Bee's & God

Have you ever heard someone say something to a kid like, "God created the bee and the devil created the stinger."? Does it concern you at all when you hear things like that? It does me. It makes God too easy to understand. When God is easy to understand there is nothing left to fear. I think that's a problem. I think we have become a little too lax in our view of God and created something more along the lines of "Buddy Jesus" in "Dogma."

Does anybody remember Luther's explanation to the 10 Commandments in his small catechism? "We are to fear and love God..." What happened to fearing God? I mean good ol' knee shaking, teeth chattering, cold sweat inducing fear? As kids we feared and loved things like the boogie man or monsters under our bed. What happened to our viewing God in this way.

When we stop fearing God, when we stop being in awe of God, then God becomes innocuous and insignificant. We can get away with anything and we are left without expectation. Yes, there's still grace, but I think there are expectations. Look at our home lives. Parents love their children and offer them grace, but they also expect them to clean their room, act responsible, give their best on school work, etc. Is God all so much different?

God created both the bee AND the stinger. We can fear the wrath, the disappointment, and/or the presence of God. As it turns out God IS dangerous. However, we can also love God and feel comforted by God's presence in our lives. Imagine the disciples out in the boat as the storm arose and Jesus spoke into the storm saying, "Peace" and the storm settled. The disciples must have been scared to death to understand that Jesus could control the weather. (Can't you just see Peter whispering to Matthew, "Don't make him mad!") The disciples must have been completely comforted knowing that Jesus could control the weather. (Can't you just see Matthew whispering back, "Yeah, but thank goodness he's on our side... right?")

Cheap Doesn't Always Pay

Given the current price of gas I have taken to driving slower, much slower, to save money by increasing gas mileage. Last night was really no different. I was driving home from St. Paul, cruising along at 55 mph. I had a good number of people pass me, but that was OK because I was in no big hurry. Although, I wonder if maybe I should have been.

Somewhere around Pine Island (the town about 10 miles North of us) it started to rain. As I got closer to home the lightning really began to pick up. It started to lighten a little as I arrived nearly home. I turned down our block and about four houses in there was the brightest flash of light and loudest clap of thunder I may have witnessed in a very long time. As the light faded, so did the street lights. As I got to our house I pushed the button for the automatic door opener... nothing... Turns out I don't have a house key on my key ring either. Why would I? Every time I come home I just drive into the garage and I'm good to go.

If only I hadn't been so cheap. If I had driven the up to the speed limit of 65 I would have been home approximately 15 minutes sooner and would have avoided being locked out of the house for an hour while they worked to restore power.

Then again, maybe I wouldn't have been locked out of the house if I had learned a lesson last year when we got locked out of the house at the end of vacation. Maybe if I would have learned and put a house key on my key chain. Maybe we could have found a good spot to hide a key around the outside of the house. Of course making extra keys and stuff would cost money. Is it really so bad to be locked out the house? Not if it saves you money. :-)

Congregational Critique

I would like to offer a challenge to those members of Christ Lutheran who are reading this blog. I have read in several different places that this generation coming of age now (18-40 year olds depending on who is writing) is looking for two things when considering joining an organization/group. First, there needs to be genuine community. They won't necessarily join for the community, in fact it seems they rarely do, but it needs to be present there for them to join. Second, they want to make a difference in the world and so that organization/group needs to allow them to join in making a difference.

When I look at traditional church structures typically the group responsible for creating genuine community is called something like the "fellowship committee." It's true everybody needs to be responsible, but typically it's the fellowship committee that works hard to help facilitate community within a congregation. The group traditionally responsible for making a difference in the world is called the "social concerns committee" or "service committee." Again, everybody really is responsible, but there typically needs to be a group to facilitate opportunities.

So here is the challenge to Christ Lutheran members reading. When I look around at the structure of our congregation I do not see a fellowship committee nor do I see a social concerns committee. So who is going to be responsible, and hold us responsible as a congregation, to work at creating genuine community and making a difference in the world?

Thoughts? (Am I off my rocker? Right on target? Something else?) Ideas? (What changes would you suggest? How might we address this?)

Religion and Politics

As I understand this notion of separation of church and state we seem to have got it all mixed up over the years. First of all, as I understand it, this notion is not actually in the constitution. It actually comes from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson. Second, my understanding is that it was a phrase termed to keep the government out of running the church and creating a state church as they have in most (if not all) European nations. I think it was assumed that leaders would most certainly bring their faith to the table as they entered in political discussion.

Now, it seems, we have completely reversed matters. We have people who will fight to their death to bring the American flag front and center into worship (Is that really a symbol of our worship? Can we find important places outside of our worship space for the sake of those who find their patriotism to be important in their life?), and some of those very same people who will go to battle to remove the ten commandments from the courthouse. This just doesn't seem right to me. I think we need to work to reverse this trend. Let's keep the government out of our church business and let's stop trying to shut God out of our courthouses and political dialogues.

Kelly Fryer wrote an interesting post about this on her blog today, which you can read here. Her suggestion is that JFK started this trend of taking faith out of politics and political discussion. It would make sense that he needed to be elected as a Catholic at that time. However, she wonders if Obama may be taking steps to interject faith back into the discussion. If he is it will take all of us helping to be successful in bringing it back in.

Water

We've recently had a good deal of rain in this part of the state. One of the things that seminary drilled into me as a Lutheran is that when you see (or hear) water you think of baptism. So here I sit, drying out from the Noah like rains and bracing for the next round that should start up in a day or two, thinking about baptism and water.

The recent rains have brought flooding to Northern Iowa and parts of South East Minnesota that REALLY don't need flooding. Last August we had some pretty serious flooding around here as well. I imagine a number of folks still weren't fully dried out from last fall when new floods came. So, I know that when I hear about water I'm supposed to think about baptism, but with all of this flooding I can't help but think that this water stuff is dangerous. (Oh yeah, there was a story on the news this morning about a many who drowned when a sailboat out of Galveston, TX sunk on its way to Mexico. So, yeah, this water stuff is dangerous.)

The big, long prayer we pray whenever we have a baptism is called by many, "the flood prayer." I suppose that's appropriate, and not just because Noah is mentioned in the prayer. I think baptism is dangerous. Think about it. We confess to believe (as Lutherans) that in baptism we are drowned to our old sinful self and raised to new life in Christ as the Word of God is breathed into us. God grabs hold of our lives. We become one with Christ. Now, that's dangerous stuff.

YES, God has big plans for your life. YES, God wants to work good things through your life. Now, let me ask you, how many of those "good things" or "big plans" do you suppose line up with what YOU want or what the world is calling you to? Some might, but what do you think people thought of Noah as he built a giant ship in the middle of the desert? What do you suppose people thought when they discovered that Mary was pregnant and not yet married? (Let me tell you her life was absolutely in danger.) What do you suppose the reaction of Theressa's family was when she became a nun and followed her call to move to India? What do you think your boss might think if you asked for a week off to go and help clean up after the floods? Or a year to go help out following the earthquake in China?

This water stuff IS dangerous business.

Hoping Against Hope

Here is my sermon from this past Sunday. As a Lutheran, I have to admit, I was a little concerned with a title like "Hoping Against Hope" because I didn't want it to fall into the world of "prosperity gospel" or Joel Osteen. I think it turned out OK. What I'm most impressed with is the changes in how they are now recording the videos at worship on Sunday. With the microphones going directly into the recording the sound is so much better. Way to go team!

Confidence or Denial?

I think it is important for us to be confident. It is amazing how far a positive attitude can take a person. Yet I've been wondering lately, at what point does confidence, or a positive attitude, turn into a denial of reality?

In regards to this question, to see this fine line, an easy person to pick on is our current president. One of the great things he brought to this country, especially in the immediate after math of 9/11 was his supreme confidence and positive attitude. We were going to work through this as a country and come out stronger. We all believed him, if for no other reason than we needed to. Yet on the other side of matters are images of him giving a speech underneath a banner declaring victory or this past winter scoffing at the predictions that gas would reach $4 per gallon. Well, it seems we haven't quite reached a point where we really can declare victory in Iraq and $4 per gallon is now a reality. It kind of makes him look buffoonish.

