As you come to him, the living Stone rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God throughJesus Christ.
One of the advantages of teaching in a small school in a small town is I have the chance to see students at several points along their life path. And for some people, these different ages can be extremely different. I can't tell you the number of students I have met in middle school that are kind of a mess. They are too caught up in the drama, or they are angry all of the time, or they can't seem to focus, or they can't remember anything. or they lose things constantly or they are perpetually unhappy, or or or or or..... There are a lot of issues that a young teen can have in their life, Some are self imposed; others come at them from the outside, but issues abound. And please don't think that I am being judgmental. I am sure there are reasons for all of it. I am just saying that if we take a snapshot in middle school, things are often not pretty.
(Not a Pretty Picture)
But the years go on. A few years later they are in high school and Juniors or Seniors and to a certain extent, they have gotten their act together. They are happier and more self confident and more serious and less scatter brained. A little maturity goes a long way.
Still there are other people for whom all of high school is still rough. They either barely make it through to graduation, or don't make it and get side tracked along the way. Some people take either a few more years or a setting other than high school to find their stride. But that doesn't mean that their journey is done. Many times over the years I have met up with people who left high school in rough shape and made much more of themselves along the way.
As Christians it is important to remember that we are not defined by where we were at our worst. We are not defined by where we were, or even where we are, but where we are going. God offers us redemption and a fresh start. We may not be the person that we want to be. We may not be the person that God plans for us to be. But that doesn't mean that we can's be someday. A little maturity goes a long way.
I often think of a quote from Mother Theresa of Calcutta, the nun who spent her life trying to help the poor of India. She once said that she know her heart was as dark as coal. If for all that she did, she saw that God still had great work to do on her, how much more is needed on me?
This election makes me feel sad. That is the realization that I came to earlier this week, and watching the third debate on Wednesday did nothing to change my mind. A lot of the discouraging things about this election have been around for years, they are just more intense this time.
It seems like in every election I hear people say that they feel like they are voting for the lesser of two evils, but I generally don't feel that way. In most elections I find myself supporting a candidate that I think will be good for the office, good for the community, good for the country, etc. But it is hard to feel that way this time. At the top, it is hard to find people that are truly gung ho about either candidate. Most people are making a decision that goes like, "I know that _____ has problems, but ____ would be a disaster." The amazing thing is that people seem to think this no matter which candidate they plan on voting for.
And it isn't just the presidential race (although it is clearly the worst), every race seems to go this way. I live in Northern Michigan where there is a battle going on for the US Congressional seat. Two out of every three commercials on TV are about this race, and they are all negative. Both sides seem to be trying to convince us that the other guy really isn't from here. Or that they either want to take away guns or destroy social security. They are focusing on the, "The other guy would be a disaster" mentality too.
So what are we going to do on November 9th? Sometimes I am surprised by people who endorse certain candidates. I find myself thinking, "Really? That's who they support? How is that possible?" And I have been having that feeling across the board. Sometimes it is from the endorsements of organizations or political leaders or church leaders. I never know if they are true supporters or making some type of political calculation.
Sometimes the real surprise comes when I see friends backing one candidate or another. Sometimes it is hard to wrap your head around it. But I think that we need to be careful about reading too much into it. Our friends have made the same conflicted decision that we all are making. They have also weighed the pros and cons. Some of the pros weigh more some of the cons weigh less. Some of my pros are their cons and visa versa. They have come to a serious decision, just as I have. And Even if I don't agree, I can still give them my respect.
In the book of James, it says that The anger of man will not achieve the righteousness of God. On November 9th we need to start putting the country back together. We need to be less angry and more righteous. We need to be forgiving of other's opinions and remember that like us, they want what is best for the country. They just have a different vision of how to go about it. We need to support and pray for our elected leaders whether we voted for them or not. And in all circumstances, we need to give grace and show love as best as we can.
Over the years I have had a few opportunities to go on guided tours of caves. When I was a teen we went to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Then as an adult I've been to Jewel Cave in South Dakota and the Ohio Caverns in (you guessed it) Ohio. Cave tours are fun. You hear a little about when it was first discovered and it's early uses. Inevitably this is some mixture of Native American sheltering supplies for the winter and bootleggers hiding a still.
This is followed by the walk into the cave. Along a lit path we see stalactite and stalagmites and other unique rock formations. There are formations that look like ice cycles and water falls curtains. And some unique wildlife as well. Of course there are bats, but deep in caves there are species of shrimp and cray fish with no eyes. They live their own life without ever being exposed to the light of day.
One part of every cave tour is where they turn out the lights. Caves go far under ground and there is a long level path and a number of lights. But there is a point deep in the cave where the tour guide flips the switch and oh is it dark. It is completely and totally dark. Ink dark. Can't see your hand before your face dark. And then they light a match. It is amazing how much light the one match gives off. Under the light of the one match an amazing amount of detail comes into view.
As Christians we are called by God to be the light in the darkness. Jesus came to Earth to offer salvation and we are in our darkest place, He is the light that can see us out. And we are called to help spread that light in His place. And while we are not Jesus, we can be the lit match in the dark cave. And people can see in us a little bit of the Holy Spirit until they see the blinding light and the warmth of day from the Almighty God.
Sometimes on a warm summer evening you can look across the yard and when the night is dark the small glow of a fire fly jumps out. The Christian walk is about letting others see God's light through us in a dark world.
