We're doing it again this year. Trinity's 7:00pm Christmas Eve service will feature a non-rehearsed children's Christmas Eve pageant.
What, you ask, is a non-rehearsed children's Christmas Eve pageant?
I figure every church needs at least one time a year when the kids can dress up in costumes and the grandparents can take pictures. Christmas is a great time for that. Unfortunately, the traditional children's Christmas pageant requires several weeks of rehearsals to get ready, creating a lot of stress on everyone's schedules just at the time they don't need more stress.
The solution? A Christmas pageant with no rehearsals!
Every child who shows up at Trinity's Christmas Eve children's service will be invited to be a part of the pageant. We will provide the costumes, the script, the coaching, the music, and the microphones. The kids take it from there. The more the merrier! We especially enjoy and welcome new children and families.
We did the NRCCEP ("Non-rehearsed Children's Christmas Eve Pageant") last year for the first time, and it was ... it was ... well, it's kind of hard to describe what it was. Let's just say it wasn't a time of solemn reflection. It wasn't even "A Charlie Brown Christmas." But everyone had a wonderful time and everyone definitely wants to do it again. And I firmly believe all the children came away with a greater understanding of the Christmas story.
So we're doing it again this year.
I hope we'll see you there. And bring somebody with you!
About Me
- Pastor David
- I serve as pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Annapolis, MD. I'm married to beautiful Paula, mother of my 4 sons and one daughter. I was a systems engineer before entering ministry 29 years ago.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Thanksgiving and Christmas
Just a quick thought -
What if everyone made a list of the things they were thankful for at Thanksgiving, and then for Christmas tried to find at least one person who didn't have one of those things and give it to them?
I don't mean things like a DVD or a box of candy. I mean the more meaningful ones.
For instance, at Thanksgiving I said I was thankful for my wonderful family. This Christmas, how can I bless someone who doesn't have a family?
At Thanksgiving, I was thankful for the bountiful food. This Christmas, how can I bless someone who doesn't have enough food?
You get the idea. What did you tell people you were thankful for this Thanksgiving. How can you give someone else the opportunity to be thankful for the same thing this Christmas?
What if everyone made a list of the things they were thankful for at Thanksgiving, and then for Christmas tried to find at least one person who didn't have one of those things and give it to them?
I don't mean things like a DVD or a box of candy. I mean the more meaningful ones.
For instance, at Thanksgiving I said I was thankful for my wonderful family. This Christmas, how can I bless someone who doesn't have a family?
At Thanksgiving, I was thankful for the bountiful food. This Christmas, how can I bless someone who doesn't have enough food?
You get the idea. What did you tell people you were thankful for this Thanksgiving. How can you give someone else the opportunity to be thankful for the same thing this Christmas?
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
God Will Provide - Really?
I found the discussion fascinating. I expected it to be boring, a rehash of things I already knew, but the variety of people and experiences made it everything but.
The setting was a monthly meeting of United Methodist clergy. The subject was (stay with me here) stewardship. Often that means, here’s how to get people to give money to the church. But this was very different.
It started in the plenary session when Chris, the leader, read from Mark 7 where Jesus castigates the temple leaders for their concern with worldly acclaim, then points out the widow who put her last pennies into the temple offering. I have always heard this held up as an example of great faith on the part of the widow, but Chris read an interpretation saying the real point is the scurrilous scribes who are living high on the backs of the gullible poor. Then someone referred to a news story about a church that was being sued - the pastor promised that if people gave money to the church, God would double it for them in nine months, and it didn’t happen.
We moved into smaller groups and continued the discussion. How do you preach about money when people are losing their jobs and their homes? How do you expect people to think about spiritual things when money is such a real and pressing issue? What does it mean to trust God to take care of us?
One African-American pastor told of being a poor seminary student in Mississippi. He had almost nothing, but his pastor had asked everyone to contribute $100 towards missions work. About the only thing he owned was his clothes – a few casual clothes, and (as required by the church culture) four suits. He privately determined to sell two of his suits to raise the $100 to give to the church. Just then he received a letter. A couple in his church had been praying, and this pastor had arisen in their hearts. They had talked about it and decided to do something to help him out. Enclosed with the letter was $500.
I told a similar, though less dramatic, story of a time in seminary when someone brought my family a bag of groceries at a crucial time. Several others agreed that God always comes through.
But another pastor told of a church she served in Appalachia where families were struggling to live on $12,000 a year. She told of several women who would faithfully put money in the church offering plate every Sunday, only to see their children go without food for one or two days each week because the money was all gone. She said there was no question of the faith of these women, or their genuine love for God. So why was God allowing their children to suffer from malnutrition?
Other questions came up along the way. Is giving out of gratitude for God’s gifts the only really spiritual motivation for giving? Is it wrong to expect something from God in return? Is tithing a legalistic Old Testament relic or mandatory for Christians or somewhere in between?
We didn’t arrive at a clear agreement on any of these points. Some felt that preaching tithing to poor people drives them further into poverty, while others agreed with my experience that tithing has proven to be my lifeline out of deep financial distress. Some felt that we give as a response to what God has given us, while others said that we have to give first, as you have to plant a seed before you can expect a harvest.
I had never heard of God failing to come through for people who were genuinely trying to put him first, as in the case of the poor women who couldn’t feed their children, and I said so. A couple others agreed with me. It really caused me to think. And here’s what I think.
God does his work through his people. The church is the body of Christ, and Jesus is the head. A head can’t get anything done if the body doesn’t cooperate. If that couple had not listened to God and followed through by sending something to that poor seminary student, he would have had to sell his suits. If the people that brought my family a bag of groceries had failed to listen to God and obey him, we would have been pretty hungry.
Does God provide for his people? Absolutely. But he does it through other members of the family of God. And we haven’t always come through very well. May God have mercy on us all.
The setting was a monthly meeting of United Methodist clergy. The subject was (stay with me here) stewardship. Often that means, here’s how to get people to give money to the church. But this was very different.
It started in the plenary session when Chris, the leader, read from Mark 7 where Jesus castigates the temple leaders for their concern with worldly acclaim, then points out the widow who put her last pennies into the temple offering. I have always heard this held up as an example of great faith on the part of the widow, but Chris read an interpretation saying the real point is the scurrilous scribes who are living high on the backs of the gullible poor. Then someone referred to a news story about a church that was being sued - the pastor promised that if people gave money to the church, God would double it for them in nine months, and it didn’t happen.
We moved into smaller groups and continued the discussion. How do you preach about money when people are losing their jobs and their homes? How do you expect people to think about spiritual things when money is such a real and pressing issue? What does it mean to trust God to take care of us?
One African-American pastor told of being a poor seminary student in Mississippi. He had almost nothing, but his pastor had asked everyone to contribute $100 towards missions work. About the only thing he owned was his clothes – a few casual clothes, and (as required by the church culture) four suits. He privately determined to sell two of his suits to raise the $100 to give to the church. Just then he received a letter. A couple in his church had been praying, and this pastor had arisen in their hearts. They had talked about it and decided to do something to help him out. Enclosed with the letter was $500.
I told a similar, though less dramatic, story of a time in seminary when someone brought my family a bag of groceries at a crucial time. Several others agreed that God always comes through.
But another pastor told of a church she served in Appalachia where families were struggling to live on $12,000 a year. She told of several women who would faithfully put money in the church offering plate every Sunday, only to see their children go without food for one or two days each week because the money was all gone. She said there was no question of the faith of these women, or their genuine love for God. So why was God allowing their children to suffer from malnutrition?
Other questions came up along the way. Is giving out of gratitude for God’s gifts the only really spiritual motivation for giving? Is it wrong to expect something from God in return? Is tithing a legalistic Old Testament relic or mandatory for Christians or somewhere in between?
We didn’t arrive at a clear agreement on any of these points. Some felt that preaching tithing to poor people drives them further into poverty, while others agreed with my experience that tithing has proven to be my lifeline out of deep financial distress. Some felt that we give as a response to what God has given us, while others said that we have to give first, as you have to plant a seed before you can expect a harvest.
I had never heard of God failing to come through for people who were genuinely trying to put him first, as in the case of the poor women who couldn’t feed their children, and I said so. A couple others agreed with me. It really caused me to think. And here’s what I think.
God does his work through his people. The church is the body of Christ, and Jesus is the head. A head can’t get anything done if the body doesn’t cooperate. If that couple had not listened to God and followed through by sending something to that poor seminary student, he would have had to sell his suits. If the people that brought my family a bag of groceries had failed to listen to God and obey him, we would have been pretty hungry.
Does God provide for his people? Absolutely. But he does it through other members of the family of God. And we haven’t always come through very well. May God have mercy on us all.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Musings from Vacation, Part 1
After a long day in the air and in four airports (Baltimore, Detroit, Salt Lake City and Oakland), we finally arrived in California, complete with luggage. We had tight connections and delayed flights - in Salt Lake City we had 15 minutes from the time we deplaned at one end of the airport until our connection was scheduled to depart from the other end - and due to overbooking our carry-on luggage wouldn't fit in the cabin and had to be checked through, and we had not time to buy meals in the airports and no meals were served on the planes, but we made it. I will never again wonder about Paula bringing "just-in-case" food in her purse.
On the shuttle to the airport we met a very friendly Southwest Airlines pilot who was staying in the same motel. He warned us not to try to walk to a restaurant, so we ordered a pizza and shared it and conversation with him. He seemed very interested when we told him of the healings that we saw in the revival services last week, and said he would love to see something like that - he has had very little experience with church. We will be praying for him.
Due to the three hour time difference, Paula and I went to bed around 7:30pm and awoke at 4:30am. The RV folks won't pick us up until around 10:00am, so we have had several hours to just sit in the room. That could sound very dull, but in fact it's very nice. Between reading, napping, and surfing the net, we are finding it very relaxing already, and we aren't even out of the motel! There really is something to be said for getting away from everyday responsibilities - I guess that's the main "musing" for today. I tried a "stay-cation" for two weeks in June, taking vacation time but staying at home, and while it was nice, it really wasn't what we needed. This two weeks in the mountains and along the Pacific coast, away from all normal responsibilities, promise to be wonderful. I guess God really knew what he was doing when he commanded us to take a rest day every week, and set up all those mandatory annual feasts in the Old Testament. They were basically big community barbeques when nobody worked and everybody ate. Some of them even required people to go to other cities or camp in tents for several days. A great idea from our loving God!
More the next time we have internet access. Blessings from vacation!
On the shuttle to the airport we met a very friendly Southwest Airlines pilot who was staying in the same motel. He warned us not to try to walk to a restaurant, so we ordered a pizza and shared it and conversation with him. He seemed very interested when we told him of the healings that we saw in the revival services last week, and said he would love to see something like that - he has had very little experience with church. We will be praying for him.
