I feel as though I lost this blog behind the couch about three weeks ago, and went to move the couch when the remote fell back there, and found my blog, covered in dust and cat hair, waiting to be put back into use.
Hello, old friend.
Today, I realized that on my drive into work (a rollicking two mile journey), there was a surprising amount of glass broken along the road. I was rather surprised, lamenting the new spike in hoodlumism (or would it be "hoodling"?) in the ville of Moore. "The nihilism of our culture has finally taken grasp of our town," I rued as I drove serpentine all across the road, wanting to not damage my car's tires, which are less than a year old.
It wasn't until I went back later in the morning to meet the man who was reappraising our house that I realized that Mooresville had not been attacked by disaffected youth bent on random and apathetic destruction, but rather that winter had come. What I have been so wildly maneuvering around was not glass, but rather ice.
I have been living in North Carolina now for six months, and have yet to grasp the degree to which we have seasons. I guess I had just assumed that since Saturday the temperature outside was flirting with a balmy 70 degrees, it would be ludicrous to think that three days later we would be in a clime that was accommodating to frozen things.
The dumbest part of all of this is that I knew it was cold enough to put on a coat and use my defroster in my car this morning.
So today marks the official start of the Christmas season, or more to my point today - the Christmas movie season.
Adrien and I are very seasonal with our movie watching, so today is the day when it becomes officially acceptable to begin watching Christmas stuff. In order to qualify, it must at least be set during Christmas. So, for example, under this criterion, Lethal Weapon is a Christmas movie. Yesterday we watched Ghostbusters II, which is more of a New Year's setting, but we hadn't officially started anyway.
In light of all this Christmas television theming, I again am challenging myself to the "25 Days of Scrooged" gauntlet that I attempted last year. For those who aren't in the know, Scrooged is a 1989 classic starring Bill Murray, retelling the story of a Christmas carol (as to about 89% of all Christmas movies). It is one of those movies that, to me, gets a little better each time I see it, which makes it perfect for this type of challenge.
The qualification for the marathon is that the movie must be on at some point in the day - like I can fall asleep to it, or do the dishes with it on - a reasonable amount of movie, like 30 minutes or so. Most days will likely be the movie in it's entirety, but for it to be official, I'm posting a 30 minute minimum.
This started two years ago when we realized that we had, without planning it, watched Scrooged every day for a week. We had it in the VCR in our kitchen on a TV that didn't have cable, so every time we were working in the kitchen, we simply flipped on Scrooged. It was glorious.
Apparently, the moral of the story is that Adrien and I watch a lot of TV, and Christmas feeds that...
I'll keep you aware of our "playlist" if you want to play along.
As most of us probably have today and tomorrow off, I present you with this:
Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog.
It's hard to explain, but you want to watch it. Trust me. It will take about 45 minutes, but it is 45 minutes well spent, and you are on vacation anyway.
It is a wee bit PG-13 in some points, just so you know.
As I have already declared on my Facebook page, I am trying to only call it Fanksgiving this year. That has drawn the occasional odd look here an there, but most of the time people then simply shrug it off as though they simply misheard me.
A & I are going to Wallace, NC to visit my sister Tobyn & brother-in-law Ben. Tobyn is a great cook and cooks a lot, so I'm excited to eat a lot of food (though I'm realizing that I need to soon stop eating so much food, or at the very least stop being so excited about it).
I have also given myself until December 31st to read The Brothers Karamazov. There is no specific reason to have that book done by that date, I have just realized that I barely read books to simply read book anymore, and I have far too many books if I'm not going to read them. This particular book is a daunting feat, but one that should test my resolve to become a "reader" (700+ pages in just over a month). Hopefully I see it through.
On Saturday Night Live last week, they showed a sketch with Beyonce making a video for her new song, "Single Ladies." The sketch featured male back up dancers dancing like ladies. It was silly and hilarious, and against my own wishes, I now love this song.
I realized that many of the moves in the sketch were similar to a video that was on YouTube a while back. The video is of a dancer named Gwen Verdon dancing on The Lawrence Welk Show. Beyonce uses the same moves in the actual video for her song.
Check it out. (if you watch the first 30-45 seconds of each video, you will get the point.
This one is a bit long, but here is the sermon that I preached this past Sunday. If it sounds a bit more preachy than usual, that is why.
read and discuss.
Isaiah 40:26-31
26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Romans 8:18-28
18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Over the past year, we have been held captive.Politics have taken control of us on a level that many of us have never experienced before.Not only were there 24 hour news channels for news junkies, but there also ads on regular television, robo-calls, and placards and signs all over the place.You couldn’t get away from it even if you wanted to.Politics took over and seemed as if it was never going to let go.It even changed the way that we think about certain words:RED; BLUE; LIPSTICK; PLUMBER; CHANGE; HOPE.If you are like me, you are probably tired of hearing most of these words by this point.One of these words, though, is a word that we hear a lot in the church, a word that we shouldn’t grow tired of – HOPE.
Way back in January, at the beginning of the primary season, when there were still dozens of potential candidates for president, one of them said an interesting thing that caught my ear:"We have been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope...but in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope."Now again, in the months since then, the word “hope” has become a buzz word tossed about in all directions, so much that it seemed to lose nearly all its meaning, but that last bit of the quote still sticks with me:there is nothing false about hope.
What is hope?What are we saying when we “hope” for something?Often times, we use it as we would the word “want” or “wish”:I hope that is doesn’t rain today.I hope that we have steak for dinner tonight.I hope that I don’t get a ticket for driving too fast.
That isn’t hope; that is desire – this is how I would like things to be.Hope is something grander than that.Hope is more like “trust,” but even greater than that, it is complete and utter trust, to fully put yourself into something.The passage in Isaiah points to this.For Isaiah, hope is not an uncertain word, it is a firm word, a word that gives us both confidence and comfort.In a more basic sense, hope is the horse you hitch your cart to.