In some cities they have a program to buy guns from citizens. The idea is that there is a problem with gun violence and some people believe that it would help if there were less guns. So they offer to buy guns from people who voluntarily turn them in. And they make wonderful photo ops. We see pictures of a sheriff or a mayor or a sheriff and a mayor standing by a big pile of guns.
The problem is that the guns that are turned in are not necessarily the ones that are being used for the crimes. The criminals and gang members keep their guns. But some people need money, so they dig that gun out of the back of the closet. Or they get the one that doesn't work right and isn't worth fixing and they turn them in. The point is this, people are giving things up but they aren't disarming.
This reminds me a bit of the weapon treaties signed by the US and USSR during the cold war. The first ones didn't reduce nuclear weapons at all. They just slowed down how fast we were building them. But eventually we had enough and came up with an agreement to make due with less; We each would get rid of some and come up with some way to make sure that we are both following the rules.
The key is that we would both get rid of SOME of the nukes, not all. Both sides were still going to keep enough to be able to turn the entirety of the Earth's surface into radioactive cream corn. We were willing to lay down a few, but not completely disarm.
There is a fundamental difference between reduction and completely disarming. To completely disarm you have to change the way that you look at the world. You give up some level of control and potentially turning it over to others.
The Christian walk is very much like this. We start out trying to sin not so much. Of course it doesn't feel that way, but if we are honest it is more like a limitation than a true reduction. But over time with the conviction of the Holy Spirit we begin reducing the areas of our life outside of God's will. But do we truly disarm?
To truly disarm would be to turn our lives completely over to the will of God. It would be to release ourselves from our selfish will and to surrender ourselves completely. For humans this is impossible, but all things are possible in god.
I remember this one day when it was cold a snowing and our snow blower would not start. I am doing all of the things that I would normally do to coax it into starting and a few that I don't normally do, but nothing was working. I was getting very frustrated.
At one point along the way, I checked to make sure that there was oil in it. And there was, but the cap on the oil reservoir would not go back on. So then I had two problems. I could not cap the oil reservoir and I could not get the thing started and my temper was starting to build. After some fiddling, I finally got the cap sort of back on the reservoir and after much struggle, the snow blower started. My only problem was that oil cap. I knew that it wasn't on right, and I needed to get it all the way on. As I started to tighten the cap, it came off spraying oil with it. The oil was all over my face and hair and clothing and to stop the spraying, I had to turn off the snow blower.
I wish that I could tell you that at that moment I felt the warm embrace of the Holy Spirit, that I knew that it was all part of God's plan that I was thinking "Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul." I wish that I could say that, but I cannot. My temper went into full blown boil over. I am glad that no one was around to see me, but it wasn't pretty. When I went into the house to fetch some rags to clean up the oil, my loving wife asked what was wrong, and I was still too angry to speak. It took me some time to calm down. I eventually got the oil cap back on, the snowblower started and the snow cleared. All and all, not my finest hour.
They say that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how we respond. Some days, the things that happen are bad and our response is even worse. Every day is not our finest. I have had those days and assume that you have too. We say the wrong thing, we do the wrong thing, we get upset over things that aren't that big of a deal. We can handle relationships poorly. Say things that we don't mean just to hurt someone or be spiteful or petty or short tempered.
For most of us those days are a rarity. Most of us meet the challenges of our day with the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit. With the grace of God we do our best to let God's love shine through us, but we all have those days.
Which is why we need redemption. Jesus lived a life without the bad days. There surely were days that were better than others, but he never had the situations where he wished he would have done that. Jesus had no regrets and went to die so that the grace of God could be delivered to the world.
Although he never had those days, he died so that I can be forgiven when I do. And so can you.
Watch this video from Pastor Chris.
Jesus was the one, the only one who did not need redemption. And so He became the sacrifice for us all.
There is an idea among some historians called the "Great Man Theory". According to this idea, history is shaped by great people and by understanding those people, we understand the times in which they live. Personally, I'm not sure if great people shape history or if the events of the day shapes the people alive at that time. Probably some of each.
Either way, we often think of history from the perspective of the influential people of the time. The American Revolution is seen through the lives of George Washington and John Adams and not the farmer who left his farm behind to loose three toes to frostbite at Valley Forge. Or we see the industrial revolution through the lives of Henry Ford and Walter Reuther, not the person working each day on the assembly line, then going home and doing it all again the next day.
There are certain people who do seem to embody the times that they live in, or at least the way we like to remember those times.
It seems that in our society, there is a lot of attention paid to celebrities. What they wear, how they act, the products that they use, celebrities have influence across our society. Personally, I like to think that celebrity endorsements don't influence my buying habits. There are some commercials that I find entertaining, but I don't think that they make me want to buy the product. But no promises here. The people who write those adds are good at what they do. I imagine that I am influenced in ways that I am unaware.
The thing about celebrity role models is that in the end, they are just human beings. Many times the real person is different than their public persona. When the celebrity gets caught in the act of being human, there is nothing left but disappointment.
As Christians, we know that we can't put our trust in the things of this world. The things of this world rot and rust. People will inevitably disappoint, but the Grace of God is eternal, unwavering and always trustworthy. The embodiment of God's grace came to the Earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus was a unique figure in History. He was fully God and fully human. He lived a perfect life and died bearing the sins of the world. If history is the story great men, there is none greater. And all of of history is defined based on whether the time was before or after the life of Christ.
When we put people up on pedestals, they are likely to hit you when they fall. Setting up human idols is ultimately self defeating. If we are looking for a model on which to base our lives, there is really only one choice.