Due to the three hour time difference, Paula and I went to bed around 7:30pm and awoke at 4:30am. The RV folks won't pick us up until around 10:00am, so we have had several hours to just sit in the room. That could sound very dull, but in fact it's very nice. Between reading, napping, and surfing the net, we are finding it very relaxing already, and we aren't even out of the motel! There really is something to be said for getting away from everyday responsibilities - I guess that's the main "musing" for today. I tried a "stay-cation" for two weeks in June, taking vacation time but staying at home, and while it was nice, it really wasn't what we needed. This two weeks in the mountains and along the Pacific coast, away from all normal responsibilities, promise to be wonderful. I guess God really knew what he was doing when he commanded us to take a rest day every week, and set up all those mandatory annual feasts in the Old Testament. They were basically big community barbeques when nobody worked and everybody ate. Some of them even required people to go to other cities or camp in tents for several days. A great idea from our loving God!
More the next time we have internet access. Blessings from vacation!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
People Were Being Healed All Over the Place
You had to be there to believe it. People were being instantly, miraculously healed all over the church.
During special services last Friday and Saturday nights, and after the two regular Sunday morning services, at least twenty people I can identify personally received what John Wimber used to cautiously call “significant symptomatic abatement” immediately after receiving healing prayer. Many more from other churches reported being healed as well.
I haven’t contacted anyone for permission to use their names, but anyone familiar with Trinity Church can identify most of these folks.
One woman had not been able to kneel for ten years. After prayer, she was kneeling at the altar and rejoicing.
Another woman well into retirement age suffered from stress fractures and compression in her back. After prayer she was not only pain free, but touched her toes! – something she had not been able to do, in her words, “for a long time.”
At least three people came into the meeting with one leg shorter than the other. We watched as the legs grew out to the same length in front of our eyes. One reported the next day that it was the first time in years that she had been able to finish a worship service in normal shoes without her feet hurting.
A woman was healed of a deviated septum – she kept going around sniffing to demonstrate!
A woman had broken her wrist some time before and it had healed into a “frozen” position, unable to pivot back and forth. After prayer it had the same range of motion as before it was broken.
A woman I have known very well for a long time wore hearing aids in both ears, and had been almost completely deaf in one ear. After prayer she regained her hearing in both ears without hearing aids.
These are just some of the amazing things God did for us.
For me, perhaps the most exciting thing about it was that Dan Mohler, the Pennsylvania Bible teacher who led the meetings (www.neckministries.org), did not personally pray for most of them. Instead, he led the ordinary members of the church to pray for each other. It was their prayers that resulted in these healings.
In fact, one man was part of a group praying for a woman’s back and neck pain. She received healing. Then the man noticed that his own back no longer hurt. When he told me about it I asked how long he had suffered from the back pain. He said, “Ever since childhood” – which would mean about fifty years!
Jesus said, “Those who believe in me will do the same things that I do, and even greater things” (John 14:12), and, “These signs shall follow those who believe . . . they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover” (Mark 16:17-18). This weekend proved that those promises are still good. True, not everyone received immediate healing, but that does not invalidate what did happen.
Our task now is not to let this become something we look back on as an exciting event that happened once, but as the beginning of a new exciting ongoing ministry. I am open to ideas for how we as a church can encourage each other in stepping out in this ministry, not only in church services, but everywhere we meet people in need. I also urge you not to wait for the church to come up with some program. Go pray for someone!
God is good, God is faithful, God doesn’t change. There are people in need all around us. Let’s go out and demonstrate God’s love and power.
During special services last Friday and Saturday nights, and after the two regular Sunday morning services, at least twenty people I can identify personally received what John Wimber used to cautiously call “significant symptomatic abatement” immediately after receiving healing prayer. Many more from other churches reported being healed as well.
I haven’t contacted anyone for permission to use their names, but anyone familiar with Trinity Church can identify most of these folks.
One woman had not been able to kneel for ten years. After prayer, she was kneeling at the altar and rejoicing.
Another woman well into retirement age suffered from stress fractures and compression in her back. After prayer she was not only pain free, but touched her toes! – something she had not been able to do, in her words, “for a long time.”
At least three people came into the meeting with one leg shorter than the other. We watched as the legs grew out to the same length in front of our eyes. One reported the next day that it was the first time in years that she had been able to finish a worship service in normal shoes without her feet hurting.
A woman was healed of a deviated septum – she kept going around sniffing to demonstrate!
A woman had broken her wrist some time before and it had healed into a “frozen” position, unable to pivot back and forth. After prayer it had the same range of motion as before it was broken.
A woman I have known very well for a long time wore hearing aids in both ears, and had been almost completely deaf in one ear. After prayer she regained her hearing in both ears without hearing aids.
These are just some of the amazing things God did for us.
For me, perhaps the most exciting thing about it was that Dan Mohler, the Pennsylvania Bible teacher who led the meetings (www.neckministries.org), did not personally pray for most of them. Instead, he led the ordinary members of the church to pray for each other. It was their prayers that resulted in these healings.
In fact, one man was part of a group praying for a woman’s back and neck pain. She received healing. Then the man noticed that his own back no longer hurt. When he told me about it I asked how long he had suffered from the back pain. He said, “Ever since childhood” – which would mean about fifty years!
Jesus said, “Those who believe in me will do the same things that I do, and even greater things” (John 14:12), and, “These signs shall follow those who believe . . . they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover” (Mark 16:17-18). This weekend proved that those promises are still good. True, not everyone received immediate healing, but that does not invalidate what did happen.
Our task now is not to let this become something we look back on as an exciting event that happened once, but as the beginning of a new exciting ongoing ministry. I am open to ideas for how we as a church can encourage each other in stepping out in this ministry, not only in church services, but everywhere we meet people in need. I also urge you not to wait for the church to come up with some program. Go pray for someone!
God is good, God is faithful, God doesn’t change. There are people in need all around us. Let’s go out and demonstrate God’s love and power.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Alone Time With God
It’s been a couple weeks since I wrote anything on this blog. I have a good excuse, I really do.
Two weeks ago I took four days to backpack into the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area of West Virginia to spend some alone time with God. The next week Paula took five days to go to a silent retreat at a Trappist Monastery to spend some alone time with God. I’m not quite sure how Paula’s absence that second week kept me from writing my blog, but somehow it seemed to.
But what I want to talk about is alone time with God. It’s absolutely vital, and in our modern society it’s very hard to get enough of it.
Of course, it doesn’t need to be four or five days at a time. A little time every day, a little more time once a week, can make a huge difference.
Writer Henri Nouwen tells of the time he visited Mother Teresa. He spent quite some time telling her all the concerns he had about his life and his spirituality. Her response was simply this: “Well, when you spend one hour a day adoring your Lord and never do anything which you know is wrong, you will be fine.”
Wow!
The first part reminds me of St. John of the Cross, who would spend hours just “gazing.”The second part reminds me of John Wesley’s definition of Christian perfection: to reach a place where you are not aware of committing any known sin, and everything you do is done in love. Put them together and I think Mother Teresa was on to something.
Paula told me a great phrase she came across on her retreat: Christians should seek to take what is implicit in Christianity, and make it explicit. What is implicit? God is love; God made us to love; when two people love each other, they love to be alone with each other. You make that explicit by getting alone with God.
It doesn’t have to be four or five days, it doesn’t have to be a wilderness or a monastery. It can be your car while you drive to work, if you can just turn off the radio. It can be your house before anyone else wakes up, if you can ignore the newspaper. It can be the church when nobody else is there. It can be your basement or back yard or a closet.
Wherever it’s just you and God is fine. Lovers find a way to sneak off someplace and be alone together. There’s no special way you have to do it. Just find a way, and get alone with God. And listen.
Two weeks ago I took four days to backpack into the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area of West Virginia to spend some alone time with God. The next week Paula took five days to go to a silent retreat at a Trappist Monastery to spend some alone time with God. I’m not quite sure how Paula’s absence that second week kept me from writing my blog, but somehow it seemed to.
But what I want to talk about is alone time with God. It’s absolutely vital, and in our modern society it’s very hard to get enough of it.
Of course, it doesn’t need to be four or five days at a time. A little time every day, a little more time once a week, can make a huge difference.
Writer Henri Nouwen tells of the time he visited Mother Teresa. He spent quite some time telling her all the concerns he had about his life and his spirituality. Her response was simply this: “Well, when you spend one hour a day adoring your Lord and never do anything which you know is wrong, you will be fine.”
Wow!
The first part reminds me of St. John of the Cross, who would spend hours just “gazing.”The second part reminds me of John Wesley’s definition of Christian perfection: to reach a place where you are not aware of committing any known sin, and everything you do is done in love. Put them together and I think Mother Teresa was on to something.
Paula told me a great phrase she came across on her retreat: Christians should seek to take what is implicit in Christianity, and make it explicit. What is implicit? God is love; God made us to love; when two people love each other, they love to be alone with each other. You make that explicit by getting alone with God.
It doesn’t have to be four or five days, it doesn’t have to be a wilderness or a monastery. It can be your car while you drive to work, if you can just turn off the radio. It can be your house before anyone else wakes up, if you can ignore the newspaper. It can be the church when nobody else is there. It can be your basement or back yard or a closet.
Wherever it’s just you and God is fine. Lovers find a way to sneak off someplace and be alone together. There’s no special way you have to do it. Just find a way, and get alone with God. And listen.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Not Everybody Connects With God the Same Way
Twice a month, 12-15 people gather at our house to learn how better to recognize and experience and follow the Holy Spirit. We call the group "Flowing in the Spirit." We met this past Sunday and I'd like to share a little of it with you.
The conversation was around the different ways in which different people most easily experience the presence of God. One of the books I’m reading is Sacred Pathways, by Gary Thomas, who also wrote Sacred Marriage (“What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”). He points out that many people feel frustrated or even guilty because the ways in which they are advised to grow closer to God don’t seem to work for them. For instance, we are often told that to grow closer to God, we just need to lock ourselves away in our prayer closet for longer and longer periods of time each day. Thomas says this works great for some people, but not at all for others, and it’s not a problem with those others, it’s just that God made them differently.
This was illustrated by the group discussion. Among the ten or so people there (several were away, it being August), we identified at least five or six different main ways in which different ones of us connect with God.
After that discussion, I briefly outlined the nine ways Thomas has identified as how different people connect with God. Then we made a two-part assignment for next time, which will be Aug. 23. The assignment is:
• Try a new way of connecting with God. Pick one of the below that you haven’t done much or at all, and try it.
• Think about what “connecting with God” means to you. How do you know if you have connected with God? What are the signs? How can you tell which of the below works best for you – and what does that mean, “works best?”
