Just Tell The Story

It's nearly Christmas Eve.  I have been doing my best to cram two sermon preps into one afternoon, but I am losing that battle.

I've been thinking a great deal about what I will say tomorrow night.  My wife tells me that it should be a good sermon because there are so many visitors who will be there for the first time. 

No pressure. 

Several years ago when I was in seminary I took a Preaching class.  It wasn't a bad class as seminary Preaching classes go, but they did force us to read our sermons from a manuscript.  I told the professor then that I was not, nor would ever be the kind of preacher who read a sermon.  I thought that reading a sermon did violence to the art of sermonizing.  I argued that we weren't delivering an academic paper (he disagreed) and then I went on to equate listening to preachers read their sermons with other exciting things like watching paint dry or grass grow.  When I was finished, he sort of looked at me in that condescending way that seminary professors look at you when you make broad, sweeping statements about what you will do once you get out of seminary, and told me that if I wanted a decent grade in his class that I would comply with his wishes.

So that was the first and last time I ever read my sermons. 

He was a good teacher, though, despite his insistence on treating the event of the sermon like a segment on NPR.  What he lacked in style, he made up for in substance.

I remember one day we were discussing the proper way to conduct a Christmas Eve service (solemnly and with much pomp and circumstance) and the suggested length of the Christmas Eve sermon (short) when several of us had the same question all at once.

"Don't you ever get bored of preaching the same thing every Christmas Eve?  What do you do to make it more interesting? Do you have to preach from Luke chapter 2 every year?"

My professor took off his glasses and set his book down.  We sat on the edge of our seats awaiting something profound.  I wanted him to expound on the virtues of preaching from Titus, or how a Psalm could be just as meaningful as Luke's Gospel.  I wanted him to release us from the bondage of tradition and give us wings so that we could glide away on the winds of change.

"Just tell the story." He said to us.  "Just tell the story."

I have never forgotten that.  And so every year at this time, I just tell the story...

I am fully aware of the fact that when I tell this story again this year that I will be doing so in the context of a fairly affluent, oldline Protestant church full of mostly white people holding candles.  The Christmas Eve service will be something that we all do either on our way to or from something else.  We'll be full of good cheer.  Simply full of it.

The story of how God saved the world isn't nearly as romantic as we would like to imagine it from the safety and cheer of our Christmas Eve pews.  Consider this...

Despite the way that historians and theologians struggle over the where's and when's of Jesus' birth, it seems pretty clear that Joseph and his very pregnant wife Mary were tired, poor and homeless when they arrived in Bethlehem.  Although it was the land of his ancestors, Joseph seems to be without prospects and certainly without the kind of money it would take to find a decent place for his wife to deliver her baby.

They make a great pair...

Mary was a teenage girl who was almost certainly the object of an arranged marriage.  She was barely out of her childhood, pregnant and completely beholden to Joseph, who could have had her killed when she announced her pregnancy.  She disgraced her family, and would have been looked down upon in her community.  

Joseph was undoubtedly derided and defamed for choosing to wed Mary, who had become mysteriously pregnant during their engagement.  His decision to forgive her when she had obviously cheated on him was probably one that raised more than a few eyebrows in their hometown, and may have contributed to their leaving in the first place. 

They were at the whim of the State.  They had nothing.  They were nothing.

Archaeologists uncovered an ancient monument commemorating the birth of Caesar August.  It referred to him as "The Lord" and the inscription hailed the "birthdate of our god has signaled the beginning of good news for the world." 

Funny.  The "good news" that Caesar brought wasn't seen as "good news" for the people on the margins.  People like Mary and Joseph...  Or like the shepherds in Luke chapter 2.

Shepherds were thought by most people to be shiftless, lazy and more importantly unclean and not fit to be part of decent society.  Their constant close proximity to the sheep they cared for prohibited them from taking part in religious celebrations and from even being in contact with other people.  It is widely believed that the shepherds in Luke 2 were watching over sheep that would have been used in the very temple sacrifices and ceremonies they were prohibited from keeping.  Ironic. 

When the angel appears to deliver the "good news" of the birth of the Prince of Peace (another name often given to Caesar Augustus) the message is given to outcasts.  The songs that are sung by the heavenly hosts are not sung in the courts of the proud and powerful, but on the hillsides on the outskirts of the city.

And the song that they sing is one of the doxa of God---a translation of the Hebrew word for God's glory, kabod, which essentially means "the heaviness of God."  The angels sing to these outcasts that the very presence of God is heavy upon the world.  And things are going to be different.

So the shepherds, like Joseph and Mary, go to Bethlehem.  Bethlehem is the place where the story of God saving the world takes place.  Bethlehem is where God comes to us through the birth of a child.  And Bethlehem is where we all need to go in one way or another in order to experience the full measure of God's love.  Some of us get there as people surprised by God's grace.  Others of us get there as the result of dramatic and mysterious moments.  Some of us get there because we are dragged their by someone who wants us to see something wonderful. 