The federal witness protection and relocation program is a popular theme in movies. The idea is that someone is going to testify against a dangerous character and their life is in danger as a result. So they enter this federal protection program, They are given a new identity. A new birth certificate. A new social security number. A new history. A new everything.
I was curious about this so I did some googling. And it is a real thing. They have placed over 18,000 people and given them a new start. From what I found, they often keep their first names and maybe their initials. They are given some money to get started, but are expected to make a living and support themselves. Some of the people want to change their school records so that they got better grades or better references. I guess that if you could rewrite your past, you might as well pick a good one.
In many ways, this is like the transformation that we make when we first become Christians. Although our past is not gone and forgotten, in the eyes of God it completely is. We get a new life as Christians, a fresh start and it is full of potential. God is more concerned with where we are going than where we have been. We don't need to inflate our school transcripts or pad our resumes. God knows it all and He's OK with it.
One problem that they have with the witness relocation program comes when people do not really change but continue to cling to their old life. They are wearing the disguise of their new life but never let go of the old.
Many people get into the witness relocation program because they have a checkered past. If instead of embracing their new life, they repeat the mistakes of their old, it will never work. Some people try to return to their old lives. Or try to have it both ways. Live the protected life, but still go back some times. It never works that way. You can't have each foot in a different life.
Much in the same way, to really live the Christian life, we need to embrace our new Christian identity. We can't be living for God and living for the world. Living a double life is like we are always in disguise. Sometimes pretending to be Christians and sometimes pretending that our lives haven't changed, but always afraid that the disguise will slip and we will be found out. That is a hard way to live. To be a Christian we need to be all in.
To be a Christian, we need to be all in. We have been called to live a new life in Christ. And to fully realize the blessings of this life we need to accept the new identity and not continue to live partially in the old.
Many young people, upon the completion of high school, head off to continue their studies at college. In the United States, something like 75% of high school students attend some form of college after high school, and the majority have no idea why. What I mean by this is that many students enroll and begin attending college with no idea of what they want to study or what they want to do with this education upon the completion of the degree.
These students begin their college careers as "undeclared students". They are students but not following a particular course of study. So they take classes on writing and literature and science and history and art and math and generally expand their knowledge across the board. The goal of doing this is two fold. One, There are a certain number of general classes that are required for all majors and this way when a major is decided upon, the general classes will already be completed. And two, the hope is that along the way, something will spark an interest and then they will know what the major should be.
But being undeclared can only work for so long. Eventually they run out of general classes and they need to declare one way or another. You can't graduate and still be undeclared.
It's a little like buying a house. You shop and look at the listings and talk to realtors and visit perspective houses. But at some point you have to make the declaration. This is the house that I want to buy, I am willing to pay so much and if the offer is accepted, I am prepared to move.
Or maybe it's like joining the military. You meet with recruiters, read the information, take the tests, get a physical, and explore potential assignments. Eventually, you raise your hand and take the oath, or you head out the door for other things.
Politicians make quite the show out of their declarations. You can get on the ballot to run for office by filing a form in the appropriate office, but that's not what they are going for. They turn the declaration into an event. There are crowds and speakers and music and speeches. They want everyone to know that they have begun the next phase of their quest.
The Christian journey is much like this. We can flirt around the edges. We can make commitments in secret and start the transformation, but like looking at houses or taking basic classes, you get to the point where that has stopped moving you forward. If you want to take the next step, then you have to declare. As Christians we need to be willing to say, "Yes, I am a Christian and the world can know it."
In some parts of the world, that declaration comes with great personal risk. There are places where professing to be a Christian is inherently dangerous. Not so in the United States. But still many want to hide in the shadows of the undeclared. Many of us fear the impact in all of our relationships that would come with openly saying that you are committed to a new way.
Christians are called to come out of the shadows. We are not secret agent Christians. It is our hope that others will see the love of God through us, but that is only possible to the extent that we declare ourselves openly to be His.
I was once eating in a restaurant and thinking to myself that it was a great new restaurant, hoping that they would do well. I asked the server how long they had been open, thinking that it had been a few months. The reply was "four years." This place had been open for four years and I had never noticed. Granted, this place wasn't in my town. In the small town that I live in the opening of a restaurant is big news. But still, I did go by there often enough and some how I missed the change. When businesses are open, they need to get the word out.
I have also had the experience of looking for a business and being unable to find it. This isn't a question of being aware, it is about geography. Some business lack a noticeable sign or are set far back off the road. You can know that they are there some place, but finding where can be a challenge.
Some businesses never set up a store front or advertise one bit. These business rely on word of mouth to grow their business. I knew a house painter who prided himself on having never advertised. He believed that if he gave people a fair price and took pride in his work that his customers would tell their friends and the work would sell itself. And as far as I know, he has been right. But this isn't the same thing as being invisible. When people ask about his work, he is quick to respond.
But even someone who is self employed, at some point has to make the decision that what they are doing is a business. That they are painting houses and that they are going to charge money for the services and that this enterprise is going to be called something.
Most businesses make it official by filing a DBA. A DBA is a form filed with the local government that says that you are in business under a specific name. These business names and owners are listed in the local paper or on line. It is an official declaration with the powers in charge that it enterprise is a business and this is what they do,
As Christians, we need to declare ourselves open for business. That is we need to make the decision and say that this is who we are. Becoming a Christian is a life transforming experience. We are under new management and it is time for a grand re-opening. And just like there are all kinds of people and all kinds of businesses, there are all kinds of Christians.
