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.

Everything Before the But

How many times have you heard (or maybe spoken) a phrase that went something like this....

     I'm not a person who holds a grudge, but.....

     I believe that everyone should get a second chance, but .....

     I know that we can't lump everyone together, but...

We are making a point and feel bad about making generalizations.  The generalizations reveal our prejudices.  And they may not be racial prejudices.  It could be feelings about the people in the next town or people in a different economic class than us.  (Sure there are some rich people who don't let it go to their head, BUT most think that they are better than us.) (There are some people who really need public assistance, BUT most could get a job if they wanted to.)

I have heard it said that everything before the BUT is a lie.  I'm not sure that I believe that, BUT it seems that our true opinions are reflected in the second half.

The problem with the BUT is that it gets in the way of our being honest with ourselves.  We see ourselves for something that we are not.  If we are truly going to love our neighbors, we need to acknowledge that our prejudices exist and work through them.  We can't pretend that we are the ones who have none.

I think that a good start is that anytime that we are making a but statement, we need to try to turn it around.  

     Instead of saying "I am not someone who holds a grudge, BUT what they did is unforgivable"  We should say "What they did is unforgivable, BUT I am not someone who holds a grudge."

   Instead of saying "I believe that everyone should get a second chance, BUT this is just too much." We should say, "They have made this mistake before, BUT I believe that everyone deserves a second chance." 

I think by turning around the statement we focus more on the exception than the rule.  We see individuals more than groups.  We see how people can overcome their circumstances, not be defined by them.

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

Everything that comes before the BUT doesn't count.  In the hymn Amazing Grace we sing:

     I once was lost BUT now I'm found.

     was blind BUT now I see.

In our relationship with God, what comes first doesn't matter.  The only thing that matters is what comes next.  I am a sinner BUT now I am forgiven.  God knows what part of the statement belongs after the BUT and we should too.

Uncommon Courtesy

There has been a lot of buzz lately about race.  It seems like there always is.  Between that woman in Washington who was pretending to be a different race, to the shootings in South Carolina, to the ongoing debate about displaying the confederate flag; the subject of race in American society is a wound that never heals.  When we elected a black president, there were those who spoke as if the problems of race were behind us.  That was, of course, ridiculous.  In 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul talks about the thorn in his flesh.  Racism is America's thorn.

Over the years, I have come to the opinion that I really know nothing about racism in America.  I am a middle-aged, middle-class white man.  Our society is pretty much formatted to work out for me.  I can't say that I knowingly have prejudice against those of other races or cultures, but it honestly comes up so infrequently, who knows.  I do think that we need to do a better job of listening to the opinions of others.  Courtesy, manners, respect, these things cost us nothing and can go a long way.

I think that we need to acknowledge how little our opinions count in some of these issues.  When a rich white guy is telling Native Americans that the name "Redskins" isn't offensive, he's wrong.  When white politicians in South Carolina tell black people that flying the Confederate flag and naming things after Civil War generals isn't offensive, they're wrong.  We don't get to decide what offends our neighbors.  Good manners involves making those around you feel at ease.  If they find it offensive, and you know it, you should go out of your way not to do it.  That is what courtesy is all about.

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus  tells us that we need to rise above our prejudices and help those around us.  We are called to love our neighbors, even when our neighbors look different, speak different and have different values than our own.  After all Jesus died for them too.

Choosing the Right Neighbors

There is a poem about hedging your bets that starts, "Always trust you fellow man and always cut the cards."  I first read it in the book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten  by Robert Fulghum.  It is reprinted here if you are interested in reading it.   One line in the poem goes, "Always love thy neighbor.  And always pick a good neighborhood to live in."  Loving thy neighbor is easy when your neighbors are easy to love.

They say that the three most important things to consider in real estate are location, location, location.  When picking a place to live the surroundings are at least as important as the dwelling itself.  How close are the houses to each other?  What school district?  How often are the police called?  

