Child-like

I’m a grownup. No one mistakes me any longer for being a kid. And it’s been a good long while since I was a child.

I like being a grownup. It’s who I am. But, at times, I forget what it’s like to be a child. That's
not so good. .

The other day I played laser tag.. I joined twenty single adults from our church in a titanic laser battle. It was a blast. Child-like.

How much fun is it to run up, around, and down ramps shooting lasers at people. For forty minutes the troubles of adulthood melted away. We were kids again. And it felt quite good.

For too many adults playing kids games sounds childish. It’s not. There’s something freeing about letting yourself go, running (or at least walking semi-fast), and laughing. When we grow up we forget about the freedom of childhood and instead take on the weightier roles and responsibilities of adulthood. I don't know about you but sometimes adulthood weighs me down.

I know a fair number of adults would choose not to engage in a rousing game of laser tag. They’d opt out. They’d wonder if they’d be embarrassed or not talented enough. Would they get dirty or sweaty? Kids play. Adults think and worry.

On the day of my afternoon laser tag game I spent the morning with a group of folks in an inner city neighborhood learning about community development. It was adult work. Necessary. Important, Challenging. Thought provoking. In the afternoon I played. Laser tag was relatively unimportant, not very challenging, and I didn’t have to used much of my brain. But I needed it.

Laser tag became a little like a mini-Sabbath. After a morning of heavy lifting I needed to rest. ‘Twas good.

I wonder how many of us need to reclaim the freedom of childhood for our tired adult lives. Have we become so adult that we forget how to let ourselves go in wholesome, fun ways? Has cynicism and sarcasm replaced hearty laughter and a joyful heart? I know, for me, that sometimes I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. It’s weight I don’t carry well. It’s unnecessary. I wish I cold shrug it off of me but I can’t seem to do it.

And then, someone invites me to play or I get invited into a discussion about nothing of import. I laugh. And the huge weight I’m carrying begins to fall away. I stand straighter and feel more focused. I so need that.

Laser tag reminded me that I still enjoy child-like things. ‘Tis good, don’t you think? It should be for it is a Jesus thing. In the book of Matthew Jesus tells the disciples to let the children come to Him. In fact, He said, “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Could it be that in the children Jesus saw innocence, wide-eyed possibility, close your eyes and hope for it faith, and a playfulness that kept his heart young and alive? May it be so for us all.

Elections

Last Tuesday was election day in Illinois. The voter turnout was abysmally low. It bothers me. Democracy only works when people exercise their obligation to participate.

Of course I understand the indifference. The candidates for the major offices were pretty unappealing and the negativity of campaign adds turns people off and away. And it was only a primary, right?

Watching the local ABC station had me chuckling. During the 6:00 news they were adamant about the fact that "Lost will be seen in its entirety and not interrupted by election news." As a Lost fan that was important to know. As a citizen I had to wonder about our societal priorities.

So, I watched Lost and then a bit of the election coverage. To be honest I just couldn't get excited about who won what where. That's sad. You see, I used to be a political junkie. Couldn't get enough. I used to love watching election coverage. I was a Government major in college for crying out loud. But now, just a few minutes is too much. My cynicism bothers me.

A few weeks ago the Massachusetts elected a Republican to take Ted Kennedy's vacated seat in the Senate. My take is that they turned their back on the Democrat who couldn't connect with the common person. They went with someone who seem to understand the real world of real people. Was it a turn to the right? Kind of. Sort of. Maybe. I just think Massachusetts voters were voting for someone 'real'. Political party was a mild consideration at best. They decided to move in the direction of the more 'authentic' person. And, yes, I also do believe that many voters were sending a message to the White House and Congress. That 'message' or lack of one will be what fuels what remains of the political fires in November. The skeptic in me believes that even if the Congress begins to tilt back to the right that the obstructionist nature of the current political landscape will still result in dangerous partisanship. Both Democrats and Republicans don't seem eager to craft win/win legislation born out of creative synergy. That spells continued trouble for America.

For certain, political campaigns are too long and too expensive. I think the British have it right. They call for an election and then 'boom' before you can get too bored they vote. Makes sense. I'd rather focus for a shorter period of time on making my voting decision. Let's face it. It really doesn't take 18 months to make up your mind does it?

In my world of political fantasy I'd like to limit campaigns to one thirty second ad and one sixty second ad. That's it. Say what you believe. You can't slam the other candidate. You have a two week window to air it and then let's vote. I'd also do away with sham debates. Candidates are drilled to divert attention away from any topic that causes discomfort. Shouldn't be allowed. Maybe there should be a designated 'stay on topic' judge at every debate. Whenever a candidate veers away from answering the question asked a buzzer goes off and his/her microphone is turned off.

Bottom line is that we've got a bit of a mess. Too many of us don't participate in the political process. Good people are a bit shy about throwing their hat into the ring. What happens in state capitals and in Washington is making cynics of us all.

Maybe if we all read a bit more so we really understand the complex issues before us, participated in civilized discussion about issues, encouraged good people to run for office, and asked God to replace our cynicism and anger with hope and involvement we'd all be better off.

No Idols

Want to know what drives people’s lives? Ask to see their checkbook, look at the history of websites they frequent, study their calendar and appointments, ask how they handle both joy and disappointments, who they blame when things go wrong, and inquire about what they dream about in times of solitude (especially those things they think will make them happy). Do that and you’d get a pretty good picture of what’s most important in that person’s life.

So, let me ask you a question. If I took a look at your spending history, the websites you go to, how you spend your time, how you handle joys and disappointments, who you blame when things go wrong, and what you believe will truly make you happy …what would I discover about you?

For a lot of people there life is driven by their kids. Some by whom they’re dating. Career consumes many. Sex is a huge drive. Accumulation of stuff is high on many lists. Some are addicted to food. Some to therapy. Many have to keep busy because the quiet drives them crazy.

God tries to speak into our lives. He’s saying. “I want to be more important than anything or anyone else in your life. Don’t make anything else a substitute for me.

And He gives us a commandment. It’s #2 on the list.

"You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them …"

In other words … No idols.

This get s tricky. Most of us haven’t fashioned a golden calf out of melted gold. And yet we create idols in more subtle ways.

Let me give you some examples. The other day I went to a meeting that was held on the 45th floor of a high rise in downtown Chicago. Everything about the law office screamed success and prestige. Every furnishing said money and taste.

And I wanted it. I wanted success, prestige, money and good taste. This was the good life. It was hard to get it out of my head.

I have known people who frequent singles bars. Why? They were lonely, wanted to find a sexual partner, wanted to feel alive, wanted to forget, wanted love, and craved friendship and entertainment. And the quest for such things drove their life.

I know people who live for their favorite sports team. Their house is painted the color of their favorite team. They talk sports all day every day with sports radio on in their car and ESPN on their TV. They’re consumed by sports.

I know people who shop when they’re depressed. When they’re feeling better they shop because they’re happy. When they pick up a newspaper they go first to the ads. They want to look good, have the best and be trendy. It’s how they measure success.

I know people who are into helping the poor. They do good deed after good deed after good deed. They’re compassion junkies. Always looking for the next fix.

But there’s a problem. An idol is anything more important to you than God, anything which absorbs your head, heart memory and imagination more than God. It's anything you believe will give you more of what only God can give. And God is warning us about those things.

An idol is whatever you look at and say, in deep in your being, “If I have that, then I’ll know my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, and then I’ll feel significant and secure. Then I'll be happy."

And God says I want to give your life meaning. I want to show you how valuable you are. In a relationship with me you’ll find the real significance and security and joy you're seeking. Not in anything else. That’s why I don’t want anything or anyone else to stand in the way.

