Something I've Learned This Week...

It's simple, basic, elementary, really, but has been difficult for me to learn.  Here it is...

God loves me.
 

I was so afraid that when I stepped down as pastor last week that the earth was going to open up and swallow me down into the depths of its fire-lined belly. Well, as of yet I'm still atop the soil.  I'm sure that can change in a moment; I'm not sure how fast news travels to Heaven these days.  Before I dig any deeper a hole for myself, I must say that I was relieved to find that God's nature hasn't changed.  I don't want to disappoint God.  I love Him so very much, and to find out the truth that He loves me more than I could ever possibly love Him has been so freeing.  Not freeing in the sense that I can do whatever I want and not have the bowels of Hell open up to me, but freeing in the sense that I don't give him much credit.

He is famous for saying, "I'll never leave you or forsake you."  Did you catch that?  He said, "Never."  I see my children doing things that disappoint me all the time.  In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, I had to take my oldest son trekking across our neighborhood to apologize to a girl in his class on the bus.  He and another little boy were caught saying some inappropriate things by the bus driver and I received "the phone call."  In that moment, I wanted to spank and ground that kid until Christ Himself returned to forgive him personally.  I was very disappointed because I know my son is better than his actions.

It occurred to me, however, on the way home from a very embarrassing trip to our neighbors -- for us both, I might add -- that he, Caleb, was my son and my love for him was never in question.  Had he disappointed me?  Yes.  Had he disappointed himself?  Sure.  Was he wrong in what he did?  Absolutely.  But my love for him was unaffected.  In fact it was a bit of a wake up call that I needed to show more love and care for him.  He's growing up.  He's becoming a teenager.  He wants to fit in and be liked, and is struggling through that like we all have.  In this moment and time, he needs love from a father that doesn't ever give up on him.

I'm thankful that I keep learning this myself.  Was God disappointed in me when I stepped down?  Maybe.  Was I disappointed in myself?  Absolutely.  Was I wrong for stepping down?  Perhaps.  But the truth in all of this is that God's love for me IS NOT in question.  And I can live with that.  What I can't live with are anymore embarrassing trips through the neighborhood to have my son apologize to a child and her parents for being, well, an idiot.  But if we all live long enough, and the hole in the earth doesn't present itself, I'm sure I'll make that trip again at some point.  I'll just be making it with a child that I love dearly enough to go with them to knock on the door of our disappointments.

Thank you God for loving me.

Thoughts From My Journal on What Calvin Miller May Be Doing at This Moment...

This morning from my journal: I was drawn to thinking of Dr. Calvin Miller, author, pastor and professor, who died this year, August 9th, 2012, at the age of 75.  His written works include The Singer Trilogy, The Celtic Path of Prayer, Life is Mostly Edges, Sermon Maker, Into the Depths and his most recent (that touched and helped me beyond any other) Letters to a Young Pastor.  This isn't a complete list of his works, but a good start.  He also has written several children's book and many poems.  Much thanks to Pastor Roger Daniel of Caffee Junction Church of God for introducing me to this great man and writer.  Though I never met him in person, he retired from Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama where I live, and he lived in Trussville just a few miles from where I now pastor.  It seems that we were destined to meet, though it never happened, but one day I'm confident, in Christ, we will.  On the day of his death, when I saw the Tweets concerning his passing... I couldn't help but cry.

Here's the entry from my journal dated Tuesday, November 20th, 2012...

For some reason I'm thinking about Calvin Miller this morning. A man I don't know except through his writings.

 

What a writer and thinker he was here upon this earthly realm.  What a writer and thinker he must now be on that eternal shore where he is no longer inhibited by the limits of mere human expression.  His mind has now been unlocked as the blinding scales of our humanity have been peeled away by Christ's own fingers. 

 

Some might think it absurd to imagine that in Heaven there is writing.  I imagine that the best writing is done there.  Here we're only given a glimpse of the writing potential that exists when no prohibition is made to the artistic expression of such a beautiful form of communication as when the mind has finally been liberated to righteousness, holiness and unhindered perception, now having an eternal vantage point.

