RevDon's Ramblings

Operation Christmas Child 2010

2010-11-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting at my desk late Sunday night (early Monday morning?) after what has been a very satisfying day. We finished our stewardship series of messages this morning in worship at both churches. I followed that up with a short nap with my ten month old foster son and then went on to the Quinton church to begin setting up for our Operation Christmas Child shoe box packing party. I was ecstatic to find that a lady from the Hancock's Bridge church had spent the early part of the afternoon bringing all the supplies down from the sanctuary and organizing everything. This made set-up very easy and saved me a lot of time (Thanks Kathy!). At 6PM folks started showing up and packing boxes. In 2007 we packed 89 shoe boxes - a great number for our first time. The following year we upped the ante to 139 boxes - amazing! Last year we were off a bit with only 96 boxes, but we've hit our stride again this year with 134! It warms my heart to the core to see so many people from these two communities respond to a ministry that is as wholistic as OCC. You see, every kid who receives a shoe box gift also gets the Gospel story in his or her native language. Evangelism and service working together - just like it ought to be. Anyway, big thanks go out from me to all the Quinton youth members and all the adults and children who came out to pack shoe boxes tonight. Your service is a blessing and will continue to bless people through these gifts for months and years to come. Thanks also to everyone who donated shoe boxes and items to pack in the boxes. Check out the Hancock's Bridge or Quinton church facebook pages for pictures from tonight's packing party. I personally feel blessed to be called your pastor today.

Oh yeah, and the Eagles beat the Giants to take first place in the NFC East. Life is good today.

Been a little busy

2010-11-14T17:09:00.000-08:00

OK, it's done... for now.

I've been really busy the last few months with some serious paperwork. Finally turned everything in on the 1st and spent the last couple weeks just deflating. The next big step in that process is a couple days of interviews in March so keep me in your prayers for that.

Right now I'm starting to gear up for Advent and Christmas, preparing for church conference, planning the Operation Christmas Child shoe box packing party and doing a little pleasure reading. If you happen to like suspense/action stories, Ted Dekker is one of my recommendations. He writes Christian fiction and reminds me a lot of Dean Koontz. Right now I'm in the middle of ADAM by Dekker and it's very good.

I have seen a couple of movies over the summer and into the fall and I'll try to blog a little about them if I get a chance in the next couple of weeks.

A Two-fer! Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me - Fun for all!

2010-07-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

There's a wonderful advantage to having small children when you're a big kid. You have a built in excuse to go see kid movies! Of course, kid movies aren't just for kids all that often, nor should they be. there ought to be something in any family film to entertain anyone in the theater. Both of the films that I've taken my little ones to recently have family entertainment in spades.

Toy Story 3 is exactly what the title tells you it is - the third (and likely final) installment in the Toy Story/Pixar movie franchise. Toy Story 3 is easily the best of the three films as it deals with all of the biggest issues that face us today - loss, desperation, loneliness, uncertainty and even death. All of this is accomplished through the plastic eyes and the synthetic fur of children's playthings. This Rev is inclined to call this film a can't miss. There are occasional scenes of peril that might be disturbing to children under five or six, but this is the best of what Hollywood has to offer as far as family films go.
Spiritually, there is depth here as well. In the beginning of the film, the toys feel rejected and/or neglected by Andy their owner and find a way to provide for themselves. Unfortunately, their provision turns out to be worse than ending up in the attic. In trying to escape, they almost end up incinerated (Hell?), before being reclaimed and recycled by Andy. This entire adventure could be considered as a metaphor for our experience with God. We feel ignored or neglected. We blame God. We strike out on our own only to find that our solution only leads to destruction. But God is gracious and finds an everlasting place in His heart for us, a place where we will always feel valued and important.

Despicable Me is a Universal Studios animated film about a villain trying to hold onto his status and dealing with three adopted little girls at the same time. It's cute. It's very funny. And, it's predictable. But that's OK. My kids liked this film more than Toy Story 3. I didn't think it was quite that good, but it is well worth the price of admission and suitable for all ages.
Spiritually, Despicable Me is all about love - the love of family, the love of friends, and the change that unrelenting, unconditional love can bring. It's familiar movie territory for children and adults. The curmudgeon who is transformed by the love of a child. Perhaps we've lived it; I have. Maybe that's why I enjoyed this film so much. It reminded me of many of the experiences that I've had as a foster parent. I also could not help but notice how this life-changing love from a child is so much like the love of God. God is often referred to as "the hound of heaven," pursuing sinful human beings with an unrelenting, unconditional love. This certainly appears to be the paradigm for Gru the film's main character. He adopts three little girls with the intention of using them to infiltrate his arch enemy's fortress. He ends up caring more about them than about any evil plans that he has. Ultimately, the girls change Gru's heart. Indeed, how much is the love of God like the love of a child?

So if it's raining or too hot or you're just looking for a little family entertainment this weekend, take in one of these two films. You won't be disappointed.

Father's Day

2010-06-19T19:22:00.000-07:00

Father's Day has been a special day for me for the last few years now. I've been a dad for much longer and I truly cherish the special bond that I have with my oldest daughter Trista. She is a beautiful, bright, hard-working and special young lady. I couldn't love her more if I tried. But for the last several years I've had the honor and the privilege of being a foster dad. Bonnie and I have had a total of 18 foster kids under our care since October of 2007. One of them is now our second child; we adopted Delylah in November of last year. Father's Day has become more special because it is a yearly reminder of the special ministry and the extraordinary responsibility that God has blessed Bonnie and I with. This year my family gave me my Father's Day gifts a day early because we're leaving for vacation on Father's Day. I'm overwhelmed. Perhaps the most beautiful gift I've ever received is the framed portraits of my kids. Bonnie took the kids to have pictures done last weekend and Trista had them framed. Brought tears to my eyes. Thank you Lord. Thank you for blessing my life with these children. Thank you for letting me be a vessel of your grace to children in need.

Oh and by the way, I got to see Toy Story 3 this week and I'll be trying to blog about it while I'm on vacation. Suffice it to say for now, it's well worth your time to try to get to see it in a theater with your children.

Splice - A cautionary tale (tail?)

2010-06-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

Splice is a newly released horror film starring Sarah Polley and Adrian Brody. In its most basic form Splice is a retelling of the Frankenstein story except these scientists create the monster with gene splicing rather than resurrecting the dead. The resulting creation is part human, part... well, lots of other creatures. Of course, Clive and Elsa (Brody and Polley, the scientists that create Dren, the monster) are ultimately unable to hide or contain their creation. And while Dren never goes on a rampage like Frankenstein's monster, she does become more and more uncontrollable until she must be destroyed. I could say more but would reveal elements of the story that are better discovered by one's initial viewing of the film.

I've subtitled this blog "A cautionary tale" because Splice has many elements in common with similar monster/horror movies. It poses questions like "what are the boundaries of scientific discovery?" "If we are able to do something that would be a scientific breakthrough, do we have a moral imperative to do said thing?" And, "When does tampering with genetic makeup become playing God?" Of course, this angle of playing God is a major theme for me as a pastor, but I'll get to that in the next paragraph. I should caution potential viewers that Splice is rated "R" and for good reason. There are several scenes that include nudity, graphic violence, foul language, and sexually suggestive situations. There are also at least two scenes that I found deeply disturbing and would caution anyone about.

Even with all the troubling elements in this film, there are still solid themes related to Christian faith and life to be found here. When Clive and Elsa have come to the realization that Dren must be destroyed they discuss what they did wrong to begin with. Clive says. "Wrong? We blurred the lines between right and wrong. How do we know right from wrong anymore?" Undoubtedly, many of us have been in a similar situation. When we chose to do something that is unethical or even despicable, where is our moral compass? We may try to rationalize what we do (in the name of science/progress/etc.) but are there no solid standards of right and wrong anymore? Are there not things in this life that are wrong simply because they are wrong? When we begin to blur the lines between right and wrong by offering rationalizations, where do we stand?

And of course there is the very idea of playing God that piques the interest of this pastor. I posed the question earlier but it bears repeating, "If we can do something, regardless of the reason for doing it, are we obligated to do said thing in the name of science or human progress?" Human cloning is one concept that has come under this scrutiny in recent years. As of right now we are scientifically unable to clone a human being, but it appears that we will be able to do it sooner rather than later. If we develop this technology, and if it could potentially save human lives from any number of wretched diseases, should we clone people? Is it ethical to create humans in a laboratory as opposed to naturally? Would said human clones have souls? I am a firm believer that it is unwise for humans to play at being God. I know that there are many scientific advances that are common practice today that would have been considered "playing God" as little as ten years ago. But I still must wonder where we are willing to draw the line. I heard today on the radio that a prominent ethics professor at Princeton University has suggested that birth parents ought to have the right to retroactively abort (kill) their child up to 30 days after birth due to chronic disease, poor quality of life, or simply because the child is unwanted. If this kind of utilitarian, secular humanist thinking is what passes for scholarship in our universities today, we are in a world of trouble friends. Maybe it's better to leave playing god to the one true God.

LOST - or maybe not so lost

2010-05-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last six years watching the ABC show LOST. I've followed all the story lines. I've re-watched the reruns. I've even begun to purchase the DVDs. Basically, I've invested a lot of time in a television show. Last night was the series finale. LOST is done. And some people are really upset. Those who are upset over last night's final episode seem to fall into two camps - those who are sad and will miss the show, and those who are angry that it didn't answer all the questions that they had. I'm in a slightly different place from either of those two camps. I'm satisfied with the show and how it ended. No, it didn't answer all my questions (and I probably had as many as anyone else). Yes, it was melodramatic (and yes I did shed a few tears). But overall, I think that the writers got one important point right (I'll get to that). For the first five seasons we were given back story on the main characters through flashbacks, flash forwards and flash sideways. We were introduced to the mysteries of the island (electromagnetism, "the button," "the rules," Jacob, the smoke monster, the light, the others, the Dharma project, etc.). All of this story was interwoven with symbolism and ideas that sounded familiar to all of us. They sounded familiar because we know them from church, Sunday School and just general knowledge of Christian things. But the ending of the show left people speculating as to what was real and what was "someplace else." I've heard the theory that everyone died in the plane crash and the island was purgatory. I've heard some say that they were all dead and the island was hell. I even heard one person speculate that the entire series was a dream in the mind of Vincent the dog. Unfortunately, I think all that speculation may miss the real point that the writers were trying to make, a point that truly resonates with Christian theology.
Let us assume that everything but the flash sideways in season six was real. It leaves us with a lot of unanswered questions about the island - why does it exist? what is the light? etc. The flash sideways in season six and the final episode focus on the relationships between the survivors and on something spiritual. The way that I see it the writers are saying, what is important in life is not the details of this world. We don't need to, and probably never will know all the secrets of this world that we call reality. What is really important is the relationships that we build and knowing that God has a plan, a design, a destination for each of us.
Anyway, that's what I got out of it. Maybe I'm completely off base with the intention of the writers and maybe I'm over-spiritualizing the thing. Maybe I am lost. Then again, maybe I'm found.

The Marriage Ref

2010-03-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

I've said all along that I will sometimes look at TV shows or other media in this blog, not just movies. Well, I had a chance this last week to see a rerun of the first episode of the new show being produced by Jerry Seinfeld called "The Marriage Ref." In short, don't bother. Firstly, it's just not funny. It's actually rather sad and a depressing commentary on who we are as a society. I am perplexed that a married couple would have the kinds of communication issues that these couples do, and choose to have them settled by a television show and celebrities rather than seeking professional counseling. Are we that shallow as a society and as human beings that we would rather be on television than get real help? Truth be told, I couldn't watch more than one segment of the show. I found it to be so troubling that I had to just switch it off. Rather than seek the help of God in prayer, rather than seek the help of a pastor for marriage counseling, rather than seek a real trained professional who understands human behavior, these couples choose to air their marital communication issues on national television for the whole world to laugh at? Lord help us.

Thank you Lord

2010-03-13T14:08:00.000-08:00

Thank you that all this rain isn't snow. I heard that if it were it would have been 36 to 60 inches! Thank You Lord!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Lightning Thief

2010-02-23T14:24:00.000-08:00

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Lightning Thief must win some kind of award for having the longest movie title this year. And, for being long on title this film is a little short on imagination. Percy Jackson is the story of a teenager who discovers that the Greek gods are real and that Poseidon is his father. After Zeus accuses Jackson of staling his thunderbolt, Percy goes on an adventure to recover the stolen item and prevent a war between the gods.

I went to see this movie with my 25y/o daughter and the two of us were overwhelmed with how much the film wanted to be Harry Potter. There were obvious parallels between schools, characters and situations throughout the film. In fact, it became a joke between the two of us as we competed to identify each person of thing in this movie with their parallel in the Harry Potter universe. In all, that's not a very good testimony for a film. Nonetheless, we did find Percy to be a decent diversion for a Saturday afternoon. The special effects were good and the storyline wasn't horrible.

From a Christian perspective I didn't find a whole lot to speak of. Obviously, we're dealing with the Greek pantheon of gods and that mythology here. As so many of us have studied Greek mythology in grade school there's not much to say on that other than they're not real. There a couple of things to be said in reference to character statements in the film. Annabeth Chase is the daughter of Athena and immediately befriends Percy. At one point she says to him: "I definitely have strong feelings for you. I just haven't decided if they're positive or negative yet." This could be a statement made by any secular person in reference to God or the church. They seem to have strong feelings but it's never completely obvious whether those feelings are positive or negative. Near the end of the film Annabeth has grown close to Percy and we're led to believe that she might kiss him. Instead, she disarms him and says: "First rule of battle strategy. Don't ever let your opponent distract you." Good advice for Christians, especially those who have felt subject to spiritual attack. The adversary is always willing to distract you, always willing and trying to deceive you. As Christians it is always wise to be on our guard.

So if you enjoyed the Harry Potter films then there's probably something in Percy Jackson that you'll find interesting. If not, it's still not a bad diversion but you'd likely do better waiting for a DVD release.

More Snow?

2010-02-23T14:22:00.001-08:00

Gosh I'm just starting to feel like I'm not snowed in anymore and they're calling for more snow? Will this winter never end?

Bonus Blog - The Princess and the Frog

2009-12-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

I had the privilege of taking my four girls and MrsRev to go see Disney's newest hand-drawn animated film Friday night, The Princess and the Frog. It is a somewhat different take on the old story of The Frog Prince that many of us remember from our childhood. The Princess and the Frog is "A fairy tale set in Jazz Age-era New Orleans and centered on a young girl named Tiana and her fateful kiss with a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again."*
My first reaction to this film was, "Wow! Disney is back." It's been a long time since the Disney company has put out an animated film that wasn't a Pixar production that was this good. I'm in my mid forties and I was a child when it last happened, so do the math. All four of my girls (5y/o and under) were completely enthralled. They didn't fidget, they didn't fuss, and they didn't even have to get up to go to the bathroom.

"Ah," you say, "but where are the theological perspectives?" Well if nothing else, this is a feel good movie. And there is always something of God in just being happy, at least until we human beings pervert it in some way. I did notice one really excellent point about the things that we wish for. Throughout the film we find different characters wishing on the morning star for things that they want. For Christians we don't wish, we pray. But often we pray a lot like the characters in this movie. We ask God for things that we want or things that we want to happen. During the course of the story, Tiana and Naveed learn to wish for what they need instead of what they want. Imagine how pleased God would be if we were to start praying for what we need, and what others need instead of what we want. Imagine how much more God would answer prayers for the needs of the people and ministries around us if we only prayed for those things and not for ourselves. Maybe more of the events that we experience on a daily basis would be happy endings, like every Disney movie that we all know and love.

So if you have small children, especially little girls who love Disney princesses like mine do, go see this movie. And while you're at it, lift up the needs of someone else this Christmas season. Think of the good we can all do this world with a little more selfless prayer.

Oh and BTW, I will be blogging another Christmas movie next week but I also have plans to go see Avatar next Friday. So don't be surprised if you get the double bonus two weeks in a row.
Grace and Peace!

The Bishop's Wife - The power of love and prayer

2009-12-09T11:30:00.000-08:00

The Bishop's Wife is a romantic comedy starring Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young originally released in 1947. Here is what the DVD cover says about the movie: "Heavenly bells are ringing, jubilant choirs are singing and Christmas joy is blanketing the world like freshly fallen snow. But the Yuletide spirit has yet to warm Bishop Henry Brougham's Victorian home. Struggling to raise funds for a new cathedral, the preoccupied young clergyman has neglected his loving wife Julia, and now only divine intervention can save their marriage! But the powerful and handsome angel sent from above has a mind of his own... and teaching mortal Henry an immortal lesson in romance isn't all he's got planned."
Aside from the obvious theological implications of angels, clergy and cathedrals, there are several good messages in this film. Dudley the angel only appears in answer to prayer. Later he suggests that he can only be dismissed by prayer but remains when the Bishop's prayer is offered for the wrong reasons. This is a nice example of the fact that God knows and answers our needs rather than our wants, no matter what we've asked for.
Another thread of the story involved a rich woman who will donate enough money to build the cathedral, but only if it carries the name of her late husband in very prominent places. Dudley comes along later in the story and simply listens to the woman's expression of grief and loss over her late husband. She later decides to donate the money to missions and charity instead of building the cathedral. This idea perfectly reflects James' words when he wrote, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27) While there is certainly nothing wrong with churches and church buildings, there's something to be said for directing our money toward ministry.
The Bishop's Wife is one of those wonderful movies made when stories were more important than eye-candy and flash. While not quite on par with the best Christmas movie of all time (It's a Wonderful Life), it is well worth your time as a pleasant Christmas diversion.

The Muppet Christmas Carol - Fun with a Message

2009-12-02T16:32:00.000-08:00

I have to admit up front that I am a big fan of the Muppets. I used to watch The Muppet Show and own several seasons of the show on DVD, The Muppet Movie is one of my favorite films and this is one of my top Christmas movies. The Muppet Christmas Carol is a pretty standard Dickens Christmas Carol interpretation with one interesting twist. Gonzo plays the role of Charles Dickens who narrates and provides comic relief in some of the more sinister parts of the story. Michael Caine portrays Ebeneezer Scrooge adequately enough and Kermit the Frog is the perfect foil as Bob Cratchit. As this is easily one of the most well-known Christmas stories I don't feel a need to give a synopsis. There is little here that deviates from the story that we all know and love. What is different is how much fun this version of the classic turns out to be. There are numerous asides, in-jokes and comedic liberties taken by the Muppet characters while the human characters play straight man every time. Without question, this is one of the best family Christmas movies out there. It comes highly recommended by this rev.

But The Muppet Christmas Carol offers more than just wholesome family fun. There is a message to be found in this picture as well, in fact, several messages. The first message comes across in one of the opening songs. We meet Scrooge walking through the streets as the numerous Muppet characters sing about how bad a person he is. In the song it is implied that he is this miserable because of his self-imposed isolation. Of course we learn later on that his isolation was not always self-imposed. What I find interesting is that if lonliness creates misery then the converse must also be true; presence and fellowship creates joy. As a pastor I find this to be especially true. Being present for people in their time of need brings joy to the person I visit and to me as well. I also find that church people are never happier than when they are in the company of fellow minded folks. Worship time is always a time of joy. And joy always seems to be found where people gather together.

