Hope or Despair

Every person has a choice in how they will live their lives. We can focus on our badness, our failed attempts at life, our weaknesses, our sickness, our brokenness or we can focus on God’s goodness that is revealed in Jesus. It is a choice between despair and hope. The story of Christmas is a story of hope. It is the story of God still believing in us. Some of us think that God has stopped believing in us. You are focused on your circumstances and situations and everything looks hopeless. I want you to know that there are no hopeless situations. I want you to know that God has never stopped believing in you.

Thanksgiving Prayer

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you’ve done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.
We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.
We thank you for our successes which satisfy and delight us — but also for the disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.
Above all, we thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ — for the truth of his Word and the example of his life. We thank you for his dying, through which he overcame death — and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your Kingdom.
Father, may we at all times and in all places, we give thanks to you in all things. Amen.

Talking To Myself

Sometimes I talk to myself. I know what your thinking. Psychologists have never fully understood the phenomenon of self-dialogue. Whatever may be the cause, talking to yourself is not consider normal behavior. There are times, however, when such a conversation can be helpful.
Take for instance the story of the Prodigal Son in the Bible. It is a story about a young man who had a talk with himself. One day, according to the story, the young man got tired of the discipline of his father’s farm. Gathering all he owned, he ran away to a distant land where he thought life would be free and easy. Things didn’t go well for the boy. His money ran out, and he found himself in the fields, eating with the pigs. In the story there is this line, “And when the boy came to himself.” Perhaps the boy didn’t have a verbal conversation – I don’t either for those who are curious – but he did a lot of soul searching.
The boy learned a lesson. He found that his old home was better than he thought. Sometimes it takes the absence of a thing to make us appreciate it. Our freedom is a priceless possession. We cannot live without our health. Work can seem like drudgery until we can’t find work. Our families can at times seem to require endless time and effort. But life without loved ones can be lonely. The wondering boy in the story reminds us that some things we treat so carelessly are in fact our most priceless treasures.
Have you talked to yourself lately? Every now and then it helps to sit down and do a bit of soul-searching. Life could be better for many of us if we took time this Thanksgiving to reflect on all we have to be thankful. Just don’t start talking to the turkey!

Church of the Second Chance

In Anne Tyler’s novel Saint Maybe, nineteen-year-old Ian tells his parents, Doug and Bee Bedloe, of his decision to leave college and become an apprentice cabinetmaker. This will enable Ian to raise the young children of his deceased brother, Danny. Ian has arrived at this decision because of the influence in his life of Rev. Emmett and the Church of the Second Chance, a congregation that believes in actual atonement, that is, that you must do something “real” to be forgiven for your sins. Ian’s sin was that he led his drunken brother to believe that his wife was unfaithful, after which Danny committed suicide.In the crucial scene in which Ian tells his parents of the change in the course of his life, church and faith enter the conversation. Ian explains that he will have help from his church in juggling his new job and the responsibility for the children. This alarms his parents.
"Ian, have you fallen into the hands of some sect?” his fatherasked.“No, I haven’t,” Ian said. “I have merely discovered a churchthat makes sense to me, the same as Dober Street Presbyterian makes sense to youand Mom.”“Dober Street didn’t ask us to abandon our educations,” his mothertold him.“Of course we have nothing against religion; we raised all of youchildren to be Christians. But our church never asked us to abandon ourentire way of life.”“Well, maybe it should have,” Ian saidHis parentslooked at each other.His mother said, “I don’t believe this. I donot believe it. No matter how long I’ve been a mother, it seems my children can still come up with something new and unexpected to do to me.”
Ian’s is a story of two kinds of churches. Dober Street is a church that mainly confirms people’s lives as they are. The Church of the Second Chance disrupts lives in the name of Jesus so that people can change.We have too many Dober Street churches!

