Understanding

Most of us are hesitant to participate in things unless we understand or "get it". I'm sympathetic to this. I get easily bored and tune out when I don't get the gist of what's going on. So what's wrong with that?

Somehow we've deemed it wrong to be bored or clueless. Boredom makes one look like a slacker; being clueless makes one look dumb.

As I see it, there's nothing wrong with being bored or clueless. I know they feel wrong because of the supposed perceptions of others. But, in and of themselves, they are not wrong. We don't have to be engaged in incessant activity 24/7. We all get bored. So what? We all have times of ignorance. So what?

Boredom and cluelessness are reasons people either don't read Scripture or attend worship. People tend to reject things they don't understand or don't find very exciting. They seem like such time wasters.

Listening to God speak, either in Scripture or worship, is never wasted time. It may feel like it, but it isn't. There's nothing wrong with being bored in church! There's nothing wrong with being clueless in worship! So, be bored and clueless! The only one who has to understand anything is God and what God gives. God's grace is not dependent on your moods and dispositions. God's grace depends on God alone. The Lord's Supper is a meal that is for you, not from you. It's a gift. You don't have to "get it". God "gets it", and that's all that matters.

If you're bored or don't understand worship, then that just may be your nudge to try to understand what's going on. It can be done. And it's not hard! Worship is participation in the reenactment of what God has done for us through Christ Jesus. God is the chief giver, and we receive what God gives. That's all there is to it! If you know this, then perhaps worship will begin to take on more meaning.

Spending Time With God????

A popular televangelist recently said, "Oh, I went to church, but I never spent time with God." This line got whoops, laughs, and applause.

What do you suppose it means to "spend time with God"? Is it something that we're supposed to do? Is integrity compromised if we don't give the Creator of all things a little bit of attention? Does it automatically mean that one is "less than" if quality time isn't spent with the Deity? Do I get a notch in my belt if I sit around and chant and meditate?

The assumption of the televangelist is that "time with God" is something that is initiated by us. And we all know what that means, right? Works-righteousness! It's nothing but just another activity that's foisted upon the viewers to keep them busy with things that are doomed to fail.

I used to be one of these people who had to "spend time with God", and felt guilty when I didn't. No more. I don't spend time with God anymore because time isn't something that's mine to spend. To God belong time and eternity. And besides, I'm tired of spending time with God if it means that I always call the shots.

Here's the real story: God spends time with you!! I think that's the point of church. Through His Word and the Sacraments, God spends time with us. God decides what to do with the time. God calls the shots. Pressure's off! Worship is the reminder of God's pursuit of us to spend time with us.

Stop trying to put time with God on your daily list of things to do, and know that God is there with you in every activity. You don't have to understand how. Just know that He is!!

A Very Holy Weekend

I'm going to take this opportunity, while it's calm before the storm, to post some little reflections on the cross and the empty tomb. I don't know yet if there will be any "practical application" (I don't see the necessity of that anyway), but I hope to paint a picture of why this weekend is holy.

Jesus spoke often of his dying at the hands of his own people and the Gentiles. The Jewish leadership was his accuser; the Roman Empire was his executioner. From the perspective of Rome it was probably just "another day at the office". From the Jewish leadership perspective it was more than likely a relief that they got rid of a troublemaker.

I can't speak for God and His perspective, but from what I can tell from what Scripture says, everything was going according to His plan. When I say that, I don't mean that God pulled a few puppet strings and forced things to happen. What I do mean is God knows the hearts of people. He sent Jesus. Jesus said and did what he said and did. People became disturbed by the implications of what Jesus was saying and doing. People did away with Jesus. This all looks to me like a natural flow of events that God would use for His own redemptive purposes.

So, what did Jesus do that was so bad and disturbing? He told the truth. He spoke God's Word and people did what they did. He didn't force anyone by supernatural might to do anything. He did what he did and said what he said, and then let things take their natural course. He ended up on a Roman cross.

This is why I'm not a big fan of "personal application" of the Scriptures, as if the Bible is just a collection of rules to follow or quaint lessons on morality. I think that when pastors or churches give step-by-step lists on how to do this or that or tell people what's supposed to be done for the sake of the Kingdom, they are unwittingly (and perhaps unknowingly) trying force things out of people through manipulative means. This flies in the face of the Biblical witness.

