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Granddaughter Gazing

January 24, 2012

WORDS FROM W.W. January 24, 2012

Someone once said that “Grandkids are God’s reward for not killing your own children when they were teenagers.” It’s an extreme statement that has a hint of truth in it.
Yesterday I was asked by my oldest daughter and son-in-law to watch my granddaughter Reagan (good presidential name) for most of the day while they were at work. Reagan turns one on February 9. She’s walking light a shaky tightrope performer, and climbing stairs with a safety net shaped like an adult trailing behind.
It was a wonderful day of watching, mimicking, and warmly-confusing communication. I found myself fascinated with her alertness, how she played, and the different noises and partial words that she shared.

Psalm 139:1-2 “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.”

She had a couple of “little people” that she was having some kind of conversation with. She brought them to me, put one in my hand, took it back out of my hand, put it back in my hand….you get the picture. As an adult who is purpose-driven I was trying to put some kind of purpose to the action. “What does this mean? What is the next step in the “little people in the palm” project?
After a few minutes I got with the program! It didn’t have to have a purpose! It was simply what one year old’s do. She was simply making me a part of her world. I relaxed and just treasured the depth of the moment.
And it was deep, because I allowed a one year old to touch my spirit.
Lunch consisted of a dinner roll cut into pieces, cut up mandarin orange slices, Gerber cereal puffs (I don’t know if they are tasty or not!), and a sippy cup of juice that she drank like a person who had walked through the desert all day. I watched with interest. Reagan has a healthy appetite. No whining that she doesn’t want to eat her peas and carrots yet. That will come in about another year. Each bite she stuffed! Her two front lower teeth would make faces at me.

Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

I watched. I gazed. I allowed myself to live in the moment, and not worry about the long list of items to be completed the rest of the week. It was cool!
I have to admit that when Reagan went down for her nap I stretched out for a few. A sabbath rest came on a Monday couch. When she woke up again she was ready for action!

Psalm 139:17-18 “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.”

A day of granddaughter gazing impressed upon me the acutely aware my Father in heaven is interested in who I am, my thoughts, my conversations. Perhaps He desires a bit of “little people sharing time” like I was blessed with. No objectives to be met, no timelines to stick to, just a keen desire to be with Him, as He unconditionally is with me.

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The Method or The Essence”

January 20, 2012

WORDS FROM W.W.                                                             January 19, 2012

In looking at the past one hundred years or so of the church there are several emphases, or movements, that have been trumpeted, and “seminared.” I remember in the 70’s and early 80’s that there would be a “Sunday School Convention” held each year in the Detroit area that was huge. The virtues of Sunday Schools and the different tools and curriculum to make them dynamic were featured, and thousands of pastors, teachers, and church leaders flocked to the convention center to hear the latest methods of successful Christian education.

In the 80’s there was also the Church Growth movement which told us, myself included, secrets and guidelines for growing our churches. We ate it up, and started creating strategies to attract people who looked like we did, or was it that we looked like them. Either way we looked alike!

Our region’s Executive Minister (in other words, the head guy, the Baptist bishop), Steve Van Ostran, was talking about these movements to a group of us recently.

As I thought more about it, it dawned on me that we seem to buy into the method, but not the essence. The essence of the Gospel is Jesus, but we sometimes seem to think he isn’t enough. We need some tricks or clever gimmicks to make him more relevant, or more urban, or more suburban, or rural, or wherever it is that we live. A relevant Jesus, we seem to say, needs our polishing and waxing.

And so we look for the next method. What might it be? A Starbucks Coffee kiosk in the foyer? (Anyone who knows me knows that I would go for this!) A celebrity in our pulpit that will attract a huge crowd? A free ice cream day for Senior Citizen’s? The latest and greatest social networking tool?

The method isn’t bad…unless it scoots Jesus out of the picture. We are good at scooting!

I’ve “scooted” down that road a few times! In my library and file cabinets are remnants of a multitude of “method” conferences I’ve attended over the years. Being a User-friendly Church! How to Grow Your Church Through Small Groups. Effective Marketing for the Church! Servant Evangelism! Effective Community Events to Grow Your Church. Worship that Attracts!

I’m “method-proficient”!