And when we get there, like the shepherds, we leave transformed and bursting to tell the story...   This is the story of a God who identifies with the oppressed, the poor and the homeless.  This is the story of a God who prefers to be revealed to the broken and the weak.  This is the story of a God who became one of us to save all of us.   This is a story filled with moments of God meeting us in the fields in the dark when we feel alone, lost and not at all like the kinds of people we think "belong" in church. 

This is the story of good news for all people... not just a few people. 

Tell the story. 

Just tell the story.

God With Us

What motivates your faith?

Fear? Desire to be a better person? Tradition?  Ritual?

I was thinking a lot about that this week as I am preparing for my last sermon of this season of Advent, and given the time of year my thoughts wandered a bit to Christmas-y memories. 

When I was a kid my faith in Santa Claus was founded on one thing and one thing only.  If I wasn't a good boy, he wasn't giving me jack for Christmas.  There are songs about this belief.  Hymns, to it, if you will.

"You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why...  Santa Claus is coming to town...."

Does anyone else find this creepy, but me?  And the song got worse, right?

"He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows when you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake..." 

 You know, it doesn't really matter how we try to sugar coat this whole Christmas/Santa Claus thing---in the end it all comes down to trying to get more stuff.  Think about it.  We teach kids that if they are on Santa's "good" list, they will get presents.  If they are on the "bad" list, they don't.  Their behavior then determines whether they receive more crap or not. 

This is how pervasive and long-lasting this strange faith is:  When I was growing up, the "bad" kids were always promised a lump of coal in their stocking.  I am getting older, but even when I was a kid people had pretty much stopped using coal to heat their homes or cook food.  We actually had electricity for those kinds of things.  Still, we were promised coal if we were bad.  I said the same thing to my kid not too long ago.  He doesn't even know what coal is.

We are taught that we are supposed to shape up before Christmas.  And here's something even more bizarre.  Whatever sins that we have been guilty of leading up to December 25th can be absolved if we muster up enough goodness to limp to the finish line.

So we can get some presents.

And so many people think this is cute and wonderful and we've passed this faith on down through the years, and I find myself saying the same damn thing to my own five year-old when he begins to act like a turd this time of year.

This cute and cuddly belief in the magic of Christmas and the coming of St. Nick is in reality completely shrouded in fear, coercion, control, guilt, shame...  Not to mention, materialism, consumerism, selfishness and individualism.

If I sound like the Grinch Who Denigrated Christmas, sue me.  It is what it is. 

Imagine with me for a moment.

Imagine that we started saying to people, "Jesus is coming!  The Messiah is near!  Christmas is about to happen!  Repent! Make your heart right with God!  Start living like you were meant to live!  Spend less! Love All! Worship Fully!"

They would think we were lunatics.  They would assume that we were religious fanatics.

But if warnings of right behavior, repentance and preparation are followed by cheery reminders of the coming of Santa Claus and spending money at the mall...Well, now that's a different story.

I am preaching from Luke chapter 3 this week.  It's Luke's version of John the Baptist's sermons in the wilderness.

It's fairly awesome.  Here you go... 

⁷John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ⁹The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." ¹⁰"What should we do then?" the crowd asked. ¹¹John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." ¹²Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" ¹³"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them. ¹⁴Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"  He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay." ¹⁵The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.^{[b] 16}John answered them all, "I baptize you with^[c] water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." ¹⁸And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.

I'm particularly fond of the "brood of vipers" comment.  I looked up what that meant.  There was this viper--Nicander's viper, to be exact---that the ancients believed actually ate it's way out of it's mother's womb.  Nasty, man.

Imagine if the Salvation Army ringer outside the Wal-Mart warned everyone that was going inside that they were a bunch of matricidal snakes that needed to repent. 

We've been singing the song "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" at my church for a few weeks now.  Emmanuel is a word that means "God With Us."  What does it mean that God is with us?  I mean what could it mean for us if we really and truly BELIEVED that God was really with us... That the Messiah was on his way and is already here? 

That God is all around us, in us and through us...

Would we act better? 

Would we watch out... and not pout...  and not cry... and stop living only for ourselves... and stop hating one another... and show some mercy... and act with justice... 

And repent? 

An Interview With Anne Jackson

Anne Jackson is a self-described Christian author, blogger, speaker and activist.  She is the author of the best-selling Zondervan release Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic (2009), she serves on staff at Cross Point Church in Nashville, she also is a passionate advocate for Compassion International and will be a rider on the 2010 Ride:Well Tour, a cross-country cycling tour in June and July of 2010.  The goal of the trip is to rasie awareness and funding for water wells in Africa and is part of the Blood:Water Mission initiative.  Anne has recently completed her second book, Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Articles on Confession and Grace, which will be released by Thomas Nelson publishers in August of 2010.  In addition, Anne's blog, www.flowerdust.net, is one of the most visited and followed blogs in the country.  She has traveled to Uganda and to India with Compassion International and will be at my church--the First Presbyterian Church of Eustis--this weekend to share about her passion to find aid for the lost children of Uganda.

