” really would have been a more descriptive title, but it also felt like a Jubilee! I have never seen so much food before! We added about 30-40 chairs to the auditorium… and that is about how many extra folks we had… and most stayed for the meal afterward. It was a great day. I really appreciated all the folks who stayed afterwards to help clean up. It was a great day. We need to have special days like that more often, I think. Here’s an idea—what if those who prepared food (which was most of our members) donated the money spent on food preparation and then we catered the whole thing? Would that work? What do you think?

I have to say something about the BCS mess! What a fitting end to a bizarre college football season—both #1 (Missouri) and #2 (West Virginia) lost on the last week of the season. I feel bad for Roger (WVA is his team), but I never thought that Missouri and West Virginia were the best two teams. Of course, I never thought that OSU and LSU were the two best teams either? I guess that if you have to choose two teams at random, those are as good as any… except maybe USU and OU. I hope the mess continues until they come up with a playoff system.

One more football observation. I enjoyed watching the Giants play last night.... Not because they are the Giants (nobody really like the Giants). Not because it was a good game and the Giants came back to win, although both of those are true. I enjoyed it because Tank Daniels from Harding was activated to the Giants main roster and played last night. Tank (#52) is a linebacker and plays on special teams, so keep an eye out for him.

I did have a sudden flash of insight after we watched several of the players after scoring touchdowns or making tackles. Lynn said, "That reminds me of Jaxon." Jaxon is Tank and Courtney's very animated 3-year old Jaxon who does indeed act just like NFL players, mimicking their jumping around and strutting antics. Here's my flash of insight. It's not so much that Jaxon acts like NFL players... it's more that NFL players act like 3-year olds! I liked the good old days then Dick Butkus and Mike Curtis just tacked people and got up and glared at 'em without having to dance around like Fred Astair. But that's just me.

On Being Productive

Yesterday was not my most productive day. It all started with my morning cup of coffee… which I couldn’t have because my coffee cup was missing. I have a special Arkansas Razorback mug that one of my former deacons gave me in the early 80’s. And now it’s gone-- it was here Wednesday afternood; Thursday morning it was MIA. Obviously some disgruntled LSU fan is holding it hostage. But I spent 30 minutes walking all over the building looking for it… and all before I had my first cup of coffee!

I went by the new Lifeway Bookstore after lunch (used to Norfolk rather than 5 minutes from the house). I wanted to look for some Bible class literature... and pick up a copy of the new Casting Crowns album for Lynn’s birthday. Lifeway didn’t have it, so I went by Heaven and Earth on the way back to the office—they were out of it too. So I decided to download it for her. iTunes Store wouldn’t work for some reason, so I downloaded it from Walmart.com. To make the long story short, the DRM file got screwed up and Media Player crashed. After two hours and three downloads, I finally was able to burn a CD in time to rush out to get Lynn’s pizza and get home by 5:00 p.m.

So yesterday was not a productive day. What struck me as I meditated on that fact (OK, as I griped about it) is how much of the things we do every day are really not all that productive. Maybe it seems productive-- you paid all the bills, mowed the lawn, cooked several meals, washed the car, cleaned out all the gutters and got all your spring cleaning done. That would be a productive day, right? Except all that stuff will need doing again next week, next month, or next year. Isn’t that the point of Ecclesiastes 1:3-11?

So many of the things we do day-to-day aren’t all that productive when you look at eternity, right? We spend so much of our time on things that at the end of the day have no staying power. They aren’t ultimately productive. John says, “The world and everything that people want in it are passing away, but the person who does what God wants lives forever” (1 John 2:17, NCV). We need to be better at two things— (1) spending more time doing things that will last for eternity and (2) looking for God in the ordinary things of life so they are transformed into eternal encounters as well.

It seems to me that we all will end up being more productive if we spend more time looking for God, not just despite the daily grind, but in the daily grind!

Happy Birthday, Lynn!

Today is Lynn’s birthday. I won’t tell you which one because I want to live long enough to see my next birthday! It is not one of those special birthdays numerically (like 30), but it is special because she is such a special lady. I can divulge the fact that she was only 16 when we started dating, and I was older. So that would make her younger than me right now, a fact that she often points out. As you can tell from this picture of her and Tressa, Lynn really hasn't changed a bit!