Some people live in gated communities.  There is a fence around the whole thing and a guard out front sending away those who do not belong.  Other communities don't have a physical gate but only certain types of people live there and the "wrong type" of visitor may be stopped and asked ther business.  In small towns the "gate" comes from the fact that you know the people around you and strangers have a tendency to stick out.  I remember when we were house shopping and we were driving out to look at a house that was listed.  We were on a dirt road a ways back, and a man walks out to the road and stops us.  He asked if he could help us (evidently people didn't come down this road very often).  He was friendly and helped us figure out where the house was.  It seems that we had found the gatehouse for that community.

I think there are a lot of problems that don't get solved because people have an attitude that says, "It's not my problem, It's their problem."  There are a lot of problems that are fixable when we all pitch in.  There was a big storm yesterday.  Down the road there were large tents set up for an Amish wedding going on today.  The tents didn't fare well.  They were blown over and tables and chairs and plates were all scattered. The neighbors dropped everything and ran to help and by suppertime, things were back together.  We need to have that same attitude of working together in all of our relations.

Loving thy neighbor is easy when your neighbor is easy to love.  Loving they neighbor is easier when your neighbor is like you.  But (and there is always a but) God calls us to love our neighbor when it isn't easy.  If we define who our neighbor is in very broad terms, then our calling is different.  In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus teaches that our neighbor is anyone around us who has a need, whether or not they look like us.

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

"Always love thy neighbor.  And always pick a good neighborhood to live in."  It is probably prudent advice for buying real estate, but God calls us for more.  We need to be watchful for those who have needs and see their problems as our problems.  That's what being neighborly is all about.

Being Neighborly

A neighbor is more than just the people around you.  I went to a large high school in the suburbs of Detroit.  There were 435 people in my graduating class. So there were a lot of people around me that I just never knew.  One day in college, I met a girl in the library.  We were getting along pretty well and discovered that we were both in that graduating class, just never knew each other. It probably had something to do with our last names starting with vastly different letters.  There is more to being neighbors than just being around each other.

Of course being a neighbor is more than knowing each other too.  A friend once described being from a small town with "You don't need to know the person, just their business."  The idea of being a neighbor implies more than knowing who each other is, but rather it involves being there when the neighbor is in need.  

This idea of being a neighbor is what is described in the story of the Good Samaritan.  A person is robbed, beat up and left in a ditch.  People pass by and ignore him. That includes those from his town, the town leaders and priests.  It was the traveler from Samaria, a looked down on people, that stepped up and helped the injured man.

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

Jesus said to love our neighbors as our selves.  Being neighborly is showing love to those around us is such a way that the love of Christ is shown through us. That is what it means to be neighborly.

Selling Yourself Short

As a teacher I am not very good at self promotion.  One of a teacher's roles is to be a promoter of the students and the school.  So there is a natural sense to pull oneself into the background and let the student take the spotlight.  Which makes the end of the year evaluation a little uncomfortable.  I am talking here about my evaluation by the principal, After sitting in on a class, the principal and I go through a long list of traits and score how I am doing.  I find building myself up to be uncomfortable, but there are many things that go on that the principal wouldn't see.  So if I don't tell him, how would he know.

In the world of business, self promotion is part of the game.  Whether you are in business for yourself or working for someone else, at some point you have to say, "I can do that." and put yourself forward.  It isn't just declaring an ability, but saying that you can do it better than others who can also do it.  

A friend once relayed a story to me.  He had a friend that was a petroleum engineer for a large oil company.  At one point he is in a meeting with the top people at this company.  Most of the people in the room made 10 time or even 100 times his salary.  He found himself thinking, what is the difference between them and me?  He thought that he could surely do the job that they were doing.  So how did they end up on that side of the table while he was still on this one.  He realized that the answer was self promotion.  The skill that they had, which he did not, was the ability to sell themselves as having the ability to make a difference in that position and putting themselves there.  He thought that in the corporate world, self promotion is one of the keys to advancement.

 

Christians have a calling that is different than what the world demands for success.  Christians are called to put ourselves in the background and God in the foreground.  When we say that our lives should bring God glory, that means that the achievements in our lives need to help others appreciate God not us.  And to be honest, if self promotion is difficult, selling myself short is even more so. 