Some Christians wear their faith on their sleeves. They are all out there and can't meet a person without sharing a testimony. Others are more of the quiet word of mouth types. They don't say much but people can see that there is something different about them. And when asked, they are quick to respond about the influences of their life.
What we don't want to be are invisible Christians. We don't want to be like the business set way back off the road that no one can find. We don't want it said of us, "Really, you've been a Christian for four years? I never noticed." Now that would be a tragedy.
At some point we need to make the decision that we are doing our business as a Christian. We are part of the family of God who have been redeemed through His Grace. We may have day jobs as house painters or restaurateurs, but first and foremost, we are servants of God, And there will be no hiding it.
The attention span of our society seems to keep getting shorter. The news reports have long been know for boiling the news down to the sound bites, those 10-15 second clips which they try to use to sum up the positions of the candidates.
It has long been hoped that twenty-four hour news channels and in depth analysis in the blogosphere would take the discussion to new depths. Unfortunately, that just hasn't been the case. While the coverage has grown a mile wide, in most places it is still only an inch deep. We don't hear more of what the candidates say or analyze the policies to a greater degree, we only hear the sound bites more often.
The problem is that many of the issues that we care about cannot be summed up in 10-15 seconds. Education, national security, energy, the environment, the economy are all complex issues that affect our lives. The sound bite scratches the surface but doesn't really enlighten. And in each of these issues, the details are what is most important. After all, everyone wants a strong national defense, a booming economy, a healthy environment and world class schools. The trick is in balancing all of these needs.
None of their plans are perfectly good or perfectly bad. Most plans have parts that will be a benefit and part that will cause pain. We can debate which part is which, but it is all there. But the debate can't happen with bumper stickers, internet memes and 140 characters. We have to go deeper.
And as bad as it is to have only a surface level understanding of national issues, I think that it is worse when we have the same approach to our faith. Christian apparel is a $1.5 billion dollar industry in America. Many people like to profess their faith by wearing a whitty slogan. The problem is when our faith never gets deeper than the whitty slogan or internet meme.
As Christians, we need to embrace the difficult issues. We can't be afraid of the hard passages or the challenging concepts. We need to accept the idea that serious believers can have differing opinions is some areas, but we are still no less brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to embrace the uncertainty and allow the Holy Spirit to shine through the confusion. When it is done, our faith will be stronger as a result, We need go beyond the Christian t shirt lingo and develop a true relationship with God.
Our relationship with God should go deep into our very being. The nature of God, our salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit are not easy concepts that can be summed up in a tweet. And the thing is, no matter how deep we go, no matter how expansive our understanding of God, we will never understand it all. We can all go deeper still.
Do you ever hire a cleaning person to help around the house? Some people do. They come in now and then to help with things like dusting and vacuuming, that sort of thing. I can't say that I have a lot of experience in this area, but I have heard it said that it is common for people to want to clean up their houses before the cleaning person arrives. On the surface this seems pretty ridiculous, after all cleaning is what you are hiring the person to do. To a certain extent it makes sense. You don't want to pay the person to straighten things up or for putting away clutter. And you certainly don't want the cleaning person thinking that you are a slob. But still, it seems like you could be creating more work and stress by hiring the cleaner.
Well, maybe not....
There are many situations in which it seems there is a lot of prep work just to get going. As a teacher, a day off starts with writing lesson plans for a substitute teacher. And we teachers aren't alone. Many people say that on a day off, the work piles up until their return. Or business owners talk about all of the preparations needed so that the business can function for a day without them.
Maybe the king of "work just to get started" is a construction project. Long before the first nail is put into a board, the plans begin. There are schematics to draw, materials to buy and deliver, helpers to organize. Then and only then are you ready to begin. If you have ever worked on a project that has been poorly planned, you see immediately how important prior preparation is.
There is one area in which making preparations is not only unnecessary, but it can actually be a hindrance. That area is our relationship with God. There are many people who long for a deeper relationship with God, but want to get their life together first. It is as if we feel that we are unacceptable in our current form. We don't want God to see what a mess we've made of our life.
But the thing is, God knows and He's accepts us anyway. We can never make our lives "good enough" to impress God, but it is not necessary. Allowing ourselves to think that we can only come to God once our life is in order is like thinking that we can only go to a doctor once we stop being sick, or that we can only go to a mechanic after we fix our car.
Through the redemption offered by the Grace of God through Jesus Christ, we can transform our mess of a life from the worst house on Hoarders to a mansion from Life Styles of the Rich and Famous.
On the History Channel there is a popular program called "Pawn Stars". It is set at the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas and features the store owner, Rick, his son and father as they run their business. During the show, customers bring in unique objects to sell or pawn and along the way their is discussion of the history of the objects and of course, haggling over the price.
Sometimes the thing that is brought in doesn't appear to be in particularly good condition. It might be an old Coke machine or a vintage juke box and it looks like a wreck. It has taken a beating from the weather, and it is showing the scars. And while I wouldn't think that it would be worth very much, they buy it all the same; sometimes for what seems like a pretty substantial amount of money. Where some people see junk, others see potential.
They then take the rusty old broken machine to the restoration guys. These people clean off the dirt, blast off the rust, add add some more paint and make the workings work again. At the end, what they have is nothing short of a thing of beauty, a true collector's item. What's more, when they total up the costs of buying the original and the cost of restoration, they still make money on the deal. Restoring the ruined isn't easy but it is profitable.
