Driving Sixteen Penny Nails

One of my early employments in life involved a stint as a carpenter’s apprentice. We built apartment buildings in the metro Atlanta area. I was told to bring a nail apron, a hammer, and to be wearing steel toed shoes. Arriving at the job site, I was introduced to the lead carpenter and my co-workers. We were known as a “framing crew.” Once the foundations were poured and ready, we came in to put up the structural framework. It was good work for a young man in need of some good hard labor and a paycheck at the end of the week. The skill set for a carpenter’s apprentice was to be constantly learning by doing. I would be given a series of studs to nail into foot boards and top boards, all carefully marked to speed up our wall building, then we would work together to raise the wall, add temporary supports after making sure it was upright and level and then head on to the next. Nailing at first was tedious, I could hit a nail half a dozen times or more before sinking it. Co-workers taught by example, and I quickly learned to let the weight of the hammer being swung do the work and to sink it in three and sometimes just two swings (depending on the hardness of the pine boards.) Today that same work is done many times faster by a tool known as a nail gun. Nails bundled close together and dispensed by a simple contact with the wood are driven by a variety of forms of energy…compressed air, explosive charges, and electrically driven hammer all allow for a faster process. Many fewer nail drivers are needed. Technology has modified many of the working methods of the past. The interesting thing about the way tools have changed in construction, farming, and business of all sorts also applies to the ministry of the church. The tools we use at any period of time may or may not be the most efficient, most effective, or the most useful for the time and place. What we understand is the fact that in every arena of influence, we will of necessity make choices about changing with the times or not. Personally, I enjoy using a paper calendar to keep up with my appointments and meetings. For my younger colleagues in ministry, paper is almost secondary. They prefer to load that information into their laptops or handheld devices instead. Both work. Carpenters can still use hammers and sixteen penny nails to build houses instead of nail guns and electronic levels. The old works, but the new is faster and sometimes more accurate and cost effective. At church, the tools of communication and public ministry contact are equally diverse. As a teenager, we prepared a youth newsletter each month and shared it with the congregation. It took several hours of writing, typing, making a stencil, running the mimeograph machine, and using the church office on Saturdays to make it happen. Our church’s present generation of youth certainly have the capabilities to a similar thing, but the motivation for it is diminished in light of the intensive amount of time they already spend in exchanges of information via phones, computers, and websites, something their parents often use on only a limited basis. Some young people feel the church is irrelevant, not because the work and witness of the church is not important and needed in their lives, but it is often as if no one from church is talking to them very much. The radio and iPods are booming with messages; the TV presents alternative lifestyles to Christian faith in multiple forms; the models of sexuality apart from marriage are as diverse as the number of networks presenting them. We are not facing a shift or adjustment in the way we share the gospel, we are experiencing a tsunami effect of changes in the ways we communicate in our generation. The church must not always be behind the culture, when the culture needs the church to be leading it. It is time for the church to be not just the fad of the hour, but the movement of the day. It is time for the church to bear witness to the power of God in its people and to use the gifts of its people in purposeful service in Jesus’ name. The hammer works to drive a nail. The spoken word still drives the message, but the voice may be shared in this generation to millions in moments, to nations in a matter of minutes, to a world in need of the gospel as often as we are willing to strategize and emphasize and see God energizing the sharing of Christ. It comes when our lives are dedicated to the mission Christ gave us. The success belongs to God. The work is ours. The time is now.

Delayed Maturity

Sociologists are observing an interesting phenomenon in the present generation of young adults. In large numbers, young adults seem to be postponing personal independence and the exercise of what generally would be termed “adult” responsibility. Statistically, evidence points to extended educational processes (college and graduate school), delayed marriage (after school), and economic factors (inability to find stable employment), and even returning to live with parents (after college and/or initial employment).
Older generations may ask, “What gives?” Have we created a generation that is unable to accept responsible adult decision-making or are other factors in play? Some have suggested biological factors may be involved, associated with delayed brain development. Recent studies show that some adults may not have fully “connected” brains until mid to late 20’s or even early 30’s. Part of the problem may be in the way we use our brains or the way we don’t, for those periods.
Electronic visual stimuli in large quantities are components of most adults’ experiences beginning with television in the 1950’s. Since that time, the rate of exposure to media and information conveyed audibly and visually has grown exponentially. Clearly, we are altering the patterns by which our brains operate for the encoding of memory and in the kinds of recall and thinking developed.
Educators point to underdeveloped writing skills and limited critical thinking on the part of many older adolescents and college aged students.. If indeed, brain functions are detained from making critical links at once “normal stages” there would seem to be suggested that some patterns are missing in the current methodologies for both educating and implementing responsible decision-making.
Additional experience factors, or rather, the lack thereof, could be linked to social development delays. Some suggest that younger adults have been handicapped by the unwillingness of older generations to allow for their participation in any number of areas. The sheer age and experience factors involved in new technology are the one area where younger faces seem to have the advantage. At the same time, measures of responsibility in arenas such as community leadership and family life, religious practice and social settings, seems to be postponed or faltering.
A local bartender describes his Friday night crowd, largely young adults, as his babysitting night. He refers to poor decision-making about alcohol use and poor indicators of restraint or control regarding personal safety, health, or the welfare of others. A missing sense of compassion and a “failure to have personal boundaries” are frequent observations. Underdeveloped brains may be the cause of higher risk taking behaviors, not to be ignored by military recruiters of this age pool.
How we respond to these real circumstances among many young adults today will require churches to engage them in more intelligent ways. We must not ignore the technical side of communication as a key approach for reaching this generation. We must also be patient about making quick judgements regarding “not being responsible.” If social and biological factors are delaying the maturation of present young adults, they will simply need more time. And with that time, the church should be eager to utilize every option to enable young adults to exercise their social development in a safe and rewarding community. Mistakes will be a part of growing and learning and should be accepted as a reality for every generation’s maturing process, but the church needs young adults and their enthusiasm and vigor and growing and developing skills.
The church likewise may well supply the missing links. When family is fractured, the church provides a larger family of caring persons. When work is difficult or hard to find, the church can provide avenues for useful engagement with those who may become resources and mentors for learning, growth, and maturity. When social skills are weak, the church can provide a safe place to develop those sharing skills and public capacities. When educational gaps exist, the church can become an avenue for addressing those needs. Whenever possible the church should be crossing the generational divides to engage and provide healthy concepts of personal and community responsibility and capacity for service.
The “young” generation is always separated from its predecessors in some way. At the same time, each generation does “come into its own” in time. Do what you can to prepare those who follow you.

