A Thought About Advent

Have you ever been through a dark night of the soul? A time when there seems to be no voice from God? A time where you feel a bit rudderless and your soul is downcast? Dark nights of the soul are well attested to in the history of the Church. Many folks have experienced them. They can either destroy us or they can take us deeper in our relationship with God and his people. In today’s parlance we might call this, “deconstruction.” We question everything and doubt much. Our faith seems to be coming apart and we cannot wrap our minds or hearts around it.

Episode 14

One of our deepest desires is to be understood. Each of us desperately want other people to hear what we are saying and understand what we mean. When people misunderstand us we are left with a sense that they don’t care for us. What is even worse is when we feel as though people are intentionally choosing to ignore us.

As a Christian living in the United States, a “Christian” nation, I am lumped in with many people who in no way reflect what I see in the Bible. Please don’t hear me whining about some sort of persecution, that’s not at all what I’m saying. What I want you to understand is that most of the people that the 24 hour news sources interview do not reflect me. The Christians who do reflect me, are often not interviewed more than once because they don’t get clicks because they don’t offer inflammatory perspectives. I want to be understood.

Episode 13

Do something. Don’t just talk.

Every time there is shooting we hear the following phrase, “thoughts and prayers.” Every time that phrase is uttered there are others who say, “thoughts and prayers are useless.”

I am tired of both. I am tired of seeing the religious among us continually saying, “I’m praying” but doing nothing. I am tired of the non-religious among us shaming or mocking the religious for their prayer.

…the beauty of rhythm and sameness

It’s a Sunday morning and the road is winding and the sun is sparkling. The trees are glistening with a light frost on the red and gold leaves. We come around the bend and there is the church overlooking a beautifully serene lake.

This is one of my earliest memories.

The Church has played a significant and central role in my life from the beginning. Our family went to church. It’s what we did on Sunday mornings.

Episode 12

…the responsibility of the ambassador.

Very few of us truly live in obscurity. Most likely if you are reading this you are a person who is known by others and you share freely with them your ideas. They probably see your life. Your friends know your good and bad. These people know that your’re not perfect. It’s OK that you don’t have it all together because they love you.

Episode 11

…the power of covenant.

I am leading our missional community through Micah’s prophecy. It is powerful and challenging. It calls the people of God to righteous action. Not some sort of “social just warrior” kind of action, but an action that is rooted in two things, God’s righteousness and his promises.

We live in an age where promises mean very little.

My country, the United States, is in a constant state of political campaign. Between local, state, and federal office holders politicians of some sort are always campaigning. They make promises, constantly. According to a Rasmussen report in 2014 only 4% of likely voters think that campaigning politicians will keep their promises. That means that an overwhelming majority of people will vote for someone who they don’t think will keep their word.

Episode 10

…or the need for a new imagination.

Christians pray the Lord’s Prayer pretty often. Some congregations pray it every Sunday. Many people pray it in their private prayer life. It is safe to say that the Lord’s prayer is central to Christian spirituality.

Yet many of us haven’t take time to even consider what we are praying. We just pray it. The words of the Lord’s Prayer become rote and can become hollow. They are intended to transform us. This prayer is powerful and can change us to our core.

Episode 9

…or taking time to acknowledge God

Over the last week I have been doing something new in my spiritual practice, not asking God for anything. I have simply been taking time to acknowledge God.

It is ridiculously hard.

No, I am serious. I have never done anything this hard in prayer in my life. Spending time in prayer simply acknowledging who God is has been beyond difficult. You would think that someone who has been actively seeking to follow God since 1995 and is a “professional Christian” would be able to spend hours and hours simply acknowledging God.

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Episode 1

…or all of life is sacred.

Last night I spoke at an event called, “The Merge: Where faith, culture, and art meets.” For just a few minutes I spoke about the reality that all of life for the person of faith is sacred. This was in the context of being a person of faith in the public forum.

As the conversation after the talk developed it ceased to be a discussion about living life as a sacred whole and became a discussion about how Christians have conversations with non-Christians. It almost felt like a sales seminar. I have been thinking about this response to the talk (and my attempted questions after) trying to discern why this is what happened.

