Did You Notice?

There was once a group of people who decided to "adopt a family" at Christmas time.  They pooled their money, did some shopping and wrapping and had collected quite a pile of presents.  So the day came to deliver.  And so they went.  All of them.  They were pretty proud of themselves after all. They had been working on this for a while and had been imagining how appreciative this poor family would be.  They wanted to see the look on their faces.

The receivers that night had quite a crowd on their porch.  Their reaction was one off shock and appreciation, sure.  But there was also some embarrassment mixed in to boot.  The whole situation turned pretty awkward.  Now there is no way to know what everyone's motivation was that night, but is curious that everyone felt a need to go.  At some level they wanted a little recognition for their troubles.

 

Motivation is a funny thing.  When helping someone in need, in some ways it doesn't matter at all. In other ways, it is the only thing that does matter.  It doesn't matter because, for those in need, if they get help it really doesn't matter the motive.  But for the one helping, it matters.  A Lot.  It matters because the answer to the motivation explains what you expect to get out of it.  

If your expectation for helping those in need is to be appreciated by the recipient or those around you, you may be a bit disappointed.  On the TV show Seinfeld one of the characters was putting money into a tip jar, but was discouraged that no one saw them.  They tried to do it again in a more obvious way so that they could get credit for what they gave, and the story went on from there.  Is it about the giving or the recognition?

A Christians we are called to meet the needs of others, not for a reward or a sense of recognition,but to meet the needs of others as God commands.  The Bible teaches that when we get Man's appreciation, then we have received our reward.  In Full.

As Christians we meet the needs of others because they are God's children too and God is glorified when His children help each other.  That's it.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes.  We all sin and fall short.  If we forgive and help each other, then, God is in a position to help us.

A Brief Presentation

There are people who want to take you n a free vacation.  They will fly you to a lovely community in Florida.  They will put you up in a lovely condominium, spring for golf, even provide your meals.  And it's all free.  The only thing that they want from you is that during your stay, you will listed to a brief presentation on the benefits of buying,  They sell shares in the resort and they want you to buy one.  It is a simple trade, you get a vacation and they get the chance to give you the pitch.

Different people have different opinions on these type of deals.  I know people who go to these all of the time.  They are up front saying that they have no intention of buying, listen to the pitch and go about there business.  Other people find the presentation so uncomfortable, they say that the vacation just isn't worth it.  

Most people who give something, want something.  The saying goes that there is no such thing as a free lunch.  Anyone who gives you something for free, usually has strings attached to it.  Many companies give away free stuff with their company logo.  What they want is the advertising.  You put their logo out where you go.  You tend to have a more favorable opinion of them and are more likely to buy from them later.  Advertising drives a lot of things in our world.  We will give you something, but there is a string, we want a bit of your attention.  It is the same deal as the vacation salesman, just on a smaller scale.

And don't get me wrong, I like the free stuff.  We have things with logos all over the place.  Our insurance company seems to have nice give-aways and I don't mind their logo being on it one bit.  But the object isn't a present, it's advertisement.  And there is a difference.

As Christians we are called to love without strings.  We are called to serve and meet people's needs without strings.  When we see people in need, whether it is a homeless person sleeping in a doorway or someone who is thirsty at a parade, we need to see them as people in need not as future parishioners.  Not as future customers.  

And it is a tough distinction to make.    As Christians, we believe that everyone would be better off living the life that Christ envisioned for us.  We want them to have the relationship that we have.  SO there is a line between helping with a motive and just helping,

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

Jesus didn't attach strings, he just loved people.  We are called to have that same attitude when serving others.  We are called to see a need and to fill it.  Through the service we express God's love for us.  That's it.  It's not a sales pitch, it's just a n act of love.  It's pretty simple really.

Prepping

Have you seen the TV show "Doomsday Preppers" ?  It is on the National Geographic channel and it features people making preparations to survive various improbable collapses of our society.  There is considerable debate as to whether the show is staged or real.  People ask, why go to such extremes to build a secret bunker, then show it to everyone on television?  And don't those contractors know where your secret bunker is?  The basic premise of each show that I have seen is 1. The end is coming. 2. We have this large stockpile.  3. We have the means to protect it. 

I have only watched the show a couple of times, so maybe there is more variation to it than that.  It would have been nice to see someone say, "If a disaster strikes, I can help a lot of my neighbors for a few days or even a week until help arrives." Now there is something worth prepping for.