Faith Traditions or Living Faith?

Many people across the globe maintain a particular religious “position” as a birthright. They assume they are “something” because they were born into a community of certain “faith” adherents. Such identifiers lack an association of faith in a dynamic or intrinsic experience of present awareness and understanding of divine influence. Faith lives. Traditions are remembrances of others experiences or worse, remembrances of others practices without a comprehension of meaning or purpose. Those who adopt traditions without personal faith and experience do so largely to the neglect of their own spiritual awareness and authentic faith relationships.
Persons without living faith sometimes adopt eclecticism as a pattern for accepting any and all influences as just that, influences; again without a personal, living faith relationship. Traditions can drive behaviors across generations of religious adherents, but it does not drive faith. It may allow for names and places and personages to be claimed, but it does not allow for the transforming awareness of divine action and presence in one’s own life.
The testimony of Judeo-Christian scriptures bears the marks and witness of many who experience a living faith experience. It also bears the testimony of those who received traditions without such faith experiences. One lives, the other falters. Why?
Living faith is required to comprehend a living God. Those who bury their Savior and ignore His resurrection to life in their own practice of faith ignore the basis of experiences that are transformative and eternal. Jesus saves. He brings the spiritually dead to life. He brings life even to the physically dying. Because in Him there is life abundant. Faith lives!

What's the Big Deal About Baptism?

In 1813, Congregationalist missionaries Ann and Adoniram Judson on their ocean voyage toward their overseas mission assignment in India were together studying the Greek New Testament when they determined that in light of scripture, believer’s baptism by immersion was an appropriate practice. They acted upon their convictions in light of the scriptures and were baptized, leading them to resign their posts with the Congregational denomination and in the context of their decision, seeking to work with the hope of support from the Baptists. The Judson’s went to Burma and their friend, Luther Rice, who had also come to the same conclusion about baptism, returned to America to seek aid for the fledgling American Baptist Missions in the Far East.
Such early Baptist mission pioneers illustrate the “baptism issue” for many.
To be a Baptist was not so much a matter of necessity but rather a decision born out of an understanding of biblical practice. Baptists point to “believer’s baptism” as the act of obedience corresponding to public Christian commitment. Many who have pointed to other baptism practices, whether in variations of amount of water or in the pattern of infant baptism followed by confirmation at an age of accountability, question the necessity or wisdom of “rebaptizing” or baptism by immersion---if, in fact, their commitment to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord is valid and ongoing. The practice of our
church has been for some time to receive members from other Christian denominations by the public testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ and prior baptism, in whatever form, and offering them baptism by immersion if requested. At the same time, we extend to all those who are for the first time publicly professing their faith in Jesus Christ, the opportunity of baptism by immersion. Such has been the distinguishing practice of Baptists resulting from their understanding of the biblical model indicated in scripture.
Over the years, there have been those who suggested that one could not be saved apart from baptism. I remind them of Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross who asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (See Luke 23:39-43) There was no opportunity for baptism, but there was opportunity for God’s saving grace.
What baptism provides is a public witness of personal faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It is a step beyond the ritual purification practices of the Jewish community and a link to what Jesus described as an action “fulfilling all righteousness.” In Christ, baptism is a picture of one buried and resurrected. It illustrates a life buried like Jesus was buried, but a life risen with Christ, resurrected to new life in Him. The images of immersion provide a reminder to us all of our new life in response to our Savior’s love.
Whether or not you have been immersed, let it be a matter of conscience. Celebrate with joy the knowledge of God’s grace and forgiveness and receive Him as your Lord and Savior…that’s what we are all called to trust and bear witness to daily.
If you would like to know more, or have questions regarding your relationship to Jesus Christ and church membership, feel free to contact me through the church office or email at wfbcpastor@embarqmail.com.
(This article was previously published in The Contact, Sept. 21, 2010)

An Open Letter to Coaches

AN OPEN LETTER TO SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACHES AND THOSE WHO TRAIN THEM

Dear Coach,

As a long time football fan and a volunteer chaplain to an outstanding high school team for many years, I understand the sweat, blood and tears associated with winning football teams – please put the emphasis on sweat.

Weight training, aerobics training and establishing the teamwork associated with learning plays and how to execute those plays against the other team is critical to success. Good coaching requires long hours, getting to know players, and building team spirit. Football requires much of young players. Playing without proper conditioning opens the doors to serious injuries once the season begins. Learning how to hit and take a hit are serious matters. Achieving success also requires brain work. Adrenaline driven by fear or anger can certainly enable a person to run faster, hit harder, and perhaps stop a speeding train (or not)—but only for a while. To do it again and again and again requires determination, purpose, conditioning and will.

One of the tragedies of football participation in some places is the sacrifice of spiritual growth and development that is sometimes the outcome of demands placed upon highly impressionable and vulnerable young players. Let me be specific…almost every year some coach insists that unless a player drops out of their planned church involvement in an often long-planned mission trip, Christian retreat, or ministry project, they will not be allowed to participate on the team.

I realize, coach, that my feelings are wound up partially in the fact that I know most, if not almost all of the members of your team will NOT become NFL players, though I personally have known a few who did. Despite the dreams of all the couch potato quarterbacking parents on your case to make such things happen -- I simply encourage you not to give football the place of God in your life. If I sound like I am coming down on you hard coach, maybe its because I remember just how often coaches have come down hard on players for all kinds of things that were not nearly as important as their relationship with God. Jesus even made a somewhat bold suggestion that it was better to tie a millstone around your neck and drown yourself in the sea than it was to get in the way of the spiritual development of one of those who were not yet fully mature in their faith.

What I am so concerned about is the fact that preseason training demands on players before the school year begins, while a coaching concern before each season, pale in comparison to the impact that might be in play should a player discover a relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives in another setting. Heaven forbid the coach should tell them they were not supposed to attend their church camp or mission trip because football was more important. It isn’t now, nor will it ever be. Equally sad is when a young Christian is asked to choose between a sport he loves to share in and a mission or ministry opportunity that would both enrich his life and challenge him to grow in expotentially more important ways than a week of summer football practices. I know, I’ve been to both many times. Now coach, you need to hear this. You have the power to do something about this. You may say,”I make the rules, and parents decide”-- but parents are fearful that if you are in any way slighted, you will come down on their youngsters in painfully hurtful ways. So they sacrifice their children to the god of your aims for football success and feel blackmailed into doing it.