The Apostle Paul sees hope in this same way.In Romans, Paul is writing a letter of great comfort and joy.He has so much hope that he cannot stop saying it.In the book of Romans alone, he mentions the word “hope” over a dozen times.
Paul is excited for the future, not lamenting in the “present sufferings” that he mentions in verse 18.He does not fear the present because he trusts in something better.His hope is not in his own ability to save himself, but in God’s ability to make everything work out in the end.To understand what Paul means, it helps us to look at another one of his letters, 1st Corinthians, when he is talking about our present state or understanding.He says, “when I was a child, I thought like a child, I talked like a child, I reasoned like a child, but when I became a man, I put childish ways behind me,” and “now we see dimly, as in a mirror, but then we shall see face to face.”What Paul is saying here is that we don’t get it yet.We can’t see the whole picture, we can’t yet see the great things that God has for us in his salvation, and that all things are working toward that end – for good.
It’s almost as if we went to a movie with Paul, and half way through the movie, we start leaning over to him and saying, “this movie is confusing, and to hard to understand.” Paul is saying, wait until you see the ending, it will all make sense, and it will be worth it.Trusting in that, that things will make sense, that the ending will be worth it, requires hope in God’s plan, and trust that God is in control and knows what he’s doing.
Having hope means something more than just believing, though.The word hope is forever connected to the word faith. We often tend to use the two words as synonyms, though – to have hope in God, the kind of hope that we have been talking about, is the same as having faith in God, right?Not quite.In youth group over the last few months, we have been talking about what faith means.In the language that Paul was writing in, the word faith wasn’t a noun, it wasn’t something that you could have or achieve, it wasn’t a goal to attain.It was a verb, it’s something that you do.You don’t “have faith,” or “get faith,” you do it.In a sense, you “faith” something.
Confusing isn’t it?Here is a story that we told in youth group that I think makes it a bit easier to grasp:
There was a world famous tight rope walker who claims that he is going to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope.No one can believe that he will actually be able to do it, so the go out to watch, partly expecting to see a tragedy.After all, it's so misty up there that the tightrope is bound to get precariously slippery.
Much to everyone's surprise, he is able to go back and forth with ease.Everyone is amazed and claims that sure the man was lucky.He then says that he will go back and forth along the tightrope pushing an empty wheelbarrow.The crown urges him not to do it, shouting that it is too hard, and that he shouldn't press his luck, that the wheelbarrow will throw off his balance.The man ignores their calls, and calmly and confidently pushes the wheelbarrow across the tightrope, and then back.
Again, the crowd is amazed.Then the man says that he can cross the tightrope again with the wheelbarrow, but this time with 150 pounds worth of stones in the wheelbarrow.Again, everyone warns him not to attempt it again, saying that surely his luck will run out. Again, he rebuffs their comments, and calmly and confidently strides across with the full wheelbarrow, and safely back.
Now the people are truly amazed.The man empties out the wheelbarrow and says that he can do the same feat with a person in the wheelbarrow instead of rocks.This time, the crowd finally agrees with him.They have seen him go back and forth numerous times, and figure that he knows what he is doing, and that there would be little difference between a 150 pound person and 150 pounds worth of rocks.Everyone is certain that he can do it.
"Okay," said the man, "I need a volunteer."
Hope is believing that the man can get across the tightrope safely with the person in the wheelbarrow.Faith is actually getting in the wheelbarrow.
In that sense, hope is what you firmly believe, faith is what you do because of it.You need to have hope in order to have faith.The two go hand in hand.All too often, though, it becomes easy to put our hope in the wrong thing, which makes it harder to actually live our faith.
What is it that we are hoping for?A nice house? More time off?Less work?More stuff?Paul tells us that this is not what the limit of what our hope should be. If we all that we care about is simply the here and now, to stop our present sufferings and replace them with simple comforts, Paul says that we are missing the point.
We should hope for something much bigger than that.God has promised us something MUCH bigger than that.
If we simply put our hope in our own human abilities to make everything turn up alright, we will fail.We cannot do it on our own.As the hymn says, “our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”We need to put our hope in Christ, who worked out our salvation on the cross.Not in political leaders, denominational leaders, or even ourselves.Our human nature means that we are bond to screw up somewhere along the way, that we won’t be able to make it on our own.The good news that Paul is telling us, though, is that God works IN SPITE OF all our failings.Even in the midst of tragedy and suffering, in the midst of all the brokenness of this world, God is working all these things to an eventual good.
As we look out at the world, we can see a lot of uncertainty.The economic break down; energy crisis; health care costs; war and terrorism; cultural and moral disputes.In the midst of all this, who do we put our hope in to make it all turn out well in the end?In leaders?In denominations?In our own hard work?Or in God?Again, our hope should be built on nothing less.
But what if in the face of all that hardship, we still struggle to completely have hope? What if we can’t get in the wheelbarrow, because we aren’t sure if we will make it?Paul again gives us comfort, that in our weakness, when we struggle to find hope, we should pray.Prayer is a sign of our humility.It’s our way of saying that we can’t do this on our own.Prayer in and of itself is a sign of our hope in God, of our willingness to ask for God to help us in ways that we cannot help ourselves.Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit will help us in our weakness, even to the point of helping us to pray when we don’t know how.
The greatest thing about hope is that it points us to God.It helps us to look beyond ourselves and our failings, and the failings of those around us, and to see God’s providence working through everything.As Isaiah said:
Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
If we truly are to believe in the power of God, we have to have hope that God is in control and working for good in all things.As Paul says, in this hope we are saved.