I first met Anne (though she probably doesn't remember) at the National Pastor's Convention in San Diego last year.  The NPC has since gone the way of the dodo because Zondervan saw no reason to equip  pastors and church leaders without making a profit.  I'm a little bitter about that as you can tell.  When Youth Specialties (which Zondervan now owns and is running into the ground) started the Pastor Conventions they meant it as a time of refreshment, equipping and resourcing for pastors and church leaders.  Zondervan didn't see it that way.  Zondervan can bite me.

At any rate, I met Anne there and she was awesome.  My wife attended a workshop she was a part of that dealt with raising kids when you serve the church.  For my part, I stumbled upon a panel discussion she was involved in about social media in the church, and immediately ordered her book.  Mad Church Disease was an awesome read, and I highly recommend it.   

Permission to Speak Freely looks as though it could be the Church's version of Post Secret--a forum for people to creatively share their confessions, and then some.  It began with a question that Anne placed on her blog, "What is the one thing that you feel that you can't say in church?"  The response was overwhelming.

Like me, Anne grew up in conservative Evangelical churches.  Her father was a pastor, and mine was a Christian schoolteacher.  Both were abused by the communities they served.  I guess that's why Anne's story resonates with me.  Despite the fact that we both saw the uglier side of the Church, we both entered into to it to serve in ministry--which is proof that God calls who God calls. 

When I had the chance to invite Anne to come share her stories of Uganda with my church during Advent, I jumped at it.  I wasn't sure what God was doing, and I had no idea if she would even come at all.  After Anne agreed to come speak, I began to see more clearly that God wanted her visit to be an integral part of what we have been doing as a church throughout the whole Advent season--pushing back against consumerism and materialism and celebrating by being Jesus to the world.

I had the chance to ask Anne some questions recently about her work with Compassion International and her new book, as well as a couple of other important topics:

PM: So, what prompted you to do a mini-speaking tour in December? What do you
hope to accomplish?

AJ: For most of 2009, I was pretty busy traveling and speaking. I decided
in summer to take off six weeks later in the year to rest and finish
writing my next book, but as the time approached, realized just a
couple of weeks would be adequate as we were ahead of schedule on the
book. There's nothing more I love to talk about than Compassion and
helping connect people with God's heart to the poor, so I opened up my
schedule a bit in hopes that people would open up their hearts to what
God might have for them in regard to the poor.

PM: What has your work with Compassion International meant for you personally?
How has it transformed your ministry?

AJ: Wow - I could write a book about this subject alone (and maybe one day
I will!) In February 2008, I went with Compassion to Uganda. I got to
meet so many incredible families and children, including Linet, a girl
my husband and I sponsor. After that trip, I came back to the States
fighting God...I did not want to give up control over my life, but
after what I had seen, knew I had to. For us, this meant quitting our
jobs at a very large and influential church, moving to Nashville
jobless, and homeless. We relied on friends to help us out and God
used those relationships to truly grow our faith. We've paid off all
of our credit cards, trimmed our expenses, and are living simply so
that others might simply live. I thought it would be hard to give up
money and time, but it's been easy and so life giving!

PM: You correspond with thousands of church leaders and church-y people each
year, and speak to thousands more. What do you see in the church today that
gives you hope? What are some things that need to change?

AJ: One thing that gives me hope is that people are hungry for honesty and
transparency. Living a life that's wide open and broken before God and
others can be scary, and it takes courage. But once someone has that
courage there's no stopping them and that honesty spreads! I think
that if we let go of the "trying to be perfect" masks that we often
wear, the church would be a lot healthier!

PM: According to your blog, you recently wrapped up the manuscript for your new
book “Permission To Speak Freely.” Hundreds of people responded to the
initial question you posted on your blog that was the impetus for the book,
“What is the one thing you feel you can’t say in church?” What was the most
surprising thing that people shared? The most sorrowful? The thing that
made you the most righteously indignant?

AJ: The most surprising topic that people felt they couldn't discuss in
church was poverty! Even though the Bible talks about it hundreds if
not thousands of times, we feel like it's off limits! Others felt they
couldn't share about personal brokenness - addictions, temptations,
etc. - because they felt like they could be judged. The fact that they
are often right about being judged is what makes me upset...but
desperate to change things!

One of the issues that you tackle in “Mad Church Disease” is the challenges
that women in ministry face. While most mainline Protestant churches affirm
the roles of women in ordained ministry the vast majority of conservative
Evangelical faith communities do not. Do you see a way forward for women in
these contexts?