Of course we could all have that same attitude, every day.  I was in Chicago this past week on a vacation.  As we were going from place to place, I was struck by the number of homeless that we saw.  Now I am told that some of them are not homeless, but con-artists trying to make a buck.  And I am sure that they concentrate in tourist areas where they are more likely to get money.  I think that most of them were people genuinely in need of help.  While we gave a some money to a few people, the enormity of the need was overwhelming.  I have to say that as we went down the street I felt a bit like the preppers.  What I have will provide for me.

It is hard to know what the "Christian" attitude should be towards the poor.  The Bible tells us about caring for the least of these, but it also says that we will always have the poor among us and that those who will not work should not eat.  I think that there is a big difference between can not work and will not work.  Some people because of their physical or mental issues simply can't hold down a job.  We want to treat poverty as a personal flaw in character of the impoverished.  We want to say, if I was in that situation, I would be different.  And maybe you or I would be different.  Maybe.  But then again, if you or I had the same personal history or the same mental afflictions, maybe we wouldn't be doing half so well.  Maybe.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

As Christians, I believe that we are called to seek out the needs in others and do what we can to help.  We need to look for needs in our family and church and community and world, and do what we can, when we can to make things a little bit better,  At one point this week I was giving a couple of dollars to one of the homeless on Michigan Avenue.  I can't say why I gave some to him and not others, but as I gave I thought, "I can't solve his problems or the greater poverty problem.  Not even close.  All I can do is make his life a little easier today." 

If we all do what we can do, maybe the world will be a little better.  Maybe.

Paper Companies

Remember Enron?  Enron was an energy company in the 1990's.  They were making bundles of money.  They employed 20,000 people and had a stock price that seemed to go up without limit.  But it was all a fake.  Well not everything.  They did employ all of those people and they did buy and sell energy and other resources, the fiction was in the profit.  Enron had created multiple other companies to hold the debt and liabilities for them.  These other companies didn't really exist.  They didn't have offices or employ people or have a company softball team, they existed only on paper.  Their purpose was to hide the bad stuff from investors and make Enron look more profitable than it really was.  These types of schemes always come to an end, and so did this one, taking the rest of the company out with it.

I think that many people set up "Paper Companies" in their own lives.  There is the public persona, the way we look to our friends, family and community; but then there is the other stuff.  The other stuff is not found on the public ledger sheet.  The other stuff is our personal liabilities that we want to shelter away and keep off the books so that our public value is not decreased.

A few weeks ago, we had part of a tree come down during a storm.  On the surface this tree looked like a healthy oak.  It turns out that the inside was hollow, with no support.  It was only a matter of time before it came crashing down.  Life is like that.

I think each of us has our own paper companies.  We have our personal issues that we would rather not share with the world.  I think that on a personal level, it isn't that important that it all be out in public.  But there does need to be a total, honest complete accounting between you, your paper companies and God.

God wants every part of us.  In the short term, it is easier to hide away the bad stuff.  But God wants our whole life and all that we do to be an act of worship to him.  It is only by bringing our whole life forward, the good and the bad, that we can move into a true relationship.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

The paper companies of Enron set them up for the inevitable fall.  Our issues that we try to hide from ourselves and God set us up too.  But unlike investors or government regulators, God already knows about our paper companies and false earnings reports.  God is ready to wipe away the debt as soon as our accounting is done.  

We Have Always Done It That Way

They say that the seven most expensive words in business are, "We have always done it that way."  We really are creatures of habit.  We can get into a way of thinking where what we are doing long outlives the why we are doing it.  These "costs" might be literal money or it may cost us the opportunity of having a greater impact.

There is this old joke where a new wife is cooking a roast.  She takes a knife and cuts off each end before putting it in the pan.  Her husband asks why she does this and is told, that it lets the juices flow better and her mother has always done it like that.  

Some time later they are at her mother's home.  She is cooking a roast and has cut the ends off.  The young husband asked his mother-in-law why.  She told him that it allows the heat into the center of the roast better and besides, her mother always did it that way.

More time passes and they are at Grandma's house.  She is cooking a roast.  Sure enough, she has the ends cut off.  The young husband sees this and asks her why.  She says "The roast that the butcher sells is a little too big for my pan. I have to cut the ends off so that it will fit." 

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian psychiatrist that famously explored stimulus and response.  He would ring a bell when he fed his dog.  After a while he could make the dog salivate while ringing the bell even if there was no food present.  

