Faithfulness - Of Dogs and God

Dogs are pretty amazing.

We have two dogs.  Cobi and Shadow.  We've had Cobi for a while.  She's an Aussie Shepherd mix and I'm pretty sure she's smarter than I am.  She's high energy and will play fetch for hours.  She's a great watchdog and you can't come on our property without Cobi barking a warning that someone is there. 

Shadow is fairly new to our house.  We've had him for about a year.  He's a Black Labrador mix and he's huge.  He started out as a cute little puppy, but we should have known by the size of his bear-like paws that things were going to change.  He's now bigger than Cobi and if he jumps up to greet you, you're pretty much going to fall over.  His tail is a weapon.  When he wags it, he can take out cups on the coffee table and any small children in close proximity.

Our dogs are a big part of family and they teach me one thing in particular everyday.

They are the most faithful creatures I know.

Cobi is a herding dog and instead of watching over a flock of sheep, she watches over us.  We're her herd.  A family member will get greeted upon arrival home with a bark or two and then Cobi will settle down.  That person belongs.  They should be here.  But visitors take much longer for Cobi to accept.  If you come to our house, Cobi will bark for 5 minutes and then take another 20 minutes to really settle down.  She's keeping guard, and until she knows that she can trust you, she's on watch.

Shadow is my son's dog.  He'll curl up beside Troy on the carpet and lay for hours close to him.  He loves visitors more than Cobi, but even then, he wants to jump up and sniff you to make sure that you are a friend.  I'm fairly certain that if anyone wanted to do harm to one of us, Troy in particular, Shadow would make sure that person knew how he felt about that. 

These dogs love us and watch out for us and are glad when we're around.

They're faithful.  Their love never changes.

Of course we talk about God being faithful too, but sometimes we need to be reminded how much more faithful he is than even a couple of really good dogs.

In Genesis 22, we get this really amazing story of God's faithfulness to Abraham.  Abraham has been given an incredible gift of a son in his old age.  Isaac is God's unexpected fulfillment of His promises to Abraham and Sarah.  Then, after Isaac has grown, God asks Abraham to do the unthinkable.

He asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as an act of worship and trust in God.

Oh my.  That doesn't seem right does it?  Abraham and Sarah have been waiting decades for God to give them a child.  He does and then God asks them to give him back.  Whoa.

Now the story of course, has a happy ending.  Just when Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac, the angel of the Lord steps in and says, "Do not lay a hand on the boy.  Do not do anything to him.  Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only Son."  Genesis 22:12

Thank goodness.  Isaac lives and Abraham has passed the test.   God is good.

But this story is much broader in the whole scheme of scripture.  This will take a minute, but bear with me because it's worth it.

God shows up and saves Isaac and God's promises to Abraham continue as the nation of Israel grows, but the story of Genesis 22 becomes much more powerful when we understand one particular thing about it.

This story grows when we understand WHERE it happened.

Huh?

Yep.

"Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love -- Isaac -- and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you"  Genesis 22:2

Okay.  What's so important about Moriah?

Moriah changes names over the history of scripture, but we do know where it is. 

It's the region of Jerusalem.  Yes that Jerusalem.

So Abraham is called to go to region of Jerusalem to sacrifice his son.  Are you beginning to see the importance of this story in the whole scope of scripture?

Because we're not given the specifics of places, we have to imagine a little where this 'almost sacrifice' took place.  Tradition holds one place, I think it could have been one of two places.  Either way, it's pretty awesome.

Either the mountain that God shows Abraham is the mount of the temple of Solomon or it's Golgotha, the place where Christ was crucified.  Tradition holds the temple (amazing!), but it could be Golgotha as well (equally amazing!)

So God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son in a place that would soon become a place of sacrifice for the sins of God's people.

Think about that for a moment.  God gives us a story from millennia past that shows Him asking for the sacrifice of a son as a sign of faithfulness.  He stops that from happening, but He himself doesn't withhold his Son in the future.  His son is sacrificed for the sins of not only Israel, but of all people, always. 

My goodness is God ever faithful.  His faithfulness to His people is not governed by time.  He always is a God who keeps His promises, and He always has a plan to save, and redeem His people.

One final thing.  Reread Genesis 22:12.  We hear the speaker as the angel of the Lord, but then we hear the speaker say these words, "You have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Hmmmm.  Who is speaking?  Is it God himself?  Could it be, maybe, possibly, Jesus?

