EASTER: MORE THAN A FEELING

Alright, I admit it. Sometimes days like Christmas and Easter just don't have the sparkle or feeling that I think they should for me. I recognize their significance, their place in history, their meaning in the life of the church and the Christ-follower, but sometimes I am guilty of going through the motions.

I imagine some of that is because I am a pastor. Easter is one of the busiest times in the life of the church. Lots of thinking, planning, doing. The holidays also seem to bring to the surface a wide variety of family and personal issues in the lives of people, so the need for counseling time goes up.

And I would be lying if I said I came through all of these seasons full of hope, excitement, and a renewed sense of energy. But the opposite is usually true. I get through them only to plop down on the other side as a tired, uninspired mess.

All of this leads me to asking some of those questions that begin with "Why?" Why don't I feel better and more fulfilled? Why wasn't I sufficiently moved by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ this year? Why do people complain about trivial things in the midst of the greatest event from history? Why can't I see this stuff coming and plan differently next year?

But then I realize, God's work is not always about feelings and emotions. More often than not ministry is messy, tiring, taxing, and often without many earthly perks. And as I often have found myself on the other side of these occasions in the church, I do detect a small smile. When the palm branches and other decorations are tucked away for another year, I am able to sit back, though tired, and reflect on lives changed, blessings given, and hope promoted.

Though we often get all hyped up about seasons like Easter, we should never confuse that emotional high, glitz and great worship event as the end all. They are nice reminders, however, that Jesus went to the cross and was raised from the dead so that we could be forgiven and free everyday, not just once a year.

May you be blessed each day of the year and reminded that He did it for you.

PREPARING FOR BATTLE

For me, there is no better time than when a man comes alive in his faith. Don't get me wrong, anyone coming alive in their faith is a good thing. But when a man, father, or husband really comes alive in their faith, families are changed, churches are changed, and life as we know it is changed.

I've been to Promise Keepers, The Emmaus Walk, men's breakfast meetings, sat around many a campfire with men, watched Band of Brothers dozens of times, subscribe to several e-newsletters for men, and I get excited at what I read.

The talk is often a blend of Gen. George Patton, Rudy, and William Wallace of Braveheart. Men are always challenged to stay strong, fight the good fight, and take up arms to defeat Satan. And I agree we should.

Lately, however, I have had this gnawing feeling something is missing in that rhetoric and approach. And I've pondered and chewed on it for awhile and think I may have figured out what was bugging me.

Is it possible we are calling men to take up arms and fight the good fight and yet aren't equipping them to do so? Think about it, if we did not train troops with the best and most current tactics, armed them with the best equipment, made sure they had the best and brightest leaders that they would follow, and send them into battle, what would happen? They would get slaughtered.

I wonder if sometimes we are guilty of this in our churches. We sound the battle cry and yet haven't done our best to get men prepared. And as a result, we find many men like some who come into my office. They are weary, tired, beaten, defeated, and ready to surrender. Now I could pull a Patton on them and kick them in the behind and tell them to get back into the fight, but is that what they really need?

I think it's time to step back and take a good look at how we do men's ministry in our churches. I believe we need to get serious about building up male disciples starting at a young age. This takes clear, current, measurable training techniques. And we need to put the very best tools in their hands to know how to take on the ugly "stuff" that they will face in their life. And then we need to find the best, brightest, and most respected men to lead them. You know, guys that men love to follow. And when we send them into the fight, we need to make absolutely sure we have a place for them to come to when they are wounded. At our church M.A.S.H. unit we can care for them, encourage them, and bring them back to health.

If our men's ministries aren't making sure these things are intentionally happening, then we are more like another Gen. George. But his last name was Custer. And we know how that turned out.

It's time to make the change. Our men, our churches, and our nation are crying for it to happen. Any volunteers?

STILLNESS

I can’t even imagine the noise, confusion, weeping, yelling and general commotion that must have filled the air leading up to and including the cross event. If you’ve ever seen the Passion of the Christ, the brutality, blood, hysteria, and mayhem are almost too much to bear. Soldiers yelling, faithful crying, hammers pounding, bystanders jeering, Jesus dying. And then…nothing.

There was a moment, I am sure, just after Jesus breathed his last breathe, that there was this slight moment of absolute silence. It may have been a few seconds or minutes, but somewhere along the way I sense there was a quieting of all creation. Calm. Stillness. Deep thought. Reflection. And then the question, “Now what?”