So what am I going to get her? Very early on in our marriage, we came up with this arrangement—we rarely buy each other anything. We give each other permission to buy ourselves stuff. Hey, I don’t want Lynn picking out my electronics and she doesn’t want me picking out jewelry! So it just works best if we pick out our own gifts. Hey, that doesn’t sound very romantic, but neither is it romantic for her to have to decide whether she will take back something I bought her or settle for something that she really doesn’t like. It’s not very romantic for her to open a gift, force a smile and say, “Thank you… did you keep the receipt?” But that has happened more than once, so we decided it was just best to cut out the middle man and have her buy her own gift. So now it is a card from Big Lots and “Happy Birthday, Sweetheart; buy yourself something nice.”

The one thing she did ask for is “Pan Pizza Supreme” from Pizza Hut. So I guess now I’m cooking for her birthday too. What a guy!

The All-Sufficient Christ

Why are there so many different Christian denominations? It's not because some people just don't read the Bible or don't care what it says. In fact, the opposite is the case. Most of the denominations got started when people, through serious study of the Bible, found something that no one else was stressing. Luther found "by grace through faith." Calvin found sovereignty. Wesley found sanctification. Campbell found baptism for the remission of sins. Most denominations were reformations (Campbell's term for our movement) of existing churches that were not stressing some Biblical doctrine or practice. Just read about (or better from) Luther, Calvin, Wesley or Campbell and you'll see some folks who were very serious about the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ!

The problem is not a lack or seriousness in Bible study or honesty and integrity before God. The problem is the mistaken belief that salvation can ever come through finding the right theological system. Because our pursuit of Biblical truth always begins with human minds and is filtered through our own human experiences, our understanding of that truth will always be limited and flawed. Every time we go to scripture with open hearts and minds, we will learn something new. And if we learn something new today, then our understanding was flawed yesterday.

But we can know the truth and the truth will set us free! The saving truth of God is not found in a theological formula or an ecclesiastical structure. It is found in Christ. He is the way, truth and life. As Paul calls the Colossians away from "hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition" (Col 2:8), he points them to the All-Sufficient Christ. Our salvation never depends on us knowing the correct theological formulas but on knowing Christ. Paul theological formula is wrapped up in a person--

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:15-20).

Theology matters. We must continue to study, to be unashamed workers "who uses the true teaching in the right way" (2 Tim 2:15, NCV). "Sound doctrine" literally means "healthy teaching," and it leads us to a healthy life in Christ. But we must never think that our salvation depends upon us getting it all right. We never will. But Jesus got it right once and for all. We must continue to diligently search the scriptures, because they testify about Him (John 5:39)

Freedom!

The word “freedom” means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Sometimes that word applies to the highest of principles that lead men and women of conviction to fight and die for others. Freedom sums up those inalienable rights (“life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”) that Thomas Jefferson said had been granted to all people. But sometimes freedom is no higher or nobler than just the desire to do what I want when I want. Hey, it’s a free country, right? Freedom means a lot of things to a lot of people. Notice just a few—

• “Freedom” is a city in California, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
  
• “Freedom” is a magazine (Freedom Magazine) and newspaper (Freedom Newspaper) and a publishing company (Freedom Press).
  
• There is the Space Station Freedom and the Freedom Tower (new Word Trade Center Tower #1).
  
• “Freedom” is an album by Carlos Santana, Neil Young and Michael W. Smith (his all-instrumental album).
  
• “Freedom” is song by Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Alice Cooper and at least 35 other singers.
  
• Kris Kristofferson wrote and Janis Joplin sang (actually a cover of a song first done by Roger Miller), “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”
  
• “Freedom!” is the last line and most memorable line by Mel Gibson in his Oscar winning Braveheart.

Freedom is always a good thing. We are always in favor of more freedom… unless we are the parents of teenagers. Very rarely will anyone ever say, “You know, what we need is a little less freedom.” Freedom is good.

But freedom has responsibility. It is not free... and it is never just another word for nothing left to loose. Paul tells us in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” We are give freedom in Christ, and we are called to live in that freedom. But Paul also warns us against the modern idea that freedom means that we can do anything we want. Freedom means living so that we are not enslaved, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature" (Gal 5:13). Our freedom does not permit us to live however we want! That is really bondage and slavery. Freedom in Christ sets us free to live by the law of Christ, the “perfect law that gives freedom” (James 1:25). Ultimately, becoming free from sin gives us the freedom to lives as the slaves of righteousness (Rom 6:15ff).