What if Jesus speaks to Abraham to stop the sacrifice?  And since Christ and the Father are one, did He stop the sacrifice that He knew one day would be His?  And no one would stop that sacrifice because Christ's sacrifice was the only way that all people could be saved.

God was faithful to Abraham.  He kept His promises.  And He's faithful to us.

Trust Him today.  No matter what's happening, no matter how crazy, or frustrating, or challenging life is, the God who showed up in the region of Moriah, loves you.  And that's never going to change.

Blessings,

Pastor Scott

Ride Your Bike

Like many kids, I had a couple different bicycles growing up.

I had a small bike that a learned to ride on.  It was fast and tough.  That made it easy to do jumps off of ramps and do burnouts when my parents weren't looking.  (No mom!  I always am careful when I ride!)  I loved that bike.

After I grew and that bike got too small, my dad bought me a ten speed.  It was even faster, but I learned really quickly that it wasn't a very good bike to do jumps on.  I guess it was a more grown up bike for a more grown up kid.

I was so grown up that I got a job.  I was a paperboy when I was 11.

Yeah, it was a different time.  I don't think that you can be an 11 year old paperboy anymore, child labor laws and everything.  But having a bike meant that I could get my job of delivering papers done a lot faster.

Unfortunately, by the time I got my paper route, my bike didn't work as well as it used too.  Because I was a kid who rode hard, my gears were messed up.  I couldn't actually pedal.  The wheels turned and the brakes worked, but I couldn't pedal to make it go.

Because I was a determined little guy, I figured out how to still make it move.  I could put my foot on one pedal, and without putting my other foot over the seat, I could push off with one leg and coast once I picked up enough speed.  I didn't know how to fix my bike, and my dad always had projects to work on in the old house we lived in.  Sure I wished my bike was fully functional, but I made it work.

And that made my paper route go so much faster.

Walking my paper route took just over an hour, what with all the dogs to pet and cats to chase.  There were always places to explore and things to stop and look at.  If I pushed my bike, I blew past those things and finished my route in 42 minutes.  (Yes, I timed it.  I'd gotten a new digital watch, and that's what you do when you're a kid with a new digital watch.  You time things.)  Because I did my paper route before school, I had that extra time to get ready and I didn't have rush as much.

I was pretty pleased with myself.  I'd saved myself 20 minutes by using my half-working bike to do my route.  This went on for several months

Then one Saturday, my dad said he had time to fix my bike.  He got out some wrenches and lubricating oil.  He flipped the bike over, tightened this, oiled that, adjusted this set screw, and reset the gear cable tension.  Finally, my bike worked again.

Of course I rode it right away and boy, was it fast.  I could get so much more speed from pedaling then I ever could from just pushing off.  I could pedal the bike faster down hills and not coast.  I could bike fast enough that I could get up hills three times as fast as before.

On Monday morning, when I did my paper route, I saw just how much faster I was and I was blown away.

23 minutes and 45 seconds.  (Thanks digital watch.)

I could do my route in almost half the time then I could before and in one third of the time as walking.

Finally, I was doing it the best way and my mornings became much less rushed.

I thought of this when I read this passage from Galatians 1:6,7.

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -- which is really no gospel at all.  Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ."

Paul is writing to a group of people who have been given a beautiful, fast, fully-functioning bike, and instead of riding it, they're starting to 'push off' or even worse, they're starting to walk.

They have the full gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's a gospel of grace, a gospel of love, a gospel of inclusion, a gospel of freedom.  But they've become enslaved by people who have taught them that you have to 'do' something to earn God's love.  They have to live into certain behaviors, or rituals in order for them to be a part of the family of God.

And Paul is ticked.  This is the strongest letter of admonishment that Paul writes.  He spends the rest of the letter telling them that Christ has victory over the idea that we are judged by what we do.  He tells them that as children of God they have been given the grace of Jesus Christ and that allows them to live into the full freedom of that grace.

He's telling them, "Get on the bike and ride!"

Friends, where have we lost sight of the gospel?  Where have allowed ideas to come into our minds and hearts that stop us from living in freedom?  Do we believe that we have to do things right for Christ to love us?  Do we believe that for others too?  Have we given up the joy of knowing that in Christ we are fully acceptable to God and that allows us to tell the world of our joy in a way that they can see a genuine picture of who Jesus really is?

