John Adams & the HBO version...

It's almost Independence Day - do something patriotic and watch the John Adams story. Maybe it will prompt you to think more deeply about what makes our country unique and special. And then maybe it will prompt more of us to vote and work in line with our original core values.

As always, anything that appears on the television is almost automatically not 100% reliable information. There are plenty of sources out there that critique HBO for what they get wrong in their version of David McCullough's story of John Adams. But most of it is helpful information.

Breathtaking is the best word to use when describing the background scenery, the attention to detail of the clothing and mannerisms and diction. The visual effect of the series is a historical experience. And learning - (not for the first time) about the issues that prompted America to rebel against Britain is always an interesting task. Truth is stranger than fiction. And facts are stubborn things.

John Adams is not a well known character, though his name is remembered. According to this series, Adams is principled, just, devoted to his wife, and yet vain, neglectful of his children, and petty towards those who disagree with him. He is brilliant in the right moments, and a blunderer in the wrong moments. He makes important contributions, but then he isn't willing to move aside and let others make theirs.

As a father of young children, I could identify with Adam's struggle to leave his family in order to serve the Continental Congress. And it was painful to watch this father's relationship with his son Charles degenerate into a terrible mess. Charles made wrong choices, but he also grew up without a father whom he needed very much, especially his affection and attention.

Interesting that the series makes no mention whatsoever of John Adam's Christian faith and practices. New England at the time was very religious, so clearly HBO would not have been playing favorites if they showed Adams to be devout. Unfortunately HBO let secular views prevail over purely historical accounts.

The music is great - and the imagery that accompanies the opening scenes of each show is riveting. The image of the snake mystified me - where did that metaphor come from? Well, after some research, I now know. Short version: an American rattlesnake with thirteen rattles became a symbol for the young nations' effort to defend itself against unjust aggressors. Ben Franklin had used a diced up snake (thirteen pieces) with the phrase "Don't Tread on Me" as a political cartoon - stirring up sentiment for the colonies to unite as one under the threat of further British oppression.

Apparently American politics as we know it was just as common then as it is now. The art of compromise, the party politics, the interest of big business, the interests of the mob - all are realities now in this post-modern age, as they were in the beginning. Nothing new under the sun...

My friend Jon Davison has been insisting that I read McCullough's book. I will. Interested to know more about the factors that played into the founding of our country, as well as the role that the eccentric John Adams had in it. Click here for some pics of Adams.

Sunday Sermon Notes 6.28.09

God is...Holy

The news has been full of stories where people have been acting "human" - people failing others, letting others down. Are we okay with this explanation? Is this just the way it is? Are we to expect others to be "human" and let us down, or can there be another perspective, another expectation? The question isn't only about what explains the failure of people, but it's also a question about what you do next, after you have failed someone. Do you turn your back on failures? Excuse the behavior? Ignore it? Resent it?

This fundamental issue of humanity frames the importance for God's command to the Israelites - as well as to the Church - BE HOLY! We need that command - and all that it implies.

God commands his people to be holy. Why? Because he is holy. If God is our Father and we are his children, it makes sense that he would command us to be holy. But it's not only a command, it's a promise: you shall be holy. And it's a vision for our life: through you being holy God will heal and bless the world.

Do you ever think of yourself as holy?

Have you ever set a vision for your life that included the idea of "being holy?"

It's interesting: the idea of God being holy is central to our understanding of God - and yet we don't really know what the word means, and we give it almost no consideration for how to think of our life with God in this world.

Holy is a category word, meaning it denotes something that is set apart for special use. It is also a ethical word, since it's purpose for being set apart is for something good, right, just, beautiful, and true. So if God is holy, that means that he is set apart from everything else in existence, and his words and deeds are always good, right, just, beautiful, and true. Logically this means that nothing else in the world is intrinsically holy.

Nothing we can do can make us holy. Thus nothing we can do can make us unholy. We already are unholy, since we are not God. Only God can make us holy. Only God can choose to see us, categorize us, use us as holy. And if we respond to God's command and promise and vision to be holy, he outlines for us a way to do life in the spirit of being holy.

What's the essence of being holy? Love your neighbor as yourself.

If God chooses to make us holy, he is making us capable of loving our neighbor as ourself. We don't love in order to become holy, we love our neighbor because God has made us holy.

Holiness isn't about being pure from all sin, holiness is about loving your neighbor as yourself. The motivation to not sin is rooted in our desire to love our neighbor as ourself. Sin taints and ruins and corrupts our love. Sin is not what ultimately ruins love though - it's our unwillingness to confess the sin, to repent of the sin, our unwillingness to make amends for the sin - that is what what corrupts the love.

In ancient Israel God made the nation holy. And he set up a sacrificial system so that when the people would sin, they could make atonement for their sins and thus stay in the holy covenant. Sinning didn't kick them out of the holy relationship. Refusing to make the sacrifices was what led to their removal from the covenant. Death was the prescription for those who refused to live up to the holy status God had conferred on ancient Israel. God had a very special relationship with Israel, unlike any other nation - which is the whole point of God saying that the people were holy.

But now God has that relationship with the whole world - through Jesus Christ God has forgiven the sins of the whole world. He is calling all people to be holy - God has made it possible for everyone everywhere to repent of their sins, be made new in Jesus, and live by the Same Spirit. God makes people holy. And then he gives them the Same Spirit Jesus had to live and love in this world. This is how God will heal the nations and rescue sinners.

So, what keeps you from seeing yourself as holy, right now?

Do you want to be holy?

Sunday Sermon Notes 6.21.09

God is...Our Abba

When you think of God...what do you think of? Is God an idea to you? A distant figure? A being hard to figure out? Depending on how you answer this question, you'll reveal the kind of relationship you have with this God. So it's helpful to think about how Jesus describes God - when Jesus thought of God, what did he think of?

Jesus thought of God as his "abba" - the Aramaic word for Father or Dad (Jesus spoke in Aramaic - the local dialect, but the New Testament translated his teachings into the Greek language). The Lord's Prayer teaches us to pray to God as "our Father", or our Abba. Do you ever think of God as your Abba, as your Dad?

When Jesus thought of God as his Abba, what did that mean for him? There is a really interesting story that reveals quite a bit about their relationship. Remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, getting ready to be unjustly arrested and put through a unfair trial? As Jesus prepares for his betrayal by one of his disciples, he groans out this prayer:

"Abba, Father,” he said,
“everything is possible for you.
Take this cup from me.
Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Mark 14v36 [TNIV]

When Jesus thought of his Father, he thought of his Dad as one who was highly capable, of great ability, of infinite strength. Which is kind of like kids who think their dad can hit a home run every time they are up at the plate, or think they can pull a tree out of the ground, or always have an answer for the question "why?"

When Jesus thought of his Father, he thought of his Dad as one who have him tough assignments, who required difficult work, who put him through some hard experiences. Jesus respects his Dad, trusts his Dad, but he still doesn't like the task given to him by his Dad. Kind of like when our dad's force us to get up for school, or not quit the job, or pay for the damage to the car, or apologize to the neighbor for breaking their window.

When Jesus though of his Father, he thought of his Dad as one whom he would obey. Because he respected and trusted him, Jesus would take the next required step, even if he didn't want to, even if it felt impossible. Kind of like when we agree to the curfew our dad sets for us, when we agree to eat the asparagus and liver for dinner, when we agree to save some of our allowance instead of spending it on junk.

Jesus thought of his Dad as one who was highly capable, who had high expectations, and who expected to be obeyed. But Jesus also respected this Dad, trusted this Dad, clearly loved this Dad. And Jesus knew that his Dad loved him. And so it is for us: we have a Dad in Heaven who we can respect, trust, and love - and who loves us.

Clearly we view our Abba in Heaven through the lens of our abba on earth - our experiences with dad at home deeply shapes how we first think of Father God. Yet God the Father and Jesus the Son invite us to learn from and experience the Abba on his terms - and to let the resulting knowledge shape our perspective of our dad here on earth.

The Whole Person in a Broken World - the Task of the Church: Part Deux

What accounts for the great ineffectiveness of so many churches and Christians? How can there be so much church-stuff and Christian-stuff, so many signs and sounds, and yet it seems that the world pays so little attention? How is it that the church and Christians so greatly misunderstand or misjudge the world?

Again, Dr. Paul Tournier has some interesting insights...well, at least I think so.

Have we not seen that the modern world is acting like a neurotic? Dr. Jung does not claim to be a Christian. But he sees, far better than many Christians, the true meaning of the anxiety of our time. I am always amazed to hear so many ministers complain of the religious indifference of our contemporaries. "How do you manage," they ask me, "to get those with whom you talk to interest themselves in religious problems?"