Someone told me once that, “part of being a Christian, of trusting in God, means believing that everything will turn out well in the end.If things aren’t well yet, than it’s not the end.”That is a statement of hope.Not of false hope or mere words to comfort us in our troubles, but of a true hope that points to God’s promised intention of good.Our hope leads us to this conclusion, to turn everything over to God and trust in his promise for us.Our hope makes us recognize that we can’t fix things on our own.Our hope makes us realize that if we are going to get across that tightrope, we are going to need help.More than that, though, our hope give us faith to act on it.We can’t get into the wheelbarrow if we aren’t confident we will make it safely to the other side.Why would we get in the wheelbarrow if we don’t have faith that we are going to be safe?Why would we surrender our lives to Christ if we didn’t have a true hope that Christ is the way to salvation?How can we have faith if we don’t first have hope?
Hope is a humbling thing.It puts us in the hands of something greater than ourselves.It points us to God.When we see hope this way, the way that Paul sees it, hope is not a gamble – it is a comfort, a gift from the Holy Spirit.And in that sense, there is nothing false about hope.
I'm in Estes Park, Colorado, which is in the midst of the Rockies.
It is beautiful.
I am here for the Company of New Pastors Gathering - a group made up of new pastors in the Presbyterian Church who are meeting together a few times a year to support each other and stay spiritually enriched. It's funded by a grant to the church, so it ends up costing me nothing. That and it's a good help in the ministry.
The week thus far has consisted of a lot of introspection and thoughts about "providence," the notion that God is in control of everything.
It's good to have that reminder every once in a while.
It's easy to sense that in the midst of these mountains.
I just got back from the National Youth Workers Convention put on by Youth Specialties in Pittsburgh. At the event, there were people from all over the spectrum in the church, from all denominations. The conference consists of large meetings where everyone is together, and smaller classroom type discussions/presentations on various aspects of the ministry, particularly youth ministry.
In any one of these meetings, there was talk about how the church doesn't value youth workers enough. There were some people talking about how the church was getting too secular, and others talking about how the church was getting too conservative. There were even others who were essentially saying that "the church" doesn't even really exist anymore, and we need to move to something else in order to express our Christianity, that the old way of doing things is completely a waste of time. All agree that change is happening, whether they want it to or not, or whether that change is good or not.
When you step back and reflect on it, it seems as though a lot of what Christians do is stand around how great things would be as Christians if it weren't for (fill in the blank).
...culture. ...conservatives. ...liberals. ...lazy church members. ...old songs and liturgy. ...people who don't understand us. ...the older generation. ...the younger generation ...mega-churches. ...mainline churches. ...rich people. ...etc.
We take a lot of energy pointing out why things are wrong, but often don't do much to change it. It conveniently is out of our hands, or at least we wash our hands of it.
I am no better. Look at me writing a whole entry that points at "complainers," insinuating that they are what is wrong with the church.
Hmm. Somewhere, there has to be a middle ground between complacency and complicity.
We need to be unified, and sometimes that means agreeing to disagree on certain things. That doesn't mean losing what it means to actually be Christian in the process, but figuring out what the differences are that we can live with, and center on the core beliefs that bind us together.
Some might call those "essential tenets."
Hmm.
What that might look like is a Christianity that understands who it is as a unified body, one with common goals and beliefs, but different ways of expressing those beliefs, with different cultures and contexts to which they must adapt and adjust, not for the sake of "fitting in," but for the sake of actually being "relevant." What a church looks like in the upper north west is going to be dealing with very different issues than a church on the gulf coast. A rural church of 50 members doesn't need to have the same structure and operational focus as a church in the inner city, or in the suburbs. Yet each Christian church must have a commitment to serving Christ in those contexts, and that may look different in different settings.
Paul talks about how we are all different parts in the Body of Christ, and that some are an eye and some are a foot, each with their purpose, but also each with their needs.
We should remember that unity does not require uniformity.
That's not what Christ calls us to.
I'm trying not to be a complainer. I haven't seen that complaining solves anything. I'm trying instead to have hope.
It is scary to be around in the midst of such change, but it is also a privilege to be alive in such a period. Real change is tumultuous, but it is at times essential.
I have faith that God's plan is at work, even in the midst of apparent chaos. I have hope for the future. And I want to try and be someone who does something about it.
[Note - while this wasn't really intended when I started writing, you could read this entire post over, and substitute "country" for "church" and it would ring just as true. Fitting on election day. Go vote for somebody.]
I got an email from a friend of mine today that was forwarded from a person in his church that was truly concerned about the upcoming election, and encouraging people to join together in prayer regarding it. I think this is great, and important to remember in the midst of an election that God is still at work in all of this. What was a concern for me was the tone of the email. It was far more biased than I would hope that Christians would be in approaching such an election.
To me, the idea that being Christian automatically assigns you to a particular political party is insulting to me as a Christian. Neither party fully encapsulates all that we as Christians are called to preserve. Both parties represent some of the core elements of what Christians are to hold firm to, yet both also represent a lot of what we are not, and can be an immense distraction. To pigeonhole Christians in this sense insults not only our diverse concerns, but also our intellect, as though we aren't supposed to vote using our own discernment, but merely based on who we are "supposed" to vote for.
Here was my response to my friend's email, regarding this issue:
I truly agree that prayer for the nation in the midst of this election is vital (as it is vital at all times), particularly with the divisive tone that has arisen in the most recent weeks of the election.
I am a bit concerned with this statement from your friend's email:
"This is the scariest election we as Christians have ever faced and from the looks of the polls, the Christians aren't voting Christian values."
I fear that this feeds a bit into that divisive nature and fear that is at work in the nation right now, and seems to insinuate that if we are truly approaching this election as Christians, there is only one way in which we can vote. I strongly disagree with that statement, and I think it is damaging to us as Christians when we let politics hijack our faith in such a way.