I don't want to give up what I already have been given.  Christ has given me his love, purpose, joy and hope. To live in a way that's not governed by those things reflects a perversion of the most beautiful thing imaginable.

Today, ride your bike.  Live into the fullness of Christ's love for you.  In Jesus, you are acceptable and loved of God.  That will never, ever, ever change.

Blessings,

Pastor Scott

5 Childish Ways to Follow Jesus Mark 10:13-16

I love fun kid /dad videos on the internet.

There's one going around with great dad 'saves'.  The kid is on the swing and he falls off and is just about to hurt himself when dad grabs his leg and saves him.  A teenager is tubing on a snow covered hill and is about to take out a toddler at the bottom when dad leaps in and scoops her out of the way.  A baby falls off the couch beside a dozing dad and he reflexively reaches out to stop their fall.

I love it.  Nice job dad.  Way to be ready at a moment's notice to save your child when they are acting like.....well, when they are acting like a kid.

Kids swing.  Many of them love it.  Kids run out on the snow.  That's a good day.  Kids fall asleep on the couch and roll over.  We actually come to expect it of them.

It's hard sometimes as a dad to let our children act like kids, but if we're good dads, we let our kids do exactly that.  It's good for them.  It helps them grow.  It lets them engage with, learn from, and have fun with this incredible world we live in.

And it's exactly what God wants for them.

Oops.  Sorry.  Let me rephrase that.

It's exactly what God wants for us; all of us.

Wait.  You're telling me that God wants me to act like a kid.

Nope.  I'm not.  Jesus is.

"People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on the, but the disciples rebuked them.  When Jesus saw this, he was indignant.  He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."  And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.  Mark 10:13-16

Many have wondered what this means.  How are we supposed to be like children?  What was Jesus saying?

I'm not completely sure, but I think we can learn some things in this passage, and others where children play a prominent part.

Let's call them them '5 Childish Ways to Follow Jesus'.

1.  Give away your stuff when God asks for it.

John 6:9 gives us the first glimpse into child-like Godliness.  There are a lot of people around and they don't have any food.  The disciples ask around and find a boy with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.  And the boy gave them to Jesus.  

Don't ever miss that.  Jesus asked the boy for something and he gave it to Him.  No questions, no complaining, no excuses of why he couldn't.  He just gave what he had to Jesus.

The best part is that the boy then had a front row seat to one of the Messiah's miracles.  He got to watch as Jesus took his humble lunch and multiplied it to feed thousands.  How much he must of spoken of that moment for the rest of his life.  Because he was generous, he got to witness a spectacular work of Christ.

Oh how tightly we can hold onto our 'stuff'.  Christ has asked us to be generous and we've been stingy.  What have we missed?  What stories of Christ's miraculous power have we missed because we wouldn't give when he asked.

Be child-like.  When the Spirit asks; give.

2.  Be careful who you listen to.

In Mark 9:42, we hear Jesus giving caution to his disciples to not lead "little ones", those who believe in Jesus, into sin.  What is often lost is that this is not just a warning to those who would lead little children into sin.  It's also a caution to children to be careful who you listen to. 

We tell our kids that when they choose their friends or their acquaintances, they should choose well because the wrong person can take them down the wrong path.

Do we hear that wisdom too?

Are we careful in who we spend time with?  Are we cautious when our friends pursue things that are not God-glorifying?  Are we wise in the type of rhetoric, or news station, or media sources we take in?  Do we understand what is put into our hearts and our minds by the people we engage with can't help but transform us for good or for evil?

Living a child-like life in Christ means that we want to be a part of things that honor God always.  Be careful little ears what you hear.

3.  Live every day prepared for Christ's return.

In Matthew 25:1-13 we hear the parable of the ten virgins.  Remember?  5 don't have oil and miss the wedding party.  5 have extra oil and are let in to the celebration.

These virgins are probably all less than 14 years old since that was the traditional marrying age.  These are kids and some get it right and reap the benefit.  Some get it wrong and reap the consequence. 