Here are Thomas’ nine pathways, very briefly summarized. For a more detailed discussion see the book.
1. Naturalists: don’t need buildings, books or bands. Learn about God from watching nature, feel close to God by being in nature.
2. Sensates: experience and love God through their five senses. Want to be lost in the awe, beauty and splendor of God. In worship, they want their senses to be filled with sights, sounds, smells, feelings, tastes. Love intricate architecture, stained glass, classical music, formal language, even incense and the feel of kneeling or holy water.
3. Traditionalists: love God through ritual and symbol and sacraments. May have a very disciplined life of faith, they like structure, they may not like change to the way they do things in church.
4. Ascetics: love God in solitude and simplicity. They want nothing more than to be left alone with God in prayer, without pictures or music or liturgy to distract them. Their worship is primarily internal.
5. Activists: love and worship God through their actions. These actions are often confrontational, standing for God against evil and calling sinners to repentance. They may experience God most deeply as they lobby or picket or march for a cause. They see church as a place to recharge their batteries for the real worship which takes place out in the world.
6. Caregivers: love and worship God by taking care of other people, like Mother Teresa.
7. Enthusiasts: love and express God with mystery and celebration, clapping and shouting “Amen” and dancing. May feel they haven’t worshiped if they aren’t experiencing and feeling and being moved by God’s presence.
8. Contemplatives: love God through adoration. May often refer to God as their lover, and use images of a loving Father and Bridegroom. Focus is not on understanding or serving God, but loving God as purely and deeply as possible.
9. Intellectuals: love and worship God best when studying the Bible or grappling with theological concepts. They may feel closest to God when they first understand something new about him.
For most people, one or a combination of a few of these feel very natural and good, and some others don’t help at all. Others are more able to experience God in a variety of these ways. I personally feel that one way of measuring our spiritual growth is by our increasing ability to worship in different ways. It is good to try different ways just to see if one works for you that you never tried, but it is also important to recognize that none of these ways of approaching or worshiping God is more or less spiritual than any of the others. In other words, individuals or denominations that focus on social action in serving God are neither more nor less spiritual, by that fact, than those that focus on silent prayer or doctrinal understanding. Structured liturgical worship is not necessarily more or less spiritual than free-flowing charismatic worship. We need to encourage and support each other in all of these.
I'd love for anyone reading this blog to join us at our next gathering - just email me for details. But whether you can or not, I want to encourage you: if you just haven't seemed to be able to get the hang of connecting with God, try a new way. God for sure wants to connect with you!
The conversation was around the different ways in which different people most easily experience the presence of God. One of the books I’m reading is Sacred Pathways, by Gary Thomas, who also wrote Sacred Marriage (“What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”). He points out that many people feel frustrated or even guilty because the ways in which they are advised to grow closer to God don’t seem to work for them. For instance, we are often told that to grow closer to God, we just need to lock ourselves away in our prayer closet for longer and longer periods of time each day. Thomas says this works great for some people, but not at all for others, and it’s not a problem with those others, it’s just that God made them differently.
This was illustrated by the group discussion. Among the ten or so people there (several were away, it being August), we identified at least five or six different main ways in which different ones of us connect with God.
After that discussion, I briefly outlined the nine ways Thomas has identified as how different people connect with God. Then we made a two-part assignment for next time, which will be Aug. 23. The assignment is:
• Try a new way of connecting with God. Pick one of the below that you haven’t done much or at all, and try it.
• Think about what “connecting with God” means to you. How do you know if you have connected with God? What are the signs? How can you tell which of the below works best for you – and what does that mean, “works best?”
Here are Thomas’ nine pathways, very briefly summarized. For a more detailed discussion see the book.
1. Naturalists: don’t need buildings, books or bands. Learn about God from watching nature, feel close to God by being in nature.
2. Sensates: experience and love God through their five senses. Want to be lost in the awe, beauty and splendor of God. In worship, they want their senses to be filled with sights, sounds, smells, feelings, tastes. Love intricate architecture, stained glass, classical music, formal language, even incense and the feel of kneeling or holy water.
3. Traditionalists: love God through ritual and symbol and sacraments. May have a very disciplined life of faith, they like structure, they may not like change to the way they do things in church.
4. Ascetics: love God in solitude and simplicity. They want nothing more than to be left alone with God in prayer, without pictures or music or liturgy to distract them. Their worship is primarily internal.
5. Activists: love and worship God through their actions. These actions are often confrontational, standing for God against evil and calling sinners to repentance. They may experience God most deeply as they lobby or picket or march for a cause. They see church as a place to recharge their batteries for the real worship which takes place out in the world.
6. Caregivers: love and worship God by taking care of other people, like Mother Teresa.
7. Enthusiasts: love and express God with mystery and celebration, clapping and shouting “Amen” and dancing. May feel they haven’t worshiped if they aren’t experiencing and feeling and being moved by God’s presence.
8. Contemplatives: love God through adoration. May often refer to God as their lover, and use images of a loving Father and Bridegroom. Focus is not on understanding or serving God, but loving God as purely and deeply as possible.
9. Intellectuals: love and worship God best when studying the Bible or grappling with theological concepts. They may feel closest to God when they first understand something new about him.
For most people, one or a combination of a few of these feel very natural and good, and some others don’t help at all. Others are more able to experience God in a variety of these ways. I personally feel that one way of measuring our spiritual growth is by our increasing ability to worship in different ways. It is good to try different ways just to see if one works for you that you never tried, but it is also important to recognize that none of these ways of approaching or worshiping God is more or less spiritual than any of the others. In other words, individuals or denominations that focus on social action in serving God are neither more nor less spiritual, by that fact, than those that focus on silent prayer or doctrinal understanding. Structured liturgical worship is not necessarily more or less spiritual than free-flowing charismatic worship. We need to encourage and support each other in all of these.
I'd love for anyone reading this blog to join us at our next gathering - just email me for details. But whether you can or not, I want to encourage you: if you just haven't seemed to be able to get the hang of connecting with God, try a new way. God for sure wants to connect with you!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Kayak Camping the Outer Banks
Recently my son Jed emailed me with an invitation. Could I break away and meet him in the southern Outer Banks of North Carolina for a couple days of kayaking and camping?
When your grown son, who is in the Army and lives 800 miles away, extends an invitation like that, you do whatever it takes to make it happen. I loaded the kayaks on the car, he got in his truck, and we met in Havelock, NC.
The next day we put into the water at the Cape Lookout National Seashore visitor center, he in the 15-foot sea kayak, I in my very impressive 8-foot flat-water yacht, which I have named “The Brain of Pooh,” after Pooh Bear’s honey jar boat. We had our camping gear, 5 gallons of Gatorade, and 3 gallons of water. Camping at CLNS is primitive, with no water or other facilities most places.
The weather was beautiful, the water warm, the breeze brisk. It was glorious – at high tide. Unfortunately, most of the times when we needed to land or depart it was low tide. That meant dragging the kayaks across grass and mud and shallows, sinking sometimes to our knees. When we could float, the breeze was often so stiff that we had a hard time keeping our course. (My kayak has no rudder, and Jed’s legs are so long he couldn’t use the pedals on his.) At one point we found ourselves towing the boats through sharp-edged cord grass up to our knees, then carrying our camping gear several hundred yards across Core Bank through marsh grasses up to our eyes. We felt like Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in “African Queen.”
The real excitement, though, happened the first night. We had set up camp on the sound side of Shackleford Bank. After a yummy meal of canned chili, canned potatoes, and canned peas all mixed together (kayak camping is different from backpacking in that the emphasis is on bulk, not weight), we watched the fire die, the sun go down, the wild horses wander and the beach come alive with thousands of fiddler crabs. Then I started toward where I had laid out my sleeping bag. As I walked toward it, my headlamp trained just ahead of my foot, the beam of light suddenly illuminated a textbook example of a copperhead snake – one of the most poisonous snakes in North America.
Jed verified that was what it was, and while he kept the beam of light on the snake (which wasn’t at all worried by our presence), I carefully removed my sleeping gear. We retreated to the other side of the point and slept on the sand just above the high tide line. Perhaps surprisingly, I had no trouble at all falling asleep.
What are the odds that I would choose to go up to bed just as the snake chose to come to that same place? What are the odds that it would be just where my headlamp shone, at just the time that I shone it? What are the odds that I would have, a few days earlier, decided to buy a headlamp to take with me, rather than the tiny squeeze light I usually used? What are the odds that I would have bothered to use the lamp instead of my normal practice of moving around camp by moonlight? Had any of those things not happened just so, I could easily have stepped on that poisonous snake, or gone to bed only to find it already nestled in my sleeping bag. And we were a two hour night-time paddle from help.
Statistically, the way you calculate a combination of odds is that you multiply the individual odds together. Multiplying the odds against all those things happening just as they did, the result is either an astronomical coincidence, or answered prayer. I firmly believe it was the latter, because I had bathed the whole trip in prayers, for guidance, good weather, fun, and especially protection. Maybe that's why I was able to go to sleep so easily.
I actually used that experience as a sermon illustration this past Sunday, in a sermon I had already planned to preach, called “Deliver Us from Evil.” (You can download an audio podcast of it from trinityannapolis.org.) We don’t often hear about how to pray prayers of protection, but it is a very practical thing to know and do.
I’d rather not go through something like that every time I need a sermon illustration. But God is good, and God answers prayers. And kayaking the Outer Banks is a lot of fun!
When your grown son, who is in the Army and lives 800 miles away, extends an invitation like that, you do whatever it takes to make it happen. I loaded the kayaks on the car, he got in his truck, and we met in Havelock, NC.
The next day we put into the water at the Cape Lookout National Seashore visitor center, he in the 15-foot sea kayak, I in my very impressive 8-foot flat-water yacht, which I have named “The Brain of Pooh,” after Pooh Bear’s honey jar boat. We had our camping gear, 5 gallons of Gatorade, and 3 gallons of water. Camping at CLNS is primitive, with no water or other facilities most places.
The weather was beautiful, the water warm, the breeze brisk. It was glorious – at high tide. Unfortunately, most of the times when we needed to land or depart it was low tide. That meant dragging the kayaks across grass and mud and shallows, sinking sometimes to our knees. When we could float, the breeze was often so stiff that we had a hard time keeping our course. (My kayak has no rudder, and Jed’s legs are so long he couldn’t use the pedals on his.) At one point we found ourselves towing the boats through sharp-edged cord grass up to our knees, then carrying our camping gear several hundred yards across Core Bank through marsh grasses up to our eyes. We felt like Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in “African Queen.”