The irony is, if parents had paid for some big trip to Europe or a family cruise, or had a death in the family, most parents would press you to make an exception and you would.

What is important is the nature of authority being established. Not your authority coach, but God’s. That’s important for your life and the lives of every player you will ever have responsibility to coach. Putting God first is something that good coaches remember and exercise. Getting team members to do what you say, just because you say it, is a long way from getting team members to share and give and act sacrificially when necessary to do their best in honoring God and in learning how to help the others around them every day. That can help them to become the kind of champions that truly matter.

Coach, I want your coaching year to be a great one. I will pray for your team’s success. I hope you enjoy winning; but in the big picture, every week one team wins, one team loses and all go home afterward to deal with their lives, their homes, their parents, their classmates, their homework, their dreams, their futures. I hope football helps -- without getting in the way of their learning about God’s help and gifts for their lives. I hope, coach, you know about those things too. I hope to see you in church Sunday. The game films really can wait; and if you don’t believe me, I’ll introduce you to some of my friends who can explain.


Thanks for listening.

Pastor Ron

P.S. The general point of this letter is also directed to baseball coaches, basketball coaches, volleyball coaches, lacrosse coaches, track coaches, wrestling coaches, tennis coaches, soccer coaches, softball coaches and others who hold a great trust in guiding youth. Blessings in Christ to all.

Dear Blog Friends

Dear Blog Friends,

Apologies for those who missed reading this blog over the last several months. I have been investing heavily in writing for church ministries in the upcoming year. One of the things I want to assure you of is that we would like to get some read of those who are utilizing this avenue for reading. If you find this blog interesting, helpful, or just something you read from time to time, give us a comment to that effect. Thanks.
Happy blogging.

Ron Hinson

Ten Ways to Improve Your Children's Future

1. Pray with them daily. The emphasis is on with. Let them know you pray. Let them see you leading them in prayer. Let them know you pray for them. Let them know that
praying allows them to share their concerns with God and that He leads and guides us.

2. Prioritize spiritual growth and development. Commit by intentional choice to the discipline of weekly bible study and worship. Children need parental leadership and yes, sometimes a no-excuses-will-do insistence upon what will be first…honoring God with our worship above lesser things. Parents who adopt a verbal commitment to God and follow it with an applied abandonment of faithfulness offer poor examples. Children will follow what YOU DO over what you say.

3. Value your children over the athletics they play. Sports are fun. In most cases, sports are healthy. Up until they become an overwhelming influence that compromises family relationships, family worship, family economics, and family being a family. Every healthy family appreciates the opportunity of encouraging one another to excel and to be a part of community. Sharing in teamwork and learning to work with others are important lessons. Likewise children need other adults that they respect to be guides, mentors, and teachers as well. At the same time…only rarely can one have as great an influence as a parent. You are the most influential help or hindrance to your children’s development and learning. What happens at your family table is far more important than what can ever be done in a classroom or on a field of play. Don’t let sports become the poor substitute for engaged and purposeful parenting.

4. Don’t miss the huge benefit of the church in your children’s lives. Children who grow up in church with regular engagement in church activities have a huge social and educational advantage over children who do not. For example: Children in church choirs learn to read music as early as preschool and elementary ages. Children in regular worship using hymnals learn to follow words and hear them sung, helping them to identify words early and to remember them through learned songs. Children who attend church regularly often participate in activities that give them opportunity to develop in their ability to share with others, learn about people and cultures in far away places, and to interact in ways that allow them to recognize their personal influence upon others for good. Learning from the scriptures offers children, not only the ability to learn about the gospel of Jesus, but to learn about the law, wisdom, geography, and human relationships.
Children who are actively engaged in the life of the church weekly often excel in many other avenues of life as well.

5. Tell the truth. Children are often left uninformed about many “adult” matters. Certainly there are appropriate ways to address children in helping them to understand the world and the circumstances around them. At the same time, it is tragic that many children become debilitated adults simply because they were constantly shielded or “left in the dark” about the circumstances of life in general that are a part of life. Children need to understand the facts of what they are facing. They need to comprehend their ability to deal with the world in which they live in a healthy way. They also need a spiritual foundation to support them in the most challenging of times. Talking and sharing and showing children that God helps us is important in the context of daily living. Helping children to understand the reality of death when a loved one dies is important for them to come to terms with. Helping children to respond in appropriate ways to challenges and difficulties is a necessity. Frank and honest and informative discussions about many subjects are needful and necessary in good parenting. The community of faith and the expertise that many can share in a church community are important resources to enable such discussions and valuable conversations.

6. Let your love for your children be evidenced by your testimony of love for God.
When children understand that you have a source of strength that you depend upon beyond yourself, they will understand that they have a source of help not only in you, but also beyond you. That truth will sustain them when you are present and when you are not. That loving gift of faithful witness is the greatest gift a Christian parent can provide.

7. Expect more of your children than they know to expect from themselves. God treats us the same way. To do so sets the bar high. It challenges us to do our best. It reminds us that there is always a goal before us worthy of our greatest and best effort. Couple that challenging expectation with heartfelt love all along the way. God will bless it.

8. Set aside time to listen to your children. Listen to them read. Listen to them share a bible verse. Listen to them pray. Listen to them sing. Listen to them talking about things important in their world. Listen to them without cutting them off to do 100 other less important things. You will long remember when you listened and what you learned and they will too.

9. Teach your children to respect those who are different from them. We live in a vastly diverse world. Making enemies out of everyone who is different from “us” only creates
an impoverished attitude and perspective upon life. God calls us to share his Gospel with all the nations. Every man, woman, and child is someone for whom Christ died. Teach
by example your willingness to be kind and engaged and influential in building bridges to others, instead of walls. Your children will follow your lead.

10. Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it for the glory of God. That measure of commitment will enable your best, will enrich your life many fold, and will enable you and your children to discover great hope and joy in the gifts of G

Home Changers

One of the effective mission ministries of recent years has been World Changers, where college and high school youth join in doing practical ministry in mission settings, often related to home rehabilitation in impoverished communities. Whether the work involved painting, roofing, or porch repairs, many youth have been a part of learning to use their abilities and energy to help others in Jesus’ name.

Such a practical application of Christian ministry endeavor would also find a good place in the midst of most households. World Changers share a vision for reaching the world with the good news of Jesus, but we must also recognize the important foundation for changing the world is also to relate the instruction of Jesus to our homes and families and immediate surroundings.