On the show, the episodes featuring the restorations were so popular that they spun off a couple of shows centered only on the restoration. One show is about the place that restores things like pop machines and gas pumps and the other is about the place that restores old cars. We just love to see the run down come back to greatness.
This story of restorations should seem particularly poignant to those of us in the Christian faith. We come to God damaged and broken. And as we surrender to Him, we are restored in something unbelievably special. Society may look at us and see the junk in our lives and we may too. Most of us are our own worst critics. But not God. Where others see junk, where others see ruin, where others see failure, God sees potential.
God restores. God makes us new again. God wants to take us on a journey of purpose, growth and renewal. Like all restorations, it isn't easy, but it is worth it.
So you are driving along a dirt road and in front of you is a large mud puddle. What do you do? If you don't like mud puddles, we could substitute a big sandy spot or maybe a snow drift in the road if you like. It is the same question, what do you do?
Of course you size up the situation and consider the vehicle that you are in, and then you decide. As you approach the puddle, at some point you have to commit. You have to decide if you are going through the puddle or turning around. One thing is for sure, inching your way through the puddle is a sure recipe for getting stuck.
It's a little like when NASA is preparing to launch. At Mission Control they list off the critical systems and at each point they are asked, "Go-No Go?" Are you in? The people in charge of each critical system must declare that they are good to go. They must commit. If any of the systems declares a "no go", The launch is called off,
Some things are like that. You are in or you are out. You can't inch through a puddle. You can't kind of launch a rocket. The airplane is either taking off or staying on the ground. As Yoda said, "Do or do not, there is no try."
This Go-No Go philosophy is one that we as Christians should embrace. As a Christian we can't dip our toe into the Holy Spirit and see how it feels. We need to decide if we are in or are we not. And if we are in, we need to be all in. We need to commit. Like inching our way through a mud puddle, dabbling in the Christian faith is a good way to get trapped.
We can get trapped in the ways of the world. We can get bogged down by sin and never feel the freedom that awaits us. We have to decide if we are going to live our lives for our self, or are we going to surrender to the will of God. As long as we are living for our self, we will be slaves to the bonds of sin. To find true freedom we need to commit.
When we live for ourselves we are slaves to sin. We can only have one top priority in our life. If we are most concerned with accumulating the things of this world, then our top priority can't be our relationship with God. So which will it be? Are we a Go or a No Go?
When India was under colonial rule by the British, there was a problem with cobras. Too many of them, if that was not obvious when I said the word "cobra". Their solution was to put a bounty out on cobras. Anyone who turned in a dead cobra was paid some money. But pretty soon the good people of India figured out that it was much easier to raise cobras than catch cobras. So a number of secret cobra farms sprung up around New Dehli. Eventually the British rulers realized that their bounty system was not fixing the cobra problem and ended the program.
So what became of the cobra farms? Because there was no money to be made in raising cobras, the cobra farmers let the snakes go.
Economists have a name for this. When due to unintended consequences a possible solution actually makes matters worse. It's called, "The Cobra Effect."
The point of the story is that everything that we try is 100% improvement. Sometimes in spite of our best intentions, things go horribly wrong. The prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s was meant to reduce alcoholism and its negative effects, but it led to a massive increase in organized crime. Widespread use of antibiotics have cured many diseases but have created super germs in their wake. The automobile has brought the freedom of transportation to many and with it a host of environmental concerns.
In each of these examples, there were no pros and cons to weigh out. People never saw the downside coming. It would be an example of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called and "Unknown-Unknown". It is a case where we don't know what we don't know.
So what's a person to do? Doctors may have it right in the Hippocratic Oath when they pledge to "First Do No Harm". And that isn't a bad place to start, but do we not feed hungry children because we don't want to foster a culture of dependency and entitlement. Somehow that doesn't feel quite right.
I think that first and foremost, we need to be ever mindful of the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. We need to seek out God's will in everything that we do. As Christians we need to be secure that God has a plan and we are part of it. We need to be secure that God has a best path if we have the faith and patience to discern it.
And we need to be aware that in this world, some problems don't have perfect solutions. Just like some medicines come with side effects, some problems come with unintended consequences. So let's all agree to be a little generous with each other. Let's all agree that when things are up in the air we need to come down on the side of Grace, We need to come down on the side of Mercy. We need to come down on the side of Love.
Happy Labor Day. And if like I you are a public school teacher, then you think of Labor Day as New Years Eve. Except that you go to bed early and get up and go to work the next day. And there is no party in Times Square. And no Bowl Games.
So maybe this isn't the best analogy that I have ever constructed, but I'm not giving up. For a teacher, each new school year is a fresh start. Class begins on day 1 and with that is a fresh of goals and intentions for the new school year. You might even call them, Resolutions. And like the resolutions made on January 1, many school year plans won't work out. But if you're not optimistic on Labor Day, you are in for a long year.
Are you ready?
As a teacher, that is the question during the month of August. If I had a dollar for every time that I've been asked that question, I could fight the chronic under funding of public education. In other words, I get asked that a lot. I think that it's mostly a way for someone to make small talk or to commiserate in my expected misery. And they always seem a bit taken aback when I give them my answer. YES.
Sure, I enjoyed the break like anyone else. But it's time to start. I like what I do. I am ready. There will be challenges in the year to come, but that's the job. So ready or not it's time to start. And I am ready.
Over the years I have noticed that there are two types of people who go into education. One type is the person who likes young people and wants to help them grow and develop. They want to challenge the students to be the best version of themselves that they can be.