We all have idols. And we give to idols what God wants. Our love, our trust, and our obedience. And God wants our love, trust, and our obedience because He knows it’s good for us. It makes a difference in our lives. It’s not because His ego needs to be stroked.

So, do you ever live with the tension created by the 2nd commandment?

God says. No idols. I’m wrestling with it.

Tempted

Last week I spoke on the temptation of Jesus. Take a look at it if you get a chance. It’s in Matthew 4. It’s a few short verses about Jesus resisting the temptation to do anything but trust in His Father.

We’re all vulnerable to temptation. Take a survey and you find the point of the attack comes in very obvious ways. Some of us are addicted to power, some to sex, and many to money. Who hasn’t played the comparison game when it comes to looks, talents, and possessions? Food is a place of vulnerability for many of us. Until you know where you’re vulnerable, understand it, own it, and confess it you’re prone to be tempted in those areas. And the truth is even if you know where your weakness lies you can still feel like you’re walking on shifting sand. For the truth of the matter is that we’re tempted because we’re human.

So, temptation is going to come your way. We’re in the middle of a spiritual battleground all day everyday.

It’s been said that we are most vulnerable to temptations when we are hungy, angry, lonely or tired or any combination of the above. It’s then that we try to fight temptation with will power, a snappy slogan, or a quick trip to Barnes and Noble for the latest self-help book. They don’t work. Not for the long haul.

You know the great and radical claim of Christianity –the great difference between us and other world religions and philosophies is this … Jesus offers to live in and through us. That means that we have the living God and His power and authority working on our behalf. Where we’re weak He’s strong. And yet, so often, we try to go it alone not allowing God to do the heavy lifting. So why don’t we take advantage of everything the Lord offers us?

The other night Anita shared with me something her friend author Larry Crabbe said at a conference. At a time of need in his life he prayed. Lord I know you’re all that I have but I don’t know you well enough for you to be all that I need.

That helped me understand something. The reason a lot of people don’t turn to God for help in the midst of temptation is that the God they need isn’t the God they know. Because if they really knew the great God of the Bible they wouldn’t settle for the trinket god of self-help or the god of the next best thing. The god so many people don’t quite know isn’t really the God of the Bible. It's at best, a caricature of the real God.

Is the God you need a God you know?

Jesus's life is always instructive. His intimacy with the Father came, in part, because of His knowledge of the scripture. And when push came to shove in his showdown in the desert He relied on that knowledge to thwart evil intentions.

So, are you a student of the Scripture?

I remember a story about someone approaching a holy person and asking the question …”How long will it take me to master the Scriptures?” The holy one said, “A better question is how long will it take for the scriptures to master you?”

I think Jesus allowed the Scriptures to penetrate His very being and was very much a factor in His amazing intimacy with the Father.

We will be tempted. We will also be tempted to fight temptation under our own power. We only delay the inevitable. For the only way to fight the temptation of the devil is with the power of God and the word of God.

So I’m asking myself some questions.

Will I allow the God I need to truly take deeper residence in my life?

Am I willing to commit myself to more intensive study of the Scriptures, allowing the word of God to grab hold of me in deeper ways?

Good questions. Hard ones though. Life changing for sure.

State of the Union

The President will address Congress tomorrow evening. It’s the State of the Union address. Like most of these addresses it will be part truth, part hope, and somewhat imaginative. That's the way it's been for a long time.

I wonder what our reaction would be if President Obama said something like this.

I’d like to talk straight with the American people tonight. Please refrain from any applause. I really want to speak from my heart without interruption.

This has been a tough year. We’re stretched thin. We haven’t seen the economic turn around we’d hoped for. We think there’s some encouraging signals regarding a turn for the better but I’m not sure we’ll have a return to the insane prosperity we had just a few years ago.

There’s a lot of you who are stuck in the middle of hard times. In all honesty you might be there for a time. That’s not what you want to hear but I can’t give you what I don’t have.

All I can say is that we are working hard to turn things around but we’re going to continue to need your help. If you own a business do whatever you can to keep workers on the job. If you’re an investor don’t panic if companies don’t hit their projected mark especially if their still making a profit. When you panic everyone panics. We don’t need that anymore. If you’re getting government money and you own a business we want you to have the decency to not take obscene bonuses at the public’s expense. Main street doesn’t get it and frankly I don’t either.

We’re stretched thin on the military front too. Let’s be honest. This war on terror is an awful thing. We’re dealing with crazy people. You can’t reason with crazy people. So, we have to have a strong military presence. We’ll have to have one for a long time. Maybe forever. That’s the nature of evil in this day and age. We’re beginning to think that the war on terror can’t be won the way we’d like to win it. That’s the reality of it. We’re going to have to be vigilant, at considerable cost, for the long term.

I’m backing off health care. It’s a battle I’d like to win but can’t right now. But health care is an issue. People don’t have insurance. They can’t afford it and don’t have access to it. We’ve got to fix it. But this isn’t the time or place to do it. There doesn’t seem to be a plan available that makes sense to enough people. But I promise you this. I will come back to it. This is a battle worth fighting. We need to do our homework, however, and come up with a plan that makes sense, does good, and solves the problems that threaten our health care system and the lives of friends, families and neighbors.

Our government has not earned your trust. We continue to see pork in almost every piece of legislation. It’s embarrassing. I won’t sign any legislation any longer that’s filled with stuff that doesn’t belong there.. But I need your help. I want you to pledge not to vote for anyone in the next election who votes for legislation , even if it’s earmarked for you and your city, that makes you scratch your head and wonder ‘what’s that doing in here?’ The only way to get better government and more fiscal responsibility is for you to hold us accountable. The trouble is that too many of you don’t vote, don’t read, and don’t know what’s going on. That’s got to stop. We need an informed, alert and involved electorate.

I’m convinced part of the problem we have in America is an ability to discuss things with a credible level of civility. I don’t know how to fix that except by maintaining a high level of civility in my own interactions and expecting the same from my staff. To that end, I’ve fired some of my staff. I hired some to act like hatchet men and women. They’re rude and disrespectful. In their place I’m going to be hiring tough people who know how to exert influence without striking fear into the lives of the people they’re dealing with.

One of the things we’ve got fix in America is the lack of respect we have for each other. We've got to figure out how to be more respectful on our streets, in classrooms, in town hall meetings, and on our airwaves. We seem to have a fascination with those who bluster and blabber and exert negative influence. Is that what we want?

Those of us in the public eye have to start modeling more noble things. Are we living lives worth emulating? If you're a talk show host tell the truth. Keep the innuendo out of it. If you’re making millions of dollars as a singer make sure your lyrics take the high road. If you’re a comic and can’t be funny with out swearing maybe you need different writers. If you’re an athlete be a role model for the young. If you make a gazillion dollars you should be generous in your giving. It’s been written that ‘to whom much has been given much is required.’ My prayer is that more of us who have been given much would believe it act accordingly.

Of course, all of us can make a positive difference. To that end I want to encourage every religious body to partner with an underachieving school. I want each of you who aren’t doing something noble with your life to commit to giving five hours a week towards something that will make a positive difference in our culture.
Don’t even think about commuting unless you car pool. We can save the environment and have more money to invest into our economy. If you don’t know what to do pick up litter in your neighborhood.

Just make a difference. Leave a footprint. Help us advance the ball down the court.

I’m going back to some things that are rooted in my heart of hearts. There’s too much going on in this country and the world to rely solely on my own talents and abilities. I know I’ll get hammered for saying this but I need God’s help to lead this country. We all need God’s help. Part of the reason we’re in the messes we’re in is because we’ve walked away from asking God to guide us. Too many of us don’t have a moral compass that works. We’ve got to change that. I’m going to try to model it in my own life in deeper ways.

I still believe in America. The answers to the problems we face aren’t going to come to us easily. They’re going to require sacrifice, soul searching, collaboration, and vast amounts of good will. I think we’re up to the task.