But we do the same thing.  As the leaves fall from the trees we get out the decorations because that is what we do.  We have always done __________ is a terrible reason to do it.  There needs to be a reason.  And that goes for change too.  Changing for no reason is no better than continuing on for no reason.  In some groups, changing is the tradition that they do, because they have always done that.

As Christians, our focus is on building relationships with God.  In each thing that we do, we need to ask ourselves if it helps do this.  Certain activities are traditions that are time honored and proven to help bring people closer.  These are true gems and need to be protected.  Other things were effective at one time, but haven't been in some time.  These need to be left behind so that more productive ministries can take their place.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

We need to be deliberate in what we do.  We can spend out lives going through the same motions that we always have or we can examine each event and see if it still serves its intended purpose effectively.

Not in My Wheelhouse

Like most people, there are some things that I am good at and others not so much.  I seem to have a knack for math and seeing patterns and numbers.  As a result some topics in science and some computer applications come pretty quickly.  Other areas, I have a passable set of skills.  I think that I can write tolerably (after all you are reading this blog) and my while my home improvement skills may not be up to code, at least the roof is not falling down. Then there are other areas from where I am better to keep my distance.  I could give some examples, but I have a repair to finish.

Self reliance can be a wonderful thing.  We all have abilities that we can draw on and use to provide for ourselves and solve our problems.  However there are some things that are beyond what we can do.  The expression "in my wheelhouse" is used in baseball to refer to a pitch that a hitter likes to see.  The expression comes from the wheelhouse of a ship.  It refers to those things that are under your control.  Some things are there and others are beyond the controls at hand.

This is true in our walk with God.  We are given many gifts and talents and we are called to use these for the Glory of God.  And while working in God's name can demonstrate His love, the real work; the true transformation is never accomplished by our works, but through the His redeeming power.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

There is a tough balance between trying to do it all under our own power and leading people to a place where Christ can do the heavy lifting.  There are many ministries that we can pull off.  There is much that we can do to relieve the suffering of others and express the love of God.  But, the loving grace needed to transform a life is outside our wheelhouse and inside that of Jesus Christ.

What Have You Done For Me Lately

Whitefish Point is a peninsula of land that sticks ten miles out into Lake Superior.  It is a popular destination for tourists interested in lighthouses and shipwrecks.  Every year it is also a focal point for the migration of birds going north into Canada.  By following the point, the distance necessary to cross the open water is ten miles shorter, and that's a good thing if you are a bird.  During the end of April and the Beginning of May, the skies can be filled with hundreds of hawks and other birds heading north.

On April I was there and along with the massive numbers of hawks, circling in the sky over head there were three golden eagles.  Golden eagles look much like our bald eagles except they have a black/gold coloring.  A few pass through the state each year, but they are far from common.  And here were three.  At one time.  Right over head.  It was cool to see.  But as time went on our attention went to other things.  There were massive numbers of other hawks around,  At one point someone pointed out, "You realize that there are three GOLDEN EAGLES flying over us now and none of us are even bothering to look at them." It seems that very quickly the amazing can turn into the ho hum.

The same is true in our walk with God.  It is amazing how quickly the spectacular can turn into yesterday's news.  When I was on the church board of directors, each meeting would start with a devotional time.  On one occasion, the leader went through his prayer journal and for each person there he reminded us of  some need we had been praying for and we talked about how that turned out.  It is easy to lose sight of all of the blessings in our life.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

It is easy to lose focus on what God has done and think more on what we want God to do now.  Like the Israelites, we can move quickly from seeing the Glory of God to thinking that we are all alone.  But that is no more true for us than it was for them.

ad majorem Dei gloriam

What is your motivation?  Why do you do what you do?

We all have reasons for doing what we do.  Money.  Power.  Love.  Fear.  Some are people pleasers.  They spend their life trying to make everyone around themselves happy.  Some people only focus on what will make them money or increase their power or influence over others.  Some people budget their time and resources based on an internal code of right and wrong.  They try to do what is right and act accordingly.

Why we are doing what we do is important. If someone comes up and gives me $100, I am going to want to know why.  What strings are attached to the money?  One winter day, we came home to find a plate of Christmas cookies left on our doorstep.  There was a few minutes where we couldn't figure out who had left them.  I remember thinking, "Until we know who left them, we aren't eating them." Now the cookies were from a neighbor and were much appreciated, but the lack of who or why made us uncomfortable.