I have no answer to that question. I do not need to stir up any religious disquietude in my patients. I know that they are full of it already and far more consciously than they admit. If we look upon them as being indifferent, we are not establishing between them and us the climate in which they will disclose their real torment. Let us be the first to discern what modern man is seeking.

He is thirsting for God. "The aggrandized body is waiting for a supplementation of the soul...and mechanicalism requires a mysticism." The question is whether the religion which is now to be given to men is the true one. Otherwise they will go on inventing new religions which will inevitably break down one after another.

Everybody today is searching for an answer to those problems to which science pays no attention: the problem of their destiny, the mystery of evil, the question of death. I an not saying that the church of today is not answering these questions. The trouble is that the answers are being given in terms which our contemporaries no longer understand.

These people use a completely different language to express their personal and social difficulties, a concrete, direct kind of language which the church must adopt if it is to make itself understood. As the world was despiritualizing itself the church has been disincarnating, disembodying itself. Hence there is a tremendous misunderstanding, which undoubtedly is just as much the fault of the church as of the world. "The number of people...who...do not find the answer in religion, who are searching in despair, is considerable...We cannot say that the church has dealt brilliantly with the problems which arose from the industrial revolution."

To be sure, if the world does not listen to the church, this is often because it does not want to listen to God, against whom it has rebelled. And yet the church justifies itself all too easily if it thinks that the fault lies only in the world and not in itself.

~ Paul Tournier, The Whole Person in a Broken World, pgs 148/149

The Whole Person in a Broken World - the Task of the Church

Less and less people in the United States participate in a church on any given Sunday. For some who gave church a chance, the experiences were less than helpful. For others who never gave the church a chance, they had pretty good reasons. So does the Church have a chance at being useful in our society? Can the Church be a force for good...or just juicy headlines? What is the task of the Church in our culture - in our lives?

Dr. Paul Tournier wrote these words in 1964 - from Europe, amidst some dark and dismal days for the church. Yet - and we'll see what you think - his words ring with hope.

It is my conviction that the church's hour has come. The church, instituted by God, the servant of God, must again become his instrument to effect the synthesis for which all men of our time are consciously or unconsciously yearning. And here I mean the church in the broadest sense, not only the clergy, not only the established churches, but all those who have been gripped by Jesus.

~145/146

...men of very different outlooks, doctors, lawyers, economists, scientists, writers, freethinkers, atheists, Jews, as well as Catholic and Protestant Christians are searching for something completely new. For something which is not simply a prolongation of the cultural development of the last several centuries, but which will rather interrupt the development. For something which is not so much on the order of scientific analysis but is more on the order of intuitive analysis; for something which no longer fragments man but rather restores his unity.

~ 147

I am convinced that we today, we Christians, must unite two things which are often opposed but which Christ joined together. On the one hand we must have a clear consciousness of our own unique vocation, our calling to make His voice heard, that voice which alone can provide a true answer to the questions of this tormented world.

But at the same time we must guard against making His divine person the subject of division between us and other men, against rejecting them under the pretext that they do not possess the truth which has been given to us. Without concealing anything of our faith, let us seek that which brings us closer to them, that common need for a spiritual renewal, even though they may put it in words different than ours.

~ 148

-- Paul Tournier, The Whole Person in a Broken World

Sunday Sermon Notes 6.14.09

God is...One

Everybody has a belief about God. It can get pretty confusing trying to sort out what to believe about God.  With all the different religions, with different branches of Christianity, thousands of denominations, millions of churches...

But there are some core beliefs that Christians have about God, and one of them comes from our Jewish roots is central to our understanding of God.  It comes from a famous prayer, called the Shema: Hear O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

According to some Jewish theologians, there are three traditional points drawn out of this prayer: God is NOT none, God is NOT two, God is NOT many.  In believing that God is one, we believe that God does exist, that he has integrity - thus is not a god of good and a god of evil, and that God is not polytheistic  - there is only one of him and he has all the power often attributed/distributed to thousands of other little gods.

What we believe about God shapes our life. Often times our actions reveal what we actually believe about God. Saying we believe something about God is not quite the same as living out a belief about God. Which is why it is important to take moments to reflect on what you really do believe about God. If you want your life to be different, you may need to absorb some different beliefs about God - or fully absorb the right ones you have in your head, and get them into your heart and hands.

It's in this direction that Paul is going when he writes to the Christians in Ephesus, trying to help them make a connection between their belief in the One God and their actions towards God and neighbor.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit,
just as you were called to one hope
when you were called;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4v1-6 [TNIV]

Our belief in the One God ought to bring about an integrity in our own lives and a unity with the lives of others. Just as we have to work at understanding our belief in One God and Father of All, so we have to work at integrity and unity. When we pour little effort into our integrity, when we dismiss the value of unity - we reveal what we believe about God.

Integrity isn't about convincing people that you have it all together, and unity isn't about pretending that everything is fine with you and someone else. Integrity is being honest with yourself and God and others about who your really are - and about your work to become one person with yourself, God, and others. Unity is the social side of integrity - connecting to others as they really are - working in a spirit of justice and mercy.

Paul goes on to say that we are to "walk in the way of love." If we're going to believe that God is One, then integrity and unity are going to be central to our life, to our way of doing life, to our walk of love. If you are convicted over your lack of integrity, over your lack of unity, then confess it, repent, and seek out help to strengthen your belief in the One God, the One Lord, the One Spirit.

Happy Times at Fair Oaks Farm

Jim and Naomi took our family over to Fair Oak Farms nearby Winamac Indiana. It's one of the largest dairy farms in the nation - over 30,000 cows! It's a neat place - alongside the working farm is a educational center of sorts, teaching in creative ways about how the farm works and promoting dairy products. Jim was a dairy farmer, and this means that Tara used to drink unpasturized milk, which she claims was very tasty. I don't know much about dairy farms, and neither do our kids, so we learned alot about milk.

Emma enjoyed learning where milk comes from. I'll bet this is about how happy Tara looked at six years old when she had to milk cows.

Jim teaching Isaac where vanilla milk comes from. Later on we'd look for the chocolate cows.

Emma getting ready to climb a big milk carton!

Go Emma Go!

We just got done watching a calf being born. Amazing. Kids are standing in front of a calf born in the morning.

Say Cheese!

Taking a bus tour, seeing where the cows are kept. A lot of cows. Thousands of cows!

Naomi, Emma, Tara, Eli taking a break. It was a sunny day!

By about four in the afternoon, Eli was exhausted. And so was his dad.


Boing Boing Boing!



A train ride was a highlight. This was the first of many times around the tracks.

Levi and Isaac taking their turn to climb the mammoth milk carton!

Keep climbing guys!

Isaac on a John Deere!

Say "Hey", Emma!

Here Eli, I'll hold your foot down on the accelerator while you steer like a maniac!

Keep going Levi!

Jim, Naomi and the grandkiddos!

We had fun!

The Healing of Persons - ...accept...everything

In my effort to understand - myself, my life, my wife, my children, my ministry, my family, my country, etc. I only get more frustrated. To understand...requires so much work, so much knowledge, so much intelligence. And time. And I don't want my effort to understand to take away from my time and energy to actually do life with those I love. But the yearning to understand is still there, in a deep way...

Once again Dr. Paul Tournier has some helpful words, some perspective for me. Here's a paragraph that I thought to be instructive.

Accepting suffering, bereavement, and disease does not mean taking pleasure in them, steeling oneself against them, or hoping that distractions or the passage of time will make us forget them. It means offering them to God so that he can make them bring forth fruit. One does not arrive at this through reasoning, nor is it to be understood through logic; it is the experience of the grace of God.

I had an old and dear friend, one of the men I have esteemed most highly. For some weeks his health had been deteriorating. It was on Christmas Day that the doctor who tended him asked me to go with him on what must be his last visit.

The patient could speak only with difficulty. Medicine could afford little relief; we concentrated on surrounding the sick man with our affection. I was left alone with him for a moment. He spoke painfully to me: "There's something I don't understand..." He did not succeed in saying what it was he did not understand. This struck me particularly in a man who all his life had been devoted to intellectual clarity. Faith had always had the last word with him, but it was allied to a most lively intelligence. One felt that he was still troubled by whatever it was he did not understand. But he was too weak now to put his problem into words. And I realized that it would have been useless to ask him any questions, or to start a discussion.

After a moment's silence, I bent over him and said quietly: "You know that the most important thing itn the world is not to understand, but to accept." With a happy smile he stammered: "Yes... it's true... I do accept... everything." It was almost the last thing he said. After my visit he fell asleep. During the night he suddenly awoke, sat up, and said aloud: "I am going to heaven," and died.