The other type is someone who likes being the smartest person in the room. This group seems to get more satisfaction out of showing the class how clever they can be and less satisfaction out of their students' achievements. The problem is that if we lift ourselves up, in showing off our own cleverness, it has the tendency to put others down. Fortunately, these people tend not to last.
As Christians, we need to make sure that our walk is more like the former and less like the latter. We need to be focused more on living a life that is outwardly focused so that others can see God's love for them through the actions of His people. There is no prize for being the most religious person in the room. And putting someone down is no way to lift them closer to God.
So it's time to get started. For all of my friends in teaching, both those I know and those I don't, may you have a blessed year. May you have an impact on your students and may your efforts show a ten fold return in the lives of your students.
And to all of us, may we be committed in the months to come to show God's grace through the way we live each day.
Have you ever heard stories about homeless people who really have a lot of money? The story goes one of two ways. Either the person is just choosing to be homeless, because they want to live that way, or they really aren't homeless at all. In the second version, they sit around playing homeless collecting money from sympathetic passers by then go home. To their home. Which exists. Because they aren't really homeless. (Get it.)
Personally, I don't buy it. I know, I know, I know. You saw a news story. Someone told you. Your friend totally knows someone who made a lot of money doing this. I know. And sure, maybe it can happen in some small way. But not really.
I think the real problem with the stories is that it makes us look upon all of the needy with suspicion. We can walk by a person in a doorway and think, "that person thinks I'm a sucker." The possibility that this person may not really be in need but is trying to take advantage of your kindness is enough to pollute our attitude towards helping anyone.
This extends not just to the homeless, but to our attitude towards the rest of the world. When we hear of refugees needing of a safe haven, our reaction isn't to do all that we can. Our reaction is that maybe they are really terrorists out to get us.
As Christians we are called to extend our hospitality to those in need. If the person really isn't in need, that's between them and God. That's not on us. We are called to help those around us and there are no penalties for accidentally helping someone unnecessarily.
We are called to show love to those around us. We are called to be gracious in a way that they see the love of God through our actions. And that is something that everyone needs. Even if you have plenty of money.
I read about this experiment that they did once testing the honesty of cab drivers in New York. So they set up someone to seem like a tourist. They spoke broken English and clearly didn't know where they were. So the person hailed a cab and gave the cabbie the address. And guess what happened next? In most cases, the cabbie took them to their destination by the shortest route possible. There were some cabbies that explained that they really didn't need a cab, as it was walking distance. They then took the time to give direction and point them the right way. Out of the dozens of cabbies that they tested, only one took advantage of of our tourist.
I don't know about you, but stories like this make me feel a little better about the world.
I am not really a world traveler, but I have been on a few trips. The summer after I graduated from college I took a job at a Camp Cooper, a Boy Scout summer camp in Oregon. This trip really could have gone badly. I was jumping into the great unknown. I knew no one, I was 2500 miles from home and I had committed to work there for two months.
But it did not go badly. It was a beautify camp in the coastal mountain range set among the towering douglas firs and among other things featured an 80 foot water fall. Beautiful. But what really made the experience was the people that I worked with. They could have treated me like an outsider, but in stead they welcomed me in. It turned out to be a great experience and many of the people I met that summer are still my friends.
In life we will meet sojourners every day. Some times these are people who are on a literal vacation and are out of place. Sometimes they are people who just pass through your life for a short time. The Bible tells us to not wrong a sojourner. It is easy to understand why we need to treat those around us every day well, there are long term consequences. But we also need to do our best for those who we meet this once and then never again.
It's like tipping at a restaurant. In a small town there are only a few restaurants. If you don't tip, the wait staff will know it. But when you are out of town? The meal is over, The server is done serving you. You will likely never see them again. Leaving a decent tip in this case is where character comes in. The waitress is a sojourner through your life and as Christians we are called to not wrong her. As Christians we are called to treat people well even when there is no particular benefit in our doing so.
Do not wrong a sojourner. Treating people around you with dignity is not something that we can turn on and off. It is something that we do by habit. And it really isn't a Christian thing, it's a human thing. It's just as Christians, we really should be good at it.
I am told that sometimes when a marriage breaks up the people do not actually get divorced. As I understand it, the couple splits up and go their separate ways, but never go through the legal process of getting a divorce. Maybe this happens because they don't want to go through the legal expense, or maybe this happens because they aren't sure that it is really over, or maybe this happens because it would be too much effort. In any case, the end result is a couple that are no longer together but are still connected in the eyes of the law.
These unsevered connections can create big problems down the road. Years later when one of the couple has amassed a pile of debt or wants to take out a mortgage or there are children involved. All of a sudden one person discovers legal responsibilities for a person that has been long out of their life. Some people's lives get pretty complicated,
In some states the opposite of this does work. It's called a "Common Law Marriage". It works like this. If two people live as though they are married for a particular span of time, then in the eyes of the law, they are married. So they live together and share finances and travel around together and take care of each other, then it is just like they are married.
It is a practice that dates back to a time in the past when making a marriage official could be problematic. Maybe you live on the frontier and the place where you would file the marriage licence or find a minister to perform the ceremony might be a long, long way away. So people would just behave as though they were married and everyone went along with it. In some states it still can go that way.