Caring for one another within the home is an essential. Sharing responsibilities and the work of maintaining the health and well-being of all the members of a family is important. Too often we see persons sacrificing the health of the whole family for the sake of meeting aims that have little to do with positive outcomes for all involved. Living each day with a focus upon Christ in the home is the beginning of “changing the world.” Children who share a sense of security in the light of their parent’s love and commitments to each other receive a precious gift each day. Homes where honest and open sharing about the challenges the family is facing brings positive opportunities for good outcomes by the contribution of each family member to the health of the whole.

World changing is a wonderful aim, but think about what would happen if all the families on your block held to following Christ as Lord each day. How might it change the family dynamics as well as the relationships of the community in which you live?
Where do we start? Right where we are. Each and every day is a chance to change our world as we share the love of Christ, the forgiveness of Christ, the teachings of Christ, and the calling of Christ to all.

No Politics as Usual

As waves of protest are observed across the North of Africa and in the Middle East, it brings us all to the awareness of large populations of people who have been struggling with the limits of autocratic governments and regimes that have maintained power by intimidation and the use of their armies to control. In similar ways the changes that came to the Soviet bloc countries in the 90’s has evolved in nations that have come to find large numbers of youth, many times professionally trained and educated, with few opportunities, crying out for new freedoms and open government.

The most important changes for any nation toward a positive future are those that find within their own capacities and resources the will to act in positive ways for the benefit of their fellow countrymen and their families. Political leaders who attempt to retain exploitive influence over the masses are likely to be perceived for who they are. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Nations that demonstrate an ethic of concern for one another in upbuilding and positive directions will have the advantage for a positive future.

Involvements in government and politics can be exciting, but also very difficult. Pray for leaders of nations and peoples of nations seeking new directions. Pray that wisdom and understanding might overcome threats of violence and chaos. Change is often difficult, but when redemptive…a great blessing.

Micah in the Old Testament shared important words: “…what does the Lord require of but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Doing justice …showing mercy…and seeking God’s will for our lives each day is an important reminder for all of us.

Forgetting and Forsaking

Through centuries of worshipping the Lord God, the story is told of times when the worship of the Lord was forgotten by certain groups of people. Such forgetfulness was attributed to the lack of memory and a lack of connection to those Spirit-led leaders provided by God to guide his people.

Such a time followed the generation after Joshua in the accounts of the Old Testament. The story unfolded simply enough. A generation came that forgot or never knew of the mighty acts of God in delivering the people and calling them to relationship.

Similar accounts can be cited in much more recent history. Entire communities that once exercised vibrant Christian faith and practice were followed by those who never knew such faith and practice as their own experience. Too often the pattern is preceded, not so much by an intentional disregard for worship, but by a period in which meaning and understanding of worship become disconnected and ritual and patterns of community are held to, not for their intended purpose, but out of a form of superstitious behavior and thinking. In early American history, churches that practiced infant baptism often reported the discovery of unregenerate members, who held to a form of religion, but without a commitment of heart and life to following Jesus Christ. They were those who by baptism had “assumed” an association with the church, but never went beyond that act of their parents. Moving past that to another generation that baptized their infants to “church” them, with no real comprehension of Christian faith and practice in actions and relationships led to a destitute body of individuals who claimed “Christianity” without claiming Christ-following as a practice and pattern for life.

Today, in our Baptist context, we can find the same challenges. As we have neglected bible study and discipling ministries to which the church is called, we have seen many who adopt “unprincipled or superstitious religion” as their pattern, to the sad neglect of a growing faith relationship.

Characteristics of such “superstitious” forms of religious practice include those who
adopt “naturalist” religion. They cite their ability to worship God on the lake, or at the golf course, or while fishing, as a satisfactory and certainly equivalent exercise of religion. Others adopt a “groupie” religion, assuming that the ultimate benefit for their Christian development is to become a follower of a particular preacher or evangelist or Christian music group in order to become a more effective Christian. Still others cite a
“historical-genealogical” Christian experience that equates their parent’s or grandparent’s religious practice as sufficient to “cover them,” thus giving their generation a “break” from all that church stuff. Still others practice an “every man for themselves” religious attitude that says, “We let our children decide what they want to believe” or “We don’t make our children go to church, because we resented being told we needed to go when we were that age.” Still others practice an “any other gods” religion, citing the idea that there are lots of ways to worship and have a relationship to God and saying, “We don’t believe anyone has a right to tell anyone else who they should worship.”

All of these forms neglect to give attention to the covenant relationship that God establishes with his people. All of these “superstitious” forms choose human substitutes over God. To abandon the worship of God is easy when we have no heart engaged in worship in the first place. To abandon the worship of God is easy when we have no understanding of accountability before God and no comprehension of sin against God and our fellow man. To abandon the intentional, purposeful, thoughtful worship of God in favor of community practices that allow for our presence without our real engagement with God and His word to us will easily lead to a host of people “not knowing” and “not remembering” what such relationship is all about.

Soul liberty is a principle among Baptists that links our personal obligation to choose faith with our freedom to not choose faith. At the same time, that principle is grounded not in religious neglect and ignorance of the Gospel, but in a purposeful seeking after God and his instruction for life. Soul liberty is discovered in relationship with God, not apart from Him. In Christ we find true freedom for fulfilling the purpose for which we have been created and called into relationship by God.

Religious behavior indeed takes many forms…authentic and fulfilling in relationship to God and otherwise. We must not assume that forgetting or abandoning the mission of the church moves us toward the future God intends. His word to us speaks otherwise.