AJ: As someone who has grown up in an extremely conservative denomination,
and is now ordained in my home church, this is a topic I've seen
discussed in depth. Theologians have argued both sides of this issue
to extensive degrees. I'd encourage women to embrace their role
regardless of title or accolades - they may or may not come. We only
can find our identity in Christ...who, if He applied for many "jobs"
in churches today, wouldn't qualify Himself for lack of credentials.

Take Your Best Shot - Book Review

Take Your Best Shot: Do Something Bigger Than Yourself by Austin Gutwein (with Todd Hillard) is the kind of book that I am going to assert my parental authority and make my 15 year-old son start reading.  I know that if he begins to read it, he won't be able to put it down.  Austin Gutwein was a nine year-old kid that was given the opportunity to travel to Uganda on a mission trip that would change his life.  When he was confronted with the overwhelming poverty that he encountered in Africa, Austin wanted to do much more than just keep asking the question, "What could I possibly do?"  He decided to raise money by doing something that he loved to do, play basketball.  Austin's vision of shooting free throws for pledges grew into the Hoops for Hope program that has fund raising events all over the country.  This book is filled with inspirational moments and unbelievable challenges for any of us who claim to have a heart for the poor.  Sometimes, in the words of Austin, we need to get up out of our seats and take our "best shot," at making a difference.

Advent Conspiracy Week Two

This Sunday is the Second Sunday of Advent.

If you were paying attention last week, we talked about how the word Advent means "expectation" and how our expectations should be pretty high this year.  If you weren't paying attention... grace abounds, and so does the definition of Advent.

Our expectations should be high because things have been pretty icky for a while.  There's this whole war thing going on, and oh yeah... the world economy took a huge bite out of the crap burger this year.  Not to mention that Michael Jackson died, so there's that, too.

We could use a lift.

I'm expecting one.  I think that God is still in the miracle business.  I think that joy is coming and I choose to believe that peace is going to happen.  I also want to straight up claim some joy and some love, too.  Can I get an "Amen?" 

I want so desperately for the Church, the Body of Christ to believe the same thing--that God is still in the business of performing really big miracles.  Those of us who call ourselves Christians say that we do, but for the most part we live as though we don't believe a bit of it.  Christians drift about in their Christian circles saying all of the right things but not really putting their arms around a faith that can move mountains.  Especially when the mountains in question have names like World Peace, Hunger, Racism, War, Hatred, Poverty and Injustice. 

And we live as though Jesus isn't coming.

I've heard it said that the most important life lessons that we ever learn we learn in kindergarten.  I believe that.  Imagine how many complicated situations could have been avoided if people just kept their hands to themselves.  Or how about the warning against eating paste?  That, my brothers and sisters, is a life lesson well learned.  Paste is most definitely not for eating--even though it is non-toxic and tastes strangely good.

When I was in kindergarten I learned a valuable lesson that has stuck with me:  kindergarten teachers have eyes in the back of their heads.  And sometimes in other places as well.  I was in Mrs. Rogers kindergarten class when I was five.  Mrs. Rogers had been teaching kindergarten for like 30 years in 1974, and I suspect she may be still teaching it today.  She was like a mystical creature to me.  She knew everything that you were doing--sometimes even before you did it.  It was like she could look at you and see all of your transgressions past, present and future laid before her like a map.

"Don't even think about pulling her hair," she would bark at the boy next to me who had not moved or flinched at all for the past five minutes.  But by the way his face turned white, we would all know that he had been thinking about it. It was uncanny.

So I vividly remember Mrs. Rogers being called out of the room to go to the school office, which happened to be right across the hall.  She gave severe instructions for us to remain in our seats with our hands folded until she returned.

Yeah, I know.  We were kindergartners.  And she was gone for an eternity.  Well, at least three minutes, but three minutes is an eternity for five year-olds.  We were like the Children of Israel in the Exodus story when Moses went up on the mountain and was busy getting the 10 Commandments and enjoying some alone time with God.  They decided that since Moses was obviously dead that they needed a golden calf to give them hope.  Then all hell broke loose with parties, orgies and craziness. 

We were too young to worship golden calves or engage in Mesopotamian fertility rituals, but about a dozen kids began to wander around the room.  One boy climbed up on the table and began to do an Elvis impersonation.  The kid next to me began to yank the girls hair that he had previously been forbidden to yank.  A strange boy named Douglas began shoving paste into his mouth with impunity.  Toys were broken out and played with in the open.  It was chaos.

And for once in my short, disobedient life I felt compelled to sit right where I was without moving. 

What none of us realized, of course, was that the intercom on the wall in our room was controlled from the church office and Mrs. Rogers (owing to her 30 years of experience) had turned it on to listen to us.  Suddenly her voice boomed through the intercom and across the room, "Everyone who is standing up or out of their seat needs to freeze right where they are!"  The party was over.  Moses was coming.