So what's all this got to do with us? It's just this. There is no such thing as a Common Law Christian. Many people think of themselves as Christians because they are a good person or live in America or even because they go to church. But attendance at church or living in the right neighborhood does not make someone a Christian. Even giving tithes or writing a twice weekly blog won't do it. We are Christians based on our relationship with God that comes through the Grace of the Holy Spirit and our acceptance of the redemption given to us through the death of Jesus Christ. That's it.
We must deliberately divorce the negative influences of sin in our lives and formally accept the Grace being given. Then and only then are we Christians.
We are called to Love God with all our hearts and to Love our neighbors as ourselves, We need to lead our lives so that all that we do is a reflection of God. And that is anything but common.
One spring we decided to tap the large sugar maple in the back yard and try making syrup. It all started with a trip to the Amish hardware store up the road. There was a kit for sale and I decided to give it a go. I have since learned that the best place to drill the hole is on the south side of the tree under a large branch. I didn't know that at the time, but I got lucky and drilled the hole in the right place. And the sap began to flow.
Over the next several days, the bag connected to the spile would collect sap and we would pour it off into milk jugs. Then after a while it was time to boil it down. The ratio between sap and syrup is 40 to 1. In other words, it takes 5 gallons of sap to make a pint of syrup. Someone had told me that it was best to boil it over a wood fire. So on a cold April day I built a fire, set a large pot on it and began to boil. For hours and hours it boiled and I tended the fire. Then I brought it in the house and put it on the stove and boiled it some more. Then I put it away and boiled it some more the next day.
In the end I did get some syrup. But more importantly, I got that out of my system and haven't felt the need to do it again.
There are many places in life where we condense things down. Like the sap and syrup, if its in its original form it is so diluted that we can't appreciate it. When we go on a trip, we can't do everything in a particular area, so we boil it down to those things that interest us, When we watch the evening news, they can't tell us about every thing that happens every where, so they boil it down to the highlights. As humans, we can only keep track of so many things. So we categorize and summarize and condense so that our brains can handle it all.
And so it it with the Ten Commandments. If we ask how to live a Godly life, there are many things to do in many different circumstances. The Jewish Law had hundreds of rules and that was before the internet and social media (which would have probably added a few hundred more). So God gave us the Ten Commandments, a summary of the Law. And while it doesn't cover everything, it is a good start.
And then Jesus took it all and boiled it down further. Jesus said that all of the Law could be summarized in two commands. Worship God with all your heart and Love your neighbor as your self.
Worship God and Love those around you. That pretty much says it all.
The other day we were watching an episode of the Dick Van Dyke Show on Netflix. The story had come to an end, but then we were back. Rob and Laura were in their kitchen talking about the virtues of Joy dish washing soap. It was a commercial set on the stage of their show where they played their same characters. Now product placement is really common in TV and movies, the jarring thing about this is was how it wasn't even subtle.
Over the years we as consumers have gotten better at filtering out the ads, so the advertisers have gotten better at getting them in there. Today it wouldn't be so blatant. The dish soap would be sitting on the counter without comment and we would make that association on our own. Of course some shows still put it in. On Survivor they have a challenge where they fix up their camp using supplies provided by Home Depot. Or on the Amazing Race they don't just drive a car, they drive the new Ford Taurus with foot activated lift gate.
We need to give credit where credit is due. Advertisers are good. The way that we consume media is constantly changing and their techniques change with it. With VCRs and DVRs we begin fast forwarding through commercials, so they reformat the commercials so that at least some of the message shines through as we fast forward. I notice that if I look up something on line there is inevitably an add for it the next time that I'm on facebook. Probably just a coincidence.
All of this advertising has one thing in common, it is always selling the idea that our lives would be so much better "IF" and then they fill in the blank.
IF we drove that car,
IF we had that phone.
IF we wore those clothes.
IF. IF. IF.
Advertising plays on the idea that there is something missing in our lives and material things can fill that hole. So we look around us and we see things to buy or things to build or things that our neighbors have, and we say to ourselves that if we only had that too, our lives would be so much better.
This has been a problem in the human race for thousands of years. So much so that of the Ten Commandments, two directly talk about it. In the Ten Commandments, God tells us to make no idols and to not covet. God tells us that if we want to fill the hole it will not happen by worshiping the things of this world and the things that your neighbor has won's work any better than yours. No the the hole will only be filled by being in a relationship with God.
Each of us comes with a God sized hole. We can try to fill it with the things of this world, but it will never work. The only answer is allowing God in.
The Olympics are in full swing this week. Last week we were seeing the swimming events and this week the emphasis switches over to track and field. We get to see great athletes performing at their best and through this inspiring us all. The athlete's from the United States are doing very well. It seems that in most of the events their are members of the US Olympic Team at least in contention for medals if not winning them outright. Well done.
I can't help having a soft spot for countries that don't win that many medals. As of this morning, Team USA has won 69 medals in this Olympics. I can't say that I know who has won for which events. I could piece together a list, but it would be far from complete. (The name Michael Phelps would cover several.) But I think about Puerto Rico. They have won a total of eight medals ever in the history of the Olympics and their first gold just this weekend. Or Grenada who as a country has won only two medal in the history of the Olympics. Both by the same athlete. All I'm saying is that it has to be a big deal.
One issue that seems to constantly overshadow the Olympics is the issue of performance enhancing drugs. It seems like their is a side note of disqualified athletes due their drug use. Of most note, a large part of the Russian Team was banned from this Olympics. I am relieved that so far, it seems that Team USA has been clean. The United States has great athletes who win a lot of medals. But we also have a tremendous amount of resources to devote to training and many other things to be proud of as a country. If we were cheating on top of it, all of our accomplishments would seem pathetic.