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 NRSV

The Desperation of a Godless Existence

The aspect of fear lies beneath every act of the Godless human. No amount of sanity can conquer the desperation acquired by a life in contradiction to one’s creator.
To live in the absence of faith is to accumulate to one’s person responsibility for all existence…everything…or the opposite…nothing…no accountability at all…in a fearsome freefall of destiny defined only by one’s own abandonment of hope. Life without God is a self-defined box in which all humanity loses its grounding. The awkward and ludicrous attempt to eliminate the Almighty by declaring that there is no such a One…is to begin a baseless search for something better, someone better, something that matters at all. Eradicating God is as futile as defining time by one’s own attempt to count one’s own heartbeats. God’s time refuses the limits of our own capacities to measure or to quantify. God’s creation has constantly confounded us in every aspect of its exploration and while learning and discovery are fruitful endeavors and to be commended, the absurdity of suggesting that God is lost in the picture is an act of denial beyond measure.
God allows us all the opportunities necessary to recognize His work. Only self,
elevated to the place of God, allows the mind to limit the existence of everything to only what that person allows to be. I did not birth the existence of my wife, or my neighbor, or my friends. I did not birth God and yet many respond to the suggestion that God brings meaning and truth to bear upon life with the retort that they simply don’t give God a place in their lives. Therefore because they refuse to “think it” God isn’t any more. A Godless life demands fear as its motivator for everything. If God is not with us, or for us, or in us, then we are alone to the whims of everything else we have or must assume control of. We must control our experiences…our ideas…our actions…in regard to all living existence. We are controllers of the greater world around us…and everything literally revolves around our mental and physical manipulations of the universe. We are totally in control and therefore totally in charge and we face that world with fear because nothing else but insanity will allow us to do anything else.
Soldiers in war are taught to overcome their fear by training to respond to the stimulus of enemies presence without thinking. Those who disconnect themselves from
living in relationship to God require that they train themselves to respond as though God is their enemy. Thus, we can quickly account for those who see the worship of God as a threat to their worldview or a threat to their lifestyle decisions or a threat to their decision to be in charge of themselves in ways that they take total responsibility for. The fact of God will not be tolerated if that God requires justice, truth, or accountability. The nature of life that allows for God must also allow for His justice, His righteousness, His truthfulness, His presence…and some people just won’t stand for it. So they in their fear
respond as fearful people do…they run…or they fight. They run away from the idea of
considering God working in their midst…and because God does do so much, they must attack those whose existence their worldview denies. The absurdity lies in the constant failure of all those who deny God’s place in their lives to truly live in rejection of their own God-sustained, God-filled world. It’s like being born with eyes and insisting that you prefer to live with your eyes closed. Keeping your eyes closed doesn’t turn off the existence of what eyes could see if they would simply be open. In the same way we are invited by God to share the experiences of His creation and world.
Around the world, fear drives the responses of those who live apart from God.
Only with God, only with a life open to God’s leading and God’s guiding will there be an appropriate fearfulness that stands in awe and wonder to worship and seek God’s way, only to discover in Him an invitation to fear not. In His presence the fear of helplessness
and hopelessness is removed. In his presence, necessities are recognized by their appropriate place in the world…valuable gifts of God for our blessing, not our harm. Peace, be still…and know God is with us. Ready or not…

Have All the Pages Been Turned?

Just before Christmas I purchased a new pocket New Testament with the Psalms and Proverbs. I have begun using it in the New Year and I notice that almost all the pages stick slightly at the bottom corner until I gently pull them apart for the first time. It came to mind that there might be many bibles with stuck pages because they have never been turned.
Is your Bible like that? Could there be a Bible you have been using for years that still has “stuck pages” because they have never been read? I challenge you to make a point to take your Bible with you regularly and then to take the time to read each page. In the process, many things that you were not so sure about or had questions about or had forgotten, may become unstuck as well.

Teaching Your Child to Pray

The scriptures have numerous examples of couples that were without children praying for the opportunity of parenthood. The model of their praying is a good start for any parent in recognizing prayer as a continuing expression of trust and faith in God.

Expectant parents can and should start by praying for their unborn child and for their wisdom in preparing for that child’s birth. A significant number of pregnancies do not reach full-term for many reasons. Not all couples are able to have children. Many couples seek adoption opportunities and pray for those who might be open to that option,
enabling them to be parents. Expecting parents would do well to seek God’s guidance for each day’s challenges during pregnancies or adoption processes. Trust God to guide you and to help you to discern your capacities for both providing for and caring for a child.

Having children is not parenting them. That responsibility is continuous and ongoing.
The good news is that God’s love is likewise our best model for Christian parenting. God teaches us the meaning of steadfast love and faithfulness. Caring for one’s health before and during pregnancy is essential for a growing fetus. Childbearing itself can be dangerous for both mother and child. The best of modern medicine remains at times confounded by the failure of some pregnancies to thrive. Nonetheless, we can trust in God and his provision. Fathers are likewise accountable to be available and protective of their spouse. As we are gifted in the wonder and grace of new life, we receive and welcome those tender lives into our care. While often the concern of our prayers,
now we also must share in teaching them to pray and to understand God’s love for them.

Teaching your child to pray is not so much a challenge as it is an opportunity.
It is an opportunity for you to put into practice your own spiritual discipline of prayer
and to model that practice for your child in age appropriate ways. Teaching your child to pray is not just about teaching them to perform for your pleasure. Teaching a child to pray begins with your own conversations with God. As you pray, and as your children listen to you pray, they begin to discern the meaning of your actions and words.

Things that are helpful in teaching your child:

Begin with simple words shared at regular times. For exmple, praying before meals and at bedtime would be good opportunities and times for regular prayer.
Begin with a posture of prayer. Joining hands in a family circle during prayers at meals can benefit in helping busy fingers to be occupied and to help little ones focus upon the action taking place.
Be consistent. The most important part of teaching is consistency. Over time, as patterns are taught, we learn, and over time we grow in understanding and knowledge.



For Pre-schoolers…

Teaching a child to fold their hands and to bow their heads and to close their eyes in prayer is helpful in many ways. It teaches them to express their own attitude of prayerfulness…they can pray. It teaches them to give attention to God and talking to Him, overagainst being distracted by all the other activities that might be going on around. To begin with bowing heads and closing eyes while a parent prays is a great start. It teaches respect for God in bowing before Him as an expression of humility and love for him.
Teaching your child to pray might include teaching simple patterned prayers that they learn to repeat.
God is great. God is good.
Let us thank Him for our food.
By his hands we are fed.
Thank you, God, for daily bread.
AMEN

Thank you God for food and all our many blessings. AMEN

Prayers never need to be long in order to be heard or spoken. More than once a parent would do well to model sentence prayers in the middle of the busiest times and places. For example, Praying before traveling was a frequent memory of my childhood. Sometimes it was prayer for safe travel, at other times it included prayer for a good day at school. Other times, it included prayers for friends or family or neighbors with special needs. Teach that praying can be done in many different settings. Explain and show by example your readiness to talk to God about the most ordinary and extraordinary events and concern of life.

For Elementary Age Children...