It was a sorry sight indeed that Mrs. Rogers returned to witness.  Douglas froze with his hand jammed into the paste pot and incriminating paste globs on his lips and chin.  The boy yanking hair froze in mid-yank which caused no end of consternation for the girl whose hair he was yanking.  The boy on the table froze as he shimmied, his best Elvis snarl replaced with a look of terror. 

Mrs. Rogers strode into the room with the Assistant Principal.  Over a dozen kids were lined up and spanked right on the spot.  It was a bloodletting. 

I learned something that day that I need to be reminded of occasionally:  Sometimes it pays to get caught doing the right thing. 

The Scripture for this week's Advent study is from Malachi chapter 3.  Malachi is the last book of the Hebrew Scriptures or what Christians know as the Old Testament.  Some 400 years pass between the end of Malachi and the beginning of Matthew.  While the reading for this week comes from chapter 3, I decided to add the last verse of chapter 2 to it.  Here they are: 

Malachi 2:17 - 3:4

You have wearied the LORD with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you ask.
By saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them" or "Where is the God of justice?" "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.

As I read this passage I am going to be preaching from this week I was reminded of the lesson I learned in Mrs. Rogers kindergarten class.  This isn't just a season of expectation, it's a season of readiness.  And sadly, I think that most Christians are just doing whatever they think is right in their own eyes because they've lost faith that the Christ is really coming to redeem all of Creation. 

The Hebrew people had lost hope for the most part, not only here in Malachi, but throughout the 400 years that followed.  By the time Jesus was born, the Empire of Rome so thoroughly dominated the ancient world that it was the god of the age, and Caesar was it's embodiment.  As they had done in the days of Malachi, God's people began to wonder if God had begun to be pleased with evildoers, and had forgotten his people and the covenant God had with them.  They, too, asked "Where is the God of justice?" 

Their world was one in which the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob seemed to have all but disappeared.  The Pharisees added more laws to the 600-plus Mosaic laws that already existed in hopes that by doing so they could turn things around and make God happy again.  There were groups of people called Nazrites who didn't bathe or cut their hair and basically prayed for Israel night and day to be delivered.  The religious centers had become corrupt and religious leaders had basically been seduced by political power and began blurring the lines between politics and faith.  And the vast majority of people in Jesus' world just did the best they could to live and exist under the weight of the Empire and the dread that somehow all they had been taught about God was a lie.

Sound familiar?

That's why I love the words of Malachi juxtaposed as they are against the beginning of the Gospel stories.  Malachi declares that the messenger (malak - a word for angel or messenger) is coming.  The Lord will return to his temple.  The religious leaders are going to be purified or consumed (it seems unclear).  The Messiah is imminent and he will be like a refiners fire or a launderer's soap.  And there will be a list of people who God knows will not be ready, and who will be caught doing the wrong things. 

They are named off, which makes it convenient for us:  sorcerers (those who generate superstition and fear), adulterers (God uses this literally and figuratively because Israel has "cheated" on God), perjurers (people who swear to tell the truth and then don't), those who defraud laborers (dishonest business people), those who oppress the widows and the fatherless (people who don't care about the weak and the poor) those who deprive foreigners justice (people who treat immigrants like trash to be discarded) and those who do not fear me (people without a healthy respect for God and God's commandments). 

In Jesus' day these same words could have been used to describe all those who had been seduced by the Empire. 

Who are we kidding?  These same words could be used to describe some of us.

I love how Malachi's words are echoed by Jesus so many times throughout the Gospels.  Malachi calls out the religious leaders first and foremost.  So did Jesus.  And it's become far too easy for those of us who call ourselves Christians to become lulled by the safety of distance and to assume that these words don't apply to us.  They do.  Big time.

The declaration by Malachi should be frightening for any age that thinks that God is absent in the world.  And here's something else that needs to be said:  For those who truly trust and obey God, the coming of the Messiah will bring joy.  For those who don't, it will be like getting caught eating paste when we should have been living in obedience.  And before my ultra-conservative, (E)vangelical Christian brothers and sisters start feeling smug about what I just said... I would urge them to read where I illuminated those who God says will not be very happy at the coming of the Christ. 

Go do it now.  It was like three paragraphs ago. 

Christians are guilty of these things.  We generate superstition and fear if it suits them and if it will grow our churches.  We deny God and God's commandments when it suits us and our own needs. 
We talk a good game on Sundays but negate everything we say with the way we live every other day.  We are dishonest in business if it means that we will get ahead.  We don't really care enough about the poor and the weak to live in solidarity with them.  We could care less about immigrants and their plight, and see them as a nuisance and a threat.  We don't show a healthy respect for God because we ignore his commands to show mercy and kindness and do justice with humility. 

We're not ready, and so we don't really want to believe that the Christ is coming. 

When gold or precious metals are refined, they are burned at a temperature high enough to dispose of the "dross" and impurities.  What is left in the end is a metal that when it is cools and is polished will reflect the image of the one who is refining. 