I’m like an old Chevy, however, when it comes to being Jesus-dependent. I do a lot of sputtering, stalling, and making noise as I inch down the road.

I believe that Jesus is the essence. I just need to live the way I believe. I don’t believe that would be simply another method. I believe that would be a walk. It seems that it would go right along with something Jesus said. “I am the Way and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

I don’t believe we need a seminar on that statement, but someone will probably create one.

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Rethinking Membership

January 17, 2012

WORDS FROM W.W. January 17, 2012

The past year in college football has been about as predictable as the European financial community. The only sure thing is that someone from the SEC will be in the BCS Championship game. Other than that…
For instance, TCU announced that it was leaving the Mountain West Conference to join the Big East Conference, but then reneged on that decision when Texas A&M left the Big 12 to join the before mentioned SEC, which left a spot open for TCU…which years ago used to be in the Southwest Conference, which pretty much is what today’s Big 12 Conference is comprised of. Meanwhile Boise State decided to leave the Mountain West in football to join the Big East, because whenever you think of the East, doesn’t Idaho automatically come to your mind? Worse than Boise is the fact that San Diego State, which I believe is on the West Coast, is also joining the Big East in football only.
If you looked back at who was in what league two years ago and compared it to who will be a member of what league next fall, you’ll be amazed.
Schools are influenced more by money and TV guarantees than they are by loyalty.
Thus the changing attitudes about what it means to be a member of something. Sam’s Club will treat you royally…until your membership expires. Try to walk into Costco without a membership and it’s like going through airport security procedures.
I’m a member of the YMCA…no matter whether I choose to go and workout or not. I’m a member of AARP, because…oh, wait! That’s right, I didn’t renew, and they remind me every month with something in the mail. I’m a member of my high school basketball official’s association, even though it means I have to attend even more meetings. (If you didn’t figure it out already, I already attend way more meetings than a person should have to. Some weeks I have more meetings than encounters with God! I’m not bitter though.) I’m a Priority Club member, which simply means that if I need a hotel reservation at a Staybridge Suites I can get about $10 off a night of the otherwise ridiculously high priced lodging rate.
I’m a member of the American Baptist Minister’s Council, which reminds me that my 2012 dues haven’t been paid yet. No wonder I got some stern looks from a few of my pastor friends…who are current in their dues!
The point I’m trying to get around to is that there are so many institutions that treat membership like a Monopoly “Get Out of Jail Free Card.” It gets used only when it benefits me. In like manner, people treat membership like generic Jell-O. If it doesn’t get used it didn’t really cost me anything, and the better brand is on sale this week. Switch!
It seems that Jesus talked about being a follower. Not all of the questions were answered by him when he invited a various assortment of people to follow. Not all who followed in the midst of the initial excitement continued (John 6:60). Not all who followed were consistent in their following. Some followed, denied, and then followed again.
It seems that the church is about followers of Jesus partnering together for the journey we’re in the midst of, and what is ahead. The church is a rowing team that sometimes has to crash into the waves, and sometimes goes with the flow of the tide.
A marriage is a partnership, not a membership. An athletic team that is realizing its potential is a partnership, not a membership. A mission cause is supported and powered by partners, not members. The community of believers, known as the Body of Christ, is a partnership. It demands. It supports. It depends. It encourages.
Think about that when you watch San Diego State and Boise State playing in the Big East title game next December.