Freedom is a lot of things… it is never an excuse to do exactly what it is that we want.

The Permanent Record

Several years ago, Bob Green of the Chicago Tribune came up with a theory about what's wrong with the world-- he calls the “Death of the Permanent Record.” (I remember referring to his column several years ago in a sermon; I couldn’t find the column on the web, but I found a jillion sermons that refer to it. I can’t believe people stole my sermon idea… after went to all the trouble to steal it from someone else!) Anyway, Green recalls that grade-school children used to live in fear of having bad behavior noted on their permanent record. That was the threat, “You don’t want this on your permanent record.” Green suggested that a lot of bad behavior was avoided, not because kids were good moral beings in the good ol' days, but because they did not want their actions written down and preserved on their permanent record.

Today we have decided that there is no such thing as a permanent record. In fact, we believe that no one has a right to even keep track. Never mind skippinmg school or smoking in the boys room, the record of serious felonies are expunged at age 18; there is no permanent record. Witth today's emphasis on our rights to privacy, if a schoolchild were ever threatened with something going on his permanent record, he would probably file suit under the Freedom of Information Act and gain possession of his files before recess!

Does Green have a point? Where there is no fear of a lasting record, people tend to do what they think they can get away with. But the problem with that is this-- there is a permanent record. And the record is kept by God.

• But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. (Matt 12:36).
  
• So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Rom 14:12).
  
• Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare(Heb 4:13).
  
• But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (1 Peter 4:5)
  
• And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. (Rev 20:12).

According to scripture, there clearly is permanent record. There will be a final day of reckoning, a day upon which all accounts will be balanced… and then closed. Our words and deeds will be called into account, and we will have to accept responsibility for them. If we really believed that, then that would change the way we live our lives now. Remember Peter's take on the implications of the reality of the end of time?

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. (2 Peter 3:11-12a)

Strangers in the World

Peter addresses his first epistle to “God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia…” The word for "scattered" is the Greek word diaspora. The diaspora or "dispersion" is often a technical expression for Jews who were living throughout the Roman world. These Jews were scattered in tiny isolated communities who looked forward to a future time when they would be reunited with the people of God.

For Peter, Christians are God's true diaspora. So he writes to encourage us to live boldly and faithfully as strangers in the world—

• We are to live our lives here as strangers in reverent fear (1:17).
• We are to resist temptation as aliens and strangers in the world (2:11).

We live today as God’s people scattered throughout a world that is not our own. We live in America, but we are first of all citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Thus, to live as a Christian is to live as an alien, a stranger and a pilgrim.

This status of Christians as a minority group in a world that is not fully theirs comes across vividly through an unknown apologist in the second century who wrote a work known as The Epistle to Diognetus. Let these words inform how you live today in this world in which you are a stranger and pilgrim—

For Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or custom. They do not live in cities of their own; they do not use a peculiar form of speech; they do not follow an eccentric manner of life. This doctrine of theirs has not been discovered by the ingenuity or deep thought or inquisitive men, nor do they put forward a merely human teaching, as some people do. Yet, although they live in Greek and barbarian cities alike, as each man's lot has been cast, and follow the customs of that country in clothing and food and other manners of daily living, at the same time they give proof of the remarkable and admittedly extraordinary constitution of their own commonwealth. They live in their own country, but only as aliens.

On Getting Directions

Two times in as many days I’ve gotten lost driving to places where I’ve been many times before. Tuesday night I was on my way to the Blackwell’s for small group. Traffic was terrible, and at one point I needed to make a left turn and just couldn’t get over through traffic into the turn lane. Rather than cut someone off, I decided just to make the block. Except there was no block—I had to wind around for about a mile and ended up almost dumped back on the interstate. The more I doubled back trying to find my way, the more lost I became. I finally threw in the towel and called Ashley for directions.

The next morning I was giving Kenneth Hawley a ride to the airport. I don’t know how many times I’ve been to the Hawley’s home in the last 15 years—maybe a 100 times or more? But I was in a hurry, the traffic was bad and nothing was looking very familiar, and I was afraid I had missed my turn. So I called the office and Cathy assured me I was on the right road. The problem with getting turned around a lot is that you start expecting be to be turned around!)