…how to get out of your spiritual rut.

Part of being on mission with God is our continued growth as a follower of Jesus. It is realizing that we have not arrived nor will we fully arrive with God. As we are on mission with him we must continually hear from him, change, and draw ever closer to him. How do we do it?

When you first start following Jesus it seems like everything is exciting and new. Your spiritual life feels fresh and real. The Bible “comes alive.” You’re reading it and praying. You and God feel super close. It is almost like you can audibly hear his voice.

In the dark we just need a glimmer of light…

I rolled over and opened my eyes. It was dark. The darkness seemed to drip from the ceiling. My body ached and my head was pounding. The gentle sound of my wife’s breathing was the only comfort in that moment. As I lay there the anger raged inside me as I thought again of my friend dying, as I sat next to him praying for a miracle.

Some days, that’s all you got.

I have spending quite a bit of time in the Psalms. More and more of that time is spent in Eugene Peterson’s, The Message. He gives words to my soul. Today it is Psalm 77 and it’s all I got.

I yell out to my God, 
I yell with all my might, 
I yell at the top of my lungs.

Honestly, theology is pretty useless.

There, I said it.

I have wanted to say it since seminary.

Now I’ve said it.

Theology is pretty useless.

Well, let me clarify. Theology that isn’t applied is useless. Doctrine that is aloof and disconnected from the everyday life of the believer is pointless. It is nothing more than a noisy gong.

Paul writes,

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1–3)

I think we can rightly understand “love” here as living out the gospel in real life. Apart from this, we are nothing.

…10 Things We Do As Parents

I’m not an expert. I’m not even close to being an expert. I have a son who is 16 and a daughter who is 14. Both of them are excelling as human beings (in my all too biased opinion). They each have passions that they are pursuing with zeal. I think both of them are becoming good people. They have friends, they respect adults, they are both people that my wife and I enjoy being around.

When you write a blog some people typically want to know about your credentials. Credentials are pretty big deal and people who care about such things, really care (and those who don’t, really, really don’t).

I am a graduate of Central Michigan University with a B.S. in Psychology and a Minor in Religion. I also hold a Masters of Divinity from Michigan Theological Seminary. I am an ordained Teaching Elder (a fancy term for pastor) in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

…or when things don’t go as planned.

You’ve worked hard all week on an amazing message. The illustrations are poignant and powerful. People will get teary eyed when you drop your perfect tweetable line in the conclusion. You can’t wait to preach. You know this will be one of the most life changing messages you have ever communicated.

Then it happens.

It.

Whatever “it” is.

It happens.

Choosing Joy

Joy is a decision.

Every day you have to make a choice.

What will you choose?

Will it be anger?

Will it be frustration?

Will it be sadness?

Will it be joy?

Joy is hard to choose.

Joy demands faith.

Faith in the midst of pain is hard.

If we are honest with ourselves pain is where we live most days.

Pain seems to be the water we swim in.

Every once in a while you come face to face with a brokenness that overwhelms you. It seems that lately this has been the case more than not. I look around and people are not being healed, they are losing jobs, they are experiencing death.

This all sucks.

I know, I know, I’m a pastor and my Mimi would be mad that I just used the “s-word.” But, you know what, it does suck.

Two young black men were riding home from football practice in my car. The four of us were laughing, cutting up, and making fun of each other. We came up on multiple police cars and officers investigating something. These two young men immediately folded their hands in their lap, became quiet, stared straight ahead, and were silent.

After we passed the officers there was a moment and then the teasing, laughing, and cutting up began again.

When I was on staff with a large college ministry we spent a lot of talking about how to help college guys become men. We did men’s retreats every year. There was a very specific model that we thought these men had to fit in; tough, rugged, and macho.

We also spent a lot of time trying to teach college girls to be women. This focused a lot on their outward appearance teaching them to dress modestly so they didn’t cause the “men” to “stumble.”

You know that time when you watch a television show and it shakes you up a bit? Sometimes works of fiction do that to me (A Brave New World rocked my world). Sometimes it’s reading history. Other times it is talking with a new friend. In this particular moment, it was a television show.