Oh the words Calvin now has access to that express such fullness of concepts no human tongue has knowingly uttered; except, perhaps, in some form of charismatic spattering that most of the Christian world condemns as emotional ecstasy.  Those unknown languages, are at his full disposal now, and the concepts he once struggled to string together here (oh that I "struggled" as he) now flow in holy ecstasy expressing the beauty and grandeur he knows now so vibrantly.  Down here, he only could guess at the grandeur he penned in books published on dirty, used presses.  There the grandeur is now bathing him in golden warmth where his soul is satisfied, and his writings printed in angelic hues of electric light on parchment peeled from Divine Presence.

I imagine him with some holy pen (holy because everything in Heavenly is illuminated by light that emanates from God's own Son so that it can be seen and grasped by spiritual hands) feverishly writing of all the new things his eyes have been awakened to.  Perhaps one complete sentence there, though no time at all passes, has taken him here 10,000 years to scribe.

He probably shares in a writers guild with those passed away writers such as Paul, with his letters; Isaiah and Jeremiah, with their oracles; David and his son Solomon, with their poetry and praise; Moses and Esther, with their stories of Presence; Spurgeon, with sermon; Charles Wesley, with song; Tolkien and Lewis, with sheer genius.  I hope, also, that Oscar Wilde is with them having now learned the craft of grace.  He pens now not from the perception of hedonism and sensual exploitation, but from the perception of perfect Love he found on his death bed of sickness from a life wrecked with human taking and grief now redeemed by glowing, piercing beams of grace.  I think they're all, also, waiting in anticipation for their sons Lucado, Zacharias, Chan and Platt to arrive. 

I hope they'll let me sit in on such an eternally, exquisite guild one day.  Not because I'm ever to become an "accomplished" writer such as they, but because I've cried out to the Spirit in my journals of desperate weakness.  In those cries, I hope, something of those inexpressible ecstasies spilled unknowingly onto my pages in groanings that were not written in any audibly recognizable tones of intellectual purpose.

I'm not quite sure what turned my think this morning to Miller, but, for whatever reason, the thought of his writing finally being loosed in Heaven gives hope that Spirit filled writing will be loosed on Earth as well.  The writings that Calvin now engages must be wonderfully expressive and fully complete in a way his human hand never achieved.  I think of him spilling his liberated heart out in divine poetry that no human here can read, but one day, by the heavenly sea, we'll recline and read and marvel still at the works of the Spirit through Calvin Miller.

Digging in the Garbage Bin... At Panama City Beach

We were gassing up the rental vans and about to head home from our youth trip to beautiful Panama City Beach, Florida.  We had been there four days and by now I think we were all at our whits end.  Nonstop sand, surf, sun, late nights and early mornings, going all day long relentlessly pursuing beach fun, while intoxicating as it was, it has a way of becoming so wearing on our bodies that our dreams turn from hammocks on the beach to home.

I walk into the station to prepay for gas and hand the clerk a bajillion dollar bill in hopes to convince him to turn on the pumps and I see a dude rummaging through the huge garbage bin out behind the station. As I walk out, and begin filling up, I look to see if he's looking for cans or for food.  He leans out of the garbage bin with a Styrofoam take out plate, opens it up, sees no food and tosses it back into the bin.  One of our teens peeks her head out of the van and says to me with a tone of desperation in her eyes, "He's looking for food, Jeremy." I replied, "I know."

As I open the back of the van to our snack stash, another teen rescues a Wal Mart sack that seemed to be helplessly swirling in the cyclone of teen garbage from within our own rolling 15 passenger garbage bin.  We begin filling the bag with all kinds of crackers, chips, snacks, water bottles and can drinks. I head over to the man, a tall slender gentleman in his fifties. His long, unkept, dark hair was already drenched in sweat at about 9:45am from pursuant digging.  The warm, savory sea air switched quickly to the stale stench of hot, wet garbage.  I asked him if he can use the snacks and he says in a northern accent that reminded me of Michigan, "Brother, I tell you they won't go to waste."  He smiled at me a smile of relief.  He then offered to tell me in a somewhat sincere tone that he just can't find any work.