Compared to just about any other planet in the world we’re in pretty good shape but there are many Americans who go to sleep each night without hope and the promise of a better tomorrow. Life is hard for them. There are systemic and personal issues at play. Instead of pointing fingers and bashing the poor we’ve got to join together to create opportunity and a vision for a better future. We can do it. We must do it.

America’s best days aren’t behind us. They are in front of us. We must believe this deep in our being. And may that belief propel us into an era of creativity, problem solving, forward thinking, compassion and care that will make us the envy of the world.

May it be so.

Prophetic?

I’m a lucky man. I’m almost sixty years old and God keeps putting adventures in front of me.

Early Saturday morning I drove around a neighborhood on the west side of Chicago. It isn’t a rich neighborhood. You can tell. Lots of vacant lots, a drug deal on one of the corners, a prostitute making her way home, pot holed streets, a fair amount of litter. Every time I turned a corner I saw something that assaulted my suburban eyes. And I asked God to allow me to observe and not make judgment. There’s so much about the urban neighborhood I don’t understand. But God is allowing me to learn. And it’s important for me to learn. God is there.

He’s also in the burbs where the streets get fixed, the litter is gathered, and where the prostitutes and the drug deals are more clandestine. A strong tax base can take care of potholes and garbage but is still incapable of dealing with sin.

I was on my way Saturday morning to a seminar at Landmark Missionary Baptist Church. Pastor Cy Fields talked to our BUILD group about the Black Church, the neighborhood, and the challenges and hopes of being a pastor within that particular milieu.

I walked away with mixed feelings and many blessings.

Cy Fields blessed us by being honest. Honest about the role of the church in that community. Honest about the challenges. Honest about his hopes. Honest about the difficulties. Honest about the God ordained role the church he pastors plays in the neighborhood.

Somewhere during the morning the word ‘prophetic’ came up in the conversation. And that word is stuck in my head.

Prophets aren’t well liked by and large. Prophets show people the reality of life and calls them to a God driven transformation. Further, prophets often get chased, whipped, beaten, robbed, ridiculed, ignored and killed. That’s probably the reason for the short lines at the job fair for potential prophets in training.

Prophetic voices try to challenge the status quo. The problem is that we like the staus quo. In fact we are the very definition of the status quo. Who wants to have their world rocked? We expend a great deal of time and energy maintaining what we have even though it’s not serving us very well.

Sometime on Saturday morning two conflicting thoughts roared through my mind. One of those thoughts I’m not very proud of. It’s the one that says ‘get out of there. You don’t have to do this. You’re an aging white man.. You don’t belong. You’re trying to revitalize a fading idealism. You’ve done enough. Pass the torch to a new generation.’ I don’t like this thought because I think age doesn’t mean much, that I belong wherever God has invited me to go, and that the trouble with many of my peers is that they have forgotten any notion of idealism and traded it for an unsettling blahness.

And then there’s that other thought that I can’t shake. It’s says ‘learn as much as you can, let God mold your heart, and then go and be a prophetic voice amongst the hundreds and hundreds of comfortable people you know who need their world shaken up. Help the church be the church. Build a bridge between the burbs and the city. Hep people learn from each other.’

I’m prouder of that thought even though it probably the more problematic of the two. But it feels more like God doesn’t it? It has a ‘prophetic’ tinge to it.

Now here’s the problem. I like to be liked. Stirring the pot, saying things people don’t want to hear, and challenging the status quo puts you on the ‘do not invite him to the party list’. So what do I do?

What would you do?

I believe the enemy of my heart wants me to sit the next couple of decades out and die with unlived dreams.

Nope.

Doesn’t sound right.

I’d rather miss a few parties and follow the more prophetic path. It sounds like a lot more fun.

Foot in Mouth

Pat Robertson did it again. He suggests that the Haiti earthquake is divine retribution. And why? They made a pact with the devil.

Robertson is the poster adult for foot in mouth disease. It’s that human malady that all of us have fallen prey to. OK, at least I have. You know, too, what it’s like to pick the worst possible time to say something that shouldn’t be said in that time or place. Impulse control goes on the fritz.

Robertson has ‘foot in mouth disease’ in a bad way. This isn’t the first time he’s said something controversial in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster. He threw verbal gasoline onto the fire raging in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Robertson always try to explain the why when no one is asking the question. The questions good people are asking immediately after a tragedy is ‘how and who”. How can I help? How can I enter into what’s happening in a meaningful way? How can I get there to lend assistance? Who do I send money to that's trustworthy? Who do I partner with?

Down the road a bit we can ask the ‘why’ questions including the sticky political and theological ones. And they need to be asked. They will be asked. That's human nature. Not now though. Now is the time to respond with compassion.

And if people ask ‘where’s God in all of this’? He’s with the poor and suffering in Haiti. He’s suffering with them. He’s holding up the aid workers helping them to go further than they thought they could. He’s breathing fresh life into His people. He’s weeping with the heartbroken. He’s stirring up hearts to do good. He's not reveling in the destruction of a country.

By the way, I went on the 700 Club web site which tells us that they have already sent a shipment of millions of dollars worth of medication to Haiti and their disaster team leaders will be sent to Haiti to help ease the suffering. That’s all Robertson needed to say on the air the other night. He didn’t need to comment beyond that. He just needed to enter into the moment with care and concern and invite others to do so by responding with compassion. You know what? I think Robertson really does care about what's happening to the people in Haiti. Seriously. It's just that his impulse to immediately rain down judgment obscures obvious and generous moves of compassion. And it's the impulsive statement that people latch on to and remember.

In the midst of all the devastation one has to marvel at the way people are responding. I’m proud of America in the past few days. We’ve put aside our bickering to reach out in amazing ways. The church in America has stepped up big time. And it’s just not America. People all over the globe are responding. But I see best what’s right before me. That includes your giving and your efforts. Bravo.

Lunch

I had lunch about a week ago in Lawndale, a Chicago neighborhood. About thirty of us gathered, ate some excellent Malnati's pizza, and heard about how we could support the upcoming (Sept.) Christian Community Development Association's annual gathering to be held in Chicago.

CCDA is the brainchild of Dr. John Perkins, Wayne Gordon and a whole lot of other folks who believe that Christians can make a difference in under resourced communities. Twenty years ago CCDA held its first annual gathering. 130 attended. Last year in Cincinnati almost 3,000 gathered to learn and grow with each other.

I ate lunch with an old friend who I haven't seen in almost twenty years. We served in Young Life together. He's a denominational executive now. To my right was a pastor of a Chicago church. I've heard about her for years but we've never crossed paths before. Across the table was a buddy who works in Chinatown. At the end of a table was a college professor. We sat at the table. Men and women. Black, white, Chinese and Hispanic. Some quite young. Others not so much. Some in blue jeans. Only one tie. We were bound by a common faith and a desire to be used by God to help transform neighborhoods and lives.

I was surprised how many people I knew and if there was someone I didn't know I recognized their name. In the course of human events this gathering went unnoticed for the most part. There were no TV cameras or reporters.

Yet, from a kingdom perspective this was a 'dangerous' group.

One of the speakers started to cry as he pointed out some of the folks in the room. He recalled the contributions they were making to the slow transformation of urban communities. He said, "The work we do is hard".

Hard work. Needing to be done. But still hard. Not without rewards but some times it's tough sledding.

I'm drawn to people who have done and continue to do the hard work of ministry. They are people who have tasted success but are also deeply cognizant of how fleeting success really is. The reality is that the hard work of ministry, any ministry, means facing failures.

I know about failure. Most of you do too.

No one in ministry hits every ball out of the park. Lots of times it feels like no contact is made at all. And there is ample evidence of people who 'got it' once ...people who made contact with Jesus ...deciding somewhere along the line to 'drop it'.