Sharing Christ

Virginia Cobb says, "Our message is a person we've experienced, not a doctrine, system, religion, book, church, ethic. " First and foremost the Christian faith has nothing to do with knowing a creed, or living a set of moral laws, or believing certain doctrines, but rather everything to do with knowing a person. The problem is that many Christians try to present Christianity as a better religion. In my own experience I have discovered that people are interested in Christianity not because it is a religion but the experience that people have with the living Jesus. Yet is often to see Jesus for all the religious and cultural baggage surrounding him.

Voice for the voiceless

In his blog Adam Taylor says,
"In the all too familiar script of presidential elections and debates, these words (middle class) have essentially replaced the words of Jesus. Candidates campaign on platforms based on a distorted remix of Mathew 25, replacing the all important middle class with Christ’s concern for the “least of these among you.” I listened carefully to the entire presidential debate last night, hoping that one of the candidates would have the foresight and courage to mention the poor in the context of our economic crisis and our foreign policy priorities. The first two debates have rightfully focused on the duress and hardship associated with the meltdown of Wall Street and the crumbling of our economy. Yet somehow candidates manage to systematically ignore the 36 million Americans living in poverty and the nearly 2 billion people around the world living perilously on less than $2 a day. Too often politicians follow the lead of our society in devaluing and dismissing the needs of the poor, exacerbating their marginalization."
The reality is that the candidates are following the lead of the media who in returns feeds off of public opinion. This is where the church must step up. We are called by Jesus to speak on behalf of the poor. We are to defend the poor. My pick for a candidate is one who will be a voice for the voiceless. I guess I will just have to keep looking for that candidate!

Next Christendom

Excerpted from "The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity" By Philip Jenkins. "If there is one thing we can reliably predict about the 21st century, it is that an increasing share of the world’s people is going to identify with one of two religions, either Christianity or Islam, and the two have a long and disastrous record of conflict and mutual incomprehension. For the sake of both religion and politics, and perhaps of simple planetary survival, it is vitally necessary for Christian and Jewish Northerners to gain a better understanding of Islam. But odd as it may sound perhaps the more pressing need is to appreciate that other religious giant, the strangely unfamiliar world of the new Christianity. Southern Christianity, the Third Church, is not just a transplanted version of the familiar religion of the older Christian states: the New Christendom is no mirror image of the Old. It is a truly new and developing entity. Just how different from its predecessor remains to be seen."
According to Jenkins, “If we want to visualize a ‘typical’ contemporary Christian, we should think of a woman living in a village in Nigeria or in a Brazilian favela” (page 2).
What do these facts mean for us - "christians" in the Western world?

Chesterton

G. K. Chesterton, the British theologian, noted: “There are two ways to get enough: One is to accumulate more and more, the other is to desire less.”

Greed

America has a problem: WE ARE GREEDY! Greed makes us blind to what we have. Greed is a prison that locks you in and God and others out. Living in greed you can never rejoice because you never have enough. The greedy feel that they have ownership. It is about control. As long as I have money in the bank I am secure the greedy person convinces themselves. As long as my money makes me happy then I am safe. The greedy see a “For Sale” sign on all of life. They themselves have been for sale for so long that they cannot imagine anyone or anything that is not for sale.
The greedy may even give of their money to a certain cause like helping someone in the community who needs assistance. They don’t help out of generosity. They give hoping to discover some goodness in themselves. By doing something good they hope to find what they long ago sold. There is little mercy among the greedy. The greedy are defined by what they own and the loss of a single cent is a threat to their identity.
If greed is a prison then generosity is freedom. Aggressive generosity demonstrates a trust in God. It is life lived with gratitude of what one has. Greed focuses on what I do not have, generosity focuses on what I have. The secret to life is learning to be content. Contentment demonstrates a trust in God. Whether rich or poor I know God is in control. Aggressive generosity demonstrates a life of contentment.
A "bail out" from the government does not solve the problem as long as greed is the governing factor.