A second message became apparent during another song. When Scrooge is haunted by his dead partners, Jacob and Bob Marley (told you there were inside jokes), they sing to Scrooge about the chains he'll wear in the afterlife. One of the lines in the song says that Scrooge must "change to lose his chains." This might be one of the most compact salvation statements ever put on screen. In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus put it this way, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." To repent literally means to turn around. Scrooge is told to turn around from the way he is going in order that he not have to wear the chains he is forging in this life in his afterlife. We are all called by Jesus to change our ways and choose His ways. The Muppets might put it a little differently, but it's a message of salvation none the less.

One last message came out, and this one in a song as well. When Scrooge is traveling with the ghost of Christmas present, the spirit sings a song about the feelings we all experience at Christmas. One of the lines in the chorus says, "Wherever you find love it feels like Christmas." What a wondeful way to express the true meaning of Christmas. This blessed season really is about love more than anything else. It's about the love of families gathered together over a festive meal. It's about the love of friends for one another. It's about the agape love of anyone who gives of themselves to others. But most especially, Christmas is about the love of God for humanity represented in the gift of a Savior in the form of a little child. So indeed, wherever you find love it certainly does feel like Christmas.

So take a little time this Christmas season and enjoy The Muppet Christmas Carol with your family. Share the love. Merry Christmas.

Thinking about what films to blog for the next few weeks...

2009-12-02T12:56:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about what movies to blog about in the next few weeks and it just seems so obvious. I guess I have to look at Christmas movies. I have a few on my shelves, ones that I truly enjoy. But I was wondering if there are any that you really like that you'd like me to take a look at. I'm going to do one today or tomorrow, but the next couple weeks are open to suggestion. Thoughts?

Inkheart - Incarnational reading

2009-11-21T08:50:00.000-08:00

Inkheart is another movie based on a series of popular youth novels and follows in the footsteps of the Twilight series and the Harry Potter books. It is the story of Mo Folchart, a "silvertongue" and his daughter Meggie, both with the ability to read characters and items from a book into existence by reading out loud. Inkheart was released in 2008 and stars Brendan Fraser and Helen Mirren along with Andy Serkis who is most well known for playing Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The storyline follows Mo as he attempts to right a wrong he committed twelve years previous by reading a villian out of the book of the same title as the movie. Mo is helped along the way by characters both real and read out of fiction.
This film is very family friendly with only a few objectionable words and several scenes that might be frightening to little children. Inkheart is rated PG and is suitable for family movie night.
I couldn't help but play a little "what if" with this film. What if Mo read the Bible out loud? Would he be able to bring Jesus to life? Would that count as the second coming? What about God? The prophets? Historical figures? If these people were real before, rather than fictional characters, could Mo make them appear?
The reality though is that it wouldn't matter. As Christians we believe in an incarnational Jesus Christ. He came to earth in the flesh. His presence among us in the flesh demonstrates how God cares about our physical bodies and that we should too. Because Jesus is present with us even now, we become "silvertongues" when we read His word. He becomes more real to us as we read about him in the Bible, and whether we read to ourselves or out loud doesn't matter.
I enjoyed this film much more than I expected considering that critics panned it. It's worth a look and a little wondering, but Jesus has already promised to be with us no matter where we are (Matthew 28:20).

That day has come...

2009-11-17T18:13:00.000-08:00

Bonnie and I have been anticipating the adoption date of our little girl for quite a while now. For some time we've felt like the day might never come. It has arrived! Today (Tuesday November 17, 2009) we appeared in Family Court in Salem County and officially became parents again. Our new little girl is Delylah Rose Stevens and she is probably happier than we are to have been adopted. She is now three years old but will be turning four next month. We're now planning her baptism and looking forward to many years of happiness, joy and love. Thanks go out to all who have been in prayer for us in this process. We know you've been praying because we've felt your support. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! AMEN!

Need to share a blessing

2009-10-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday one of the DYFS nurses was at our house to talk to us about three of the little girls that are living with us now. She also happens to be the nurse for the little guy that was with us back in Feb/March. Just so you don't have to look up my post about it, he came to us at 18 days old and was with us for about four weeks. I was very nervous about having an infant in the house but he became one of the biggest blessings for us and it was very difficult to let him go. Anyway, when we found out that this nurse knew him we had to ask how he's doing. She informed us that he's doing really well, walking around a little, putting on weight, and that he's really attached to the daddy in his household. This news made me realize that even though he was very little, we made a difference. It's not often that you get to know how you've helped as a foster parent. It's a huge blessing to know when you've made a positive impact. Thank you God. Thank you.

Zombieland - Why the rules are good

2009-10-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I just wrote about a horror film last week but it's almost Halloween. One more and then I promise to go back to family films. Zombieland is a horror/comedy (horrordy? comedorror?). Anyone who thinks that blending horror and comedy is a new concept hasn't seen Arachnophobia. And if you think zombie horror comedy is new then you haven't seen Shawn of the Dead. Both of those are worth a look and a laugh by the way.
Anyway, here's what Columbia Pictures writes about Zombieland - "The horror comedy Zombieland focuses on two men who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Columbus is a big wuss -- but when you're afraid of being eaten by zombies, fear can keep you alive. Tallahassee is an AK-toting, zombie-slaying' bad ass whose single determination is to get the last Twinkie on earth. As they join forces with Wichita and Little Rock, who have also found unique ways to survive the zombie mayhem, they will have to determine which is worse: relying on each other or succumbing to the zombies."
Before I say anything, I have to admit two things: I'm not a big fan of Woody Harrelson and I am a big fan of this little sub-genre of horror/comedy. That being said, this film was a pleasant surprise for me. Like any good zombie film there are many many creative scenes of zombies being put to their final rest, lots of splatter and quite a bit of gore too. But there is also a good story here about four people, maybe the last four non-zombies on earth, trying to survive the flesh eating menace and their mistrust of one another. If you like your comedies gory or your horrors funny, this is the film for you.
Theologically there is more in this film than you might think for a film of this sort. First - zombies. Zombie movies tend to be commentaries of some sort. George Romero has mastered the technique of commenting on the ills of society through his zombie movies. Zombieland tends to comment on the human condition (our ability or inability to trust, need for companionship/fellowship, wants and needs, etc.) more than society but the commentary is present for those who care to look.
More importantly, there is a wonderful message about rules in Zombieland. The main character, Columbus keeps a list of survival rules for himself that get flashed on the screen throughout the movie. Rule #1: Cardio - because then you can outrun the zombies. Rule#2: Double Tap - because this is no time to preserve your ammunition. Rule #3: Beware of bathrooms - because the zombies got smart and learned to attack us at our most vulnerable moments. The rules are not limiting, they are freeing because they are life preserving. The rules are for Columbus' benefit not his punishment. This is a direct correlation to God's rules for humanity. I cannot say how often I have heard about Christianity being about rules and regulations from God. Part of this is certainly true. God gave us the Ten Commandments and Jesus said that there are two important rules - Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. People outside the faith seem to think that these rules are limiting. But those of us who listen to God understand that the rules are for our benefit, for our good, for our protection and for our freedom. God's rules are not punitive, they are life giving. Columbus' rules are not punitive, they are life giving. In fact, it is only because of his rules that Columbus has survived to that point. God wants us to live and thrive too, that's why God gave us rules.
Anyway, if you go see one horror film in theaters this Halloween season, make it Zombieland. And if you go see one comedy in theaters this Halloween season Zombieland fits the bill too. If you don't mind the gore, this one is well worth seeing.

Our Two Year Fostering Anniversary

2009-10-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

We took in our first two children on October 26, 2007 - Two little brothers who had been in the system for a while. Monday was our two year anniversary as foster parents and we celebrated by taking in two little sisters, 4 and 5 years old. They are two very happy, outgoing ladies and they are also loud! But I can live with the noise because it's a joyful noise. This brings us up to fourchildren at presnt (that's capacity for us), all girls ages 3, 3, 4 and 5. It also brings the total number of children to come under our care to 16. Sixteen in two years! I think that I'm truly coming to understand what it means to be blessed in order to be a blessing. God blessed the nation of Israel so that they could be a blessing to the world. We have been blessed with the heart and the resources to be able to care for little children in need. In turn, we reap the blessings of seeing children happy and healthy. God is good.

Adoption Update

2009-10-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

Just to keep you all informed about how the adoption is progressing, we got a letter from our lawyer yesterday and a phone call this morning. DYFS has signed the consent for us to adopt our little girl, so both contacts were to set up a meeting with him for next week so that we can sign the forms and petition the court to set the adoption date. We've gotten conflicting reports from different people about when they'll be able to schedule the hearing. One judge likes to do a lot of adoptions on National Adoption Day (or as close to it as the court schedule allows) which is Nov. 20th. Family court that week is Nov. 17th. Both of those dates have been tossed around, but the lawyer says that the person that does the scheduling (surrogate?) isn't that efficient and we may not get a hearing that soon. All of this can certainly get a little frustrating, but it is progress and we are excited to be moving forward instead of sitting still.

Also, we were joined last week by another little one. She is also three years old but unlike our long-term little girl, she is very, very quiet. She's probably spoken 20 or 25 words to me in just over a week. We've been told that she's a short-term placement, but they don't have a realistic time frame just yet.

So keep us all in your prayers. And thank you for your support!

30 Days of Night - A vampire "what if..."

2009-10-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

So it's getting near to Halloween and all the premium channels are playing horror movies... a lot of horror movies. One that I've seen before and found interesting is a film called 30 Days of Night. This film stars Josh Hartnett and is based on the graphic novel (that's a big comic book for those of you unfamiliar with the comic book scene) of the same name. The basic premise of the film is a "what if" story. What if vampires decided to invade a town above the arctic circle during its month-long winter night? Well, they certainly wouldn't have to contend with that bothersome lethal daylight thing, now would they?

Actually, 30DoN isn't a bad film, at least as far as vampire/horror films go. To be sure, there are loads of horror films produced today that are little more than slasher porn. How can we kill the most people in the most gruesome ways we can think of and get away with it? Don't believe me? Take a look at Hostel, Turistas, Hostel 2, the remakes of Friday the 13th and Halloween as examples. Just make sure that you keep a bucket handy in case you have a weak stomach. Anyway, back to the film at hand. We're certainly familiar with vampire movies, how to kill vampires, what vampires are capable of and how they operate. There's nothing new in this film as far as that goes. What is different is the claustrophobic feel of this film. The humans that over winter in this small town are cut off from civilization very early on and are forced to try to hide and survive as the troop of vampires holds sway over the town.

Before I say anything about the theological ideas in this film I want to make sure that I mention that this movie is rated R and there are many scenes of bloodshed, violence and peril. It's definitely not a film for children.

Anyway, two theological points jumped off the screen for me in 30DoN. The first was a scene where a human woman was begging for her life with the leader of the vampire troop. She says, "Oh, God." He looks at her and replies, "God?" pauses for several seconds and looks around and up at the sky and then looks back at her and shakes his head saying, "No God." The situation reflected the contrast in thinking between believers and non-believers. When faced with trouble we turn to God. We seek God's help at the worst of times and we thank and praise God at the best of times. Non-believers look at us, shake their heads and think to themselves, "No God."

The second point occurs at the end of the film (this is a spoiler alert. If you haven't seen the film and you might like to skip this next paragraph as I'll be revealing plot points at the end of the film). When things seem to be hopeless for the few remaining humans, Ethan (Hartnett) takes a syringe of vampire blood and injects himself with it so that he can fight the vampire leader. After Ethan defeats the leader the other vampires slink away and our heroes survive, except Ethan. Having turned himself into a vampire, he chooses to sit and watch the sun rise, effectively committing suicide. Because of his self-sacrifice Ethan becomes a Christ figure in this story. He sacrifices himself and his life in order to save everyone else. Jesus said in John 15:13: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Not only does Ethan demonstrate his love for his friends, he demonstrates the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ.

While 30 Days of Night is not the best horror movie you can rent this Halloween season, it is an entertaining film with a somewhat different twist on the traditional vampire flick. If you like vampire or horror movies it's worth a look.

Labyrinth - Not your momma's muppet movie

2009-10-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

So to start off this movie blog thing I thought I'd write about a film that I've preached from before and one that I enjoy watching. Labyrinth is a Jim Henson directed and George Lucas produced muppet movie, but it's not your typical muppet movie by any stretch of the imagination. The overwhelming majority of the characters in this film are Henson muppet versions of goblins and other fantasy denizens that are definitely not cute like the muppets of TV and Sesame Street fame. David Bowie stars as the Goblin King and Jennifer Connelly plays Sara in this imaginitive, coming of age fantasy. This film, originally released in 1984, centers around a young girl named Sara who finds herself thrown into a fantastical adventure in a magical maze in order to save her little brother from the Goblin King. Along the way she learns a series of life lessons and she learns about what's really important.

Early on in Sara's adventure she encounters a talking worm who gives her the following advice - "Things are not always what they seem in this place, so you can't take anything for granted." To be sure, this is good advice no matter where you are. In this world things are rarely what they seem and it's almost never good to take things for granted.

One thing that's striking in this film is someting that Sara says many times over, "It's not fair!" How many times do we hear people cry about the fairness of things today? I'm sorry to inform you of this, but life isn't fair. God promised us salvation but God did not promise that life would be fair. But this thought is something that Sara overcomes during the course of the movie by taking control of her situation instead of letting it control her.

As I see it, the most theological aspect of this movie is he idea of fellowship. Sara finds companions of like mind along the way, companions who ultimately help her find her way through the labyrinth and rescue her baby brother. At the end of the film, when she's back home and deciding to put away her childish things (1 Corinthians 13), Sara becomes nostalgic for her old friends. They show up and the film ends on a high note with the cast of muppets singing and dancing, having an ultimate celebration. I find this idea reflects what it may be like in heaven when one person is saved. I also believe that the fellowship of friends on a journey reflects the fellowship of Christian believers. We are all on this journey together. There are times when we just need one another, times when we need to celebrate growth, celebrate milestones, even just to celebrate little steps of faith. Paul wrote extensively about the community of the church and how we are to love and support one another. Jim Henson seems to have grasped this idea in Labyrinth, whether he was a Christian or not.

2009 is the 25th anniversary of this film and there was a recent DVD re-release, so it is available for rent and purchse. A word of caution to parents - there are occasions in which the main characters are in peril and a few scenes in the dark that little ones might find scary. But overall, Labyrinth is a wonderful family film with a healthy message. Enjoy it.

The Ground Rules

2009-10-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

OK, if I'm going to pontificate theologically on movies it's probably worthwhile that you all know a little more about my movie preferences and such before we begin. Afterall, I wouldn't want people expecting me to do something that I might never do.

First, I'm a guy. That means two things; I like "guy" movies and sometimes I'm not too discerning about the quality of a film. I may occasionally comment on a film's acting or script or whatever, but I'm certainly no critic. Also, don't expect me to be watching too many "chick flicks." I will not be reviewing Fried Green Tomatoes or Steel Magnolias anytime soon, if at all.

Second, my reviews will not always be of current movies. I have a pretty large collection of DVDs at home and I get premium channels on cable. Whatever I write about will simply be whatever has sparked a thought for me this week. I'm also not going to limit myself just to movies. I could comment on a recent television show, a CD I just bought, a book I'm reading or anything else that's going on in popular culture.

Third and finally, I'm not the only game in town and I know it. I read several websited that comment on movies and popular culture from a theological perspective. HollywoodJesus.com is one of my favorites and I recommend it. If you just want a heads-up on current movies read RottenTomatoes.com.

All in all, I'm just a Christian guy who likes to watch movies. Hope what I have to say is interesting and maybe a little informative.

Even more adoption news

2009-10-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

MrsRev spoke to the caseworker today. They'll be out on Tuesday to finalize the paperwork with us and are moving to expedite the adoption. They'd like to schedule the adoption hearing for Nation Adoption Day, November 20th, also coincidentally MrsRev's birthday. Does this mean I'm off the hook for a birthday gift this year?

News on the adoption front

2009-10-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

We got a call from the law guardian of our little girl today and they've finally heard from the appeals court. Birth mom's appeal? Denied! She has two weeks to appeal this to the state supreme court, but most often this doesn't happen and even when it does it is rarely heard by the court. This now clears the way for us to adopt this little girl and makes MrsRev and I very happy. We've already bugun the paperwork for the adoption and things will move fairly quickly once the two weeks passes. So, the likelihood is that within a month or so I'll be able to post some pics and pass around a few cigars. I'll keep you all posted.

Foster update

2009-10-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

MrsRev and I are still foster parents and still loving it. Since the last time I updated folks on our foster situation we've had a few more children pass through our home. The five year old boy that was with us in February has been moved to a special needs home. The ten year old turned eleven in May and went back to live with his dad in July - it's a success story in that the dad got his act together. The baby was with us for four weeks before he went to family in preparation for going back to his mother. Since then we've had one boy and three little girls come and go, each for short stays before going to family. The three year old little girl that was with us is still with us and we're still waiting for her case to clear the courts so that we can adopt her. As of right now the local DYFS office told us that they've never had a case in appeals court for this long. It's nice to set a record, but this isn't exactly the kind of record one would want to be a part of.
T, my twenty four year old daughter moved out in May. She's doing really well out on her own and we're very proud of her.
So now it's just MrsRev, me and little D in the house. We get occasional calls for placements and have either not had the room or the kids went to family before they ever got to us. MrsRev was just elected to head the volunteer unit for foster parents in Salem county so our involvement just increased. That's good, in fact it's all good. I wonder if any of you have room in your hearts and/or your lives for children in need. Fostering isn't for everybody, but it is an amazing reward in and of itself. Wanna talk about it?

Thought about this blog after a long hiatus

2009-10-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

Obviously I'm not very good at this blogging thing (yes I know I've said that before). But I was thinking about this site this week and an interesting thought came to me. I am a pastor and I am a movie fan. I don't just like movies, I love them. I watch at least one and usually more like two or three movies a week. Sometimes it's for entertainment but usually it's a part of my preparation for preaching and/or just being relevant. Anyway, it occurred to me that it might be interesting for people to read what I thought about some of the movies that I watch, especially if I were analyzing with a theological mindset. So I'm going to give it a try just to see what happens. Oh, and since this blog is linked to my facebook page, every one of my FB friends gets the pleasure of being notified about my ramblings. Lucky you.
I haven't figured out a schedule for this thing just yet; it'll likely be a work in progress for a while but it should be fun.