I would suggest that these incident are proof that I’m getting older, but the truth is that I have always had a horrible sense of direction. If I come down with Alzheimer’s (which does run in our family), no one will know it for a long while because I'm like this all the time. You would think that Newport News is the hardest city in the world to get lost in—everything is built between Warwick Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue so all you have to do is head in the right direction and you’ll eventually get there, right? Well, that’s the hard part—heading in the right direction. I can get turned around going down the street. If anyone is a candidate for a GPS system, that would be me. I almost always print out a Google map before going anywhere.

I think many of us have my sense of direction when it comes to spiritual matters. The world is a confusing place—there are all these mixed messages about values and what is important in life. The siren songs of a thousand different voices bombard us constantly, telling us what is important and what we need to make us happy. On the one had we are told that money can’t buy happiness; but on the other hand Madison Avenue pitchmen offer a thousand different baubles that are money-back guaranteed to satisfy us... until the next thing comes along. We live our lives going in so many different directions at once, and that has to mean that at least some of the time we are going in the wrong direction. Right?

Sometimes when I get lost (and this is contrary to my Y chromosome), I just gotta pull over and call someone. If you are going the wrong way, it doesn’t matter how good the time you are making! We need to spend more time getting life directions from our life map. The Bible has things to say about our life choices—our relationships, use of money, how to treat difficult people, etc. Scripture is not a handbook for running a church. Actually few of what we connect with “running church” are directly mention-- church committees, Sunday Schools, bulletins, order of worship, building programs or even church buildings. What the Bible does reveal is the mind of God, and that is pretty important when it comes to the direction of our lives. Some obscure prophet named Jeremiah said something about “it is not for man to direct his steps” (Jer 10:23). We need directions.

And we also need to be more involved in helping one another with directions. Have you ever had another Christian humbly approach you, meantion a wrong direction your life seems to be be taking, give you wise counsel based upon their own past mistakes and then offer to pray with you? Well, me either. But isn’t that what we should be doing? Isn’t that one of the safeguards God gives us to keep us from ignoring or misinterpreting Scripture and making destructive life choices?

We need to be more open to getting directions along the way of our lifewalk. And we need to be more open to giving directions.

My Name in the Paper

A man from St. Johns County, Florida was recently found dead, stuck in the "doggy door" at his girlfriend's house. The 32-year-old man had had an argument with his girlfriend, and she threw him out of her house. He tried to use a small pet door (used by the woman’s cat) to get back into the house. He had his head and arm through the door like he was trying to reach the lock, and he evidently got stuck. His girlfriend found him dead several hours later. The exact cause of death has not been released, but it is speculated that he passed out rather quickly. There was no sign that he struggled to get free, and the girlfriend was in the house and did not hear him call out.

That is a strange and sad story, but that is not why it caught my eye on the news. What caught my eye was that the man’s name was Charles Tucker Jr.! OK, the fact that he was 32 years old, lived in Florida and had a girlfriend clued me in that this probably wasn’t me. But it sure was my name in the paper! I hope that when my demise will not come from a pet door. And if it does, I hope that the fact won’t be carried in the national news.

There is an old joke about the preacher who reads his name in the obituaries one Sunday. He checks the bio information, and sure enough it sounds like him. He calls one of his elders and asks, “Did you read the paper?” The elder said, “Yep.” The preacher asked, “Well, did you read the obituaries?” The elder said, “Yep.” Then after a long pause the elder asked, “Where are you calling from?”

One of these days, my name will be in the obituary section for real. I have no idea when that will be or what it will say about my demise. I kinda hope its will read something like, “Newport News man killed when hit by a spaceship while hang gliding on Mars” or something like that. But there indeed be a doggy door out there with my name on it. The only certainty in this uncertain world is that, unless Jesus comes first, some paper somewhere will carry our obituary. Nobody gets out of this life alive. The secret is living a life where you are ready to go whenever it (and however it is) that you go!

Casting Crowns

Last Saturday night, Lynn and Hannah Bean and I went to the Casting Crowns concert at Scope. Lynn and I don’t normally go to many concerts (Hannah is an old pro), but we really like Casting Crowns and Lynn’s birthday is this month. And because this was more or less Lynn’s birthday present, I went ahead and sprung for the most expensive tickets. After all, she’s worth an extra $15 bucks, right? Well, we weren’t exactly on the front row. No, we were exactly on the second row! We were just right of the stage and right in front of an eight foot tall speaker array! I brought the pair of small binoculars—didn’t need them. If we would have been any closer, we’d have been on stage!