So at what point does confidence move from an asset to a liability? How do we remain confident with a positive attitude, but not deny reality? I ask because I try (at least publicly) remain as positive as I can. I try and counter what appears to be panic because of the perceived negative situation with positivity and confidence that we will get through it just fine. However, I fear that my confidence and positive perception have been received as denial of the situation and I end up looking a bit like a buffoon in the situation. So I ask, how do we find that line? How do we walk it as leaders?

Better than God

For some reason, today, I am struggling with the platitudes that people feel compelled to share when people die or are dying. I know they mean well and I don't want to be mean. Still, I am struggling because I don't think people really think them all the way through.

A friend of mine has a baby girl who is dying before his families eyes. Somebody posted a note to the baby girl that said, "Peace to you and your family as you grow your angel wings." It's actually not as bad as some of the other things say at times like this. Still, it is pointing to (and maybe even assuming) things that are said like, "God needed another angel," or "God must need her."

Let's think this through a little. If you are saying that God needs this person then you are suggesting a couple of things. First of all you are suggesting that God is needy. God is God, so does God really need anything? Second you are suggesting that God needs this person more than the hurting person left on earth. While that's hard to believe, but if it is true that would make the person you are trying to comfort better than God. Now that is a bold statement. (I know that's not the intention of such statements, but I believe we need to think more about the implications of what we're saying. Especially in a culture that is becoming less and less biblically literate and more and more theologically mailable.)

I think it's dangerous territory when we start thinking, or making claims, that we are somehow, in some way, better than God.

What Do You Believe?

It's funny how often the question of what you believe comes up. In a culture where church attendance is falling off like a cliff edge in the Alps, we still are bombarded with the question of what we believe. Yesterday we went to the latest of the Indiana Jones movies. (It was good, but I'm also glad we paid a discounted price.) Like other installments of the series the viewer is challenged to take on different beliefs. I was particularly struck when at the climax of the movie the "bad guy" asks Indiana, "Don't you believe?" He responds with, "I do believe, that's why I'm backing away." For me it then begged the question, "What do you believe?"

So, what do you believe? It seems that lots of people believe, but what do they believe in? What do you believe in?

It was also interesting, and maybe only to this pastor, that one of the main conclusions drawn at the end of the show was that true treasure was really knowledge. It reminded me of Proverbs 1:7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and discipline." It made me want to jump to the conclusion that faith really is the true treasure. If the treasure is knowledge and the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord and fear of the Lord really is faith, then it must be concluded that faith (meaning faith in God) really is the true treasure.... Perhaps a bit of a stretch, but I've got to tell you that this preacher is willing to make that leap... at least for today.

Another Take on Passion

There they were at Simon's house. Interesting I suppose that they were even gathered there, just look at the guy. Just the sight of him tells you that he's sinful. The dinner party was going nicely until this disheveled woman with eyes red from crying enters the room. She staggers over and breaks open a jar of perfume, and not the cheap stuff mind but the kind you save for very special occasions. What was she thinking? In fact, as she begins showering the guest of honor with this perfume some of the others object to her wasteful behavior. "By golly, that bottle was worth nearly a year's worth of salary," the guest exclaim, "just think how much we could given to the poor!"

Honestly, do you think they would have given ALL of that money to the poor if they had been given the opportunity? I know I wonder, but maybe they would have since Jesus was the guest of honor and the people gathered at the table were those who at least claimed to be followers of Jesus. Yet Jesus didn't scold her for this seemingly wasteful behavior, not because he didn't care for the poor but because he recognized the passion that overflowed in this woman and came out as exuberant gratefulness.

What are you grateful for? What might that look like in your life?

At the end of August my wife, Dawn, and I will have our first child. I can imagine it will be shortly after that we will crawl into bed with every muscle aching from exhaustion. We will roll over and give each other a little hug and a kiss good night. We'll hold hands as we lie on our back staring bleary-eyed at the dark ceiling. A grin will begin to grow from ear to ear and one (or both) of us will mutter something like, "I can't believe it!" For me it's a picture of extreme gratefulness, it's a picture of passion.

Discovering Passion

What are you passionate about?

That can either be a wonderful question or horribly painful. If an answer immediately comes to mind it is wonderful because you immediate go that place where energy begins to bubble up from deep within you. If you don't know, or even worse have forgotten, then it can be painful because you instinctively know what joy that might bring but instead you recognize gaping emptiness that is there instead.

So where does that passion come from? I suspect a big part of that answer comes from discovering how passionately God loves and cares for you. How can one really forget the image of the prodigal son crawling back to his father ready to beg for forgiveness when he is tackled and embraced with a bear hug to last all eternity by a father who had been heartbroken by the loss of his son. That passion in which the father embraces the son and calls out to his servants to prepare a celebration, we are told, is the exactly the kind of passionate love our heavenly father has for us... So I suspect when we tap into that kind of passion, it's difficult for us not to be passionate as well.

God's Exuberant Generosity

OK, so the sermon title wasn't my own. I got the thought from the Festival of Homiletics, and something that was said (I believe) by Walt Brueggeman, so I can't take credit for that. It never really ceases to amaze me how certain words can paint complete pictures all in themselves. With that being said, here is my sermon from this past Sunday.

Wisdom vs. Information

Earlier today at text study we got to talking about the Gospel reading for this Sunday and the story about the wise man building his house upon the the rock. It led us to a discussion about wisdom, and do we really seek it in this culture all so much any more? Is wisdom really something we value, we seek?

Every once in a while you'll see a cartoon portray a guru sitting on top of a mountain. It's an interesting prop for a comic strip. However, it seems we don't really seek out wise ones like that all so much. Which made me wonder if maybe wisdom has become something we seek more communally, for example like Wikepedia.

We are overloaded with information every day. Yet how much wisdom do we get? It leads me to think we're a wisdom depraved society. If that is the case, can we really embrace a story like we'll read on Sunday? Where do we even begin to relate?

I can tell you that wisdom begins with God. In fact, if I remember correctly, the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord. I don't have many answers, but I can suggest to start with God.

Community Conundrum

Last weekend were up at Luther Seminary for the Baccalaureate service as well as a few other graduation related activities. It got me to thinking about my time at Luther Seminary. What it got me thinking about was that the professors I seemed to most enjoy were the ones who, to me, really genuinely cared for, and enjoyed, the students. Isn't that something all of us are really looking for? A community where people really, genuinely care for us?

So how do we get people there? It seems to me that you can't force/coheres anyone to genuinely care? Maybe you can learn to fake it, but I suspect you'll be found out. So how do we foster a community that cares? Maybe, for all of us it starts with "me."

Irony

Last Sunday the assigned Gospel reading was from Matthew 6, where Jesus exhorts us, "Do not worry." A wonderful thought, but how often do we hear, "Do not worry," and wonder, "Why? What should I be worrying about?" So it was that I found it somewhat ironic that this past Sunday students from Luther Seminary graduated. An interesting fit of scripture and events, I think.

I was also struck by what I would consider the irony of a friend of mine who graduated with the class on Sunday. He grew up on a farm. Nothing wrong with that, but I think sometimes farmers get a falsely stereotyped that they are not real smart (because they seemingly work more with their hands than their brains). There is also a sense that farmers are tied to their land. Here's what I think is great, my "farmer" friend is probably one of the smartest people to be coming out of Luther Seminary this spring. He is also one of the more mission minded pastors coming out of the class as well. I suspect it's more "thanks to," than "despite," his parents that he has turned into this remarkable pastor.

Lazy and Forgetful

Earlier today I was at a meeting in which during our time of worship the pastor suggested that the Muslim faith doesn't really have a notion of original sin as we do in our Christian faith. (Keep in mind this is from another pastor so who knows how reliable that is.) Apparently instead of original sin they believe more that people get lazy and forgetful. I suppose this is a bit of an oversimplification of their understanding, but it does feel kind of true to my experience.

How often do I find myself forgetting what I was going to say? Usually it will get covered with something like, "It probably wasn't all so important." How do we know? It's been lost. Perhaps it was the first step towards world peace, or an idea for a million dollar invention. Of course that's me. Then there are the people of faith. Take the Israelites, for example, after being freed from slavery they seemed to have forgotten about how terrible their previous conditions had been and that God was the one that had set them free and was providing for them in the wilderness. Look at the letters of Paul to various congregations and their church fights, misunderstandings, etc. Don't we make all of those mistakes repeatedly ourselves? Have we forgotten already? Or is it that we've gotten lazy, because to be honest with you to live in relationship with other people is hard work.