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Keeping The Columns

January 12, 2012

WORDS FROM W.W. January 11, 2012

When I was back in Ohio recently I went to a basketball game at my old high school. It’s the first time I had stepped foot inside my alma mater since 1975.
But I can’t really say it was going back to my old high school…because my old high school was torn down four or five years ago, and a new high school was built on the spot. (You know you’re getting old when you begin a lot of conversations with the words “There used to be…”! Like “There used to be a hospital there where that Walmart is” or “There used to be 15 cents hamburgers served in this restaurant!”)
So, in terms of going back and reliving the good old days of high school, I can’t really do that, because it’s a different building. I’m sure the lunchroom ladies still wear hairnets, and the bathrooms are still disgusting, but the brick and mortar smell of newness.
Except that when they were getting state funding to build the new high school there was a group of alumni in the area who couldn’t stand to see ALL of the old school leveled. It just wouldn’t be the same (which is true since the old school was built about the time Moby Dick was a minnow). So the alumni, and perhaps the school district, spent an extra million dollars to keep the front entrance and columns of the old school building intact as the rest of the school was being demolished. Going by the school after the demolition was an interesting scene. It looked like a war zone with a few columns standing in the midst of it.
It made me think about when we ask God to do a rebuilding and renewal project in our life. We want the newness…new wine…if you will…but there’s a part of the old life that we want to remain intact.
“Lord, do a mighty work within my life, but leave the columns alone!”
“Lord, I’m tired of the staleness, but leave the pantry items alone.”
“Lord, renew my spirit, but leave my Friday nights out of it!”
How difficult it is for each one of us to let God do a complete renewal and restart in our lives! How difficult it is for renewal to break out within the Body of Christ, because we want to hold on to the columns! To the point that we’re willing to let it cost us even more. To the point that we consider “the columns” more sacred than surrendering to the Savior.

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Sectioning Off the Church

January 5, 2012

WORDS FROM W.W. January 5, 2012

I was recently traveling in another state and I drove by a church that introduced itself with a list. The list read something like this:
-Independent
-Fundamental
-Traditional
-King James Version
-Soul-winning

The list was so long I barely had time to read it all as I passed by. Honestly, I know very little about this church. It could be a wonderful group of God’s people serving in vital ways in their community, but I always wonder why churches seem to section themselves off before anyone even comes through the doors. It is more about attracting our target audience, or keeping the riff-raff out?
My guess is that it is a combination. There is a pull within a church to have people we are comfortable with,
and look like us,
and think like us,
and won’t cause any problems,
and talk the same language,
and drink the same kind of coffee,
and wear the same kind of clothes…
to be a part of us.
There I go with the list again!
To someone who is seeking answers for their messed up lives, and they’ve heard about the Jesus who gives new life and new purpose…a list of a church’s non-negotiables on the “All are welcome” marquee is confusing at best, and, more likely, a turn-off.
Someday we will realize that people are increasingly afraid of the gospel because they think they will be turned into being like many of the people they know that are “church people.”
Harsh statement, and although it’s not meant to be a blanket statement for everyone, there is more truth in it then “People of The Way” care to admit.
What would a church or a community of faith look like if the sign out front read like this:
-Grace Extended
-Mercy Expended
-Forgiveness Experienced
-Peace Expected
-Hope Expanded

Perhaps it is just me, but I might pull over and slowly pull in.
Instead of sectioning off the church, perhaps we should be about seeking the Savior.

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No Shoes In the Mall

December 24, 2011

WORDS FROM W.W. December 24, 2011

It was a strange scene, hundreds of people standing outside the mall at a quarter to twelve midnight. Perhaps a celebrity was showing up, or the line to see Santa was so long that people were still waiting hours after the mall had closed.
But a closer look indicated that it was neither of those. The new retro Air Jordan athletic shoes were going on sale. I don’t remember there being lines back in the early seventies for “Chuck Taylor’s” when they went on sale, although I do remember wearing them until they were literally in shreds. No wonder we couldn’t jump in those days! We didn’t have any rubber left on the bottom of our shoes!
The scene was chaos as doors opened, got busted off their hinges and crowds of people ran frantically into the shoe store, only to have most of them be disappointed with the news “No shoes in the Mall!”

Even the fortunate ones who did get the precious pairs included very few people who actually needed a pair of shoes. Comments could be heard:

“I’m putting my pair on eBay for double the price!”

“I’m going to hold on to my pair for a couple of years and then make a mint off of them!”

“I’m just going to keep mine in the box, wrap it up in protective plastic wrap, and watch the value go up. Believe me! No one is going to take down the value of these shoes by actually wearing them!”
What to do? A crisis had emerged. Johnny Junior’s quest for a college scholarship and a lucrative professional contract someday was in jeopardy because there were no AJ’s to be had. Parents explained the repercussions of this shortage to store innkeepers, but to no avail. The only advice they received was “You might try the clearance rack over there. I think we have some old black high-top Converses. They aren’t as flashy, but they still fit feet.”
Some parents became adamant about the store producing more shoes, while others just walked away with downcast expressions. But one young boy found the clearance rack, noticed a brand spanking new pair of old Chuck Taylor’s and shouted out “I found my shoes!”
While others trampled on one another, pushed, punched, and pepper-sprayed, he walked out of the mall with his mom and dad, content, excited, and ready to lace them up!