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

The idea of the Christian life is to make God look good.  That means that we need to sell our selves short so that the promotion goes to Him.  It is said that if you don't look out for number one, than who will?  Well, God will for starters.  

Not Fitting In

One day when I was in college I was walking across campus with some friends and we passed by a small group of protesters.  They were holding signs and what not.  One of the people in the group had long dreadlocks, tattoos and piercings (this was before tattoos and piercings were as common as today).  Then I noticed that I knew this guy.  We had been is scouts together when we were younger and we had worked together at summer camp.  I actually knew him pretty well.  So I went over to talk to him and catch up.  The friends that I was walking with were a bit surprised that I knew someone "like that".

A few years later, I was traveling in California.  The same friend was living out there in Berkeley. I stopped and stayed with him a couple of days.  The person who was traveling with me was a bit taken back by our host's appearance, but said nothing.  Until we had been there two days, when he comes up to me and says, "You know your friend, he's really all right."  In our society we are quick to judge by outward appearances.  While piercings and tattoos have become more mainstream, we still judge.  In some circles, the lack of tattoos and piercings is probably a social stigma.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear that in Berkeley they were saying about me, "your friend is a bit plain, but he seems all right anyway."

As much as we can be separated by appearance, a larger barrier can be our attitudes and values.  My friend had an appearance that was different, but he was the same person inside.  

I once heard a speaker talk about priority systems of the various social classes.  I personally grew and live in the middle class.  This of course affects the way that I see the world.  According to the speaker, the upper class or über-rich place a high value on status.  If I were to become suddenly wealthy and bought a home in that neighborhood, it would be virtually impossible to break into their society.  In their circles, association with someone "like me" would lower their social standing.  We see the world differently.

 

As Christians we are called to have attitudes that are different than our class or upbringing.  We are called to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, and think of others more than ourselves.  This attitude is different in every social class, but it is the embodiment of the way that Christ lived while here on the Earth.  It is what we are called to be.  We are called to live a life that causes others to think, "That person is a little different."

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

Thinking of others before ourselves is a peculiar way to be in our society.  But that is exactly what we are called to do. 

Connections

There is an odd experience that comes from growing up in the city and moving to a small town.  It is the realization that there is this connectedness that permeated the town.  Everyone is connected to each other in several different ways.  The people that you work with are also neighbors and you go to the same church and you run into them some place.  Oh, and that other person that you know is their brother.  As a transplant, I found myself wishing that I had some type of chart that would show how everyone was connected.  I have lived in this same small town for over 20 years, and I still find myself surprised by relations that I never know existed.

There used to be a tv show called "Connections".  It wasn't about people, but about technology.  It would show how one technological advancement logically led to the next until there was something completely unexpected.  In one episode, they began with the invention of the plow.  This led to improvements in pottery to store the grain, and writing to mark the stored grain and surveying and geometry to mark out plots of land and tools to work the soil and dig canals and reinforce canals and then all of a sudden......pyramids.  Which use all of the skills needed for agriculture in a different way.  Much like relationships in a small town, just because relationships aren't obvious, doesn't mean that they aren't there.

Similar to these other types of connections, Christians first of all share a connection to each other.  There is a certain fellowship of believers.  Even among Christians with different traditions.  and denominations, there is still a recognition that we are all in this together.

There is also a connection that Christians have to the past.  When we read the Bible, we hear the stories of thousands of years of the history of God's people.  And it doesn't seem to matter that my ancestors do not come from Israel, as Christians we automatically seem to connect that history to ourselves.

But there is one more very unique connection that Christians make.  

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

As Christians we make a peculiar connection to God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  This peculiar connection sets us apart from everyone else in a very peculiar way.

Except You and Me

There is this old one liner that goes, "Everyone here is crazy except me and you.  And frankly I'm not sure about you." We always use ourselves as the measuring stick of rational behavior.  Anyone who deviates from the mold that we have made is a bit different.  A friend once was telling me about an argument that he was having with his girlfriend at the time.  She said to him, "Why can't you just be normal?" His response was. "I thought I was normal.  It seems like it's everyone else that has a problem." Maybe we all feel that way a bit.