Festival of Homiletics

This week I'm attending the Festival of Homiletics and I've been loving it. The problem is that it's completely filling my brain to overflowing every day. I'm hoping next week to eventually start sharing some of the brilliance that I've heard this week. The problem, for you the reader, is that it will only be brief glimmmers and glimpses but I will try my best.

Holy Spirit, Holy Cow

Here is my sermon from Pentecost Sunday (last week).

A Grammar Thought

I will apologize up front if I get this grammar thing incorrect. It was passed on to me by someone much smarter than I, especially when it comes to grammar. At text study today we were looking at the Gospel for this Sunday, which happens to be the Great Commission. It was pointed out that when you look at the Greek, "Go and make disciples" has a transitive verb. What means is that it is deeply connected with the subject. In this case the subject is God, and we are but the objects. So, in a sense, it's more of "Go and find people that God is already working on." It's really about what God is doing, not what we are doing.... I know, I didn't explain it quite as well as I wish I could have, but I still think it's a really cool thought.

Another, kind of fun thought, I got from text study is related to our first reading for Sunday, the story of creation. In the story we hear God command a couple of different times, "Go forth and multiply." We always assume it to mean go and make babies. However, what if we looked at it as a command for evangelism? If that's the case we might apply it to Byron by noting that there about 4,000 people who live in Byron now. There are not 4,000 people in worship on Sunday mornings. Consequently, you might argue that our "job" then is to be fruitful, to bear the fruit of the Spirit, so that the number of people in Byron who hear the Good News of Jesus proclaimed would multiply. A fun new way to look at an old story.

Dandelion Diligence

Ever since I entered the world of home ownership I've been fascinated with dandelions. I've especially been intrigued by dandelions as a metaphor for sin. These thoughts have reared their head once again as my annual battle with the yellow beast has begun. I know I haven't been as diligent as I could be in adding fertilizer and weed killer as I possibly could, but I've done pretty well I think. I continue to be amazed at the ferocity in which they persist and continue to grow. In fact, it's becoming almost a ritual that when I pull into the driveway, I wander around the yard pulling dandelions for 15-20 minutes before entering the house.

This new ritual has gotten me to thinking lately. What if I attacked the sin in my life with the same diligence in which I've been attacking the dandelions? How much better off might my life be?

Confirmation Sermon

On May 4, we confirmed 32 9th graders and 30 8th graders. It was wonderful to see all of these youth affirm their baptisms and to promise to continue to live out their life of faith. Here is the sermon that I preached that Sunday...

What Good is Theology?

Last week I got to attend a retreat with other first call pastors. On Thursday night our conversation turned to music at weddings and funerals. Much of the group were adamant that only "sacred" music should be a part of that worship time. They shared several examples of songs that people had wanted to use as part of a wedding or a funeral. I got the impression that a number of them would not even want to use "praise and worship" (or some call it "contemporary") music used.

I have to admit, that didn't sit with me real well. Sure, there is music that is more appropriate than others. I do believe I would draw the line with music that is overtly sexual, violent, or filled with inappropriate language (like curse words). That being said, as I retired to me room that evening I was struck with the thought of, "How egotistical it is to feel you can decide for people where they do or do not connect with God."

I wonder if sometimes as pastors we missed a big part of our theological training. How often do we, as resident theologians in our congregations, want to limit where we discover/encounter God? Instead, because we are trained in theology is it not our duty to broaden where we see God? If God is at work in the world, then we should not limit God to the confines of our sanctuaries. If God is at work in the world, and we really believe that, then it is our responsibility to help give people the language (the eyes of faith) to recognize God in ever expanding range of places. Otherwise, what good is theology?

Playfulness

I wanted to share another great section from "Dangerous Wonder" by Michael Yaconelli:

Time for a reality check, right? Playfulness is not a welcome idea for most of us. It sounds frivolous and shallow, distracting and irrelevant, inefficient and unproductive. That's because we live in a technological culture that worships busyness and activity. Under the guise of saving time, we now are inundated with e-mail, pagers, and cellular phones. We end each day smothered by the demands of our time and are greeted each new morn with more to do, not less. Play? There's no time to play. How can we play when the mountain of work and problems we are faced with each day get higher and deeper? How can we play when the world is overcome with poverty, famine, and war?

Play is an expression of God's presence in the world; one clear sign of God's absence in society is the absence of playfulness and laughter. Play is an escape; it is the way to release the life-smothering grip of busyness, stress, and anxiety. (Playfulness is a modern expression of hope, a celebration of the flickering light of the gospel that plays with the dark by pouncing on the surrounding darkness like a cat toying with a mouse.)

A Thought From Sunday

Yesterday, one of the things Pastor Dave talked about in his sermon was that we are called to be advocates. One of the reasons we are able to do that is because Jesus promised to send us another Advocate. (How cool is that? We have two! Jesus AND the Holy Spirit!) I thought that fit quite lovely with something shared at the Adult Forum, talking about the synod World Hunger Appeal. Are you sitting down? Here is the line, "To give charity is give a person the crumbs off your table. To give advocate for a person is to invite them to the table with you." I may slightly misquoted, but how cool is that? Where might you be called to be an advocate today?

Monkeys

Seriously, who doesn't love monkeys? Here's a song from VeggieTales, about Monkey's... sort of.

Maybe It's Time to Listen

For a while now we've been hearing reports about how the quality of education has dropped in the United States compared to the rest of the world. I heard someone claim the other day that we are the richest third world country. Then this morning I came across this clip...



It seems our life expectancy in this country is dropping. It cuts across all socio-economic lines. Yes the drop appears to be steeper with the poor, but it effects us all. The same, I would venture to guess, is true with the drop in education. Where else is this happening?

I don't share this to suggest that it's time to panic, rather to suggest that maybe it's time to listen. It's time to listen and recognize the poor around us. How long have we, as a nation, focused the rich and the wealthy? How long have we heard reports of a shrinking middle class and a growing disparity between the rich and the poor? We have, more often than not, held this up as perhaps a good thing. Then we allow the rich to run the country, both through laws of market and through politics (how many billions of dollars have already been spent on the upcoming presidential election?). We have assumed for some time now that it is good to let the rich rule because the reason they have become rich is because of their intelligence and talents, or they've acquired them because they have the means.

Now, it seems we are beginning to pay the price for ignoring the poor. Funny, how ignoring a problem doesn't just make it go away. It's about time we begin investing in the poor. We need to work on better educating ALL students. We need to work on providing affordable health care for ALL people.... Doesn't this sound like something Jesus once asked us to do?

Also, completely unrelated, check this post out from a partner in ministry. It includes a clip related to the emergent church, but there things that sounded awful Lutheran to me. I heard a claim to the priesthood of all believers. What do you hear?

The Power of Prayer

A friend of mine sent me the following joke. I kind of liked it, so I thought I'd pass it along to you.

A female CNN journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time. So, she went to check it out. She went to the Western Wall and there he was walking slowly up to the holy site. She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, using a cane in a very slow fashion, she approached him for an interview.

"Pardon me Sir, I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN. What's your name?"

"Maury Fishbein" he replied.

"Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?"

"For about 60 years."

"60 years?!? That's amazing! What do you pray for?"

"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims. I pray for all the wars and hatred to stop, I pray for all our children to grow up safely as responsible adults, and to love their fellow man."

"How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?"

"Like I've been talking to a fricking wall."

Jump First Faith

This past Sunday my sermon was titled, "Jump First Faith." If you have the patience to listen, you might recognize a few things from last weeks postings.

The Power of Plural

I'll admit it, I'm not really a big grammar guy. It doesn't often excite me. However, there are times when someone shares something with me grammatically and it just really strikes a cord. That happened to me this week. When we were looking at the gospel reading for this Sunday and we looked at John 14:14.

You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

A scary place, for me, to end our reading. It leaves us with a picture of prayer that is one of God being kind of a Holy Vending Machine. I don't think that's the image of prayer I want to be promoting. But then it happened. Somebody (much more learned then me) pointed out that if you look at the original Greek you see that the "You" there is actually a plural version, not singular.

