Overqualified

There is this episode from the TV series Seinfeld when the lead character, Jerry, delivers the mail for a postman who is sick.  In the show they get caught because Jerry does the Job too well.  The post office noticed that too many people got their mail, so they were discovered.  (You can see the clip here.)

Jerry:  I tried my best.
Newman:  Exactly, you're a disgrace to the uniform.

But outside of a comedy it is hard to imagine doing your job too well.  You are on time too often.  You make too few mistakes.  Your work is done too early.  You have too many good ideas.  These are not normally problems in the workplace.

So doing your job too well isn't a problem, but being overqualified for the job is.  When applying for a job, some employers won't hire you if you are too well qualified for a position.  Which on the surface seems crazy and unfair, but employers have their rationale.  They think that if you take a job for which you are overqualified, you will be bored and looking for something better.  They think that in a short time you will be gone and they will be back to hiring again.

Some places won't hire the overqualified because of their pay structure.  For your level of experience and education or training they would need to pay you much more than someone with less experience.  And this is true from schools to professional sports teams, they can only have so many people making the top wages.

But that doesn't change the frustration that comes with the "overqualified" label.  When you are looking for a job, any job, and you find that if you had taken a few less classes then maybe you could get your foot in the door.

One area that I never hear the claim of over qualification is when we feel a call the God is placing on our life.  Think about it.  Have you ever heard someone say, "I felt God calling me to act and I said to myself, 'No problem God, this will be a piece of cake.  Sit back and take a break God, I can do this on my own.'?" 

Me neither.  Usually when someone describes a call from God it is in the context of a position for which they feel under prepared.  This will be a challenge but by leaning on God we will make it.  Because that is how God works.  Each of us as we take our first steps along the Christian path are ready to do significant work for the kingdom of.  We are ready to have an impact on the world around us.  We are ready to let the love of God shine through us.  We just also need to be ready to lean on God in that process.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

God calls us to have an impact in the world around us.  We don't deserve His attention in this way, but there it is.  No matter where we are in our Christian walk, God is ready to take the next step with us today.

Then Let Them Eat Cake

The story goes that during the days before the French Revolution advisers to the monarchy told the king and queen that the people were unhappy because there was no bread to eat.  To which Queen Marie Antoinette responded, "Well then let them eat cake."

Like most legends of this kind, there is serious doubt as to whether she ever actually made the statement.  But it has been attributed to her enough that it really sums up the indifference that the French aristocracy had towards the lower class.  The idea that the aristocracy were so out of touch that not only had they never been without, they could not even conceive of it.

We get a laugh when those at the top are shown to be spectacularly out of touch.  On the TV show "Downton Abbey" when it was suggested that they meet on the weekend, the Dowager Countess replied, "What is a week-end".  Then there are stories of politicians who are amazed at how grocery scanners work or don't know how many houses they own.  Many politicians go out of there way to show that they have that common touch.  So they eat their Philly cheese steak sandwich and drink a beer in a bowling alley before they get back into their SUV motorcade and head to the airport and climb aboard the private jet.

The point is not to pick on rich people.  The point is that we can all become indifferent to the things that are around us.  There are things that we see every day and we become used to them.  Or it is a situation that based on our life experiences doesn't even seem like a problem.  One summer when I was working at camp, the camp director posed a challenge to the staff.  The challenge was not only to be willing to help, but also to be watchful.

You see everyone who works at the camp would be willing to help.  If that wasn't in your nature, you never would have applied for the job.  But the challenge was to be watchful for opportunities.  The challenge was to be invested enough so that needs became evident and then assign yourself the job of taking care of them.

As Christians we have a similar call towards the world around us.  Every day we pass those who are in need.  The needs may be physical, economical or spiritual, but the needs exist.  The trick is for us to be watchful of these needs.  We need to see these needs for what they are and assign ourselves the job of letting these people see the love of God through us.  Too often though we are telling the world to eat cake, when they are in desperate need of the bread of life.