I love being on the front row; we’re always on the front row for praise and worship. At Pepperdine, I have literally run from the field house all the way up the mountain to Smothers Theater to make sure we had a front row seat for Hallal or Zoe. But there is a difference in being down front for a rock concert. We were sitting 10-15 feet away from a huge bass sub-woofer, so every time the drummer hit the base drum, someone punched me in the sternum! I could feel the breeze from the air driven by the sub. Not sure how to do that a cappella, but it was great. Very, very loud, but it was great.

Here’s a YouTube video of “I’ll Praise You in This Storm.” This powerful song captures the frustration and the faith that we have all felt at times when going through the storms of life. Like Job we wonder why God doesn’t just step in and take the rain away; but like Job, we decide to trust, and to worship, the God who gives and takes away. The chorus says,

And I'll praise you in this storm and I will lift my hands
That you are who you are no matter where I am
And every tear I've cried you hold in your hand
You never left my side and though my heart is torn
I will praise you in this storm

Until we learn to worship God despite and during the storms of life, then we will never really worship, right? All Satan has to do to divert our praise is bring another storm. But once we learn to really praise God in the storms of life, then Satan looses power over us. “And as your mercy falls, I raise my hands and praise the God who gives and takes away.”

BTW, on the video near the end, there is a girl on the front row in a bright green shirt with one hand raised and the other over her heart. That was my pose much of the night Saturday. The hand raised is worship, but the hand over the heart is to block the punch of that sub-woofer thumping you in the chest!

Look, A Squirrel

Back in the olden days, preachers usually worked out of their homes. Church buildings were often so small that they didn’t include an office, so the preacher’s office was a corner of his bedroom or a closet converted for that purpose. That worked out OK, because the preacher’s home was usually right next to the church building so he was always convenient for everyone. Ah, the good old days!

I don’t think I would do so well with a home office. I’m working at home today (at least a big part of it) so I can be here for the Verizon guy who has to get into the house to hook up the new FiOS goodies. Hey, some very nice young men worked in 100 degree heat this summer to rip up my yard to lay fiber optic cable; the least I can do is give them a try! Anyway, I’ve been working on a sermon (or trying to) while working at home (at the table in the den on the laptop. First, as bad as my desktop keyboard was until I found the right one, laptop keyboards are horrible. How do people use these things all day long?

But the real problem is distraction. I’m working where I am looking at the refrigerator, so every time I have a hunger pain, I have to get up and see if anything good has magically appeared in there. And then I saw the mirror frame I kept telling Lynn I’ll glue back together—it’s sitting right there. So I got up and glued it back together. And Maggie keeps barking at someone doing something outside, so naturally I have to get up and see what is distracting her that is distracting me. Randy Tanner told me an idea for a T-shirt that surely he had me in mind as his first customer—“ADHD is not a real disease… oh, look, a squirrel!”

Perhaps one of the biggest spiritual struggles we have is in this area of distraction. We don’t have such trouble identifying the most important things in life—God, family, others. What we have trouble with is being distracted by other things that aren’t bad, just not as important. We spend much of out time on things that we know aren’t central to out being, important to God or critical for our true welfare… but they are so distracting. We can’t seem to focus on the most important things like, “Seek ye first of the kingdom of God…”

I need another cup of coffee. I wonder if the Verizon guy has the phone hooked up. Oh, look, a squirrel.

Lifesong

Lynn, Hannah Bean (our resident Casting Crowns groupie) and I are going to the Casting Crown concert at Scope this Saturday night. I’m no music critic, but the first Casting Crowns CD— cleverly titled “Casting Crowns”— is the best CD ever. At least, some of my favorite songs ever are on that CD. The second one is good too, but about half of the songs on the first CD are on my "greatest hits of all time" folder in my mp3 player. To paraphrase Jim McQuiggen, “I think every Christian should be forced to listen to Casting Crowns… if they want to!” They have released a third album which I don’t have yet, and that is likely what they will be playing at the concert.