We were watching Madam Secretary and one of the plot lines revolved around the middle daughter, Ali, and the youngest child, Jason, going to a school dance. Ali was wearing a slightly provocative dress and attended with a senator’s son. Jason overheard her date in the bathroom talking about how he was going to “get some.” Jason didn’t do anything.

If the first step into the mission of God is showing up, then the second is to begin paying attention to the people around you. What are they passionate about? What are their hopes? What are their fears? What are the areas in their community that are broken? What are people worrying about? Who are the people that are trying to fix the brokenness of the world? Who are the people who know these people?

Do you like to learn? I pretend to like to learn. Learning requires me to change. It demands that I do something different from what I used to do. Learning requires me to change my mind, actions, and possibly even beliefs. So, I pretend to like learning. I listen intently and nod my head at appropriate times.

Every once in a while go next level with a well-timed, “Hmmm…”

https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7ZeEZUzRjyvWuuIg/giphy.gif

Every Wednesday I post what passage of Scripture I am thinking and meditating on. This week, it is the story of Jonah. One verse in particular has me stuck,

But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. (Jonah 1:3)

I am so very much like Jonah.

Every week it seems that there is a new preacher, televangelist, or “numerologist” proclaiming that the end is here. If you walk around many cities or college campuses you will find someone screaming that, “The End is Nigh!”

It seems like everyone is looking for “the end of the world.”

Like we will miss it or something.

Christianity teaches that the end of things will be a noisy, noisy day. We won’t miss it. It’s a day that will come. We just don’t know when. It will be on us like a “thief in the night.” But it won’t be quiet. You absolutely will not miss it. I promise.

I am watching my social media feed fill with a singular hashtag, #MeToo. Friends, dear friends, are sharing it. Women in my congregation have been sexually abused or sexually harassed. I didn’t know. They had never shared that with me. Nor would I expect them too.

Yet, there it is, #MeToo.

I am shaking in sadness, anger, rage, and frustration.

My eyes are welling with tears as I think about my friends being treated this way. The lump in my throat is growing as #MeToo pops up next to more and more of my friends.

“God is sovereign so we don’t need to tell anyone about Jesus.”

“I’m not called to be a missionary.”

“I’m not gifted in evangelism.”

It seems that there are more reasons not to talk to people about Jesus than there are reasons to do it. Everyone is looking for an excuse. Some folks are more theologically astute and make arguments trying to leverage doctrine. It turns out that all of us are invited into God’s mission.

When it comes to being on mission we often miss it because we are so busy. We have little to no time to simply be with people. There is no opportunity to listen, pray, or to just look around. Every day we rush to the next place, to the next appointment, to the next meeting, or the next event. How can we possibly be on mission if there is not time or space to simply, “be”?

Over the last month my Facebook habits have changed dramatically. As a result of my changes I have noticed that I am sleeping better, I am more relaxed, and I am more present with those around me.

Here is what I have done:

1. I post primarily family stuff.

2. I intentionally do not post about politics as I would prefer the in person conversation.

3. The only religion stuff I post is my own writing (because I’m a pastor and all).

There’s nothing worse as a pastor when you’re having a lousy day (or few days) and you have a “weak” moment publicly. You know, one of those moments where you feel the flesh waking up. Your face heats up, your pulse quickens, your fists clench, and you know what is about to happen. You know you’re about say something you will later regret. Your mind is screaming, “NO! Stop! Run!” Your flesh is screaming out, “I will destroy. Right here, right now, I will destroy.”

NOTE: This is the second in a series on the Evangelical Presbyterian Church’s, The Essentials of our Faith. Scriptural proofs can be found elsewhere. These posts will focus on the “why” and the impact of these statements in our lives.

I think the argument can be made that no person in the history of the world has had as much of an impact as Jesus of Nazareth. We mark time before and after him (yes, I know that CE/BCE are the now the primary means of marking time, but they are the same as BC and AD). It is safe to say that no other person has had as much written about him or has been studied so thoroughly. His birth, life, and death have been studied, debated, and marveled at. Jesus is a name that brings a reaction in those who hear the name and in those who say the name. Regardless of your worldview, everyone must admit that this Jesus of Nazareth, was at the very least a remarkable individual.