How cool is that? It's not about my prayers. It's about be faithful in prayer in community. It's not about some formula, bu it's about people being faithful in community. So pray...not just by yourself, but with others and may your hearts become one (with God and each other)!

Fear First?

I consider myself fortunate to have grown up around water all of my life. Most of my childhood we had a modest house on a lake. When I was really little there was very little fear. I would just run and jump in the water. Before you know better you jump first and fear later. As you grow older you learn from the world to fear first and jump later. Sometimes that's a good thing.

When I got a little older I grew content with just staying in the shallow water. The deep water was scary. One day, in an attempt to help overcome my fear, my parents threw me off the boat into the water. I screamed and cried. You know what? I didn't die. It did help me overcome my fear and I loved the water even more than before, because I knew I could survive the deep water. (Lest you think my parents horribly cruel, I did have my life preserver on and they were right there, but to a kid those parts didn't register over the fear...at least initially.)

How often do we see Jesus in the gospels encouraging people around him not to fear? Sure, there are a lot of scary things going on in the world. In fact, they are everywhere. If we let fear run our lives we might ever leave our homes, maybe not even our beds. Or we can face our fears and "jump first" knowing that God goes with us. In fact, God is already where we are going, God is already fully active in the world all around us.

Wild, Faithful Abandon

I have been reading "Dangerous Wonder: The Adventure of Childlike Faith" by Michael Yaconelli. I LOVE this book. I think this is my third time reading it. I would like to share an excerpt from it here today:

"Last year Bill Harley, singer, songwriter and storyteller, told a marvelous story on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. It is the story of a young girl who ended up breaking the rules, rejecting the expectations of all around her, because she loved with abandon. Here is her story:

"Last year my son played T-ball....Needless to say, I was delighted when Dylan wanted to play....Now on the other team there was a girl I will call Tracy. Tracy came each week. I know, since my son's team always played her team. She was not very good. She had coke-bottle glasses and hearing aids on each ear. She ran in a loping, carefree way, with one leg pulling after the other, one arm windmilling wildly in the air.

Everyone in the bleachers cheered for her, regardless of what team their progeny played for. In all the games I saw, she never hit the ball, not even close. It sat there on the tee waiting to be hit and it never was. Sometimes, after ten or eleven swings, Tracy hit the tee (in T-ball the ball sits on a plastic tee, waiting for the batter to hit the ball, which happens once every three batters). The ball would fall off the tee and sit on the ground six inches from home plate. "Run! Run!" yelled Tracy's coach, and Tracy would lope off to first, clutching the bat in both arms, smiling. Someone usually woke up and ran her down with the ball before she reached first.

Everyone applauded.

The last game of the season, Tracy came up, and through some fluke, or simply in a nod toward the law of averages, she creamed the ball. She smoked it right up the middle, through the legs of 17 players. Kids dodged as it went by or looked absentmindedly at it as it rolled unstopped, seemingly gaining in speed, hopping over second base, heading into center field. And once it reached there, there was no one to stop it. Have I told you there are no outfielders in T-ball? There are for three minutes in the beginning of every inning, but then they move into the infield to be closer to the action, or, at least, to their friends.

Tracy hit the ball and stood at home, delighted. "Run!" yelled her coach. "Run!" All the parents, all of us, we stood and screamed, "Run, Tracy, run, run!" Tracy turned and smiled at us, and then, happy to please, galumphed off to first. The first base coach waved his arms 'round and 'round when Tracy stopped at first. "Keep going Tracy, keep going! Go!" Happy to please she headed to second. By the time she was halfway to second, seven members of the opposition had reached the ball and were passing it among themselves. It's a rule in T-ball-everyone on the defending team has to touch every ball.

The ball began to make its long and circuitous route toward home plate, passing from one side of the field to the other. Tracy headed to third. Adults fell out of the bleachers. "Go, Tracy, go!" Tracy reached third and stopped, but the parents were very close to her now and she got the message. Her coach stood at home plate calling her as the ball passed over the first baseman's head and landed in the fielding teams empty dugout. "Come on, Tracy. Come on, baby! Get a home run!"

Tracy started for home, and then it happened. During the pandemonium, no one had noticed the twelve-year-old geriatric mutt that had lazily settled itself down in front of the bleachers five feet from the third-base line. The tongue hung out, mouth pulled back in an unmistakable canine smile, and Tracy stopped, right there. Halfway home, thirty feet from a legitimate home run.
She looked at the dog. Her coach called, "Come on, Tracy. Come on home!" He went to his knees behind the plate, pleading. The crowd cheered, "Go, Tracy, go. Go, Tracy, go!" She looked at the adults, at her own parents shrieking and catching it all on video. She looked at the dog. The dog wagged its tail. She looked at her coach. She looked at home. She looked at the dog. Everything went to slow motion. She went for the dog! It was a moment of complete, stunned silence. And then, perhaps, not as loud, but deeper, longer, more heartfelt, we all applauded as Tracy fell to her knees to hug the dog. Two road diverged on a third-base line. Tracy went for the dog."

Two roads diverged in this little girl's life. One is the road of rules and expectations, the other is the road of love. The roads of our lives are much the same. Will we go for the safe, predictable road of rules and expectations? Or will we go for the ONE we love, Jesus, who bids us come with wild abandon?"

Olympic Abandon

The summer between 3rd and 4th grade was awesome. My next door neighbor and I spent the summer participating in the Olympics. Often it was just the two of us and so we had to develop new games like 2 square, rooftop volleyball, and mega-hopscotch. I would wake each morning with eager anticipation of what the days activities might bring. Would we find ourselves in a 2 square grudge match settled in triple sudden death overtime? Would we be pitted against each other in an epic swimming endurance competition? I couldn't tell you how long these epic battles lasted because as we allowed our imaginations to run wild all sense of time was lost. I can tell you that we were called home from time to time eat and to sleep, but that's about all I could tell you.

It was a summer of complete and total abandon and as we gave ourselves over to the Olympics. We went where the competition was, and as best as I can remember I loved every minute of it because it was filled the joy of abandon, of giving yourself over. I was no longer contained by the rules of this world.

Do you remember reading about this in the early chapters of the gospels? As Jesus began his ministry he was rubbing elbows with tax collectors, fishermen, and all kinds of other people. He called out them saying, "Come follow me." Amazingly, with complete abandon, they left what they were doing to follow Jesus. We too are invited into that same sort of abandon, to shed the things of this world and to follow Jesus wherever He may lead us. We are invited to get lost in the joy of abandon, to get lost in the love of Christ. (Please note that it's about following Jesus not going our own way and then inviting Jesus to follow... there is a difference.) It is wild. It is reckless. It is our call.

Fishin' For Religion

One of my favorite music groups from the early '90's is Arrested Development. They had a unique sound and a number of songs with thoughtful lyrics. I've recently started listening to them again. One of the songs that grabbed my attention this go round is "Fishin' For Religion" and the lyrics are just below.

Grab the hook, grab the line
Grab the bait, grab the box and wait
Tackle and shackle the topic the faculty has chosen
Chosen by many, chosen by plenty, chosen by any
man or woman who understand
the topic that's known and
[Go by the dock] flock and clock the topic
as I drop my hook and get a bite
The reason I'm fishin' 4 a new religion
is my church makes me fall asleep
They're praising a God that watches you weep
and doesn't want you to do a damn thing about it
When they want change the preacher says "shout it"
Does shouting bring about change ? I doubt it
All shouting does is make you lose your voice
So on the dock I sit in silence
staring at a sea that's full of violence
Scared to put my line in that water
coz it seems like there's no religion in there
Naively so I give it another go
Sitting in church hearing legitimate woes
Pastor tells the lady it'll be alright
Just pray so you can see the pearly gates so white
The lady prays and prays and prays and prays
and prays and prays and prays and prays...it's everlasting
"There's nothing wrong with praying ?" It's what she's asking
She's asking the Lord to let her cope
so one day she can see the golden ropes
What you pray for God will give
to be able to cope in this world we live
The word "cope" and the word "change"
is directly opposite, not the same
She should have been praying to change her woes
but pastor said "Pray to cope with those"
The government is happy with most baptist churches
coz they don't do a damn thing to try to nurture
brothers and sisters on a revolution
Baptist teaches dying is the only solution
Passiveness causes others to pass us by
I throw my line till I've made my decision
until then, I'm still fishin' 4 religion

It appears to be a critique of the Baptist church (I'm assuming at least one person in the group came out of that tradition), but I can see it being a critique of any mainline denomination today, especially the ELCA (which I am a part of). As you may have noticed, I highlighted the lyrics that hit me the most.