I wanted to say something to him... probably something religious, but I felt it disingenuous to preach at him coming from a position of priviledge.  Here I was in nice clothes, driving expensive air conditioned rental vans with a crew of well dressed teenagers shackled to iPhones, iPods and iPads.  The best thing I thought to say was just simply and honestly ask him, "You know God loves you don't you?"  His reply, "He must. He keeps sending me people like you."

I turn to walk away and he just points his finger straight to heaven as if to say, "You never fail me."

We drove off with the sea to our backs as salty tears begin to sting my sun burnt cheeks.  The thought racing through my head was, "God, you never meant for you children to live like that."  He whispered back to me, "Yeah, but I did mean for them to love like that."  Then His faithful words rang in my heart, "A bag of snacks offered in my name won't be forgotten in my kingdom."

I don't tell this story to pat myself or our youth on the backs.  We really didn't do much. I do, however, want to encourage us -- we who live in the lap of luxury and plenty -- to love like Christ. 

The guy refused to shake my hand because of the garbage on his hands.  I wish now I would have grabbed him anyway and hugged Him.  This is the image I see when I read in the scriptures how Jesus hugged the lepers He met in Panama City Beach.

Francis Chan :: Fighting Hypocrisy In the Church

Fighting Hypocrisy In the Church
This is an audio message by Francis Chan.  Take a listen and check out more sermons on Sermon Index.

"With Your Seed to (insert ministry here)... You Will Receive"

I just received an email from (insert ministry here) asking for my "seed"... now, I double checked to make sure I knew just exactly what it was they were asking, then realizing they were asking for me to give a monetary offering, I thought, "Why don't we (nominal Christian ministries) just come out and say what we really want?"

The very fact that we call money "SEED" shows the manipulative manner in which we (nominal Christian ministry of choice) will stoop to get peoples' money.  The fact that I'm just seeing this use of the word "SEED" as manipulative shows the length to which I've been exposed to pseudo-Christian ministry manipulation so much so that I've never thought of it this way before.

Our wording is wrong..., it's all wrong!

God loves a cheerful giver, and I love to give cheerfully.  However, what I don't love is how our modern celebrity ministry builds such expensive big budget ministry that the poor have to support it instead of the poor receiving a hand up by the ministry itself.  Sure, I also understand the planting and harvesting metaphor the Bible uses to teach how God blesses when we give.  This doesn't excuse anyone from still being manipulative, especially in the name of Christ.  The very spirit of using religious language to get more bank roll for (insert ministry here) shows how spiritually/religiously manipulative we've become and we've done so without even noticing (or caring).

Why don't we just come out and say, "Here's an opportunity to give your money to support (insert ministry here)."  We've created an entire language that doesn't relate to the world's understanding.  It's like our own little secret club with secret words.  And you have to be in the club to get the lingo.  This sorta goes against the commission, right?  We're disconnected from the ones we're sent to by our weird use of terminology...  "Christian-ese", if you will allow to borrow an overused cliche. I would respect (insert ministry here) International® if they would just be honest in their robbing the poor by guilting them into "receiving" something from God because of the promise hidden in the manipulative language.

My wife and I (okay, my kids too) are tremendously blessed and we trust God completely for our sustenance.  But we don't go around using the false-faith-formulas (isn't the letter "F" the sixth letter in the alphabet? False-Faith-Formula + 6asle-6aith-6ormula... 6-6-6... I think I'm onto something!) we see plastered all over the television to try to manipulatively pull something from Christ's hands so I can be "blessed".  He is a good God.  He knows what we need.  And if we know the good God intimately, we'll know He's trust worthy and that we don't have to scam Him so that He'll finally bless us.