~ Paul Tournier, The Healing of Persons, p155

Why U2 is the greatest rock band in the world

Reason number one: Bono's real name is Paul, and my name is Timothy

Reason number two: Hewson and Hallman 

- last name starts with "H" and ends with "n"

....it's something... right?

Reason number three: my wife's name is of Irish origins (Tara means "king")

Reason number four: the four guys have been together since 1976. and they're still friends.

Reason number five: the themes they sing about are connected with the biggest themes of life - some of it playful, some of it serious, some of it probing.

Reason number six: their name, U2, is brilliant for it's simplicity and it's layers of meaning

Reason number seven: U2 is a bunch of rebels....against the typical, predictable rock-n-roll scene

Reason number eight: they have an intriguing way of infusing Christian themes into their art and life.

Reason number nine: inspiring songs like...

* Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

* 40

* Magnificent

* Beautiful Day

* Mysterious Ways

* Pride

* Where the Streets Have No Name

* Wake Up Dead Man

* All Along The Watchtower.

Reason number ten: because that's just what I think.

Sunday Sermon Notes 6.07.09

God is... Magnificent!

At Anchor we've started off June by joining in the OnePrayer series - over 1,600 churches around the world!  OnePrayer is a movement of churches coming together to serve, share and give as part of the Church.  Anchor is all about that!

Last year for the preaching themes, we prayed: God, make us...

This year, the preaching theme centers on: God is...

One of the ways that the OnePrayer series connects churches is through video-sermons.  Preachers from all over the world videorecord a sermon and submit it to the website.  Then other churches can download it and show a video-sermon of a preacher from some other part of the nation or world.  Cool idea.  We did three of them last year, and it went over okay.  The upside is that it's a neat way to connect the congregation to other good teachers.  The downside is that the preacher goes on for more than thirty minutes on the video - you've got to be really really, really good to do that.  Unfortunately the ones I previewed for this year didn't pass the test.  Maybe we'll find some that do, yet.

The first sermon was inspired by U2's masterpiece Magnificent.  Haven't heard it yet? Check it out at YouTube.  Great song about worship - about how a husband and wife want their life together to be one of worship of The Magnificent.  The song inspired me...and it prompted me to develop a sermon about God being The Magnificent.

The obvious text was Mary's Song - traditionally titled the Magnificant (because in Latin the first word is magnificant).  Interestingly, Psalm 34, in my opinion, is a foundational song for what Mary created.  I read through both songs for clues for why David and Mary magnified the LORD.  

Here's my summary: 

God is...Magnificent because he is 

Beauty-Full, Strength-Full, Mercy-Full, and Remember-Full.

God is Magnificent when he is Beauty-Full.  What are the times when you walk outside into Creation and gasp - when you sigh in relief, when you stare in wonder, when you soak up the sunrise or sunset -and then you breath out a prayer of praise and thanks to God?  It's in moments when we notice the world saturated in magnificent beauty that we see the magnificence of God.  

Sure enough it is easy to see what is ugly and defiled in the world.  Rivers polluted and forests hacked, mountains stripped and fields gouged.  It's easy to see what's wrong in the world, to miss the beauty because of what's been battered.  And yet what is most beautiful in the world is not seen in Creation alone, but within each Human.  God made us Imago Dei - in his image. We are made in is magnificent image - to look into the eyes of another man or woman is to look upon beauty-fullness.  Except that most women and men I know refuse to look in the mirror and see beauty.  They keep choosing to see what is wrong.  But if we are crafted in Imago Dei, then we have the option of seeing in ourselves and one another The Magnificent.

God is...Magnificent when he is Strength-full, Mighty-Full, when he is Capable.  When God comes through, when he helps us turn a corner, nail down a victory, start again, push through to the other side - then we praise God, thank him, and magnify Him.  How many times have you needed help from the outside - when you were too tired or confused to do the next right thing.  And so God comes to you - in the guise of a friend or stranger - and makes possible a new way forward.  When we go over these moments, we see the magnificence of God - we don't deserve those miracles, and we can't barter for them - they are gifts that God loves to give.

Scriptures repeatedly refer to the power of a seed as a picture for the power of God.  Take whatever seed you want - a peach core, a wheat grain, a mustard seed.  There is latent power and capability in that tiny little pod.  It gets put in the ground, it gets watered, it gets fueled, and then out if sprouts a seedling, and then it stretches high, it bends with the wind, and then it increases in firmness and height and it's leaves soak up sunshine; some power is at work bringing out of that seed something that is new and yet natural.  And at the right time a harvest is made possible - all from that little seed.  And so God's power is at work in you - you are the seed, your deeds are the seeds, your attitude and choices are seeds from which God will take and plant and fuel and bring forth from it more than we could possibly imagine or hope for.  

God is Magnificent when he is Mercy-Full.  When God gives you a break, when he helps you let go of your sins, when he helps you replace despair with hope, when he helps you yank out the root of bitterness and fill the space with shalom - that is worth uttering prayers of praise.  When God brings people into your life who forgive you, who make amends to you, who guide you into freedom from past guilt and shame, when you find opportunities to give mercy - when we think about it - that's a beautiful moment to magnify the Lord.  God is merciful to us, and we best value that mercy when we give out mercy to others in response.  To those who see this at work in their homes and schools, in churches and workplaces - it's magnificent!

God is...Magnificent because he is Remember-full.  God never forgets us, never abandons us, never leaves us alone.  God is loyal, he is faithful, he is persevering, he is patient, he endures.  God thinks of you - a citizen of the world he created and loves - and continues to work to help you receive mercy and give it.  He remembers you - and for those of you who have chosen to follow the way of Jesus - he remembers your sins no more.  When he remembers you - and he does it very often - he does not remember someone who is a failure, prone to mistakes, a flop - he remembers you as one made in his Imago Dei - every deed and word a seed for his work as the Great Farmer!

When God thinks of you, he thinks of you as you are according to his reality, his perspective on the world.  He remembers you according to his great mercy and might - he seeks to redeem and restore all people - his interest is not in reminding you of your sins, but of reminding you of his gifts of grace and new opportunities.  When God thinks of you, he is interested in helping you work through the consequences of your actions, which are seeds for him to do a new thing.  How magnificent is that?

Psalm 34 has become a central song for me - in where I am at in my journey.  Maybe it can be for you also - a song inspired by a Magnificent God at work in his Magnificent World.

U2 & Letterman - a Top Ten that is actually funny

Tara and I used to watch Letterman's Top Ten all the time when the boys were babies - their feeding time was right around 11:30pm.  About eight out of ten times the Top Ten wasn't that funny.  Maybe four out of ten of the actual Top Ten items was funny, and the Number One was almost never funny.

Anyway, I didn't see any of the shows when Letterman hosted U2 for a week.  I'm sorry I missed it.  So lucky for me I found some clips of when they were on CBS.  Here's the link to U2 doing the countdown of the Top Ten with too-tall Dave. I laughed at nine out of the ten items.  The comment about cheese wasn't that funny.

Sunday Sermon Notes 5.31.09

Happy Pentecost Sunday!

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.    Acts 2v1-4

Happy Baptism Sunday!

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."  Luke 3v21-22

This is a pretty special Sunday - the weaving together of the two themes of water and fire, of baptism and Spirit.  Pentecost Sunday reminds of the day when the Spirit of God descended upon each believer in the Upper Room - it felt like a thunderous wind blew through depositing flickers of light upon each of the Jesus followers praying in the room.  Pentecost was the fiftieth day (seven weeks plus one day) from Passover.  It is a Jewish harvest holiday.  And God used that holy day to spread his presence throughout the world by putting his Spirit-crop into all who would receive it.

Pentecost Sunday has become a traditional day of baptism, thus it is often referred to as Whitsunday, or White Sunday - since it is common for those who get baptized to wear a white robe as they enter the water.  Baptism on Pentecost - a beautiful mix of metaphors.  For Christians who have been baptized and received the Holy Spirit, they have a fascinating story to share - a story of water and fire.

The water of baptism carries layers of meaning: to be immersed in the water is to have your sins washed away, it is to be buried and then to be raised up born again, it is to be initiated into the community of Jesus followers, it is to have a new beginning.  The fire of Pentecost carries with it also multiple meanings: the flame makes you the light of the world, it's a lamp unto your feet, it is a blaze that consumes your impurities, it's a furnace that unthaws cold hearts, it's a fire that reminds us that God can bring good out of everything.

For those of us with these metaphors as part of our story, we know that being immersed in water, we know that letting the Spirit be at home in us, doesn't guarantee a problem free life. We know that having our sins washed away doesn't keep us from sinning again.  We know that having the Spirit guide us doesn't mean that we'll never stray again.  But we come to believe that the Same Spirit which prompted us to be baptized and welcome him is the Same Spirit that will sustain us on the long journey we call life.

