Archive for the ‘love’ category
February 1, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. February 1, 2016
“The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God IS love- so you can’t know him if you don’t love.” (1 John 4:8, The Message)
Yesterday I worshiped as a part if a congregation that is meeting in an elementary school. I’ve been the basketball coach of the pastor’s daughter for the past two years. The message was about loving one another. The pastor made the point that John was speaking to believers about loving one another.
A powerful element of the message was a video of several believers reading scathing emails that they had received from…OTHER BELIEVERS! The emails condemned the readers of various things from being Republicans, as well as Democrats, having tattoos, wearing skinny jeans as a worship leader, being homeless, being a single parent, and being gay. My heart sunk as I realized I was seeing the faces of the very people who got venomized.
My spirit is still wounded by emails that I’ve received over the years from other believers, from the very people I have been a pastor to. The interesting thing is that I can not remember such communications coming from anyone that I have NOT been the pastor to. The venom has always been from those who say they are Christians.
John connects the hard-to-hear dots: If you spout hate at your brother or sister in the Lord you’re missing a major piece of your Christian identity. In essence, you are half a believer, which makes you a non-believer.
Some may question how I can say such a thing. It’s not me! It’s what John is saying. If a follower of Jesus, who was wounded for out transgressions, seeks to purposely wound his Christian brother or sister…he has missed it! He has misunderstood the gospel, maybe skipped out on the weekly lesson that dealt with love.
Here’s a hard thing to hear! Not everyone who is a part of a church, even a part of ministering in a church, is a follower of Jesus. There are those who believe and practice righteousness, but have not love; there are those who practice a moral life and love, but don’t believe; and there are those who have faith and love, but are morally corrupt. A Christ-follower brings those three elements all together, but you know something? Lacking love is the main disqualifier!
I’m still disturbed by the faces of the wounded I saw yesterday. Disturbed because the disheartening comment is too often true, that Christians are the only people who shoot their wounded.
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Community, Faith, Jesus, love, Pastor, Story, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: 1 John 4:8, God is love, hate, hurtful words, love, loving one another, venomous words, wounded spirit, wounding one another
Comments: Be the first to comment
January 24, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. January 24, 2016
“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24)
Last weekend I was blessed by…friends! One of my best friends, David Volitis, and his wonderful wife, Donna, drove up from San Antonio, Texas. Rich and Casey Blanchette drove in from Goodland, Kansas. Ron McKinney, Roger Mollenkamp, Steve Wamberg, Andy Brooks, Greg Davis, Rick Banier, Tom McBroom, and Mark Miller all made it a point to come alongside me for part of the day.
There were many others from my congregation who celebrated with me, and my clergy colleague friends who I’ve grown close to…many, many friends!
The occasion was my last Sunday at the church I’ve pastored for the past sixteen plus years, and an afternoon reception. I had a long list of people who I invited to come. Some of them had been a part of our congregation and had decided to switch churches. For a pastor that is perhaps the most painful experience, when you care for, invest, walk alongside someone and their family, and then they decide it is time to move on. But I’ve learned…after many sleepless nights…that our friendship has stayed on solid ground.
As the verse in Proverbs says, there are unreliable friends and friends who stick close.
I am extremely blessed to have many friends who stick close.
I used to do something with the youth of our church called the “Trust Fall” or the “Faith Fall.” It was simply having a group stand around one person, who was standing on a chair or ladder a few feet above the ground and having the person fall backwards. He had to trust that his friends had to catch him. They had to be there for him.
A person who is blessed knows he has a group of friends…reliable friends…who will not let him fall, who will be there for him.
My friends in ministry that I’ve known for years, Tom Bayes and Chuck Moore, both called me to congratulate me and to let me know they are with me…even though they’re located in Dayton, Ohio and Charlotte, North Carolina. When I had those times in ministry when it was tough going I would call them. And if one of them was struggling they would call the other two of our triangle. That is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Someone who is a friend simply to get something from you is one refusal away from being an adversary. There are numerous “friendships of convenience.” The question is whether or not this friend will walk through the fire with you. Will they be there with you in the shallow waters, but stay safe when you enter the uncertain waters of the deep?
Some Sunday Carol and I will drive to Woodland, Kansas to attend First Baptist Church where Rich Blanchette pastors…because he is my friend. Some time in the next few months we’ll head down to San Antonio to see Dave and Donna….because they are our friends. Our separation by distance increases the yearning within us to be with them again. This morning I’m worshiping with Mark Miller and his family…because he is my friend.
A friend sticks closer than a brother.