I guess I'm ranting a bit... just hate to see such overtly-subtle (that's possible, right?) language being so prevalently used in the Church; who really has the greatest thing going for us... Christ.  I wonder why we need more than Him?

"She..." Series "Great Mate" Intro to Session Three: "I Am Woman"

Tonight I begin session three in our series, “Great Mate.” We will be looking at the role of women tonight! Just for this occasion, I had my lovely wife sit in with me while I studied for this session and give valuable input on her fellow gender... Because when it comes to women, they are a great mystery…

So complex, yet simple… a paradox yet every part of her being a complimentary whole. She is strong and aggressive but as gentle and fragile as silk thread. Beauty unparalleled, curved and sculpted by the same hands whose beautiful works have been emulated in many a painting through the centuries yet never duplicated in splendor nor in wonder.

It’s the female bear so greatly feared when a hunter crosses paths with an unattended cub.

She comes with a warning, “Better to live in the corner of a rooftop than in a large house with a brawling woman!” Anger and passion, quiet and gentle; a force to be reckoned with... who can understand the depths of a woman’s heart? Tears given to her to break the most stubborn heart, yet a smile so warm to cure any a world’s disappointments. Statuesque and sassy, yet the warmth of an intimate embrace is the opium of the man.

She is a truth serum making the strongest of men malleable putty in her hands. The force of strength… the spine she is to any man deemed Great. She is behind the scenes quietly making things happen or behind the lectern stealing the show. She has the wiles to ignite a mighty nation’s political parties; both favorably and unfavorably, but it is she the sparking igniter. Craved and lauded yet pushed down by masculine fears.

Men will beat bloody fists against each other for only the hopes of attracting her attention. Men will aspire to poetry and painting to try to encompass her beauty yet poems and paintings cannot express gentle kisses given from her passion nor tightly held embraces. Paintings and poetry become blind and deaf in her shadow. She is graceful and clumsy and makes both beautiful. Man will leave the security of father and mother and will sweat and toil to provide her the same security and shelter he abandoned. He will break his back to be able to place on her neck costly pearls and diamonds both of which she will make their beauty fail against the backdrop of her simple neck.

She is created in His image the same from the rib of man, and man will pursue with all his power and striving to have her remain by his side. Who can explain and understand fully who she is? She is woman… she is beautiful mystery… She…

"Great Mate" Series... Session Two: "It's A Man's World"

What makes a man? By society's estimate this guy is no "girly man"... many would argue, as would Arnold himself, that he is a true man.

But are muscles and strength and good looks the estimation of a man?

Arnold's campaign for governor of Caly-forn-ua exposed his youthful immorality. The American public found out that this man's man had been nothing more than a womanizer and treated women as an object to play out his lustful desires.

In Session Two of our series "Great Mate" we looked at the biblical measure of a man. The theme, after all, of this series is understanding what it means to be a man or a woman, and how these two roles fit together biblically to propel our planet forward.

In Ephesians 5:21 -33 we looked at the very familiar passage where Paul teaches how husbands and wives should treat one another. This text has been the subject text of many a fiery sermon where male pastors asserted their "headship" - which is the biblical role of the male - but in a very unbiblical way. Banging on pulpits, they have commanded women to submit while failing to see our role in the relationship. Look at the text from The Message concerning the man's role as a husband:

25-28 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ's love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They're really doing themselves a favor—since they're already "one" in marriage.

The text contains six verbs, six things, that husbands should observe to be considered biblical husbands...

1. He goes all out in your love for your wives...
2. He has A love marked by giving, not getting...
3. His love makes the church whole...
4. His words evoke her beauty...
5. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her...
6. He dresses her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness...

Guys, what if we truly did this for our wives? What if we applied these rules more fully to our marriage? How drastically different could a rocky relationship be if the husband took the initiative to love his wife this way... the way Christ loved humanity?

For the sake of being brief I won't comment on each of these like I did last night. But, the point is God wants us males to step up and be MEN... real Men! Not men with creamy lotion-y hands, or melon butter make-overs. We are designed to be strong, confident, protecting even passionate and fiery. However, being these don't exclude us from being understanding, gentle and compassionate.