Do you feel joy at the coming of the Messiah, or dread?  Are you ready to be refined and have all the junk in your life burned away?  Are you ready to finally reflect the one in whose image you were created? 

Are you ready?

Advent Conspiracy Week One

 I was at my local neighborhood Walmart yesterday.

I hate my local Walmart.  It's dirty, unkempt, it smells funny and--depending on when you go in there--full of the walking dead.  If you don't believe me, check out this website dedicated to the people who shop at Walmart.  If you find yourself on the website... I am sorry on a bunch of levels.

Anyway...  I was at the Walmart to retrieve a cake that my wife had ordered.  I keep telling her not to shop at Walmart, but she continues to be seduced by the low prices, and since she can send me into the bowels of the beast without having to do it herself, she doesn't listen to me.  So, I was strolling into the Walmart with a score or so of other people who all looked like extras in the movie "Zombieland," and I saw the sign to the right hanging from the ceiling.   "Save money. Live better.  I have to say that I am encouraged to see that Walmart is so concerned for my welfare that it decided to run a campaign where I will be compelled to save money so that I will live better.

First, I have to say that I actually agree with the idea that saving money will result in better living. 

Second, and most importantly, the fact of the matter is that Walmart doesn't want me to save money.  It wants me to spend it...in the Walmart.  But if it can convince me that SPENDING money in the Walmart will actually SAVE me money and that I will live better as a result... man, that's something.

Marketers are really hitting below the belt this year. 

This week I am beginning a new sermon series for Advent, using the Advent Conspiracy curriculum, videos, graphics, ideas, etc.  The whole purpose of the Advent Conspiracy is to re-frame this time of year from a Christian perspective and to get people to stop buying in to the consumerism that dominates the season.  When we do, we find that we are able to live more relationally and use our money to do something worthwhile--to help build the kingdom of God. 

Love All.  Spend less.  Give More.  Worship Fully. 

You gotta love that, right? It sounds pretty awesome.  But in the end, Americans will still spend nearly $400 billion on Christmas this year.  And most of that will be on credit.

One Christmas, a few years ago,  my oldest boy got over 50 Christmas presents.  FIFTY.  That year I went to like a hundred stores to find some stupid Hot Wheels thing that he wanted and no store had in stock... I was almost ready to resort to bribery of sales people in order to secure the damn thing when I happened to find it somewhere and snatched it up before some desperate women behind me got to it.  She was distraught when she saw I had grabbed the last one, and complained about it.  I didn't outwardly taunt her, but inside I was giving her a big razz-berry.  As far as I was concerned it was Consumer Darwinism... only the strong would survive by getting their kid EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANTED! 

Here's something we all should know:   TOY AND ELECTRONIC MANUFACTURERS INTENTIONALLY CREATE SHORTAGES OF HOT ITEMS TO GENERATE BUZZ AND PROLONG SALES INTO THE NEW YEAR.

And we play along with them.

Those of us who call ourselves Christians are supposed to be different, but we have bought into the insanity just as much as everyone around us.  The only difference is that we go to church in between our shopping forays and sing songs of hope, peace, joy and love while patting ourselves on the back for being so spiritually aware of the "Reason for the Season." 

Our culture encourages us to act individually during Advent.  The messages might be concealed in images of togetherness and family feasts during the Holidays, but the meaning behind the messages is always the same:  "Rush! Spend! Hurry! Buy! Busy!" We rush into stories passing right by the homeless begging in the street.  We speed by the Salvation Army bell ringers without dropping a dime.  And even when we are compelled to take action and share what we have during the Holidays, we find sanitized and easy ways to do it:  buying bags of groceries from Publix, donating to a charity online or something else that doesn't require any of our time or our presence. 

Our culture also wants us to believe that our faith during this season should be private.  I was amused at the battle between Walmart and Target a few years ago when Target advised it's employees to say "Happy Holidays" to customers rather than "Merry Christmas."  Walmart, who knew it's clientele would dig it, made a huge deal out of having their greeters and employees stick with saying "Merry Christmas," in an attempt to show how "traditional" and sort of Christian their company is.

I'm enough of a realist (some might say cynic) to know that if it had been expedient and would have made them more money, Walmart would have had it's greeters say "Happy Holidays," too.

Because, according to our culture, faith doesn't belong in the public square, especially when that square is festooned with Holiday lights.  

I blame Christians for this.

Our narrow interpretation of the Incarnation (the fact that God literally took on human form and became one of us) and what that means for followers of Christ has relegated Christians to irrelevance.  We don't seem to understand that because of the Incarnation, we are called as followers of Jesus to embody him to the world.

When people encounter Christians, they shouldn't have to wonder where Jesus might have gone, they will see him and know what he's all about through the way we live our lives.  But, as I mentioned earlier, we are no different than our surrounding culture.  In the end, we act individually and acquiesce to the notion that faith doesn't play in public.  We'll do our shopping, spend our money, busy ourselves beyond belief and then retreat to our churches to hear someone read from Luke chapter 2.