The Scriptures confront us with the reality of God and His Son. And it continually begs the question, "What do you think of Jesus?" Perhaps every sermon should continually ask this question and let the answers be what they are. In any event, God rose Jesus from the dead! This was not dependent on the reactions of people or how they felt about Jesus. It was solely the work of God. Those who had eyes to see and ears to hear what God was up to were then compelled, not forced, to tell about the truth that was Jesus and about what God was doing through Jesus. They were treated the same way Jesus was treated. Go figure!

They spoke. People either listened or they didn't. Perhaps the church can learn something from this when it devises programs and schemes to get people to act a certain way. Perhaps sermons should be compelling instead of persuasive. What I believe the church needs today is people who have been moved by the Scriptural narrative to tell that narrative over and over again. God's Word always accomplishes its purposes, whether people climb on board or not.

This Easter Sunday, I'm going to ask those who are lax in their church attendance to start coming back more regularly instead of just on Christmas and Easter by telling them that the Scriptures are spoken here. People need to hear God speak. I'm going to promise them that I'm not going to pepper them week in a week out with my own opinions on how they should act or react. Whether people do or don't come back to a regular church attendance is out of my hands. I'll just say what I say and let things take their natural course. People will either listen or they won't. I may even end up getting nailed, as it were. But it isn't up to me, and God will continue to do what He does anyway. He will continue to raise the dead!

Just a Quick Note

To let you know that I haven't fallen off of the face of the earth, I'm sending this brief post. I've been extremely busy writing sermons and preparing for worship this Holy Week. I hope to see you soon to celebrate with you the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Christ Jesus.

More Political Indiscretions

What do you do with yet another politician who has been exposed as hypocritical? And why are we so surprised that this kind of thing happens?

As you most likely already know, it was revealed yesterday that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been linked to a high-end call girl service. And the press is licking their chops and salivating profusely.

Now, I'm not a pundit or a politician. I'm a theologian, and so I approach things from that perspective. Media hype aside, it's apparent that Spitzer has a dark side to his squeaky clean persona. But don't we all? Don't we all have skeletons in our closets? Put yourself in Spitzer's shoes, if only for a moment. What if your dark side was exposed and plastered on the internet and television? Would you be embarrassed? Ashamed?

All of us have dirt that, placed in the right hands, could lead to a personal downfall. This doesn't excuse what the governor did. It is wrong to cavort with call girls at taxpayer expense. But people are so shocked when things like this happen, and I wonder why! Is our shock just another way of hiding our own indiscretions, or another way of saying, "Thank God it wasn't me!"? Ponder this question carefully. You just may be shocked at yourself! Hopefully this will lead you to repentance for the forgiveness of sins and to prayer.

Health Update

Went to see the doc yesterday to find out what's causing my vertigo. Basically, he doesn't know because it could be a number of things-- upper respiratory infection, atmospheric pressure changes, inner ear nerve damage, fluid build up, virus-- pick one. He checked my ears and said they looked alright to him, meaning he didn't see any fluid in the inner ear.

The only thing he told me I could do was try to reset my equilibrium thermostat by reproducing the vertigo episodes. It sounds kinda weird, but he insists that it works. I'm to do this by sitting on the side of the bed and turning my head quickly to either side and then up. I haven't done this yet. Maybe this afternoon. Wish me luck!

Better

I've been under the weather the past couple of days and not out of the woods yet (how do you like those metaphors?), hence I haven't posted anything. Friday morning I awoke to the joyful motions of vertigo and had my wife run me over to the emergency room. The doctor ruled out heart attack and stroke almost immediately since my symptoms were not so severe as to make that diagnosis. But he did test me by attempting to reproduce the vertigo. He made me sit up on the bed, then quickly lie down and turn my head. The first time I turned my head to the right. Nothing. The second time I turned my head to the left. Whoosh!!! The room was a-spinnin'. He gave the diagnosis of Benign Positional Vertigo, prescribed Antivert (Meclizine), and sent me home. I see my own doctor on Monday. I probably just have an ear infection or some upper respiratory ailment. I'm still not feeling really great, but at least the spinning has subsided.

Dead Man Walking

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"--John 11:25, 26.