As children grow older, they should be encouraged to begin their own initiatives to offer prayer. Taking turns praying before meals, or designating a different person each day to say the prayers at set times would be helpful. Help a child to move to this process naturally, by asking them about things they would like to pray about before hand. Help them to think about asking God for his help and to thank God for his blessings. Guide children to understand that our praying is also a time to listen for God’s voice to us. Share in reading from the Bible together. Read portions of the scriptures or share a special verse that was meaningful from your own devotional reading. Allow children to talk about their needs and concerns. These conversations around family devotional times will be some of the most remembered of their and your lives together. Often reading from a collection of Bible Stories for Children is helpful at this age, reading a different story each day. Talking about the story and helping children to understand it will encourage them to ask questions and to explore the Bible as they grow older. Giving a child their own Bible to read, especially in a readable translation, is especially helpful as you move into this age. Help your child to learn the books of the Bible and to identify chapters and verses. Encourage them
to underline important passages or to identify those sections about which they have questions. Teaching how to use a Bible at this age is very important to their lifetime of using it in the future. It also encourages reading in general. Children would also be helped by learning a model of prayer from the scriptures in the Lord’s Prayer.


For Teens and Young Adults...

Enabling youth to engage in personal devotional reading and prayer time is an important step in their faith development. Developing the capacity for having their own time for daily bible reading and prayer allows them to grow beyond the supervision of parents into independent learners and self-motivated seekers. Having the skills to explore the Bible and knowing how to use bible study tools like Bible Dictionaries, Bible Concordances, and Bible Atlases will encourage their growth and understanding. Teaching youth to read aloud from the Bible is also important at this age. It encourages their participation in worship and also utilizes their capacities to give instruction and guidance to others. Reading devotional classics and collections of devotional readings can also serve as a help for daily quiet times. Many one-year collections are available in a wide variety of formats. A good basic study bible in a readable translation is again a very helpful tool for growing in understanding of the scriptures. Many good examples are available. At this age, youth, while often shy about publicly expressing themselves, should be encouraged to share their thoughts and prayers publicly. In group settings, sharing sentence prayers around the circle, or in family gatherings for family devotions, the practice of praying can continue. Teens and young adults learn best from the examples of their parents. Parents who demonstrate a personal devotional life, encourage it among their household. Coming together and praying together are important with friends, with relatives, with strangers who are a part of the gatherings of your family. The Psalms are a rich source of private and public prayers and praises in their meditations and reflections upon life and God’s provision. Reading from them with regularity can be an excellent basis for growing both in faith and knowledge of God’s love.

Did You Remember to Thank...?