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

It is the mission of every Christian to show love; first to God then to each other.  We need to look for those opportunities to show God's love to those around us who need to see it, and then assign ourselves the job of letting that love shine through us.

Simple Solutions

Have you heard of "life hacks".  Life hacks are simple, inexpensive solutions to every day problems or inconveniences.  There are websites devoted to these ideas,  (Here Here and Here for example.) So we can use a spoon to keep a pot from boiling over or a cleaned out ketchup bottle to cleanly dispense pancake batter or make an iphone speaker from a paper towel roll or use a sticky note to clean dust out of the computer keyboard.  Sure, a lot of these are solutions to problems that we didn't even know that we had but still when we hear them we say, "Oh, that's clever."   Too bad all of life's problems can't be solved with a hack.

Many of our bigger societal problems can't be solved with a simple hack.  Humans are complicated and society's problems even more so.  Lily Eskelsen Garcia, who is president of the National Education Association, recently related a story where a businessman she was sitting next to on a plane asked her to summarize the one thing that we needed to fix education in this country.  Her response was that we needed less people to believe that the education system could be fixed by doing one thing.

Politicians often try to offer us simplistic solutions to complicated problems.  Then they go to draft the actual law and it's 1000 pages long and full of legalese.  But we can't be too hard on the politicians here.  We collectively have the attention span of a gnat.  When politicians try to give thorough answers to questions, we all tune out before they are half way done.  And then to make matters worse, their political opponents will take part of the explanation out of context and use it against them. 

But fortunately some problems do have solutions that even if they aren't easy, they are simple.  As Christians we are called to be a light in a world full of darkness.  And that is a pretty daunting challenge.  We look at the world and see the problems of poverty and hate and disease and corruption.  We see terrorism at home and abroad.  We see world wide problems of climate change and food shortages and energy allocation.  We see cultural problems such as our desire to meet our spiritual needs through buying the next new thing or the deeper problems of drug addiction and racism. 

We see all of these things and it provides a cloud over society that we as Christians are called to shine through.  But as challenging as the call, the solution is pretty simple.  We shine through it all in the same way that Jesus did.  The same way that the disciples did.  The same way that countless Christians have helped countless people for two thousand years.  One person at a time.  

We may not be able to solve the problems of the world, but we can let others see the love of God through our actions.

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

We all know someone who needs to see the love of God.  So one day at a time, one person at a time, we let God's love show through us.  So that one by one we help bring light to a dark world.  And while not easy, it is pretty simple.

Interchangeable Cogs

I was watching a Tigers game the other night against the Chicago White Sox.  The Chicago pitcher was James Shields who they recently acquired through a trade with San Diego.  It was not going well for the Chicago pitcher.  In his couple of starts since the trade he had given up a number of runs and the crowd was none to happy.  So this got me thinking.  Why would everyone expect that things would go well right away.

Imagine if your boss came to you one day and said that you are being transferred across the country. Today.  If you go home and pack, you should be able to make your plane.  I know professional athletes are well compensated for this way of life, but he is still a human being.  We can't expect that we can pluck a person from here, drop them there and have no hiccups.  But so often, that is exactly what we do.

Human beings are complex,  We can often think about one aspect of a personality and ignore all of the ways that external influences can change how we do what we do.  Fun Fact:  There is a federal law that requires all states to develop a plan for moving their most highly rated teachers to the schools with the most needy students.  Another Fun Fact:  I don't think that any state actually developed a plan, and I am sure that no state ever implemented one.  And why would they?

As people we all come with an assortment of strengths and weaknesses.  The traits that makes me successful in a rural high school may not transfer to a large suburban or inner city school.  There is no reason to suspect that this would work.  

I know that other professions do this as well.  Many people speak of the "Peter Principle".  This is the idea that people are moved into a position because they were successful at the last position.  It is like saying that because I have been a successful teacher, then I should be made principal, when they are really very different jobs.  According to the Peter Principle, people are promoted until they are in a job that they are ill suited for and do not perform well.