We need more people to share their story of water and fire, their honest account of their life leading up to baptism, their life following baptism, their life before the Spirit, their life with the Spirit.  We're not looking for cute, inspiring, fairy-tale stories of faith.  We're yearning to be reminded that if the Spirit perseveres with you and your real-life journey, then maybe the Spirit will endure with me.

Part of my story of water and fire, of my starting again and of letting God bring good out of everything centers on the death of my brother Matt.  I know that many people go through far worse tragedies than what our family endured, but that doesn't lessen the pain in the moment. And in the moments and days following his death, I found my faith faltering, my anger raging, and my bitterness sending down deep roots.  When my youngest brother had died just before his fourteenth birthday in 1994, as sad and terrible as that loss was for our family, I/we kind of thought that we were immune from that kind of sadness in the future.  

So when Matt gets killed by a drunk driver at age twenty-three, just after Christmas 2001, the immunity was gone.  Now anything could happen.  A trip to the grocery store was accompanied by thoughts of possibly never coming home alive.  It became a constant companion - fear and anxiety about another sudden death.  And the God I had been believing in became a very confusing person.  I was not able to wrap my mind around the "reasons" for this tragedy.  I could not figure out why God let this happen - to us.

I began to feel my faith slipping away.  Here I am, a pastor, and I'm going to need to show up on Sunday with a message from a Lord that I'm really, really, really confused about, angry at, and deeply frustrated.  What am I going to do?  Out of integrity, I should quit.  But I need a job to feed my family - so don't quit.  At least not yet.  Where will I find resolution for my despairing faith?  I took several steps, one being that I decided to go back to school. I needed time to study/read/think/learn from others who had gone before me - brilliant thinkers and intelligent writers, honest believers and authentic followers - to help me build a new faith. 

Here I was, an adult, a pastor, a family man, and I needed to decide whether I was going to believe in Jesus or not.  At age four I had asked Jesus into my heart.  At age ten I had received forgiveness of my sins.  At age sixteen I accepted the call to become a pastor.  And now at age thirtysomething, I'm having to decide as an adult, not a kid, not a teen, whether I want to be a Christian or not.  I was baptized at age twelve - was I willing now almost two decades later, to let God give me a new start again?  At some point in my life the Spirit had come into my life - and now as an adult with fear and worry and despair and sadness attached to my soul - was I willing to let God's Spirit take me as I am?

I had gotten in the habit of trying to stop being afraid or worrying so that I could be a better Christian, a better person, etc.  But that tactic was only bringing frustration.  So then it seemed like the Spirit was prompting me to turn the fear and worry, the despair and sadness over to him, let him influence it's affect on my life.  And so that is what I've been trying to do.  On this side of that decision, it has proven to be the better tactic.

And so for you - and your story of water and fire - the things in your life that you want to be different - or the good in your life that you are trying to hang onto/milk for all it's worth - give it over to God.  Let him take what is good and not good in your life - and let him find ways of bringing more good out of it.  God doesn't need you or me to be problem free, to be worry free, to be sin free - he just needs you and me.  When we hand the stuff in our life over to his Spirit, we give the Spirit more to work with.  And when the Spirit has more to work with, the effect of the Spirit gets stronger and stronger.

Give the Spirit more to work with: keep turning your life, your relationships, your hopes, your failures, your frustrations, your job, your finances, your sins, your mistakes, your talents, your problems, your opportunities - keep giving it over to the Spirit.  How?  First you got to want to do it.  If you really want to do it, the Spirit will help you do it.

People need to hear your story of water and fire, of new beginnings and inspiring opportunities for good.  Turn more and more of your life over to His Spirit, give the Spirit more to work with, and be willing to share your story

Sunday Sermon Notes 5.24.09

Be The Anchor!

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Luke 11v13 [TNIV]

Be the Anchor: Go in the Same Spirit

You want to be strong for someone? You want to give/be hope for another? Then be the Anchor.
You need someone to be strong for you - to pour strength and hope into you? Find an Anchor.

The past bunch of weeks we've been exploring ways to be an Anchor, and to let Jesus be our Anchor. This message wraps up this series with this final thought: the Same Spirit that made Jesus an Anchor in his day is the Same Spirit that can make us an Anchor in our day.

Wherever we go in life, as a follower of Jesus, God wants us to go in the Same Spirit which he placed upon/within Jesus. And when you think about how hard it can be at times to do/say/think/go the way of Jesus in everyday life, the need for that Same Spirit becomes obvious. Jesus tries to make it clear: when you ask for the Same Spirit, God will be glad to give it. It's almost as if the whole point of the Lord's Prayer is to direct us toward the need and availability of the Same Spirit.

When you need the right word to say...or the strength to keep your mouth shut so you don't say the wrong thing; when you need inspiration to get up and do the right thing...or a prick of the conscience to avoid doing the wrong deed. When you need direction, revelation, reminders - the Same Spirit that shaped the way of Jesus will shape your way. Everyday.

A lot of Christians don't know much about the Holy Spirit, the Same Spirit that was at work in the days of David and Daniel and the Disciples. The Apostle John spends some time teaching about the Spirit, but Luke spends lots of words telling stories about what Jesus did through the Spirit.

The invitation to you and I is to want the Same Spirit to go with us into every conversation, every scenario, every dark place, every interesting opportunity. This Same Spirit makes good possible in an enduring and redemptive way. This Same Spirit, if you want Him, gives energy and insight, inspiration and direction for furthering God's work in you and through you. Who wouldn't want that?

Happy Birthday Tara! Emma! Eli!

Happy Birthday Tara - you look so beautiful at 35!

Happy Birthday Emma - you're smile sparkles more and more each year!

Happy Birthday Eli - at two years old you are full of silliness and happiness!

Our God is Able

I needed some inspiration this morning, some perspective, some wisdom and courage.  Martin Luther King Jr. has a way with words, has a way of saying what I need to hear.  Below is part of the sermon that I read today...I needed the reminder from MLK about God: He is Able.

Admitting the weighty problems and staggering disappointments, Christianity affirms that God is able to give us the power to meet them.  He is able to give us the inner equilibrium to stand tall amid the trials and burdens of life.  He is able to provide inner peace amid outer storms.  

This inner stability of the man of faith is Christ's chief legacy to his disciples.  He offers neither material resources nor a magical formula that exempts us from suffering and persecution, but he brings an imperishable gift: "Peace I leave with you."  This is that peace which passeth all understanding.

At times we may feel that we do not need God, but on the day when the storms of disappointment rage, the winds of disaster blow, and the tidal waves of grief beat against our lives, if we do not have a deep and patient faith our emotional lives will be ripped to shreds.  

There is so much frustration in the world because we have relied on gods rather than God.  We have genuflected before the god of science only to find that it has given us the atomic bomb, producing fears and anxieties that science can never mitigate.  We have worshipped the god of pleasure only to discover that thrills play out and sensations are short-lived. 

We have bowed before the god of money only to learn that there are such things as love and friendship that money cannot buy and that in a world of possible depressions, stock market crashes, and bad business investments, money is a rather uncertain deity.  These transitory gods are not able to save us or bring happiness to the human heart.

Only God is able.  It is faith in him that we must rediscover.  With this faith we can transform bleak and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of joy and bring new light into the dark caverns of pessimism.  

Is someone here moving toward the twilight of life and fearful of that which we call death? Why be afraid? God is able.  Is someone here on the brink of despair because of the death of a loved one, the breaking of a marriage, or the waywardness of a child? Why despair? God is able to give you the power to endure that which cannot be changed. Is someone here anxious because of bad health? Why be anxious? Come what may, God is able.

~ Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love: Our God is able.  p 112-113

About Being the Anchor

I received this note on Sunday following our morning worship+service.  

********

It is written, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."  

But I look inward and outward.

This is what I see.

That there are spirits three.

I see within me and my brethren a spirit 

weighed down with turmoil of this world.

Worned down by TV, work, violent times, the kids, the grocery list.

With us the spirit it is willing, but is weak.

I see within me and my brethren a spirit

warped by fanaticism, self-righteousness, hypocrisy, and hate.

We spout out condemnation and brimstone

to the young woman who made a mistake

to the young man who loves another.

"There is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus."

I see not within me but in my brethren a spirit

strong, righteous, and loving.

I see them welcome the whore, the drug addict, the queer

into the House of the Lord. 

They do not condemn but give love.

Tell them not their sin, but of God's love.

To myself and my to my brethren my message is this...

Those of us with a weak spirit,

pray, immerse yourself in the Bible

run to the Lord, put your burdens on Him.