So the term "normal" seems to be up for interpretation.  When I had a psychology class in college, the professor asked us to define "normal".  We quickly came to definition relating to the behavior that the majority of people would do in a particular circumstance.  Which brought his next question, "If most people would cheat on their taxes, does that make an honest person abnormal"?  So normal isn't that easy.

I live in a small town.  Now I'm not sure if people in every small town feel this way, but in this town it feels like we have an above average number of characters per capita.  I once pointed this out to a friend saying, "Doesn't it seem like there are a lot of odd people living in this town?" He said, "Well, you would know about odd." I'm not sure what he meant by that.

Everyone has something that makes us unique.  So in some ways, being different is the most "normal" thing that anyone can do.  In the book of first Peter, God's people are described as being peculiar.  And in many ways we are.  But peculiar does not just mean odd, though there can be plenty of that.  No, peculiar means special.  Peculiar means set apart from the rest in a special way that makes it important.  If you think about it, you don't out any old ordinary rock into a collection.  You are looking for the one that stands out,

God's people are peculiar.

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

God sets His people apart.  We are set apart to impact this world in a different sort of way.  We are set apart to let Godá love shine through us,  In that case, being a peculiar people isn't so bad after all.

No Contest

In a trial there is a plea between guilty and not guilty called "No Contest".  As I understand it, a person who pleads "No Contest" is not saying that they did the dead, but they are willing to accept the penalty anyways.

At first this seems odd to me.  Why would someone be willing to serve a sentence for a crime that they did not commit?  One reason could be that the person did actually commit the crime, however if they testify to it, there are other liabilities.  For instance, they could be sued by a victim.

  

A second reason could have to do with the strain of being accused of a crime.  The wheels of justice turn slowly.  You have been accused.  Your reputation has been damaged, you are paying legal bills and what you most want is for it all to be over with so that you can start putting your life back together.  So there it is.  The light at the end of the tunnel.  There is a chance to put this behind you and move on.  

Once I heard a pastor describe a third reason that an innocent person would accept a punishment for a crime that they didn't commit is that they know who did commit the crime and they are willing to take the place of the guilty.  If you are going to be honest, you can't say that you are guilty when you aren't.  But you can accept the penalty.  

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

Jesus could have gotten himself out of the bind.  In a word he could have saved himself.  But he would have lost us all in the process.  He did not defend himself, he took the blame and said that he would serve the penalty in our stead.

Let's Roll

On September 11, 2001 a scene played out in the skies over Pennsylvania.  Having heard of the plane crashes in New York and Washington, a group of passengers on flight 93 decide to take back control of their plane.  One passenger, Todd Beamer, who was talking on the phone with a customer service representative, was over heard saying to his fellow passengers "Let's Roll".  Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.  Who knows where it would have crashed and how many would have otherwise died.

I wonder if the passengers of Flight 93 knew that they would likely die, or if they believed that they could save the plane.  It really doesn't matter because the risk was obvious and yet they stood up and did what needed to be done.  

There are countless stories of soldiers stepping up and putting themselves on the line.  The soldier that draws the enemy fire, goes back for an injured comrade, throw them self on a grenade.  They say, "Let's Roll"and get at it.

In the book, "The Knight", author Gene Wolfe tells the story of a man who awakes to find himself in a medieval world.  He is learning from a Knight who tells him that a knight must do as honor demands and never count his foes.  I have thought of that phrase over the years.  Never counting your foes means that just because the consequences are dire, does not mean that a wrong decision becomes a right one.  

Sometimes a job needs doing.  Such was the case with Jesus' return to Jerusalem.  It was ill advised and wrought with peril.  His closest friends were telling Him it was a bad idea,  But there was a job that needed to be done.  Humanity needed to be reconciled and Jesus was the one to do it.  