The preacher says "shout it." When we see an injustice in the world, what is typically our response? Let's do a study. Let's talk about it. How much do we need to talk about it? Do we really need a committee meeting to decide whether or not we should help the flood victims in SouthEastern Minnesota? What if we just rolled up our sleeves and went and helped them dig out? Do we really need to do a study to discover whether or not we are "properly" loving our homosexual brothers & sisters? Couldn't we just open our arms and try loving them?

The word "cope" and the word "change" is directly opposite. Granted, there are times when "cope" is perhaps the appropriate prayer, such as a terminal diagnosis of cancer. However, when we're talking about behavioral type things (i.e. gossip in the community, broken relationships, etc.) wouldn't "change" be a much more appropriate prayer? I've had a number of difficult relationships in my life and more often than not my prayer has been asking for help to "deal with it." Why not pray to change the relationship so it be healthy once again?

Maybe it's my generation, I don't know, but I want to see action. We talk about things so much, but when do we begin living this stuff out? We use politically correct talk to cover how we actually feel. It's time we start actually loving our neighbor... and not just with words.

Can I Get a Witness?

As some of you know, yesterday was Good Shepherd Sunday. Here at Christ Lutheran one of the things Pastor Dave talked about in his sermon was an analogy of the sheep pen and worship. We gather together in worship of God, like the sheep in their pen, and then we are sent out into the world as witnesses to the love that we experience on Sunday mornings, just as the sheep leave their pen each day. Out in the world there is much challenge, potential dangers, but we go knowing that the shepherd goes with us to watch over us. I liked the sermon. I liked the analogy.

This morning, I was reading a friends blog and was pointed to this video.



My friend, Kelly, then pointed something out that made a lot of sense. While it is good, it comes up a little short. With this imagery, have we created an us vs. them scenario? Are we not a part of the world and the world a part of us? What can we learn from the world? If God is already at work in the world, then we ought to be looking for signs of God's presence there already. As believers, as followers of Christ, we are invited to join in what God is already up to. It is not, at least to my understanding, up to us make God show up in the world. Certainly we help point people to where we witness God at work already, but it is not up to us to make God show up in the world.

At the same time, it is still good for us to gather in worship. It is good to give God thanks in worship. Sometimes we even find our time in worship to be a "recharge" to continue with our journey of ministry. It is good to go and to share what we have learned about God and to be ambassadors to the world. However, I just want to encourage you to look for where God is already at work as well. To remember that we can learn from that, we can learn from the world. A witness can go both ways.

A Presidential Pondering

I keep hearing all of these different reports about how the democratic party needs to get down to just one candidate... and the sooner the better. Various leaders in the party have been encouraging super delegates (wouldn't it be cool if you were a super delegate because you had a super power?) to cast their votes in a block by various arbitrary dates. I keep hearing that the more the process is prolonged the more it hurts the party. Being the simple minded person I am I wonder, Why?

What I've observed is that as long as the race is close between Barrack and Hillary the press tends to cover them non-stop. I don't tend to see a whole lot of coverage of McCain. In a "what have you done for me lately" society we see what Barrack and Hillary are doing, but we don't really see Mr. McCain doing much. As long as the media is covering them intensely, it seems to me that the two democratic candidates have ample opportunity to lay out who they are, what they stand for, and how they want to make changes. I would think that would be a good thing.

I guess we'll find out in November what sort of effect these prolonged campaigns will have... then what will we talk about?

Lessons from a Cow

I came across this story today about how ends up lost on a road, despite the many fences ranchers might put up. I found it kind of interesting, almost insightful, so I thought I would share:

A cow is nibbling on a tuft of grass in the middle of a field, moving from one tuft to the next, and before you know it he ends up at some grass next to the fence. Noticing a nice clump of green on the other side of the fence, the cow stumbles through an old tear in the the fence and finds himself outside o the road. "Cows don't intend to get lost," the farmer explained, "they just nibble their way to lostness!"

Isn't that how it happens in our life? We set out intending to be lost? We set out trying to cut ourselves off from God? I don't think so. I think we find ourselves there it's because we've nibbled our way there. We sleep in on a Sunday. We stay after work an hour or two here or there. We take one project and then another. Before we know it we've nibbled ourselves to a place of lostness in our lives.

If you are one of those people who might be feeling lost today (or when you get to that point) I want to encourage you to try and listen for God's voice... I want you to listen not for what God wants you to do, but listen for how much God loves you. My prayer for you, and everybody really, is that your relationship with God return to a point where it looks like little kids chasing each other giggling, laughing, and unclear as to who is chasing who.

A Room Full of Knuckleheads

Here is my sermon from this past Sunday (Easter 2) about Thomas and the disciples. I titled it "A Room Full of Knuckleheads" and I suspect you might see why if you have the patience to sit through all of it. The Easter Sunday videos have not been returned yet. When, and if, they do I'll share that sermon as well. For now, you'll have to settle for this, I guess.

Evangelism Saves Lives

I was directed to a blog this morning of mission developing pastor. On that blog was this neat video. I actually saw her story a while back, but had kind of forgotten about it. Talk about putting your life on the line for the gospel! What would you have done? What do you think of her boldness? Take a look:

Culturally Savvy

I was just reading an article in "Youth Worker Journal" that challenged me. Author Dick Staub offered the challenge that it used to be that Christianity/Christians influenced culture. Now, if anything, Christianity seems to be influenced by culture. We rush after trends in order to try and attract people. Even worse, I think, sometimes we try and remove ourselves completely from culture, even creating our own "sub-culture." Consequently, we end up with a shallowness or a Christianity-lite. Perhaps it's time for us to reclaim our place in culture and be the movers and shakers that God created us to be. It's time to rekindle our passion, experience the depth of our faith and begin being the influencing force that we are.

No Foolin'

I was doing some snooping around the Internet last night and got learning a little more about some of this emergent church movement. I'll admit, I'm still a newbie diving into this stuff, but I kind of liked what I learned. (If you want to see some of the places I was looking check out here, here, or here) Most of what I gleaned was from watching the video on Tony Jones' blog.

Here are a couple of the key points that I heard. The world is not black and white, but filled with much gray. Consequently our theology should be reflective of those shades of gray. (That sounds quite receptive to Lutheran theology.) I also heard about how as a culture we made a move towards "big" and things like "mega stores". The church followed with large denominations and churches that came to be known as "mega churches." Now there is a cultural movement towards smaller, local stores, etc. Consequently the emergent church is a move in that direction as well. (Not very Lutheran, but something that I like)

The bottom line, at least for me is, who cares about congregations, denominations, rules, structure and all of that other "stuff" that we tend hold up as so important. Sure, there is probably a necessary evil in needing some of that stuff, but we can't let that get in our way. What IS important is Jesus! It's about building a relationship with our Lord and Savior. How do we do that? If we trust in the wisdom of the Bible (and I hope you do) we just might see that we work this out as a community. Wasn't that largely the basis of the Bible? It was written to tell God's story to the community and then the community turned to each other and said, "Now what? How do we live this out?" Have we changed all that much?

I guess it turns out that I'm a Lutheran who is liking what he is hearing coming out the emergent church movement... No Foolin'!

A Hero of Mine

If we were playing a mixer type game and you asked me something like, "If there were one person dead or alive that you would like to have dinner with who would it be?" I just might answer it with Mike Yaconelli. He was a youth ministry "guru" for years. He had a way of looking at the world, the church, in way that is completely upside down from the way most of us look at it... and I think he was dead on! Below is a tribute video created (as I understand it) shortly after he died a few years ago. (I just recently found it online.) It is a little long, but I think it's well worth watching. I pray that there are a few comments that get you excited about Jesus, since that's really what it's all about.

Proud Daddy

So this may be of interest to about three people in the entire world, but I'm still going to share with those three. For those uninterested, feel free to just skip past the pictures and join me again some other day. Having shared that disclaimer I now share with you the very first of our baby pictures (and I suspect there might be a few more shared here in the months/years to come).