More foster updates

2009-02-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

We've been joined by one more. Thursdy we welcomed an 18 day old infant to our home as the ninth foster child to join us in some way. We don't know the circumstances that put him "in the system," and I couldn't share them even if I did, but he is a cutie. We now have a full house once again (RevDon, MrsRev, T 24y/o, a 10y/o boy, 5y/o boy, 3y/o girl and the new little guy. Without a doubt, I have the hardest time with the babies. I'm a light sleeper and they don't sleep much at all. MrsRev tries to keep him quiet, but I'm usually awake before she is.
Anyway, he probably won't be with us much more than a few weeks when his case is heard in court. Just pray that I can get the sleep I need, because he gets to sleep anytime he wants and I don't. :)

Great Show but...

2009-02-15T17:13:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I must admit that I really do enjoy this show. It makes me feel good to see people who have experienced serious tragedy get rewarded for their perseverance and selflessness. The people behind this show do things on a large and public scale that I have done on a smaller and private scale on mission trips. That is the good side of the show.

But not everything in EMHE is quite so good. I fear that there is an element of this show that reinforces the entitlement attitude that pervades society today. I'm certain that there are people out there who watch EMHE and think, "Why aren't they coming to build me a new home? I've had a hard life! I've suffered losses!" Last week my oldest son expressed that he wanted a home and amenities like the people on EMHE got. I asked him if he was willing to make the tradeoff for it. What? I said, "Are you willing to have your house burn down and lose your dad and older brother in a drowning accident in order to have a new home?" I think he learned a little something.

One more thing that bothers me about the show. When one goes on a mission trip in order to help others, one sacrifices. You give of your personal vacation time, usually pay money, sleep on church or gym floors, and work outside in the elements usually without shelter. I don't see a lot of sacrifice from the workers on EMHE. This is their job, they get paid to do it. The main crew, Ty and the designers are certainly not sleeping on the floor, and everyone working on projects for the house outside has and EZ Up for cover. Even the major sponsors "give" items for the home and family, but they receive promotion for their products in the midst of the show. The builders probably put out a lot and their employess often work at a reduced rate, but in all, I don't see the kind of sacrificial giving portrayed in this show that I know we all receive in Jesus.

Nonetheless, I still can't take my eyes off this program. It never fails to bring a tear to my eye and joy to my heart. And in the end, there's nothing bad about that.

Fostering update

2009-02-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

While I'm at this, thought it would be a good time to update on the fostering adventures of MrsRev and I. Since we became foster parents in the fall of '07 we've had eight different children come into our lives. The first two little boys that came to us in October of '07 left in November '08 and January '09; one to a special needs home and one to be adopted by family. The little girl that joined us in December of '07 will be staying with us as we will be adopting her as soon as the courts approve it. Another young man (10y/o) joined us in April of '08 and is still with us. All the others have been short term or vacation placements. Right now we have a 3y/o girl and two boys 10 and 5.
I've been asked numerous times over the last 16 months about why we do it and why we take in so many children. The simple answer is, because we can. Yes I am in my fouties, but I'm not dead yet. Yes, MrsRev is a full-time student, but she's a home study student with University of Phoenix. We have room in our home and room in our hearts to accomodate chidren who need love, consistency and stability in their lives. Why wouldn't we share it? How could we not share it? Foster parenting has been one of the most challenging but also one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. My heart and my life is so completely full when that little girl looks at me and says, "Daddy, I love you." Who could ask for more?

Love on Valentine's day

2009-02-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

I can't help but think that this society has little to no concept of what love really is. We just don't have enough words. Ancient Greek had more than ten words for love. Ancient Hebrew had at least three. Modern English has one. Something is missin there. I mean, I just talked about how I love my wife, but I also love Chinese food. Not in the same ways of course, but what other words does the English language afford me?

The modern world really doesn't know how to love like God knows how to love, that's for sure. We love with expectations. We expect to be loved back. We expect favors for loving someone. "If you love me..." or even better, "If you really loved me..." God loves without expectations. God says, "I love you." We respond with, "Then why am I unhappy? Why don't I have everything I want? Why do I still have needs? If you really loved me God, I wouldn't be unhappy." And still God says, "I love you." No conditions. No stipulations. No expectations. Agape = unconditional love, that's what we all need on Valentine's Day. Save the chocolate and flowers for somebody else.

OK, so I'm not so good at this

2009-02-13T18:56:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been a long time since I last posted a blog. Yes, more than a year. I know. I get so busy and I just forget to even look. But I've been thinking recently that I need to be more reflective. In talking to a friend about this she suggested that I start a blog. Well, I have one already! Do you? What is it?

I had to admit my shortcoming when it comes to blogging. But it did get me to thinking that this would be a good way to "think out loud" a little more and thus be more reflective about things going on in my life. So I'm scrapping the idea of posting my sermons. Instead, this wil become my place to ruminate on "stuff." Maybe there's no one in the whole world that wants to hear what I have to say except me and my lovely wife. That's cool too.

And speaking of MrsRevDon: I was in the Blockbuster a couple of weeks ago (Blockbuster is a dying breed by the way. Netflix will bury them soon), and I came across a film called "I Think I Love My Wife." I thought to myself, "I KNOW I love my wife." Maybe this comes out of it being just before Valentine's Day, but MrsRev is the most beautiful person I know. She has a heart the size of a major metropolis. Her first and last thought of every day is for the care and well-being of someone else, usually me. Aside from being a full-time college student, she is a stay at home mom for three foster children, a husband and an adult daughter. All that and she's studying to become a family therapist. There are so few good people in this world that I just have to crow about this one.

OK, finally got it all figured out...again

2008-01-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

Somehow I lost my password or my sign in or something and couldn't get on here for a while. I think I've got it all figured out again. That means that my posts should be more regular again. Sorry for the inconvenience to those that have been trying to read my messages. I'll try to keep a bit more current, I promise.

That being said, here's what's going on for this pastor recently. In October my wife and I became foster parents. We've seen four children come into our household so far and one leave to go live with family. The three we have right now are 2, 3, and 6, two boys and a girl and all siblings. I'm finding that at 43, I'm not as young as I thought I was. LOL! It's been joyous and challenging. I've seen moments of God's grace in the children and in how others have reacted to the children. I am blessed beyond my own recognition at times. Of course, I would be remiss as a husband if I didn't mention that this was mostly my wife's idea and I give her all the credit in the world for how successful it's been. She is a pure nurturer. She gets up in the morning with the kids, gets them off to school and daycare, picks them up after she's done work, changes all the dirty diapers; she really does it all. All I have to do is be a goof ball daddy and horse around with the kids every once in a while.

My 22 (soon to be 23) year old daughter is seriously considering moving out. Not because of the fosters, she loves them as much as her mother does. No, she's thinking about getting an apartment with her girlfriend because she took a new job that's an hour drive away. While I don't consider it a hard thing to let her go, I want her to succeed and I'm wary of the financial burdens she'll be taking on by living on her own. I'd ask all prayer warriors to keep her in prayer.

I'm still working with my district ordained ministry committee and looking toward probationary membership in the conference in the near future. I've got a new mentor and we're planning with focus and intention, something that I've not had from previous mentors.

Well, that's enough catch up. I'll begin posting some of my previous sermons soon so that folks can catch up on those. Right now we're in the middle of a series called "Confronting the Controversies" based on the book by Adam Hamilton of the same name. Looking forward to a visit to the Hancock's Bridge church by Dr. Tony Campolo on Feb 17. Till my next post, farewell!

Hosannas Crucified!

2007-04-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

This is Palm Sunday April 1, 2007 message examining the contrast between the Hosannas of the crown on Sunday and the calls for crucifixion on Friday.

Hosannas Crucified!

Hosanna! Hosanna! What a joyful exclamation!
How often do we use this word in the church? Really only on Palm Sunday, right? We don’t greet each other with it at the post office. It doesn’t really come up in conversation. It’s just this one day when we celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem at Passover. Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
But what does it mean? Not just the word, I mean yeah, we do want to know that. But more than that, why use it in this situation? And even more so, what does Hosanna mean in the light of what we know to expect at the end of this week?
Well first, let’s talk about what the word actually means.
Hosanna Defined
Hosanna is a Hebrew word. Its literal translation is “Save, we pray.” The first place we’ll find it in the Bible is in Psalm 118 in the Old Testament. Save us we pray O Lord! Hosanna!
Later, Psalms 113-118 became associated with the Feast of the Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles was a season of great rejoicing. It was a saying amongst the Jews that those who had not witnessed it did not know what joy meant. In this way hosanna became associated with rejoicing. The same has to be said of the use of palm-branches. The last day of the seven-day feast was actually called “The Great Hosanna.” This was a day of great joy and waving palm and willow branches was a part of the celebration. Even the branches became known as hosannas. (The Catholic Encyclopedia Online as found at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07472b.htm)
Now hear it all again in English. “Save us we pray! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” Kinda takes on a new dimension, doesn’t it? While we have a whole lot of years to understand who Jesus is and was, these folks are making a definitive statement here aren’t they? Right in the middle of Jesus’ life, these folks are recognizing who Jesus really is. Because in order for Jesus to save them, he had to have the power to save them.
This is what these folks were saying. Here is a man who can rescue us from Roman oppression!Jesus is the one that the Scriptures tell us will come to save us! Save us Jesus!
Now we have history to tell us that Jesus wasn’t actually the conquering king that they expected. But these people, gathered in Jerusalem for Passover, truly believed that this Jesus was their Hosanna. They understood that this Jesus was here to rescue them and become their new King. But, even though the multitudes were shouting His adoration, many of these people would be the same ones that would be calling for His crucifixion just a few days later.
Nevertheless, as they welcomed Him into Jerusalem that day, spreading palm branches and their own garments in His path, little did they know that they were fulfilling an ancient prophecy. The crowds were acknowledging Jesus as the promised Messiah, the Son of David, and the chief priests and scribes were not happy with this. But their unhappiness had also been predicted in the same Psalm: NIV Psalm 118:22-23 The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes."
Hosanna Contextualized
Now one of my seminary professors said that text without context is pretext. Put more simply, context holds the key to understanding everything. So what did Hosanna mean in this context?
Well, common scholarship on this passage says that welcoming pilgrims to Jerusalem was common. There were welcomes like this all the time. Except that not too many folks got welcomed like Jesus did. His welcome was a bit grander, a bit louder than most.
Plus, Jesus’ entry on a donkey symbolizes that he comes as an ambassador, not as a king. So given the context of all this, what are the people really saying?
If one is willing to put the idea that these folks might be putting Jesus on aside, then they are affirming that this man comes as the one that will settle the dispute with Rome and set the Jews free again.
Unless the people welcoming Jesus are making fun of him, and there is no indication that they are then they truly believe that he is here to change their lives and their world.
No wonder they become disappointed by Friday. No wonder they are so easily persuaded by the scribes and Pharisees to call for his crucifixion.
Hosanna Crucified
And that’s exactly where this Hosanna is headed. He’s headed for a cross. Just like the palm and willow branches that were cut from the trees he is doomed for death and destruction. Oh sure, we all know that he’s going to overcome that death. But he’s got to go through the cross to get there.
Now this morning I’ve given you a little different palm. It’s a little more permanent than the ones you usually get. You see, the problem with palms is that once you cut the branches from the tree, they don’t live long. The problem with Palm Sunday is that the excitement of that crowd soon faded, and when Good Friday rolled around, many of the same voices who shouted “Hosanna!” were also shouting “Crucify him!” Their love for the Lord was shallow and based entirely on their hope of what exciting things he could do for them. (Tony W. Cartledge, “The problem with palms — A Palm Sunday sermon,” March 4, 2003, biblicalrecorder.org. Retrieved October 9, 2006)
When he didn’t produce in an expedient manner, he suffered the same fate as the palms. Cut off from the source of life. Dried up and withered. But this is one palm that doesn’t stay dead. This is one Hosanna that, even when crucified, returns with love and mercy and compassion.
Challenge
Which leads me to my challenge for you all today. Consider where you might have been in this crowd on that Palm Sunday morning. Were a joyous spectator? Were you part of the parade? Did you throw your cloak on the ground in front of him? Did you wave palm branches? And did you end up calling for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus on Friday?
I suppose that none of us really know where we would have been. But we do know where we can go with the knowledge of Jesus’ response and reactions. Jesus did what he knew he had to do. As unpleasant as it was and as it turned out to be, he did what God intended for him to do.
Can we do any less?
Can we honestly go through our lives and not seek God’s will for ourselves?
My challenge to you this week is one of intensive prayer. During this, the holiest week of the year, immerse yourself in prayer. Seek God’s will for your life. Ask God to give you a vision of what you can do for God’s Kingdom. Even if you are in the twilight of your life, as long as you still draw breath, you are useful to God. Go to god in prayer this week, every single day. And ask what you can do or how you can further his Kingdom.
And don’t be surprised when that answer comes, because it won’t be something that you already do. It’s gonna be a whole new Hosanna in your life.
AMEN

Easter stuff and the next series

2007-03-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

During Lent I've been preaching a series in 1 Corinthians looking at Paul's major themes in that book. Come Palm Sunday things are gonna change again. Palm Sunday's worship service is going to be highly liturgical. We will have a responsive opening liturgy and all the responses for communion will be sung. This is very different from our regular service, a change just for the experiece.
On Palm sunday evening the Hancock's Bridge church will be hosting a viewing of Mel Gibson's "Passion" movie followed by a discussion of the film with Rev. Emil Winkelspecht and myself. If you cannot make that viewing we will be hosting a second one at the Alloway UMC on Holy Thursday. Both viewings will begin at 6PM.
Easter sunrise service will be at the LAC softball field at 6AM Easter Sunday and our regular Easter resurrection celebrations will be at Hancock's Bridge at 9:30AM and at Quinton at 11AM.
Beginning on Sunday April 15 I will commence a new series of sermons that I hope many will find interesting and engaging. This series will be focused on family issues and how the Bible helps us to address those issues. The series will last ten weeks and will include special messages on Mother's Day and Father's Day. Topics that will be included in the series include "Keeping God in your Marriage," "Raising Godly Children," "Teens, God and Myspace," and "There's a Death in the Family God, Now What?" Please join us at either church for this series. Grace and Peace.

Is Salvation Fair?

2007-02-20T19:03:00.000-08:00

The last in a series of messages asking tough questions of God. Based on Luke 3:2-6 and John 3:16

Is salvation fair?
After briefly flirting with church attendance, a certain TV sitcom character chalked up his experience as generally beneficial because "I finally learned what that guy in the end zone holding up the big card that says 'John 3:16' on it is talking about!" It may come as a big surprise to long-time churchgoers, Because we’re steeped in a biblical, Christian experience, And we’re accustomed to hearing religious-sounding words and seeing religious-looking symbols, but we now live in a genuinely post-Christian culture.
It is a fact that our society is defined more by all those who have no clue as to what that guy in the end zone is trying to say than it is by those recognizing the citation of a biblical chapter and verse. A post-Christian culture doesn’t mean that there is a lack of spiritual interest or that there is a loss of spiritual hunger. Actually, just the opposite, this postmodern, post-Christian age has recently awakened to the fact that it is spiritually starving – and the hunger pains are leading to a frantic feeding frenzy. Without the table of church tradition to offer them nourishment, spiritual seekers have snacked on a smorgasbord of what they hope will be soul-satisfying samples. There is a renewed interest in prayer. There is a new fascination with the state of the spirit in healing and in health issues. Native American, Indian, Asian and Eastern European traditions have been infused into the middle of suburban American culture in order to try to inject some new depth and meaning into everyday existence. Astro-physicists, genetic researchers and computer scientists studying artificial intelligence are increasingly introducing spiritual questions into their technological studies.
People in this modern culture are becoming more and more aware every day of their need for some higher connection, some spiritual reality in their lives. As the band Plumb sang, we’ve all got a hole in our spirits that only God can fill. That’s what salvation is really all about. It’s about achieving that spiritual connection with God for all eternity. It’s about filling that God-shaped hole with the only thing that will ever fit.
But is salvation fair? Is the concept of salvation balanced?
Well, first off, fair is a relative term, isn’t it? I mean, what’s fair?
For instance, a socialist once came to see Andrew Carnegie, the rich philanthropist and soon, this socialist was railing against the injustice of Carnegie having so much money. In his view, wealth was meant to be divided equally. He claimed that Carnegie having so much was just not fair. Carnegie asked his secretary for an assessment of everything he owned and at the same time looked up the figures on world population. He did a little arithmetic on a pad and then said to his secretary. "Give this gentleman l6 cents. That's his fair share of my wealth."
Do you want the simple answer to the question of whether salvation is fair? No. Now, I could end the sermon right there, but I think that would leave a lot of you scratching your heads. “What does he mean that salvation isn’t fair?”
Well, in essence, it isn’t fair. Salvation is not about what we deserve. In fact, if it were about what we deserve, it’d be called damnation not salvation. It’s not about what’s fair. It’s about God’s love, grace and mercy. But let’s put that idea aside right now. I’ll come back to that.
There are really two ideas that people are talking about when they claim that salvation isn’t fair.
The first is related to the idea that some folks have never heard about Jesus. Some were born, lived and died before Jesus existed. What about them? What about all those people who still live tribal, jungle lives? They might never meet a missionary. What about them? Is it fair that those people don’t go to heaven because they’ve never heard of Jesus?
In reality, the issue of those who haven’t heard is just a matter of interpretation. There are certain truths about this issue that the Bible makes plain. For instance, in John 14 Jesus says “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the only way of salvation. That’s plain, straightforward. Now lots of people think that this means that those who’ve not heard are automatically damned.
Truth is, we don’t know that for certain. While the Scriptures never explicitly teach that someone who’s never heard can be saved, we believe that they do infer as much. We believe that every person will have an opportunity to repent, and that God would not exclude anyone simply because of the accident of their birthplace or birth era.
In John 7:17 Jesus said, “If anyone chooses to do God's will, that person will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” In other words, it’s in doing God’s will that we understand God’s way.
Aside from that, Romans 1:20 explains how anyone, even those who’ve never heard explicitly, will know of God. Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—God’s eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that humanity is without excuse. It’s a fact that all of humankind can tell that a creator does exist, because the creation testifies to it.
We also know from the Scriptures that it is God’s desire that no one should perish. 2 Peter 3:9 reads, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God cares, even for those who have never heard and may never hear the Gospel. Even though we may not know how God is going to deal with these folks specifically, we know that God’s judgment will always be fair.
That fact alone should settle the question of those who’ve never heard.
But there’s another way of thinking that salvation isn’t fair. Have you ever heard that argument about the death row criminal who repents right before he’s executed? And you know how some Christians respond to that on, right?
How is that fair? I’ve been good all my life. I’ve worked hard to be a top notch Christian. I’ve denied myself and taken up a cross. I’ve suffered for my faith. I’ve tithed! How does this life-long criminal get to sit at my table at the heavenly feast? That’s just not fair!
Well, maybe for the first time since I started writing these mock rants, I agree with you. It’s not fair. It’s not fair that someone has committed heinous crimes for his or her whole life and then gets to go to heaven and sit with you and I at the table with Christ.
But you know what; nowhere in the Bible does it say that God is fair!
God is holy.
God is righteous.
God is just.
But God is not fair!
Now while that may raise your hackles a bit, remember the story that I opened with this morning about Andrew Carnegie. If God were playing fair, what we’d probably get would be something like sixteen cents.
But God doesn’t play fair. God plays grace. God showers us with the unmerited favor of free salvation.
We can’t earn it.
We don’t deserve it.
It is a free gift and it’s available to anyone and everyone.
Folks, grace is such an enormous concept in Christian theology, I could preach about it for weeks on end. It is without question, the biggest most important point to remember.
God’s grace is so wide that it encompasses the whole world.
God’s grace is so deep that we could never get so low as to be beneath it.
God’s grace is so amazing that we could never do or say enough to deserve it.
Is it fair? It’s fair to those who receive it. It was fair for each of us while we were still in our sinful state. Why wouldn’t it be fair for a truly repentant criminal? We should rejoice for that repentant soul, not gripe that they received the same gift that we did.
So I come back to the question, “Is salvation fair?”
If you’ve never received it, it certainly is! All are welcome in God’s Kingdom. And since God is making the rules, who are we to question?
Jesus taught Nicodemus that anyone who believed would be saved. John preached that all humankind would see God’s salvation
In the end, it comes down to this: Have we believed? Have we seen salvation? Fairness isn’t really the issue. Grace is.
I’d like to leave you with a story and a question this morning.
Lord Kenneth Clark, internationally know for his television series Civilization, lived and died without faith in Jesus Christ. He admitted in his autobiography that while visiting a beautiful church he had what he believed to be an overwhelming religious experience. "My whole being," Clark wrote, "was irradiated by a kind of heavenly joy far more intense than anything I had known before." But the "gloom of grace," as he described it, created a problem. If he allowed himself to be influenced by it, he knew he would have to change, his family might think he had lost his mind, and maybe that intense joy would prove to be an illusion. So he concluded, "I was too deeply embedded in the world to change course." Our Daily Bread, February 15, 1994
Are you too embedded in the culture of the world to change course? Or has grace grabbed a hold of your life and taken control.
Are you plodding along with contemporary society? Or are you on a wild ride of mercy with God today?
As Led Zeppelin said in the song “Stairway to Heaven”: There’s still time to change the road you’re on.
Leave all those ideas about fairness behind, and climb aboard the grace train. We’re heaven bound!
AMEN

Was Darwin right?