Anyway, I was listening back over the two albums getting ready for the concert. A song that stuck out for me is the title song off the second CD, “Lifesong.” The song starts like this--

Empty hands held high, such small sacrifice
If not joined with my life, I sing in vain tonight
May the words I say, and the things I do
Make my lifesong sing, bring a smile to You
Let my lifesong sing to You
Let my lifesong sing to You
I want to sign Your name to the end of this day
Knowing that my heart was true
Let my lifesong sing to You

One of the things that keeps coming up in our sermon-n-small group series on Jeremiah was Judah’s insistence on seeing worship as most important to God. If they will just did the Temple thing with all the right rites, then their idolatry, adultery, and abusing the poor doesn’t really matter. Jeremiah tried hard but could never quite disabuse them of that notion... so this guy named Nebuchadnezzar rode into Jerusalem and puntuated the point by destroying the Temple.

Christians struggle under the same illusion that God is intensely interested in is our worship and doctrine, the things we do and say the one hour a week when we’re in church. Isn't that what Christians have fouight over through the centuries, the church stuff? Our lives the rest of the time may look little different from the world around us, but that is OK as long as we get the church think down right. The sound you hear is Jeremiah clearing his throat and trying to get our attention, “Hear the word of the Lord…”

After all, “empty hands held high” in worship really isn’t that big of a sacrifice, is it? If our worship and beliefs are not combined with how we live, then we “sing in vain tonight.” The song that God is most interested in hearing us sing is our “lifesong.” May my lifesong sing to you!

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. (Romans 12:1, NLT)

Resting Our Weight

When John Paton was translating the Bible for a South Seas island tribe, he found they had no word for "trust" or "faith." How can you translate the Bible without having a word for faith? One day one of the natives came running out of breath into Paton's house, plopped himself in a large chair and said, "It's good to rest my weight." A light bulb went on in Paton's mind; that was his word! Paton translated the Bible word faith as "resting you weight on God." Faith rests itself in God, it changes our way of looking at life.

We will never have peace with God through our own ability to either figure out all the rules much less keep all of them. If we really believe that to please God we must be able to sift through all the Bible as if it were a codebook, figure out all the of its hidden messages, rules and regulations, and then keep all of those rules perfectly-- well, it's kind of hard to really rest our weight in that, isn't it? Despite our best intentions, such an approach is destined to bring conflict within ourselves and with others. Such an approach rests our weight on ourselves-- on our intelligence and ability. We simply can't bear up under that kind of weight.

Peace with God comes when we rest our weight on God-- on his wisdom and on his accomplishments. That is the message of the cross. We are saved through what Jesus did for us there... and ONLY because of what Jesus did for us there. The cross is the only structure in the universe that is sturdy enough to hold us under the weight of our sin. That is why Paul refused to boast in any of his many accomplishments. They all paled before the glory of the cross.

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)

Trunk-N-Treat 2007

Well, Lynn missed her chance at her 15 minutes of fame yesterday. The Daily Press was supposed to have run the picture at right from last year’s Trunk-n-Treat in a special Halloween section of the paper yesterday. Lynn is Snow White surrounded by her seven dwarfs. Will King took the picture, submitted it to the paper and it was selected (probably front page above the fold). Unfortunately, Nosey Dwarf (far left) is our own Lisa
Deaderick, who in addition to being a member of our church, part of our Sunday night small group and all-around great gal is also a reporter for the Daily Press (hence “Nosey Dwarf”). For some silly reason, the paper saw this as a conflict of interest, and so the picture didn’t run. So Lynn will not be discovered and offered some big modeling job at Disney. Well, it would have probably just complicated our tax return anyway!

This picture is from last night’s Trunk-n-Treat. This year we were the Addams Family, complete with the theme song playing over and over for an hour and a half! Don’t we look “creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky?” Richard Pittman as "Lurch" was just too scary. It was also hard keeping Pugsley and Wednesday (Roger and Kati) from trying to kill each other, but then they do that when they aren't in costume! And this was the first time some of our folks have seen me in a suit and tie… and perhaps the last!

For the uninitiated, Trunk-n-Treat is a community service project where we try to provide a safe Trick-or-Treat alternative. We dress up, turn our cars into candy-give-away stations for the neighborhood kids. It has been very popular among the kids and a lot of fun for the adults. This year, Betty Tanner gave away free hot dogs just in case some of the kids or parents wanted a “nutritious” alternative to high-fructose corn syrup. The weather was great and everyone seemed to have a good time.