Both of these candidates profess a faith in Christ, and there are redeeming things about each of them. I don't feel as though either of them are working to pull us away from "Christian values." In fact, I personally see one of them clearly aligning himself with Christ's mandate to help the poor and heal the sick, the Biblical mandate of accountability within community, and to be responsible stewards of our resources and our planet. I think that you could reasonably contend that both candidates are addressing these issues on varying levels, but I have seen one candidate (in my opinion) more directly using this as the foundation of his platform for the presidency.
If we are to love God with all of our minds, in addition to our hearts, souls, and strength, I think it behooves us as Christians to be informed about such a crucial decision for our country - getting our information and making decisions not from fear, but from our own discerning minds.
Again, I really do appreciate the email that you passed on, and hope that this response does not appear to be chastising or reactionary in any way. I am not about to tell people who to vote for, but I do think that there is an appropriate way for us to approach the voting booth. As Christians, that means for us to look at all of the claims and overall beliefs of a particular candidate, not simply one or two issues, and to see how God will be able to work through that person as president.
Clearly God will be at work for good regardless of which candidate we elect, but we should do all we can to help that process rather than working against it. We should approach such a decision not in fear, but in faith - faith that God is working in and through these candidates, and even that God will be at work at times even despite these candidates.
Thanks again for your email. It's always good to hear from you.
As I said, I'll be praying, too.
In the end, as you probably know, I feel like there is a candidate that is focused on the issues that Jesus tells us we should be focused on. I do not, however, think that people who would vote for the other candidate are unChristian. This election is not an election of Christianity vs. secularism, and we all lose when we frame it as such.
Christians should use their faith to inform their vote. That is far different than using faith as an excuse for their vote.
Regardless of where you stand as we get to November 4th, this is funny either way. Plus, it's nice to see Ron Howard again, and that Andy Griffith is almost back to his Matlock weight.
My birthday is in two weeks. I will be 29. Now I'm not having one of those crises where people start lamenting the loss of their youth. I'm happy to be 29, and all things being even, I've had a grand 29, and look forward to at least 29 more, and then 29 more. I think I'm good after that.
The reason why I do bring that up is two-fold: 1. Everyone loves presents or cards on their birthday. Read that statement as you will. I think actually it would be cool to get a postcard from as many people as are willing to send a local postcard. Read that statement as you will also.
2. As I am getting older, time seems to be going much faster.
The years go by much quicker than then had before. I used to think that this is because we busy ourselves with such things, that we live for deadlines and vacations so much that we forget to live each day in the moment. There definitely is some truth to that, far more in my own life than I wish was the case. The more I thought about it though, there is some legitimacy to the sense that time is moving faster as we get older. If we look at things relatively (and really, that's all we can do), each year we are alive represents an ever shrinking percentage of your life up to that point.
Let me explain: When I was 5, that year represented 1/5th of my total existence on earth, and even less when you think of the fact that the first two years aren't really retained much as complete memories. When I was 5, one year seemed like an eternity. Now that I am approaching 29, this past year has just been merely 1/29th of my life to this point. That's not much at all. Less than 4% of my total conscious existence.
365 days is ever more becoming the proverbial "drop in the bucket."
While one can look at this shrinking awareness of individual years and days, the largest advantage that I have seen out of this is that while I lose emphasis on each passing year, I gain more and more perspective.I can see things far better now than I could 5 years ago, and I hope five years from now, I'll be able to look back with even greater clarity.
Now, so as to not start sounding like Confucius, I'm still a fool, who does stupid things. I just tend to do them with decreasing regularity. I am trying to see how I have been foolish in the past and learn to allow that to help me not make the same mistakes in the future. Aging is a weird thing. There is a bit of it that is scary. It's weird that I'm passed the point where I can legitimately claim to not be an adult yet (even though the last time I was in PA, a local political candidate asked me when I answered the door at my mom's house if I was "in high school or college"). Sometimes when I listen to pop radio now, I hear some of the songs and think, "Who would like this? This is barely music." Immediately after I thinking something like that, I feel as though I should sip a glass of Metamucil and get home to catch The Lawrence Welk Show post haste. All in all, though, I like it. I can look back at the things that I used to do, and think, "Wow, I'm not as big of an idiot as I used to be." I can see mistakes that I used to make that I don't make anymore. Also, I can see mistakes that I still make, and have hope for my ability to grow out them.
When it's all laid out, I can look back and see God working on me, even when I didn't realize it, and even when I didn't want it.
That alone is humbling, and makes it all worth it. Even more so, it makes me excited for what's next.
This comes out of an ongoing email correspondence that I have been having with several friends of mine from seminary. The question was raised as to how one should approach the issue of civil unions for homosexuals. Here was my response:
I think that one can separate the issue of the sin behind homosexuality and the civil rights of homosexuals.
I don't think that any of us would truly question that heterosexual relationships outside of wedlock is a sin, yet we are fine with unmarried "life partners" having civil rights, such as visitation rights, tax breaks, etc. In this case, I think that there is a comfortable separation between what is a civil right (that should not be dependent on one's moral action) and a moral tenet of faith.
Or perhaps to be further implicating, while we don't often like to say this plainly, if we are to hold firmly to the first commandment, to put no other gods before God, than Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, etc are committing the most grievous of sins, yet we would rightly be seen as ridiculous to claim that they cannot be allowed the civil right to have unions.
A bit of commentary on the above statement. I think that to hold firm to faith in Christ is to proclaim that way to be the one true way. I accept that there are elements of truth in nearly all religions, and that there are many overlapping ideals between Christianity and other religions. Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, and people of other faiths are by no means bad people for having other beliefs. The above statement should not be read as an indictment against such people. But again, if we are to hold true to the tenets of any faith, we are to accept that that faith holds primacy over any other faiths, and that at their core, the other faiths eventually fail in the face of the one you hold to be true.
To do anything less would be to dip into universalism, where everyone is right - or essentially where no one is right. But that's another issue. Back to the email...