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Community, Jesus, love, Pastor, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: a reliable friend, Brother, friendship, help, Proverbs, Relationships, someone who is there for you, trustworthy
Comments: Be the first to comment
January 18, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. January 18, 2016
In our kitchen there is a cupboard door that just won’t stay latched! I get out my screwdriver, loosen the two screws, reposition the latching mechanism, tighten the screws, and shut the door. I leave the room under the illusion that I have fixed it. Two hours later, as I pass through the kitchen again, I see that the door has come unlatched again. When…I don’t know! It just did… sometime after I was sure it was closed nice and tight!
That image also defines the closure of pastoring. I preached my last sermon yesterday, was hugged and embraced at an afternoon reception, and now the cupboard has been closed.
Or has it? Similar to coming back to the kitchen a little later, pastoring is a very, very difficult thing to come to closure. The life you’ve lived for the past three and a half decades is weaved into the fabric of other people’s journeys. Like ripping a patch off of a pair of jeans, there is a mark left…perhaps a hole or a gap. A pastor is tossed between the waves of letting go and still caring so! There is the recognition that there must be a moving on, and yet the congregation you are leaving has been a vital part of your journey for as long as you can remember. The walking together has been so profound that the pastor now has a hard time remembering when certain events happened, when someone passed away, when that mission trip took place, or when someone’s serious surgery happened. It’s all a part of the story, like old episodes of M.A.S.H., that have been watched so often that the dialogue has been memorized. The journey of a pastor is the collection of stories of lives changed, grace realized, and reconciliation experienced.
And the cupboard door suddenly creaks as it slightly inches open.
How do you have closure as a pastor? I’m not sure you can. Loving a church is not like a faucet that suddenly gets turned off, or turned back on. Like the door, the depth of the relationships the pastor has had spring the latch and your heart is flooded with concern.
And I think that’s okay! A couple of weeks ago I walked into the kitchen and the cupboard door was wide open. I wasn’t expecting that and I ran right into it! When we allow the door of our ministry to remain wide open, as it was before we stepped aside, the potential for collisions is greatly increased. A pastor who refuses closure simply gets in the way, becomes a nuisance, or, at worst, a brick barrier that blocks a group of Christ-followers from continuing the journey.
I’ve given up on fixing the cupboard latch. It is what it is! And perhaps I’ll let it be as a reminder of who I am, closed but not shut!
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Community, Death, Faith, Grace, Jesus, love, Pastor, Prayer, Story, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: Christian journey, Christian ministry, closure, cupboard door, MASH, the end
Comments: Be the first to comment
January 16, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. January 16, 2016
He reached down with the offering plate in one hand. I placed my tithe envelope with it, and he grasped one of my fingers with two of his own and gave me a squeeze.
I looked at his wrinkled smiling face, dotted with the blemishes and signs of aging, and smiled back. I stood up and we hugged, and he whispered in my ear, “Praying for you!”
“Thank you, Rex!”
The two of us had been through some journeys together. His only son had died in a motorcycle accident a few years go. The pain of losing a child had worn on him. Sometimes we have no compass to help us navigate the storms of life. Losing his son was a time of wandering for him as he wrestled with the question of “why?” A person of faith is not immune to periods of doubt and confusion. Each day was an unsteady step in an uncertain direction.
His questions about heaven began. What was it like? Does a person go directly to heaven after he dies? How can a person be assured that he will receive everlasting life? Will his son recognize him, and will he recognize his son?
He had known Jesus for a long, long time. The questions weren’t those of a new follower, or someone who was thinking of following Jesus. The questions were searchings to bring hope to the wounds of his soul.
He was more concerned about his children, grandchildren, and their spouses. Would he see them someday in glory?
And then the cancer surfaced!
When you’re ninety-five you expect to have ailments. They could with the addition of each decade. A splotch here on his forehead from a clumsy tumble; a darkened area on his arm resulting from multiple attempts to draw blood…old age reminders that youth has long since disappeared from view. The weight loss, however, had been the most concerning thing. The cancer treatments and drugs have taken so much of his energy, his will to live.
And so he grasps my finger to tell me of his support, of his love, and of his appreciation for our journey together.
I want to call time-out and tell him to sit for a while, but some of the congregants have meals cooking in crockpots at home, while others simply want to beat the Methodists to the restaurants.
He holds my finger for just a moment more before releasing and giving me a wink with his left eye, and then he strolls back down the cenetr aisle of the sanctuary.
I’m hoping that he is still awake when I recognize, and talk about him in the midst of my last Sunday sermon as his pastor. The weariness that he shows each day makes that unlikely…but I love him enough to awake him, walk back to where he is sitting, and give his finger a final grasp!