*NOTE: This is the first in a series on the Evangelical Presbyterian Church’s, The Essentials of our Faith. Scriptural proofs can be found elsewhere. These posts will focus on the “why” and the impact of these statements in our lives.

The culture of the Bible was one of great diversity. Pluralism was the norm. In many ways biblical culture reflects our own. There were beliefs in many different gods and there were as many religions as there were clans. The book of Genesis starts with the words, “In the beginning God created…” When Moses penned these words he was doing so to begin to identify and differentiate the God from the gods.

I see so much hand-wringing about the future generations. People are deeply concerned for their kids and grand-kids. They take to social media and whine or complain. They mock kids today and their work ethic.

Folks in the Church are almost apoplectic about the numbers of kids who walk away from the faith. There are studies done. There are books written. New and shinier programs are developed.

What if I told you that the Bible actually gave us an answer to the problem?

Sadly, many Jesus followers struggle with guilt and shame. It’s an epidemic that needs to be addressed and dealt with. For pastors like myself, we need to speak into this issue and challenge the legalism of the new pietism that has developed in many of our circles.

Paul writes in Galatians 6,

It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. (Galatians 6:12–15, ESV)

It struck me today in a conversation that while on the one hand this can play out in cultural syncretism, it also plays out within the Christian subculture through pietism. There is this movement of folks who are creating a culture of external piety that is meant to show who is passionately following Jesus.

A good friend of mine once said, “To follow Jesus is to be loved or hated, not to be broadly liked.” I think about that often. Particularly in these days and times when everyone has a platform and if you speak truth to power or people you will offend someone.

As I was reading the closing verses of Galatians the Apostle Paul wrote,

It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. (Galatians 6:12, ESV)

In our age I have to wonder what is our “circumcision” issue that draws us into making a “good showing in the flesh” so that we “may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ”?

It’s funny how language changes over time. Words and phrases come to mean very different things as cultures change and progress. When I was a kid, “bad” meant “good” and “sweet” had nothing to do with flavor. A new phrase that my kids drop is, “you feeling salty?” They use it when a friend is whining or complaining about something.

It didn’t always mean that.

Back in Jesus’ day salt was important for a couple of reasons. First, it was helpful to store food. The other thing it was useful for was flavoring (funny how some things don’t change after 2,000 or so years).

A few years ago I was thinking about integrity. Integrity is a concept that people talk much about but don’t really live out. I’m often surprised by the lack of integrity most people have.

Some say that integrity is understood to be “what you do when nobody’s looking.” Still others define it as “standing by your word.” I think that both of those ideas are pieces to the puzzle but they aren’t the whole story.

If you’re like me you don’t like cognitive dissonance. You try really hard to deal with it and eliminate it. This means that I have this general posture toward creating binary perspectives when reality dictates a nuanced approach.

As a pastor I regularly enter into situations where people need help. A conversation that is ongoing withing myself and with my fellow Elders is “How best do we help?” Over the years there is a growing distinction between “blessing” and “helping.” Blessing is paying a bill for someone who needs to keep their light on. Helping is teaching someone how to budget so that they have an understanding of how to have enough money to pay their bills.

…or why we shouldn’t get in bed with the government.

During his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast President Trump stated that he was going to end the Johnson Amendment. An aspect of this amendment, in a nut shell, prohibits pastors from campaigning from the pulpit and funneling campaign contributions from churches (a term inclusive of houses of worship) to politicians. These prohibitions allow for churches to be tax exempt and allows for religious leaders other tax benefits (minister’s housing allowance, etc…).

Sometimes we think we live a new and unique in human history. It turns out that just isn’t the case. People, it turns out, are people. You, me, and the guy down the street, we are just like the people who have come before us. I know that might be a surprise but it is what it is. Truly, “there is nothing new under the sun.”

In Psalm 73 we run across an amazing confession. One that hit home with me. Check this out…

There are few words that I love more in the Scriptures than “freedom.” I think it is one of those words that really sets Christianity apart from other religions. Many people say that all religion is the same, it’s all about the golden rule, “Do unto others as you’d have them do to you.” But that’s not really the case. The religions of the world are all very different from one another. Each has their beauty, but they are not simply the same.