Again, there is a clear distinction between our love for people trying to help them recognize and turn from sin, and simply legislating those standards onto to people, imposing them on people without any real effort to help them understand the sin.
Jesus' own most common interactions with sinners is not to proclaim their sin, but instead to get to know them, to love them and help them see and understand their sin, so that they will turn from it, not out of judgement, but in love. In fact, the most consistent group that he does call out on their sins are the Pharisees, Religious zealots who are trying to blindly impose their religious laws on people without caring about the people themselves.
In this case, we can and should separate the person from the sin, and think about the rights and interests of the person, in order that we may have a voice that can be heard not as judging, but as loving.
If Christians are to both uphold the sanctity of marriage and to be a loving and welcoming community, we need to raise our standards for how we hold marriage in general, for heterosexual relationships more than anything. We do not support each other enough in the midst of struggling marriages, and we are far to lightly open to the bailout option of divorce. If we really are holding marriage up as a sacred union before God, we should treat it as such.
As it stands right now, we are treating it in most cases as simply a civil and legal union. There is nothing religious or moral about that. To try and impose a standard for religious or moral implications for others on an institution, when we do not adhere to such a standard within the Christian community makes us become hypocrites.
For this semester of youth group, I set on a theme of "I Want to Believe."
It was this image that gave me the notion. It is from a fairly popular poster that was rather prominently featured on The X-Files. I feel like it gets at a larger human compulsion that we all have, that we want to believe in... something. Anything. But we all want to believe.
So I have used each week to run with that theme, using the flow "I want to believe..." and then some phrase that I think is pretty common to most people, and then look at how true that statement is.
The first week was "I want to believe that I am important."
Each of us, if we are being honest, I think want believe that we all have intrinsic value, that our opinions matter, that we have something to contribute, something to make us valid and have a reason for being. I think in most of our thoughts, we figure as the prime actor, either as how we perceive a certain thing or how we can influence a certain thing. Most of our core beliefs, even the truly altruistic ones are usually prefaced by "I think..." or something comparable. We therefore want to believe that our reasoning and logic are valid, that we can contribute to the larger dialogue about issues and events, or at least that the things that we value (whether its family, religion, art, or Halo 3) really do matter because they matter to us.
If we are all at the core of it all, actually important, if our values and opinions actually do matter, than what is it that gave us this importance? Why are my views more important than the views of a dog or a tree? What gives me the right to feel that I have dominion over certain things, like ants, or even where a rock is placed?
Nothing?
Yet I'm not sure how many rational people who would argue that the feelings of a rock or an ant are completely congruent with those of a human being. Therefore, if we are important, it would beg to offer that something must have made us that way.
I'm not sure that mere "survival of the fittest" logic will get us to the point that we have evolved into a greater importance. My cats clearly think that they are more important than I am, and yet I have no problem changing their plans to suit my own. There are few if any other species on the planet that are so willing to manipulate their environment solely to fit their wants (not merely their needs). We are completely willing to alter our environments solely for our pleasure, without much if any consideration as to how that will affect the impact that it will have on the larger stability of that environment. But I digress...
If we are important, what is it that made us so? Have we created this importance in on our own? Or have we been given a sense of this importance for a reason?
Is the value that we sense in ourselves intrinsic, as I said above, or is it merely manifested by our own instinctual interest in self preservation?
Moreover, if something made us important, that something would have to be more than us, to be bigger than us in some way. There seems to be something in each of us that tells us that we are important, from the day we are born. It seems to be more than a simple compulsion to survive - I would argue that most of us have a compulsion to actually DO something. Even if that something is simply beating Halo 3. We want to accomplish things, not simply things that help us survive, but things that validate our sense of self value.
So, again, what gave us that importance?
If we are not simply beings that exist, but instead are beings that were created, what created us?
God?
If we want to believe that we are important, then something had to have made us important, and that something had to have been bigger than us, big enough to create in us a sense of that importance, something that moves beyond simply survival, and moves us to create and accomplish things that reflect that importance that we sense in ourselves.
If that something that created this sense of importance, that created us to be important, is not God, than what is it?
I have realized recently that whenever Adrien is away, I don't go to sleep. Case in point, it's 2:22 in the AM, and going to sleep is not high on my list of priorities.
I'm not really sure why, as sleep is essential for health and feeling good. I do know this. However, I seem to have a window each evening when I am sleepy, and if I miss that window, I'm up. Without a sleepy Adrien going to bed, I sometimes don't notice that window until it's too late.
Late night Tyler doesn't really care about what tomorrow Tyler has to do. He would rather rearrange his iTunes library, or learn more about Maya Rudolph on Wikipedia. Tomorrow Tyler can deal with his own troubles. Late night Tyler isn't too worried. Tomorrow Tyler always gets things done anyway.
Instead I'm going to watch news channels and think of how physically odd looking that some of these talking heads are. How can they say the same thing in so many different ways? This stuff is addicting...
I don't mean to have every day be quite so focused on faith, it has just come up a lot lately.
Here is a response I just posted to a youth ministry article that was sent to me on Intelligent Design vs. Evolution. The author's take really bothered me, and I felt compelled to respond. Here is a bit of what he said:
So, can someone be a Christian and believe in evolution? Sure. You can be a Christian and believe in all sorts of things that are false! But the real question is, Can Christianity be true and Darwinian evolution be true? I don't think they can.
I admit that my understanding of the nuances of the science may need a bit of tweaking, but nonetheless, here is my initial reaction:
This argument posits a very narrow definition of what "evolution" is. If one is so closed off to the notion that God does not work through what we perceive as "chance" that you are leaving God out of a large portion of our daily lives. I would think that most Christian accept that God plan encompasses all of our lives, even working in and through the things that seem to be merely "chance" to us. If we can accept this on the scale of a single life, I do not see why this same understanding can't be compatible with the life and development of creation.