The hardest aspect of ministry is realizing that people will exercise their free will, that they will give in to temptation, that they will reject faith and opportunity and fresh starts and go their merry way.

So, every once in awhile it's good to be surrounded by people who continue to do the 'hard work' of ministry. There is comfort in being reminded that the ministry road doesn't have to be a lonely road. There are others on it who understand.

What's interesting is that in this room filled with amazing people there was a general agreement that the hard road is a good road. Every disappointment creates an opportunity. God was still at work. And so in the midst of the challenge of ministry 'joy' creeps in and does it work in our hearts.

It was a good lunch.

Haiti

Short entry today. There’s nothing funny or provocative in what I’m writing. All I want to do is use my influence to encourage you to do something within your power to do.

The southern part of Haiti was hit by a powerful earthquake today. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. The government is weak. Corruption is high. The infrastructure needed for recovery is sorely lacking. So, when a natural disaster hits …well, it’s devastating.

I want to urge you to do three things.

1. Pray
2. Give
3. Consider being part of a relief team.

I’ve never been to Haiti. I know a lot of Haitians however. I raised my family in Evanston, Illinois. There’s lots of Haitian people there. My kids went to school with a lot of kids who were from Haiti or at least their parents were. The parents of those kids were and still are my friends. My son’s high school soccer coach played for the Haitian national team. So, I have a heart connection to a country I’ve never visited.

Pray for recovery. Pray for the people.

Give what you can. Let me recommend Bright Hope International, World Vision, Compassion, World Relief, World Concern, the International Red Cross and Samaritan’s Purse. Good people. Good ministry. Your money will be spent wisely. We’ve already sent a check this evening.

A portion of the country is going to have to be rebuilt. Talk to your church about organizing a team to go to Haiti. The impact will be huge.

Everyone reading this can pray. 99% of you can send a check. Whatever you’re thinking double it. Some of you can take time away from your responsibilities to be part of a relief team. Maybe you can organize one. Do it.

I've never had to live through a devastating natural disaster. Under any circumstance it would have to be very painful. I can’t imagine going through one in an under resourced country. Our response can bring people hope.

I’ve already read some looney on-line comments from brain dead people who obviously won’t pray, won’t give, and won’t volunteer. They won’t be part of the solution. We can be.

Go for it. Google one of the organizations I recommended. Many of you probably have your own 'go to' relief organization you already give to. Each organization should have a way, on their website, for you to give to Haiti Disaster Relief. Do it. Before you go to bed or go to work in the morning pray for the people of Haiti. Then ask God whether or not He wants you to go on a relief team.

Thanks.

Two Books

I’m tired of easy answers. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like a few but I’m tired of the ‘know it alls’ who think there is a simple fix for every problem. We've all heard them. We've gotten e-mails from them, we've had conversations at parties with them and they fill the airwaves with their arrogance (how's that for judgment?)

Problems in the public schools? Bring back prayer.

The fix for welfare? Mandate personal responsibility.

The economy? Vote in the Republicans/Democrats.

Terrorists? Bomb every nook and cranny of any country harboring them.

Immigration? Send ‘em all back.

World hunger? Tell people to get a job.

Global warming? It’s a conspiracy. Ignore it.

Simple fixes. Complex problems. Snap your fingers and they’ll all go away, huh?

It doesn’t work that way. Most of the big issues of the day are shrouded behind years and years of habit, systemic and personal sinfulness and are protected by both formal and informal power structures. There’s no easy fix.

That doesn’t mean we walk away from the problems facing us. We’re called as Christians to be visible and potent in this world. We’re called out and beyond our spiritual ghettos. We fight evil. We pray. We become a presence. We advocate for reform. We resist the temptation to simplify the complex and make complex the simple. And as Jesus followers we’re asked to enter into the suffering with our brothers and sisters who indeed are suffering. When we do they can become our teachers and guides. Relationships are built. We can give of our gifts and talents to people we now love and acknowledge as friends.

I’ve been thinking about this because I read two books in the past ten days. Right after I finished reading a book called A Mile in My Shoes by Trevor Hudson I started to read a book called Code of the Street by Elijah Anderson, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Trevor Hudson is a pastor in South Africa. That’s a tough place to be a minister. The issues are deep and persistent. He insists that “our times cry out for a gospel shaped spirituality that is both intensely personal and deeply aware of our suffering neighbor.” And of course our neighbor is more than that nice family next door. Hudson writes from a Jesus perspective and that means our neighbor is that not so nice family three doors down and the people fifteen miles away who we don’t know and don’t want to know and those folks thousands of miles away that show up on commercials for feeding, sheltering, and clothing the poorest of the poor. A Mile in My Shoes is a short book. It's a little over a hundred pages but it got me wanting to read it again. It’s a call to develop compassion in our lives. Compassion opens the door to opportunity, I think. That’s a doorway people of faith need to walk through. Too many of us avoid it because walking through it means entering into a world that will probably make us uncomfortable. We favor comfort.

I certainly needed that ‘compassion fix’ when I cracked open Code of the Street. It’s both enlightening and disturbing. Using under resourced Philadelphia urban neighborhoods as a back drop Anderson patiently paints word pictures that describe the ever present 'code of the street' that influences virtually everything it touches. It has at its foundation a nihilistic philosophy which encourages skepticism about ...well, just about everything. It does battle against hope.

In this world of extreme skepticism street codes have evolved around a complex need for 'respect’ and the jockeying necessary to be 'respected'. The need is deep. The skepticism is real. The fall out almost makes you want to cry. This is a tough read. Stories of lives being cut short by violence, education snubbed, municipal indifference, generational wounds, intergenerational sinfulness, and lack of role models aren't easy to digest. But if you want to understand poverty, violence and urban sociology this is an important read.

Anderson maintains that the forces at work in many of our urban neighborhoods make it “increasingly difficult to maintain a sense of community.” He writes: “A vicious cycle has been formed. The hopelessness many young inner-city black men and women feel, largely as a result of endemic joblessness and alienation, fuels the violence they engage in. The violence then serves to confirm the negative feelings many whites and some middle-class blacks harbor toward the ghetto poor, further legitimating the oppositional culture and the code of the streets …unless serious efforts are made to address these problems and the cycles are broken, attitudes on both sides will become increasingly hardened, and alienation and violence, which claim victims black and white, poor and affluent will likely worsen.” Whew. Welcome to the future.

I’d love to give this book to everyone who has an easy answer for what plagues urban America. Read it and then tell me that there are ‘easy answers’. And if it doesn't make your heart ache then check for a heart beat.

I’m not discouraged though. I know more today than I did yesterday. I’m more committed than ever to cultivate compassion in my own life. I’ve got questions but I also know where to find answers. And I still believe that stacked decks can be unstacked. I also know that where there is deep need God is at work already. His people are there. They're in inner city Chicago. They're in that township in South Africa. There's that 'wise head' on every block who tries to nurture the children. It's that grandma on her knees daily asking God to work a miracle in her community. It's the small church ministering to those with AIDS. It's the mission providing the free meals. It's the after school program refusing to give up on the young. They're there. My job is to find them, join them, give to them, and pray for them.

Anderson’s book Code of the Street helps me to understand the depth and breadth of the issues many face day in and day out. Hudson’s book A Mile in My Shoes gently challenges me to yearn to ask God to cultivate compassion deep within my heart and then to join with God’s people who live with hard realities that might cripple the average suburban church goer.

It's been a good week of reading.

Born What?

I grew up in a world where there were two religions. There was Catholic and there was Protestant. One was right. One was wrong. I know which one was right because Sr. Mary Attila the Nun told me what to believe. And I learned early on that it wasn’t wise to argue with the good sister. (By the way I thank God for my Catholic upbringing and how good priests and nuns helped shape me.)