2007-02-14T15:09:00.000-08:00

Sixth in a seven part series asking the "Tough Questions." Scripture passage is Genesis chapter one

In a 2005 poll conducted by Newsweek and Beliefnet, people were asked the question: “Do you believe that God created the universe?” 80 percent of those responding said the universe was created by God. It is interesting that after all the money and effort our universities and educational systems have spent on instructing people about evolution that 80 percent of people still believe that there is a God, and that that God created the world. Only ten percent taking the poll said the universe was not created by God. One percent said they did not believe in God.
Nine percent said they didn’t know.
Now, that’s all very interesting, but in the end, it doesn’t matter what people believe. If God actually created the world, it does not matter if 100% of the human race does not believe it, it is still true. God does not live and work by the results of polls. For instance, you are perfectly free to believe that the pulpit I am standing behind simply evolved over a period of time. Now, we all know that that is not true since it has a definite design, but you can believe it if you want. Someone with a name created this piece of furniture and it definitely exists. But, it wouldn’t matter if everyone in this room, or everyone in the world for that matter, didn’t believe this pulpit had a creator who existed, it would not alter the reality of the pulpit or its creator in any way.
Something deep inside all of us knows this, and that’s why I’m not bothered by the theory of evolution, and it’s why 80 percent of people in this country still believe that the world was created by God.
Right off: Science and the Bible are not in conflict. The conclusions of both are sometimes biased. But we have nothing to be afraid of by honest evaluation. Let’s first of all look at the claims of the bible about creation...Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created." Now, nowhere in the Bible does it say when God created. There is no time line. Jesus said in Mark 10:6 "But at the beginning of creation God ’made them male and female.’" Psalms 19:1-4 "The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies announce what his hands have made. Romans 1:20 "There are things about God that people cannot see--his eternal power and all the things that make him God."
All of these are wonderful passages about the creation of the world. But we have to remember a fact about the first eleven chapters of Genesis. These stories, creation, the garden, Cain and Abel, Noah’s ark, and the tower of Babel, were never intended to be factual historical accounts. These were parables, stories told in an effort to try to explain how humanity went from a perfect creation of a perfect God, to the fallen and broken world that we understand it to be. So we make assumptions about what the Bible means. But those who put their faith in evolution make assumptions too.
3 bedrock assumptions that evolutionists have given for our origins have all been shown to be on shaky ground. Let’s take a look at these three right now.
First assumption: SPONTANEOUS GENERATION
How did we get the conditions on planet earth that brought us our first one-celled animal from which all life forms supposedly evolved? For many years, evolution explained our origins by "spontaneous generation". Simply stated, this means that under the proper conditions of temperature, time, place, etc. decaying matter simply turns into organic life. This idea dominated scientific thinking until 1846, when Louis Pasteur shattered the theory. Under controlled laboratory conditions, in a semi-vacuum, no organic life ever emerged from decaying, nonliving matter.
Obviously, if spontaneous generation actually did take place in the distant past to produce the first spark of life, it must be assumed that the laws which govern life had to be completely different from what they are now.
But wait a minute! This won’t work either, because the whole evolutionary theory rests upon the assumption that conditions on the earth have remained uniform throughout the ages. Astrophysicists have found that there are over 60 criteria that are necessary for life on earth.
Life could not exist or form if any one of the following were true: Earth’s rotation was slower, or faster; We were 2% closer or further from the sun; Earth had a 1% change in sunlight; Earth was smaller or larger; the moon was smaller or larger; we had more than one moon; Earth’s crust was thinner or thicker; Oxygen/Nitrogen ratio was greater or less; ozone layer was greater or less.
This creates a dilemma. Because, to believe that life spontaneously emerged requires great faith in the impossible— no evidence— That’s the same accusation hurled at those who believe the world was created by an intelligent God.
Dr. George Wald, Nobel Prize winner of Harvard University, states it as honestly as an evolutionist can: "One has only to contemplate the magnitude of this task to concede that the spontaneous generation of a living organism is impossible. Yet here we are - as a result, I believe, of spontaneous generation." That statement by Dr. Wald demonstrates a much greater faith than a religious creationist can muster. Notice that the great evolutionary scientist says it could not have happened. It was impossible. Yet he believes it did happen. Why did he get a Nobel Prize? What can we say to that kind of reasoning?
If someone told you they could pick a winning lottery number and did you’d be impressed. The odds are 10(7). Suppose they did it twice in a row? One chance in a hundred thousand billion 10(14). Wow. You might wonder if something’s up.
The odds of evolution are like someone randomly winning thousands of lotteries in a row. Statistically possible, but also statistically absurd. The probability of a single cell forming by evolution through limitless time, particles and events has been calculated by a Swiss mathematician. Odds one chance in 10(160). Other scientists knock off a few zeros, but not many. That means 10 multiplied by itself 160 times, a number too large even to articulate. Statisticians point out that anything beyond 10(50) is beyond reason, essentially impossible or absurd. Evolution is a belief in spite of the fact that it’s statistically absurd.
Sir Frederick Hoyle, the famous British astronomer and agnostic said, "The current scenario of the origin of life is about as likely as a tornado passing through a junkyard beside Boeing airplane company and accidentally producing a 747 airplane,"
This proves that Evolution would have to be a miracle from God, wouldn’t it? In order to get that completely lucky, there’d have to be divine intervention wouldn’t there?
Second assumption: MUTATIONS
Another one of the backbone theories of evolution is the evidence of mutation. Mutation is where minor changes take place within animals. Every species has its own particular number of chromosomes which contain the genes. Within every human being are 46 chromosomes containing an estimated 100,000 genes, each one of which is able to affect in some way the size, color, texture, or quality of the individual. You are a result of those genes.
The assumption is that these genes, which provide the inherited characteristics we get from our ancestors, occasionally become affected by unusual pairing, chemical damage, or other influences, causing them to produce an unusual change in one of the offspring. Like having a child with 12 fingers, or one blue eye and one brown eye. This is referred to as a mutation. It is assumed by the evolutionists that through gradual changes wrought in the various species through mutation and over billions of years, the amoeba would eventually turn into an invertebrate, which became an amphibian, then a reptile, a quadruped, an ape form, and finally a man. In other words, the species are not fixed in the eyes of the evolutionists. Families are forever drifting over into another higher form as time progresses.
This means that all the fossil records of animal history should reveal an utter absence of precise family boundaries. Everything should be in the process of changing into something else – with literally hundreds of millions of half-developed fish trying to become amphibious, and reptiles halfway transformed into birds, and mammals looking like half-apes or half-men.
Now everybody knows that instead of finding those billions of confused family fossils, the scientists have found exactly the opposite. Not one single drifting, changing life form has been studied. Everything stays within the well-defined limits of its own basic kind and absolutely refuses to cooperate with the demands of modern evolutionists.
Ten times in the book of Genesis we read God’s decree concerning the reproduction of His creatures - "after its kind." Gen:1:25: And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good." The word "kind" refers to species, or families. Each created family was to produce only its own kind. This forever precludes the drifting, changing process required by organic evolution where one species turns into another.
To put it the way my father would, "If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?"
And, this is exactly what the fossil records reveal.
Even Darwin confessed: "There are two or three million species on earth. A sufficient field one might think for observation; but it must be said today that in spite of all the evidence of trained observers, not one change of the species to another is on record." Life and Letters, Vol. 3, p. 25.
Charles Singer, who wrote "A Short history of Science in the 19th Century" said that "Evolution is perhaps unique among major scientific theories in that the appeal to its acceptance is not that there is evidence for it...!"
Third assumption: MYSTERY OF THE EMPTY STRATA
As one digs deep into the earth, one layer or stratum after another is revealed. Often we can see these layers clearly exposed in the side of a mountain or roadbed cut. Geologists have given names to the succession of strata which pile one on top of another. Descending into Grand Canyon for example, one moves downward past the Mississippi, Devonian, Cambrian, etc., as they have been tagged by the scientists.
Now here is the perplexity for the evolutionary theory: The Cambrian is the last stratum of the descending levels that has any fossils in it. All the lower strata below the Cambrian have absolutely no fossil record of life other than some single-celled types such as bacteria and algae.
Why not?
The Cambrian layer is full of all the major kinds of animals found today except the vertebrates. In other words, there is nothing primitive about the structure of these most ancient fossils. Essentially, they compare with the complexity of current living creatures.
But the big question is: Where are their ancestors? Where are all the evolving creatures that should have led up to these highly developed fossils?
According to the theory of evolution, the Precambrian strata should be filled with more primitive forms of these Cambrian fossils in the process of evolving upward. Dr. Daniel Axelrod of the University of California calls it: "One of the major unsolved problems of geology and evolution."
George Gaylord Simpson, the "Crown Prince of Evolution", summarized it: "The sudden appearance of life is not only the most puzzling feature of the whole fossil record but also its greatest apparent inadequacy." The Evolution of Life.
There was even a Time magazine headline about the problem “Evolution’s big bang!” Apparently, evolution happened rapidly. All at once. Sounds like creation to me.
The absence of Precambrian fossils points to one great fact, unacceptable to the evolutionists - a sudden creative act of God which brought all the major creatures into existence at the same time. The preponderance of the evidence in fossils indicates the creation of many species all at once, instead of any gradual process from one species to another.
Here’s the real point in all this talk of the possibility, or impossibility of evolution.
Evolution says Life is Chance.
Creation says God created with intelligence and design
Evolution says you’re just an overgrown ape.
Creation says you were made in the image of God.
Evolution can’t place any value on love.
Creation says God loves beauty, and love is meaningful.
Evolution says Jesus is a fraud.
The bible says he created us and wants to recreate us.
Some sincere Christians believe that God created the world by using the evolutionary process. They don’t believe the world is the result of random chance or an accident, they believe it was created, but that God used evolution in creating the world. Some Christians believe that God created the world in seven literal 24 hour days, others believe it was more like seven million years. It could have been seven seconds for all we really know, but the fact is that however God did it, using whatever method and time period God chose, God created the world.
This is ground zero for our faith. Everything we believe hinges on and grows out of this fact. Everything we understand about the world and life stems from whether we believe that God started all this, or that it is all an accident.
The whole scheme of redemption — God coming to the world in the person of Jesus to live before us and die for us — is ridiculous unless we are the creation of a God who tremendously loves us and will do anything to bring us back to himself.
And there’s three important points for us to grasp this morning about the importance of God creating the world.
The first way is: It saves us from living in ignorance.
If you understand that there is a God who created all that exists, you understand that there is a design and purpose to life, and your life in particular. You have the understanding that there is Someone who is holding all this together and is watching out for us.
One of the novels from C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series is titled The Magician’s Nephew. In symbolic language it tells the story of the creation of the world by telling how Aslan the lion created Narnia by singing it into existence. However, there is one character who refuses to hear the song. Listen as Lewis tells the story:
“When the great moment came and the beast spoke, Uncle Andrew missed the whole point for a rather interesting reason. When the lion had first begun singing, long ago when it was still quite dark, he had realized that the noise was a song. And he had disliked the song very much. It made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel. Then, when the sun rose and he saw that the singer was a lion (“only a lion,” as he said to himself) he tried his hardest to make himself believe that it wasn’t singing and never had been singing — only roaring as any lion might in a zoo in our own world. ‘Of course it can’t really have been singing,’ he thought, ‘I must have imagined it. I’ve been letting my nerves get out of order. Who ever heard of a lion singing?’ And the longer and more beautifully the lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan’s song. Soon he couldn’t have heard anything else even if he had wanted to. And when at last the lion spoke and said, ‘Narnia awake,’ he didn’t hear any words: he heard only a snarl.”
We can choose to live in ignorance to God’s divine creative nature, or we can choose to see God’s revelation all around us, and search for purpose in this world and in our lives.
The second way understanding that God created the world helps us is: It helps us to understand that we are accountable.
Ah, here is the crucial point with many people who want to wish away God’s existence. The problem with believing there is a God is that it means there is someone who is above you. It means that there is a God, and you can no longer be your own God. You are answerable to someone. You are accountable for the way you live and the things you do. If there is a God, then the moral laws he has laid down apply to you. Right and wrong are no longer determined by what you think is okay. If there is a God, then your life does not belong to you. If there is a God, then the world is bigger than you, and you have to discover God’s purpose for your life and live out that purpose.
Last year, the London Zoo posted a sign in front of their newest exhibit, reading, “Warning: Humans in Their Natural Environment.” The so-called “exhibit” featured eight Homo sapiens, clad in bathing suits and pinned-on fig leaves. The human “captives” were chosen from an online contest, and spent their time sunning on a rock ledge, playing board games, and waving to spectators. The goal of the exhibit was to downplay the uniqueness of human beings as a species. “Seeing people in a different environment, among other animals,” said Polly Wills, “teaches members of the public that the human is just another primate.”
Many people are happy to think that they are not that special — that they are only another animal. It gives them a good excuse to behave like an animal. They want no moral boundaries, and no one to whom they are accountable.
Evolution is simply the attempt to explain the existence of the world given the presupposition that there is no God. It is a very convenient theory for those who do not want to answer to God. Many people actually prefer the thought that there is no God to whom we are accountable. They don’t want anyone restricting their freedom, even if it is God. For these people, the most disturbing scripture of all is Hebrews 4:13, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
But God is real and we are accountable to God’s plans for us.
The third way understanding that God created the world helps us is: It helps us to understand that God is in charge of history.
This is God’s world. There is a plan. We are not going around in circles. There is not only a design, there is a direction. The Bible declares, “For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:6).
Against the overwhelming pride of mankind comes the questions which God posed to Job:
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone — (Job 38:4-11).
The evidence for the design, and therefore a Designer, of creation is overwhelming. This Intelligent Designer is none other than the God who created the universe in love. You are not an accident, you are the result of a God who has loved you into existence.
So don’t live in ignorance of God’s creative loving presence.
Know that God requires you to be accountable to the plans he has for you.
And know that God is fully in control of history, even to this day.
There’s a plan and you’re a part of it.
And that’s no cosmic accident my friends.
AMEN

A little diversion =>

2007-02-09T19:30:00.000-08:00

I started a daily trivia game for my friends and family. If you're interested, you'll have to sign up but it is free. Here's the link
http://my.funtrivia.com/tournament/revdon64s-Trivia-Challenge-67164.html

ENJOY!

Why do the wicked prosper while the good struggle?

2007-02-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

Why do evil people prosper while good people struggle?