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Death, Faith, Jesus, love, Parenting, Pastor, Prayer, Story, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: age, cancer, crockpots, Doubt, heaven, life journeys, life struggles, questions about heaven, Sunday worship, the offering
Comments: Be the first to comment
January 14, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. January 13, 2016
I’m not high tech, even though I have devices that give people the illusion that I am. My cell phone gets used more for playing “Words With Friends” than it does for actually talking to people. That’s about as high tech as I get.
But I do seem to be texting more these last few months. Yesterday I was texting back and forth with a young man who asked me if I was familiar with the Thomas a’ Kempis book The Imitation of Christ. Today a text was received about a prayer concern. A few days ago my sister sent me a text with a picture of my dad holding a fruitcake that she had made for him. Every once in a while I get a “scripture text” text.
My brain gets thinking about Jesus in our day and what he would do and not do in various situations. So, obviously, I began wondering about what Jesus would text? Would he “LOL” often?
Perhaps he’d text Levi, the tax collector, with a simple “Dinner?” message. Before Martha could get to him about her brother, Lazarus, he could work his fingers on the keypad with a calming “He will rise again!”
I envision Jesus keeping his message simple, but powerful. In the midst of a stressed-out day I can hear the ping of the message coming in and seeing the words on the screen, “Peace be with you!”
When I’m feeling worthless and full of doubt I’m sure he would send me the words “Blessed are you!”
When the world is not making sense, and there is heartache and tragedy he would most assuredly text me “Praying for me!” I’ve sent those words many times to others as they’ve wrestled with life situations. Admittedly I’ve sometimes said them because I had nothing else that I could say; and sadly, I’ve sometimes sent them without the commitment to do what I say. I know, however, that Jesus would stand behind those few words and kneel in the depth of them.
For those times when I start towards disconnection he’d would text me that John 15 reminder, “Abide in me!” And for the times when the crashing waves of life are towering over me, the words would come: “Have faith!”
What would Jesus text? Simple, life-changing, foundational words that would convey glimpses of the sacred way.
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Faith, Grace, Jesus, love, Pastor, Prayer, Story, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: Abide in me, Levi, Peace, Peace be with you, Remain in me, scripture, text messages, Texting, The Imitation of Christ
Comments: Be the first to comment
January 10, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. January 10, 2016
It’s January 10, nineteen degrees outside, but I’m sitting inside a warm Starbucks sipping my Pike Place.
It’s a day when I’m feeling blessed!
Understand that I’m not feeling blessed because I feel good. My neck and shoulders have been tight and “feeling old” since last night, my nose is as congested as LA morning traffic, and my knees are feeling the effects of officiating a Friday night college game and four 5th grade instructional league games Saturday morning.
In essence, my body says go back to bed with three heating pads.
But I am feeling blessed because of the realization of what really is important and the understanding of what isn’t.
Family is important. This past week I got to hang out with my nine month old granddaughter. You know…read some books, played with a plastic piggy bank that makes music and swine noises, shared some food and bottles…normal stuff! I got to take my wife out for dinner last night, sit across from one another and talk about our days. She had been to a funeral for a seventeen year old, and I had coached fifteen year olds. We sat sharing the pain and the laughter.
Faith is important. I’m not listing it after family because it is less vital. It’s almost one of those things that doesn’t even need to be said, but I’ll say it anyway. Faith is important. Faith that God has this crazy life under control. That he doesn’t need a million Facebook “likes” to proceed with his plan, and be about his ways. I’m blessed because he is faithful regardless of how I’m feeling, and for many of us our faith fluctuates according to how emotionally up or down we are. In recent weeks I’ve had a number of conversations with people who have been on faith journeys for long periods of time. My soul has been blessed by the words and experiences of their faith journeys.
I’m blessed because of the relationships I have with so many people. I know that if I had a need for a listening ear, a heartache to share, or a celebration to toast that there are numerous folk I can dial up and they would be there. I’m blessed because I see that same quality of being present in my wife. The funeral she attended was for a son of a lady she has worked with. The empathy for her friend was obvious. Relationships bless us!
I’m blessed because, simply said, I’m the recipient of so many blessings. So often we fail to consider that.
So I sit in Starbucks #1 (my primary Starbucks hangout place), sipping on my second cup, staring at Pike’s Peak, and understanding the depth of my blessings.