It was a neat, easy way to divide the world.

As I grew older and dabbled more widely in things Christian I made a decision to be a Protestant. More importantly I made a decision to follow Christ. But the whole Protestant thing began to be a bit confusing because there are different versions of Protestantism with strong emotion on all sides. I read a story recently that put it into perspective. It’s from a book called Holy Ground by Chris Castaldo which explores Catholicism and Evangelicalism. Excellent read. I’ve tweaked the story a bit but it’s his idea

A Protestant man was hiking in the mountains. As he turned a corner, he noticed a man standing on a small rock ledge preparing to jump to his death. He ran over and said, "Stop don’t do it.”

Why not?

Well there’s too much to live for.

Like what?

Are you religious by any chance?

Yes.

Me too.

Are you Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or Jewish?

Christian.

Me too.

Catholic or Protestant?

Protestant

Me too.

Presbyterian, Methodist or Baptist?

Baptist.

Me too

Are you Baptist church of the Lord pre-trib or Baptist church of the Lord post- trib?

Baptist Church of the Lord pre -trib.

Me too.

Are you reformed Baptist church of the Lord pre-trib reformation of 1847 or Baptist church of the Lord pre-trib reformation of 1962 ?

Reformed of 1962.

With that response, the man scowled, pushed the man off the rock ledge and yelled ‘Die heretic scum. Die.’.


The Protestant Christian Church has always had divisions. Some bitter and some deep. Movements, phrases, and even words take on meaning that can sometimes unite us or divide us.This morning I preached about two words. Biblical words. Words I rarely hear anymore. And those two words are ‘born again’.

In some circles ‘born again’ stories abound. They are words of conversion, fresh starts, of new beginnings. Of sin forgiven and hope given. Ask someone if they’re ‘born again’ and he/she can tell you the day, the hour, the minute, and the setting where it all happened. Their eyes light up because the memory is so good. That’s when their life started over again.

I’ve also found that the words ‘born again’ can become quite divisive, with lots of baggage attached. Over the years, I’ve had people come up to me and say “Are you one of those born-againers?” It’s a loaded question. What they're really asking is this “are you a narrow, hypocritical, anti-everything religious zealot?” 'Born again' got hijacked by the religious right along the way and got politicized. Too bad. For they are truly good words. Really good. They're words of Jesus.

We see the 'born again' discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus in chapter three of the book of John. Under the cover of night religious leader Nicodemus comes to Jesus perhaps looking for a spiritual pick-me up. Instead he gets a spiritual wake-up call.

Jesus looks him in the eye and basically tells Nicodemus that he'll never see the kingdom of God unless he's born again. That had to be a shock to his system. Jesus rocked his tightly wound Pharisaical world. Jesus was saying that rule keeping and score keeping don't count. Instead he tells Nicodemus that he needs to “allow God to do a new, fresh, radical work in his life. Allow God to move in your life is such a way that you are born again. The person that will take shape inside of you is formed by something you can’t see and touch …the Spirit of the living God. It will look and be different from anything that you concoct in your own brain.” (my paraphrase)

I read a story that again I’ve tweaked a bit in an old Ray Stedman sermon recently. Stedman was the longtime pastor of Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto.

An Englishmen was visiting a local church. In the entry way there was a guest book that visitors were expected to sign. It’s an old custom. And in this church visitors not only wrote their name but the habit was that they would identify the degrees they earned. This particular man never attended college and was a little unsure what he should do. He thought for a few moments and then wrote his name and then boldly wrote BA and MA. A friend looked at him quizzically and said. You never went to college. What’s with the BA and MA. He said, It’s the truth. They stand for Born Again and Marvelously Altered.


When we're rebirthed spiritually something changes in us. We become marvelously altered. For Nicodemus he appears later in John offering a word of defense on behalf of Jesus and still later he is shown co-operating with Joseph of Arimethea in the embalming and burial of Jesus. Not a whole lot of mention. But enough. His life changed. No longer was He questioning Jesus under the cover of darkness. He was standing in the light identifying with Him. His life had been altered.

In the next few weeks at the worship service where I serve on the preaching team we’re going on a journey. It’s a sermon series called ‘The Road’ . We’re going to walk through the life of Jesus. We’re going to follow him on the road. From teenager to the cross. One of the things we’ll notice ‘on the road’ with Jesus is that He has an amazing knack for asking people to rethink their spiritual life. To different people he says different things. He says, “come follow me, don’t sin anymore, quit fighting about who’s greater, come away and pray with me, give away what you have because it’s imprisoning you, etc.” He says to Nicodemus “be born again.” He offers the same invitation to different people in different ways but it’s always an invitation to something ‘else’. It’s an invitation to relationship, to mission, to repentance, to discipleship, to a magnificently and marvelously altered life.

I wonder how many will go beyond learning about the road and actually step onto the path. You see we live in a world where we want our lifestyles to be validated, not questioned. We want God but only enough of him to make us feel good and not enough to alter our life. We’re too busy shaping our destiny to stop long enough for Him to actually form what He wants in our life. We’d rather be self-sufficient that God dependent.

But those who do come to a place of understanding that He is the creator and we are the created and who allow themselves to stumble into the arms of grace …well, they allow a good God to breathe new life into them again, and again, and again.

I’ve discovered that those who have been born again and marvelously altered always seem to have a story to tell. There's always a story about them and God. Not just the conversion story but the story of discipleship. It's not a story about what happened way back then but it's about something that happened recently. It's a story about a God sighting in the here and now.

So, let me ask you a question. Put aside your biases and prejudices. Put away your skepticism and your sarcasm. Answer this. “Do you want God to do something new in your life?” It doesn't matter if you walked down a sawdust path years ago, stood up at a Say-So at a Young Life camp, or said yes to 'Jesus' while watching a Billy Graham crusade or if you never did anything like that ever in your life. The question is this. " Do you want God to do something new in your life starting now? "If the answer is ‘yes’ …tell God. And then welcome to the adventure called 'born again'.

Last One

Last blog of 2009. Eventful year. A little employment adjustment, I went bionic, another wedding in the family, Anita gets a book contract, we inaugurate an African-American president, and the Cubs just miss the playoffs :).

For the most part, a good year. God used a whole lot of thing to grow and mature me. For that I’m glad. God’s not done with me yet and there are opportunities galore.

It seems that the next few years are going to continue to be interesting. The promised return to prosperity is taking awhile isn’t it? The disparity between rich and poor continues to grow. Political unrest is the reality of they day. Islam grows in both popularity and influence. Many of the moral moorings of our culture are being dismissed.

So, we stand in the gap between challenges and opportunity. What do we do?

Here’s some ideas:

Take the high road. The public debate on any issue is both heated and way too personal. Whether we’re talking about the Cubs, climate change or health care pundits are all too often taking the low road. And it’s not just pundits. We do it. We do it when we pass on that e-mail that wasn’t fact checked. We do it when we believe the next hot rumor instead of casting a skeptical eye on what doesn’t pass the sniff test. Character assassinations have become art forms. Maybe we need to start ignoring all those who major in attacking, defaming, and throwing mud. What if we asked for accountability in our own lives and asked others to remind us of the high road option whenever they notice us stooping down to a less civilized level?

Build bridges. We categorize, stereotype and buy into generalizations about situations and people. What if we boycotted stereotyping and majored for awhile in building bridges of understanding? There’s a mosque a few blocks from my home. What if I wandered over a few times this year and started to get know folks who are strangers to me? What if Republicans started to love on some Democrats? What if Sox fans bought a Cubs fan a beer? What if …?