Each of us has a role to play.  God blesses each of us with the fruit of the spirit, but beyond that there we have areas of talents and passions in which we thrive.  Many churches speak of "knowing our spiritual gifts".  Each Christian is called to use our gift for the greater mission of the church, to show God's love for the people of the world through us.

Look at this passage from the book of Romans - Chapter 12

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

We all have a role to play.  Each of us.  We are not interchangeable cogs in a great machine, but rather people with unique abilities specially gifted for a purpose.  The kingdom of God and all of humanity is for the better when we each use our abilities where we are called.

Real Change

So making a change is hard and most people don't like it.  We are familiar with the environment around us and small differences can stand out in an uncomfortable way.  Pay attention to people's reactions the next time that they decide to rearrange the chairs in the church sanctuary.  Now, if you ask me the real advantage to a traditional church sanctuary with permanent pews is that no one can move them around, but we live in a different age.

So people come in and there is this moment of panic.  In the place where they usually sit, by the people they usually sit with; is now an aisle.  They look for a new landing spot, which is inevitably somebody else's preferred spot.  And the chaos continues.  We are told this is good for us to get out of our comfort zones.  But I can't help notice that the one who tells us this is standing in the exact same spot on the stage that he stands every single week.

And it's not just seating.  There are countless other changes that we find ourselves resistant to.  Maybe that product is in a new package.  Or the TV show you like is on at a different time.  Or a software update that eliminates or moves a feature that you like.  The list goes on an on.  If you want a great example of our intolerance to change, ask a Star Wars fan if they like the theatrical releases or the later versions reedited by George Lucas.  And while you're at it, ask if they think Han shot first.

But all of these changes are small potatoes.  If someone sitting in your seat or the re-release of a favorite film can cause this type of stress, how do we have a chance to pull of wholesale, fundamental, life altering changes in the ways that we live our lives.

We live our lives day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year and as we go on we make our plans and decisions and pretty much do what we do.  But if we want something different, we need to make a conscious decision to make it different.  And that is change.  And change is hard.

In the life transformation business, there is no better support coach than God.  As Christians we know that God's plan for our lives is way better than what we have in mind.  God sees farther than we can and knows us even better than we know ourselves.  God is so invested in this plan for our future that he was willing to let his son die to make it a reality. 

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

Real change is daunting.  Our lives are made up of many day to day decisions.  Real, life altering change is more than moving out of our comfort zones.  And that is true no matter where we end up sitting.

A Bit of a Stretch

We used to have this squirrel that lived in the woods by us that would make these long falls onto our bird feeder.  The feeder is out in the open and has a squirrel baffle on it, but the squirrel would climb high into a tree with overhanging branches.  And Drop.  It would land on the feeder with a thunk and help itself to the harvest.  Sometimes we see the squirrels leaning out or going through all types of contortions to get the grain.  I guess that if you want it bad enough, it's worth a bit of a stretch.

Which reminds me of this old commercial for the telephone company (that's right, there was one telephone company).  It was centered on the jingle, "Reach Out and Touch Someone." It's hard to remember a time when people needed encouragement to use their phones.  But there it was, a commercial that brought our focus on to making connections through our phones.  Now the commercials are about how quickly or how cheaply we can make those connections.  But it's still all about reaching out and making those connections.  If you want it bad enough, it's worth reaching out.

So on the one hand we have telecommunications filling in for the actual contact that we may be missing.  But what is the opposite of this?  Would it be substituting brief moments of contact for an actual relationship.  If you follow a celebrity on twitter or instagram or facebook, you may feel like you are getting to know the celebrity, but you are still a long long way from an actual relationship.  Or at concerts, the fans line the stage reaching out for a hand slap or a chance touch.  That physical contact, as brief as it is, feels like a connection to the artist.  If you want it bad enough, you will reach for it.

So in the Bible there is this story of a woman who has had an infliction for 12 years.  She wants to be healed and she goes to Jesus.  She reaches believes that if she can just touch the hem of his robe, she will be healed.  And it works.  She makes the brief connection, but oh so much more,  Jesus speaks with her and commends her on her faith and says that it's her faith that has healed her.