What is God’s definition of justice? How come evil people don’t seem to suffer the consequences of their evil actions? Instead, they look like they have an easier, more pleasurable lifestyle? And why is it that Christians often face the consequences of their sins right away? Does God get hurt too when he sees us, the ones he loves the most, hurting? Okay, that’s quite a few questions there. But they’re all basically asking the same thing: Why do the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer?
Guess what, people have been asking that question for as long as evil has been in the world. In fact, King David probably said it best in the passage from Psalm 73 this morning. NIV Psalm 73:3-5 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.
That certainly asks the big question this morning. And, you’ll find verses like that throughout the Psalms. But you’ll find many more verses like our other reading from this morning: NIV Psalm 37:7-9 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-- it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
What does it mean? Let me try to tell you what it all means by telling you a story I read this week. It’s a story told by a pastoral colleague. One night after church, he ran into a woman who somehow had the impression that he was walking home. She warned him to “be careful out there,” because “all sorts of bad things are going on nowadays.” He smiled and told her that he wasn’t afraid. After all, he said, he’s on good terms with the Management of the Universe, so even if something bad happens to him, it will eventually turn out all right.
These passages are telling us that by his nature, God is completely fair and just. He is not responsible for the sin and evil in the world.
In fact, sin is under God’s death penalty. According to Romans 3:23, we are all sinners. Therefore we all face the prospect of eternal spiritual death apart from our faith in Christ. God’s justice says that we must pay the penalty for our sins. But, His love and grace say that Christ has already paid the penalty on our behalf.
And yet we still struggle while bad folks seem to have it easy. Why? Why doesn’t God make us prosper?
Well, I think we have to understand the difference between prosperity and providence. Because not all of us may prosper, especially in this world. But all who claim the name of Jesus Christ as savior, all who call upon the Lord will experience the providence of God.
Now, I am no stranger to hard times. I have faced adversity, I’ve had my share of troubles. So I find that people who suffer hard times find me a helpful person to talk to and I’ve come to realize that God gave me hardship as training so that I could serve His people who are in distress.
Right now these are good times for me, I must say that I’m in one of the best places I’ve been my whole life. But even in hard times, if I’ve had my wits about me, I have always been confident in God’s providence. I have always known that God was looking out for me. I rely on Psalm 37. That passage says that godly people will have bad times and suffer days of famine. Surprisingly, that is something which I find very reassuring, because if I do face adversity, trial, and hardship, it doesn’t mean that I have fallen out of God’s favor. God won’t grant me an exemption from hard times, but God will give me dignity in those hard times.
And I bear witness in my life that this is true: because at no time during any adversity in my life
was I ever debased by anyone other than myself. I’m my own worst enemy. But those around me have always been supportive and loving. And at no time did I lack anything that I truly needed, except maybe in my imagination.
This kind of leads me to that other thing we’re talking about this morning, but that doesn’t bother me any more. It’s about when a person triumphs through evil.
You all know what I mean: A competitor is convicted of fraudulent trade practices and is still able to win a sale from under your nose. An office adversary stabs you in the back and is rewarded by a promotion. A thief breaks in and steals a gift you gave a loved one and you can’t replace it. You work and slave behind the scenes, while the lazy loudmouth gets public credit for your work.
Most of us have had some experience like that. These things have all happened to me, too. I used to be furious with God about those kinds of things, and God and I used to have it out in loud fights.
Yes, you heard me correctly. I said that I’ve had fights with God. You see, someone once told me that if I was mad at God, I should find a place where I can’t be overheard and have a good knock-down, drag-out fight with God. Yell and scream at God, she said, give Him a piece of your mind and don’t let Him off easy. She said that if my relationship with God was so fragile I couldn’t have a little argument now and then, my spirituality was too weak to do me any good anyway.
At first, I thought this was mucho crazy and a little dangerous, but then I had weekend hospital coverage when my pastor went out of town. A very sweet lady from the church had Parkinson’s disease. She also needed a knee replacement. She was admitted to the hospital and had her knee replaced. She was doing well after the surgery on a regular floor, when she was found after lunchtime having aspirated a bit of food, in cardiac arrest. The crash team came in and she was brought back and admitted to ICU. Unfortunately, her strength was just not enough and she passed away the next day.
God and I had words that very day. We had a knock-down-drag-out, we did. And I can bear witness to you that even though I have lost every single argument with God, I never had an argument with Him where I didn’t learn something. God returns every distress and care with a deep, abiding peace.
You know, I used to laugh at how silly it was for Adam to wear a fig leaf in God’s presence; now I realize how silly it is to wear a fig leaf of propriety before God in my private prayers.
Don’t fret yourself over the one who prospers, or the one who succeeds in evil schemes. Refrain from anger, leave rage alone.
If I am overwhelmed by anger and rage, I try to take it out on God rather than on people, because unlike people, God can handle it, defuse it, and remove it. I’m not always perfect on that but I try. If I am stressed and troubled, I talk it out with God. If I discuss distressing rumors with people, the rumors grow and lead me to evil, but if I discuss my troubles with God,
nothing bad will happen to me, because nothing I give over to God can succeed in leading me to evil. I don’t pretend that I have mastered this in my daily life, but I do admit that I strive daily to submit all things to God.
Folks, as Christians, it may seem that we experience the consequences of our sins right away. But that’s because God loves us like a father, which of course he is. Would you let your children get away with their sins? Or, would you love them enough to correct them and sometimes even punish them? Why would our heavenly Father do anything less with us? Those who do not know God as Father don’t experience this because they’re receiving all the reward they’ll ever get right now.
I’ve heard it said that an evil person is as close to heaven right now as he or she will ever get. But a believer in Jesus Christ is as close to hell right now as he or she will ever get. For us it will never get worse. For them it will never be better.
So maybe right now something in your life hurts. Maybe you’re dealing with stress and anxiety and pain. And even is that trouble chases you for your whole remaining life, it’s still only temporary.
Yes, God hurts when he sees us hurting. God is compassionate. But God also loves us too much to let us try to continue to live in our sins. Wicked people don’t know how to live any differently than they do. But as children of God, we do. It’s incumbent upon us to live differently as an example to the wicked and the “bad” people. It’s our God-given responsibility to be the model of righteous living to the world.
Regardless of how rich or poor, regardless of power or prestige, we are blessed by God. And God has provided for all of our basic needs in this world. So don’t fret those who succeed without faith. We already have treasures and assurances that they may never know. We are blessed by God.
AMEN

Why so many denominations?

2007-01-30T14:57:00.000-08:00

Fourth in the "Tough Questions" Series

NIV Matthew 16:16, 18; Ephesians 1:22-23 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Why so many Denominations?

Why are there so many Christian denominations in the world? I mean, really! Does God care if I’m a Baptist or a Methodist or a Catholic or a Pentecostal? How many times have you heard that question? Maybe you’ve brought it up yourself. It’s a good question. It’s a fair question too. Because it’s a question that really gets at the heart of who we are as human beings, and who God is and what God means in our lives. But in order to understand the answer to the question, we’re going to have to understand the history behind the splits in the first place.
So let’s first take a look at all the church splits down through history and why they happened.
The first one I want to suggest to you, you won’t find in any history book. It took place before the church was officially called the church. Look at those first followers of Jesus, twelve men with different ideas about who Jesus was. Before they ever got to “graduation.” Before Jesus’ ministry on Earth was finished, one of them split off from the rest. Judas had his own ideas about what Jesus was supposed to do and who Jesus was supposed to be. When Judas’ ideas were not realized, he split from the rest of the disciples. In essence, Judas was the very first split in the church. And it was exemplary of almost all of the church splits that would follow, because it was about the misunderstandings between humans and what God’s intentions for us are.
But let’s get into the divisions that took place after the initial formation of the church. We commonly acknowledge that the church was born on Pentecost, when God poured out the Holy Spirit on the disciples and many new members were taken into the faith. From there the church grew across the known world primarily by the missionary journeys of Paul and some of the other apostles. Over hundreds of years, Christianity went from a new religion on the fringes, to a religion for which one was persecuted and martyred, to the official faith of the Roman Empire, to an established faith in the entirety of the Western World. And while there were controversies during this time of growth and development, none of them actually split the church like those that were to come.
In 1054 we find the first major split in the church, what is now referred to as the Great Schism. It split the church East ad West, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. The primary cause of this split was over power and control of the church. (Anybody surprised at that?) The Eastern Orthodox Church would experience its own divisions, (Russian/Greek/etc.) but let’s continue to focus on the Western Church.
The next major split in the Western Church took place in 1517 when a Catholic Monk named Martin Luther published his 95 theses of protest against the practices of the Catholic Church. Luther and others were particularly concerned with doctrines concerning purgatory, indulgences, devotion to Mary, the sacraments, and the power of the Pope. Because of the nature of Luther’s statements, protest, this new movement was dubbed the Protestant Reformation.
Four prominent church traditions arose from the Protestant Reformation, Lutheranism, the reform movement led by John Calvin which became Presbyterianism, the Anabaptist movement, and the Anglican Church, otherwise known as the Church of England. Let’s look at each of those a little bit and see where they lead us.
First, the Lutheran Church.
The Lutheran church has certainly had its share of controversies and divisions, but overall, it remains rooted in the teachings and reformed doctrines of Martin Luther. Lutherans celebrate communion every Sunday and believe that the communion elements are actually the body and Blood of Christ. Lutheran churches also baptize infants. In fact, doctrines aside there is not a great deal of difference between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church.
Let’s look at the Calvinists and Reformers
John Calvin also began the reformed theology movement in the sixteenth century. Calvinism and reformed theology are probably best known for the doctrines of predestination and election. I spoke a bit about these last week, so I’m not going to recover that ground this morning. Suffice it to say that reformed thinkers primarily believed that “man is incapable of adding anything from himself to obtain salvation and that God alone is the initiator at every stage of salvation, including the formation of faith and every decision to follow Christ.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinist
As concerning communion and baptism, the reformed churches including the Presbyterians again, differ little from the Catholic Church. They practice infant baptism and Holy Communion.
So let’s look at the Anabaptists
The Anabaptist movement also began in the 16th century. The term "Anabaptist" comes from the practice of baptizing individuals who had been baptized previously, often as infants. Anabaptists believe infant baptism is not valid, because a child cannot commit to a religious faith, and they instead support what's called believer's baptism. Today the Baptists, Amish, Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Brethren in Christ are the most common bodies referred to as Anabaptist. And apart from believer’s baptism, the Anabaptists also have a different view of communion. In these churches, communion is often seen simply as a memorial meal. It is celebrated as a remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice, nothing more.
Which leaves us with the Anglicans
The Anglican Church or the Church of England has much deeper roots than other Protestant denominations. It is believed that the English church began sometime in the 5th or 6th century with missionaries from Scotland and Ireland. It remained a part of the Roman Catholic Church until the 16th century and King Henry VIII. Because the Catholic Church would not allow Henry to divorce, Henry decided to declare that the English crown was the only supreme head of the Church of England. This action made the Anglican Church officially separate from the Roman Catholic church. The Anglican Church is the parent of such denominations as the Episcopal Church and the United Methodist church. And again, Anglicans of all manners celebrate infant baptism and Holy Communion. In most Anglican based churches, communion is celebrated as a Holy Mystery wherein Christ is present in the act in a way that is not wholly understood.
Now in all honesty, this is a very very brief overview of how we’ve moved from one Church to many church denominations. I have not touched on many of the controversies that caused these splits. I haven’t looked very much into the differences in doctrine and sacraments. I’ve really only scratched the surface. If I were to go deep on the subject of Church History…. Well, suffice it to say that it is a full two semester course in seminary. I couldn’t cover it in the space of one simple sermon.
And that’s not really what my intentions are today anyway. Because in looking back at our history, the question resurfaces: Why are there so many denominations? Why can’t we all agree on the tenets of the faith? Isn’t this whole Church thing about something more?
Yes, it is about something more.
But first I’d like you to consider something important. For all its value, for all its importance in the world, the Church is a man-made institution. It is run by human beings. It is governed over by human beings. And just like any other human institution, it is a mess. I suppose it’s a matter of our fallen, sinful nature, but we cannot even take an institution ordained and started by God incarnate and not mess it up! I guarantee you folks, it was not God’s intention to have all these splits in His church. God knows it’s not a very good witness to our unity of faith to come from so many different perspectives. I can tell you this morning without a doubt in my mind God does not want us to divide over our differences. God wants us to unite over our commonality.
We are not called to many little bodies of Christ. We are called to be the whole body of Christ for the whole world. The Christian Church is not just a human organization: Its strength and authority come from Christ! Jesus Christ came to earth to give us an insider’s view of the Father’s love and to establish our personal relationship with Him.
When the time came for his return to the Father, he made provisions for bonding his disciples together in a special organization. This organization came to be known as the Church. It is a collection of those who are called out from the secular world to serve Christ. Jesus told Peter that the Church would be built on his confession of faith. As the big C church, we are more than the sum of our parts. The Church is not a building, it meets in buildings. The Church is the entirety of believers, all who confess Christ as savior.
Christ is the head of the church: We are the hands and the feet of Christ called to do His work here on earth. In 2 Corinthians Paul wrote: We are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." Very plainly, Paul sees the Church as the people of God, not the institutions and structures that humanity has placed on the practice of Christianity.
Jesus also came to earth to establish the Kingdom of God. His life and ministry focused on building that Kingdom. What is a kingdom? Well, we often think of landmass, a monarch or a castle. But a kingdom is none of these. Rather, it involves people subject to a ruler. So the Kingdom of god exists anywhere you find people who give god control of their lives. That’s what we mean when we pray the portion of the Lord’s Prayer that says: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We are asking God to do his will in our lives as fully as it is done in heaven. The Church then manifests the Kingdom of God on earth. Every group of believers, every denomination, is a branch office.
Critics often look at the church with its flaws and its problems and conclude that it has drifted far from its roots. Not true! The Book of Acts and most of Paul’s epistles document all manner of problems with the early church. Anytime a group of imperfect people come together, problems soon follow. As one evangelist once said: “The only way to have a perfect church is to throw out all the current members and don’t take any new ones in.”
The genius of the Church is not that it is trouble free but that the Holy Spirit works to resolve our problems. The world should see a difference in the way we live. And I guess that’s where I’m really going this morning.
We’re not perfect. But we are forgiven. We are called to work for unity in the Church and in the church. So I’d offer you some food for thought this morning.
How can we be more unified as a church?
And, how can we be more unified with God’s church in the world?
I know that right now there are rumors that our denomination might split over a controversial issue. And what kind of witness to the "United" nature of the United Methodist Church are we if we cannot avoid a split over controversy?
How can we work toward keeping our unity and our unified witness?
What will it take for us to be the complete Body of Christ in the world?
Can we do it?
Can you do it?
Amen

If God knows all, where's free will?

2007-01-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

Third in the "Tough Questions" series looks at the dynamic between predestination and free will.

Romans 8:29-30, Ephesians 1:5, 11
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

The story is told of a group of theologians who were discussing the tension between predestination and free will. Things became so heated that the group broke up into two opposing factions. But one man, not knowing which to join, stood for a moment trying to decide. At last he joined the predestination group. "Who sent you here?" they asked. "No one sent me," he replied. "I came of my own free will." "Free will!" they exclaimed. "You can't join us! You belong with the other group!" So he followed their orders and went to the other clique. There someone asked, "When did you decide to join us?" The young man replied, "Well, I didn't really decide--I was sent here." "Sent here!" they shouted. "You can't join us unless you have decided by your own free will!" (Today In The Word, August, 1989, p. 35)

Free will versus predestination. It’s one of the stickiest subjects in all of Christian theology. In layman’s terms it sounds a little like this:
If God knows everything, then he knows everything I’ll ever do. He knows whether I’ll choose salvation or not. My choice is an illusion if God already knows what I’ll choose.
Well, first let’s set some definitions in front of our discussion.
We all understand free will, right? It means that we’re not puppets. It means that God does not control our actions, we choose what we want to do and don’t want to do.
Predestination is a little different. The best definition that I’ve come across concerning this word is as follows: Predestination means to work out beforehand. In theology, predestination is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others. As far as being marked out beforehand, well, there’s been a whole lot of discussion and disagreement over the course of church history concerning just what that means.
Some say God pre-selects those who are invited to receive salvation. And that pre-selection is seen in two ways.
One says that all people deserve to go to hell, but God in his infinite mercy chooses some to go to heaven. Theologians call this single predestination.
The other explanation says that he chooses some for heaven and some for hell. It sort of says that God makes up two lists. Theologians call this double predestination.
Those teaching pre-selection views base their views on two assumptions.
First, they emphasize God’s sovereignty. God’s omnipotence. God’s the boss. He can do anything he wants to do. Second, they say Christ died on the cross for those whom god selected, not for everyone. Otherwise they say, God’s plan failed if Christ died on the cross for people who would never accept him. So, since God’s plans are perfect and cannot fail, God obviously didn’t plan for those people to be saved in the first place.
Both assumptions are faulty. Because both of these views leave free will out of the equation. If God makes the choice for us, if we are either chosen for heaven or chosen for hell, then where is our free will?
Without question, God is sovereign.
Without question, God has power over all of creation.
Without question, God knows all.
But the reality is that God has chosen to limit himself at the point of our free will. God does not mess with the free will of humanity.
You can see this illustrated very clearly in a film that came out a few years ago. When God gives Bruce (in Bruce Almighty) his powers, he tells him, “You have all my powers. You can do anything you want, you just can’t mess with free will.” This is demonstrated very clearly later on in the film. After Bruce uses God’s powers to selfishly set his own life right, he loses his girlfriend Grace. Bruce shows up at the school where Grace is a teacher in order to try to get her back. When she rejects him again he tries to use his God power to force her to love him. It doesn’t work. She just looks at him and asks what he’s doing.
No doubt God could disregard our freedom if he wanted to. But God doesn’t treat us like hand puppets or chess pieces. He respects our freedom to serve him or to choose not to serve him.
Look at Luke 2:10! Angels announce to the shepherds in the field “good news of great joy that will be for all people.”
Look at John 3:16! “God so loved the world that whoever believes in him shall not die but have everlasting life.”
Look at Matthew 24:14! Jesus tells his disciples to preach the gospel throughout the world and make disciples of all nations.
Good news for all people.
Whoever believes.
All nations throughout the world.
The Bible clearly teaches that Christ died for everyone. Obviously, that’s not what predestination is all about. There’s a better way to understand this concept.
First, consider that God is not constrained by time like we are. God does not live a linear timeline like we do. In fact, it reminds me of something from a book I once read.
In “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut there is a race of aliens who are not limited to linear time. Instead, they explain that they can hold up time like a film and look at any scene at any time. This didn’t change the content of the movie and they didn’t change the movie. They simply knew what would happen.
God is much the same. God can look at any moment in time. That doesn’t change what will happen in that moment. Our free will is not thwarted by the fact that God knows what we will do.
Instead, consider that predestination does not determine who is picked for salvation, but what happens to those who do choose God’s gift of unmerited favor. Everyone who has faith in Christ, everyone who simply trusts Him for salvation, is guaranteed a place in heaven. Remember that God offers salvation as a gift. But he does not predetermine or force our choice.
Think of it this way.
Where I grew up in Palmyra the NJ Transit bus stop was a block from my house. The 9A bus stopped there several times every weekday and a few times a weekend. The sign on the front of the bus read “Center City.” It ended at Broad and Race Streets in Center City, Philadelphia. Now that bus driver didn’t carry a list of who could ride the bus. Anybody with the fare could ride to Center City. Nor did that driver just go wherever he wanted each day. He had a predetermined travel plan that took that bus to Center City. If I chose to get on that bus, NJ Transit guaranteed that I would end up at Broad and Race. Now I’m not forced to stay on the bus to the end. I can pull the cord over the window and get off at any time. But if I choose to stay with my original decision, I will get downtown, sooner or later.
That’s the way predestination works.
The bus of salvation passes by our heart. Jesus Christ sits in the driver’s seat. The sign on the front reads “Heaven.” The driver doesn’t have a predetermined list of riders. He invites everyone to come aboard. If we choose to get on and stay on the bus, God guarantees that we will end up in heaven. We can get off anytime we want. But if we choose to stick with our original decision, we are certain to make it to heaven someday.
So then what do we do with all this newfound information?
Well, I’d like to offer you a suggestion that I saw at the end of a movie the other night.
The movie is “Back to the Future part III.” In the second movie, Marty’s GF Jennifer picks up a fax in the future that Marty had received from his boss. There are two words in very large type on the sheet, “YOU’RE FIRED.” Toward the end of III, Marty avoids an auto accident that would have broken his hand and kept him from pursuing his dream of being a musician. When Jennifer looks at the paper after the accident, the words fade from the page. Shortly thereafter they encounter Professor Brown, the inventor of the time machine. Jennifer says: "Dr. Brown, I brought this note back from the future and now it's erased." Doc replies: "Of course it's erased." Jennifer: "But what does that mean?" Doc: "It means your future hasn't been written yet. No one's has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one, both of you."
So I offer you Doc Brow’s advice this morning.
Your future is not set.
It’s whatever you make of it.
So make it good!
Live well.
Serve one another.
And love your God with all your heart soul mind and strength.

AMEN

Isn't Good good enough?

2007-01-18T13:57:00.000-08:00

Second in a series of messages answering tough questions non-Christians ask about God and Faith.