Yes, people are wrong to say that it is all just chance. But are we not being as short sighted and closed minded if we cannot see that what some would see as "chance" is merely God's hand at work in creating, making the right things happen to create things the way that he is still actively creating?
When we present Christianity as a side against and opposed to formalized education, we do ourselves a disservice and provide fuel to those on the secular side who would claim that Christianity doesn't allow us to use our brains. Micro-evolution is a fact that can be proven in species like flat worms. Evolution as a basic biological concept, in this case, is a scientific truth. To refute "evolution" full stop requires us to flatly deny what is a proven fact. That is why we require a more nuanced understanding of this issue, which I'm not sure you are making allowances for here.
Macro-evolution is on such a scale that it is unprovable, and is therefore a theory. This is the case where one can take an educated view and still retain our faith. The more specific a scientist is (micro-biologists, micro-physicists, etc), the more likely they are to see a clear design in what is going on. Again, this is not inconsistent with the notion of evolution as a whole, but with the notion that it has to be a random event.
People like Richard Dawkins refuse to look entertain the notion that there is a certain order that can be seen in this, and instead use their science as a faith to shield them from having an open mind toward a creator, in much the same way that a denial of dinosaurs and the like shields someChristians from any true understanding of science.
God gave us brains and he wants us to use them. Jesus even tells us this as part of the greatest commandment: "Love the Lord Your God with all of your heart, and with all your soul, and with all of your mind..." True science is not a threat, but a blessing. Logic leads to a creator, not away from it.
Evolution and Christianity CAN coexist. We simply have to be willing to take the time to understand them both.
Again, I understand the elementary understanding that I have on this, but I still think that the two are compatible, and even support on another to a certain degree. Francis Collins has some interesting support on this (though I don't really think that humans evolved from monkeys, which he seems to leave space for).
McFly, my dog, has a war going on with the squirrels that live in our trees in the back yard. Every time I let him out, he has started slowly sneaking out the door, like he's on some sort of covert ops, in an attempt to sneak up on them.
Soon, he sees them, runs at them, they run up our tree that is a good 50 feet tall, and throw nuts at him. He runs so fast at the tree that he can't quite stop, and invariably does a somersault as he tries to halt at the bottom of the tree.
My assumption is that his goal is to bite them, but I'm not sure if he's planned anything beyond that. I think the squirrels' plan is to make fun of him and mock him with there surprising ability to climb 30 feet up a tree in about 1.6 seconds.
So here I am, stuck in the Atlanta airport, annoyed that I was bumped from my 1pm to PA and now have to take the 10pm flight , but happy that they gave me two free tickets to anywhere (read - LA to see Kyle again) and a free dinner.
In the intervening hours, I have been here lugging a few bags from place to place, working on getting stuff ready for a small wedding that I'm doing tomorrow, and thinking about this conference that I just finished. Again, it was super awesome.
My friends and I who were at the conference began to reflect on a rather existential question in the midst of our drives between the auditorium and the hotel: is there a place where God isn't present?
Let me state that again: Is there ever a time or place where God isn't present?
I think that a kneejerk "yes" or "no" may be easy to justify, but I'm not sure that it's that easy to process. Many worship services in mainline churches start off with what is called an "Invocation" where we are calling on the Holy Spirit (the spirit of God) to be present in this place of worship. I've never been comfortable with that, as it implies that prior to the invocation, God's spirit was not present. It also implies that we have the power to call God into a place.
While I recognize a human ability to call upon the power of God, calling on and commanding God seems to be a bit off.
But back to the question: is there ever a time where God is not present?
Here's what I'm thinking (though I'm still wrestling with this a lot) - God is always present, but sometimes when it feels like God is absent, that can be just as bad as if he was.
Let me break that up a bit. God tells us over and over throughout the Bible that he's got a plan for us, and he's never going to leave us or forsake us. I think that is true. God loves us.
However, the Bible also is filled with stories of people who are constantly running and hiding from God (some might say that that is essentially the main role of people in the bulk of the Bible). It seems that it is in the midst of that running away, or that turning away, getting distracted and pulled away by other things that we shut ourselves off from being able to feel God's presence in our lives, to feel God loving us. It is then that we feel alone, and then when we are the most vulnerable.
God loves us so much that he lets us turn away.
That's essentially the story of the Prodigal Son. The father loves the son enough to let him leave. He never stops loving him, though.
Hmm.
I think God is here. Here in the Atlanta airport, waiting with me for this plane.
I think God is there with you also. Sitting at your computer, doing plainly normal, boring things. And God is loving you while you do it.
That's what I think.
Okay, time to lug my bags over and wait in line with God.
I've said it many a time before, but after another long hiatus, I think that I hath returned to regular blogging. Welcome back.
I'm in Atlanta at the Catalyst Leadership Conference. It is a massive conference (like 13,000 people) for leaders in the church, which I oddly, had never even heard of before this year. It is really great, and I'm hearing a lot of stuff that I hadn't expected - great stuff.
Jon Foreman, the lead singer of Switchfoot sang a song for the conference with just an acoustic guitar and a cello player. He introduced the song by saying that he has the hardest time writing songs about God and girls. This was one of the former, and he said that he cheated by "stealing" words from the Bible.
The song ended up being from one of my favorite passages, one that is always relevant to what ever is going on in life at the time - do not worry. God has it figured out.
Here were the lyrics:
Heavenly Father You always amaze me Let Your kingdom come in my world And in my life
Give me the food I need To live through today Forgive me as I forgive The people that wrong me
Lead me far from temptation Deliver me from the evil one
I look out the window The birds are composing Not a note is out of tune Or out of place
I walk to the meadow And stare at the flowers Better dressed than any girl On her wedding day
So why should I worry? Why do I freak out? God knows what I need You know what I need!