A friend of mine is a farmer and when I watch him sit down to eat a meal, I see in his eyes a kind of thoughtfulness about the food he is about to eat.
I decided to think thoughtfully about my lunch today and I came to the conclusion very quickly that I have too often thought too little about what exactly it took for me to sit down and enjoy the meal that I just partook of.
Today I had lunch in a local eatery. I ordered an unsweetened tea and then perused the menu long enough to decide that perhaps a healthy choice would be a chef salad with honey mustard dressing.
As I sipped my tea, I suddenly realized that apart from the waitress that had served it, there had been someone who took the time to brew the tea. Someone else had purchased the ice machine that had been manufactured by any number of people and transported and sold and installed by someone…likely a local plumber. As I enjoyed the cool tea, I realized the cup had been produced from plastics that had required oil for their manufacturing and linked me to a host of people who had explored, drilled, pumped and distilled those products to make them usable for the manufacturing process that involved numbers of other people, exclusive of those who transported the oil and the finished products from manufacturer to end user. Someone worked in a warehouse counting and stacking and shipping the cups to the place where I was eating. And that was just for the cup and ice.
I then remembered that the process of tea growing was a laborious one. The tiny tea leaves that were used to make my tea were grown in a distant land. The leaves were carefully picked at the right time and gathered laboriously and sold in a marketplace to resellers who enabled the products to be utilized over time by those who placed the tea in utilizable formats, teabags…for use in the brewing of my glass of iced tea. Don’t forget the paper that went into the bag or the cardboard that packaged the tea in the boxes that were placed together in larger corrugated containers for delivery. And I have only begun to drink a glass of unsweetened tea.
As I reflected on the food as it was brought to my table, I was thankful for its appearance. The salad greens, the cucumbers cubed, the hard boiled egg slices, the tomato pieces, the deli ham, the grilled chicken, the grated cheese. Before I had taken in the first bite, I remembered that if I was going to thank the people responsible for my lunch, I would have to thank a lettuce grower and all who worked for him…planting the seed, transplanting the plants, fertilizing the crop, weeding and spraying and watering, pickers who gathered, others who washed and crated, others who transported and sold and resellers who bought and distributors who took orders and resold. I would have to thank those who bought and delivered that fresh produce to the marketplace where my local food establishment purchased the lettuce.
I would need to thank an egg farmer…raising chickens newly hatched from a hatchery where eggs had been incubated for days, feeding and watering the chickens was one small part, but the veterinarians who provided antibiotics and supervision of chicken house environments, food inspectors and egg processors who evaluated the size and quality of eggs, the distributors who from gathering to selling carried on any number of processes to insure a rapid farm to market exchange of goods…I must thank all of them too.
The grated cheese in my salad involved a dairy farmer who fed his cows, had them cared for by a veterinarian, and whose milking operation was of necessity a carefully choreographed twice daily operation of milking and gathering, pasteurizing and cooling, separating and selling the components of the milk that would be used for cheese making. The cheese making process would involve a host of others engaged in that process, often involving extensive time, even months and years of aging, before the cheese might be ready for use in my salad. How many people looked after that cheese in the weeks of waiting for it to be ready? How many were responsible for the electricity that cooled the place where it was stored? How many were engaged in the shipping, selling and final distribution and labeling of that cheese for market? How many artists and salesmen and marketing personnel were involved in bringing that product to my lunch?
The tomato in my salad was fresh, and likely grown in a hothouse or in some other more favorable climate than ours. If it were field grown, it would have meant a laborious preparation of the field by the farmer, often utilizing a raised bed and often, an extensive use of plastic sheeting utilized in large commercial operations. Thank the oil producers again and the plastics manufacturers and all those who work for them. We can’t forget the providers of the fuel for the tractors and the semis that transport load after load of goods across the country. We should thank the nurseries that often start the seed and prepare seedlings to be transplanted at favorable times. The system of watering often uses elaborate irrigation systems, either drip or spray systems that use local deep wells or water from melted snowpack found in rivers corralled by dams to provide moisture over long seasons with little rain and electricity to go along with it through turbines turned when the water flows downstream. Did we thank those who built the dams and hydropower plants? Hothouse tomatoes, while often having a little less taste than fieldgrown, require a regular dose of energy and heat often provided by artificial lighting (did we think to mention those who manufacture the light bulbs) and large fan driven heat systems to maintain appropriate temperatures for growing (thanks to the HVAC people). Some of that electricity might have come from nuclear energy. These power plants require the proper and careful management of fissionable materials. The elaborate systems needed to maintain such facilities requires enormous initial cost in building and continues to require ongoing attention for centuries due to residual radiation in spent fuel. Those guys will be working long after my lunch is over…I should thank them. The pickers, the craters, the shippers again bring that load of tomatoes my way to be used by the local restaurateur.
The same again applies to my cucumber. As I dipped my chicken into the honey mustard sauce I realized a whole other group of people to thank. Those who live next to a chicken house know the price of growing those birds. There is the heat and labor of feeding, inoculating, watering, cleaning, catching, crating, shipping live chickens to the processor…then comes the killing, defeathering, washing and cutting into those most frequently used types and sizes for regular commercial use. My deboned and chunked portions would have required any number of individuals to be a part of the process before the meat was sold fresh or flash frozen for storage or shipping.
The chunks of deli ham were delicious. I couldn’t tell if they had come from ham that was fresh sliced or perhaps smoked beforehand. But I’m getting well ahead of myself. I remember feeding pigs on my granddaddy’s farm. It was a daily duty. Today’s producers use more efficient operations, but the requirements are many….from piglets to full grown pigs, usually necessitates a level of constant oversight. Pigs can’t take the heat. Cooling is often required in the form of watercooled areas or temperature-controlled environments. Pigs require frequent feeding as they grow steadily. Again the trucking requirements to move the pigs from farm to processor are critical to the process. The meat packing plant that handled the meat from hoof to deli ready meat required butchers and cooks, packagers and shippers again. Along the way, food inspectors qualified the processors and evaluated the quality and safety of the food production. I should thank them all.
I thought I had it about wrapped up when I realized I was sitting at a table made by a furniture manufacturer using wood cut from a forest, shipped by a trucker, cut by a saw mill, dried by a wood drying operation, planed, glued and finished by a series of processes made possible by another host of people.
And I haven’t even gotten to my honey mustard sauce…someone gathered the honey. Someone produced the mustard plants. Someone harvested and prepared vegetable oils and spices and other ingredients. Who added salt? That made for another group of people working to make my dinner. Did I forget someone else? I had salad crackers with my salad. A bakery made them, from ingredients that would start this conversation all over again. Wheat was grown, harvested, taken to a granary, later to a mill, ground, made into flour. Corn syrup made from a corn crop was used to supply the sweetness. The preservatives were added to retain shelf life. The plastics wrapped the crackers. Cardboard wrapped the goods. Shippers transported…again.
The hands and lives of people who labored to make my lunch possible begins to sound like a whole city of people making contributions to me indirectly, but for me to have that meal…each one was necessary. I am thankful for them, but then understand…I have no doubt left out a host of others. My check came. I used a ten dollar bill to pay. Someone made the pen used to write the check, dozens of people made the paper to prepare the pad for orders, a multitude of workers at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and the pressmen and printers, and press engineers and maintenance workers made possible the distribution of funds to the Federal Reserve and then to local banks and to the teller who handed me the bill when I last cashed my paycheck. I should thank them too, along with all those who made my salary possible.
I finished my meal, but as I stood to leave, I remembered that while I began the meal thanking God for the food, I was leaving the meal thanking God for all the people.
The meal was good. The food was nourishing and pleasant to the eye. The service was kind and attentive. The experience of remembering what it took for my lunch to be made possible reminded me that every part of our lives is such a miracle of relationships as we are bound together in countless, important, but often forgotten ways.
Thank you God for each and everyone whose life has touched me in this hour.
Bless them with the knowledge of your love and with thankfulness for all your blessings. AMEN

The Case for Naked Truth

Allusion is that method of presenting thoughts or ideas or meaning through indirect methods. A person may allude to their faith yet never state it. People may allude to a commitment to being a follower of Christ but never clearly or directly identify themselves. Indirect preaching has been popularized as “surprising” the hearer with understanding at some point when it more or less “sneaks” in through allusive techniques of presentation and does not require the speaker to be confrontational or direct so as to avoid defensiveness on the part of the hearer. Allusion is a backdoor approach to relating or teaching.

I think it is true that some people are defensive at times when it comes to directness. Mostly they are just offended that someone would be so bold as to confront them about aspects of life that might require their reconsideration or rethinking. As I read the gospels, I am repeatedly confronted with the nature of Jesus’ message as not being a “backdoor approach.” Jesus taught with parables, but not to be indirect…but rather quite the opposite. Jesus offers us direct, forthright, bold, and, yes-- an unsettling declaration of God’s word to each of us. The naked truth…we are sinners in need of repentance and faith and God has sent his Son to save us as we trust in Him.

Delusion is the act or process of creating a false belief in spite of invalidating evidence. It is deception. It is quite popular. Athletes have recently taken to delusion as a means to “con the referee.” Faking being fouled, faking being hit by a ball, faking an extra yard by moving the ball while under the pile --- all are deceptive acts meant to create an advantage through a lie. Too much of the time, we see people in our world “working the crowd” and “playing the audience” with deceptive statements and something less than the truth. Half-truths are always easy to “sell” -- people are gullible and easily deceived.
The scriptures remind us that false teachers are a danger and ignorance is too often the greatest enemy in the room as we seek to learn about God in settings that we trust, but which may not be free of misinformation or misunderstanding. Delusion is a danger to those who are less than discerning in their spiritual journey. God does not play games with us. God does not hide from us. God does not seek to delude us into thinking he is something he is not. God is truth made known again and again to us in the walk, the works, and the life of Jesus Christ. We are not called to change his message or to “trick” anyone into believing. Jesus is the Son of God , the Savior, who died on a cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. He rose from the dead, destroying the power of sin and death over those who trust in Him as Savior and Lord. He calls us to believe. He calls us to follow Him. The naked truth…Jesus saves.