Ephesians 2:8-9

You’ve heard it. Maybe you’ve said it. It usually sounds a little like this:
I’m a good person. I treat people right. I don’t steal or kill or anything bad like that. I know that God will see that and wouldn’t keep me out of heaven. After all, being good is good enough, right? Well, let’s look at that.
There is a story of Billy Graham when he was visiting a city for one of his crusades. He had finished writing a letter and began to look for a place to mail it.Walking around the city for a while, he came across a young boy. He asked the boy if he knew how to get to the post office. The boy gave Billy Graham the directions and before leaving, Billy said to the boy, “Come on over to the arena tonight and I’ll tell you how to get to heaven.”The boy looked at him and replied, “How can you know how to get to heaven? You don’t even know the way to the post office!”
Today I want to tell you that I do know the way to the post office, and more importantly, I know how a person gets to heaven, because the Bible tells us how. But I want to take a different route to that same goal, by focusing on how to NOT get to heaven.My purpose today is really to discuss the various ways people think they can go to heaven, and why those things do not work to bring us to heaven. I have a feeling that if you’re here to hear the answers to some tough questions, you may find yourself in one of these camps.Ready, here we go.
The first way to NOT get to heaven is…. Trust your good works. I once heard a story about a businessman who was once asked if he knew if he was going to heaven and why God should let him in. He replied, “Oh yeah, He’ll let me in. I give turkeys to poor people every year at thanksgiving, and other stuff, too.”
I wish our reply to that could be, “Congratulations! You made it into heaven! Way to go!” Unfortunately, that’s not what God says. Look at this verse with me: Ephesians 2:8-9 says:God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.And we’ve already talked about this at the open of this message.
You see, folks, there is no amount of charity, no amount of community service, no amount of kind words that will ever add up to be enough to get you into heaven.
I am not saying we should never do good works. In fact, we are commanded to do them. Let me read you the next verse, verse 10: For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.Just because we do not get to heaven by good works does not mean we should not do them.
In fact, as we can see from this verse, we are to do them all the more. They simply don’t get us to heaven.
And there’s a certain reality that needs to be understood here. Because God does love us. God doesn’t want us to perish. But God is also completely holy. And nothing that is not also completely holy can be in the presence of a completely holy God. So we need to be holy for this God. And yet we’re not. How can we be holy? I’ll get to that later.
So if you want to NOT get to heaven, trust in your good works to get you there.
The next way to NOT get to heaven is…. Trust your traditions.
I like traditions. I’m a big fan of traditions. Some of my favorite traditions are things like singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at baseball games. Actually, I like singing the national anthem at sporting events. Another favorite tradition of mine is the All-American Sunday afternoon nap. In fact, I’d put that up there with breathing as one of my favorite things to do.
But what I’m talking about here is mainly traditions of a religious nature. We will be talking in more general terms about religion in a bit, but I want to talk in specifics for a moment. As I’ve just mentioned, I like traditions, but if we are not careful, we can fall into the trap of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. In their desire to serve and please God, they added to the law of Moses hundreds of other laws. And it came to the point that these guys were putting all their faith in these traditions. Jesus had some things to say about this.Matthew 15:6 - And so, by your own tradition, you nullify the direct commandment of God.
“We’ve always done it that way!” becomes the rallying cry of the traditionalist. “Don’t bring that new Bible translation in here. Don’t bring them new-fangled ‘worship choruses’ here. If Rock of Ages and Amazing Grace were good enough for Jesus, they’re good enough for me!”
Tradition can get in the way of knowing what is behind the tradition. For instance, many churches say the Lord’s Prayer at every service.That’s a good tradition. But saying that prayer can become just a matter of rote if you don’t remember why that tradition was started.
I’m reminded of a story of a young newlywed couple. The bride decided to bake her groom a ham. But just before she put it in the pan, she cut off both ends of the ham. Her groom asked her why she did that, and she answered, “That’s the way my mother did it.” So the next time the groom visited his mother-in-law, he asked her about this. “Why did you cut off the ends of the ham before you baked it?” Her answer was the same as her daughter’s, “That’s the way my mother did it.” Well, this got the young man even more curious, so next time they visited his wife’s grandmother, he posed the question to her, “Why did you cut off the ends of the ham before you baked it?”Her answer was straightforward and simple, “Because my pan was too small, and that was the only way it would fit!”The tradition started out with a good reason, but it was lost over time.
Tradition, no matter how wonderful it is does not get you into heaven. So if you want to make sure you do NOT get to heaven, just trust your tradition.
Closely related to this is the next way to not get to heaven.... Trust your religion.
“What do you mean, Preacher? That’s why we’re here, isn’t it – to be religious?”
Nope.
We come here to give God honor in worship and to listen to His Word so we can be better servants for Him.
Too many people come to Church three times primarily. They’re baptized, they get married, and they have their funeral service at the Church. The first time they throw water on you, the second time they throw rice, and the third time they throw dirt! (Mark Hensley – Sermon Central)
Folks, you cannot trust your church to get you to heaven. You cannot trust your denomination to get you to heaven. You cannot trust your baptism. You cannot trust your taking of communion. You cannot trust your Bible reading.You can’t trust any of that.
When you put your trust in your religion rather than a relationship with Christ, you run the danger of becoming a hypocrite. Hypocrites are religious on the outside, but still corrupt on the inside. They follow religious tradition and man-made teachings instead of the Word of God.
Jesus had something to say about these types as well.Matthew 15:7-9: You hypocrites! Isaiah was prophesying about you when he said, ’These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. Their worship is a farce, for they replace God’s commands with their own man-made teachings.’"
You see, there are lots of people who think that because they go to church on Sunday, or because they were baptized, or because they take communion, or whatever,they are okay with God and can go to heaven. Unfortunately, that’s not what God says. In fact, God says that the righteousness we bring on our own is nothing but filthy rags in his sight. We have nothing in the way of true religion on our own to offer God.
So trust your religion if you want to be sure to NOT get to heaven.

How to get to heaven:
We have looked at a number of things that people are trusting in order to get them to heaven, but the truth is that none of these will give us favor with God allowing us into heaven.
None of these will make us holy. And one of the things I have been stressing this morning is that God says we can’t trust these things.
Now, it’s easy to trust a minister, because we think that ministers know it all. Then again, most of you know me well enough to know that’s just not true, amen? So one of the things I have challenged you to do over the last couple of years is to get into the Word of God. The main reason is that because God’s Word is perfect. I am not perfect (no amens from peanut gallery), so you need to be in the Bible to make sure I am communicating truth to you.
A person once asked me why we should believe the Bible instead of the minister who contradicted the Bible. My answer was, “If God’s Word isn’t good enough, what is?” If you can’t trust God’s Word, than how can you trust a man’s word? The key to this is to see what God says about stuff, and particularly about what God says about going to heaven, because you will spend way more time in eternity than you will spend on earth. Get the idea?
So what can we do to get to heaven? Only one thing: Trust in Jesus.
Romans 10:8-10: Salvation that comes from trusting Christ – which is the message we preach – is already within easy reach. In fact, the Scriptures say, "The message is close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart." For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved."
This is the absolute grace of God. That our creator would give up His only son to set things right between himself and his creation. And this is how we are able to be holy and thus be in the presence of that holy God. You can do nothing except trust the work that Christ has done for you. We need to trust in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
How do you trust Christ? You call out to Him, believing that He has done everything necessary for you to get to heaven. The Bible says that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. So you are going to have the opportunity to do that this morning.
I hope that if you have never done that before, that you will take advantage of this time to make sure you have a home in heaven. Remember, you can’t get there on your own. Your only hope is the Lord Jesus Christ, and trusting Him as your Lord and Savior. I am going to lead us in a prayer. I want all of us to pray together.
Let’s pray.
(Lead a sinners prayer)
Amen.

Where was God at Nickel Mines?

2007-01-08T20:22:00.000-08:00

First in a seven-week series of sermons asking and trying to answer tough questions about God and faith

October 2, 2006, Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. A gunman holds an Amish schoolhouse hostage. Charles Carl Roberts IV has devious plans for ten little girls but is foiled before he can bring his plan to fruition. In the end he takes the lives of five little girls and himself. The last of the survivors of this tragedy returned home three days before Christmas.

August 29, 2005, Gulf Coast of the United States. Hurricane Katrina strikes New Orleans head on. Almost 1,700 die and many thousands are left homeless. One year later, less than half of those displaced by the hurricane had returned to the city.

December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean. A devastating tsunami caused by an underground earthquake, wreaks havoc on coastal communities in Southeast Asia. 230,000 people die in the floods and the aftermath.

September 11, 2001, New York City, NY, USA. Muslim religious extremists hijack four passenger planes in American airspace. One each is flown into the tallest of the buildings of the World Trade Center. A third is crashed into the Pentagon in Washington while a fourth is overtaken by the passengers and ditched in a field in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania. In all, almost 3,000 people lose their lives in the most tragic and disturbing day in American history.

Tragedies.

Catastrophes.

Massive loss of life.

Disasters.

Pain.

Suffering.

What in the world is going on here? Why so much? Why so many people? And good people too!Why do these kinds of bad things happen to good people? Why do we have to suffer loss and pain?

Well before we get to the whys and the what to dos, let’s talk a little about suffering and loss and pain.

First of all, suffering is real.
There are people of a philosophical bent that says that pain and suffering are all in the mind. They’ll tell you that you can just get over it. That you can just “think your way out of it.”
Hogwash!
You want to know that suffering is real? Just look at Jesus on the cross. God incarnate yells out in pain. God in the flesh cries in anguish as he suffers on the cross. If you need definitive proof that pain and suffering are not illusory, look to Jesus.
Second, suffering and pain are universal.
We all experience loss and pain in our lives. Every one of us here today has lost a loved one or a close friend. Each of us has been sick or injured in a way that scared us. And even if you’ve not had any of these experiences, you’ve lived through 9/11. You’ve watched all of those other dramas unfold in the last few years. There really is no way to escape the pain and the suffering that happens in this world. It’s a part of life. It’s part of what it means to be human.
Suffering has two other traits.
It is in the world because of humanity’s fall from grace.
And it provides us opportunities to be in ministry to one another.
“The world God created was perfect and the life God created for humanity was perfect. Part of that perfection is that God did not create people to be robots. Instead, God gave us free will so that we’d make choices for ourselves and so that we would truly live free.
But human history makes it painfully clear that we have chosen to use our freedom and our free will in ways that bring pain to others. We have chosen to exercise our freedom to live selfishly.
And so nations have warred against other nations always with innocent civilians taking the worst hits.
And then there’s Adam. The first man. And Eve, the first woman. They chose to use their freedom in order to sin, to assert their will over God. The Bible tells us that this is when suffering entered into the world.In Romans we read: Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned- Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.This first decision to live selfishly was the root of all future decisions to live selfishly.
Selfish living in this world causes suffering in this world, period. So we can understand that suffering came into the world, not because of God, but because of human sin and human rebellion.
That is what we find in the Bible.We see in Scripture that even natural disasters such as hurricane Katrina are linked to the human condition:In Romans 8 we find: The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the onewho subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.Katrina and Rita groaned and acted out and inflicted serious damage on the Gulf Coast.”
“Why does God allow suffering?” Matthew Parker as found at http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=71761
Undersea earthquakes shook the sea floor and induced tidal waves that groaned across the face of the planet.
All confirming that these things happen in our world because of the fact that God gives us free will and we’ve used that will to mess up God’s creation.
But one last thing about this suffering and loss and pain before we move on.Because there is opportunity in our strife. When someone hurts, when a friend experiences grief and loss, It’s an opportunity for us to be in ministry. It’s a chance for Christians to be the Body of Christ.
And I won’t tell you that you need to look for the hidden meaning in something bad happening.
I do not believe that God allows bad things to happen, Or evil to exist so that God’s plan might be fulfilled.
But you’ve been around people who do this right? You’re hurting. You’ve lost a friend or family member, maybe even tragically, And someone asks you what God’s plan is through your pain.
Not terribly comforting is it?
I tend to refer to folks that do this as Christian terrorists. They’re not really helping the situation. They're really just making you feel worse.
Let me assure you folks, when we’re in pain God hurts. When we weep over tragedy, God weeps too. The loving God that I know doesn’t wish any of this on us. Nor does that God plan these things to somehow make us better people. God hurts with us when we hurt.
And in our hurting is an opportunity. When others around us hurt, we have the opportunity to witness to the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. When we love one another and care for one another, especially in our grief and pain, We are, without doubt, doing what Jesus would do. When we comfort one another, we are demonstrating the presence of God in our lives.
So let’s look at that Scripture passage:
Romans 5:1-11 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Now here’s a passage that certainly talks to us about suffering.
suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us
Paul is telling us to rejoice in our suffering. Now I don’t know about you folks, but I can’t really fathom being happy about being in pain. I cannot remember a time when I rejoiced in my suffering. And yet, Paul tells us to grow through that suffering. Because the hope of God will not ever fail us. Our real hope in all our trials and tribulations is found right in this passage.
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!
There’s the real rub in our lives. There’s our hope and our salvation all in one neat little package. Christ died for us while we were still living in a sinful state. Everything else is just a distraction from that reality.
Which really leads me to the big question of the morning.
What do we do about it? What does it mean to our daily lives? Where was God at Nickel Mines, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania?
I want to get to that answer by offering you some suggestions for living in a troubled world.
These suggestion come right out of this morning’s discussion and, like any good sermon, there’s three of them.
First, don’t lose hope.
We do live in a troubled world. We live in a place where no one is immune from pain and suffering and grief and loss. But the apostle Paul assures us that persevering through our troubles leads us to hope. Don’t let the world rob you of your hope by offering you the quick fix for your troubles. Persevere. God is with you.
Second, take care of one another.
This is the most powerful witness opportunity we are likely to get as Christians. When one hurts, we all hurt. And nothing demonstrates the love of our God better than our actions when one is hurting. Take care of each other. Minister to each other. And reach out in Christian love when others are in need. Living out your faith in real life is powerful, powerful witness to the presence and providence of God in the world.
And finally, keep your eyes open and be discerning.
Now this is where we really get to where God was at Nickel Mines. Because it’s hard to imagine that God was even close to a situation like that. But I’d ask you to think about how that situation panned out and how those involved acted and reacted to it.
First, think of that gunman.
We’ve heard that he apparently had a plan that involved more than just killing those little girls.
There is evidence that he plotted some very unsavory things. And yet, he called the police himself and they arrived before he could carry out the worst of his plans. What do you suppose compelled him to call the police on himself? Was God at work? I’d call that very likely.
Think about one particular girl that was in that schoolhouse.
Marian Fisher was 13 years old. She had her whole life ahead of her. And yet, when faced with the prospect of almost certain death, Marian did something incredible. She offered herself to the gunman in an effort to get the other girls in that classroom released. Published reports state that Marian Fisher asked that she be killed first and that the other hostages be let go. Was God a motivating force for Marian? Probably. But more importantly, Marian is an awesome witness to the sacrificial nature of our salvation. Jesus offered himself up for our sins so that we would not have to suffer that punishment. Marian Fisher demonstrated that very same sacrificial love by her actions that day.
And consider that entire Amish community.
Without hesitation and down to the last person, they offered forgiveness. There were no responses of rage or anger or vengeance. There was certainly great grief in that community, But there was also an enormous outpouring of grace and forgiveness. Consider that the grandfather of one of the slain girls went to the home of the gunman’s family that very evening to offer forgiveness. Consider that many of the people affected by this tragedy attended the gunman’s funeral. Consider that a portion of the money that came in to help the Amish, Was set aside by the very same people to help pay for college educations for the shooter’s children. Folks, that’s forgiveness! That’s the kind of Grace that comes from God.
I gotta tell you, I don’t know if I could do that. I do not know if I could be that forgiving if it were my child. I’d like to think I could, but I just don’t know.
Where was God at Nickel Mines?
God was present in the actions and the reactions of some of those involved.
God was saving those girls from unspeakable cruelty.
God was demonstrating sacrifice and forgiveness through people of faith.
And God was weeping with all of us who wept over this tragic loss of innocent lives.
Friends, I don’t believe that we can do any less than our Amish brothers and sisters.
As you go out to live your lives in this world, consider how your life is a witness to the reality and the providence of God.
Persevere through your pain and suffering, you’re not alone.
And never lose hope that god is with you always.
AMEN

Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

2006-12-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

This is the message that I preached on christmas Eve 2006. Based on a comparison of the Luke 2:1-20 passage with the New York Sun editorial.

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Without a doubt, this is one of the all-time favourite stories in the Bible. Everyone comes to hear this story on Christmas Eve. And everyone has their favourite parts of the story. Some folks love the angels appearing to the shepherds. Some people are amazed by the holy family being put out to a barn. Some just love to recall what it all means. It is a good story. It’s a story of hope. It’s a story of love. It’s a story of joy and peace and salvation for all of humanity. Without question, it is THE story of the Christmas season. And it’s a story that needs to be told every year. It needs to be told every year because it changed the course of human history.
But there’s another Christmas story that is also familiar. It’s a story about a little girl and Santa Claus.
Now, I know that a lot of Christian folks don’t want to talk about Santa. And I also know that a lot of little children do want to talk about, and to Santa! But let’s hear that story first, and then we’ll see about the other stuff.
This story started with a letter sent to the New York Sun in 1897.
By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897.
We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Francis P. Church’s wrote the editorial, “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.” It was an immediate sensation, and went on to became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business. It later became the basis for the Christmas movie “Miracle on 34th Street.”

Santa Claus and Jesus. Two fellows who will forever be associated with Christmas. Two stories that come to define the season. I’d like to take those two stories and lay them side by side and compare them tonight. Maybe we can learn something new.

Well, first off both we have the birth of Jesus and the origin of Santa Claus.
There’s Santa, the giver of gifts. What is Santa’s origin? Although Santa has always been a big part of the Christmas celebration, the modern image of Santa didn’t develop until well into the 19th century: Santa Claus was an evolutionary creation, born by the fusion of two religious characters, St. Nicholas from the Netherlands and Christkindl from Germany.During the 17th and 18th centuries, children in the Netherlands put their shoes by the fireplace for Sinter Klaas (Saint Nicholas), a bishop who lived in the 4th century and was known for bringing gifts to the poor. According to the Dutch tradition, every 5th of December Sinter Klaas would fly from rooftop to rooftop on his white horse dropping sweets down the chimney into the children's shoes. In Germany the similar tradition of the Christkindl (Christ Child) was celebrated on the 25th of December.The story of Sinter Klaas was brought to New York by Dutch settlers in north America, It was there that Sinter Klaas' name changed into "Santa Claus".
In the 1860s German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast developed the modern image of Santa as our fat, jolly man with a white beard. Some years later, in the 1930s, Scandinavian-American artist Haddon Sundblom painted a Santa Claus dressed in a red suit for a Coca-Cola Christmas advertisement. From there on, the modern image of Santa Claus started to spread across the world.
We’ve just heard the Jesus story in the scripture from Luke. We know that Jesus is the Son of God. We understand that he came to live with us as a child And that he came to save the world.
Jesus was the greatest gift ever given to anyone. A gift without price and beyond measure.
So we have the greatest gift and the giver of gifts.