Notice that Jesus, when the woman caught in adultery was brought to him, treated her with respect uncanny for that of first century women. Everyone likes to speculate what Christ was writing in the dirt, but miss the fact of where Christ was... in the dirt. Why? Because that's where the woman was. His forgiving nature wasn't an approval of what she had done, but his actions to love, forgive and correct followed the above model of evoking the best in her. He encouraged her to not sin like this anymore and yet at the same time respected her as God's daughter, his sister. His forgiveness dazzled her and dressed her in white silk garments radiating with his holiness.

Men, this is our order... these six rules are what defines us. Not muscles and looks, but the actions that elevate women... our wives... and bringing the beauty out of them in a respectful and honoring way. Come on guys, let's grow up, show up and be MEN! If we will, our wives will have no problem in honoring us and allow us to lead, right? The text ends with a benefit for us guys... we are really doing ourselves a favor since we are "one", right? And, husbands, you know what I mean... (wink!)...

"Great Mate" Series... Session One: "What's Love?"

We began the Great Mate series last night at REVOLVE! Student Ministries. We are off to a good start...

Romans 5:8 says that "God put His love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to Him." (The Message)

Did you catch that? It says "while we were of no use whatever to Him." This goes against everything our planet tells us love is supposed to be about. The world's version of love is a system completely based on what someone else can do for you. Its evident. Just pay attention to the commercials that were on during the Super Bowl this year. Companies paid millions of dollars to show Americans and the world exactly what it is that we value and hold so dear. Its not even about the products as it is the way we sell those products. What was Danica actually selling for her company of choice? You could almost make the case for prostitution, right?

Our system is based on what someone else can bring to the table. But, we see something drastically different from the system God has to offer. While we were of no use whatever to Him Christ died for us. This love, this unthinkable type of love, puts the world's system on its head. While we were in our filthy, stinking, lustful, lying, murdering, selfish state Christ gave Himself sacrificially in love for people that couldn't bring anything to the table. This is the love we are to try to attain to; this is the love that the Holy Spirit places the capacity within each of us - the believers who dare to walk the walk of the Master.

Last night I gave our students three basic rules of love to set the stage for the next three sessions in our series, Great Mate.

1. No one can truly love themselves until they begin to see how Christ truly loves them.
2. No one can truly love another until they begin to see how Christ truly loves them.
3. This selfless love from Christ is the basis and true definition of what love truly is for the three relationships we have in our lives... God, ourselves and others.

When we grasp this love then we can love more freely and our relationships will become the biblical idea God had in mind for humanity.

Next week we begin session two: It's a Man's World. We are going to look at what it means to be a real man through the example of Jesus. See you at REVOLVE!

New Sermon Series : "Great Mate"

I'm working feverishly to begin a new sermon series for REVOLVE! Student Ministries, called "Great Mate". It sounds a bit like 'Grape Ape' the old school cartoon, but has nothing to do with a purple ape. It's about gender roles, okay and purple apes. I know, you're saying, "Wow! How ground breaking...", right? Although, not ground breaking by any stretch of the mind I've felt the need to discuss the issue of gender roles with our group. And what better a time than Valentines...

I'm planing four sessions:

• Session One: "What's Love?"
• Session Two: "It's a Man's World"
• Session Three: "I Am Woman"
• Session Four: "Pure"

This will all focus on the biblical roles of men, the biblical roles of women, how these roles work together and session one will set the stage or foundation for these roles which is Christ. All of these aspects will be shown as being valid even in a post-modern setting.

I hope the students will identify themselves with it being okay for them to be who they are, accepting their given gender, what it means to be that gender and how these genders work together in moving this planet forward.

Oh, and after we figure this all out we are going to cure cancer, bring peace to the middle east and get rid of the wrinkles on Mickey Rourke's face... wait I think that one has already been done...

I'll post status updates throughout February on each session of the sermon series. It should be a Great time... ok bad pun...