A child of God sees every day as an opportunity to remind the 'bridegroom' (Jesus) that we're ready for Him if He arrives now.  We having loving hearts that show that love in our world.  We have minds that are constantly tuned into how fond we are of the one who gives us reason to celebrate.  Giving ourselves to Him is not a once a week activity.  It is every second of every moment of every hour of every day.

4.  When Jesus calls you, you go.

In Luke 6:12-16 we hear about a special group in the life of Jesus.  He calls his 12 disciples.  Now often we think of these guys as older men (25+) that Jesus picked to be a part of his ministry.  History tells us a different story.

Jesus is a rabbi, a teacher.  And a Jewish teacher would call disciples in generally the same way.  He would call an older disciple who became his helper in travel and teaching.  Generally, scholars think this is Peter.  That makes sense.  He was certainly the leader of the group.  But most of the other disciples were teenagers.  We're not sure how old each one was, but we can imagine that James and John were younger.  I mean their mom was a helicopter parent trying to position her boys in the best spot in the Kingdom (Matthew 20:20-23).

These guys were young.  They didn't understand everything, but they did know that something spectacular had happened; they had been called by Jesus and they would go where He went.  Yes, they made mistakes and they got things wrong over and over again.  But they also got a VIP position to see the greatest movement in the history of our world.  They got to see, hear, and live with Jesus.

When we are 'childish' in our faith and listen to the Spirit, His calling is not a barrier to overcome.  It's an adventure to begin.  We don't know what will happen, but we do know that it's better than anything else we can ever imagine.

5.  Be with Jesus.

This is my favorite.  It comes straight from the original story in Mark 10 of the children around Jesus.  These little scamps got up close into the arms of Jesus and wouldn't let go.  And (hear this.  This is good!) "...He took the children in his arms, placed His hands on them and blessed them." (10:16)

These kids got a bonafide Jesus hug.  Because they were kids, they weren't going to be deterred in being close to the source of all love, warmth and compassion.  They got what all of us long for.  They were embraced by the Creator of the Universe.

No one could stop them.  Jesus made sure of that.  And no one should stop us.

No matter what pain or burden we experience in this life, be like a child and be with Jesus.

No matter how much the world or anyone tells you that believing is foolish, or a sign of weakness, or for suckers, be like a child and be with Jesus.

No matter how scared you get by the craziness of the world we live in, be like a child and be like Jesus.

Run into His embrace in worship.  Cry on His shoulder in prayer.  Spend time on His lap in reading His stories in scripture.

And every time you do, you are deep in His loving embrace.

Be childish.  It's what Jesus wants.

Blessings,

Pastor Scott

I'm a judger. I judge. Romans 12:1-8

Romans 12:1-8

                I go to the grocery store often, perhaps too often.  Kristin and I (actually more Kristin) try to plan out our meals for the week and shop accordingly, but I get hungry to make a certain meal or we forget and ingredient or two and I end up making the short, 2 minute drive to the store down the street.  Because I’m there too much, I know exactly where everything is and I can get in and out fairly quickly.  Almost every time I’m at the store, I unconsciously play a little game with myself that’s a dangerous and harmful one, and as I look at Romans 12 today, I realize just how dangerous it is.

                I judge people.  I’m a judger.

                You know what I’m talking about don’t you? (I hope!)  The screaming child obviously has a poor parent watching over them.  The person who is slow in making their selection at the butcher counter ahead of me is obviously indecisive or judgmental about the products offered.  The guy with the big case of beer is an alcoholic.  The woman wearing revealing clothes is loose.  The person paying with food stamps is lazy.  The list goes on.  Whenever I’m in a context where there are people from all different cultures and walks of life; and my grocery store is certainly one of them, I judge outward appearances and behavior and put myself above just about every other person in that store in some way, shape, or form.

                And that’s wrong; dead wrong.  In fact, it’s sinful.  It’s heinous, ugly sin.

                Romans 12 calls us to renew our minds as a spiritual act of worship.  But the way that it calls us to that renewal reaches out and grabs me by the scruff of the neck and forces me to look at myself in the mirror.  “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”  Ouch.

                I sit in judgment on all these folks while clinging desperately to the grace given me in Christ; a grace freely offered by God not because I deserve it, but because of His love for me and because HE makes me worthy through the righteousness of Jesus.

