A wonderful picture of life without Christ is the experience of passing from the old year to the new one. Standing on the edge of that old and looking to the prospects and hope of the new, we resolve. We resolve to do what I call “More or Less.” We resolve to eat less, drink less, waste less, worry less, spend less, and any other “less” we can think of. We also resolve to run more (or walk), pray more, read more, save more, vacation more, friend more, trust more, hope more, even love more; and any other “more” we can conjure up. These resolutions take place in the blink of an eye, when the clock strikes midnight, then the humanity kicks in.
Many of us resolve because we couldn’t resolve during Xmas (please see my previous blog entitled, “My Xmas Rant”). We have pigged out during the ramp up to the baby Jesus’ arrival and we know. If one were to count how many almond rocas we have stuffed down our gullets, we would probably be shocked. I loved every one of them, over and over and over again. I resolve to not have any almond roca in 2012; until perhaps the 10th of December, when the church folk bless me with tins and tins (which adds up to tons and tons) of almond roca. We resolve to quit this and start that, to less this and more that and we set ourselves up to fail, fail fail.
Jesus, Himself, tried to give us a clue about our own power to effect real change in the face of the typical challenges we confront. He said in Matthew 26:41, "Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." The flesh is weak. The depth of that phrase is more or less the crux of our earthly experience. We want to do the right things, we want to “More or Less” our lives, but we do not have the “umpf” to truly accomplish our goals. Paul says that he beat his body so as to make it his slave (rather than the body making us our slave to appetite), so he would not be disqualified. Not from the grace of God, but from the living each day as an example. For Paul to have accomplished this was only based on his awareness that he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him (Phil. 4:13). The same goes for us.
We will only master the “More or Less” of a new year when we enslave ourselves to the Master. Enslave sounds so rough and medieval, but sometimes we don’t get it unless we see how all encompassing it must be to give our lives to Him. This is accomplished when we realize that there must be more of Him and less of us and just do it. Without Christ richly moving in each of our lives we will flounder on in this life, more or less. We will, every year, make our decisions to “More or Less” our lives and fall short, if He is not an integral part of our every endeavor.
I pray this New Year that we might come to the only one who can make a difference in the New Year; that we might submit to Him and see what more of Him and less of us is like. And that’s more or less what I wanted to say.
Happy New Year!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Friday, December 16, 2011
My Xmas Rant
Hold the presses! This pastor has taken Christ out of Christmas. "And you call yourself a Christian!" That's right, I threw the "Xmas" word out there. I just cut Christ out of the season, reason or not, or did I?
Christmas is a wonderful, magical time. What other time of the year do we go crazy about giving gifts to one another? I mean, really, how refreshing is it to see grown men and women slugging each other at the local big box retail store, trying to find that special gift for their little girls, Sugar and Spice. How awesome is it to see that love extended with the outstretched arm pepper spraying the multitude, while said multitude skate on the store's DVD covered floor to the tune of "He knows when you've been sleeping..." I love Christmas, but I didn't take Christ out of the event.
Working where I work and relating to whom I relate, I hear many "truths" shared from the mouths of well meaning folk who have been instructed in "The Way" and have majored on the minor things of faith. Xmas is one of those things. Somehow we have come to the belief that the "X" in Xmas is the nixing of the Christ child from His very own birthday party. Perhaps some language guidance will help.
As an educated pastor (which, by the way, does not mean I am smart), I have been instructed in several areas of learning. One of these is the Greek language another is English. In the Greek language, the original language of the New Testament, the word for Christ is Χριστός (by the way, this word is not Jesus' last name, it simply means "Anointed One" which is a translation from Hebrew's word for the same, Messiah). This letter, "X," when it came into English, came in as a "Ch." So we transliterated the word from Greek to make the word Christ in English.
Now if that is not enough, we also have a tendency in English, as in every other language, to abbreviate our words in common use. For example I don't send "Electronic mail," rather, I send "Email." I don't watch the "National Football League" on "Television" (especially since my Chargers are lousy), rather I watch the NFL on TV. We tend to abbreviate everything we can. Now with that in hand, Christmas is easily abbreviated (and I would add, in a form theologically correct) to Xmas without the loss of faith, love, hope or the greatest of these, Christ!
Where Christ has truly been taken out of Christmas is in the human heart, at the mall, big box retailer, snooty boutique shoppe (notice the snooty spelling) with an extended arm shooting pepper spray at the jolly purchasers slugging each other while skating on DVDs in the name of Christmas. To this scenario, I say, "Bah humbug!"
May Jesus establish His Kingdom in each of our hearts this Xmas, so we might experience Him where He belongs.
Christmas is a wonderful, magical time. What other time of the year do we go crazy about giving gifts to one another? I mean, really, how refreshing is it to see grown men and women slugging each other at the local big box retail store, trying to find that special gift for their little girls, Sugar and Spice. How awesome is it to see that love extended with the outstretched arm pepper spraying the multitude, while said multitude skate on the store's DVD covered floor to the tune of "He knows when you've been sleeping..." I love Christmas, but I didn't take Christ out of the event.
Working where I work and relating to whom I relate, I hear many "truths" shared from the mouths of well meaning folk who have been instructed in "The Way" and have majored on the minor things of faith. Xmas is one of those things. Somehow we have come to the belief that the "X" in Xmas is the nixing of the Christ child from His very own birthday party. Perhaps some language guidance will help.
As an educated pastor (which, by the way, does not mean I am smart), I have been instructed in several areas of learning. One of these is the Greek language another is English. In the Greek language, the original language of the New Testament, the word for Christ is Χριστός (by the way, this word is not Jesus' last name, it simply means "Anointed One" which is a translation from Hebrew's word for the same, Messiah). This letter, "X," when it came into English, came in as a "Ch." So we transliterated the word from Greek to make the word Christ in English.