Categories: children, Christianity, Christmas, Faith, love, Parenting, Story, Uncategorized, Youth
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Cluttered Signs

December 21, 2011

WORDS FROM W.W. December 20, 2011

I had one of those “kairos moments” this morning. It was at Children’s Hospital in Denver, but the site doesn’t matter. It was the circumstances. After prayer in the family I went down to get a cup of coffee, and told them that I would meet them in the waiting area. After coming back from the coffee shop and situating myself on a comfy couch with my java, Lee (the dad) summoned me to a sitting area in the main hallway where he had already taken up residence.
I picked up my cup and coat and went out to where he was. A couple of minutes later the receptionist from inside the w3aiting area came out and said to Lee, “Your pastor must be directionally challenged.”
I looked confused (but it WAS early!). And then she said “You didn’t read the signs.”
“What signs?”
“The ones that say no food or drink in the waiting area where you were first sitting.”
“What signs?”
She led me over to the waiting room area, pointed to the sign standing in front of us, and said “This one!” And then she walked a few feet further and said “And that one on the wall…and then there’s that one that was right above your head where you were sitting.”
“Ohhhh!”
I hadn’t seen them.
But the thing about the signs (this is not an excuse, mind you!) is that each of them said so much that they didn’t say anything. That is, there were so many words on the sign that they looked cluttered, and therefore…ignored…at least by me.
The receptionist was very nice and was giving me some good-intended teasing. Lee, on the other hand, will be looking for the right moment to share about his pastor’s illiteracy.
What it made me think of was the brilliance of God’s revelation in ONE star over Bethlehem, instead of a cluttering of signs that would have brought either confusion or sighted people who were blind.
The Magi studied stars, but God understood the importance of one star. A thousand stars over Bethlehem would have made the event about the heavens instead of a newborn king. One star created a focal point, a comprehension of the importance, a recognition of the place.
The signs in the waiting area might have been seen by me if there was a picture of a “cup” with the words “Don’t even think about it!” written underneath.
It’s interesting that when Jesus was in the midst of the scribes and Pharisees they were always asking him for a sign, but they couldn’t read the very sign that God had placed in front of them. It’s also interesting to me that the wise men traveled a long, long distance because of the one star, but Herod, just a few miles away couldn’t see it.
Personally, there are times when my life when it is so cluttered that I wouldn’t notice a star even if it crash landed in my hot tub. We are in danger at times of missing the simplest, most evident sign of God, because of our obsession with ourselves.
Look for the sign! Beware of the receptionist!

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“Stuck Between The Can and The Will”

December 16, 2011

WORDS FROM W.W. December 15, 2011

A walk with Jesus is a walk of faith.
Plain and simple! Faith is what moves us on when it would be rationale to stop. Faith is at the center of who we are as Christians. It takes faith to believe that what the Word of truth is really true.
But there is a point in our faith walk where it is easy to get stuck. It’s a point that is as consuming as Mississippi mud. It’s the place where we have faith that God can do something, but we’re not sure if he will do something. It’s an uncomfortable place for people of faith to be in, because we pride ourselves on believing. Stories of extreme faith fill our Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and daily guides. It’s the residence of the doubt-filled.
There’s an interesting story in Mark 9 where Jesus encounters a man whose son is possessed by an evil spirit. The father has grieved the pain of his son’s life for years. The boy is continually in the midst of situations that can bring him harm, plus he can’t speak. The father comes to Jesus and tells Jesus that he has already brought his son to the disciples, but they can’t seem to handle the situation. Jesus replies “O unbelieving generation…” (Mark 9:19)
His disciples were struggling with the “can” and the “will.” They were at an impasse. I picture it being like a group of government bureaucrats shrugging their shoulders and saying “We’re sorry! But this is a situation that falls outside our parameters. You might check with the disciples of John the Baptist. They may be able to help you.”
The scripture says that when the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. (Mark 9:20). At the end of verse 22 the father says to Jesus, “…if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
And Jesus replies, “If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes.”
The disciples are over in the corner trying to not notice, and doing a lot of rubbing of their foreheads. The father then replies to Jesus, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Those words resonate with me. I believe, but sometimes my unbelief tips the scales.
We may feel guilty in those moments and those points of “faith deserts” in our lives.
But the story doesn’t end there! After Jesus has cast out the spirit and restored the son, he is in a private location with his disciples and they ask him the tough question- the question that gets attached to the “stuck point of faith.”
“Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
And Jesus replies in Mark 9:29, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
It seems that prayer is an essential bridge builder over the gulf of doubt. How much prayer? I don’t know. I don’t read in scripture that there’s a minimum…or a maximum. It’s a vessel that slowly moves us, or, if you will, un-sticks us, from the “can” to the “will.”
Perhaps sometimes we don’t put faith in our praying.