Your love is Your love is Your love is strong
The kingdom of the heavens Is now advancing Invade my heart Invade this broken town
The kingdom of the heavens Is buried treasure Would you sell yourself To buy the one you've found
Two things you told me That you are strong And you love me Yes, you love me
Your love is Your love is Your love is strong Your love is Your love is Your love is strong
Our God in Heaven Hallowed be Thy name Above all names Your kingdom come Your will be done On earth as it is in Heaven Give us, today, our daily bread Forgive us weary sinners Keep us far from our vices And deliver us from these prisons
I was really surprised at how simple and helpful the song was, taking a familiar passage and mixing it with the passage that is the Lord's Prayer, but reworking them, so that I could hear it in a new way. It has made me think of how much we are loved by God, but how little we allow ourselves to see it.
That doesn't stop it from being there.
Instead, though, we are often distracted by the hurt and the pain all around us - the pain of the world and of ourselves. In its ugliest manifestation, it can look like what is in this trailer, which we also saw at the conference today:
This movie addresses a serious issue in the world that Adrien and I have gotten more and more concerned with in the recent months (Adrien really educating me on it).
This movie, and the people that are in it are a visible sign of God's love. We can't ignore the suffering that we see in this movie because we are created to care. God loves these children, and the anger that we feel at the thought of that suffering is God using us to bring about change. There is nothing that we gain from helping these children, yet we are compelled to care. Why is that?
The most logical answer is "Because it's the right thing to do." But why do we feel like that is right? What gives us that certainty? Is there not some larger compulsion that we have as humans to care for the defenseless, to not sit idly by when people are suffering? Is it ridiculous to think that God is working through you in that way, that the anger that an issue like human trafficking makes each of us feel is a reflection of God's love, a love that hates human suffering?
God's love won't let us be okay with that...
Okay, rather than comment too much more on this right now, as I have said a lot for a "relaunch" of me bloggin', I'll reiterate what Dr. Cornell West says in the trailer:
Never forget that JUSTICE is what LOVE looks like in public!
The story behind this one was that we spent all of our budget to get "product placement" in a major Hollywood summer movie. After much deliberation, we concluded that the movie guaranteed to be the biggest hit of the summer was Speed Racer. We were incredibly wrong, and no one saw it. So here is the scene that was in that movie.
This one is funny to me because I had filmed this footage at least 3 years previous. We were originally dancing to the cover of "Heaven" by DJ Sammy, but the Rihanna song fit in rather well. I don't know why I never used this footage in the past.
This one is the simplest, but it might be my favorite that we have done. If you watch Tom once and then me the second time, there are completely different things going on. Credit to Carl Anderson for playing the role of the water.
No substance here, really. Just wanted to let you know that I'm still here, and reward those who check the blog regularly.
I have been in Washington state for a week on a mission trip to an Indian Reservation in Yakima.
It was great.
We also accidentally stumbled upon the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, which was the site of the exterior filming as a stand in for The Overlook hotel in the movie "The Shining." We drove up there just to see the mountain, and when I recognized the hotel, it was like I just accidentally arrived at Santa Claus' house... The above shot is from "The Shining"... ...and now I'm on the front steps.
There has been a lot of talk in the church about the homosexuality. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian church is happening this week, in which the issue of ordination of practicing homosexuals as officers and ministers in the church is on the table.
Without getting too much into it right now, as I have devoted other blogs to the issue, I was considering what it is that motivates most people's stance on the issue. I came to the conclusion that the most common motivations would be:
a - concern for the individual (how that person's behavior will affect that person)
b - concern for self (how that person's behavior will affect me)
c - concern for the church (how that person's behavior will affect the church)
While there are other variations, I think that it essentially boils down to those three, or perhaps some sort of combination of them.
All three of these motivations are important, and all have sound reasoning, but it seems that Jesus is most clearly calling us to do (a). The other two are justifiable, but ultimately, Jesus is concerned with the individual. The condition of the individual affects the condition of the whole, so in that sense, focus on (a), you will affect (c) as well. The condition of the whole will likewise affect the condition of the individual, so in that sense (c) will affect (b).
Still (a) should be the focus. If we are instead motivated by things like, "I don't want the church to change," or "I don't agree," we tend to be thinking more self-centered than selfless. Jesus wants us to serve, to be selfless.
That doesn't mean blindly accepting everything about everyone. But it does mean putting the needs of someone else over our own wants and preferences. Sometimes the most selfless thing that you can do for someone is to say "no." Sometimes it is to say "yes."
This is not a partisan view on this issue, but it is a necessary view if we are to truly approach the issue as Christians, as followers of Christ.
A few months ago, XM was playing a channel that was all Michael Jackson, all the time, for a month, in honor of Thriller's 25th anniversary. I then went on a Michael Jackson binge for a while, which was recently resurged.
I have realized that every single Michael Jackson song eventually devolves into gibberish. Example: the end of Black or White finds MJ singing
Iss Blaa, Is Whii, Iss Blubba doo, yeah yeah yeah.
It is practically inevitable. The best example of this, and perhaps the quickest to take that turn onto the incomprehensible highway is the song "Wanna Be Starting Something." This one goes like this:
Say you wanna be startin somethin' you got to be startin' somethin' Say you wanna be startin' somethin' you got to be startin' something
Too high to get over (yeah yeah!) Too low to get unda (yeah yeah!) Ya stuck in the middle And a remby blemba...
The first verse goes:
Took my baby to the doctor wit a hee dimba dumba da he dumb.
This is brilliant. The man has no need for coherency to sell a record. I mean take even the lyrics that are distinguishable, like Thriller:
Cause this is Thriller! Thiller night! Girl, I can scare you more than any ghoul would ever dare try!