A Couple Things Struck Me Today

I've had a couple of things strike me yet today. First, on the news this morning there was more talk about Barack Obama's pastor and some things that were printed in bulletins on Sundays gone by. Why are they digging into his pastor's life, etc.? Are they somehow related? Somehow sharing a brain? Perhaps he pastors differently than me, but I can't imagine any members of our congregation being so brainwashed that they believe every little thing that I believe. They should be judged by their thoughts and what they've done and not by what I think or do. Am I crazy to think this?

On a completely unrelated note I discovered something called "Twitter". It's a "web service" (my words not theirs) that is available because real life happens between blog posts and e-mails... so let's inform people of our every move online. I honestly don't know what to think of it. Part of me thinks it's kind of cool. Part of me really, really wants to mock it. Take a look at this video that explains it. What do you think?

Parenting

Let me first start with an admission/confession: I know that I am not going to be the greatest parent in the world. I also recognize that parenting is going to be FAR more difficult than I can even begin to imagine right now.

With that in mind, let the rant begin...

While I know there are a great many challenges to parenting, I believe there are some things that are relatively simple (at least from the outside). This morning on The Today Show they had a segment where parents were expressing concern about how much time their kids were spending interacting with their electronics and not interacting with real people. There was even a brief moment of lament, like conversations I've had with people around here, that kids just don't go outside and play any more. So far, so good, I feel your pain.

Now, here's where the disconnect begins for me. They showed a statistic that said that 20% of kids under the age of 2 have a television in their room. Parents talked about their kids having computers, i-pods, weii's, xboxes, playstations, and cell phones. This is where I begin to get confused. If you don't want your children playing with a lot of electronics, why have you purchased multiple electronics for them and allow them to be used (to exclusion if they so chose) in their rooms? Have a computer, but keep it in a public space so others can join in the games you might play.

If you want your kids to play outside then what ever happened acting like your parents (or at least mine) and say (and expect) things like, "Go play outside for a while." When they respond like I often did with, "But what am I going to do?" You can always answer like my parents, "I don't care, just go outside and play. You'll figure something out." Here's the funny thing, I usually did figure something out, and often found myself not wanting to come back inside.

Again, I am not a parent and I realize it's not always that simple. Still, I can't help but think there are some aspects to parenting that really don't need to be that complicated. You are the parent, they are the child, and as parent you are in charge and you set the rules. I wonder where some of that has gone. Perhaps I'll be learning in the years to come.

Every Day Easter?

I was looking at Monday's devotion in "Christ in our Home" this morning. The author took a quick look at groups like AA where the motto is "one day at a time." You see it takes time to change. When changing habits, really, we're just exchanging one for another. A smoker gives up cigarettes, but takes on popping M&M's instead. It's the way we seem to be wired. That's why AA encourages things like "one day at a time," because to never have another drink for the rest of your life is a HUGE, daunting. Yet to not drink today has the chance of being doable.

So that's where the author drew us back to Luther. In talking about baptism Luther talked about daily dying to sin. So there it is, a daily thing. I don't just show up for worship on Sunday morning and I am done with sin for good. We need to return to our confession and forgiveness every day. In the same way many of us found great joy in celebrating the resurrection this past Sunday.

There was music, enthusiasm, new clothes and all kinds of other things to signify the festiveness of the occasion. However, just like all of these other things that one time event just isn't going to do it for us in the long run. We need to return to the resurrection on a daily basis. Make EVERY day Easter. It wasn't a one shot gift, so let's celebrate as often as we can, both in big and small ways.

Warrior Servant

A friend of mine (DanaLee), a pastor in the Salt Lake City area shared this story with me, and I would like to share it with you. (She didn't give me "express written consent" but I'm going to assume it's OK for now.) She might not admit it, but she is a warrior servant for sure!

Turbo kickboxing is one of my favorite ways to get my cardio workout these days. My Monday night instructor is pretty awesome – spiritual, motivational, strong, inspiring. . . At the end of our workout this past Monday night, we were cooling down and she was taking us through a dance (a series of moves) we’ve done before that is meant to bring out our “inner warrior”. I’m all good with that. I don’t mind tapping my “warrior” within. J But, something she said in passing threw me off. “You’re either a warrior or a servant,” she said. “You choose.” Like they were two separate things. Like a warrior was strong and a servant was weak. It flustered me. It struck a chord in me. I think mostly because earlier that day I had prepared my sermon for Maundy (Holy) Thursday. In the Gospel for this night, Jesus takes on the form of a slave and washes His disciples’ feet. Then he commissions them to serve each other in this way. He sends them out with a new commandment to love one another as He has loved them. The world says, “You’re either a warrior or a servant.” Jesus says, “To be a warrior you have to serve.” (Later that night after teaching his disciples in this way, Jesus would be arrested and led to his death on the cross – and act of the ultimate Warrior Servant.)

I’m not sure why I felt so compelled to share this learning. I think of the list of people to whom this will be sent and this is nothing new to you. You are warrior servants already – to you kids, to your parents, to your friends, to your co-workers, to the people, known and unknown, who have been entrusted to you. Still, it doesn’t hurt to be reminded. Reminded that God’s word becomes clear in any old place when we listen – even at the gym. Reminded that as we love others through our service, we are following Jesus’ new commandment. Reminded that when we are tired in our serving – (and we do get tired and overwhelmed and taken beyond where we ever imagined we would ever have to go) – that Jesus serves us. From the cross, certainly. But, today, too. Now. In this moment. Never giving us more than we can handle. Never allowing us to be alone in our serving or suffering. Never letting anything we do or don’t do keep Him from loving us.

Blessed Holy Week, dear ones – warrior servants.

A Good Friday Irony

Again, yesterday was an interesting day around here. We gathered at both noon and 6:30 to remember the day that Jesus hung on the cross and died for us. It is a solemn and somber day, that is for sure. Yet, it was also the day that Dawn and I went to the Doctor's office and had an ultrasound. What an incredible thing it was to see that there really is a living, squirming baby in there with arms, legs, and feet. We saw the heart beating. We experienced new life in a way I have never experienced it before. It was INCREDIBLE!... and I have pictures to prove it! Funny how life and death seem to go hand in hand. Kind of like Good Friday and Easter.

Good Friday Thought

Yesterday (Good Friday) was an interesting day here in Southeastern Minnesota. It was the first full day of Spring, two days before Easter, a time when you're brain is starting to thinking of warm sun and flowers starting to poke their heads out of the ground. Instead we got about 5 inches of snow. Not really the weather I would typically envision for a Good Friday.

Yet, as I thought about it a little bit, it seemed like perfect weather for symbolizing Good Friday. You see it was one of those "warm" snows, with big giant flakes. On the one hand, because it was snowing there was a certain chill in the air. On the other hand it was about 34 degrees with calm winds so it was actually kind of warm. (Okay, so if you're reading this from somewhere like CA or AZ you might think it odd that 34 would be considered warm, but you need to understand we've had a good number of days below zero this winter so 34 begins to feel warm.)

Good Friday, is a "celebration" that is filled with both cold and warmth. It is a time that we in the church gather to remember the day that Jesus hung on the cross and died. There is a cold pain in death, especially of one we love. Yet, in the midst of the chill of death there is a certain warmth to the day as well as we are reminded of Jesus' great love for us... that he died on that cross "For You!"... "For Me!"... "For All!"

Gospel of Avodart

I do believe it is the Avodart commercials that say, "It's not a going problem, but a growing problem." As I look at the readings for this coming Sunday, which really ultimately resonate through every Sunday, I see once again that call to go. The women show up at the tomb, they are scared, and Jesus says, "Go." How many of us are filled with fear, especially when we hear Jesus' call to "Go"?

It's understandable, this call to ministry is scary. It's understandable because we live in a world filled with fear. We've cultivated a culture of fear. Over the past weeks we've heard lots of gloom and doom coming from Wall Street. Over the last several years politicians have been running on a platform of fear. "Don't let the terrorists win, elect me!" they proclaim. We hear regular reports of predators on "Nightline," Dateline," and "20/20." Fear surrounds us everywhere, so it's natural to be scared. We can't compartmentalize fear, it just sort of creeps throughout all of our lives.