I don’t know how many conversations I have had with folks about Jesus. Too many to count, after all, I am a pastor. Many of them with people who don’t follow Jesus say, “If God is real he would just do something miraculous and prove himself. Why doesn’t he just do that?”

Even Jesus had to answer this question. In Mark 8 we find this little interaction with the religious leaders of his day:

My brother shared a video with me a few weeks ago. It has since disappeared off the internet. But, the gist of it was focused on this one question, “How do people change?”

In the video, a police officer told the story of how a man approached him at a restaurant after observing the officer during his meal. The officer, as most officers do, was on high alert while he ate, completely on. The man who observed him shared that he had not always been on the “right side of the law” but that if anything were to have happened in that place he would have had the officer’s back.

…or how to subvert the empire.

We so often find ourselves looking for a savior. We want our own personal Jesus Christ. We want someone who will fight for us. We want someone who will stand for us and protect us from all those people who we perceive to be our enemies. This mindset is not something new, we have seen it throughout history. The desire for a strong man drove the people of God to reject God and embrace a king, it has driven countless societies to embrace tyrants.

Some mornings as I read the Psalms one hits home and speaks to my soul. This is one of those times. As I meditate on these words, I am grateful to be able to say with David, “This I know, that God is for me.”

We want to have people in our lives that we can know without question are for us. I love spending time with those people. They encourage me and make me want to be the best version I can. I am able to hear from them rebuke and challenge. Why? Because I know they are for me.

Or is it just fantasy?

I am noticing an unsettling trend within my tribe. There is a lot of “spiritualization” happening at the expense of doing what is right. This is something that has happened at many times throughout human history. Jesus even dealt with this when he was here.

Check out this story,

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
 but their heart is far from me;
 in vain do they worship me,
 teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God) — then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:1–13 ,ESV)

This interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees should challenge us as followers of Jesus. Particularly, those of us who have been Christians for a long time. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were more concerned about their man-made traditions than following closely to what the Scriptures had actually said.

In the midst of the storm, listen.

We live in a world that is broken. There is chaos every where we look. Wars and rumors of wars fill the news. Personally, many of us are living in chaos too. Pain and suffering seem to be every where.

In Mark 6 we find the disciples of Jesus on a boat crossing the sea of Galilee after Jesus had fed 5,000 people,

That time when you realize Psalm 50 is relevant.

I have been thinking and praying about where we’re at in this crazy world of ours. Something just isn’t connecting for me as I see my tribe, my people, so quickly give themselves to the power of the empire. It doesn’t matter if they’re on the left or the right. Every few years they scramble over themselves to align themselves with power for a “seat at the table.”

There’s a picture that I have shared on more than occasion. It is one that I first saw in my children’s school. I really resonated with the point that it was communicating. Check it out…

When I first saw this picture it came with a caption: “Equality is not justice.” I remember thinking, “Yes! Amen!”

Recently, in my research and study on what biblical justice looks like I stumbled on a different picture. This picture is even better:

…or Are You A Two Faced Poser?

Growing up in a nearly all white community in a white family there were a lot of jokes about other races and nationalities. We would tell these jokes with reckless abandon in private and hushed voices in public. I am ashamed as I look back at the jokes and that I would tell.

As I grew older and entered into close relationships with people who looked different than me that these jokes didn’t seem as funny anymore. A few times I manned up and challenged the joke teller, “Well I’m not racist if that’s what you’re getting at. It’s just a joke. It’s not like I’d say that joke around them.”

Sometimes pain, affliction, or suffering has purpose.

When we are going through the hard times in our lives we often wonder “where is God?” Philosophers have wrestled with the question of “why do bad things happen to good people?” There’s an entire text in the Bible about this very question, the book of Job.

Isaiah 48 opens with God explaining why his people are experiencing affliction. There are two reasons, first, he says they are stiff-necked. The sinews of their neck are like iron! This means that they can’t turn or change. It’s an illustration for a lack of repentance.

Your friends and family won’t get you.

I remember sitting at the table at the family cabin after my first mission trip with Cru. My family was asking about the summer and what I had learned. As we started talking about Jesus and the gospel, it didn’t go so well. “Who is interpreting the Bible for you?”