A Compass Pointing the Wrong Way

On December 7 (a day that, after all, lives in infamy) New Line Cinema will release the movie “The Golden Compass.” The movie will star Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig (“Bond, James Bond”), and is marketed as a “family movie” along the lines of “The Chronicles of Narnia.” In fact, the movie will have the same fantasy themes and the advertising has the same “look and feel” But don’t confuse this "Golden Compass" and Narnia, which C.S. Lewis’ wrote to teach Christian themes to children. In fact, this movie is meant to be the anti-Narnia; the writer of the books upon which the movie is based hated C.S. Lewis and the lion he rode in on.

“The Golden Compass” is the first of a trilogy of children’s novels known as the “Dark Materials” by Philip Pullman. This trilogy was an international best seller, although it didn’t do that well in the United States. Pullman is an outspoken atheist and critic of Christianity, and the fantasy themes in his novels are anti-Christian. He said in an interview, “My books are about killing God.” And in fact, in the last book, the main characters do succeed in killing “God.” At one point Pullman has a fallen angel dewscribe God like this to the young heroes of the book--

The Authority, God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty – those were all names he gave himself. He was never the creator. He was an angel like ourselves – the first angel, true, the most powerful, but he was formed of Dust as we are, and Dust is only a name for what happens when matter begins to understand itself.

So the anti-religious and anti-Christian point-of-view of these books are not something that some critics have read into them. This is the point of these books. The point for our kids!

Fortunately, the movie itself will likely not be all that offensive. New Line specifically ordered that the anti-God theme be removed from the movie, understanding that such a project would be economically unviable. But the danger is that the movie will become something of a commercial for the books. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said, “I'm not really concerned about the movie, which looks fairly innocuous. The movie is made for the books. ... It's a deceitful, stealth campaign. Pullman is hoping his books will fly off the shelves at Christmastime.” It is very possible that parents may buy the books for their children not realizing the sinister intent behind them.

Well, I won’t be going to see the movie! Well, at least not until it comes to video. I can say that with some certainty because we just don’t see that many movies in theaters. If I just have to see a fantasy movie with a hidden message, I’ll just watch Narnia again on DVD (for the 10th or so time!) Or I'll wait until March for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian to be released, one I will go see in a theater.

Powers and Principalities?

There was an excellent (and lengthy) article by David Kirkpatrick in the New York Times with the unfortunate title “The Evangelical Crackup.” The article does an excellent and balanced job of discussing the change that has taken place in the religious right. While evangelical voters once tended to rally around single-issues (abortion or homosexuality) and national leaders (Jerry Fallwell, Pat Robertson, James Kennedy), that is no longer the case today. Younger leaders (Rick Warren and Bill Hybels) are just as likely to stress AIDS, global warming, poverty and the plight of women in developing countries. Kirkpatrick does a good job illustrating this and giving some of the reasons why this is the case. Give the article a read... I'd be interested in your comments.

A quote from Gene Carlson in the article caught my attention. Carlson was senior pastor for 40 years of the 7000 member Westlink Christian Church. He was very involved in "the Christian Right," leading abortion protests and raising money. Though he still believes that abortion is evil, Carlson has had second thought about his political activism which he says “didn’t really change abortion.” Working to elect Christian politicians never seemed to make any difference in the end. Here was his observation that stopped me, “When you mix politics and religion you get politics.” And maybe that means in the end a Chrisatian politician is a politician?

Christianity was born in a totalitarian dictatorship in which politics was for the powerful and individual rights did not exist. For the most part, those with political power and influence were the enemy of God’s people and truth. James reminded his audience that it was the rich and powerful who were exploiting them and slandering the name of Christ (James 2:6-7). Later he condemns the wealthy ruling class who have hoarded wealth and exploited the powerless (James 5:1-6). Christians were to pray for leaders... so they could be left alone to live in peace (1 Tim 2:1-2). Are the political power structures of our world part of what Paul meant by “the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil?” Is it the case that when the church joins these power structures, even for good and noble purposes, that we run the risk of being twisted by them? Lord Acton’s famous line is, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

I’m not saying that Christians shouldn’t vote on moral issues. I’m not saying that Christians should never run for public office or get involved in political causes. This world needs the leavening influence of godly people in all spheres of life! But I am suggesting that the answer to the problems of this world is the message of the cross, not any political party or candidate or agenda. We will do more to change the woes of this world by sharing the story of Jesus and living out its implications in our own lives than by our political affiliations. Who we vote for is always optional; who we live for is not!