He is our rock, our refuge.

Those of us with a warped spirit, Be silent! Say nothing!

Immerse yourself in Christ's teachings and that of the Apostles.

Submit yourself, humble yourself.

Those of my brethren with a strong spirit

continue to cling to God and immerse yourself in Him.

Cloak yourself in his love.

Continue to help and minister to ALL of God's children.

- The Reluctant Profit

Ads with an Attitude

Advertising  that makes me smile, snicker, or out right laugh:

Cheez-its.  Cheese crackers with an attitude.

Steak-n-Shake.  Tasty, greasy food with an attitude.

Mac.  Computers with an attitude.

ESPN ads are usually pretty good, the Dustin Pedroia ad for the baseball video game is kind of funny, and I enjoy the ads for Coke and Coke Zero.

Hate pretty much all the car ads, all house cleaning ads, definitely despise the Viagra ads and the stupid Ultimate Fighting ads that run constantly on CNN.  Irritating.  I would rather channel surf and watch nothing, then watch commercials.  I try to read a magazine, or get up and do something else than waste my time and sit through a TV commercial.  Since I hardly watch any TV anyway, what little time I do spend in front of the tube, I definitely don't want to spend it on a dumb ad.  Unless, of course it's a Mac ad or for Steak-n-Shake!

Sunday Sermon Notes - 05.17.09

Be The Anchor! Keep Praying...

"So I say to you:
Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives;
those who seek find;
and to those who knock, the door will be opened.
Luke 11v9-10 [TNIV]

Prayer is so easy. Anybody can do it. Prayer is so easy - it's as easy as asking your dad for some dinner, it as easy as knocking on your neighbor's door for a cup of sugar. It's that easy!

The LORD's Prayer - which Jesus gave his disciples per their request on how to pray - is a really easy prayer to pray. It's short, it has a rhythm to it, and it's kind of catchy. Jesus doesn't have an interest in making prayer hard or boring or irrelevant. Jesus wants us to pray often, to ask, seek, and knock without inhibition.

Jesus gives two little illustrations about how easy prayer can be. He tells of a man who has a friend on a journey coming to spend the night; the man doesn't have enough bread to properly host the friend, so he goes to his neighbor's house and knocks to get what he needs. Unlike the neighbor who grumps but complies with the man, God will gladly give us as much as we need. The other little story is of a boy asking his father for a fish and egg for dinner - what dad, when given that everyday kind of request, would turn around and give a snake or scorpion instead? Outrageous! And Jesus makes the point that God knows how to give good gifts to his children even more than we do.

Jesus wants us to go to God in prayer - go ahead and knock, go ahead and ask, go ahead and seek an answer. It's easy. Prayer is easy. We're the ones who make it hard. We don't like to wait. We don't want to have to trust God - we want immediate assurance that our prayers will be answered satisfactorily. We don't like having to ask God for stuff - we want him to take care of bad things BEFORE they happen. We don't like to be in pain or trouble - we want God to bring about relief right away! We don't like inconvenience. We don't like having to work through the consequences of our own behaviors and habits. When God doesn't answer our prayers the way we expected, we get irritated. We're the ones that make prayer hard.

When it comes to making prayer easy, working your way through the LORD's Prayer is an act of faith. When you don't know what to pray, pray what Jesus suggested. When you don't know who to pray for, pray through the prayer Jesus taught you. When you're tired, overwhelmed, despairing, unfocused - pause, and then pray through the LORD's Prayer. And then do it again. And again. As many times as you want or need to in order to focus.

And to hear. Hear what the LORD is saying to you, what he wants you to focus on in praying. Clearly it's not about how long the prayer is, or how often you say it that will get your prayer answered. The prayer is about listening for what God wants you to do next, about getting guidance and assurance, but also about maturing your faith and trust. In praying to God, using the LORD's Prayer, will you trust God to hear you, to direct your next steps, and provide direction eventually...even if the silence lasts too long?

If the LORD's Prayer is a little too long for you, there are three other little prayers you can pray that stem from the prayer Jesus taught us. So for those times when you feel the urge to pray, you can utter one of these three very short prayers:

Thanks!

Help...

Why?

These three short prayers don't require any memorization, but they do require some trust. Most of us dwell on the negative too much. When things aren't going the way we want, change the mood, turn the tide by saying Thanks to God for some of the good stuff in your life. There will always be something to complain about, so instead of feeling sorry for yourself, feel grateful. When something goes awry, when something happens to you or someone you care about, something that is not good, but you don't know what to do or ask for, Help is a good prayer. Of course, if you are going to ask for Help, it's wise to then pause and listen for what God wants you to say/do next. As complicated as life is, there are many, many times where we want to know Why? As most of us know, God rarely gives us the answer we want. But he is ready to give us the answer we need, if we will again listen and wait.

Prayer is easy. You can do it. You need it. Other people need you to do it. You can say Thanks! You can ask for Help. You can seek for Why? You can pray the way Jesus taught us. It's so easy. Do it today!

Sunday Sermon Notes - 05.10.09

Be The Anchor: Pray

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.
When he finished, one of his disciples said to him,
"Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
He said to them, "When you pray, say:
" 'Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.' "
Luke 11v1-4 [TNIV]

It's hard to pray. But it's a good hard. It's good for us to pray, and it's good for those for whom we're praying. But it's hard to keep praying - too many distractions, difficult to stay focused, we get sleepy, we wonder whether God is listening or if our prayers matter. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very good at praying. I try, but I give up too easily - praying is hard work! It takes energy, it takes focus, it takes time, it takes heart, it takes patience, it takes listening, it takes hoping, it takes work.

I've found myself resorting to saying the Lord's Prayer a lot. Usually several times a day. Maybe like you, you find yourselves in a situation, or reflecting on a conversation or experience...you want to pray about it/the person, but not sure what to say. Or I get angry, I get worried, I get irritated, I get impatient, I get despairing, etc. - and I feel the Spirit tugging...but I don't know what to say to God...so I work my way through the Lord's Prayer. Or when I want to hear from God...I work my way through the Lord's prayer - working to hear what He's saying to me through His words.

The Lord's Prayer is concise and recorded differently in two different gospels - with this effect: the Lord's Prayer is not a magic incantation that must be phrased perfectly in order for it to work; the Lord's Prayer avoids the impulse for us to speak many words hoping to get God's attention or favor. The Lord's Prayer is about ideas, about truths, about insight into what God cares about and what he is always doing in the world whether we pray or not. When I - you - pray the Lord's Prayer, we connect with what God cares about most...which is vital, since we are praying in order to share with God what we care about most.

Sometimes prayer can get stale because our prayers are usually pretty self-centered. Even if we pray for others, somehow the prayer is about us. Not always, but we can get that way. The Lord's Prayer is implicitly God centered - about him as our good and great Father who cares for us in ways we cannot fully grasp; it is about him working to feed everyone, about him working to reconcile everyone, about him working to overcome evil with good for everyone. When we begin to care more about these things in our life and in our world, we will find more of our prayers being answered. But then, it's not really about whether our prayers get answered, it's really more about are we joining in on what God is doing...what he wants to do in us and through us.

God works through people. Christ is the head, we are the body, and the Spirit is God in us. God answers prayer through people. When we pray to God, he works to answer it through somebody. Maybe it's you. You are the answer to prayer! When you pray for God to intervene in someone's life, to do something good for somebody, to protect, help, etc. - it is very likely that God has in mind for you to help make that answer happen. Prayer takes on a very personal, unselfish dimension when we pray for others with the intent of helping fulfill our own request.

Prayer is not so much about us getting God to do what we want him to do for us or others. Prayer is about connecting with what God is already doing...and what he would like to do in us and through us unto others. The Lord's Prayer reveals to us God's heart and ways: in essence we already know what God wants for us - what we're looking for is wisdom on what that means for us here and now. If we emerge into this way of praying, prayer becomes easier and harder...what used to make prayer hard is no longer the case: we're not bored with praying anymore. Now we're scared about what might happen next in our life if we give more of ourselves to being the answer to our own prayers and to God's way/work in the world.

How would your prayer life changed if you quit praying for a good day, safety, and quick recovery in the hospital for people that you know who are ill or hurt. What else would you pray for? What else do you care about? What are other people going through that requires not only prayer but your personal intervention? Or are your prayers about God making your life more convenient, more pleasurable, more successful? What if prayer is about getting a more messy life, a more complicated life, a more confusing life? What if prayer was not about life working out the way you dream, but about dealing with reality and what God is needing you to do next with the people around you?

...your kingdom come...in me...through me ...in this life...and the one to come...

Be the Anchor: Pray!

Be the Pray-er...

Be The Answer to Your Prayers...