                Not because I’m clean and sober, or a great parent, or a snappy dresser or a pastor, but because God wills it and gives me relationship with Him despite my foolishness and sin.  That has to transform me, not just in how I view myself as a child of God, but in how I view others; especially the least of these.  My response to God’s grace has to move me to see myself as a saint of God through the grace of Christ, AND view others as potential grace-saved children of the King.

                Maybe I shouldn’t go to the grocery store so often.  Maybe better would be to go to the grocery store differently; with my eyes open to all of the other image bearers of God that I’ll see there who may be fellow revelers in the grace of Jesus Christ.

An Open Letter the Day After

An Open Letter to This Country The Day After

                It was quite a day yesterday.  Our president was reelected, and his challenger beaten.  Senatorial and Congressional races decided with wins and losses on all sides.  State and local elections occurred and incumbents go back to work and new leaders prepare to take office.  Ballot measures and propositions were voted down, and up.  I guess it could be considered a successful election in that votes were cast, things were decided and now we get to move forward regardless of our excitement or disappointment level.

                And I’m tired.  I’m tired of the rhetoric.  I’m tired of one person or group demonizing another.  I’m tired of people being indicted as foolish, or uninformed, or stupid if they don’t support a particular candidate, or agree with a particular political view. 

                Regardless of my fatigue, I do have some requests of different folks going forward.  I don’t expect the people requested to do what I ask, but I hope these requests serve as a reminder to each of what is needed and foundational to your role in our society.

To our elected officials:

1.       Congratulations.  You’ve been given an(other) opportunity to serve your constituency.  I hope you do that…serve, I mean.  One of my biggest takeaways from this election is that in every race; national or local; state or city; significant numbers of people didn’t vote for you.  Democrat, Republican, or Independent, there are people in your district who didn’t cast a vote for you and support your election.  Your gut reaction may be to thumb your nose at non-supporters and do the things that you know they don’t support.  That’s expected on some levels.  Part of us having political opinions is that we see things differently than others and move towards programs or policies that are remarkably different than those who oppose us. 

But those people you disagree with are still people that you are called to serve.  And frankly, serving another is unselfish.  When we serve others, we are required, by the very definition of service to put other’s needs before our own.  You will say that you are serving the majority (the ones who elected you) and meeting their needs.  But as I grow older, and I believe wiser, I understand that serving well is best shown when I can care for and be empathetic towards someone very different than myself.  It’s easy to care for and serve your friends.  It’s harder to care for and serve those not your friends.  It’s hardest to care for and serve those who are your enemies.  Someone supernaturally wise once said something very like that, and I agree with it.  If you want to be a great elected official; not a good one, or influential one, or powerful one, but a great one; find ways to care for your enemies.  Sit with them, speak with them, find out why they are passionate about what they believe and passionately against what you believe, and work to include what they think into your policy and work, and you’ve taken a step toward that greatness. 

Abraham Lincoln spent considerable time trying to serve the people of the South even while the Civil War was on.  We call him (arguably), the best president in the history of our nation.  If the best was willing to care for and serve his enemies while they were trying to destroy him and what he represented, can’t you learn a little something from him?

2.       Speak truth and truth only.  It seems astounding that this needs to be said, but obviously it still does.  You’ve been given the public’s trust…trust being the key word.  We trust you to be straight and on the level with us.  We’ve created an entire industry, complete with multiple partisan websites to fact check what you say.  That’s sad.  It’s sad that the fact checkers spin what gets said to say what they want, but it’s more sad that public trust has been violated enough that we have fact checkers. 

Speak truth to us, your constituency.  Speak truth in the House, the Senate, the boardroom, the city, county, or state chambers.  Speak truth in your office, on the campaign trail, in committee meetings, and at home.  Truth is never not the best way.  You can work out the double negative, but for whatever reason, too many believe that a stretch here, a fib there, a spin to the left, or a dodge to the right is okay. 

The problem comes in us not believing you.  Not just when you lie, but in when you say just about anything.  So many lies and spins have been used over the years that many of us don’t trust elected officials to say the truth ever.  Most senators have staffers whose job it is to manage the information so that only a certain message gets shared.  Congressmen have advisors who try to control the release of information.  The president’s press secretary is always very good at marketing a message.  Even local governments build relationships with the media to share information favorable to one view or unfavorable to another. 