Get involved. One of my favorite conversations this year was with someone who was wondering why we help the poor overseas when we have so many needs here? When I asked him where he put his time, talent, and money locally he admitted (after some hemming and hawing) that he didn’t give his time, talent, or dollars towards much of anything that addressed the needs in our culture. I walked away from that conversation muttering under my breath. Someway, somehow we’ve all got to find ways to invest ourselves in the crying needs of our day and age. We’re way past the day when we can only talk a good game.

Keep learning. Just yesterday I heard about a 72 yr. old widower who bought himself a Kindle. Gotta love it. He’s a reader. That’s always a good sign. The future belongs not to the learned but to those who want to keep learning. How many people do I know who have stopped reading, investigating, exploring, and questioning? Too many. There’s too many who don’t want to tap into the treasures of the past, keep current with today’s thinking, and chart a course into the future.

Stay faithful. It's been said that we play at our worship, worship our work, and work at our play. More and more I realize that I am created by a good God who wants me close. In relationship. 24/7. He doesn't want me to play around with that relationship. He wants it front and center. I'm yearning to be a better student of the scriptures, more present in prayer, and more cognizant of the movement of the Holy Spirit in the here and now.

Can’t wait for 2010. Wonder what God will do next in all out lives?

Cooped in. Feeling guilty.

The day started productively enough. Some snow shoveling. A workout at the gym. Time spent with a couple needing some coaching. Then a trip to the grocery store.

Now six hours later not much has beeen accomplished. Just laying around. Watching TV. The tail end of Goodfellas and 10,000 B.C. (not highly recommended).

It's a good day to lay around. The snow around here keeps falling. Some estimates are around ten inches. Too slick to be driving around. And so we're cooped in. Because I wasted time instead of being productive with it I'm feeling a guilty.

You see, I have a to do list as long as my arm. There's all kind of things I could be doing, maybe even should be doing. But I'm not doing any of it. I'm procrastinating. So I'm dealing with the guilt of it all.

If truth be known I'm also feeling guilty about feeling guilty. (that good old Catholic School indoctrination kicks in again). Feeling guilty about feeling guilty. Does that even make sense? I think I put the fun back in dysfunction.

Very simply, I'm programmed to want to feel and be productive. When I'm not I get the sense that I'm disappointing someone. Often that person is me. It's a stupid way to live.

So, instead of accepting the fact that it's OK to do nothing I get these little waves of anxiousness that flow over me. I'm thinking "What if something falls through the cracks?" or something like that. It's all pretty silly because things always fall through the cracks.

So I'm cooped in and feeling a little guilty about not using my time wisely. What if this was the day God intended for me to discover and implement world peace? What if I missed the opportunity?

To add to my misery Anita's is in the final throws of her book project. So, while I'm idling away my hours she's pounding away on her keyboard trying to meet deadline. Her example adds to my exasperation. And my example will probably prompt her to add another chapter. This one about 'lazy husbands'.

This is one of those days when I feel like I'm in the middle of a Seinfied episode. I'm blogging about not much of anything and there's actually people who will read it because they're wasting their time too. Misery loves company I guess.

The good news is that it's almost time to shovel and snowblow again. The snow is tapering off. Finally, usefulness. There's something about a clean driveway that builds self-worth. One can look back at the end of a day and say with some confidence 'at least I accomplished something today.'

So, I'm getting ready to jump start the snowblower. Driven by guilt I'll probably do the neighbor's walks too. They'll think I'm a good Samaritan. What they don't know won't hurt them?

Ice Storm Christmas

Last evening the weather experts warned all to stay at home. Treacherous conditions. Ice slicked roads. A prelude to Armaggedon.

So, with a triumphant shrug we defied the doomsayers and drove 20 miles to Willow Creek Church and joined about 6,000 others to celebrate Christmas. Anita, John and I have made Willow Creek a holiday tradition. This year son Kevin, his wife Joanie, and my daughter Erin joined us. It made it all the nicer.

We serve, as you know, at Christ Church of Oak Brook. So, why do we go to one of the 'competitors' for Christmas? :) Easy answer. So we can worship. Sometimes it's hard for those who minister to actually worship on their home turf. Sounds funny but it's true.

So, we went to Willow and God met us there. As He will this afternoon when we 'serve' at CCOB. But sometimes you just need to go someplace where there is no responsibility and expectation. And it is there that you can listen and let yourself go and put yourself at the feet of the 'God with us'.

As we listened to the weather reports in the late afternoon yesterday we considered not going. Risking life and limb isn't always the way to go. But the pull to go was greater than the need to stay safe. That actually explains much of the life of faith. Safety and security beckons but there is a greater call to go and trust God. And so we should often find ourselves pushing away from more natural inclinations and venturing out into what might pose some risk.

We all yearn for a God who can meet us at the place of our greatest need, who can help us rise to live beyond our modest expectation, and who gives us a work to do that has meaning and requires us banding together with others. Christmas reminds us that the God we seek 'comes' and is here with us. He speaks. He acts. He calls us to Himself. Always.

It was a good day yesterday. The roads weren't nearly as hazardous as the media experts claimed. The balm for a weary soul was found in a place of wonder and worship.

In a few hours I'll assist at a Family Service at our church. People will be blessed. God will be in the house inhabiting the praises of His people. There are no ice storms in Chicago today. But there will be those who will listen to inner voices telling them that a Christmas Eve service is unnecessary and inconvenient. My prayer is that they will listen to the voice of God beckoning them to the manger to worship the King of Kings who came in the most humble, vulnerable and tiniest of packages. In the manger they will indeed find the a God of relationship who loves them. And they will be forever changed.

Merry Christmas.

Seriously Disturbed

I've been reading a biography of Rick Warren call "Prophet of Purpose". It's written by Jeffrey L. Sheler. It's a good read, at least it was for me.

In the book Sheler writes about Rick's wife Kay. Kay became a 'seriously disturbed women' went God ripped off her suburan, evangelical, soccer mom blindfolds. For the first time she was able to see a whole world filled with hurting people. Her life took on renewed purpose and sense of mission.

Rick Warren, himself, had a moment when he was also wrecked by God.He was reading Psalm 72, a prayer of Solomon. Solomon, as we know, was rich and powerful beyond description. "He prays, God I want you make me more influential. I want you to bless me and give me more power. I want you to make me famous. I want you to spread the fame of my name to many nations."

And why was Solomon praying this? It was so the king (Solomon)"may support the widow and orphan, care for the poor, defend the defenseless, lift up the fallen, release the captive, help the foreigner, and the immigrant.

Warren say, God basically said to me. The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence."

Wake up calls. One to a soccer mom who was living an insular existence. Another to a pastor whom God had blessed with influence. Together, they became an even greater force for good galvanizing God's people to open their eyes and to take action.

Ever wonder if you need a wake-up call? My guess is that most of us would argue that we're pretty self-aware, pretty savvy, and fairly knowledgeable. That's where we fool ourselves. Our self-awareness is always limited, we're savvy about and knowledgeable about some things but when push comes to shove we really have to admit that we close ourselves off, we put boundaries up, and we narrow our possibilities.

Now, there's nothing wrong with focus, good boundaries, and choosing to do what's doable. I'm all for it. Wish more people would get focused and start doing God's work. But in the midst of that how willing are we to let God in, to wreck our plans, and to challenge us to be influential in ways that we can't even imagine?

I've been thinking about this lately. At church we're preaching the Advent Conspiracy. Ugh. The challenge of worshipping more fully, spending less, giving more and loving all rattles my carefully constructed cage. Why didn't we choose something a bit less edgy like give God what you can, do less, go into debt and love those who look and act like you? Hey, I know how to do all that.

Nope. Not God's way. He starts talking about getting disturbed, and praying for more influence and using whatever wealth we have so that it can be used to help others.