The Christian presence during this Season of Incarnation has been reduced  to shrill, marginal voices complaining about the removal of Christ from Christmas. 

This is not what God intended.  Not in the least.

Third, our culture tellsus that meaningful moments can be bought.  How many commercials have you seen already this year depicting picturesque family moments around the table, the tree, in a sleigh...? We are told in a hundred ways that if we are willing to pay the price, we can have the perfect Christmas and maybe even the perfect family... or perfect life.   After all, anyone knows that the only way to have a truly meaningful Christmas is to schedule as many things as possible, spend more money than you should and buy as many things as you can for people who probably don't need them. In so doing, it's almost certain that you will find purpose, meaning and will be fulfilled as a person.

I have been reading I Thessalonians this week in preparation for my sermon.  It's a Lectionary text--one of those passages of Scripture that are prearranged, so to speak, and organized according to season.  Churches all over the world will be reading and learning from this same text on Sunday, which is the First Sunday of the Season of Advent.   When I was a kid, I didn't go to churches who cared about Lectionaries and Advent.  I had never even heard of the season of Advent until I was an adult and attended my first Presbyterian church.  Anyway, it's Advent and I am preaching from the Lectionary.  Alert my Baptist and Pentecostal relatives.

The Apostle Paul had a pretty basic theme to this first letter that he wrote to a small group of first-century Christians in Macedonia:  God is the author of hope, peace, joy and love--all of which we have access to through Jesus Christ. And God's people are called to embody Jesus to the world.  In other words... to live out the mystery of the Incarnation (God becoming flesh) in such a way that it's not really a mystery after all.

At one point in his letter, Paul offers a wish-prayer that the Thessalonians "increase and abound in love for one another and for all," and to "strengthen" their "hearts in holiness."  For Paul, isolation and withdrawal was not an option for those who would embody Jesus to the world.  In fact, the very reason why the Christian movement grew and spread was the way Christians engaged their culture and gave of themselves as they had been commanded to do by Jesus. 

The secularization of Christmas is an issue that always pops up this time of year.  In fact, as I was writing this a news bulletin was covered on the cable news channel I was watching about protests that were taking place outside malls and stores where the word "Christmas" had been eliminated in advertising and marketing.  My guess is that Paul would find such a thing amusing.  He would have been far more concerned that those of us who self-identify as Christians actually act like... Christians.

A few years ago, I took my youth group on a trip to some of the worst neighborhoods in Tallahassee in an effort to deliver fifty or so presents to needy children, who had either one or both parents in prison.  We got lost multiple times because there were hardly any street signs and many of the dwellings were unmarked apartments.  One family had been waiting for us for hours to arrive as we tried to find our way around the neighborhood.  The children were waiting in the driveway in the chilly night air when we got to their small apartment--a run-down dwelling that was part of a government housing project.  They had a tiny tree on a decrepit coffee table and there were some scraggly-looking lights hanging haphazardly in the window.  The mother, a tired looking woman in her twenties cried and hugged us.  The children danced around the room and tried to read their names on the presents we had brought them. 

We were silent for a while as we drove home.  The kids gave me grief over my driving, and the way we had wandered around in the dark in an unsafe neighborhood in a van full of presents.  But there were things that we all wanted to say, and really didn't know how. 

We wanted to say how unbelievable it was to realize that just a few presents could bring so much joy.  We wanted to say how scary it had been to go somewhere where we felt so out of place.  We wanted to say that we were glad we were all going back to our nice houses and to a different kind of Christmas--and how that made us feel surprisingly humbled and guilty all at once. 

We also wanted to say that being the hands and feet of Christ was the most incredible thing that we could possibly do, and we all felt like our true selves by doing it. 

How will the world see the Reason for the Season if those who call themselves Christians won't show them? 

Don't Hold Back... It Could Kill You

Here it is..  The money you could be tithing... 

This week I am finishing up the sermon series that I have been preaching on money.  I know that some of the people in my church are probably glad that it's going to come to an end.  
Funny thing, though.  I've been going at it pretty hard.  It's not been easy, to be honest.  But there's nothing faithful about pulling punches when it comes to stuff like this, I've come to learn. 

By the way, I just thought the picture above was funny.  Plus it reminds me that I waste a lot of money on stuff that I don't need and that wasted money could be put to good use.  

And I like the song that plays on the commercials ("I always feel like, somebody's watching me...").  That dude Rockwell who performed that one-hit wonder  back in they 80's is laughing all the way to the bank about now.  It finally paid off.    Kudos.


When I thought about this sermon series one of the stories that I knew I would have to explore is the story of Annanias and Sapphira from Acts 5.  Here's the story, in case you've never heard it or read it: 

¹Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. ²With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.