Call it what you will, but that’s not truth.  That’s spin.  And I’m dizzy.  Speak honestly.   Speak sincerely.  Speak clearly.  If you start to hear yourself get called ‘slick’, ‘smooth’, ‘slippery’ or  you are compared to a used car salesman, you have a problem. 

3.       Work together.  This also shouldn’t have to be said, but in our present political climate, it obviously does.  I know what you are going to say.  The other side doesn’t want to work with you because their supporters are closed minded and demand that they ‘toe their party’s line’.  That may be true, but if you want to be a great councilperson, supervisor, congressperson, senator, or president, you’ll find a way to work with even those sorts of people.  If we are learning nothing from our present economic, and cultural situation, it’s that we’ve got to learn more how to build relationships and partnerships with people remarkably different than us.

Invite your biggest political opponent to a BBQ at your house.  Sit down and find out more about their history, their family, and their dreams.  Share yours.  I know, I know, you’d be opening yourself up to political blackmail.  But you’d also be opening yourself up to a political partnership that we need a whole lot more of here.  We need people who disagree, but have mutual respect for each other.  We need people in leadership who sincerely send Christmas cards to people they debate against regularly. 

Frankly, we need you to be better at serving than you are right now.  We need you to find a way to serve all of your constituency finding ways to move forward for the sake of all of them, not just the ones you agree with or are in political alignment with.

To the Citizens:

                You are disappointed, or excited about the way things went.  You are encouraged, or frustrated.  Regardless, your responsibility as a citizen doesn’t end when you get your ‘I voted’ sticker.  It just begins.

1.       Care for, pray for and communicate respectfully with your elected officials.  And yes, that includes the ones you didn’t vote for.  Many of you are people of faith.  Good.  Pray for your officials.  They need God’s wisdom.  I know that many of you don’t believe that the person you disagree with isn’t following God’s Will.  Okay, but God’s Will was that they would be where they are.  If that’s His Will, they’ll serve only according to God’s plan.  Pray for God’s presence in their offices, committee meetings, and policy discussions.  Pray that they’ll pursue some of things talked about above.  Pray that they will understand their responsibility to be better at what they do out of a desire to serve others.

Send them letters that speak of your desire to see them succeed as a public servant.  Let them know when they do something right, and respectfully disagree with them when they do something that you believe is wrong.  Let them hear that they matter, and that how they do what they do matters.  Listen to them when they speak and try to see them as people trying to do what they believe to be right.  Some will succeed.  Some will not.  But as a citizen, our responsibility is to support and pray for those that have been placed in power.  I read that somewhere.  It’s pretty important.

2.       Be a better citizen.  Okay, things are happening that you may not like.  Taxes are too high, or there are not enough government programs.  Government is standing in the way of jobs or they are not helping enough people who don’t have them.  Then get involved.  And I’m not talking about petitions or political parties.

I’m talking about caring for others.  Care for others around you more than you have before.  Again, we need to come together more than we need to draw lines that shouldn’t be crossed.  There are the poor in your community who need people with whom to build relationships.  There are unemployed in your community that you can help in rebuilding their dignity.  There are veterans in your community who need to be encouraged that they matter now that they’re home and sometimes more than a little lost.  There are lonely retirees in your community who need to have coffee with someone who will show them care and concern.

Government may be able to help with these things, but they will never be the solution because we are.  We as a community and as people who hunger for relationship are the answer for many of our political and social ills.  Some might say that government is creating barriers that make it impossible to solve these challenges.  I disagree.  Nothing is impossible.  Prosperity and a future of hope and goodness are possible.  I read that somewhere too.  For us as citizens to believe in that more than we believe that ‘things are going downhill’ is an important step that many of us need to take.

3.       Learn how to dialogue again.  Remember how your parents used to tell you, ‘figure out how to get along with each other!” when you and your siblings were fighting?  We need that sort of chastisement again.  We use labels and slang when we talk about people we disagree with.  Conservative and Liberal have become dirty words depending on who you are.  We use phrases like “How could anyone in their sane mind believe that?!”  We say things like, “People like that are going to be the downfall of this country!”  Guess what, no matter who you are and what you believe, someone’s saying that about you too.