So what do we do to confront this fear? Our instincts make us think we need to grow in faith. Yet, like becoming a parent, are you ever really ready? Are you ever prepared enough? Honestly, as a father to be, can I ever read enough books to prepare me for what will happen with my child? I just need to go and experience being a father to really understand what that means. Likewise, are we ever really fully prepared for anything life may bring our way?

See, I think what we've got going is a situation similar to an Avodart commercial. "It's not a GROWING problem, but a GOING problem." Jesus' solution for the fear the women faced was to tell them to "Go and tell." When faced with this fear we are called to mission, to evangelism, to "Go and tell." That doesn't mean the fear goes away, I don't know if it ever really does (because if it's not one thing we fear, then it's another). However, we can learn to live through the fear. We have the promise that when we go God goes with us. We have the promise that when we go God goes before us. So GO!

Passion Sunday Sermon

Brief as it may be, here is my sermon from Passion Sunday. We tried to allow the readings to do the preaching.

Leadership Fine Line

This morning I was watching the Today Show and the Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, was on talking about the state of the economy. I have to admit I was struck some by his comments in light of some of my desires for leadership. He did what so many in the Bush administration do well, and that's portraying an air of confidence and calm.

Our church council has been reading the book, "Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times" by Peter Steinke. One of the things we talked about in there is the need to be a non-anxious presence. It is important for leaders to be calm and confident when confronted with anxiety. When we confront anxiety with anxiety we just raise the level of anxiety. When we confront anxiety with non-anxiety we tend to diffuse the anxiety.

So then, I see this clip posted below. It didn't feel quite right. Take a look and see what you think.




I think it is good that he is attempting to diffuse the anxiety by not being anxious himself and projecting an air of confidence. The problem that I see (and feel free to disagree with me here) is that by projecting this confidence it comes off almost as arrogance because it feels like there is a denying of reality.

It got me to wondering, do I have the same problem sometimes? Perhaps in being non-anxious as a leader I also need to be clear that I recognize the reality of the situation. It seems, then, that we need to be both confident and realistic. So how do we find that balance? I can't say that I have any great answers, but I do recognize that it is critical for leadership.

Play

Honestly, I think we take ourselves too seriously. It's about time we start having more fun. We read or hear reports about schools cutting things like physical education, art, music, and now even social studies because we need to focus on improving test scores (which are Math, Science, and English). Interestingly it feels like the more we cut these things the more test scores seem to drop. What's the connection? The things getting cut are fun, playful sorts of activities (with maybe the exception of social studies). I think we need to play more at school, both in the classroom and at recess.

I don't think this is just a problem for kids, though either. I work in a church so consequently I hear on a regular basis how mainline denominations are fading, falling apart, or any number of other ways of describing the same decline. What do we have in common? One of the things I see is a common tradition that pushes us to be more and more serious (devout? pious?) and say things like, "We don't do that around here." Why not? It might be fun. I think (and I may be wrong here) that we all like to have fun and laugh. When looking at any sort of "singles scene" what is one of the most common things people are looking for? A sense of humor. We as adults need to play as well.

I think maybe that's why I liked the post I came across last week. (You can read it here.) In essence it suggested that we need to take play more seriously. When is the last time you "cut loose" and just played? When was the last time you were silly just for the sake of being silly? When is the last time you laughed at yourself? These are good things my friends. If your answer to any of these things was something along the lines of being a long time then I suggest you've got some serious playing to do. Oh sure, there are things we do have to take seriously, but we also need to play as well.

Gift of Freedom

Here is a clip from "The Daily Show" this past week as Jon Stewart tracks the logic of President Bush entering the war in Iraq.

Crazy

So this past week has been a bit crazy. I've wanted to post more, but it turns out that you need to actually be in the office and around a computer. Go figure! Turns out that hasn't happened a whole lot. So for those who check out my blog on a semi-regular basis in hopes of something new to read (to mock, be inspired by, or whatever) I do apologize the going has been slow lately. I should also warn you that I don't anticipate next week being any better... You know, Holy Week and all... maybe I can find some other videos to share.

Resurrected Life

Here is my sermon from this past Sunday, based largely on the story of the Raising of Lazarus found in John 11.

Give Big

It turns out that Oprah has a new show called "The Big Give." (Like she needed to something else to make more money.) It's a reality show where contestants are challenged to give away large chunks of money to "deserving" people. It's kind of an interesting concept. Their slogan is, "Give Big or Go Home." Perhaps a philosophy we could all grab a hold of. In fact, I heard one of the contestants say last night, "If you want to live big, then you have to give big." I don't know about you, but I liked that. I think that's something all of us could afford to learn.... And I don't think we need a sappy Oprah/network producer to make it happen.

I Don't Get It

I saw a report on the news this morning that kind of disturbed me. If you are familiar with Minnesota politics you will know that recently there was a new gas tax (first one in about 20 years) passed thanks to an override of a governor veto. How did they override the veto? Thanks to six republicans siding (gasp) with democrats and voting to override. In the initial days following that those republicans were stripped of their leadership positions in the house/senate. Now as the republicans are gearing up for another election series these six republicans did not receive the endorsement of their party. In fact, one of them is currently totally unopposed and he didn't get the endorsement. I just don't get it.

I know, I am a simple man, but I thought elected officials represented the people that voted for them first and then their political party somewhere else down the line. All six of these folks claimed that they were voting for what their constituents wanted. What's the problem then? I haven't heard any stories of other outlandish behavior by these six. Is it really a crime for a politician to listen to the people they represent and then (gasp) think for themselves? I just don't get it.

I am, once again, totally disgusted with politicians right now. I would like to think this is just a republican fault, but let's be honest here the democrats probably would have acted similarly were the rolls reversed. YUCK!!

Woman at the Well

Here is a video clip of my sermon based on the Woman at the Well, that I preached on Feb. 24. If this works as I hope, I'll try and post other sermons as well...

Moving On

OK, Ok, I'll admit I've been a bit distracted this week. I've been busy hitting F5 on various Iditarod update pages. I have been completely sucked in once again. It also hasn't helped to have Brett Favre retire at the beginning of the week and all of the various updates on that situation as well. Honestly, who has time to blog in the midst of such chaos?

Anyway, I've been struck recently by the news medias ability to let go of things, to mourn, and to grieve. It started last week when WCCO news anchor Bill Carlson died. Every night since he died last Friday they have spent a significant amount of time talking about the life and impact Bill had around the station, and the country really. An interesting side note to all of this is the greatest compliment they keep sharing over and over is how he treated everybody the same, "Whether you were a Hollywood movie star or a fan of his attending the state fair." Too bad we can't say that about more people, because it seems like such a simple thing to do. But I digress... On the sports stations it has been nonstop talk about Brett Favre and his retirement.

What gives? Yes! Bill Carlson was a wonderful man. Yes! Brett Favre was a tremendous football player, and seems like a nice guy as well. What makes it so hard to move on? I wondered about this when the bridge collapsed in Minneapolis this last summer. What is it about our culture that encourages our media to obsess in this sort of way? Is it because we're so removed from death in our culture today? Is it because we're so connected from one another relationally? Is it because we lack faith and trust in God? What is it? I honestly don't know. What I do know is that there is a disconnect somewhere and perhaps as people of faith we need to figure it out and begin to address it, to pray about it, to bring God into this.

It's That Time of Year Again...

It's back! The start of the 2008 Iditarod was yesterday. A high school classmate of mine is running again this year. He had an impressive showing at the Yukon Quest this year, so who knows what he's up for this year. His website can be found here. If you've ever tracked the race you know how exciting it can be. It was amazing to get to live in Nome for a year and watch the finish. It is an impressive event.

For those of you who check this blog out looking for "churchy" things, let me share a lesson I learned from the Iditarod that I've shared a number of times. One of the things they've found with these sled dogs is that they run faster when there are twists and turns in the course, when there are exciting new things around the corner. The dogs run a lot slower when it the course never changes, when it's long and straight. Might this be a lesson for leading the church? Especially, when you combine it with the notion that this is something these dogs were born to do. The year I lived in Alaska PETA put a big stink about the cruelty of the event. So the Iditarod leaders invited to come watch. The people PETA left with their proverbial tails between their legs. They learned that these dogs were born to run and to not run them in this way would be cruel. I think it's time we unleash our church folks in the same way. Set them lose to do what they were born to do (serving Christ and neighbor) on trail full of twists and turns.... I don't know about you, but that sounds like a radically different picture than what typically operates in the church.