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Faith, Grandchildren, Humor, Jesus, love, marriage, Parenting, Pastor, Prayer, Story, The Church
Tags: Facebook Likes, family, grandkids, Relationships
Comments: Be the first to comment
January 6, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. January 5, 2015
Recently I obtained the first volume of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of the Word of God. It joins other classic theological works that set on my bookshelf…unread! I keep telling myself that I’m going to read them, but I approach the opportunity with the same level of excitement as when my physician checks my prostate at my annual physical.
They are masterful words set to an endless number of pages. Cures for insomnia as you ponder the theological reasoning of the Christian faith.
Today I hung out with my nine-month old granddaughter, Corin. We had moments of pondering, periods of quiet, and reoccurring messages.
I’m not sure why it is, but when I’m with Corin I repeat myself “Trinity style”- the same message three times but with differences in the inflection of the words. So I say “Corin, God loves you! Yes, he does…yes, he does, yes he does!” She stares at me…absorbing the message, pondering its implications…or feeling uncomfortable with the wetted weight of her diaper!
Today I sang “Jesus Loves Me” to her, just because she was sucking on a bottle as I was holding her.
I keep my theology simple and sweet sounding with her. Perhaps next year we’ll get to some conversations on propitiation and substitutionary atonement, but for now it’s all about God and Jesus loving her.
I’ve always been a simple theologian. In seminary I used to have to read Emil Brunner out loud to myself to follow his train of thought. With Corin I keep it short, personal, and with a smile on my face.
Quite honestly, sitting in silence with a nine month old is a treasured time. She found her “recliner” this morning in the bend of my right elbow with my leg as her cushion. We pondered the stillness for a few minutes before her eye lids pushed down. It was a sacred moment undisturbed and intimate.
And then I took her to basketball practice! Perhaps she will come to love Jesus AND God’s favorite sport!
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Grandchildren, Humor, Jesus, love, Parenting, Pastor, Prayer, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: babysitting, Barth, Emil Brunner, grandparenting, infants, theology
Comments: 1 Comment
January 3, 2016
WORDS FROM W.W. January 2, 2016
It’s interesting to me how each of the gospels begins the story of Jesus. Matthew goes right to the genealogy of Jesus, and from there goes to the birth narrative. Luke starts his gospel with a paragraph of why he is writing this account down in the first place. John goes to the “beginning of the beginning” and refers to Jesus as the “Word.” Mark launches into his story with the identifier, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet…” (Mark 1:1)
From each gospel’s beginning the story goes in different directions. Matthew and Luke give us parts of the nativity story, plus Luke draws in the incredible birth story of John. John focuses on the divinity of Christ, and Mark presents the unique character of John the Baptist, and shows how he is the fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy.
It is amazing to me to see the variety in the stories. They create like a cross-weaving pattern to help us see the story of Jesus more clearly. It’s like four witnesses viewing an event from four different angles. What is seen clearly by one is punctuated by a different viewpoint of another from the other side of the arena or auditorium.
The common element is Jesus, telling the story of Jesus, recording the impact of Jesus, putting into the words the purpose of Jesus.
I love it!
Some of the richest experiences I have had in my spiritual journey revolves around a small group of Christ-followers sharing their stories of faith. One tells of the impact of a grandparent in reflecting the love of Christ. Another talks about a traumatic event that put his life in a spin and when he settled somehow someway the gospel was taken to heart. Still another shares about someone bringing a scripture to suddenly have understanding.
The variety enriches and communicates the awesomeness of a God who loves deeply. Being a follower of Jesus brings us to a place where we can never say we’ve seen it all, because the next faith story that is shared with us brings a new understanding.
Beginnings launch us towards incredible journeys where we have opportunities to show others the footprints of our faith.
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Community, Faith, Jesus, love, Pastor, Story, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: faith journey, faith story, gospel, Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Matthew, gospel story, gospels, spiritual journey
Comments: Be the first to comment
December 28, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. December 28, 2015
Retirement for a pastor means a lot of things…some good and some bad. One of the bad things is that I have to move everything out of my office at church and bring it home.
That’s where the problem starts!
My personal library is in excess of a thousand books. The bookshelves in my study at home were packed out…before I brought books from the office! Now the floor of my study is featuring towers. It looks like multiple games of “Book Jenga” are being played! How high can I build the tower, and now can I take out that copy of Church Dogmatics; Volume 1.1 located two-thirds of the way down the tower without toppling the whole thing? Challenges and problem-solving!
My wife Carol’s frequently asked question is not “Is this all you’ve got?” Flip to the opposite side of that question and you would be accurate.
“You aren’t going to keep all these books are you?”
“Ahhh…no,” I say weakly and without conviction.