Sometimes we are looking for that brief contact.  We have a crisis and we want to have God in the moment.  We want the Holy High Five and a cure to our problems.   But what is waiting for us is a relationship.  

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

God wants a relationship with us.  It requires a little bit of faith and a stretch out of our comfort zone.  But it we want it bad enough, we will reach for it.

Point of View

I heard a news story a few years ago about a particular forest in Germany.  It seems that during the early days of the Nazi Party, someone planted trees in the shape of their swastika symbol.  As these trees were planted in among other trees, they were largely unnoticed.  However, during a few weeks in autumn when the leaves change color, the symbol is very visible from the air.  This grove existed for decades after the end of World War II.  And while the enough trees have since been cut down to remove the symbol, the point is this; on the ground the grove looked very different than it did in the air.  It is one of many things that can be very different depending on how you look at it.  (Note:  I don't want to put a picture on the blog, but you can see the Wikipedia article here.)

It's amazing how differently people can see the same issue.  Depending on our political leanings or our profession or our closeness to the situation, we may have a vastly different interpretation of events than someone else.  

Take the recent news story about the child who fell into the Gorilla cage in Ohio.  There are very strong opinions about the handling of the situation.  Some people think that the animal handlers at the zoo did what they had to do.  Others think that they acted too hastily and more could have been done to save the animal.  Which side of the situation you identify with really depends on you.  What is your life history with children or parenting or animal rights.  And people from one point of view have a hard time seeing the other.

For every issue, how it affects us depends on how the perspective that we bring.

This is especially true in our walk with  God.  The relationship that we expect depends a lot on how we see God.  If we see God as judgmental and ready to condemn, then we have a relationship that is based on the fear of that retribution.

However, if we see God as the God of sacrifice, then we see God giving his all for our redemption.  We see God giving his best to build a relationship with us.  And then we expect nothing less from ourselves than giving God our best in return.

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

How we see God affects the relationship that we have from God.  Jesus Christ went to the cross to sacrifice himself, so that our redemption could be achieved.  And that perspective brings a much more comforting vision of the God we serve,

Home Field

Home Field Advantage.  Teams play better when they are playing on their home turf,  They are in front of their fans and hearing people cheer for them.  They got ready in their own locker room and came out on the field through their tunnel.  They slept at their own home and not some hotel.  And the difference is measurable.  In the NFL 57% of home games are won, in the NBA it's 60%.  So it is a real advantage.  But home is like that.

Home is a special place.  In our homes we decide the norms.  In our homes we eat the foods we want prepared in the ways that we want.  Our friends and family are the ones who stop by.  We decide if we take our shoes off when we walk in the door and whether or not we are going to use coasters under our drinks.  And there are a thousand more idiosyncrasies that make our homes a reflection of who we really are.

When we go out and about we can put on a good show and clean up just right, but home is home, and that's on us.

 

In the Bible, Matthew was a tax collector.  Which meant he was a traitor and a thief and associated with others who were outside of the Jewish inner circle.  Matthew had a lot of money and could have put on quite the air of respectability.  He would have the finest clothes and could look on the surface like he had it all together, but below was another story.  

Jesus called Matthew to be a disciple.  Matthew.  The tax collector.  Yes, that Matthew.

 And immediately Jesus went to Matthew's home.  There was a gathering of other tax collectors and prostitutes and Jesus went. They shared a meal.  He said that they were all welcome in the kingdom of God.  He let them know that salvation was open to them all.  He also let Matthew know that the transformation to being a disciple was to go all the way.

Matthew became a disciple.  This didn't mean that he played at it around the edges or just spoke up in the synagogues or gave money to the right charities.  To be a disciple is to be all in.  And that was the call that Matthew was answering.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

Jesus ate with sinners.  Jesus ate with tax collectors and prostitutes.  He let them know that the love of God was there for them as well.  And that message is true today.  It is an invitation of hope for sinners like you and me.