You know, the love of God, working itself out in our lives is a good thing. But it demands that we pray to have our blindfolds ripped off. And that probably means that we go places, to people we have religiously avoided. And it means that we might have to be used in places that don't have the appearance of safety and actually feel risky. That's because love always goes to those kind of places. It's there that we get to use our influence to speak up for those who don’t have any. And may I say allowing them to influence us.

In the meantime God places us, during this holiday season, smack dab into the mission field of family and friends. May He give us all the grace to love others in ways we never before imagined. Christmas brings out the best and the worst in people. There's lots of hurts in our immediate families, in our neighborhoods, and with co-workers. Maybe we can be used in some ways to bring a little light, sanity, and love into the lives of those we know well.

Melancholy Christmas

I find Christmas to be a difficult season. It has to do with ‘expectations’ that I’m certain are wrapped in unpleasant memories. It’s this sense that no matter what I do, no matter how jolly I try to be, no matter what kind of gift that I buy …well, it all falls short, at least according to my internal expectation meter and I sense that I’m disappointing someone.

And so, I go into a bit of a holiday funk. It’s difficult to get into the season and I’m happy when it ends. That probably makes me a ‘scrooge’ of some sort. Just being honest.

And so I struggle a bit in this holiday season, wondering if I’m up to the task of the celebration of the season. I confess that I feel a little off, maybe even a tad bit fearful and apprehensive, and unsure of myself .

I know there are others who are approach Christmas with a bit of fear, melancholy and trepidation. Maybe you're one of them. Especially this year with the economic slowdown, if you're at all human, in your private moments, you grapple with the uncertainty that fear brings. For some that fear and uncertainty is caused by an imminent job change, others might be asking God about their singleness or a fragile marriage, some are ill and more than a few are facing financial struggles.

Whatever it is I believe that the hope that Christmas brings is supposed to win out over the fear of circumstance. The angel in the field was very clear "Don't be afraid …. I bring you good news of great joy." Author Kathleen Norris tells us that the “Incarnation is where hope contends with fear.”

And in that hope is a great comfort. God is here. He's bigger than anything or anyone I face. I'm not alone. God's come. I can bring any stuff I'm dealing with to Jesus, God who is with us, in prayer. He's promised to listen, to care, to respond. He's faithful. He loves us. He speaks to our fear and He can speak to the ‘holiday funk’. And in that response we can find that peace that is far beyond human understanding.

I love this little story because it reminds us of the joy of childhood and helps us to see the beauty of the Incarnation through the eyes of a child. It’s written by John Shea and it’s called Sharon’s Christmas Prayer.

She was five, sure of the facts, and recited them with slow solemnity convinced every word was revelation .

She said: They were so poor they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat. And they went a long way from home without getting lost. The lady rode a donkey, the man walked, and the baby was inside the lady. They had to stay in a stable with an ox and an ass (hee hee) but The Three Rich Men found them because a star lited the roof. Shepherds came and you could pet the sheep but not feed them. Then the baby was borned. And do you know who He was? Her quarter eyes inflated to silver dollars. The baby was God.

And she jumped in the air whirled around, dove into the sofa and buried her head under the cushion which is the only proper response to the Good News of the Incarnation.

I don't know if you'll jump into the air and dive into a sofa but my prayer is that this Christmas you'll respond to God who came in the flesh. He stands before you always saying "I love you very much. Will you give me your life?" My prayer is that you'll say yes. And in that 'yes' you will understand the meaning of Christmas … and you will be filled with joy. That goes for me too. In the midst of the hoopla that exhausts me I look for the ‘Christ’ who will refresh my soul.

Somehow, Christmas brings together the best and the worst of our lives and begs the question – which will you serve? Will you allow hope to transcend your holiday funk? Will you allow Jesus to be Lord of you merriment? Will you allow Jesus to transcend the appeal of consumerism? Good questions all.

Blind Boys

I went to church on Saturday night. Fascinating experience.

First of all, it wasn’t a church service. It was a bar/music venue called Fitzgerald’s. It’s located in Berwyn, an inner ring suburb in Chicago.

The featured act was The Blind Boys of Alabama. The ‘Blind Boys’ have won five grammies and were featured in the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou” awhile back. They are old (70’s my guess) and truly blind. And they are gospel. Pure gospel.

So, the Blind Boys get up in this club and they rock the place. Sure, there were some real fans there but it wasn’t a very ‘churchy’ crowd. But people were dancing, and testifying, and shaking and singing along. I think what happened is that the Blind Boys stirred something, almost hidden away, in the hearts of the audience. It reminds me of something I’ve used in sermons before.

In his book, "What's So Amazing About Grace" Phillip Yancey tells this poignant story about the primacy of grace. Bill Moyers documentary film on the hymn "Amazing Grace" includes a scene filmed in Wembley Stadium in London. Various musical groups, mostly rock bands, had gathered together in celebration for the changes in South Africa, and for some reason the promoters scheduled an opera singer, Jessye Norman, as the closing act.

The film cuts back and forth between scenes of the unruly crowd in the stadium and Jessye Norman being interviewed. For 12 hours groups like Guns 'n Roses blasted the crowd through banks of speakers riling up fans already high on booze and dope.

Meanwhile, Jessye Norman sits in her dressing room discussing "Amazing Grace" with Moyers. The hymn was written by John Newton, a coarse cruel slave trader. He first called out to God in the midst of a storm that nearly threw him overboard. Even after his conversion, though, Newton continue to ply his trade. He wrote the song "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds" while waiting in an African harbor for a shipment of slaves. Later, though, he renounced his profession, became a minister, and joined the fight against slavery. John Newton never lost sight of the depths from which he had been lifted. He never lost sight of grace. In the film, Jessye Norman tells Bill Moyers that Newton may have borrowed an old tune sung by the slaves themselves, redeeming the song, just as he had been redeemed.

Finally, the time comes for her to sing. A single circle of light follows Norman a majestic African American woman as she strolls onstage. No backup band, no musical instruments, just Jessye. The crowd stirs, restless. A voice yells for more rock and roll. Others take up the cry. The scene gets ugly.

Alone, a capella, Jessye Norman begins to sing, very slowly:

Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found-
Was blind but now I see.

A remarkable thing happens in the stadium. Several thousand fans fall silent as she sings.

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

By the time she reaches the third verse, "Tis grace has brought me safe this far, And grace will lead me home," several thousands fans are singing along, digging far back in nearly lost memories for words they heard long ago. Thousands of voices proclaim:

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun.

Jessye Norman later confessed she had no idea what power descended on Wembley Stadium that night.

Yancey said - I think I know. The world thirsts for grace, When grace descends, the world falls silent before it.

That’s what happened at Fitzgerald’s last night. Instead of silence people shouted and danced. But the spirit of God was present.

Nice night.

Next Up

I drove into and through the city today. Twenty five miles from my door to a room at Ravenswood Covenant Church. The covenant group I’ve met with for the past few years was gathering. We had a special guest Soong-Chan Rah who’s written a book called The Next Evangelicalism …Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity.

Rah’s book is an interesting and edgy read. Basically, he says that the church of the future needs to move away from the white captivity of evangelicalism. That's pretty provocative isn't it? Are we guilty of making American Christianity in our image and likeness thus edging out the work of God which is far beyond border or ethicity?

I don’t argue with his assertions. After dialoguing with him today I especially walked away knowing that he has no vendetta against the western church or group of people. He really is offering a prophetic voice to the church in our country. Prophetic voices have a way of rubbing against the grain. We usually don’t like that especially if it causes us pain and/or discomfort.