The real excitement, though, happened the first night. We had set up camp on the sound side of Shackleford Bank. After a yummy meal of canned chili, canned potatoes, and canned peas all mixed together (kayak camping is different from backpacking in that the emphasis is on bulk, not weight), we watched the fire die, the sun go down, the wild horses wander and the beach come alive with thousands of fiddler crabs. Then I started toward where I had laid out my sleeping bag. As I walked toward it, my headlamp trained just ahead of my foot, the beam of light suddenly illuminated a textbook example of a copperhead snake – one of the most poisonous snakes in North America.
Jed verified that was what it was, and while he kept the beam of light on the snake (which wasn’t at all worried by our presence), I carefully removed my sleeping gear. We retreated to the other side of the point and slept on the sand just above the high tide line. Perhaps surprisingly, I had no trouble at all falling asleep.
What are the odds that I would choose to go up to bed just as the snake chose to come to that same place? What are the odds that it would be just where my headlamp shone, at just the time that I shone it? What are the odds that I would have, a few days earlier, decided to buy a headlamp to take with me, rather than the tiny squeeze light I usually used? What are the odds that I would have bothered to use the lamp instead of my normal practice of moving around camp by moonlight? Had any of those things not happened just so, I could easily have stepped on that poisonous snake, or gone to bed only to find it already nestled in my sleeping bag. And we were a two hour night-time paddle from help.
Statistically, the way you calculate a combination of odds is that you multiply the individual odds together. Multiplying the odds against all those things happening just as they did, the result is either an astronomical coincidence, or answered prayer. I firmly believe it was the latter, because I had bathed the whole trip in prayers, for guidance, good weather, fun, and especially protection. Maybe that's why I was able to go to sleep so easily.
I actually used that experience as a sermon illustration this past Sunday, in a sermon I had already planned to preach, called “Deliver Us from Evil.” (You can download an audio podcast of it from trinityannapolis.org.) We don’t often hear about how to pray prayers of protection, but it is a very practical thing to know and do.
I’d rather not go through something like that every time I need a sermon illustration. But God is good, and God answers prayers. And kayaking the Outer Banks is a lot of fun!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Lesson from a Church Auction
This Saturday is our church yard sale to raise funds to help our sister church in Turkey buy land for a building. Church yard sales tend to remind me of something that happened our first year or two in the ministry.
The tradition in the Mount Airy, Maryland area, where Prospect United Methodist Church is located, was to have auctions rather than yard sales. At an entry-level pastor’s salary, we were very limited in what we could buy even at church auction prices. But that evening, after everyone had gone home, Paula and I walked across the street from the parsonage to look around at what had been left behind for the trash collector.
That’s when Paula saw the bed frame , and old wooden headboard and footboard and side rails. It was in such poor shape that nobody was willing to pay fifty cents and carry it away. I agreed with them. But Paula saw something in it that I couldn’t see. She kept exclaiming about how beautiful it was. So, just to humor her, I carried it across the street to the parsonage.
Paula went to work with stripper and scraper and stain and polyurethane, and she created a wonderful transformation in that old bed. She scraped away the layers of dirt and grime and peeling finish, and brought out what that bed was originally created to be. And just as she said, it was beautiful. Nuances of texture and grain and color just shone.
We really didn’t have room for another bed in the parsonage, so the next time we visited Paula’s parents on their farm in Missouri we put it on top our old station wagon and took it out there. Her folks loved it, and every time we visited for the next decade or so, that’s the bed we slept in. Then when they moved to the city, we brought the bed back and now Joy sleeps in it. It’s still comfortable, and it’s still beautiful. I’m so glad Paula was able to see beyond the damage of years to see what it could become.
And I’m so glad God sees beyond the damage of years to see what we can become. When our mistakes and bad decisions and downright sins have covered us with layers of gunk and grime and we feel like we’re not worth fifty cents, God still sees something in us. He wants to pick us up off the trash heap of life and clean us up and refinish us and make us beautiful and useful. The only difference between us and that old bed is that once Paula decided, the bed didn’t have any choice. We do. But I’ll tell you what: let God have his way with you. Standing strong and beautiful in a nice bedroom is so much nicer than rotting in the county landfill.
The tradition in the Mount Airy, Maryland area, where Prospect United Methodist Church is located, was to have auctions rather than yard sales. At an entry-level pastor’s salary, we were very limited in what we could buy even at church auction prices. But that evening, after everyone had gone home, Paula and I walked across the street from the parsonage to look around at what had been left behind for the trash collector.
That’s when Paula saw the bed frame , and old wooden headboard and footboard and side rails. It was in such poor shape that nobody was willing to pay fifty cents and carry it away. I agreed with them. But Paula saw something in it that I couldn’t see. She kept exclaiming about how beautiful it was. So, just to humor her, I carried it across the street to the parsonage.
Paula went to work with stripper and scraper and stain and polyurethane, and she created a wonderful transformation in that old bed. She scraped away the layers of dirt and grime and peeling finish, and brought out what that bed was originally created to be. And just as she said, it was beautiful. Nuances of texture and grain and color just shone.
We really didn’t have room for another bed in the parsonage, so the next time we visited Paula’s parents on their farm in Missouri we put it on top our old station wagon and took it out there. Her folks loved it, and every time we visited for the next decade or so, that’s the bed we slept in. Then when they moved to the city, we brought the bed back and now Joy sleeps in it. It’s still comfortable, and it’s still beautiful. I’m so glad Paula was able to see beyond the damage of years to see what it could become.
And I’m so glad God sees beyond the damage of years to see what we can become. When our mistakes and bad decisions and downright sins have covered us with layers of gunk and grime and we feel like we’re not worth fifty cents, God still sees something in us. He wants to pick us up off the trash heap of life and clean us up and refinish us and make us beautiful and useful. The only difference between us and that old bed is that once Paula decided, the bed didn’t have any choice. We do. But I’ll tell you what: let God have his way with you. Standing strong and beautiful in a nice bedroom is so much nicer than rotting in the county landfill.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Take a Vacation!
Right after the big celebration (of Trinity UM Church’s 100th anniversary – read all about it in the July newsletter available on the Trinity website), I went on two weeks of vacation. That’s why you haven’t seen anything new here for a while. Now I’m back, and raring to go!
Vacation! Is there any lovelier word in the English language? (Of course there are – love, commitment, sacrifice , and many others – but that’s for another time.)
If you read the Old Testament right you’ll understand that God commanded his people to take vacations. Not just the Sabbath, the one day in seven when God instructs us not to work. We all need to take that seriously, and if more of us did, I personally believe we’d all be a lot healthier, in spirit and mind as well as body. But God actually commands his people to take vacations.
God set aside nineteen days a year as feast days. As described in Leviticus 23, these were essentially national holidays. Two of them, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles, were a week long. The others were one-day feasts. These holidays, scattered throughout the year, were specifically set aside for eating and celebrating, like Thanksgiving. Besides eating, during the week-long feast of Tabernacles, the people were specifically instructed to go camping! God understood the importance of getting away from our normal surroundings if we are to really experience mental refreshment.
We are not ancient Hebrews, so we are not subject to those particular laws. But we are God's people, so the principle applies. It is important to take time away.
We went to Shenandoah and Monticello, and visited our son Jeremiah and his family in West Virginia. It was a wonderful time. We talked, we ate, we explored, we played games, we just relaxed and spent time together. It was great. And we all came back feeling refreshed.
So if you haven’t taken a vacation yet this year – and I mean a real vacation, one that gets you someplace else for at least a few days, even if it means mooching off relatives to do it – get out there and vacate! After all, it’s in the Bible.
Vacation! Is there any lovelier word in the English language? (Of course there are – love, commitment, sacrifice , and many others – but that’s for another time.)
If you read the Old Testament right you’ll understand that God commanded his people to take vacations. Not just the Sabbath, the one day in seven when God instructs us not to work. We all need to take that seriously, and if more of us did, I personally believe we’d all be a lot healthier, in spirit and mind as well as body. But God actually commands his people to take vacations.
God set aside nineteen days a year as feast days. As described in Leviticus 23, these were essentially national holidays. Two of them, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles, were a week long. The others were one-day feasts. These holidays, scattered throughout the year, were specifically set aside for eating and celebrating, like Thanksgiving. Besides eating, during the week-long feast of Tabernacles, the people were specifically instructed to go camping! God understood the importance of getting away from our normal surroundings if we are to really experience mental refreshment.
We are not ancient Hebrews, so we are not subject to those particular laws. But we are God's people, so the principle applies. It is important to take time away.
We went to Shenandoah and Monticello, and visited our son Jeremiah and his family in West Virginia. It was a wonderful time. We talked, we ate, we explored, we played games, we just relaxed and spent time together. It was great. And we all came back feeling refreshed.
So if you haven’t taken a vacation yet this year – and I mean a real vacation, one that gets you someplace else for at least a few days, even if it means mooching off relatives to do it – get out there and vacate! After all, it’s in the Bible.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Kids
I haven’t written much recently. I’ve been spending time with my kids.
Josh and Julie and their children Moses and Lucy are spending May with us as the last leg of their three-month visit back to the States from their home in Turkey. Joy is home from college for the summer from Oklahoma. John and Suzanne arrived Tuesday evening from Illinois for a week. We just picked up Jed at the airport from Tennessee. And Jeremiah and Becky and their children Isaiah and Malachi are on the road from West Virginia as I write this. Four sons, a daughter, three daughters-in-law, three grandsons and a granddaughter will be spending the Memorial Day weekend with us.
So I’ve taken kind of half-vacation time and I’ve been trying as much as I can to hang out with my kids and grandkids.
It’s an interesting thing. Many people have told Paula and me that we have wonderful children - they all love the Lord, they all earned major scholarships to college, I could go on. A lot of folks have asked us what the secret is to raising such great kids. We have even been asked to teach a parenting class. But as soon as we start talking about what we did and what we feel was important in raising our kids, people don’t want to hear it. We had to cancel the parenting course after the second class because people stopped coming.
I’m on the subject now, so I’ll go ahead and say it. It seems to me the one key element is spending time with your kids. Lots of time. Sure, “quality” time, but also lots of quantity time. Paying attention. Stopping what you are doing to be with them.
For instance, just as I was writing that last sentence I heard Moses waking up from his nap. The middle generation was out for some time by themselves. So I dropped what I was doing and Paula and I spent the next forty-five minutes or so with Moses, until his parents came home.
I believe that during the twenty or so years that a person is privileged to raise children, nothing else is so important. And the way that is played out is to spend time with them, paying attention to them, interacting with them in ways that teach them by example to interact with other people.
So that’s why I haven’t written on this blog in a while. And that’s why I’m stopping here. Gonna go be with my kids.
P.S. A lot of neat stuff happened during our prayer week, including some pretty awesome healings. I wrote about it in the Trinity Church June newsletter. You can read it online at the church website, trinityannapolis.org.