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I recently finished a novel about a group of Jesuit Priests that after making contact with an alien race travel to another planet to meet "God's other children".  Their motivation is simple, ad majorem Dei gloriam, the greater glory of God.  For how many things in our life can we claim that as our motivation?

I go to work to make money and support my family.  I do yard work to make our house more enjoyable to live in.  I do my hobbies to relax and unwind.  I watch the Detroit Lions because...well I don't know why...probably out of habit.  In any case, how would life change if we could substitute "For the greater glory of God" as our motivation.  

I go to work for the greater glory of God.  I maintain my home for the grater glory of God.  I relax and spend time on hobbies for the greater glory of God.  The Detroit Lions....well you get the point.  I don't know how many of my actions would change, but the motivation sure would be different.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

We are called to lover our neighbors, feed the hungry, help the homeless; and we are called to do it all for the greater glory of God.  Without the right motivation, the church is like the Kiwanis or the Moose Lodge or any one of the many organizations that help the community.  And they are good groups that do good work in the community.  

The difference between a church and a community organization is all about motivation.  When the glory of God is the motivation, it enriches the soul of the server and one being served.  And that is a big difference.

The Good Ol Days

This past week I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my younger years.  This has been due to the unrelated deaths of two people who were close to me when I was growing up.  Due mostly to geographical distance I have not seen either of these people much in recent years.  So with their passing, I have found myself thinking back .  It is funny haw selective our memories work.  We pull out distinct images and general impressions.  Feelings and a few specific incidences.  And with those flash backs come the feelings that come with it.

On facebook I have seen in various forms a post that goes "Who remembers this?" and there will be some item that was once common and now nonexistent.  Like an old song these images take us back to younger years and simpler times.

Some people have a different experience when they reflect on the past.  They encounter the regret that won't let them go.  We know the good old days weren't always good.  We all have places in our past that we would like a do over.  Some people let the demons of the past block their access to a bright future.  Obstacles of the past can be like the troll guarding the bridge, always blocking our way to the future.

The good old days weren't always good.  That is true for all of us.  We need to acknowledge the past mistakes without letting it prevent our access to a brighter future.  We need to move beyond our past, without being blind to it.  

But luckily, God cares more about where we are going than where we have been.

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

God isn't as concerned about where we were as where we are and where we will be.  That is truly Amazing Grace.

Remembering and Forgetting

We are heading into another holiday weekend.  The weekend of the fourth is a time of celebration.  Festivals, parades and fireworks are the order of the day.  It also seems to be the start of the summer tourist season.  Some people say summer starts with Memorial Day or on the Solstice, but I think that its the Fourth.  It just seems that the tourist season kicks into higher gear afterwards.  This is a mixed blessing in a small northern town.  On the one hand, I know that the local economy couldn't survive without the tourist trade.  The visitors are renting canoes and tubes; they are eating in restaurants; they shop in our stores and stay in our hotels.  So we absolutely need them to come.  BUT, it sure does get crowded.

Of course there is more to the fourth than the kick off to the tourist season.  Over 200 years ago a group of people said enough was enough already.  They couldn't live under the rule of King George, so they made a Declaration and set this nation on its course.  It was neither the start, nor the end of the struggle.  The fighting had been going on for some time and continued well after.  The question of what freedom is and how it should be applied is a question we continue to struggle with to this day,  We struggle between the rule of the majority and the rights of the minority.  I believe it is the struggle itself that defines our nation.  And like summer tourism is kicked off with the Fourth, I think that this defining struggle began on the fourth, so long ago.

So on this day we remember this first of many defining moments as a country.  And while we remember, there are some things that are better left forgotten.  War is a nasty business and tends to bring out the worst in both sides.  While we remember the bravery and the sacrifice, we need to put the rest behind us and move on.  There are many countries that we have fought with, that today are allies.  Great Briton is first among these.  Germany and Japan were bitter enemies once.  Even Vietnam is a trading partner and hosts Presidential visits.  The news last night talked about our new openness with Cuba. When we put the past behind us, new possibilities can define the future.

Remembering and forgetting can be a good analogy to our walk with God.  We need to remember the blessings of God.  We need to remember the peace the passes all understanding and the hope that we find.  At the same time, we need to forget ourselves.  We need to forget the parts of our history that separate us from God's intentions for our lives.  As long as we hold on to the grudges of the past, we can never move into the future.

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

The Fourth of July is about freedom.  God gives us that freedom and true independence.  Our part is to forget the parts of our past that hold us back.