For us to gain the wisdom to see each other beyond the rhetoric and verbal vitriol as someone who needs others and is working to figure life out is hard but necessary work.  I’m not saying that we have to buy in to what another might believe or say.  There are things that I think are wrong and I think someone is wrong to believe that those things are okay.  But if I just condemn the other as closed minded and foolish, I lose any ability whatsoever to have understand them.  I also lose any ability to see that I continue to be a work in progress and that I haven’t got everything figured out. 

Please, stand up for what you believe in and be clear about it.  But be willing to listen to another as they do the same.  Find places of common ground if there is any (puppies or kittens are cute is a good place to start) and work from there.   Understand that there’s a good reason why they believe what they believe just as there is a good reason for what you believe.

Love one another, just as you have been loved.  That’s another good thing that I’ve heard that I think helps us understand how to interact with even those we don’t agree with.

To the Media:

                This is the hardest one for me for a number of reasons.  It’s so frustrating to change channels or shift new sites and read remarkably different stories on the same events.  I know some would say that one group broadcasts truth, and another…..not truth, but I think it’s more complicated than that.

                I’ll only say this.  Be journalists.  Remember in Journalism 101 when you were taught that a story is the facts shared in an unbiased, neutral fashion?  Practice that.  There’s nothing more frustrating to me when I listen to or read media and I can tell in less than a minute what your judgments are about the information you’re sharing.  You’ve used words and phrases that don’t inform a story, they bend it.  Instead of someone being a Conservative, they’re ‘right wing’.  Instead of someone being Liberal, they’re ‘pro-tax’, or ‘pro-choice’, or ‘pro-something else you don’t believe in’. 

                The problem is that you form people’s thinking when you do that.  MSNBC and Fox News have moved from being information sharers to information shapers.  I’m not okay with that.  A country that is fiercely built on the Freedom of the Press shouldn’t be okay with that. To hear one network criticize another networks coverage as biased and politically bent isn’t constructive (Several networks on both sides did that last evening).  Be journalists; unbiased, information sharing journalists who give us the events clearly without spin.  We need that as a citizenry to move away from the polarization that is becoming more and more rampant.  Some of you may be offended by this view because of how much you believe in what you hear from your news sources, but if we only hear the news from one perspective and that perspective has a bias, we’re not hearing all that we need to hear to make sound judgments as good citizens.

                I’m sure that I’ve offended many here.  Political discussion is by it’s very nature sensitive, but please, do me one favor; if there’s a perspective that you want to share different from what I’ve said, please engage in respectful and constructive dialogue.  To demonize, personally attack, or ‘unfriend’ someone just because they see things differently, isn’t helpful and doesn’t help any of us move forward in our dialogue as a community, or a country.

Praying Boldly

Prayer is one of those things of faith that has an appeal beyond the borders of religion.  I've rarely run into someone who when I asked if I could pray for them, said "no thank you."  In times of tragedy, public officials will often call citizens to pray for specific people or circumstances.  In moments of death, it is often said by even the non-religious, "our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones."  Truly, there is an appeal to prayer that tugs at the hearts of so many who wouldn't shadow the door of a church, or profess to be a Christian of any sort.

I wonder often to who or what directionless prayers are offered, and if they're received, how they are responded to.  Does Jesus Christ receive all prayer regardless of who its directed to?  I believe the God of the Holy Bible is the one true God, so is it Him who hears all of it?  It's a curious consideration, but since I know the one to whom I pray and expect him to receive it maybe all that sort of thought is meaningless.  I know that as a follower of Jesus, he promises to be the mediator and take my prayers offered in faith into the throne room of the Creator of the universe. 

So if that's true and I know enough about prayer and that they are heard and are received by the Almighty God how should that shape and form my prayers?  How should that knowledge move me to pray perhaps differently that I do?

The phrase that echoes in my mind in response to these questions is to "pray boldly".  If I know who is receiving my prayers and I acknowledge that his ways are higher than my ways and his thoughts are higher than my thoughts; if I understand that his Will will be done if it agrees with my prayers or not; if I know that prayers offered in faith can change the mind of God (Ex. 32:14, Jonah 3:10), then for me to step up boldly in prayer and ask the incredible, the impossible, the thing that's 10 steps beyond rational seems absolutely appropriate.

To pray for comfort from cancer for a sick person is something that I regularly do.  But to pray for full and miraculous healing that points all who bear witness to the only, loving God who can heal like that is not something that I do regularly.  To pray for opportunities to share my faith is a regular prayer, but to pray that the person in the restaurant who I do not know might have a Saul/Paul/road to Damascus experience so that they might come face to face with God is not a prayer I offer. 