Do these words of Jesus make any sense to you? I believe in Jesus, but yet I know that I'm going to die someday just like everyone else, including you. We are all dead men (and women) walking. But how is it that you and I, who live and believe in Jesus, shall never die? Was Jesus talking about the immortal soul of a person which exits the body when the last breath of terrestrial air is inhaled? If that were true, then why would Jesus raise Lazarus? Wouldn't it have been better to leave Lazarus' body alone while his immortal soul enjoyed the wonder and amazement of the mansions in the sky? Did Lazarus' soul leave heaven through the Pearly Gates kicking and screaming, whatever that may have looked like? These are questions that I have had ever since childhood, and they have never been answered sufficiently.

I'm thinking, dear reader, that something more is going on here than meets our conventional thinking. Given the entirety of the ministry of Jesus and of the Scriptures themselves, I see something else happening. We may have to rethink what is meant by the words death and resurrection. And I'm just the guy to do that!!

When I consider the Bible as a whole and complete narrative, I don't see the great enemy of humanity as biological and organic demise, commonly known as death. I might be mistaken, but it seems to me that the greater threat was alienation and separation from the person and glory of God. This is death due to sin. The remedy for this, Biblically speaking, was not biological resuscitation. It was resurrection-- a bringing back and gathering of those once alienated from the person and glory of God.

In Christ, we are counted as dead (separated) in regards to sin, and alive (brought back) to God. This pattern of death and resurrection is clearly demonstrated in Baptism. We are no longer foreigners and aliens in a strange land. Our citizenship is in the Kingdom of God. Our sin has been put off and the righteousness of Christ has been put on. This is resurrection-- a bringing back to life of what was once dead.

The resurrection of Jesus on the first Easter morning was not merely the resuscitation of some poor man who was treated horribly by his executioners, although it was that. It marked the beginning of the completion of God's ingathering of humanity coming full circle as Israel is created anew. If we understand Jesus as Israel reduced to one person, then Jesus' resurrection is representative of the reconstitution of God's chosen people. It marked the fulfillment of Ezekiel 37-- a nation coming back to life with the breath of the Spirit and doing what it was created to do. This is something that transcends biological life, but includes it.

I welcome comments on this. I could be completely wrong.

Crossover Voting

I'm quite apathetic when it comes to politics and I'm not enamored with national politicians, but there's a voting trend that's becoming quite disturbing to me.

Since John McCain has the Republican nomination wrapped up, many Republican voters are crossing party lines and voting in Democratic primaries in hopes of getting the candidate on the ticket who would be easier to defeat in November. Republican crossovers turned out in droves and voted for Hillary Clinton in yesterday's primaries with the belief McCain would have a better chance of election running against Clinton than against Obama.

I'm glad we have open primaries, but not for shenanigans like this. I find it to be dishonest to cast a vote for someone you don't want occupying the White House. If a registered Republican voter really wanted Clinton for president, then by all means, cross over and vote in the Democratic primary. But don't use the system for some scheme that was concocted by talk radio hosts. It's a mockery to the voting rights and privileges we have in this country.

Moses' Electric Kool-Aid Trip

According to Professor Benny Shanon of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Moses was hallucinating when he saw the burning bush and when he received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Read it for yourself!

On what does the kind professor base his findings? After all, he admitted that he can't prove absolutely that Moses imbibed on the electric kool-aid. What do people normally turn to when they don't have a shred of evidence? Personal experience! Apparently Shanon indulged himself with some hallucinatory sap from a certain tree in South America and experienced some religio-spiritual visions, ergo Moses must have done the same thing. I believe in terms of logic this is what's known as a non sequitur.

Moses would not be the first one in the Bible I would accuse as being stoned. My first picks would be Ezekiel and Daniel. If anything resembled an acid trip, it would have been what those guys saw.

Kidding aside, if we're going to accuse Moses of this, why stop there? Why not include all of the Israelites? They also saw the events and heard the noises on Sinai. And for that matter we should include the disciples and apostles of Jesus.

The Holy Scriptures could then possibly be one giant acid trip! I wouldn't bet my life savings on that flimsy conclusion, though.

Book Club

I'm thinking of starting my own book club. I'm going to call it...

(drumroll, please)

My Own Oprah's Book Club!

The books I'll recommend will be far better than the drivel Oprah recommends.

Start with this one!

Pokeday

The boys and I are going to the Pokemon Trading Card Game Illinois State Championships in Rockford today. Chris, especially, is excited to go. He's become quite the Pokemon trainer-- he has good cards and excellent strategery.

I'm just going to sit and read stuff at the tournament. I'll let you know what happens!

With the tournament, not the reading material.