Let’s make a second comparison. Because we have to ask about the basic nature of these two.
Well, Santa Claus is a symbol, isn’t he? He’s a symbol of the Christmas season. But he’s also a symbol of joy to children.
You know, it used to be that I wasn’t too fond of Santa Claus. I thought that Santa detracted from what Christmas was really all about, Jesus’ birth. That was, until I had an opportunity to be Santa Claus one year. (Tell Voorhees Pediatric story. And if you're reading this and have not ever heard me tell that story, ask.) Now if there’s not something of God in that kind of joy, then I just don’t know God.
What about the nature of Jesus? What kind of gift was Jesus? Jesus was the gift of peace, hope, comfort and salvation. Jesus would bring hope to all of humanity. He would offer eternity to those seeking salvation. He would comfort the afflicted. He would heal the sick and cure the infirm. Without Jesus, who knows what the world would really be like right now. His presence in the world has had a greater impact than any figure ever, even Santa Claus.

Let’s make another comparison.
Jesus and Santa Claus have both been the target of people who do not believe.
There are some people even here tonight, who do not believe in Santa Claus. To those who would not believe in Santa Claus I offer you the words of Francis Church. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus!
How dreary indeed! Just think of all the joy that might be lost in this season without a Santa Claus. Perish the thought!
And believe it or not, there are people who do not believe in Jesus Christ. Oh sure, they’ll admit that Jesus existed. They’ll say that he was a historic figure, even an important figure. But, they’ll say, he’s not really God in the flesh. He’s not really the Son of God. He didn’t really rise from the grave and he’s not the savior of the world?
Really? Not the son of God? Not God in the flesh? Didn’t rise from the grave? Would a movement, an entire faith last for two thousand years if it were based on a fraud? Would those disciples have been so excited about sharing the Gospel of Jesus, if they had not really seen him in the flesh after he was crucified? Would they have been willing to be martyred and murdered for their beliefs if they knew that their beliefs were not true?
I’d call that highly unlikely.
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And yes Christianity, Jesus is a whole lot more than a historical figure. He’s a real savior. He’s as real right now as the person sitting next to you this evening.

Which brings me to my last comparison this evening.
Jesus is a real savior. Santa Claus is really part of what Christmas means.
Christmas without Santa Claus just wouldn’t be Christmas as we understand it. Think of the wonder in a child’s eye at seeing that jolly fat man in the mall. Think of the childlike faith it takes to believe that someone could cover the whole world in just one night. That he could manufacture and deliver all those toys. That he could ride that sleigh pulled by those reindeer. And that he could know just exactly who was naughty and who was nice in the whole world.
It’s the kind of childlike faith it would take to believe that God would appear to us as a child.
It’s the kind of childlike faith it would take to believe things we’ve never seen.
Maybe we can learn something from how our children believe in Santa. Isn’t that how we need to believe in Jesus?
And you know, Jesus is the real deal. He’s a real savior. As proof I’d suggest a book for you this evening. It’s written by a fellow named Lee Strobel, an investigative reporter. It’s called, “The case for Christmas.” I’d like to share just a bit of Strobel’s conclusion with you as a close to tonight’s message. (Read from Strobel, The Case for Christmas, pp. 90-91)
Christmas is not just a yearly event folks.
It’s a time for us to consider this child and what his presence in our world means.
What does he mean to you?
How will you respond to this great gift?
He’s yours to take, free of charge.
Are you ready?
Will you respond?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-22T20:51:00.000-08:00

What with all that goes into preparing for Christmas in two churches, It's been a while since I posted a blog. But I would be remiss if I didn't wish my readers and my churches a Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year.

I'm looking forward to a new series of sermons that I'm starting on January 7th. I'll be looking into some of the "Tough Questions" that people ask about God and about faith. I hope that if you don't currently attend the Quinton or Hancock's Bridge church that you might come out for this series. Grace and Peace!

Don

Full of Holes or Holy?

2006-09-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

This is a message preached at Delnco Camp in June and adapted for a combined worship service at Hancock's Bridge on September 24, 2006. It's based on NLT John 17:1-26 and speaks about holiness and "going on to perfection."

This is one big hunk of Scripture. Let’s pray for illumination. (Prayer of Illumination)
There’s a song that came out a few years back. It’s a song by a band called Plumb and it’s titled “God Shaped Hole.” The basic premise of the song is that we all have a God shaped hole in our souls. It’s a hole that only God can fill. Unfortunately, we do with this hole what we tend to do with lots of things in our lives. We try to fill it with things that don’t fit. Things like relationships, or sex, or alcohol, or food, or drugs. Obviously, these things don’t satisfy because only God will fill that hole the right way.
We’re all full of holes. In fact, if you were to pile up our hearts and souls, it’d look like a Swiss cheese!
Now, knowing that, I want to ask you all a question this morning. Is anyone here perfect?Anybody willing to say that they’ve got it all together and don’t need anyone or anything else?No? Good.
Perfection is a tough thing to come by, isn’t it? There’s a word in today’s Scripture passage that I want you to focus on. One word that’s going to bring our worship this morning together. One word that epitomizes everything that Christians ought to be about. Key word – holy. Holiness is something that Jesus prayed we would receive. He said, “They are not part of this world any more than I am. Make them pure and holy by teaching them your words of truth.”
Two points here. But they’re connected points. First, Jesus says we’re not part of this world. We’re different from everybody else. And he says we’re holy. But what is it to be holy?
Well, in Biblical times, something was considered holy when it was set aside for a specific use.
So, for instance the chalice for communion was set apart for the Communion element. It was a holy object. In the temple in Jerusalem, the mercy seat of God was in a place called the holy of holies. It was a place so set apart that only the priests could go in. And when they did, they had to have a rope tied around their waist in case they died from being in the presence of God, they could be pulled back out.
Holiness means being set apart, different, special. Very much like being from a different place, isn’t it? To be holy, to be different, to be set apart, that’s what we’re talking about this morning.
And we have a specific purpose if we are holy. We are meant for something special if we are holy. Our purpose is to call the whole world to repentance in Christ. We’re God’s messengers here. We’re not from here though. Our home is with God.
But we’ve got a problem. Because there’s something holding us back from doing what we ought to do. Personal Holiness. The question is: Have we been set aside? Can we really believe ourselves to be holy?
I think that that’s difficult for all of us. Especially when we allow the world to tell us what to think and say and do. Because, let’s face it folks, the world is going to lead you astray. The secular world would like nothing better than to see you or any Christian fail or fall.
Look at the news coverage that the church gets nowadays. Is it ever good? Rarely. It’s usually about priests molesting children or a church burning down or a treasurer running off with the church’s money. It’s never about any of the good things that churches and Christian organizations do. And we all know that our churches do good. We saw some of it this morning on the presentation about the mission trip.
Trust me on this, the world out there despises the church and is indifferent to Christians. You see, the world would love to see that you’re something less than holy.
Unfortunately for us, we know ourselves to be something less than completely holy. Every last one of us here is a work in progress. God’s not finished with any of us yet, but that’s what the world expects. If you’re Christian, you’re perfect. Except that we’re not perfect.
Flora Wilson, do you have it all together? Are you completely holy and sanctified?
Mike Fagan?
Janet McKee?
Even your pastor, or any of your previous pastors! If you all think that we’ve got this Christianity/holiness/personal sanctification thing down, think again. I’m no less a work in progress than anyone else here today. All I’ve got is a little more concentrated study and a degree in a frame on the wall. We all need work toward being the holy people that God calls us to be. All of us.
We’re all a little broken. We’re all in need of updates and repairs and fixes. Let me show you what I mean with a movie clip. I want you to notice the condition of the majority of people in this clip.
(Roll clip from Robots Scene 16 on DVD)
Now think about it. We’re all a lot like those robots aren’t we? We are eternally broken. We’re always in need of repairs. We’re always looking to scrounge something from other people. A though or an idea or an affirmation. Whatever we can get.
But there’s a big difference when we need repaired. We have a slightly different mechanic. Our Rodney is a fella named Jesus. And Jesus can fix any problem that we have. We simply have to bring it to him. We have to recognize how broken we are and how broken we continue to be. And we have to bring that brokenness back to the only mechanic that can fix us.
Now, going to church is a good start. Going to Sunday School or youth group is a good start. Going on a mission trip is a good start. But they’re just the beginning.
Because if you stop there, if you delude yourself into thinking like other people, that you can just jump into this Christian thing and you’re done, you’re wrong. And we all know people who think that they’re good because they go to church. Right? We all know somebody who thinks that they’re a good person so God will see that and they’ll be OK in the end. I’m sorry to tell you, and you can tell them, they’re WRONG!
The fact of the matter is that going to church makes you a Christian about as much as going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger!
Going to Sunday school makes you holy about as much as sitting in your garage makes you a car.
Even mission trips aren’t immune. Because going on a mission trip makes you sanctified about as much as sitting in the Alloway Creek makes you a fish.
They’re all good starts, but they’re only starts! I’ve talked before about growing in your faith, I said that we’ve all got to grow somewhere somehow. Well, when that growth is directed toward becoming a better disciple of Jesus Christ, that’s when that growth is something called sanctification. John Wesley called it sanctifying grace. It is the ongoing process of becoming more and more like God more and more in the mold of Jesus every day. Wesley taught that we should all be going on to perfection. He said that sanctifying grace was the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives making us more Christ-like moment to moment.
The Spirit works in our lives like a Christian conscience. Convicting us when we do wrong. Convincing us of the truth of Scripture. And growing us to be the fully realized people God calls us to be.
But you’re only going to experience the work of the Spirit as much as you’ll allow the Spirit to work. Because you can quash the spirit. You can consciously prevent the Spirit from working in your life.
You’ve got to focus. You’ve got to want to grow in the right direction. I’m gonna say some things that’re gonna make you a little uncomfortable. Because if you want to grow in God’s grace you’ve got to turn off the porn sites on your computer. If you really want to experience the work of the Spirit, You’ve got to decide not to make a mean comment about that girls outfit.
You’ve got to turn the negative stuff around. You’ve got to get into God’s word on a daily basis. You’ve got to get into a small group of people who you can count on to keep you accountable to your spiritual growth. And you’ve got to focus on the good things, the things of God.
You know, in his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul wrote the following words: Philippians 4:8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Think on these things!
But wait, because there’s more.
Peter wrote the following in his first letter to the church: 1 Peter 3:11-15 Turn away from evil and do good. Work hard at living in peace with others. The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil." Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don't be afraid and don't worry. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.
Turn away from evil and do good. Work hard to live at peace with others. Who will want to hurt you if you are a person who does good? These are pretty good words to live by.
It’s a challenge for us to try to live holier lives. We’ve all got a ways to go. We’re all learning because God’s still teaching.
What are you going to do about it? I’d like to offer all of us a real tangible way to grow in grace.
Remember when I talked about how you eat an elephant? (One bite at a time) This morning, I want us all to take one bite, or one step toward being conscious about our spiritual walk.Some of the young folk are going to be passing out paper and pens. I want you to take a minute or two to think about what you can do today, tomorrow, this week to move closer to God.
I’m going to tell you what I’m writing so you understand what I’m looking for. I’ve decided that I need a more focused schedule for my walk. I am making a covenant with God to be here at HB on Tuesdays at 7AM and at Quinton on Wednesdays at 7AM. I will be in prayer for these churches. I will read the Bible. And I invite anyone to join me.
Write down something like that for yourself. Write down whatever it is that you will do.
When you’re done, fold the sheet in half and bring it up with your morning offering. Drop your commitment sheet and your offering in the plate that corresponds to your church. I’m going to ask Lois to play some soft music as we ruminate and make our commitments.

What can we do?

2006-09-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

It's come to my attention recently that there is some inspiration in the churches to "do something." My question is, "What would you like to do?"

So...what would you like to do? What can your church, Quinton or Hancock's Bridge do for you. What can we do with you? How can your church be a resource for you to be in ministry to all the world? You can leave me feedback here on this site or drop me an email at revdon64@hotmail.com or write me a note or see on Sunday morning. Hope to hear from all of you asap.

I know, I know...

2006-09-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year since I last posted to this blog. It's been eventful, hectic, and a busy year. I'm hoping to get back on track in the next week or two. Will start to post regularly after that...I hope. God bless!

An ongoing discussion

2005-10-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

I've been having this ongoing discussion with a fellow Methodist about an issue that is dividing a community in which he participates. It is a type of church community. Apparently there is a woman in this community who has been "living with" a man to whom she is not married for some time. She was recently asked to serve in a position of leadership. This has created a rift in the community over whether she should be allowed to serve and what kind of witness her leadership presents to the secular world. Here's my most recent response:

OK, I'm beginning to see some of what's going on here. It's troubling when any church or para-church organization has to deal with sin and sinful behaviors. Just look at how our denomination continues to struggle with the homosexuality issue. While one side fights to have the behavior approved, the other side cannot acknowledge that God doesn't stratify sins like humanity does. Sin is sin is sin, period. Gossipping is no better than perversion is no better than murder. It's just that nobody wants to call a sin a sin anymore. We don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. And while there is certainly value to that, personal feelings are not the bottom line when it comes to living a Christian life.
I need to talk to you here about the idea of holiness and being holy. The word "holy" means that something or someone is "set apart" from everything else for a special purpose. Being that the Walk to Emmaus is a predominantly United Methodist run community, it might be good for some folks in the movement to go back and read some of John Wesley's writings. Wesley started out meeting at Oxford with several colleagues for prayer and accountability. People referred to his group as a holiness club. Wesley embraced the idea. In fact, it was something that became the core of his thinking and his preaching, Scriptural holiness. Wesley often asked people if they were "going on to perfection." Going on to perfection does not eliminate grace, in fact, it is the ultimate expression of God's grace to be perfected in love. As Christians, it is incumbent upon all of us to hold our Christian brothers and sisters accountable for their actions. The church body is the disciplinary body for the Christian life. Somewhere along the line we've lost that idea, even though it is completely Scriptural.
NIV Matthew 18:15-20 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
Without being intimately involved in the situation it is hard to comment further. It does seem evident to me that your community has little concept of Scriptural holiness. I wonder how they feel about the witness of the community in allowing Mary to be a part of the team. How would they answer that question in the light of this passage of Scripture? How is that community "set apart" from the rest of the world?

Just thought that folks might like to read some of the pastor's inner thoughts on a tough issue.
Grace and Peace.

A Life of Passion 10/2/05

2005-10-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

Philippians 3:4b-14
A Life of Passion
When you have it all, it’s hard to give it up. I recently heard about an estate auction where everything had to be sold. Not because of a death, but because of a divorce. Two million dollars plus was the bottom line. The owner rode his prize horse into the bidding ring while the bidders made their offers. The horse sold for an amazing sum of $102,000! Even though this was much more than expected, the owner dismounted and went into the house where he cried like a baby.
Now it’s one thing to be forced to give things up, but it’s quite another to part with something that has given you joy, consumed the attention of your life, and has made you proud.
All that the Apostle Paul had previously lived for, he willingly gave up to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. It wasn’t because God wanted to rob him of his joy, but that God wanted to give him a greater joy. A joy built on the eternal instead of the temporal. And, when Paul understood the difference, he willingly gave up that which would not last for that which would never end.
Paul’s passionate love for Jesus forced him to focus on being everything that Jesus had called him to be. Paul’s life was a life of passion.
The question before us this morning is, is our life as passionate as Paul’s?
There are three things that we can learn from this passage this morning.
First, we must give up what stands between God and us.
Look at verses 4b through 7.
Paul says, “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
This religious zealot, Paul, found that his zealous credentials, were blockades between himself and God. He’d been born to the right family. He’d spent a lifetime of discipline developing his reputation. Not only was his family proud of him, he was proud of himself. It would be unthinkable to give up all that he had worked for. It was the very center of his life. But what is the cost of giving yourself to something that is less than of the utmost importance?
In his book, The Passion Promise, John Avant relates this story from Desert Storm. The storm was blowing and Colonel William Post had a job to do. He was in charge of receiving all the incoming supplies for the ground forces. Among these supplies were the tons of food that came in every day to feed the troops. One day Colonel Post received a message from the Pentagon. This query asked that he account for forty cases of missing grape jelly. The colonel sent a soldier to investigate the mystery of the missing jelly. The soldier reported back that it could not be found. Colonel Post made his report and assumed that that would be the end of it. After all, it was just grape jelly. He assumed wrong. The Pentagon continued to press him. They pointed out that they needed to close the books on the month, and that jelly just could not vanish like that. Finally, they ordered him to find the jelly. The Colonel had had enough by then and sent back the following response: Sirs, you must decide. I can dispatch the entire army to find your jelly, or, I can kick Saddam out of Kuwait, but not both.” He got no reply.
Paul realized that he couldn’t have both. He gave up the things that were gain to him so that he might have Christ.
What is it that stands between you and a life of passionate love for Jesus? Whatever it is, it’s only grape jelly. Give it up.
But I said that there were three points, didn’t I? Well, look at verse 9.
I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
Paul is saying that what we gain in Christ is something that we cannot gain any other way. When the curtain falls on our lives here on earth, we’ll have to stand before our God. Paul didn’t want to stand before God clothed in his own deeds, but rather in the righteousness of Christ.
Once upon a time at a church meeting a wealthy member of the church rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian faith. "I’m a millionaire," he said, "and I attribute my wealth to the blessings of God in my life." He went on to recall the turning point in his relationship with God. As a young man, he had just earned his first dollar and he went to a church meeting that night. The speaker at that meeting was a missionary who told about his work in the mission field. Before the offering plate was passed around, the preacher told everyone that everything that was collected that night would be given to this missionary to help fund his work on behalf of the church. The wealthy man wanted to give to support mission work, but he knew he couldn’t make change from the offering plate. He knew he either had to give all he had or nothing at all. At that moment, he decided to give all that he had to God. Looking back, he said he knew that God had blessed that decision and had made him wealthy. When he finished, there was silence in the room. As he returned to the pew and sat down, an elderly lady seated behind him leaned forward and said, "I dare you to do it again." (Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com)
As it has often been said, “You can’t take it with you when you go.” No matter what we’re worth, our achievements here mean nothing without Christ. Paul’s righteousness, indeed our righteousness comes from faith in the Christ of Calvary. Only in his righteousness will we experience acceptance with God. Not out of our deeds or our riches.
And one more thing, look at verses 12-14.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
That’s a great passage isn’t it? It really appeals to the competitive part of all of us. But Paul is using the race as a metaphor. To Paul, a passionate pursuit of Christ is the lifestyle of a grateful believer. You can’t read this passage without feeling the passion that Paul had for Jesus, can you?
I mean, we’re not talking about a philosophy of life here. We’re not addressing a code of conduct that can be mimicked to have a good life. We are hearing a testimony about radical transformation. We are hearing about someone who has moved from fanatical religious idealism to a passionate relationship with the Living Lord.
You know, last spring we read The Purpose Driven Life in Bible study. And while having a purpose is certainly important, I think that we have to understand life and have a passion first.
Cherie Carter-Scott wrote a short bit called The Rules for Being Human. They go a little something like this:
1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
3. Most "mistakes" are merely "lessons". Growth is a process of trial and error: Experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work".
4. A lesson is repeated until learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
6. "There" is no better than "here". When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."
7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. You will forget all of this. (Community Messenger \webpage{http://www.Messenger.org/ComMes95, esaug95, esaug02.htm} Copyright, 1995 by Rick Janelle. Permission granted to use our articles in any manner, so long as the content is not changed and the name of the author is left on the article. Used By Permission)
Paul understood life. He knew that every moment was an opportunity to learn. He learned that the greatest opportunity was to be found in Jesus Christ. And his passion to take hold of Jesus was what drove him to become the saint of the faith that we all know.
This is the passion that is to be normal for every one of us, the children of God. But it is so hard to let loose of the temporal in order to gain the eternal. It is difficult to give up immediate self-gratification to hear that future “well-done” from our Lord. It’s not easy to die to self so that we might possess the abundant life of Christ.
And yet, the one thing that separates high achievers from also-rans is passion. The thing that propels one team ahead of another is more than talent. It’s passion.
And passion for all that God has planned for you in Jesus Christ will be the thing that propels you beyond a life of status quo and failed dreams and regrets.
It’s about passion.
Give up what stands between you and God.
Reach for all that God offers that you cannot have in the here and now.
And press forward toward the prize…with passion.
AMEN

Unity in Christ

2005-09-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

This message was written for a combined service for both of the churches that I serve and preached on Sunday September 25, 2005. I'm including the Scripture and referencing a movie clip in the text.