The Healing of Persons: The Knowledge of Man

Man is not just a body and a mind. He is a spiritual being. It is impossible to know him if one disregards his deepest reality. This is indeed the daily experience of the doctor. No physiological or psychological analysis is sufficient to unravel the infinity complex skein of a human life.

He sees how little his patients understand themselves, as long as they do not examine themselves before God; how apt they are to close their eyes to their own faults; how their good will is held back by circumstances, discouragement, and habit; how little effect his advice can have in reforming a person's life when the patient's mind is torn by an inner conflict.

When I decided to devote all my energies toward acquiring this deep knowledge of man, the first precondition seemed to me to be the necessity of giving more time to each of my patients, and in order to do so, to accept a smaller number. The way our profession has developed has had the effect of turning the modern doctor into a man in a hurry. Many of my colleagues suffer from the sort of life they have to lead, in which too many patients troop through their consulting rooms, generally without leaving the doctors time enough really to get to know them. The development of social welfare plans and the standardization of doctor's fees have largely contributed to this state of affairs, which is one that must be put right.

The result is that patients see their doctors very frequently - or even a large number of doctors - without ever having time to seek the hidden cause behind the ills they suffer from. The diagnosis is arrived at after a clinical or radiological exploration, or a laboratory investigation. The patients are given advice and medicines. The recover successively from a number of illnesses. But why their resistance is weakened, why they have so many diseases in succession, why the lack to strength to live as they ought to live in order to be in good health, they only rarely have time to help to go into with their doctors.

To understand a person's life, to help him to understand it himself, takes a long time.

~ Paul Tournier, The Healing of Persons, pg 55-56

Sunday Sermon Notes - 05.03.09

Be the Anchor!

Be the one who Listens!

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Luke 10v38-42 (TNIV)

A really interesting story that is NOT about the different personalities of two sisters clashing over Jesus. A homely story that is NOT about the tension between the task-oriented and the relationship-oriented. It's entirely possible that Martha has an outgoing personality with a task-oriented bent to her. And Mary may have a laid-back personality and also be very relationship-oriented. But the story is beyond those dimensions.

Note that Martha is the one that invites Jesus into her home. To offer hospitality was central to their culture, and thus the more honored the guest the more honor for the home that hosted. It's possible that Martha was seeking to host Jesus, not only for the sake of honoring Jesus, but garnering honor for herself as well. Mary, it is worth noting, probably had no interest in hosting Jesus for an elaborate feast. This becomes clear when, amidst the flurry of preparations (slaughtering the calf, prepping the meats and bread and dishes, cleaning the home, etc) Mary sits at the feet of Jesus.

It's possible that Mary would have helped Martha out had the guest been someone else other than Jesus. It's likely that Jesus was a brilliant story-teller, able to tell tales and recount past events with mesmerizing effects. Mary couldn't tear herself away from Jesus - he was too funny, to wise, to enjoyable to leave alone. And this made Martha really angry. Here she was, wearing herself out getting this feast ready to honor Jesus, and Mary just sits there. And Jesus allows it! Martha loses her cool and brings shame on herself. She accuses Jesus of playing favorites, of disregarding her, and being selfish. She even commands him to do her bidding.

The feast is pretty much a lost cause at this point. Martha has brought dishonor upon herself, she has shamed her guest, and put a chasm between her and her sister. But notice what Jesus does in response to this outburst - he is very gentle with her, but very direct: "Martha, Martha - you are worried and upset about many things...."

What you are worried and upset about these days?
How is your worry and anger tainting other areas of your life?

Worry and anger cannot be contained - it contaminates all the other areas of your life. Worry and anger kept Martha focused on herself, her intentions, her heart, her plans, her goals, her work to honor herself and use others to get what she wanted. Martha was worried that her plans to honor herself were not going to go as she wanted, thus she got angry at the people she wanted to use because they wouldn't go along with her plan. All of this kept her from listening to Jesus. And all of this prompted her to tear Mary away from listening to Jesus. And Jesus wouldn't allow for it.

When we get worried and angry it is really hard to focus and listen to Jesus. We know already what worries us, what upsets us. The dance has gotten kind of predictable at this point. One of the ways to resist the inevitable worry and anger is to pause in the moment, focus on the Way of Jesus, and listen to Him - he can bring good out of your outbursts...if you'll listen. Make a decisive break - exert your freewill and refuse to let the powerful emotions of worry and anger sweep you away. Let Jesus be your anchor - listen to him.

If you're going to be an anchor to your neighbor, you need to listen. It's really hard to be an anchor for another when you're life is wracked by worry and anger. Determine to resist worry and anger by listening hard to the wisdom and way of Jesus. His way leads to a better way. 

Be the Anchor: Listen!

The Healing of Persons: Conflict in Marriage

It is only when a husband and wife pray together before God that they find the secret of true harmony, that the difference in their temperaments, their ideas, and their tastes enriches their home instead of endangering it. There will be no further question of one imposing his will on the other, or of the other giving in for the sake of peace. Instead, they will together seek God's will, which alone will ensure that each will be able fully to develop his or her personality.

In every argument between a husband and a wife there are apparent causes: conflicting ideas, opinions, ideals, and tastes. But behind these apparent causes there are real ones: lack of love, touchiness, fear, jealousy, self-centeredness, impurity, and lack of sincerity. Indeed, one may say that there are not marital-problems; there are only individual problems.

When each of the marriage partners seeks quietly, before God, to see his own faults, recognizes his own sin, and asks the forgiveness of the other, marital problems are no more. Each learns to speak the other's language, and to meet him halfway, so to speak. Each holds back those harsh little words which one is apt to utter when one is right, but which are said in order to injure. Most of all, a couple rediscovers complete mutual confidence, because, in meditating in prayer together, they learn to become absolutely honest with each other.

- Paul Tournier, The Healing of Persons, pg 88

Anchor's Neighborhood CleanUp Day

Anchor had a lot of fun cleaning up the alley that runs behind our church. We partnered with the city of Fort Wayne and the Great American CleanUp that they sponsor on May 16th (the third Monday of May every year). The city will mobilize hundreds and hundreds of volunteers to clean up parks, alleys, riverbanks and streets on that Saturday. It didn't work out for us to volunteer on that day, but the program will include anybody that volunteers for a project in the month of May. Through the city and their cleanup project Waste Management delivered for free a huge dumpster for us to use. We filled it in a couple of hours, and we only cleaned up half the alley.

Not only did we partner with the city and the Great American CleanUp, but we also partnered with NeighborLink FW. They help connect people with a need with people who can meet that need. Anchor has committed to trying to meet the needs of anyone from our zipcode that posts a need on NeighborLink. On Saturday we tackled one of the projects in our zipcode. We got the yard cleaned up, but we still have a few more projects on the house to complete.

If you want to see some more pictures, you can visit the Anchor blog or see Steve Dennie's Facebook page.

Sunday Sermon Notes - 04.26.09

Be The Anchor!

Be The Neighbor!

Be the One Who Goes & Does Mercy!

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
Luke 10v36-37

The story of the good Samaritan is pretty famous. A lot of people know the gist of the story: a man gets beat up and left for dead alongside the road. A priest comes down the road, sees the half-dead man and walks by on the other side. A temple-worker comes down, same deal. And then a Samaritan comes down the road, sees the guy, bandages the guy up, takes him to a hotel and pays for room and board. Everybody knows that the Samaritans and Jews hated each other for racial and religious reasons. So it was a pretty shocking and disturbing story that Jesus told.

So what's the application? Stop and help people along the road? Be a do-gooder? Name rescue helicopter's after the Samaritan? Is the story about emergency situations? Is it about one time disaster relief? Probably not...

If you read Luke's version of the story carefully, you'll note that the expert in the law asks a very interesting question to get the whole story going: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Or: what must I do to go to heaven when I die? That's the simple translation into our vernacular. Jesus returns the question with a question. The law-expert answers Jesus by citing the Shema and the Neighbor Law. Jesus announces that the man answered correctly: "Do this and you will live."

Jesus just explained how to go to heaven when we die: Love God will all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself. Essentially Jesus is saying, if you love God and your neighbor in this life, you'll love life in the age to come. If you don't love God and your neighbor in this life, you'll not want to inherit eternal life. You don't want to go to heaven when you die if you don't love God or your neighbor in this life, since the point of being in heaven is being with God and your neighbors. If you don't love God now, during this brief life, how is it you'll want to love God for eternity?

The expert in the law discerns that Jesus has just made it harder to get into heaven, so he asks a follow up question: who is my neighbor?He's hoping that Jesus will narrow down the list, thus making it easier to gain assurance that heaven will be home after death. But here's the flip side of the question: the expert wants to know who he DOESN'T have to love and still get into heaven. Jesus, being the brilliant guy that he is, sees what is going on and gives the story of the good Samaritan as the answer to the question: who is my neighbor?