The United States really is an exceptional country. We have been blessed by a tremendous amount of resources. We have the ability to amass great wealth and direct it into any number of areas at the same time. But I believe that those blessings come with a great responsibility. We need to set the example for other countries. We need to be squeaky clean. We need to go beyond. Fair really isn't good enough, we need to be more than fair.
And I would say that "more than fair" should be the American philosophy in all things. We can afford to be generous and gracious and forgiving. We need to set ourselves to a higher standard so that we are the example for the rest of the world. When we say, "Why give money to poor countries when we have poverty at home?" We should all respond that we need to do something about both. And we can if we have the will.
God calls His people to be a Royal Priesthood. God sets us apart. We have been lavishly blessed by God and this blessing comes with a responsibility. We have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. And as we let the Holy Spirit imbue our lives we produce a good fruit. The Bible says that the fruit of the spirit is joy, peace, forbearance, kindness goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These should be the qualities that others see in us. As Christians "fair is fair" should not be our standard. For a people as blessed as us, it should always be said that we are more than fair.
As a Christian in America we are doubly blessed. We live in a country with tremendous resources and the freedom to practice our beliefs as we are led. On top of that we have the blessings from God known by every Christian regardless of circumstance. With all of these blessings in our lives we need to remember to be more than fair with those we encounter so that the love of God can be seen through us by our words and deeds.
It seems like we are thick in the political season early this cycle. Emotions are running high and we still have three months to go. It seems that most people have their mind up and the logic goes like this, "I know that my candidate isn't perfect, they have flaws and I'm not happy about it, but the other is so so bad that they may very well destroy the country." The funny thing is that people have come to this conclusion from both sides. No matter who you are planning to vote for.
I sometimes think that we expect too much out of our politicians. We seem to want transformational leaders who will guide the country. We want to be motivated, but we would probably be better served by someone who will make the trains run on time. But you never know. In the presidential election of 2000 we never thought that we were selecting the person to lead us through 9/11 and into decades of war. We were arguing about how to spend the budget surplus.
And there is the decision. There is a balance between managing the affairs of the day and having the temperament to handle the big issues that inevitably arise.
And so we vote.
Not that we do a good job of it. The image of a corrupt politician is almost cliche. It seems like there is always one politician or another in trouble for illegal activities. In Illinois, four of the past seven governors have gone to prison. And that is just the illegal stuff. There are plenty of gray areas. Like passing a bill that helps a particular industry then leaving office and taking a high paying job working for one of those companies. It's not illegal, but it feels dishonest.
The thing is that all of these politician, the ones who go to jail, the ones who don;t get caught, the ones that use their influence for personal gain were elected by a majority of voters. I do believe that most politicians are in office to serve their community and work hard to represent us well. But the point is that we as voters are not that good at telling the good from the bad.
Probably we all need to take a deep breath and relax a bit. No matter how bad our choices are, our country is pretty resilient and is likely to come through ok. And as I type that last statement, I am asking myself if I really believe it. Based on the election coverage in the media it is easy to think otherwise.
As Christians we need to remember that we aren't electing a prophet or a spiritual leader. We have one already. We aren't electing a savior or a redeemer. We have one already. As a Christian I know that God is always with me. God is always on my side. God has not sold out to special interests. God does not need to get reelected. And no matter who gets elected, God will lead us through if we put our trust in him.
I think that Christians should vote and we should take our choices seriously, but we should remember that God is our true leader no matter who gets the most votes from the Electoral College.
It seems like when I was in college it was easy to make new friends, or more accurately there were a lot of opportunities to make new friends. Every semester meant a new set of classes, a new schedule, a new routine and the chance to encounter a new set of people. By contrast, adult life seems to have a pretty consistent pattern especially in a small town. There are the same circles of people with little to mix it up.
The thing about the college friends that were so plentiful in my younger life, is that those relationships were for the most part very fleeting. There would be people that I would see regularly for a time and as a result we would have conversations and do some things together. But then the semester would change and there would be a new shuffle of people and without the convenience of being around each other, the friendship withered.
Today there are definitely less opportunities to make new friends. The mix of people that I encounter does not shuffle that often. And living in a small town, when things do shuffle, they are inevitably still the same people, just in a different order. But by having the same people in our lives through several seasons there is a chance for the friendships to grow deeper. They were there for me when I was going through a tough time and I was there for them likewise. Over time the multitudes of shared experience grow deeper and a true, enduring experience results. The friendship becomes less like a wildflower blown on the wind and more like a solid oak with roots that can withstand a storm.
As Christians we need to strive to build our relationship with God into an enduring old friendship. Like all relationships, building a relationship with God comes from going through the events of life together. We celebrate the good times and lean in for comfort in the bad. All of these things give time for the roots to grow so that they are ready to hold when the storms arrive.
But of course, it does take time. No one expects a giant tree to grow over night. But we plant trees and we prune them and we let them grow and give them time. And when the storms come, it pulls on the roots and that strain helps the roots grow deeper and stronger than ever before.
In our backyard there is a big sugar maple tree. It is special because it is big and old and the only one around. There are many maple trees in our yard and on the state land next to us, but they are all red maples. All of them. What this tells me is that years ago, someone made the conscious decision to plant that tree. They cared for it and gave it the opportunity to grow into something special. Our relationship with God is like that. We make a decision. We care for it. We let it grow, It grows into something magnificent.
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