Why not?  Don't I believe that God can do that?  Don't I understand that God wants to do that sort of thing in his world?  He doesn't want to do it for my sake so that I can feel like a prayer giant.  He wants to the amazing, the miraculous, the thing beyond explanation because when he does it, it pushes the witnesses to wonder what sort of incomprehensible being could do something like that.  When God takes the shutters off and lets loose with the abundance of his power, Creation takes notice.  Some might explain it away, some might ignore it, but some won't.  Some will watch, and wonder, and know that God is real and that he continues to be active in the world that he gave to humanity.

Of course scripture reminds us to ask of God rightly.  "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives..."  James 4:3.  Then for me to pray boldly, I need to ask the incredible of God with the right motives: God's glory and his alone.  "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."  John 15:7,8

As I pray without ceasing today, may God expand my heart to believe in his incredible power.  May Christ enlarge my mind to believe that he who came to redeem the world continues that work, in part, through people of faith who are willing to really believe in what he's done and expect him to continue that work to its completion.  May the Spirit empower me to the belief that his love for his people is bigger, wider, longer, deeper and more amazing than I could ever imagine.  May my prayers be God sized prayers where he does what only he can do and takes all the glory to himself.

Meditation: A Strange Word to Most Christians

When we hear the word 'meditation' it often brings to mind people sitting around in the lotus postion humming mantras and rolling their eyes into the back of their heads while they attempt to move their being into a higher plane.  It's sad that our minds go there as quickly as they do.  Especially as Christians, we should have a different image that comes to mind when we think about meditiation, shouldn't we?  After all, meditation is straight out of scripture isn't it?  Aren't there numerous passages that mention meditation on God's law and on who God is?

"Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."  Psalm 1:1,2.  "Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders."  Psalm 119:27.  "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful." Joshua 1:8.

And there are others.  Meditation is not something that any New Age cult or wacky self-betterment group owns.  It's one of many ways that God communes with his people, if we are willing to enter into it. 

It's striking to me that I don't think that I've ever met a Christian who meditated on scripture.... or on God.... or on Creation.... or on the person of Jesus.... or on..... well..... anything.  Maybe I wasn't listening well (a distinct possibility!), or maybe the solitary discipline of meditation is solitary and doesn't necessarily get shared within the community of faith, but it seems to me that if scripture commands it and if it's an important means of communing with God then there should be some mode of sharing what meditation is and how we should do it.

Why don't we talk about it much?

Maybe it's because meditation doesn't jibe with our culture, at all, even a little bit.  Our culture is hustle and bustle and noise and marketing, and stuff, and everything that meditation isn't.  Our culture wants to fill every space with advertising or with sound or with iPods, iPhones, and iStuff.  The idea of quieting things down and filling ourselves with, well with nothing except God and his presence uncogs the wheels and doesn't work for our society.  That's so outside of our experience.  It's so unusual.  It's so... weird.

But what if meditation isn't something that's supposed to just leave us relaxed and streesfree and calm?  What if it has little to do with us and everything to do with God in us?  Perhaps if we understood meditation as a deeper, wider, vibrant and growing opportunity to build relationship with God then it wouldn't be so weird to us.  Perhaps it would become an opportunity to listen and be still and truly enjoy God's presence in a new way that would empower and equip us with his Spirit in completely different ways then we've ever known before. 

Richard Foster puts it this way.  "If you feel that we live in a purely physical universe, you will view meditation as a good way to obtain a consistent alpha brain-wave pattern. (Transcendental Meditation) But if you believe that we live in a universe created by the infinite personal God who delights in our communion with Him, you will see meditation as a communication between the Lover and the one beloved."

Oh how I want more of that!  How I need more of that!  To find stolen moments to receive God's love in a deeper, more meaningful way?  To know his grace more fully so that I might share it with others?  Sign me up. 

That being said, I'm going to have some learning to do.  I don't know how to meditate well.  In fact, I don't think I know how to meditate on God's Word at all.  I'm going to have to learn.  I'm going to have to find some resources. 

And most importantly, I'm going to have to learn to be still and know that he is God.  And that might be the hardest work of all.