But then Jesus does this really interesting twist: instead of the neighbor being the recipient of love (as stated in Leviticus 19v18), the neighbor is the one who does the loving. Jesus rephrases the command like this: Be the neighbor who loves. After telling the Samaritan story, Jesus asks the lawyer who was the neighbor to the beat up guy. According to the Leviticus verse, Jesus should have asked: who was the one who loved the beat up neighbor.

Here's the thing: God is merciful to the wicked and the kind, we are to be merciful just as our Father is merciful. God has become our neighbor, through Jesus he has moved into our neighborhood. Just as Jesus is the neighbor who loves, so we are to be the neighbor who loves. When we see a need, when we see a need for mercy, when we see an opportunity to do mercy, we are to do it. We are to be the neighbor. We are to be creative, intelligent, enduring in our work to be merciful just like our Father is merciful...to us. Obviously we'll need God's Spirit to help us figure out how to do this in the moment to moment stuff of life...but that's kind of the point.

If you want to be an anchor for your family and friends: be the neighbor who does mercy. Everytime. Everywhere. At home. At work. At school. At church. If you want to go to heaven when you die, be merciful. Don't make excuses, just do it. Don't let your exhaustion, your busyness, your distractions, your prejudices, your anxieties keep you out of heaven, don't let them stop you from doing mercy when you see a need for it. In those moments when you want to pass by on the other side for "legitimate" reasons, trust God's Spirit to help you figure out what He wants you to do in that moment. Trust him to know you, your situation, your capabilities, and that he will help you know what to do.

This week: Be The Anchor - Be the Neighbor who goes and does Mercy!

FOX & CNN

Is something newsworthy because FOX or CNN or some other major network spends a lot of time talking about it?

Is the flu dangerous because one person dies from it? Should we panic? Is it necessary for the president to address the nation and remind us to wash our hands and cover our mouth when we cough. Really? Or is this just another opportunity to look important, act indispensable, spend money (or make money)?

Is it time to explore other sources of news? I believe so...if I want to get past "spin" and get closer to the truth.

Any suggestions for news sources besides major networks and major magazines?

That Levi...

Tonight Tara prepared dinner. Surprising, I know. Once in a while I let her make dinner. When she does it, she does a good job.

So tonight she was preparing her special chicken florentine meal. Levi was sitting on the bar stool, watching her prepare some of the food. He started sniffing the air and inquired: "Do I smell crescent rolls?" And then he asked: "Are those crescent rolls coming my way?!"

Tara and I looked at each other...where does he come up with these phrases?

Specter & Filibuster

The fear seems to be that with sixty votes the Democrats will be unstoppable when it comes to passing Obama's policies. This assumes, of course, that the Democrats will stay united around Obama. It's easy to fear this, but I wonder how monolithic the Democrats are in their thinking.

Specter can spin his move any way he wants, but it still comes across as desperate and selfish. Rather than continue to be a leader for moderate Republicans in what he thinks is an ever-increasing conservative party, he gave up. How is that admirable?

The GOP will definitely shrivel if they turn away from socially conservative platforms. But here's why holding onto socially conservative platforms is hurting the GOP: any scandal by any GOP member comes across as grossly hypocritical. Socially conservative platforms come across as merely political tools rather than right principles. When Republicans are exposed for committing acts that go against the platform they represent, it weakens the voter's resolve to support the party. The Republican party has talked tough about cutting spending and lowering taxes, but they don't actually do it - not enough to undo what they spend. And the Republicans are always trying to put down the Democrats, or waiting around till there is a scandal to manipulate. I know, I know, that's politics. But if the Republicans are inept, leaderless, unvisionary, and self-absorbed, why vote for them?

One last observation: according to Republicans and social conservatives - if you don't vote for them and support their policies, it could be the end of America, the end of our economy, the end of marriage, the end of our freedoms. It's all doomsday kind of scenarios if they aren't elected/reelected. But with the Democrats it's not about the end of the world, it's about injustice and oppression, about hope and change. People are tired of doomsday prophecies. Too much emphasis is placed on policies, on platforms, on political power. America is not great because of the Democratic or Republican party. As a whole, they are an embarrassment. There are a few exceptions. Also, FDR and Lincoln were not great because of their political affiliations, but because of their ability to get our country through terrible trials. I could care less about the Democratic or Republican party, or any other political party. What I do care is about certain political, economic, and social principles. To the degree that someone represents those ideals, they will have my vote.

What will get America through the next couple of decades is not our political parties. It will be through people becoming very innovative at making money despite the government. People who start/run businesses and non-profits despite the efforts of the government. People who start/run churches and community initiatives apart from government help. America may not be "great" in two decades, we may be completely beholden to China and India due to our debts, but that doesn't mean that it's the end of the world. It just means that America needs to start over again.

Sunday Sermon Notes - 04.19.09

Be The Anchor!

Our church community takes its name from an obscure verse in the letter to the Hebrews (6v19) - We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It's a great verse with great implications!

On a basic level, an anchor keeps you firm and secure in harbor - whether you're home or at your point of destination, an anchor will keep you where you need to be. An anchor also keeps you from drifting - whether you're resisting the wind and water currents or getting some rest before resuming travel - an anchor can keep you from getting off course when you're taking a break. Lastly, an anchor provides counterbalance for when you're working on the ship. So whether at home, at rest, or at work, an anchor provides a level of stability necessary to finish the journey.

Drawing on those ideas of an anchor, the author of the letter to Hebrews makes a simple analogy: not only is hope like an anchor for the soul...Jesus is the hope of our soul. Jesus is to be our anchor.

But Jesus also sends us out to be anchors to others. He seeks to inspire us and challenge us to be the anchor. In Luke 9v1-6 Jesus ends out twelve of his disciples to do the work he had been doing: healing, teaching, forgiving, restoring, welcoming, inspiring, challenging. In Luke 10 Jesus sends out seventy-two of his disciples to do the same work. And in Luke 24 Jesus sends all of his disciples out. The disciple/students become apostle/sent-ones. Jesus becomes there anchor, only to help them become an anchor - in his name.

We - as followers of Jesus, are expected to be sent-ones. If Jesus is our anchor, he is expecting us to be the anchor to someone else. We might feel like we are under-qualified (we are), we are not perfect enough (we aren't), that we don't have enough time (poor excuse) or that we don't know what to do (not good enough...). Jesus is the one that makes it possible to be an anchor to others. Only when we have experiences to draw on - of Jesus being our anchor - can we be prepared to be an anchor to others.

Here's the thing: God works by his Spirit through people. For the people in your life who need Jesus, odds are you are the one who needs to be Jesus to them. They need you to be the anchor. You might feel like you want to pass on that task - but this is the only task. To be a Christian is to be accused of being a "little Christ" - would anyone accuse you of that? Who can accuse you of helping others find healing and restoration, of being led to forgiveness and peace, of finding hope and faith and love?

God has called you to follow Jesus so that he can make you an anchor. This week - wherever you go, whomever you are with - ask God to help you be the anchor.

Winter Fun

Here's some pics of some winter fun: Dad becoming a US citizen, and the kids having fun in the snow.

It was a beautifu snowy Friday January 9th when Dad became a citizen of the United States of America. I thought it fitting that the Ontario-man should have a thick snowfall on his special day. Tara took some neat photo's of the American flag fluttering amongst the flakes.


There were probably about fifty people who became US citizens on that day. All the candidates had to sit in a special section. Dad had to sit with a group on the far right hand side of the courtroom, while others sat in chairs in front of the judge. The judge took time to read stuff about what makes America special, she let other people talk about stuff that makes America special, and then she had them stand and affirm sole allegiance to the USA.

The judge with a scout troop flanking her - they brought in the flag and guarded it during the duration of the ceremony. One boy had to be taken out - guess he wasn't used to standing still for so long. I think another one had to leave too... maybe he wasn't used to having over a hundred people stare at him.


Dad received some papers and a little momento for the day. Nice touch.

We took the kids with us so that they could be part of the special day. Levi and Eli did a good job of sitting on my lap. They each brought a toy with them, but Eli had a hard time playing quietly. He likes to make sound effects. Silly boy!


With all the snow we got in January, we had to get out there a few times and have some fun with the sleds and general frolicking. Good times.

Tax Day

Maybe someday soon April 15th will become a national holiday - a day to protest, a day to rally against the IRS and the White House and Congress and wasteful government spending.