Josh and Julie and their children Moses and Lucy are spending May with us as the last leg of their three-month visit back to the States from their home in Turkey. Joy is home from college for the summer from Oklahoma. John and Suzanne arrived Tuesday evening from Illinois for a week. We just picked up Jed at the airport from Tennessee. And Jeremiah and Becky and their children Isaiah and Malachi are on the road from West Virginia as I write this. Four sons, a daughter, three daughters-in-law, three grandsons and a granddaughter will be spending the Memorial Day weekend with us.
So I’ve taken kind of half-vacation time and I’ve been trying as much as I can to hang out with my kids and grandkids.
It’s an interesting thing. Many people have told Paula and me that we have wonderful children - they all love the Lord, they all earned major scholarships to college, I could go on. A lot of folks have asked us what the secret is to raising such great kids. We have even been asked to teach a parenting class. But as soon as we start talking about what we did and what we feel was important in raising our kids, people don’t want to hear it. We had to cancel the parenting course after the second class because people stopped coming.
I’m on the subject now, so I’ll go ahead and say it. It seems to me the one key element is spending time with your kids. Lots of time. Sure, “quality” time, but also lots of quantity time. Paying attention. Stopping what you are doing to be with them.
For instance, just as I was writing that last sentence I heard Moses waking up from his nap. The middle generation was out for some time by themselves. So I dropped what I was doing and Paula and I spent the next forty-five minutes or so with Moses, until his parents came home.
I believe that during the twenty or so years that a person is privileged to raise children, nothing else is so important. And the way that is played out is to spend time with them, paying attention to them, interacting with them in ways that teach them by example to interact with other people.
So that’s why I haven’t written on this blog in a while. And that’s why I’m stopping here. Gonna go be with my kids.
P.S. A lot of neat stuff happened during our prayer week, including some pretty awesome healings. I wrote about it in the Trinity Church June newsletter. You can read it online at the church website, trinityannapolis.org.
Monday, May 4, 2009
God Invented Sex
I’m preaching a six-week sermon series on the real-life issues we all have to deal with. Things like life and death, and politics, and when God doesn’t answer prayer. Yesterday’s sermon was, “God Invented Sex.” (You can listen to a podcast on our church website, www.trinityannapolis.org.)
At the 9:00 service it was my turn to give the children’s sermon. Most of the kids are between two and six years old. I asked them if any of them were married, and they laughed and one said no, they were too short. Then I asked them what married people do. I was thinking about things like taking care of each other, so I was a little surprised at the chorus of snickers from various parts of the congregation.
Why is that the usual reaction to this topic?
Forty years ago, 8% of children were born out of wedlock. Twenty years ago that had climbed to 18%. Today, depending on what you read, the percentage of children born to single mothers is between 40 and 51%. Adding in the wide availability of birth control, and the number of children conceived by single mothers who are never allowed to be born, that points to a huge amount of sexual activity outside of marriage. And more and more couples I talk to in pre-wedding counseling have no idea that God even has an opinion about that.
That’s not something to be snickered at.
Then there’s the increasing visibility of the GLBT population: those who consider themselves gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.
This is not just something we read about in the newspaper. Most of us know unmarried couples of all sexual orientations living together. Often they are in our families.
Somebody asked me recently, “How do I treat these people? What do I say to them?”
The simple answer is this: you love them. How can they ever know that God loves them if we don’t show them God’s love by loving them ourselves? That doesn’t mean we condone what is obviously unbiblical behavior. Encouraging people to continue in anything less than God’s perfect plan is not loving them.
But these folks know the church doesn’t approve. They don’t need us to tell them that. They may not know God doesn’t approve – in the eyes of many people there is a big disconnect between God and the church – but they’re not likely to take our word for it.
Our job is not to condemn non-Christians for acting like non-Christians. The Holy Spirit is the one who convinces people. Our job is just to love them, and tell them what Jesus has done for us.
Most of us grew up in a time when the Christian view of sex was accepted as the common morality. That is no longer true. If the church doesn’t tell people what the Bible says, nobody else will.
But if we don’t love them first, why should they listen to us?
At the 9:00 service it was my turn to give the children’s sermon. Most of the kids are between two and six years old. I asked them if any of them were married, and they laughed and one said no, they were too short. Then I asked them what married people do. I was thinking about things like taking care of each other, so I was a little surprised at the chorus of snickers from various parts of the congregation.
Why is that the usual reaction to this topic?
Forty years ago, 8% of children were born out of wedlock. Twenty years ago that had climbed to 18%. Today, depending on what you read, the percentage of children born to single mothers is between 40 and 51%. Adding in the wide availability of birth control, and the number of children conceived by single mothers who are never allowed to be born, that points to a huge amount of sexual activity outside of marriage. And more and more couples I talk to in pre-wedding counseling have no idea that God even has an opinion about that.
That’s not something to be snickered at.
Then there’s the increasing visibility of the GLBT population: those who consider themselves gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.
This is not just something we read about in the newspaper. Most of us know unmarried couples of all sexual orientations living together. Often they are in our families.
Somebody asked me recently, “How do I treat these people? What do I say to them?”
The simple answer is this: you love them. How can they ever know that God loves them if we don’t show them God’s love by loving them ourselves? That doesn’t mean we condone what is obviously unbiblical behavior. Encouraging people to continue in anything less than God’s perfect plan is not loving them.
But these folks know the church doesn’t approve. They don’t need us to tell them that. They may not know God doesn’t approve – in the eyes of many people there is a big disconnect between God and the church – but they’re not likely to take our word for it.
Our job is not to condemn non-Christians for acting like non-Christians. The Holy Spirit is the one who convinces people. Our job is just to love them, and tell them what Jesus has done for us.
Most of us grew up in a time when the Christian view of sex was accepted as the common morality. That is no longer true. If the church doesn’t tell people what the Bible says, nobody else will.
But if we don’t love them first, why should they listen to us?
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Sudden Death
Darlene Henry, the warm and talented wife of my predecessor as pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, had a massive stroke Easter evening. She died three days later. Eddie retired two years ago, and Darlene was set to retire in two months.
This was the second unexpected death in the church family in as many weeks.
One of the first things that comes to most people’s minds in such a situation is, “Why?” We understand that everyone has to die, but when someone doesn’t reach what we consider a normal life span, we want a reason. There are those who get comfort from believing that God wills and causes everything that happens, and that we just have to trust that God had his reasons. This is not the place for a theological argument. Let me just say that the way I read the Bible, and the way my relationship with God leads me to understand him, makes me see it differently. We live in a fallen world where God’s will is not always done. People dying painfully or before their time is an example of that.
What hit me about both these deaths was the unexpectedness. We can make all the plans in the world, but tomorrow is never guaranteed. I’m all in favor of delayed gratification and prudent planning for retirement. But I have to ask myself, is there something I really want to do, something I believe is important, something I am putting off into an uncertain future, that maybe I should begin working on right now, or that might give me a reason not to work until they make me stop? Those books I want to write, if I believe they are going to be a blessing to other people, can I really afford to wait until I retire to start writing them? Those special things I want to do with Paula and the kids, how sure can I be that they and I will be around and healthy and able to enjoy them fifteen years from now?
Death makes you think about things.
This was the second unexpected death in the church family in as many weeks.
One of the first things that comes to most people’s minds in such a situation is, “Why?” We understand that everyone has to die, but when someone doesn’t reach what we consider a normal life span, we want a reason. There are those who get comfort from believing that God wills and causes everything that happens, and that we just have to trust that God had his reasons. This is not the place for a theological argument. Let me just say that the way I read the Bible, and the way my relationship with God leads me to understand him, makes me see it differently. We live in a fallen world where God’s will is not always done. People dying painfully or before their time is an example of that.
What hit me about both these deaths was the unexpectedness. We can make all the plans in the world, but tomorrow is never guaranteed. I’m all in favor of delayed gratification and prudent planning for retirement. But I have to ask myself, is there something I really want to do, something I believe is important, something I am putting off into an uncertain future, that maybe I should begin working on right now, or that might give me a reason not to work until they make me stop? Those books I want to write, if I believe they are going to be a blessing to other people, can I really afford to wait until I retire to start writing them? Those special things I want to do with Paula and the kids, how sure can I be that they and I will be around and healthy and able to enjoy them fifteen years from now?
Death makes you think about things.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Washing One Another’s Feet
Last night Trinity had our Maundy Thursday service. Maundy Thursday is what they call the Thursday before Easter, when Jesus turned the Passover meal into the Lord’s Supper/Mass/Eucharist/Holy Communion.
Usually our Maundy Thursday service focuses on the Lord’s Supper. This year we added a foot washing piece.
In Israel at the time of Christ, everybody wore sandals, and they either walked or rode donkeys – on rare occasions, camels or horses. Sandals were easy and cool, but they let all the dirt and dust and “donkey pollution” from the roads get all over your feet. So whenever you went into somebody’s house, they would have a servant untie your sandals and wash your feet. Since this was such a dirty job, it was usually the lowliest servant who was assigned to this task.
On that first Maundy Thursday, Jesus and his disciples were in a rented room. There was no host, and no servants. So everybody just came on in and sat around the table with their dirty smelly feet sticking out.
John’s gospel tells us the meal had gotten well under way. In other words, Jesus gave everyone ample opportunity to do something. They all missed their chance. Finally Jesus himself got up from his meal, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, took a pitcher and basin, and began to wash his followers’ dirty feet. Jesus, the Lord of the universe, took the place of the lowliest servant.
The values of God’s kingdom turn the values of this world upside down. Jesus was demonstrating that in a way none of them would ever forget.
Last night we offered an opportunity for folks to wash one another’s feet. Maybe a third of the people there did. You could tell it was a moving experience for everyone, those who washed and those who watched.
For me, the most moving part was seeing several older couples, people in their seventies and eighties, washing each other’s feet. Very slowly and carefully getting down on their knees, then very tenderly washing and drying the feet of the man or woman they had lived with and loved for fifty years or more, then reversing roles and allowing their feet to be washed.
What a picture of love and devotion. I won’t forget it soon.
Usually our Maundy Thursday service focuses on the Lord’s Supper. This year we added a foot washing piece.
In Israel at the time of Christ, everybody wore sandals, and they either walked or rode donkeys – on rare occasions, camels or horses. Sandals were easy and cool, but they let all the dirt and dust and “donkey pollution” from the roads get all over your feet. So whenever you went into somebody’s house, they would have a servant untie your sandals and wash your feet. Since this was such a dirty job, it was usually the lowliest servant who was assigned to this task.
On that first Maundy Thursday, Jesus and his disciples were in a rented room. There was no host, and no servants. So everybody just came on in and sat around the table with their dirty smelly feet sticking out.