1 Corinthians 12:12-27 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free- and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Unity in Christ
- Unity in Christ! Sounds nice doesn’t it? Everybody all together, believing the same thing, planning for the same thing, hoping the same thing. Almost sounds like utopia doesn’t it?
Question is, is it realistic and how do we make it happen?
You may remember a few years ago when Snoopy, the lovable beagle in the Peanuts cartoon, had his left leg broken. Hundreds of people wrote letters to Snoopy or sent sympathy cards. Snoopy himself philosophized about his plight one day while perched on top of his doghouse and looking at the huge white cast on his leg. "My body blames my foot for not being able to go places. My foot says it was my head’s fault, and my head blamed my eyes.... My eyes say my feet are clumsy, and my right foot says not to blame him for what my left foot did...." Snoopy looks out at his audience and confesses, "I don’t say anything because I don’t want to get involved."
Corinth was an ideal place for a congregation: its lanes were heavily lined with merchandizing booths. In fact, it was like one big mall. It was an old city made new (Rome had destroyed and rebuilt it), it was centrally located, considered a commercial haven by people from every nation of the Roman Empire. It was a big, busy city. In our society, it might be seen as the ideal place for a church.
BUT... the church at Corinth was not living up to its potential. In fact, it had some distinct, troublesome problems.
Ever hear the saying, "Beauty is skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone?"
The Church of Jesus Christ in Corinth was an ugly place - ugly clean to the bone.
I Corinthians 3:1-4 tells us about jealousy and division in the church. I Corinthians 4:18 talks about arrogant men in the church. And I Corinthians 5:1-2 speaks of the sin of pride being held up in the church. But there’s more! I Corinthians 9:1-6 tells of the church’s tendency to be backbiters of Paul’s ministry. I Corinthians 11:17-22 tells of potluck suppers that turned into spiritual food fights. Chapter 12 talks about the conflict between those who had the gift of tongues vs. those with other gifts. Then of course, there was chapters 15 & 16. These talked about a bad doctrine concerning the resurrection that had leaked into the congregation.
I don’t know about you folks, but if I had lived in Corinth, I’d go to another church. I’d walk several miles to go to another church. Corinth was a congregation on a downhill slide and someone had greased the chute. Frankly, this church didn’t measure up.
So how come Paul didn’t give up on Corinth? He wrote two letters to them: I & II Corinthians.
That’s a total of 21 pages in my Bible. The only other church to receive that many letters was Thessalonica and those two letters only get 5 pages in my Bible. I & II Timothy = 7 pages. I & II Peter = 7 pages. I, II & III John = 6 pages. In other words, Paul went to great lengths to reach out to this fractured, disobedient church.
And, not only had Paul not given up on Corinth, God hadn’t either. They still had their gifts.
If I had been God Corinth would have experienced something like a bad Christmas. The kid’s been a brat... load up his presents, put them in the trunk and slam the lid shut! But, God is in the business of mending broken things.
Why didn’t Paul and God give up on Corinth? Because the church had the potential to change.One example of this is found in II Corinthians 2:5ff. Paul had rebuked the church for looking the other way when one of their members had been sleeping with his father’s wife. But by the 2nd letter, the church’s discipline of the sinner seemed to be working. The man was apparently showing signs of repentance, and Paul was telling them to now let him back in.
God is merciful, but He expects us to fix what is broken and yield to Him in obedience. He expects us to realize that this is Christ’s body - not ours.
Now when I’m talking about Christ’s body, I’m talking about this church. Not the building. Because the building could be obliterated from the planet tomorrow and the church would go on.
I’m talking about the people. And not just the people of one church. We’ve got two churches here this morning worshiping together. That is a true demonstration of the unity to be found in the body of Christ.
Has anyone here, the adults now, seen the movie “Ice Age?” It’s a prehistoric animated film about some animals who come across a human baby and what they do with him. After some discussion about leaving him to die and about eating him, they decide that he should be returned to his tribe, or as they say, his herd. Now this eclectic little group consists of a wooly mammoth named Manny, a sloth named Sid, and a saber-toothed tiger named Diego.
Now Diego is with the group on a ruse. He’s not really there to help, he’s trying to find the humans’ camp so the other tigers can hunt them.
Now, our heroes go through the standard variety of perils and hijinx, but this one clip is one that you need to see.
(Play clip starting with scene 14 on the DVD and ending when Sid say “weirdest herd I’ve ever seen.”)
“We are the weirdest herd I’ve ever seen.” Take a look around. Were truer words ever spoken? We are one weird herd.
But don’t forget what Manny said here. When Diego asked why Manny put his own life in peril to rescue him, Manny said, “Because that’s what you do when you’re part of a herd. You look out for each other.”
We may be a weird herd, but we are a herd. One herd, part of an even bigger herd.
We’re a family. The family of God. We take care of each other and we look out for each other. At least that’s what we’re supposed to do.
The question is, are we doing a very good job of it? Are we really taking care of each other, or are we fostering infighting and back-biting and gossip? Because if we can’t even take care of each other, and all of us are Christians, how in God’s name will we ever turn our concern outwards to the rest of the world?
So for the sake of the unity of the Body of Jesus Christ, let’s lay aside our differences and our jealousies and our indignations. And let’s live like that weird herd we saw on the screen this morning, traveling together, one purpose, taking care of each other on this great, mysterious journey that we call the walk of faith.
Maybe we can find utopia.
We certainly can’t go wrong by trying.
AMEN

Sorry for the delay

2005-09-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a really hectic month getting started up for the ministry year. I haven't posted sermons in a few weeks because I've just been so busy. Anyway, I probably won't catch up but will just follow this post with this past Sunday's message. Grace and Peace,
Don

Things happen

2005-08-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of those days, weeks or months when you feel like the whole world is caving in on you? Right now I'm dealing with some emotional baggage from 26 years ago. It shouldn't be as painful as it is, but wounds without closure just fester. I have gotten some closure on this particular issue, but unfortunately other people have been hurt in the process. I never meant for anyone to be hurt or to stir up bad old feelings, but I thought that we had all moved far enough from it to be able to discuss it civilly. I was wrong. If any of those folks happen to read this blog, I'm truly sorry. If I had know how this would go I never would have brought it up. I'm not sure if there's enough asprin in the world to take care of my headache right now.

August 7 message

2005-08-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

This message is based on the lectionary texts from Genesis and Matthew for August 7, 2005 - Joseph's experience of being sold into slavery by his brothers and the story of Jesus walking on the water and calling Peter out to him.

A FedEx from God
So there I was, in a job that I hated, and it was a total dead end. There was absolutely no chance of advancement without changing careers, and I worked with people that I was, well, I wasn’t going to be on their party guest lists any time soon, or were they likely to be on mine. The pay was decent, but I worked five 11PM to 7AM shifts a week and had little time with my wife and daughter. I was not happy there and it showed in my attitude. What’s worse, I was a Christian at the time and people that I worked with knew I was going into the ministry. Not only was I miserable, but I was a poor witness because of my attitude.
Trapped – that’s how I felt, trapped. Have you ever been there? Been in a place where you felt like you had no way out? Been in a situation where you felt trapped?
Problem – Sometimes we find ourselves in places that we do not want to be.
You see, that’s a problem that we can probably all relate to. We’ve probably all felt a little trapped in a situation at one time or another. We may not have been stuck in a boat with eleven other people in a storm. We may not have been thrown into a well by our brothers. But we’ve all been there. Maybe it was a job like mine that was a dead end. Maybe it was a relationship where you felt smothered. Maybe it was a commitment that you made and then regretted afterward. Whatever it was, it was not fun and it was not interesting and you wanted out.
The disciples probably felt pretty trapped in that boat when the wind came up and Jesus wasn’t with them. They probably understood feeling trapped and isolated and without direction. You know who else understands how you felt, besides the disciples and me? Joseph understands. Joseph knew what it felt like to be trapped, Because Joseph really was trapped.
His brothers didn’t like that he was the favorite child. His brothers didn’t want to hear anymore about Joseph’s dreams. They just wanted him dead or something like dead anyway. So what did they do? At first, they were going to kill him. They planned to shred his coat of many colors and cover it with blood, And then tell their father that a wild beast had killed him. But Reuben at least convinced them to not kill him right away.
Instead, they threw him in a dry well. While he was in there, an Ishmaelite caravan came by and the brothers decided to sell Joseph into slavery.
Now slavery, that’s trapped. Joseph knew what it meant to be trapped for sure.
CS Lewis puts it this way, “Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters. (C.S. Lewis in "Equality" from Present Concerns, quoted in Christianity Today, February 3, 1989, p. 31.)
Good News – The reality is that God wants us to be exactly where we are at all times.
But you know what, if you think about it, I’d be willing to bet that in whatever situation you felt yourself trapped, Something good came out of it. It necessarily didn’t have to be a good result,
when I left that miserable job, I went to school and I worked as a part time substitute teacher. There were times when I felt like I had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. But I left on good terms with my fellow employees. I had at one point decided that I was there for a reason, And I began starting my nights off with a visit to the chapel for prayer. I prayed for self-control and joy, and I prayed for my coworkers and I to get along. It didn’t work right away; it was no miracle in that sense. But, it did work.
There came a time when those people that had been my biggest adversaries at work Became my closest friends. What life and fate had meant for my downfall, God had meant for my edification.
Think about the disciples in the boat. Think about how they felt with that storm raging around them. They probably believed that the wind and the waves had conspired against them. I’m sure that they believed that evil was working against them. But what was meant for evil God turned to good. For instead of a tragedy, the disciples witnessed a miracle that strengthened their faith.
And, what Joseph’s brothers had meant for evil, God had meant for good. Joseph ended up first as the house attendant for the captain of the Guard, Potiphar, Then as the second in command of all of Egypt. Eventually, Joseph is able to save the Hebrew people because of his position.
Now, could Joseph have done this if his brothers had not sold him into slavery? Of course not!
Could the disciples have witnessed Jesus walking across the stormy sea without the storm?Obviously not!
You see folks, the good news out of these passages is that God is in the process. God does not abandon us to the wiles of this world. God works through the events and the people of this world to God’s own ends. And God’s ends are always good.
There’s a story about the famous preacher C. H. Spurgeon that goes something like this. One day Spurgeon was walking through the English countryside with a friend. As they strolled along, the preacher noticed a barn with a weathervane on its roof. At the top of the vane were these words: “GOD IS LOVE.” Spurgeon remarked to his companion that he though that this was a rather inappropriate place for such a message. “Weather vanes are changeable,” he said, “but God’s love is constant.” “I don’t agree with you about those words, Charles,” replied his friend. “You misunderstood the meaning. That sign is indicating a truth: Regardless of which way the wind blows, God is love.” (Stories Illustrations and Quotes, Robert J. Morgan, 2000)
And for us, regardless of where the world takes us, God is in that process. God is in that place and we’re there for a reason.
Response – Go with the flow because God is in the process somewhere.
So what do we need to do? As Christian people, as people receiving this FedEx from God, what should our response be to the fact that God is in control?
Well, look back at the Genesis passage. Joseph didn’t fight his brothers when they stripped him and threw him into a well. At least we’re not told that he did.
Consider Paul and Silas in prison. They didn’t try to escape when they had the opportunity.
Even the disciples in the boat settled down when they realized that the “ghost” was Jesus.
What’s God saying? Go with the flow. God is telling all of us that only God is sovereign and only God is in control. Even if life in this world leads us into slavery, God is still in control.
There’s a song I obtained recently by a band called “Casting Crowns” called The Voice of Truth.
The lyric goes something like this:

Oh what I would do to have the kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat I’m in onto the crashing waves.
To step out of my comfort zone, into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is. And he’s holding out his hand
But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I’ve tried before and failed.
The waves they keep on telling’ me, time and time again “Boy, you’ll never win. You’ll never win!“
But the voice of truth tell me a different story. The voice of truth says, “Do not be afraid.”
And the voice of truth says, “This is for my glory.”
Out of all the voices calling out to me, I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth.

The voice of truth, the voice of God says, “Do not be afraid." God says, “Whatever you’re going through is for my glory.” So go with the flow. Relax and know that the God of all creation is directing the flow of your life experience. And know that God’s intentions are always for your good.
AMEN

I'm Baaaaaack!

2005-08-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

Got back Thursday from my stint out at camp. Good week there by very hot and no AC. Two nights of VBS and still working on this week's message. That plus dealing with other family and extended family issues has me feeling like I'm chasing my tail a little bit. But, there are two things that came up recently that I need to talk about here.

First - last night at VBS we had a big event planned. The theme of the week was a circus motif. For Friday night we had rented a popcorn macine, a snowcone machine, and a moon bounce. It was looking like it was going to be a good time for the kids. But, as 6PM was approaching, so were the storm clouds and the lightning. The kids were meeting inside for a lesson first and Melissa, the VBS leader asked me to pray with the kids that the rain would hold off for us. We prayed and by 8PM when it was time to go home we had had one brief (literally 30 second) shower. The night was a great success and we all got a powerful lesson in the power of prayer.

Second - After that I went to see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" with my wife and daughter. I mentioned early on in this blog that I would probably talk about connecting movies with the Gospel. Here's one of those times. The film wasn't bad, especially as a cautionary tale for kids. In that respect it was very much like the original film with Gene Wilder. But near the end, Wonka offers the factory to Charlie and Charlie asks if he can bring his whole family to live there with him. Wonka replies, "Of course you can't!" Charlie explains to Wllie Wonka that he wouldn't trade his family for any amount of chocolate. My first thought was, "That'll preach!" I reminded me of the scripture from Ephesians 2:19. As Paul is talking about all people, Jews and Gentiles being one in Christ he says, "So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family." Is there anything more important than family? And since we are all one in Christ, is there anything more important than the family of God? How often we sell each other out for so much less than a chocolate factory. What a shame that we all aren't a bit more like Charlie Bucket.

No message for 7/24

2005-07-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

There is no sermon message for July 24. Not because I didn't write one. Simply because the one that I wrote was for a youth retreat where I was the Spiritual Advisor, and it's not typed yet. Thanks go out to Howard Cassaday for filling in for me at my churches this past weekend. I spent the weekend running around in the woods with 22 teenagers in high Point State Park. I'm sore! Obviously, I'm still too out of shape to be running around in the woods. If I get the time this week I'll try to type up the message from the weekend and post it here for anyone to peruse. In the mean time, I've got VBS this week and I'll be teaching at Delanco Camp next week. With what's on my schedule right now, if I'm still posting here by the second week of August it means that I'm still alive and that I survived the most hectic part of my summer. Keep watching.

A Full Plate

2005-07-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

Was just thinking about all that I've got on my plate for this Summer and it's got me feeling a bit overwhelmed. Some folks think that pastors just take off from June to September like schoolkids. Nothing could be further from the truth. Aside from the fact that we still have church every Sunday and those sermons don't write themselves, Vacation Bible School at two churches, visitation, and preparation for starting up regular programs and Bible Studies in the Fall fill this pastor's summer schedule. Plus, this year I've been asked to be the Spiritual Advisor for a youth retreat held annually by my home church, and I'm teaching a study on The Gospel According to the Simpsons at a Jr. High camp this summer. But, as the kids are know to say, it's all good. I wouldn't do those extra things if I didn't really want to. Even though I'm the "Senior Pastor" now, my roots are in youth ministry and I still love the opportunities to relate the Gospel to youth and children. There's no greater joy than seeing a kid that you've been working with suddenly light up when they "get it." Yeah, I might have a full plate, but it's all good food and it won't put any more weight on me either. So it's all good!

What if...

2005-07-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

The other day I was in that half-asleep-not-yet-quite-awake state when I had an interesting thought/epiphany. I wondered what I would say to myself if I could go back in time to when I was 14. I thought about how my life now would be different based on what I told my younger self. Would I still be a pastor? Would I have been a pastor sooner? Would I have gone whole-hog into the medical field? I came to realize, in my half-aware state, that I really am content with where I am now and how I got to be here. No, I haven't done everything right. In fact, I've messed up a lot! But the mistakes that I've made have made me who I am now, and that's a good thing that I'm not willing to muck with. I think the only thing I would tell my younger self is to avoid a relationship with Sue, the girl from grade school that's going to come back around when you're 18. She's nothing but trouble that you just don't need. That, and lay off the fast food, it's going to make you fat!

Post Independence Day Blahs

2005-07-05T19:03:00.000-07:00

Just getting over my first day back from a long weekend spent with family and friends. I always feel so run down and wiped out after spending time with the family. Why is it that family wears us out more than any other relationship? Is it because they know us best and can push our buttons better than anyone else? I don't know, but I'm beat.

Been thinking as well that this might be a good place to post my sermons for folks that miss a Sunday to read them. Maybe I'll start this in another post.

Start up

2005-07-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

OK, so this is my first post to my first blog. By way of introduction, I am Don. I'm just over 40 years old, and I'm the pastor of two small churches in rural America (It's not where you might think!). If you want to know my interests, go read my profile. The only thing that I really didn't put in there is how much I like movies. I like movies a lot. I especially like finding a nugget, a scene in a movie that I can use to illustrate the Gospel when I preach. That is something that I will probably comment on a lot I suppose.

I've started this blog as a way for me to think out loud and get some feedback on my thoughts. Be as blunt or critical as you like. I'm a big boy, I can take it. Well, that's all for now. I'll be back soon.