When my wife and I became missionaries to the college campus, most of our backing came from people we didn’t know. Close friends and some family didn’t join with us. They prayed, of that I’m certain. But, they just couldn’t get on board with what we were doing.

Or…get your heart and mind right for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is January 20, 2017 and Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated as the President of the United States. Governor Mike Pence will be the Vice President of the United States. The country I live in will once again transition power from one sitting president to the next. There will be no civil war. There will be no intervention from the United Nations. There will be no need for a foreign super-power to act as a nation builder. Every time this happens it is an amazing thing to behold.

Don’t waste a day!

I remember waking up in a dorm room at Ferris State University after a night of partying. I didn’t feel all that great. Honestly, I felt dirty and a little thin. The night before was fun, I laughed, I don’t think I cried, I drank a little too much and escaped from reality.

That morning as I drove back to Central Michigan University I was overwhelmed by the thought that, “There has to be more than this.”

Or…why I don’t want to be a Grinch

One of my favorite Christmas stories is “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.” I dig it for so many reasons. What I like the most is the Grinch’s revelation that Christmas is about something more than just presents.

Do you remember what happens in that moment?

His heart grew three sizes! It finally had room for the real meaning of Christmas and he finds the strength of ten Grinches!

The Christian life is not mind or heart but mind and heart.

I am reading After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters by N.T. Wright currently and it has been really helpful and really challenging. In my desire to avoid any kind of works based religion I have too often ignored the importance of good works. Wright has offered me an important corrective.

This morning I was reading Ephesians 4:17–32 and it tied in with a section from Wright’s work that I’m in on the importance of the Christian mind. We have entered into a time where there has been a loss of Christian intellectualism in America. The Church in America has become all about the heart. My training at seminary in communication focused on engaging people’s emotions and their “hearts.” Engaging the mind and the renewal of the mind was largely ignored.

Nope, I don’t see any elephant ears…

“It’s not fair!” he whined, tears welling up in his eyes and his face beginning to flush red. “It’s not just NOT FAIR!”

My son had collapsed into a heap on the football field. The fathers versus sons two-hand touch football had just concluded. The game had been an epic contest between ankle biting five year old boys and way past their prime dads. This battle of football giants had ended, as they have from the beginning of time, in a tie.

What we think we need is not always what we really need.

I am learning that there are two kinds of people in the world. There are “Baseball” people and “Not Baseball” people. We are definitely “Baseball” people. My wife loves the game. I love the game. My son, really loves the game. My daughter, barely tolerates the game.

Last summer my son was having one of his best years at the plate that he had ever had. He discovered the ability to hit with power and for average. His hard work in the off-season was paying off.

The Night The Winds Kept Me Awake

Last night the winds blew. They rattled our home. I could hear the shingles and siding shifting and flexing with each fresh gust. Then came the “BANG!” That sound made my heart skip a beat. Then again, “BANG!” Then, “BANG! BANG!”

I looked out the window and saw what looked to be siding on the lawn. I ran downstairs barefooted and stepped into my boots. There was indeed a hunk of siding, but it was extra from a project our neighbor had done this fall.

They get exactly what they want.

Over the last few days I have bumped into an article by Rhonda Stephens entitled, “Parenting: Are We Getting A Raw Deal?” I saw it once and read it. I saw it a second time and read it again. The first time I laughed and remembered my childhood and how it reflected much of what Stephens wrote. I appreciated that at the end she makes it clear that maybe the current state of affairs is not the way things ought to be.

Today I’ve been thinking about the depth, majesty, and greatness of God. I’m a pastor, so I suppose that is not all that surprising. Yet, a passage from Isaiah has been floating around in my mind and heart all day today.

Check this out from Isaiah 40:27, 28:

Why do you say, O Jacob,
 and speak, O Israel,
 “My way is hidden from the LORD,
 and my right is disregarded by my God”?
 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
 The LORD is the everlasting God,
 the Creator of the ends of the earth.
 He does not faint or grow weary;
 his understanding is unsearchable.