Some took that moment to realize they might also be in danger, and they ran. Some slid away to regroup, seek clarity, and decide if they had what it would take to move forward. Yet others simply chose to get on with their life.

In all of our lives there are those moments of stillness. That absolute silence between the “what just happened” and the “now what?” events. Coming home alone after the funeral of our lifelong partner. Those seconds just after we hang up the phone after being told of a horrible accident. Those seconds after the doctor just told us how severe our sickness really is. We’ve all been there.

We may hate these moments. We might feel like we’ve just gone full speed off a cliff and are waiting for our rapid descent. But it doesn’t have to be that way. My favorite verse in my times of anguish has to be, Psalm 46:10. It says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” When life takes us right to the edge and then seemingly pushes us off, we have a great opportunity to surrender completely to Him.

Not that there still won’t be pain, hurt, or uncertainty about what’s ahead. But with those still, quiet moments of surrender, we can be assured God is with us. God can, with such short, quiet moments still quiet our storms. You and I are not alone…ever.

HELD HOSTAGE AT CHRISTMAS!!!

You may think by the title that I am about to share some deep, theological premise on how we are held hostage to the commercialism of Christmas. Sorry to disappoint you. I came across this story and decided to share it. The objective is to bring a smile to your face.

It was coming up to Christmas and Sammy asked his mother if he could have a new bike. She told him that the best idea would be to write to Santa Claus. But Sam, having just played a vital role in the school nativity play, said he would prefer to write to the baby Jesus. So his mother told him that would be fine.

Sam went to his room and wrote, 'Dear Jesus, I have been a very good boy and would like to have a bike for Christmas.' But he wasn't very happy when he read it over. So he decided to try again and this time he wrote:'Dear Jesus, I'm a good boy most of the time and would like a bike for Christmas.'

He read it back and wasn't happy with that one either. He tried a third version: 'Dear Jesus, I could be a good boy if I tried hard and especially if I had a new bike.' He read that one too, but he still wasn't satisfied. So, he decided to go out for a walk while he thought about a better approach. After a short time he passed a house with a small statue of the Virgin Mary in the front garden. He crept in, stuffed the statue under his coat, hurried home and hid it under the bed. Then he wrote this letter.

'Dear Jesus, If you want to see your mother again, you'd better send me a new bike.'

Christmas should be a time of smiles, hope, joy, and the telling of stories. The coming of Jesus to us is the greatest story ever told. What we do with that becomes our story. And that, too, should be a story we pass on to others.

Have a blessed and Merry Christmas that finds Christ at the center.

What's In a Word?

Every now and then you come across a new word that really pops. Recently, someone sent me one such word. It is "Magnanimity." It even looks like a cool word. And here's what it means:

Magnanimity: n. Greatness of mind; that elevation or dignity of soul, which encounters danger and trouble with tranquility and firmness, which raises the possessor above revenge, and makes him delight in acts of benevolence, which makes him disdain injustice and meanness, and prompts him to sacrifice personal ease, interest, and safety for the accomplishment of useful and noble purposes.

WOW! Now that's a powerful word. And the definition just jumps out and screams to me, "Is that you?" Uhmm, well...maybe not so much. I really don't consider my mind so great. That whole dignity of the soul thing really causes me to pause. Maybe I look at trouble and see opportunity, but tranquility and firmness? I realize more so in my older years that I really do seek something better than revenge. I do actually get giddy when I do something great for someone else. And I really do hate injustice in all its forms. And mean people...I don't have much time for. And oh how I am seeking a life that would more easily sacrifice what's best for me. And some day I pray that someone would reflect on my life and say I was a useful and noble person.

Let's be real here. None of us can really say we are there...yet. But that's the beauty of such words. They inpire us to be something more, something better, something bigger than ourselves. How crazy it is to think we could possibly become that kind of person on our own.

Philippians 1:65 says it so well, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion." Ahh, there it is. On those days when I get discouraged and feel kind of useless, I can be rest assured that God is simply at work in me and will get me to a place that only he can design. And that, my friends is one magnanimous thought.

CHRISTIANS BEHAVING BADLY

Nearly every day you can turn on the television and see ugly, over-the-top, perverse, wicked and strange behavior. A new series coming out is about a hip-looking guy who fell in love (so far so good). But he kept falling in love, married, then married a bunch more times and is now in the process of welcoming his fifteenth child into the world and starring in his new show. And they call this "reality TV?"