John’s gospel tells us the meal had gotten well under way. In other words, Jesus gave everyone ample opportunity to do something. They all missed their chance. Finally Jesus himself got up from his meal, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, took a pitcher and basin, and began to wash his followers’ dirty feet. Jesus, the Lord of the universe, took the place of the lowliest servant.
The values of God’s kingdom turn the values of this world upside down. Jesus was demonstrating that in a way none of them would ever forget.
Last night we offered an opportunity for folks to wash one another’s feet. Maybe a third of the people there did. You could tell it was a moving experience for everyone, those who washed and those who watched.
For me, the most moving part was seeing several older couples, people in their seventies and eighties, washing each other’s feet. Very slowly and carefully getting down on their knees, then very tenderly washing and drying the feet of the man or woman they had lived with and loved for fifty years or more, then reversing roles and allowing their feet to be washed.
What a picture of love and devotion. I won’t forget it soon.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Babies, Babies, Babies!
Two days ago Paula and I went to visit one of our families and their new baby – what a cutie! This afternoon we plan to visit the families of two more babies recently born at Trinity. We are expecting another one any moment, and I have been told there are twins on the way within the next month or so.
That will make nine new babies at Trinity since October. Wow!
It’s a good thing we got the nursery renovated.
We’ve known about most of these babies for some time. One of them was a total surprise – a baby suddenly up for adoption, and just as suddenly adopted.
Some people say what God does or allows in the natural realm is often a sign of what God plans or intends for the spiritual realm. If that’s so, what does God have in mind for Trinity?
I’m not sure, but I think we should start thinking about renovating our spiritual nursery!
That will make nine new babies at Trinity since October. Wow!
It’s a good thing we got the nursery renovated.
We’ve known about most of these babies for some time. One of them was a total surprise – a baby suddenly up for adoption, and just as suddenly adopted.
Some people say what God does or allows in the natural realm is often a sign of what God plans or intends for the spiritual realm. If that’s so, what does God have in mind for Trinity?
I’m not sure, but I think we should start thinking about renovating our spiritual nursery!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
St. Patrick’s Day Turkey
Our St. Patrick’s Day Turkey diner was an unqualified success!
March 17 was the only day Ali Pektash and Josh Wentz, pastors of our sister church in Ankara, Turkey, could make it to Annapolis to give us an update on what God is doing there. It was St. Patrick’s Day, and our ladies went all out: corned beef and cabbage, Irish potatoes, Irish soda bread, and green tablecloths and shamrocks everywhere you looked.
They don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s day in Turkey, but Pastor Ali really got into it. He asked for something green to wear, and somehow nothing was right for him until my wife Paula offered him her big round lapel pin that said, “It’s Great to be Irish!” Josh translated it for him, and sure enough, that was what he wanted. Needless to say, this Kurdish ex-Muslim shepherd from Turkey doesn’t have a drop of Irish blood in his body, but he wore that pin with a twinkle, and he didn’t give it back!
Somebody counted 138 people there for dinner (that’s a lot for us). They came from Trinity and at least three other local churches. Then there was David Hunter, who drove five hours from Pennsylvania. He had worked 17 years for the Lord in Turkey. He brought with him three other people, including a Turk and a Turkmen.
Pastor Ali later told me it was the best meeting he had ever been to. He said the people didn’t seem like they were at a church meeting; they seemed like they were at a family reunion. He was especially touched by the way everyone seemed to take a personal ownership in the Turkish church.
Ali and Josh explained that the greatest need their church has is to own a building, or at least a piece of land. Turkey is officially committed to religious freedom, but the few churches there face a good deal of petty harassment, especially from local government officials. Owning property indicates to the Turkish mind a degree of legitimacy and official status that would make much of that harassment go away. It would also save tens of thousands of dollars each year in rent.
When asked, Josh said that they could buy a good piece of property for about $80,000. If they had that, he said they would meet in a tent if necessary until they could erect a building. The first step is to acquire the land.
So that’s the prayer right now. The missions chair of another church was in attendance, and she was so moved that afterward she suggested that the eight or nine churches across the country that are involved with Josh’s ministry might work together to raise the money to buy that land.
In this economy, that sounds like a lot of money to me. But God can do it. And I expect him to. I just hope my spiritual ears are open enough to hear how he wants me to be involved. I’ve already had the chance to do some exciting things with the Turkish church, but I don’t want to miss any opportunity to be in on the ground floor of what God is beginning to do in Turkey, the Middle East, and the entire Muslim world.
March 17 was the only day Ali Pektash and Josh Wentz, pastors of our sister church in Ankara, Turkey, could make it to Annapolis to give us an update on what God is doing there. It was St. Patrick’s Day, and our ladies went all out: corned beef and cabbage, Irish potatoes, Irish soda bread, and green tablecloths and shamrocks everywhere you looked.
They don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s day in Turkey, but Pastor Ali really got into it. He asked for something green to wear, and somehow nothing was right for him until my wife Paula offered him her big round lapel pin that said, “It’s Great to be Irish!” Josh translated it for him, and sure enough, that was what he wanted. Needless to say, this Kurdish ex-Muslim shepherd from Turkey doesn’t have a drop of Irish blood in his body, but he wore that pin with a twinkle, and he didn’t give it back!
Somebody counted 138 people there for dinner (that’s a lot for us). They came from Trinity and at least three other local churches. Then there was David Hunter, who drove five hours from Pennsylvania. He had worked 17 years for the Lord in Turkey. He brought with him three other people, including a Turk and a Turkmen.
Pastor Ali later told me it was the best meeting he had ever been to. He said the people didn’t seem like they were at a church meeting; they seemed like they were at a family reunion. He was especially touched by the way everyone seemed to take a personal ownership in the Turkish church.
Ali and Josh explained that the greatest need their church has is to own a building, or at least a piece of land. Turkey is officially committed to religious freedom, but the few churches there face a good deal of petty harassment, especially from local government officials. Owning property indicates to the Turkish mind a degree of legitimacy and official status that would make much of that harassment go away. It would also save tens of thousands of dollars each year in rent.
When asked, Josh said that they could buy a good piece of property for about $80,000. If they had that, he said they would meet in a tent if necessary until they could erect a building. The first step is to acquire the land.
So that’s the prayer right now. The missions chair of another church was in attendance, and she was so moved that afterward she suggested that the eight or nine churches across the country that are involved with Josh’s ministry might work together to raise the money to buy that land.
In this economy, that sounds like a lot of money to me. But God can do it. And I expect him to. I just hope my spiritual ears are open enough to hear how he wants me to be involved. I’ve already had the chance to do some exciting things with the Turkish church, but I don’t want to miss any opportunity to be in on the ground floor of what God is beginning to do in Turkey, the Middle East, and the entire Muslim world.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Josh and Ali Are Coming!
I’m so excited! My son Josh and Pastor Ali Pektash, from the Batikent Protestant Church in Ankara, Turkey, should be arriving tonight. They will be joining us tomorrow for a special St. Patrick’s Day dinner at church. After that Josh will lead us in some Turkish worship music on his guitar – besides being co-pastor, he is often the worship leader at their church. I will get to join in on my flute, as I did when I visited Turkey last month for the leaders’ conferences. Then Josh and Ali will give us a presentation about the miraculous ways God is working in Turkey. I’m sure Ali will break into preaching (with Josh translating) – it just seems to bubble out of him.
Ali is an amazing story. Ten years ago he was an alcoholic Muslim construction worker. He often worked in cities far distant from his home village, not because work wasn’t available closer to home, but because he knew that when he was home, he would get drunk and beat his wife, and he didn’t seem to have any control over it.
Finally, in an effort to break free from the alcoholism, Ali joined some friends on a pilgrimage to Mecca, the most holy city in Islam. This pilgrimage, called the haj, is something every faithful Muslim is expected to do at least once in their life. Ali was not exactly a faithful Muslim, in the sense of dutifully practicing the religion, but he was desperate. He hoped that if we went on the haj, Allah would deliver him from alcohol.
Instead, Jesus appeared to him in a night vision. Jesus told him, “You belong to me now.” He told Ali to return home without completing the pilgrimage. Ali obeyed, and Jesus miraculously delivered him from alcohol. Now Ali is one of the very few native Turkish pastors in the nation.
Josh and his family (wife Julie and children Lucy and Moses) are back in the U.S. for three months, their first time home since moving to Turkey over two years ago. Ali came with them for the first few weeks. They are spending March in Indiana with Julie’s family, but Josh and Ali are driving to Annapolis today so Ali can meet with us here before he has to fly back to Ankara.
Ali is one of the most amazing people I have met. For that matter, so is Josh. I can’t wait to see them! I pray that many other people will respond to the advertisements and come out for the 6:30 dinner and 7:00 program. I know we will all be blessed.
Ali is an amazing story. Ten years ago he was an alcoholic Muslim construction worker. He often worked in cities far distant from his home village, not because work wasn’t available closer to home, but because he knew that when he was home, he would get drunk and beat his wife, and he didn’t seem to have any control over it.
Finally, in an effort to break free from the alcoholism, Ali joined some friends on a pilgrimage to Mecca, the most holy city in Islam. This pilgrimage, called the haj, is something every faithful Muslim is expected to do at least once in their life. Ali was not exactly a faithful Muslim, in the sense of dutifully practicing the religion, but he was desperate. He hoped that if we went on the haj, Allah would deliver him from alcohol.
Instead, Jesus appeared to him in a night vision. Jesus told him, “You belong to me now.” He told Ali to return home without completing the pilgrimage. Ali obeyed, and Jesus miraculously delivered him from alcohol. Now Ali is one of the very few native Turkish pastors in the nation.
Josh and his family (wife Julie and children Lucy and Moses) are back in the U.S. for three months, their first time home since moving to Turkey over two years ago. Ali came with them for the first few weeks. They are spending March in Indiana with Julie’s family, but Josh and Ali are driving to Annapolis today so Ali can meet with us here before he has to fly back to Ankara.
Ali is one of the most amazing people I have met. For that matter, so is Josh. I can’t wait to see them! I pray that many other people will respond to the advertisements and come out for the 6:30 dinner and 7:00 program. I know we will all be blessed.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
It’s Hard Being a Single Christian in Turkey
One of the most moving conversations I had during my two weeks in Turkey was with four young men in a discipleship training program. Two of them are Turkish, and two are Iranian refugees.
As part of the conferences I was conducting for Turkish pastors and church leaders, I had been asked to address the pastor’s family relationships. I made that a panel discussion and opened it to questions from the listeners.
One of these four young men said earnestly that he was sure that what we were saying about the pastor’s wife and children was all very good. Unfortunately, he and his fellow students were all single. In Turkey it is hard enough to find any Christians at all, let alone young single Christian women. Did we have any advice?