Let me confess something. I kind of like being a white male. It has carried with it certain privilege and opened doors of opportunity. I have a lot of choices. People who look like me have a lot of power, money and position. That means we’ve gotten to call the shots for a long time. Sometimes we’ve done that well. Not always though. Regardless of success or failure the end doesn’t justify the means. But basically, I can see where being male, white, reasonably well educated, and of course utterly charming has served me well. I’ve been at the front of a lot of lines and for the most part I haven’t minded. (I’m ashamed to admit that by the way. Now, I wonder who’s place I might have taken)

So from the perspective of five decades of living, I know I can’t do anything about the color of my skin but I can recognize that being in the drivers seat can oftentimes exclude and minimize the contributions of others. That bothers me both from a historical perspective and from a life application perspective in the here and now.

I’ve listened to enough stories of people who look differently from me to realize that the kind of power I inherited and yet chosen to use has not always served others well. Sometimes what I believe, how I think, and how we (collectively) think and believe has served to create a culture of faith that serves us well but not the church as a whole.

The truth of the matter is that the melting pot we thought we were is in reality a stew of various flavors, beliefs, people and ideas. And these flavors, beliefs, people, and ideas do not want to be held captive by a faith system that isn’t inclusive and representative of the way God has moved in other places among other people. Nor should they be. And I think it's well beyond making our brand of evangelical Christianity more accessible and diverse. It's more than that. It brings us back to the Scriptures, I think, where we must try to look at what God is saying without the bias of our particular culture and history. That's not easy.

That’s why Rah’s book stung me a bit. I look at our world from a very simplistic perspective some times. And if truth be told I hold a world view that doesn’t necessarily work beyond my comfortable walls of faith and influence. And, despite the lip service given to diversity, the reality is that most of us feel far more comfortable in settings where we know exactly what the next person is thinking and feeling. We like our exclusive clubs where everyone dresses and speaks just like. The problem is that this doesn’t work well when we truly understand the meaning of the notion of the body of Christ.

The world is changing around us. The world that was doesn’t exist any longer. Our country is going to become more diverse not less. Now, comes the hard work of taking a look at our structures and practices and issues. And then we (all of us) have go about the hard journey of recreating many things so that they make sense in a multi-cultural context. And the big question is whether or not we as individual are up to the task? And if we’re not will our churches be able to find a voice in a rapidly changing world?

So, I recommend this book. It will mess with your head. Do me a favor. Read it. Write to me and tell me how many times you threw it against the wall. Then, if you know someone of faith who is Black, Hispanic, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc. as them to read it. Then spend a few hours talking about it. Then let me know what you think.

Total Worship

I can’t remember where I read this but I came across a Franciscan Blessing recently. It reads:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God, who Creates, Redeems and Sanctifies be upon you and all you love and pray for this day, and forevermore. Amen

I used this to end a sermon called Worship Fully, part of an Advent Conspiracy series we’re doing at church. It struck me that this blessing gets to the heart of the matter of worship. As long as I’m complacent I can’t jump into worship with both feet, walking my talk and not holding back. In order for me to worship fully I need to have some discomfort and discontent in my life that forces me to go deep within my heart where Jesus is calling me to follow Him with no reservations. It’s a call to a healthy skepticism about the things of this world that drives me to respond with all I am to Jesus.

But I struggle with this. I’m a little like some of the disciples in Matthew 28 (The Message):

"Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally. "

I hold back, not sure about worship sometimes, and certainly resist risking myself totally. What about you?

It's easy to understand. I come from a Christian world that battles both propriety and privacy. And the culture I live in conspires against worshipping anything but the false idols of this age. Why worship God when we can worship our kids, our music, our jobs, what we own, and where we vacation?

During Advent we’re supposed to be waiting in great anticipation for the coming of our Savior. But do we? My guess is that most of us have become half-hearted in our worship of God. Natural inclinations towards both propriety and privacy join forces with the cultural inclination to worship anything but the true God of true Gods. And when we pay only lip service to the triune God of Scripture we really do miss out on the adventure of total worship.

This is a tough season for Christ followers. The gods of Macy’s, Nordstrom’s, Walmart, Target and Apple beckon us to bow in their presence. They send as their messengers such things as vanity, ambition, keeping with the Jones’s, an unwillingness to disappoint others …all conspiring to keep us away from the Savior and his call on our lives.

Our culture says ‘it’s about you, spend more, preserve your lifestyle, be proper, keep your faith private, and rationalize your lifestyle. 'But, we’re called to a life of total worship. And when we jump into the riskiness and assurance of faith we will be given the grace to believe that we can make a difference in this world, doing what others claim cannot be done, caring about the people and things that are closest to God’s heart.

So, let's enjoy the season. Let's thumb our noses and our pocketbooks at the gods of the age. Let's peer out behind the boundaries of propriety and privacy. Let's love on those God has given us and extend our reach to those who are surrounded by injustice, poverty, and isolation.

So,think about this as part of the equation for moving towards total worship of a great God... Let's thumb our noses at the unimportant + break free of what binds us + Living with thankfulness for what we already have + investing our time, talent, and treasure in those who have far less = A very merry Christmas.

Random Thoughts

Tiger Woods. Pretty tough. Don’t know exactly what's going on in his life but it's not good is it? Sounds like pretty serious stuff in the Woods household. The media is having a field day. I’m sad to report that I even passed on a joke or three to others. Wish I hadn’t. It just shows how slippy slidey the sin slope really is and how much work God still has to do on my character.

Tiger lives in the public eye. It's not an easy place. Expectations are high and when you fall people aren't eager to pick you up. My prayer is that some good Godly men and women enter Tiger's life, love on him and his family, helping them to move into their true God given potential.

White House Gate Crashers. I wonder what head rolled on this one. The big concern is ‘security’ or lack of it. Duh? You gotta wonder what would compel someone to show up, though, at the White House without an engraved, embossed invitation? I would have just assumed that I wasn’t going to be able to schmooze my way in. Things that make you go hmmm.

What with this and the Tiger thing it’s an early Christmas for the gossip pros, isn’t it?

Chicago Bears. The story goes that practice was suspended because an unidentified white substance was found on the field. Upon investigation it was something called the ‘goal line’. Pundits were not surprised that the Bears were unable to identify something they’ve rarely seen.

The President and Afghanistan. I think it’s a bit risky to announce when you’re pulling out of a war and also depending on Pakistan to step to the plate. Something has got to happen to spur the people of Afghanistan to go to war against evil and do what’s necessary to sustain it. That’s a lesson we’re learning in this country. Evil is ugly. Trying to fix it demands a deep resolve. That’s not easy anymore in any culture that wants nothing more than a quick fix.

Mike and his ministry at Breakthrough. It’s been interesting. I’m discovering, especially, how little I really know about under resourced urban neighborhoods. One thing stands out. In my community (where I live) things get fixed fast. There’s lots of things that don’t get fixed fast or at all in poor neighborhoods. Lots of factors at work. Power, privilege, neighborhood leadership, neglect by elected officials, allocating resources to richer neighborhoods. Lots going on.

God’s doing a work inside of me. There’s a lot my mind doesn’t comprehend. I realized that I don’t yet have a heart connection with the people in the neighborhood or the folks in our shelter. I haven’t heard enough of their stories. I stopped on the way to my car today to talk with one of our homeless guests. It was a good move. We had a great conversation and pledged to talk more next week.

I'm glad God led me in this direction. God's going to use it to grow me up. And I think there's some things I can bring to the table that will be helpful.

Mike and his ministry at Christ Church. I love hanging with the folks in our singles ministry. A week ago we had a nice day long retreat. Good people. Amazing stories. There’s a desire to become more and more like Jesus. Several have helped me identify some of my weaknesses (but not all thankfully so I still have some credibility) and asked if they can be the Body of Christ to me by filling in the gaps with their gifts. Yahoo.

And I love being one of the architects of 2HC, our newest worship service. I love team teaching and being part of a congregation that wants more of what God wants.