Many would say that television execs might be to blame. But let's be clear, they only put on TV what we are willing to watch. Another way of saying this is a quote I read recently, "If there is darkness around us, the problem is not with the darkness, it's with the light." Profound.

To take this one step further, to be able to turn on the TV and see those who call themselves Christians behaving badly really grieves me. I have a little game I sometimes play. "It's called, "Turn the TV onto a Christian channel and see how long I can watch it before I get nauseated." Now don't get me wrong, there are some really great pastors, churches, and worship that are inspiring and well worth watching. But if I have to listen to one more televangelist cry into the camera and ask for my money so that I can get a double portion of blessing, I may have to get rid of my TV. Well, wait, that may be too harsh. Remember Jeff, the TV is not the problem.

And yet to watch a small-town preacher get a week's worth of international attention by saying he was going to have a good, old-fashioned Qu'ran burning, causes one to ask themselves, "Do I really want to be a Christian if that's what it's about?" I sit there and can only imagine what those considering the Christian faith must be thinking. But wait!

Brennan Manning, in his classic Ragamuffin Gospel says, "Our huffing and puffing to impress God, our scrambling for brownie points, our thrashing about trying to fix ourselves while hiding our pettiness and wallowing in guilt are nauseating to God and are a flat denial of the gospel of grace."

You see, we are all incapable of getting it right. We all behave badly at times. That includes the TV evangelist, the local preacher, everyone else who darkens the door of the place we call church, and the guy writing this post. When we look at disgust at other Christians who don't act like us, we are, in a sense, saying, "I've got it, and you don't." And that, my friend, is a dangerous place to hang out.

Manning shares, "Jesus comes not for the super-spiritual, but for the wobbly and the weak-need who know they don't have it all together." The sooner we embrace that truth, the closer we will come to understanding grace.

Be blessed and be a blessing today.

Passages I've Never Heard Preached

I love when I experience or hear something that leaves me saying, "That will preach." On the other side of that coin, however, are those passages I come across in scripture that leave me saying, "I've never heard anyone preach that passage." Let's face it, there are some really odd passages that most pastors don't cuddle up to and say, "I've got to preach that."

Take 2 Kings 2:23-24 where it says, "From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town an jeered at him. 'Go on up you baldhead!' they said. 'Go on up you baldhead!' He turned around and looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youth."

Have you ever heard that preached? I must say, if the pastor was bald-headed, he may be more prone to preach it. It's also a nice discourse on the mob mentality of some youth and what can result from such unruly actions and attitudes.

And then there's Mark 14:51-52. "But the commander replied, 'Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men sitting on the wall - who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and drink their own urine.'"

Say what??? Stop for a moment and see what kind of word picture comes to your mind. Yuk! Another passage that may hard to preach, wouldn't you say?

Then there is the passage that possibly motivated many a young high school or college student when it says, "A young man wearing nothing more than a linen garment was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind." (Mark 14:51-52) Is this the first documented case of streaking?

And finally there is the odd passage of Psalm 137:9. "...he who seizes your infant and dashes them against the rocks." What on earth are we supposed to do with that gem?

Where do these passages leave us? What can we possibly take away from them? Two things strike me here. First, we must be careful to ever say, "I know scripture and I've got God all figured out." I don't think that's possible. There is and should always be, in my mind and heart, a sort of holy mystery to scripture. There should always be a process where scripture is being revealed to us. When we think we have arrived, then darkness is soon to follow. That's why I love the term, "living Bible."

Secondly, we are sometimes guilty of grabbing onto a passage and sticking it in someone's face saying, "See, it's in the Bible!" We call that "taking it out of context." And usually when I see that it makes me sick. We are always wise when we ask, "What was going on here? Who are the characters? Is God or the writer speaking to believers or unbelievers? How does it fit into today's church and society?" If we took everything at face value as we take a passage out of scripture, women would be sitting in the back of the church and all have their heads covered.

As a pastor, I try to be clear as I preach and counsel that I don't know everything. I have even told people if they hear a pastor say he or she has it all figured out, "Run for the hills." God can and does use scripture to guide us in our lives. And as we seek to grow in our faith, we should always use caution, bath it in prayer, and seek the Holy Spirit when we use God's Holy Word.

Gotta go, I've got a bald-headed message to prepare!