One of my colleagues offered to send over some American girls – at which a single American girl who was visiting suddenly disappeared out the door.
Everyone laughed, but it was clear that these young men were very serious.
Another of the students added more information. They didn’t just need wives for personal reasons. Especially in the rural villages, it is very difficult for an unmarried person of any gender to be taken seriously as an adult with anything worthwhile to say. How could they get a hearing for the gospel without a wife and family to legitimize them as someone to be listened to?
I answered as best I could, encouraging them that God knows their plight and will provide for them if they pray. (You might pray for them as well, if you think of it.) But as I thought about it, I realized that for these young men, the decision to follow Jesus Christ instead of Allah meant more than just potential misunderstanding or even persecution. It meant cutting themselves off from 99.9% of marriageable females, and facing the very real possibility of years, even a lifetime, of singleness. Some people are called to that, but (I believe) very few. For the rest, which obviously included these young men, that’s a very high price to pay for one’s faith.
As part of the conferences I was conducting for Turkish pastors and church leaders, I had been asked to address the pastor’s family relationships. I made that a panel discussion and opened it to questions from the listeners.
One of these four young men said earnestly that he was sure that what we were saying about the pastor’s wife and children was all very good. Unfortunately, he and his fellow students were all single. In Turkey it is hard enough to find any Christians at all, let alone young single Christian women. Did we have any advice?
One of my colleagues offered to send over some American girls – at which a single American girl who was visiting suddenly disappeared out the door.
Everyone laughed, but it was clear that these young men were very serious.
Another of the students added more information. They didn’t just need wives for personal reasons. Especially in the rural villages, it is very difficult for an unmarried person of any gender to be taken seriously as an adult with anything worthwhile to say. How could they get a hearing for the gospel without a wife and family to legitimize them as someone to be listened to?
I answered as best I could, encouraging them that God knows their plight and will provide for them if they pray. (You might pray for them as well, if you think of it.) But as I thought about it, I realized that for these young men, the decision to follow Jesus Christ instead of Allah meant more than just potential misunderstanding or even persecution. It meant cutting themselves off from 99.9% of marriageable females, and facing the very real possibility of years, even a lifetime, of singleness. Some people are called to that, but (I believe) very few. For the rest, which obviously included these young men, that’s a very high price to pay for one’s faith.
Monday, February 23, 2009
First Fruits
This is the first in a planned series of reflections on my recent two weeks in Turkey, leading conferences for Turkish pastors and church leaders.
In this land of 75 million people, estimates are that only about 3,000 are Protestant Christians. 99.8% of the population are Muslim.
I was privileged to lead conferences in the capital city of Ankara, and in the Mediterranean city of Adana. I also preached in churches in each of those cities. Each time I told them this:
I believe, and many others believe as well, that God is preparing a great harvest of souls for Turkey and the Middle East. In any harvest, a few fruits (or vegetables or grains or nuts) ripen first. These are called the first fruits. Then all the rest come ripe very quickly.
Those Turkish people who have come to Christianity in the past few years are the first fruits of the coming great harvest. Some time, probably not too far in the future, many thousands of people are going to come to faith in Jesus very quickly. Then they will say, “OK, now I’ve believed in Jesus, now I’m a Christian. Now what do I do?”
They will look around and see you (one of the Turkish believers I was talking to), and they’ll say, “You’ve been a Christian for a year, or two years, or five years. I just became a Christian. Tell me what to do!”
My purpose in leading these conferences was to help equip Turkish pastors and church leaders to prepare their people for that time.
My advice to them was, I think, also a good exercise for every Christian, in America as well as in Turkey. Here is what I told them. Next time you say a prayer, or read the Bible, or go to church, or try to do what Jesus would do, think about what you are doing. If a brand-new Christian asked you why you were doing that, what would you say? If they asked you to show them how to do it, how would you explain it?
You don’t have to be in Turkey for people to ask you about Jesus, and the practice of Christianity. It could happen to you tomorrow. Are you ready?
In this land of 75 million people, estimates are that only about 3,000 are Protestant Christians. 99.8% of the population are Muslim.
I was privileged to lead conferences in the capital city of Ankara, and in the Mediterranean city of Adana. I also preached in churches in each of those cities. Each time I told them this:
I believe, and many others believe as well, that God is preparing a great harvest of souls for Turkey and the Middle East. In any harvest, a few fruits (or vegetables or grains or nuts) ripen first. These are called the first fruits. Then all the rest come ripe very quickly.
Those Turkish people who have come to Christianity in the past few years are the first fruits of the coming great harvest. Some time, probably not too far in the future, many thousands of people are going to come to faith in Jesus very quickly. Then they will say, “OK, now I’ve believed in Jesus, now I’m a Christian. Now what do I do?”
They will look around and see you (one of the Turkish believers I was talking to), and they’ll say, “You’ve been a Christian for a year, or two years, or five years. I just became a Christian. Tell me what to do!”
My purpose in leading these conferences was to help equip Turkish pastors and church leaders to prepare their people for that time.
My advice to them was, I think, also a good exercise for every Christian, in America as well as in Turkey. Here is what I told them. Next time you say a prayer, or read the Bible, or go to church, or try to do what Jesus would do, think about what you are doing. If a brand-new Christian asked you why you were doing that, what would you say? If they asked you to show them how to do it, how would you explain it?
You don’t have to be in Turkey for people to ask you about Jesus, and the practice of Christianity. It could happen to you tomorrow. Are you ready?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
I'm Back from Turkey
I got home from two weeks in Turkey about 10:15pm Monday night (Feb. 16). It was a wonderful experience leading conferences for the Turkish churches in Ankara, the capital city, and Adana, the fourth largest city. We visited Antakya (Biblical Antioch) where Jesus' followers were first called "Christians," and where Paul and Barnabas were commissioned by God as the first traveling missionaries. We also visited Tarsus, Paul's home town.
Over the next few days or weeks I'll be posting thoughts about my trip here in this blog. I hope they are a blessing to you as the trip was to me.
And I'm so grateful to those who kept Trinity Church moving forward in my absence. Good folks we are blessed with here!
Over the next few days or weeks I'll be posting thoughts about my trip here in this blog. I hope they are a blessing to you as the trip was to me.
And I'm so grateful to those who kept Trinity Church moving forward in my absence. Good folks we are blessed with here!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Two Miracles
Two great miracles are going on in my life right now.
At least, they seem like great miracles to me.
On Wednesday, January 21, my fourth grandchild was born. Malachi Jacob Wentz was born to my son Jeremiah and his lovely wife Becky in Belington, West Virginia. (It was also my father’s 80th birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad!)
Sunday after church Paula and I drove to Belington to spend four wonderful days with Malachi and his big brother, Isaiah, who turned two on January 19.
I don’t need to tell you how special a newborn is. And I don’t need to tell you how much fun a two-year-old can be. We had a great time holding the baby, playing with blocks (custom-made by his grandpa – me), reading books, throwing snowballs, and generally enjoying being grandparents.
In one respect it’s all quite normal and natural. But I don’t care. You can’t convince me it’s not a miracle.
I’m about to embark on the second miracle. I have been asked to travel to Turkey to lead training. conferences in two cities for Turkish pastors. (You can read more about it by going to trinityannapolis.org and clicking on “February 2009 Newsletter.”)
For some people, flying across the ocean to be in on the ground floor of what God is doing in a country that is 99.8% Muslim may seem perfectly natural. Again, to me, it’s a miracle.
Not so much that it’s happening, maybe, but that it’s happening to me. How come I’m one of the lucky ones, out of all the thousands of pastors in America and around the world? Why am I so blessed to be a part of this amazing thing?
The only explanation I have, if you consider it an explanation, is that it’s just another example of God’s amazing grace.
Some people think you can only call something a miracle if you can’t find any other explanation for it. I disagree. I can explain how babies are born, but I still think they are miracles. I can explain how a seed grows into a flower, but I still think that’s a miracle. And I can see a logical progression of events working in my life to bring me to this place, but I choose to see God’s miraculous hand in it anyway.
I think miracles are a matter of perspective. Not that the real, supernatural, non-scientifically-explainable kind of miracles don’t happen. They do, and I’ve experienced them more than once. But I think, if you can see God in something, you can legitimately call it a miracle, at least in the wide sense.
And that’s how I like to see things. It lets me experience a whole lot more miracles. And that just makes the world seem brighter, somehow.
At least, they seem like great miracles to me.
On Wednesday, January 21, my fourth grandchild was born. Malachi Jacob Wentz was born to my son Jeremiah and his lovely wife Becky in Belington, West Virginia. (It was also my father’s 80th birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad!)
Sunday after church Paula and I drove to Belington to spend four wonderful days with Malachi and his big brother, Isaiah, who turned two on January 19.
I don’t need to tell you how special a newborn is. And I don’t need to tell you how much fun a two-year-old can be. We had a great time holding the baby, playing with blocks (custom-made by his grandpa – me), reading books, throwing snowballs, and generally enjoying being grandparents.
In one respect it’s all quite normal and natural. But I don’t care. You can’t convince me it’s not a miracle.
I’m about to embark on the second miracle. I have been asked to travel to Turkey to lead training. conferences in two cities for Turkish pastors. (You can read more about it by going to trinityannapolis.org and clicking on “February 2009 Newsletter.”)
For some people, flying across the ocean to be in on the ground floor of what God is doing in a country that is 99.8% Muslim may seem perfectly natural. Again, to me, it’s a miracle.
Not so much that it’s happening, maybe, but that it’s happening to me. How come I’m one of the lucky ones, out of all the thousands of pastors in America and around the world? Why am I so blessed to be a part of this amazing thing?
The only explanation I have, if you consider it an explanation, is that it’s just another example of God’s amazing grace.
Some people think you can only call something a miracle if you can’t find any other explanation for it. I disagree. I can explain how babies are born, but I still think they are miracles. I can explain how a seed grows into a flower, but I still think that’s a miracle. And I can see a logical progression of events working in my life to bring me to this place, but I choose to see God’s miraculous hand in it anyway.
I think miracles are a matter of perspective. Not that the real, supernatural, non-scientifically-explainable kind of miracles don’t happen. They do, and I’ve experienced them more than once. But I think, if you can see God in something, you can legitimately call it a miracle, at least in the wide sense.
And that’s how I like to see things. It lets me experience a whole lot more miracles. And that just makes the world seem brighter, somehow.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A Day for a Praise Song
I watched an inspiring spectacle today. You probably did, too.
Barak Hussein Obama, son of an African father and a white American mother, raised sometimes in Indonesia and sometimes by his single mother and sometimes by his grandparents, with an Arabic-sounding name in a time of war and terror, was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America.