Now if that is not enough, we also have a tendency in English, as in every other language, to abbreviate our words in common use. For example I don't send "Electronic mail," rather, I send "Email." I don't watch the "National Football League" on "Television" (especially since my Chargers are lousy), rather I watch the NFL on TV. We tend to abbreviate everything we can. Now with that in hand, Christmas is easily abbreviated (and I would add, in a form theologically correct) to Xmas without the loss of faith, love, hope or the greatest of these, Christ!
Where Christ has truly been taken out of Christmas is in the human heart, at the mall, big box retailer, snooty boutique shoppe (notice the snooty spelling) with an extended arm shooting pepper spray at the jolly purchasers slugging each other while skating on DVDs in the name of Christmas. To this scenario, I say, "Bah humbug!"
May Jesus establish His Kingdom in each of our hearts this Xmas, so we might experience Him where He belongs.
Friday, November 18, 2011
The Art of Distraction
I am a professional Christian teacher. Some call this endeavor pastoring. My job is to present the truths of a victorious faith to those who are under my care and tutelage, in order for those truths to become a part of my flock's spiritual growth. Teaching is fun and I enjoy the challenge of expression with purpose.
I have seen, however, in the context of my craft, a growing trend of distraction and its burgeoning art forms. I know I am not alone. This trend is not only being revealed in the context of worship services, but also within the context of every aspect of life. This distraction has caused deaths, terminations of jobs, miscommunication at multiple levels and, as lowly as it may seem, loss of understanding concerning the truths of God for His children to live victorious lives. We are the most connected, and yet, disconnected generation that the earth has known.
We can check our stock portfolio in a few seconds through the wizardry of our smart phones, along with reviewing our calendars, emails, facebook, twitter, and, yes, even call a friend (or screen them when they call us). We have become intoxicated with the opportunities to electronically "plugin" to the world around us. Yet in the process of such a high level of connectedness, I have observed the loss of silence, the loss of reflection and even the loss of connectedness with persons in the same room. Somehow we have fallen victim to the tyranny of the ringtone.
Inherently we know this is not right. We know that we should be concentrating on the person before us, what they are saying, why they are saying it and how we might be important to them or the context. Yet when the bells ring or the ever distinctive ringtones start, we ask for privilege, for pardon, for time to let the caller, the texter, the reason for the interruption to take precedent over the living, breathing human with whom we were connecting. We have begun to celebrate our phones over and against the delight of real live human interaction.
It has become so prevalent that conversation with God (prayer) is often temporarily suspended when the smart phone issues its call to the increasingly unbridled desires of our hearts. It is not God who loses out in this drama. If our phones were so smart, how come that can't tell WE ARE TALKING WITH THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE? What is also quite interesting is our ability to disguise our distractions while seeming to do these most important things, like praying.
It is illegal to drive while texting, so we hold our phones low, below the level of the door window frame. While in school we play angry birds under the desk, out of sight of the teacher who is earnestly guiding the young mind into a higher education. And at church with our Bibles open (perhaps even to the appropriate place in the sermon), we hold it at an angle to cover the action of a multiple level complaint about the sermon and the preacher to whom they are not listening, along with the other participants of their text complaint. The art of these exercises is astonishing.
I am a someone who has been called to communicate wonderful truths, yet I grieve for the art that is killing the potential of the church. I am not a fatalist, however. I still hope for some success in the midst of the distraction. That is still my purpose.
Got to go, my phone is ringing.
I have seen, however, in the context of my craft, a growing trend of distraction and its burgeoning art forms. I know I am not alone. This trend is not only being revealed in the context of worship services, but also within the context of every aspect of life. This distraction has caused deaths, terminations of jobs, miscommunication at multiple levels and, as lowly as it may seem, loss of understanding concerning the truths of God for His children to live victorious lives. We are the most connected, and yet, disconnected generation that the earth has known.
We can check our stock portfolio in a few seconds through the wizardry of our smart phones, along with reviewing our calendars, emails, facebook, twitter, and, yes, even call a friend (or screen them when they call us). We have become intoxicated with the opportunities to electronically "plugin" to the world around us. Yet in the process of such a high level of connectedness, I have observed the loss of silence, the loss of reflection and even the loss of connectedness with persons in the same room. Somehow we have fallen victim to the tyranny of the ringtone.
Inherently we know this is not right. We know that we should be concentrating on the person before us, what they are saying, why they are saying it and how we might be important to them or the context. Yet when the bells ring or the ever distinctive ringtones start, we ask for privilege, for pardon, for time to let the caller, the texter, the reason for the interruption to take precedent over the living, breathing human with whom we were connecting. We have begun to celebrate our phones over and against the delight of real live human interaction.
It has become so prevalent that conversation with God (prayer) is often temporarily suspended when the smart phone issues its call to the increasingly unbridled desires of our hearts. It is not God who loses out in this drama. If our phones were so smart, how come that can't tell WE ARE TALKING WITH THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE? What is also quite interesting is our ability to disguise our distractions while seeming to do these most important things, like praying.
It is illegal to drive while texting, so we hold our phones low, below the level of the door window frame. While in school we play angry birds under the desk, out of sight of the teacher who is earnestly guiding the young mind into a higher education. And at church with our Bibles open (perhaps even to the appropriate place in the sermon), we hold it at an angle to cover the action of a multiple level complaint about the sermon and the preacher to whom they are not listening, along with the other participants of their text complaint. The art of these exercises is astonishing.
I am a someone who has been called to communicate wonderful truths, yet I grieve for the art that is killing the potential of the church. I am not a fatalist, however. I still hope for some success in the midst of the distraction. That is still my purpose.
Got to go, my phone is ringing.
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