Hey Buddy, Can You Spare a Change?

I’m sure you remember the old “Light Bulb Jokes” that were popular a few years ago. You know, like “How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb?” Answer: “How many can you afford?” Well, I came across some that apply to church:

• How many Christian counselors does it take to change a light bulb?
  Only one, but the light bulb has to WANT to change.
  
• How many preachers does it take to change a light bulb?
  One. He holds the bulb while the world revolves around him.
  
• How many TV evangelists does it take to change a light bulb?
  One. But for the light to continue, send in your donation now!
  
• How many theologians does it take to change a light bulb?
  Three, but they're really one…no, it's three.
  
• How many elders does it take to change a light bulb?
  CHANGE?? That bulb doesn’t need changing.

Change is hard, and church change can be particularly unsettling— changing the order of worship, changing a ministry focus, changing from pews to chairs, and (nobody get any ideas) changing preachers. I have known of churches where building committees disbanded and deacons resigned over discussions over changing the color scheme in the auditorium!

Personal change is even more unsettling. When it comes to things like doing a better job at controlling our temper, finally kicking the nicotine habit, doing better with diet or exercise or spending more time reading the Bible, we often want to hide behind excuse like “I can’t help it” or “Hey, that is just the way that I am.” Or if we try to sound more pious, we may say, “That’s just not my spiritual gift.” But changing and being changed is one of the fundamental truths of Christianity. Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:3). He said, “Unless you are converted and become like children” (Matt 18:3, NAS). The idea behind “repent” and “convert” are the same-- change.

My reading this morning was from Jeremiah 35. Here God uses the example of the Recabites to spur and motivate unfaithful Judah. The Recabites were a nomadic clan that descended Jonadab, who charged his family to not drink wine or live in houses. They had followed that charge. The Recabites followed their ancestors command, but Judah would not follow God (Jer 35:13-14). Here is the part of the reading that stuck from this morning—“Each of you must stop doing evil. You must change and be good. Do not follow other gods to serve them. If you obey me, you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” (35:15, NCV). That is how God sums up the message of the prophets to Judah—“Stop doing evil… change and be good.”

Sounds pretty simple. The message of the prophets was “change.” We must forever remain clay that is soft and malleable; we must be wineskins that can expand and stretch. Change is rarely pleasant. But it is what God constantly calls us to do.

It Never Rains in California...

The picture at right was not taken during a riot someplace just after the police let loose with the tear gas. And the background of the picture is not someone's recreation of the surface of Mercury or something. This is a picture from Time of students Emily Roth and Michael Richards last Sunday morning just trying to breathe on the campus of Pepperdine University in the midst of the nearby wildfire that would eventually lead to potions of the campus being evacuated. The fires that are ravaging Southern California are driven by dry Santa Ana winds combined with severe drought conditions that have turned the state into a tinderbox. All that was needed was a spark (a downed powerline in the case of the Milibu fire) and entire regions have gone up in a raging firestorm.

Of course, nature isn’t only culprit here. Rampant development in areas that were never intended to support so many people often provide both the kindling and the spark that begin these fires. More and more homes are built on the edges of what was wilderness; one estimate is that more than 50% of the new housing built in California since 1950 has been built inside severe-fire zones. And not only do more people live where they are affected by the fires, but they also cause (usualy inadvertently, sometimes intentionally) many of the fires. And then there is the irony that after the fires have burned so much of the vegetation, when the rains do finally come, they will likely bring mudslides that can be as destructive as the fires.

Few places on earth are a beautiful most of the time as Southern California. And that has been the problem over the last half century. More people have migrated there than the land can support. And when nature rebels at the intrusion as it is this week, so many people are affected. Let’s continue to pray for the people out there. Let’s also pray for those who are helping and gearing up to help with the relief effort. Though they have don’t have any specific information yet on their web site (their latest web update was in June), I just have to believe that the folks at Churches of Christ Disaster Relief are gearing up and that the trucks will be rolling out of Nashville before the ashes are cool