Isaiah is writing to the people of God in exile. At this point they are despondent and broken-hearted. They feel as though God has abandoned them. They can’t worship at the Temple and so they are experiencing a deep separation from their God. Isaiah quotes them as asking why God is ignoring them (“my way is hidden”) and hasn’t brought about the justice (“my right is disregarded) that they think they deserve. In response, he challenges them remember who their God is.

On Twitter I follow a few accounts that post quotes from great coaches. They are usually inspirational and remind you that excuses are for chumps. There is also a common theme from most great coaches and that is, “Luck is fought for in practice.”

I am reading a book called, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters by N.T. Wright. The premise of the book is to highlight how Christians develop biblical virtue. It’s a wonderfully challenging book that is helping me to more deeply understand the tension between grace and works.

I am always surprised by the moments in the life of leading a congregation that end up filling my soul. That conversation with a neighbor that I didn’t expect. Or maybe the conversation with the bartender at my local watering hole. Sometimes it’s an opportunity to serve a friend or a stranger. Often it has been seeing God provide for our family.

Tonight I had one of those moments.

This first Sunday of Epiphany we read Hebrews 1:1–12 and come face to face with King Jesus. He’s magnificent. He’s radiant. He’s the eternal. He’s active. He’s among us. He’s the king!

Epiphany is the season where we see Jesus revealed as the God-man. Perfectly God, perfectly man. We see his mission unfolded before us in the gospels and the scriptures. We are reminded through the prophets that all of this was foretold.

I noticed something “new” today in a passage that I have become very familiar with over the years. This passage is Revelation 2:1–7 and it is a letter to the church at Ephesus. Check it out:

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lamp-stands.
“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lamp-stand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

There are a lot of things going on this passage. These two sentences jumped off the page, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.”

Today is Epiphany. Epiphany is the season that leads up to Lent where the Church has historically focused on the reality that Jesus is revealed as God in the flesh and that he is the great redeemer.

One of the passages in my reading today was from Isaiah 52,

How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
The voice of your watchmen — they lift up their voice;
together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
Break forth together into singing,
you waste places of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.

This is a beautiful poem celebrating the reality of God’s redemption. When Isaiah wrote it the redemption of God’s people hadn’t happened yet. They were still under the auspices of Babylon. But, in the face of the exile, God through Isaiah, reminded them that hope was not lost and that redemption would come.

This morning I was reading in John 15 where Jesus is bidding his farewell to his disciples. He says something that deeply challenges me and makes me wonder how much I truly do love other people.

He says, “Greater love has no on than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

We know this is a foreshadowing of what is to come, that he would willingly die on the cross. This death allowed for new life. This death made a way for reconciliation across all of creation. This death was not death, but it was life and life to the full.

In the United States there is a phenomenon within some Christian traditions to hold “revivals.” These revivals are usually nothing more than a speaker who comes into town and preaches for a weekend. It’s like a local conference. Churches spend lots of money and time trying to get people to come to their revival.

The thing is, this is not what revival really is.

Revival is not something that can be planned. It’s not something that you can make happen. True biblical revival is something that the Holy Spirit does in his own time and in his own ways.

Yesterday I wrote about a little phrase from Genesis 12, “He went.” As I was reading the Scriptures this morning I was reading in Hebrews 11:13–22 and it reminded me of the reality that often when we “go” we don’t necessarily see things come to fruition.

Abraham didn’t live to see his descendants become like sand on the seashore. He never gained possession of the promised land. He went, but he didn’t see the promises from God become sight.

As the new year starts many people make resolutions. We tend to have this sense that we need to make some changes. We want to read more, get in shape, be a better spouse, or make more money.

A friend of mine said something in passing that I thought was relatively profound, “I’ve always been a “New Years resolutions are stupid” kinda guy. I mean, really…if there’s something in your life that needs changing, then change it now.”

On January 1, 2017 what are you hoping for? As you consider this coming year what is it that you want to accomplish? When you get to December 31, 2017 how will you know if you had a good year?

These questions are more important to me than ever before. As I look around at our culture I see too many people who are losing the ability to see beyond the immediate. Every day there is a new catastrophe. Every day another famous person dies. Every day there is something that steals hope from too many people.