Faith Matters

Before falling asleep last night I was flipping through channels and I came across a Nightline report, that struck me. It was a report about what heaven looks like. I don't know if I agreed with a lot of it, but it struck me that they were talking about it. The title of the segment, I think, struck me more. It seems they have created a series of reports titled, "Faith Matters." Naturally, my cynical side kicked in and I began to wonder, "Why does a network news program get it, and so many of us in mainline congregations don't?" Again, I can't say that I'm thrilled with some of the topics they've covered there, but honestly faith does matter. I just wish more of us lived it.

Kids? How about all of us?

Last night there was a good report about raising kids to spend and handle money in a healthy way. I would encourage you to watch it here. I think it might just be something ALL of us could learn, not just kids. The expert they spoke to is Nathan Dungan and I would also recommend his website found here, it's loaded with all kinds of great thoughts around money. It's time that as a society we change our thinking to share, save, and then spend... instead of the other way around.

Apathy & Making a Difference

This last week I had the opportunity to sit at the feet of a couple of great thinkers in the ELCA. First I attended a class taught by Dave Daubert who was working with the ELCA largely with planting mission start churches. He now works with A Renewal Enterprise, an organization dedicated to helping people and congregations connect with God's mission in the world. One of the most striking comments he made was that the predominant emotion expressed in the ELCA is apathy. We just don't seem to care, or maybe it's believe, that God is present and active in our world, much less that God is inviting us to join in this great mission.

Then on Sunday, I attended a workshop along with several other council members where the keynote speaker was Bishop Mark Hanson. He had some rather interesting, and provocative, things to say as well. One of the things I walked away with was that this generation we often lament being missing from our congregations, 18-35 year olds, want to join organizations where they can make a difference in the world. What does that say about us as a denomination if this generation is by and large missing?

These revelations kind of make me sad. It makes me sad that we are missing the mark so badly as a denomination. It makes me sad that there appears to be such a large number of people missing out on the exciting, glorious things that God is up to in the world.

Oddly, though, there is also excitement. While, we might be currently missing the mark a bit, we are also poised to make a tremendous impact on our culture which could probably use a good hug right about now. We have a theology that embraces the amazing things that God is up to in the world, and does so in a helpful way, with a realistic perspective. We have a theology that recognizes that there are just gray areas in life and embraces grace and forgiveness. We have a theology that understands that it is God at work and it's not up to us, but that we are invited to participate along with God who embraces those who find themselves at the margins of life. Consequently we have some of the best social service organizations in the world. We have the structure and people power to make a difference in the world like no other organization in existence. We can change the world!

Are we going to allow apathy and fear to rule? Or are we going to embrace the exciting things that God is up to in the world? There is a lot to be exciting about! We have only just scratched the surface of the impact we can have in the world through the power of god.

Eeyore Be Gone

Our journey back from Arizona yesterday turned into a bit of a disaster. We got to the airport and our flight was delayed. Not a problem, until we landed in Chicago and couldn't get on the next flight. That became a bigger deal when their computer indicated that I had a printed ticket, which turned out to be false. We ended up spending the night in Chicago and not our own beds as the schedule originally indicated. To put it lightly it brought out the inner Eeyore in me.

As I was catching up on some old e-mails today I came across a great article about leadership and hope. The premise was that you can delegate a lot of things as leader, but the one thing you can't delegate is hope. When hope leads along with the leader then the group doesn't have to worry about "if" we can overcome our current challenge. Instead they can worry about the "how" we will overcome. The problem is that often the Eeyore's of the world want end up leading and then we focus on the "if" instead of the "how" and we don't get real far. I think that's unfortunate because as people of faith hope really should lead the way. If there is a commodity that we should have in abundance it should be hope.

I confess, though, more often than not the inner Eeyore in me sneaks out. I try to put up a front of hope, but Eeyore lies beneath the surface and that can't be hidden. Or the other problem is that in trying to lead with hope I end up appearing to be blind to the reality of the situation, which isn't necessarily the case but if it is perceived then I think we all know it's reality for others. So it becomes a delicate balance. One that I continue to work on.

So I encourage you as you find yourself in a position of leadership, lead with hope. In the meanwhile, I also encourage you to take a look at the article here.

Getting Away

In just a short while Dawn and I will load up on a plane and head out to Anaheim, CA. We'll be there for about four days of continuing education. After that we will head over to AZ for some vacation visiting my parents. I've got to say there is something refreshing even about the thought that we are getting away. Not that it's bad being where I'm at, because it isn't. Yet isn't it nice to get a change of scenery? I anticipating getting recharged for ministry this weekend. I anticipate getting recharged for life next week. I am also quite sure that the 70 degree temperatures won't hurt either. If I get a chance I'll share updates from the conference, but we'll see... I'm getting away... and it feels good.

What Are You Going To Do?

It's here, Super Duper Fat Mardigras Tuesday. What's your plan? Are you going to get involved and join in your caucus or primary? What's going to lead your decision? What role will your faith play in the vote you cast? I know people want to say that we shouldn't mix religion and politics and from a governance standpoint I suppose they are right. I don't want some politicians telling me how to run the church, we've messed it up just fine on our own. Yet on a practical, realistic level how can you not mix the two? When faith grabs hold of your life it becomes a part of all that you do. Politics also influences all corners of our lives. How do you keep the two separated? Why should we separate the two?

Here is my hope. I hope that your faith leads as you go and support your favorite candidate. Then I hope that it is your faith that continues to lead you through these 40 days of lent that we have ahead of us yet.

Bad Math

The devotion I read this morning talked about how we live in world that understands living by law, or as he put it "ungrace." We all know the rules: "No pain, no gain", "You get what you pay for," etc. We live by these rules every single day. Then you sit down and you read the parables of grace that Jesus talks about. You get images of people who have built up such a debt that it is simply impossible for them to repay their debt (kind of sounds to me like that's us), yet they end up being let off completely scot-free. In world of money, bank foreclosures, and a tit-for-tat attitude that is just plain and simple bad math. It is outrageous, ridiculous, and scandalous.

Yet if we slow down and listen we start to hear it as wonderful. If we listen carefully we just might hear the gentle whispers that we, also, did not get what we deserved. The debt of my sin has built up to a point that there is simply no way I could ever repay the price. Yet there is a banquet being prepared for me as write (as you read). These are the whispers of grace that wash over us and sustain us.

Give Up

Here is something that came through my e-mail today. I thought it was fitting with the start of Lent right on our doorstep....

GIVE UP grumbling! Instead, "In everything give thanks." Constructive
criticism is OK, but "moaning, groaning, and complaining" are not Christian
disciplines.

GIVE UP 10 to 15 minutes in bed! Instead, use that time in prayer, Bible
study and personal devotion.

GIVE UP looking at other people's worst points. Instead concentrate on their
best points. We all have faults. It is a lot easier to have people overlook
our shortcomings when we overlook theirs first.

GIVE UP speaking unkindly. Instead, let your speech be generous and
understanding. It costs so little to say something kind and uplifting. Why
not check that sharp tongue at the door?

GIVE UP your hatred of anyone or anything! Instead, learn the discipline of
love. "Love covers a multitude of sins."

GIVE UP your worries and anxieties! Instead, trust God with them. Anxiety is
spending emotional energy on something we can do nothing about: like
tomorrow! Live today and let God's grace be sufficient.

GIVE UP TV one evening a week! Instead, visit some lonely or sick person.

There are those who are isolated by illness or age. Why isolate yourself in
front of the "tube?" Give someone a precious gift: your time!

GIVE UP buying anything but essentials for yourself! Instead, give the money
to God. The money you would spend on the luxuries could help someone meet
basic needs. We are called to be stewards of God's riches, not consumers.

GIVE UP judging by appearances and by the standard of the world! Instead,
learn to give up yourself to God. There is only one who has the right to
judge, Jesus Christ.

Rev. Craig Gates, Jackson, MS, "WHAT TO GIVE UP FOR LENT"