 ³Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? ⁴Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
 ⁵When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. ⁶Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
 ⁷About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?"
      "Yes," she said, "that is the price."
 ⁹Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also."
 ¹⁰At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

 Here's the thing...

I don't know of any pastor who wouldn't want to preach a sermon from this story--even though hardly any of us do.  Seriously, any story about someone who holds back on giving and is struck dead seems at first blush like a no-brainer kind of sermon to preach--once, and maybe twice a year. 

But it's an uncomfortable story.  And discomfort is not something that is really welcomed in most churches.  Anyway.  I felt compelled to preach from this story.  I'm glad I did. 

First things first.  Annanias name means "The Lord is Gracious."  Sapphira's name means "Fair & Beautiful."  The air is thick with irony about now. The dude with the name that means "The Lord is Gracious" gets struck dead for lying to his church and trying to deceive God.  His wife who is the perfect wife with the perfect name and the perfect manners follows suit for forsaking her relationship with God for the ugliness of greed. 

Annanias forgot the first rule of tithing:  "It's Not About The Money!"  He wasn't coerced into laying money at the disciples feet, he did it for the accolades.  A bit earlier in the Acts narrative we discover that a man named Barnabas sold property and gave the whole profit to the Church.  Annanias wanted people to hold him in the same high esteem that they held Barnabas, but he wasn't willing to pony up the kind of dough that Barnabas did.  He figured that if he could look like a hero, and make a tidy profit on the side---what the heck? 

Fascinating.

Annanias and Sapphira had the right names.  They had the right position in society.  They were the right class, the right kind of people and in the right community.  Unfortunately, God didn't give two figs for any of that. 

Something tells me their problems began long before this story about their ill-fated real estate sale.

There is this great quote that I saw from Will Willimon - "Possessions and what they do to us are a matter of life and death."  This is a truth that is dramatically demonstrated in this short, troubling story.

I think that there is more to this, however.  At the heart of this story is a contrast between people who are "all in" when it comes to following Jesus, and people who are not.  Funny how money looms large in that, too, right?

In Luke chapter 12 Jesus busts out with some seriously hard stuff to hear.  He talks about how his arrival is going to divide people, and there is fire involved along with baptism and death and a whole bunch of difficult other things.  It's not easy to read, and it's very troubling to hear from Jesus.  Listen,

⁴⁹"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! ⁵¹Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. ⁵²From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. ⁵³They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

Cheery, right?  But then there is this: 

 ⁵⁷"Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? ⁵⁸As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. ⁵⁹I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

This is one of those Jedi Knight moments for Jesus.  The saying seems to be a complete non sequitur. But when you think about it you start realizing something pretty profound.  Jesus seems to be saying, "Listen, you can't be halfway about this.  It's going to cost you to follow me.  It's not going to be easy, and it's going to cause some controversy.  And if you are weighing this whole thing and trying to figure it out, you better do it quick--because the judgment is coming. 

There is another place in the Gospel accounts where Jesus talks about what that "judgment" is.  He tells his followers that he didn't come into the world to condemn, but to save.  But that his words were going to condemn people--based on whether or not they believed them. 

Christian culture is absolutely grounded in the kind of religiosity that enables people who go through the motions when it comes to following Christ.  Because following Jesus is tough.  It costs us something.  We are called to live differently, to be differently, to act differently than the culture around us.  And I am sorry... but the Christians who cheer words like that and then buy into the American Dream as God's Dream or who blur the lines between "patriotism" and Christianity are not living differently.  So many Christians believe that it is their God-given right to be first, to prosper, to barely get their hands dirty doing kingdom work and to pass judgment on everyone who doesn't believe that their interpretations of Scripture are correct and true. 

I went through the motions for most of my life.  I was "saved" when I was six---as if I could possibly understand what it meant.  When I was thirty years old, I realized that God's fingerprints had been all over my life and it brought me to my knees.  At that point, I was three years in as a youth director and church leader.  But I wasn't all in. I was holding back. 

When things changed for me, and I gave in to God's irrestible grace, people noticed.  People always notice when your authentic and when you're not. 

One of my parishoners saw two women going through our church dumpster the other day.  Naturally, because she has been rocked by Jesus, she asked if she could help. 

This is one of those moments when as a pastor you feel like weeping for joy man. 

Anyway, she dug through the dumpster with the women and then offered to load the treasures they'd uncovered in her car (a nice one, by the way) and drive them back to their house.  As she was telling me this story, she started to tear up.  One of the ladies told her that she was grateful for the help because she didn't want to be late to her church that afternoon.  It seems that she had scrounged up ten dollars that she needed to give to the church--ten dollars that was part of her commitment, the promise she had made to God.

She was digging through the dumpster.  And she had ten dollars.  And it belonged to God.

That's all in, man.

That's someone who knows that they are being called to give everything...

And they are not holding back.