I feel like a pastor whose cat has just had a litter of kittens, and now I must find good homes for Pannenberg, Barth, and Kung. The problem is that there are very few people who are interested in Latourette’s two-volume A History of Christianity. It resembles a Saint Bernard in size and effort. I have even less potential homes for Torbet’s A History of The Baptists. there are an abundance of people who wonder about Baptists, but very few who are interested in them.
I accomplished a little bit of clearance Saturday night when I removed four books from one of the towers…and snuck them to the basement…just in case I need one of them.
The mindset of a book addict is like that. I may not have even dusted a book for three decades and yet I still think we might use it next week. That’s how my brain works.
So now my home study is being considered for an episode of Extreme Hoarders. As I stand by in obvious mental and emotional anguish Rudolf Bultmann’s Jesus Christ and Mythology is carted out. Leonard Sweet’s books are in the process of being carefully removed when I scream “Can’t you leave me at least one?”
Pathetic!
I am, however, getting better. I moved all of my Chicken Soup… books out last week. They are hiding behind the stack of jigsaw puzzle boxes in the basement…just in case I might need them!
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Humor, Jesus, love, Pastor, Story, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: Baptist history, Baptists, Barth, books, Bultmann, church history, Dannenberg. Church Dogmatics, history, Hoarders, hoarding, Kung, library, Pastor's library
Comments: Be the first to comment
December 28, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. December 27, 2015
Today was kind of my last Sunday at Highland Park Baptist Church, the congregation I have pastored for the past sixteen and a half years. I say kinda’ my last Sunday because I return on January 17 to speak and then Carol and I will be the main targets at a reception that afternoon.
Today ended with the congregation gathered around us for a time of prayer. It was “reserved emotional!” I say reserved emotional because the dear saints know that there is another Sunday three weeks later that will probably include the opening of the floodgates.
I took notice of several today. Marla Booth was finishing elementary school when I arrived. Now she is married to an awesome man named Austin who I love deeply, and is the mother of two beautiful little girls. Marla has a heart for people and has become more and more passionate about children in underprivileged countries around the world.
Greg and Jordan Davis came to our church several years ago after a brain tumor had been discovered. Greg and I already knew each other from basketball officiating and Timberview Middle School. When he had a couple of seizures and then the tumor was discovered I showed up at the hospital just to check in with him and to ask permission to say a prayer. A few weeks later I entered the sanctuary on a Sunday morning to see their family present for worship. We’ve walked together ever since…through the anxiety of MRI’s…and unexpected seizures…and having to share the news with their daughter that the cancer had returned. Our journeys have been tear-filled and laughter-laced.
Rex and Ann Davis were present today. Rex is 95 and Ann 93. Their days of good health have recently gone by the wayside, but they come to church when they are able. Today Rex took up the offering with the sole purpose of squeezing my finger as I stood in the front row. He is a man of God whose journey has also had a trail of tragedy as part of it. About four years ago I had the funeral of their son, Ed, who was killed in a motorcycle accident trying to avoid a deer on a two-lane mountain road. I’ve considered Rex to be my “Colorado Dad!” Her models what a servant of Christ should be. Recently, he also has had some battles with cancer that have left him a shell of who he was…and I love him deeply!
Chris Oldham was there today! A few years ago she married my area minister after being a part of our church for years and years. She and Mike often are worshiping in other congregations around the state on Sunday, and she followed Mike to be more involved in First Baptist of Colorado Springs, but she has always been an encourager for me. She got me involved in the summer camping program, not to give me something else to do, but to give me some quite moments in the midst of a camp week. Sounds crazy, right? But it has actually been exactly that!
Courtney Gage Ramsey was there. I did the wedding ceremony for her and Steve a few years ago. Now they live a couple of hours away with their three year old son. Her parents, Jack and Ellen, mean so much to me, and I was delighted she came this morning.
And then there was my son, David, who surprised us and came this morning! That was awesome…and I’m getting a little teary-eyed as I sip my decaf and type this. David’s life does not mesh easily with church life. He works as a restaurant chef, and moves in different circles. One of the things I look forward to as I enter retirement is more time with Dave…like this Tuesday night when we go to the Air Force basketball game together. Today was the first time in…years that all three of my children were in a Sunday worship service together. The Christmas Eve when Lizi “Skype’d” in and watched on a front row laptop…doesn’t count.
It was a day of gladness and sadness! A day of moving forward while treasuring what has been.
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Faith, Grandchildren, Humor, Jesus, love, Parenting, Pastor, Story, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: cherishing, children, emotion, faith journey, farewells, journey, MRI, pastoring, remembering, sanctuary, saying goodbye, special people
Comments: Be the first to comment
Words from WW Blog 