Shame VS. Guilt

I remember sitting in elementary school and hearing the voice of the principal calling out over the intercom the name of some child in my class. My first response was "wonder what he/she did wrong." The reason we have such a response is because we live in a "guilt" based culture. In our culture so much of our thinking is wrapped up in guilt. Almost every issue we struggle with is deciding whether something is right or wrong. We create this dichotomy of right verses wrong. The result is since we don't like to feel guilty we go through great length to make more and more things acceptable.

In the biblical world (and modern Middle East) the issue was not guilt but rather shame. In a guilt based culture the issue is innocence in a shame based culture the issue is honor. Honor is the word for worth, value, prestige, and reputation which an individual claims and which is acknowledged by others. In this type of society shame can be seen as a virtue. For if a person has shame it means they are willing to fully participate in the societal dynamics. They value what others think of them. A "shameless" person doesn't care what others think of them. Shamelessness means that one does not participate in the game of reputation.

A shame based culture values conformity where a guilt based culture values individualism.
It is through the lenses of honor/shame that we must read the Prodigal Son. It is also helps us understand Jesus' teaching on community discipline in Matthew 18: 15ff. The story goes to great lengths to keep a persons honor intact. When a person who claims to profess the belief of the community and acts contrary to those beliefs that brings shame on the community.

Instead of always asking if something is "right or wrong" there are many occasions where the ethical debate depends on whether something is honorable or not.

Fred Craddock Story

Fred Craddock is one of my favorite preachers and storytellers. From time to time I will share a story from Craddock that I find interesting. Here is one of those stories!
"A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. One morning they were eating breakfast in a little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, "I hope he doesn't come over here." But sure enough, the man came over to their table."Where are you folks from?" he asked in a friendly voice."Oklahoma," they answered."Great to have you here in Tennessee," the stranger said. "What do you do for a living?""I teach at a seminary," he replied."Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a really good story for you." And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down.The professor groaned and thought to himself, "Great. Just what I need -- another preacher story!"The man started, "See that mountain over there?" He pointed out the restaurant window. "Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up because every place he went, he was always asked the same question: 'Hey, boy, who's your daddy?' Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question: 'Who's your daddy?' He would hide at recess and lunch time from other students. He would avoid going into stores because that question hurt him so bad. When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, 'Who's your daddy?' But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast, he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd.Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, 'Son, who's your daddy?' The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, 'Who's your daddy?'The new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to the scared little boy: 'Wait a minute! I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God.' With that, he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, 'Boy, you've got a great inheritance -- go and claim it.'With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him, 'Who's your daddy?' he'd just tell them, 'I'm a child of God.'The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, "Isn't that a great story?"The professor responded that it really was a great story.As the man turned to leave, he said, "You know, if that new preacher hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably would never have amounted to anything!" And he walked away.The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over and asked, "Do you know that man who was just sitting at our table?" The waitress grinned and said, "Of course. Everybody here knows him. That's Ben Hooper. He's the former governor of Tennessee!"

Woman at the Well

This upcoming Sunday I will be using the story of the Woman at the Well in John 4 to discuss the challenges of forgiveness. Tired from his journey, Jesus sits down at Jacob's well, then realizes that he has no cup to drink from much less a bucket to draw water from. But there is someone out in the desert making her way to the well and she is carrying a bucket. It is about noon. There are no shades, no comfort, and no relief from the desert heat. For her, hell was not someplace she had to go to; it was as close to the watering hole in her hometown. It was there she confronted her loneliness. It was there she escaped from the ridicule. It was there that she ran from her past. And it was there, at Jacob's well that she discovered Jesus. The change in her comes about because Jesus reveals himself to her, not because she did something about her own sin. Jesus is the one in whose presence we know who we really are - the good and the bad. Jesus is the one who shows us who we are by showing us who he is. He crosses boundaries, breaks all the rules, drops all disquises. He offers the living waters of forgiveness so that we can go back and face people we thought we could never face again and speak forgiveness as boldly to them as it was spoken to us.