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

There was a task that needed doing.  Humanity had a case of spiritual leprosy that was causing a separation with God.  There was only one person who could do the job.  It required the ultimate sacrifice and Jesus looked at his disciples and said, "Let's Roll."

Keep Your Distance

One time there was a flu outbreak at school.  One student was sick and several friends went over to her house for a movie, then they gave it to their friends and so on.  No one really knew that it was happening until Monday morning and a third of the students were missing.  As the day went on, more and more students went home sick.  When a student with glassy eyes and runny nose would show up to the door, the message was go home, keep your distance and don't breathe on anyone.  The bug was spreading so fast and hit so hard, I for one wanted no part of it.

Eventually the flu ran its course, though school was closed for three days.  I was thinking about this experience last year when the Ebola outbreak was in the news.  When I was facing the flu, I really didn't want to catch it.  But I also knew that I would most certainly get over it, I would suffer through it, but I would make it.  This is not the same with Ebola.  Most people who get it die from it and it is a very unpleasant death.  It really makes me think about those who go to treat them.

Which brings us to leprosy.  In Biblical times, that was the disease to be feared.  In our modern times, it is called Hanson's Disease and is treatable, but not back in the day.  It was contagious, deadly and meant a life of separation from others.  In Biblical times leprosy was seen as something different than a disease.  It was thought to be the result of sin.  It was something from which to be cleansed, not healed.  

Those without a relationship with God are like lepers in a spiritual sense.  They are separate from God, out on their own.  But the condition is treatable.

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

Imagine living in Biblical times and discovering that you had leprosy.  It would be heart wrenching knowing that in front of you is not only physical suffering, but also a life of isolation.  

In matters of the heart, God has the ultimate antidote.  It is not necessary to live separate from Him.  Healing is only a prayer away.

In Too Deep

The school year is quickly coming to a close.  Students are getting a bit stir crazy and they have summer dreams in their heads.  And as the students are looking at their grades there are the inevitable visits to the teacher.  "I need to get my grade up, what can I do?"

Unfortunately, sometimes there just isn't much to be offered.  Several months of poor performance can't be corrected overnight.  Sometimes they just need to face the music and learn a lesson from it.

At the end of the baseball season, everyone is talking about the magic number.  The number of wins (or opposing team loses) needed to clinch first place.  The other side of the magic number is mathematical elimination.  Once you are mathematically eliminated, it doesn't matter if you win the rest and they lose the rest, there is just no catching them.  It is over.  The ship sailed and you weren't on board.  Some teams are eliminated quite early in the season and others run it out to the end, but the result is the same.  When you're out, you're out.

Many things in life are like that.  The debt is too deep; We've gone too far in the wrong direction; the damage is done; there is no going back.  Thankfully God doesn't work that way.  In Corinthians, Paul writes that love does not keep score.  No matter how far we sink.  No matter how low we go, we never get mathematically eliminated from returning to the grace of God.

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

Our sins are never beyond the ability of God to cleans our soul and bring us back. Amen.

A Closer Look

I once went on a tour of a professional research lab.  As part of the tour they showed us an ant that they had placed under an electron microscope.  The detail was amazing.  The exoskeleton was smooth with small hairs sticking out at places.  The exoskeleton was dimpled around the hairs.  The eyes and the antennae were particularly interesting.  It is amazing how things look if we just look close enough.

The first microscopes were invented in the 17th century and they have been getting better ever since.  It seems the difference between a good microscope and a cheap one is its ability to collect light.  Cheap microscopes have poor lenses that don't let much light in.  They also have a mirror on the base so that the user has to reflect the available room light in.  The better ones have their own light and high quality lenses.  When the light is good, the details emerge.

And that's true for more than microscopes.  Telescopes and cameras, in fact all optical devices, live and die with their ability to collect and manipulate light.  

The same is true in our Christian walk.  How much of our character is revealed is directly related to the degree to which we let the light of God shines through us.  We can walk in the darkness, but so much more is evident when we walk in the light.

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

Light reveals.  It shines through us and allows us to see the dirt in out hearts that needs to be cleaned.  And we could all use a bit of that.