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“Short Candles”

December 8, 2011

WORDS FROM W.W. December 7, 2011

Our church is splurging this year. We’re getting new candles for the Christmas Eve service! The personal kind that each person gets to light and hold as we close our gathering that night singing Christmas carols by candlelight.
There may be some who think that we’ve gone crazy with our free spirited spending. After all, we’re almost $5,000 behind in where our budget says our financial giving year-to-date should be! But…we went for it!
The reason for our carefree spending trend is that the candles we’ve been using…for the past 15 years…or maybe twenty…are getting to look more like cigarette butts than candles. We can now fit almost a thousand “candle butts” into the box that originally held 250.
We could have held out for a couple more years. After all, only a couple of people got their fingers burned last year! (That was a sarcastic remark, in case you missed it!)
The thing is I hadn’t noticed! It took someone else who had kind of a burnt smell rising from his fingertips to point out the fact that the candles had “miniaturized.”
When you don’t see something until Christmas Eve each year it’s easy to lose sight of what others see clearly.
It seems an appropriate statement for those of us who frequent church. We get entrenched in “what has always been” and have a hard time seeing over top of the deepening ruts. It’s like answering the question “When did the candle get short?” It didn’t suddenly happen. It gradually went from new to used to very used to useless.
In church we have an assortment of things that go from relevant to irrelevant, but it usually happens over time…and we frequently never notice.
And, sad as it is, there are a number of people in our churches who would rather be irrelevant and comfortable than relevant and challenged.
It may very well be that I’m have a few people show up on Christmas Eve and ask where the old candles are. If that’s the case I’ll look to see if they have burn marks on their fingers.

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Half Full or Half Empty?

December 2, 2011

WORDS FROM W.W. December 2

The church is the mechanism in our time that has the most potential to make a difference; and the church is also the most difficult organization to make a difference.
That statement may seem like a contradiction in terms, and yet it hits at the core problem…and possibility of the Body of Christ.
The church is comprised of flawed and fallen people who are trying to stand back up. We seek to help people in finding Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We seek to help people who are constantly falling getting back on their feet, and walking on with our Savior.
And yet because of our flawed fallenness, we quite often knock people back down who have started walking again. The Body of Christ can quite often be called the Bruised despite Christ.
Grace gets see-sawed with a grinch. Love gets paired up with hate. Peace is put in an uneasy relationship with unrest.
I wish it were not true, but it is. Behind the beauty are some warts. Crouched behind faith is unbelief.
And so we come together as the people of God and talk one minute about the blessings of the Lord, and then we talk about the problems of the people in the very next statement. We thank God for how we see his hand at work in one situation, and groan about our imperfections in the next one.
Is the glass half full or half empty? The answer is “both and.” This very moment I my thoughts might be consumed with the impossibilities of the situation, the difficulties of having to work with people; and then in the next moment I’m sensing the hand of God working in our midst.
It’s a glass of water that has tidal waves in it, at one moment rising to the brim and then at the next exposing the deep bottom.
And that is the church, fluctuating in effectiveness and emptyness; experiencing the moving of the Spirit, and then the barrenness of a valley.
The difference-making and the difficult nature of the church makes the journeying together complex and confusing, but, as time goes on, it also clearly becomes more and more vital.
Walk on! Walk together! Walk with grace!

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