It was only forty-five years ago that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a brilliant man with an earned Ph.D. from Boston University who had followed his sense of calling back to the pulpit of a black Baptist church in the deep, segregated south, had stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and told the world, “I have a dream.”
At that time segregation and discrimination were legal and pervasive throughout much of the United States. Many otherwise good-hearted white people sincerely believed that those of African descent were somehow inherently inferior.
And now we have elected an African-American as our President, choosing him over a white man who was universally acknowledged to be not only a war hero but a very good and decent man, even though less than one in five Americans is African-American.
How could this happen in such a short time?
I believe the answer is in the sermon by Dr. King that I read in church this past Sunday, and in the incredible way millions of oppressed people responded to it. Dr. King’s sermon was called, “Loving Your Enemies.” His main point was that oppression and injustice must be met by love. Retaliation only creates a vicious downward spiral of destruction. Dr. King challenged Negroes (as he used the language of the time) to try Jesus’ method of countering hate with love. Millions responded. In ways that are only becoming clear in the lens of history, the mass application of Christian principles turned this country almost upside down in just one generation.
Today is a time to celebrate. Not to celebrate the victory of one politician over another, or one political party over another. It’s time to celebrate the victory of a principal, won by another principal. The first principal is Galatians 3.28, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” The second principal is love.
It is indeed a day for a praise song.
Barak Hussein Obama, son of an African father and a white American mother, raised sometimes in Indonesia and sometimes by his single mother and sometimes by his grandparents, with an Arabic-sounding name in a time of war and terror, was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America.
It was only forty-five years ago that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a brilliant man with an earned Ph.D. from Boston University who had followed his sense of calling back to the pulpit of a black Baptist church in the deep, segregated south, had stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and told the world, “I have a dream.”
At that time segregation and discrimination were legal and pervasive throughout much of the United States. Many otherwise good-hearted white people sincerely believed that those of African descent were somehow inherently inferior.
And now we have elected an African-American as our President, choosing him over a white man who was universally acknowledged to be not only a war hero but a very good and decent man, even though less than one in five Americans is African-American.
How could this happen in such a short time?
I believe the answer is in the sermon by Dr. King that I read in church this past Sunday, and in the incredible way millions of oppressed people responded to it. Dr. King’s sermon was called, “Loving Your Enemies.” His main point was that oppression and injustice must be met by love. Retaliation only creates a vicious downward spiral of destruction. Dr. King challenged Negroes (as he used the language of the time) to try Jesus’ method of countering hate with love. Millions responded. In ways that are only becoming clear in the lens of history, the mass application of Christian principles turned this country almost upside down in just one generation.
Today is a time to celebrate. Not to celebrate the victory of one politician over another, or one political party over another. It’s time to celebrate the victory of a principal, won by another principal. The first principal is Galatians 3.28, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” The second principal is love.
It is indeed a day for a praise song.
Monday, January 12, 2009
God is Faithful!
The economic downturn has affected people and organizations of all kinds. Churches are no exception. But the economy is not our source, God is! Government bailouts are not our source, God is! Even our jobs and retirement accounts are not our source. God is! And God is faithful and God is able.
Blog readers who attend Trinity Church will know that we entered December projecting a shortfall of approximately $56,000 for 2008. We would be able to pay all our current operating expenses, but we were way behind in our missional promises and obligations.
Similar situations had occurred in the past. The solution had always been to have the chair of the Finance Committee make announcements in church every Sunday begging for funds. Not surprisingly, nobody enjoyed these, especially the chair of the Finance Committee. So part of our Consecration Sunday stewardship campaign last April was the decision that we didn’t want to do that again.
Instead, starting the first Sunday in December, we put written accounts of our situation in the bulletin each week. Sometimes we remembered to draw people’s attention to them, sometimes we didn’t. And two weeks into December we had made up $20,000! But we still projected a shortfall of $36,000.
That’s when we really started praying. And we shifted the focus of our prayers. Instead of asking people to pray about their own level of giving, we started asking them to pray that God, with his infinite resources, would meet all our needs.
Preliminary calculations on January 2 indicated that our shortfall had been cut to under $6,000. Praise the Lord! That was a major shift! And out of an annual budget of over $500,000, that $6,000 did not seem very significant. But from the perspective of a missionary out in the field who might be really depending on support from Trinity, that could be very significant indeed. We really didn’t want to leave anyone hanging.
So the Finance Committee decided to extend the deadline for 2008 missions giving to Sunday, January 11.
Sunday morning, January 4, the amount needed remained at just under $6,000. By the time the announcement was made in the beginning of the first service, half of that had been made up! At the end of the 11:00 service the amount was less than $2,000. By Friday it was down to just over $900. And by the time the second service started yesterday, January 11, the entire shortfall had been made up. All our 2008 expenses, including some rather hefty unexpected ones, had been covered. All our obligations to the denomination for their missions and other work had been covered. And all our goals for giving to our own Trinity missionaries, local and around the world, had been met. All this is in addition to several thousand dollars that was given off-budget through the year for a variety of missions projects. Hallelujah!
Yes, the economy is bad. Yes, there are people in our congregation who are looking for jobs, or additional jobs. But God is good. God is able. God is faithful. And God’s promise always holds true, for individuals as well as churches: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well (Matthew 6:33).
Blog readers who attend Trinity Church will know that we entered December projecting a shortfall of approximately $56,000 for 2008. We would be able to pay all our current operating expenses, but we were way behind in our missional promises and obligations.
Similar situations had occurred in the past. The solution had always been to have the chair of the Finance Committee make announcements in church every Sunday begging for funds. Not surprisingly, nobody enjoyed these, especially the chair of the Finance Committee. So part of our Consecration Sunday stewardship campaign last April was the decision that we didn’t want to do that again.
Instead, starting the first Sunday in December, we put written accounts of our situation in the bulletin each week. Sometimes we remembered to draw people’s attention to them, sometimes we didn’t. And two weeks into December we had made up $20,000! But we still projected a shortfall of $36,000.
That’s when we really started praying. And we shifted the focus of our prayers. Instead of asking people to pray about their own level of giving, we started asking them to pray that God, with his infinite resources, would meet all our needs.
Preliminary calculations on January 2 indicated that our shortfall had been cut to under $6,000. Praise the Lord! That was a major shift! And out of an annual budget of over $500,000, that $6,000 did not seem very significant. But from the perspective of a missionary out in the field who might be really depending on support from Trinity, that could be very significant indeed. We really didn’t want to leave anyone hanging.
So the Finance Committee decided to extend the deadline for 2008 missions giving to Sunday, January 11.
Sunday morning, January 4, the amount needed remained at just under $6,000. By the time the announcement was made in the beginning of the first service, half of that had been made up! At the end of the 11:00 service the amount was less than $2,000. By Friday it was down to just over $900. And by the time the second service started yesterday, January 11, the entire shortfall had been made up. All our 2008 expenses, including some rather hefty unexpected ones, had been covered. All our obligations to the denomination for their missions and other work had been covered. And all our goals for giving to our own Trinity missionaries, local and around the world, had been met. All this is in addition to several thousand dollars that was given off-budget through the year for a variety of missions projects. Hallelujah!
Yes, the economy is bad. Yes, there are people in our congregation who are looking for jobs, or additional jobs. But God is good. God is able. God is faithful. And God’s promise always holds true, for individuals as well as churches: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well (Matthew 6:33).
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Another New Year
Today we begin another new year.
2008 was a wild one. Most people are probably happy to see it go.
For me personally, the biggest event of 2008 was our son Jed going to Iraq as a brand new cavalry officer, and returning safely 10 months later. There was also a wonderful trip to Turkey to teach in a conference on the Holy Spirit, and many other happenings in our family and church.
For the world, the biggest news was probably a tie between the economic downturn and the election of Barack Obama to be president of the United States.
These two events lead directly to thoughts of the coming year. What will happen? How can we best prepare?
As Christians, we have to keep two things foremost in our minds: the God we know and worship is the same God who made the universe, and he calls us to use our prayers to open a way for that love to act.
Sometimes going to church and singing the songs and hearing the sermon gets so routine that we lose sight of just who it is we are worshiping. We act as if we have forgotten that God is not confined to our church building. This is the God who created the world and everything in it. This is the God who holds all things together and keeps them running. So we are not facing the new year alone. God knows you, God loves you, and God is with you.
Through our faith in Jesus, this God of love and power has granted us intimate access to himself. So the second point is that we need to use that access through our prayers to bring God’s loving power to bear on our circumstances and our world.
The Bible is clear that God often waits for our prayers before he will do something, even something good. In fact, some theologians have said that God will not do anything without prayer.
The Bible is also clear that any Christian can offer prayers that are powerful and effective in their results.
As we enter 2009, we face many challenges, as individuals and families and churches and nation and world. But we face them with the love and power of the God of the universe, accessible through our prayers.
Pray for yourself. Pray for your family. Pray for your church. Pray for the economy. Pray for Barack Obama. Your prayers are the key to 2009.
If I could encourage you to make one New Years resolution, it would be this: learn and practice prayer.
2008 was a wild one. Most people are probably happy to see it go.
For me personally, the biggest event of 2008 was our son Jed going to Iraq as a brand new cavalry officer, and returning safely 10 months later. There was also a wonderful trip to Turkey to teach in a conference on the Holy Spirit, and many other happenings in our family and church.
For the world, the biggest news was probably a tie between the economic downturn and the election of Barack Obama to be president of the United States.
These two events lead directly to thoughts of the coming year. What will happen? How can we best prepare?
As Christians, we have to keep two things foremost in our minds: the God we know and worship is the same God who made the universe, and he calls us to use our prayers to open a way for that love to act.
Sometimes going to church and singing the songs and hearing the sermon gets so routine that we lose sight of just who it is we are worshiping. We act as if we have forgotten that God is not confined to our church building. This is the God who created the world and everything in it. This is the God who holds all things together and keeps them running. So we are not facing the new year alone. God knows you, God loves you, and God is with you.
Through our faith in Jesus, this God of love and power has granted us intimate access to himself. So the second point is that we need to use that access through our prayers to bring God’s loving power to bear on our circumstances and our world.
The Bible is clear that God often waits for our prayers before he will do something, even something good. In fact, some theologians have said that God will not do anything without prayer.
The Bible is also clear that any Christian can offer prayers that are powerful and effective in their results.
As we enter 2009, we face many challenges, as individuals and families and churches and nation and world. But we face them with the love and power of the God of the universe, accessible through our prayers.
Pray for yourself. Pray for your family. Pray for your church. Pray for the economy. Pray for Barack Obama. Your prayers are the key to 2009.
If I could encourage you to make one New Years resolution, it would be this: learn and practice prayer.
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