Not that anybody from the Treasury Department is asking, but here are some suggestions in regard to taxes:
First - eliminate annoying taxes. Like the Estate/Inheritance/Death/Birth taxes.
Second - focus more on sales taxes. This would seem more fair - you buy lots of stuff, you pay more taxes; you don't buy lots of stuff, you don't pay as many taxes. If you don't like paying taxes, don't buy stupid stuff.
Third - reduce the amount of the income tax. This is a really annoying tax.
Fourth - tell Congress to quit spending money in such a way that will cause a rise in taxes.

And I'm sure there are plenty of people who will point out how these suggestions will harm the economy. Because right now our tax system is not harming the economy...

It Was A Fun Easter!

It's become a family tradition for us to celebrate Easter with my folks and family on Good Friday and then with Tara's mom and family on Sunday. This makes for a nice relaxing Sunday - we show up to someone else's house to eat food someone else prepared and then slouch on the couch while someone else cleans up...what's not to love? It's been an exhausting last couple of weeks - and on Easter Sunday afternoon I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. I felt bad about not engaging in more conversation...but I was so tired. In between naps we helped the kids with their Easter Egg hunt - they had a good time finding them, opening them, and then chowing down on the candy. We ended up staying at Grandma Karen's till after 7pm - we had to stay and watch to see who won the Master's tournament! Tara and I don't normally sit around and watch golf tournaments - but with lounging around for most of the afternoon and lazily watching the tournament develop...well the game got kind of exciting. It was a fun finish!

Good Friday is an interesting day to celebrate Easter...at least I think so. Last year and this year I pulled together some elements from the Passover meal to include in our Easter dinner. Both times I've made a dish called hametz - made of chopped apples and walnuts, raisins and cinnamon, and a dash of sparkling grape juice. The dish is used in the Seder meal to remember the mortar the Hebrew slaves were force to make and use in their work to build storage cities for the Pharoahs. And of course we eat it with matza bread.

So this year I decided to include a new dish: marrar - which is made of horseradish and chopped up beets. This obviously bitter dish is eaten in the Seder meal to remember the bitter tears shed during the long oppression the Hebrew slaves endured under the harsh and unjust rule of the Egyptians.

The kids wanted nothing to do with my two specialty dishes. Other adults in our group were tentative about my creation. A few were daring and willing to try it with no hesitation. The hametz dish was delightful - most everybody had seconds of that dish. Except the kids...they at least tried the apple dish. But the marrar...that was a different issue: I warned everyone to just take a little bit and to put it on the matza. I repeated my warning. Apparently my mother missed the memo. She took a huge bite! Ack! This was some bitter, powerful, potent, burning marrar! Several of us tried to shout "ouch" with a pain-induced tongue! We all had a good laugh as Mum downed her sparkling white grape juice in an attempt to assuage the suffering.


I had no idea how powerful the horseradish would be. I had bought it earlier in the day at Scott's - it was the only brand available. Apparently the horseradish is less potent when eaten on roast beef then with thin matza bread. At least that was my experience - some of us were brave enough to try the marrar on our meat...much better!


Later in the evening we had fun eating the bunny cake that Tara made with the kids. Tara's become quite the cake-lady! While the kids ate the cake Dad, Mum, Jerm and I played Wii bowling! My Dad and Mum have become quite the Wii bowlers! They were kind enough to let me win, but they played an impressive game. I'm hoping that Wii games become a traditional part of all our family gatherings!

Seder with the Spanjers!

Marc and Marla graciously invited Tara and our family over to their home to celebrate the Passover meal with their family. We gladly accepted! What a gift! We've never participated in the Pesach meal before - so this was a real treat. The Spanjers are a neat couple (they have to be - I see them in Starbucks every once in a while!) and their daughter and our daughter enjoy playing together. Not only did Tara and I join them, but so did Emma, Levi and Isaac. Eli's not been feeling well, and even if he was, I'm not sure he's up for a four hour feast!

We arrived at 4:30pm and were greeted by some of the Spanjer's family - Marla's folks, her brother, and a special guest: JessAnn Smith. She is performing in a show during the month of April at the New Huntington Theatre. Being from New York, and wanting to partcipate in Passover, she made some phone calls and was able to meet Marla and arrange to join her (us) for the dinner. What a treat! And the end of the meal she asked if she could sing for her meal - to which the family heartily agreed. She offered up a very beautiful and tender song written (as I recall) by a Jewish musician who was captured during the Holocaust, escaped, but then returned to help others escape. She was eventually caught and never rescued. So the song was very special on several levels.

The meal, the readings/singing from the Haggadah, and the fun atmosphere made for a wonderful evening. Having spent a lot of time lately reading through the Exodus story, Exile stories, and other writings from the Psalms and Prophets, it was very enlightening to hear the Passover story read and celebrated with the family of a rabbi. These writings are not just text to be studied and figured out - they are the real history and life of people and families.

It was evident that the Spanjer family enjoyed each other, enjoyed observing Passover meal, they loved to tell stories, and they loved having guests in their home. We arrived at their home around 4:30pm and left around 9pm. There are lots of memories in that time, here are some that stick out to me (that haven't already been mentioned):

* eating the matzo and maror - the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs (pretty much very strong horseradish colored with beets). It was very potent maror - which is kind of the point: to remind you of the bitter toil and enslavement of God's people in Egypt. Prior to that we had eaten parsley dipped in salt water to remember the tears of the oppressed. Emma, Levi and Isaac liked the fact they got to tear a piece of parsely off and dip it in the salt water, but they had no intention of eating it!

* the Feast! Matzo ball soup! Roast chicken and Tender beef brisket! Potato Kugels! Cakes! Cookies! Coffee! Ahhhh...we were so full, almost all of us pushed ourselves away from the table, put our hands on our tummy's and sighed with a smile! :)

* the reading of the Exodus story - the singing in Hebrew - the comment on the story...

* opening the door for Elijah.

* the stealing of the afikonam: Michal stole the half wrapped up under her grandfather's chair when "no one" was looking, and then her and Emma snuck upstairs and hid it. Then, when her grandfather needed the half of matzo to finish the story, Michal and Emma "refused" to hand it over unless he give all the kids gifts! What fun! The girls and boys had fun handing the afikonam over for toys!

And there other reflections and thoughts - but that is for another post.

Thanks Spanjers!

Levi, Isaac, Michal, Emma

Rabbi Spanjer showing Isaac and Levi how the toy works!

Emma and Michal enjoying the "reward" for finding the afikomen!

Rabbi Spanjer and the family - explaining the afikomen to my kids...

Happy First Day of Spring!

Ahhhh...finally, the first day of Spring! This winter seemed kind of long. The sun is sunny, the breeze is breezy, the earth is earthy, hmmmmm...this is my kind of weather!

Today Emma and I did some leaf-raking while Eli napped. It was fun to be outside with her, working together, listening to her chatter about slimy bugs, prickly branches, and crunchy leaves.

The next big project is to rake up all the hickory nuts that are littered across the whole backyard. I've had a few people tell me I should harvest the hickory nuts and then use them for cooking or sell them. Does anyone know how to harvest hickory nuts so that I could use them for cooking or sell them? Otherwise I'm going to have to cajole my kids into picking up hundreds and hundreds of nuts. I can make it a game for about five or seven minutes, and then after that I'm on my own!

And the Winner Is...Louisville!

Go Louisville!

I can't stand North Carolina, I'm ambivalent towards Duke, but I'd be okay if Memphis won.  I could care less about Pittsburgh or Oklahoma.  Obviously I'd love to see Michigan State or Purdue go the whole way...buuuut...I don't think that will happen.  

I like Rick Pitino, and I kind of like Louisville.  And they are a really good team.  I hope...

Saint Patrick

Did you wear green today? 

I didn't. Well, there was a bit of green on the bottom of my sandal. And I didn't drink any Irish beer today, didn't pin a shamrock to my shirt, and I didn't say any words with an Irish brogue. But I did do some searching on the person Saint Patrick, and on the background to the festive St. Patrick's Day.

Saint Patrick was born in Britain to a Christian family, was captured and enslaved by Irish raiders, and herded their sheep in the wild crags for six years or so. He had a vision from God, he then escaped back to his home, where he then had another vision to return to the land of his oppressors and introduce them to Christianity. After much training he returned and had great success in spreading the gospel of Christ to the Irish noblemen as well as peasants and slaves.

Pretty much a good guy.  

And if you read any of the material I've linked to below, you'll realize that historians quibble over all sorts of dates, and cast doubt on anything you'd like to think of as a "fact".  Try to look past that... :)

If you care:
Who Was Saint Patrick - History.com

Saint Patrick - Wikipedia.com

St. Patrick's Day - Wikipedia.com

An interesting semi-historical novel on the life of Patrick, read the book by Stephen R. Lawhead.