What? Why does Michael want to scare girls? Like if it was, "Hey this is scary, but you can cuddle with me," that would be a pop song that makes sense, but this is is a plain enigma! That goes against the very equation of pop!
Why, Michael?
And yet, when we listen to it, why does it make such sense to us?
Here is one more gem:
Beat It! Beat It! No is the heed a heed it! Tell them hot hocky Tell them no bites It doesn't matter who's wronga right.
My conclusion is that Michael Jackson hyp-mo-tized us all with his gibbery lyrics and sweet dance moves. I am still not immune to the infectious jammin' on the one grooves of 80's and 90's MJ. I am not afraid to admit it, and I think most if not all of you know exactly what I'm talking about.
We are going to go to the drive in to see Indiana Jones and Iron Man for $8. Ironically, today the start time for a drive in movie is later than any other day of the year.
Since last I wrote, Adrien and I have successfully moved to Mooresville, North Carolina. I have just wrapped up my first week of work at First Presbyterian Church as the Associate Pastor for Youth. Most of my week has been acclimating myself to the building and the system. Half the staff is on vacation, and there haven't been any big youth gatherings this week, so it has been relatively calm.
Today, Adrien came to see me at lunch so that we could walk downtown to try and get library cards (we couldn't as we don't yet have NC driver's licenses). On our walk, we stopped to get ice cream, as we had been given a gift certificate to the local ice cream place. As we were walking back to the church, both with wielding ice cream cones, we crossed in front of a car that was waiting at a traffic light. The driver was a young guy in his twenties, maybe, who said out the window, "Ice cream is good, isn't it?"
Now I need to note that there was not a hint of sarcasm or malice in his tone. This guy was legitimately championing the inherent goodness of ice cream to us as we walked in front of his car. It was both hilarious and sweet.
I'm not sure what part of "the South" this qualifies as, but today's encounter definitely rules out "dirty South."
On Thursday, I will officially be a resident of a new state, which raises my legit residential tally to 6 states overall:
PA Iowa Florida Illinois (where I voted for some senator with a funny name) Wisconsin and now North Carolina.
I lived in Georgia for a summer, long enough to get mail there and pay state tax on my income, but I got mail when I was in Italy, too, and I never really "resided" there, so that state didn't make the cut.
Our house is currently filled with boxes. The movers boxed in a day and a half what would have taken Adrien and I two months to accomplish. Genius. I'm only moving like this from now on.
Also, we have shut off our internet here in Wisconsin, so to get a connection, I have had to sit on my back porch and pick up a faint signal from one of my neighbors. This has led me to realize that it is in fact quite delightful to be outside and on the internet. It seems rather paradoxical, but I quite enjoy it.
When next we talk, I will have a soft southern draw...
Oh! I am also now an ordained minister of the word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Hooray for Jesus!
(postscript: we have had a good string of Orange Flower days recently)
Our friend Val gave us a silly gift for Christmas: it is a miniature easel, about three inches tall. With it came three miniature canvas paintings that she had painted, each about two inches tall. One is of orange flowers. Another is what we call "art deco", which is a bunch of primary colored polygons.
The third is a painting of an avocado. That one is very murky colored. I soon realized that Adrien was changing the pictures (as only one fits on the easel at a time) almost daily, but with no discernible rotation order. She explained to me that when she gets up in the morning at 5:30, as we are getting ready to leave for the commute to Dubuque (about 45 minutes), when she looks out the window, she tries to determine what the day is going to be like. She then sets the mini-art to correspond with what type of day it will be. The orange flowers are a bright and sunny day, generally a happy, fun day. The art deco is an uncertain day, where basically anything can happen. The avocado is a gloomy day, mostly referring to the weather, but also sometimes when the day itself is just a hard one.
Tomorrow is Adrien's last day at work. She really loves this place and it has been really hard on her. Leaving Dubuque has been a hard process for me as well, but it is harder to see Adrien sad. We have really had a wonderful time in our Wisconsin/Dubuque life for these past three years, and have been blessed to have gotten to know a ton of amazing people.
It's hard to move, even when it is to a good place.
This will be my ninth move, and fourth for Adrien and I in the past 6 years. I'm really looking forward to the prospect of not moving again for a while, of moving somewhere that doesn't have an end date before we even get there.
We are BOTH incredibly excited about North Carolina and all of the possibilities that lay ahead for us in there. Yet, that doesn't make leaving Dubuque any easier.
Adrien loves her job and the people that she works with, and we have made great friends. It is a really hard place to leave. We know that Mooresville is the place that God is calling us, and awesome things await us there, but we first have to get through the goodbyes before we can take comfort in the hellos.
So I've had a busy week, but Adrien and I may finally have a place to stay when we get to North Carolina. More on that later, when it is 100%.
Until then, I've taken a break from doing what I should to show you this video. You may have seen or heard about it before. Obviously it is fake, but it's still creepy. Watch the whole thing. It's about two minutes long.
So here is one of the videos that we put together for last year's New Wilmington Mission Conference that kind of got lost in the fray and never made it online.
Now it is back, doing double duty as an ad for this years Conference. Since then, the Imogen Heap song that we used has become a bit overused in certain circles, but I still like it.
A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.- St. Augustine
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.- C.S. Lewis
Heaven is full of forgiven people. Hell is full of forgiven people. Heaven is full of people God loves, whom Jesus died for. Hell is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for. The difference is how we choose to live, which story we choose to live in, which version of reality we trust. Ours or God's. - Rob Bell
There are many problems with trying to market the gospel of Jesus, not the least of which is that, in itself, it is not a cool or fashionable idea. It isn't supposed to be. It is supposed to be revolutionary. It's for people who are tired of trying to be cool, tired of trying to get the world to redeem them. - Donald Miller
I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. - Mother Teresa
What if the church started asking the girls to dance a little more? - Valerie Harle
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