Illusion is a false impression frequently based on wishful thinking. Illusion is a methodology incorporated by some to entertain, but the illusion often is matched by a distraction from the truth…a misdirection of our attention. While sometimes entertaining, it goes to the point that we are easily mislead. If efforts are made to create illusions, rather than realities, everyone suffers. God did not create a world of illusions. He created a universe of magnificence for humankind to comprehend as the work of God.
He created us with capacities for exercising creativity and having understanding and living in relationship to Him. God does not invite us to be a party to share a ”false impression” but to come to the truth of our need and his provision for that need.
The naked truth….we are sinners in need of God’s grace.

We live in a world that too often uses allusion, delusion, and illusion to sidestep the realities, the truth, and the life God calls us to know in Jesus Christ. Whether we accept Christ or not, the naked truth is God isn’t playing tricks. God isn’t hiding. God isn’t pulling the wool over your eyes. God isn’t out to deceive you into being a Jesus follower.

Truth - “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
John 3:16-17 KJV

The Emotional Marketplace

Every day in the business world, we see a constantly changing wave of emotion being represented by the moods and attitudes of people responding to the things they are hearing, seeing, and feeling. The kinds of emotions that we attach to our “security” regarding our means of livelihood or our fears about not having sufficient means for our desires leads to a multiplicity of responses depending upon the moment and the circumstances. The pendulum of extremes often comes into play when many others join us in having the same emotions at the same time. Intensity of emotion will do more to depress or inflate the marketplace responses of people over many other more practical and measurable factors.

When we hear about an executive of a large corporation with substantive name recognition having a personal crisis…the stock price of that corporation often declines.
News on the street has a way of suggesting that some factor may reduce the abilities of that corporation to act in a consistent and positive manner.

When the government acts to restrain or support credit opportunities, speculators on both sides of banking begin to swing their responses in favor of or in opposition to such actions. They “bank” their support by buying and selling bonds as an expression of their commitment to the future. They respond emotionally rather than technically.

In such matters as these, human emotion drives initial responses to extremes, followed by corrective actions, in light of what are recognized as overly acted upon emotions. Thinking usually follows strong emotional responses and often, additional actions are taken that reflect more measured calculation after a period of reflection.

Recognizing the emotional triggers that stimulate us and cause us to take extreme actions should remind us that our anxieties are often a product of our making. We upset ourselves because we fear and we want and we desire for ourselves in ways that essentially are unhealthy.

Jesus taught us that when we comprehend the true security of a life lived in a relationship of faith in Him, we are promised the means by which our needs will be met. What we fear often is our aloneness when we exercise an unwillingness to trust God and instead seek to make our way independently of God and his calling upon our lives. Such an existence is not the abundant life God has for his children. Such a life will be self-destructive and self-absorbed.

God has made himself known to us in His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Get to know
Him and you will find what is missing in your struggle to feel secure…to feel safe…to feel at home and at peace. In Christ we find the peace that so much of our world is at a loss to know. Share Christ …for the sake of the world that needs to know Him.

The Integrity of Leadership

Leadership has long been a popular “buzz word” in the context of business. It is always interesting to follow the “institutionalization” of popular subjects into the academic arena. Today there are any number of “Leadership Institutes”, “Leadership Seminars,” Masters Degrees in Educational Leadership,” others in “Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship,” among many others.

The scriptures point us to the role of leadership with many examples. They include figures such as Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt. It includes those who served Israel as judges, those who were named kings, and any number of prophets who were called upon to lead by bearing witness to the people of the word from the Lord.

Leadership is often measured by worldly standards of success. For the most part, that is how it is referred to in present academic discussion. Good leaders are often those who help define the realities of the present, help determine the goals for the future, and who help take the steps toward achieving those goals in the day to day. Those essential steps are also included for effective leadership in the context of those who would seek to honor God with their leading. The difference is, those who are interested in honoring God with their leadership understand that it is based not upon their own influence and power, but upon the power of God at work in and through them. They also understand that the objectives or goals to be achieved are not measured only by their ability to reach them by any method. The manner in which the goals are both identified and achieved is as important as the result. Too often we see individuals “in the name of Christ” selling the processes of their “success” to the devil. The results may be “apparently achieved” but at the loss of integrity or witness because of the “way” in which they acted.

Too often the results sought are only temporary in scope. God’s leading requires that we focus on eternal measures. We are called to be a part of divine initiatives. We are called to be participants in sharing God’s light and life and love with the world. To do so requires our integrity of purpose, our willingness of spirit, and our openness to God. Following His lead is the strongest measure of any “leadership” we might seek to initiate. Allowing others to follow our example as God-honoring leaders is limited to those aspects of our personality and actions that honor Christ. The standard is higher than we have usually been willing to consider. We are called to follow the example of Jesus.
To do so is more than challenging. It is a high calling.

Success will not be the measure of earthly successes, but the measure of doing those things that God calls us to do each day.

Will We Ever Catch Up?

It is almost a daily statement among the social commentators of our time. They bemoan the fact that our ethics seem behind our technology, or our social systems, or our economic trends. The conversation goes something like this: “We are behind in discussing the ethical aspects of the use of autonomous robotics in warfare.” Or, we have demonstrated that our ability to exercise ethical behavior in the marketplace has gone woefully lacking in light of our obvious manipulations and abuses of the present system.”
Such social commentary seems to be a popular way of saying that sin remains a distinctive problem in our time and our attempts at making decisions without a moral grounding leave us with less than satisfying results.
The popularity of “ethics courses” in the academic circles likewise has achieved little to change the circuitous weaknesses of morality built upon humanistic models, derived from a lowest common denominator approach coupled with relativism for every situation. It will always be easy to justify our actions, whatever they may be, if we assume that all we have to do is find others willing to join in to make it acceptable. Likewise, our ability to create technologies that disregard our very human weaknesses in their creation, leads us to assume that a “programmed response by a computer” is surely destined to be a “safe” decision. Is it using our best human choices to use a gaming platform to send weapons to distant countries from thousands of miles away, with limited capacity to recognize the consequences of those decisions? Are we allowing the politics of our time to drive the rationale for war in the first place? Our attempt to inject ethics into the realms of science, medicine, business, technology, or even into our own church practices will always be second rate when we ignore the model of Jesus.
Could it be that we will one day ”come to ourselves” and realize that we do not have the last word on what is good or right or just? On the other hand, we find God readily presenting us with his truth to guide and direct us toward the things we are seeking. Could it be that those who discover the capacities for exercising justice in light of God’s love will come to understand the nature of loving God and loving neighbor with insights on how that translates into every day living?
Our behaviors seem to be woefully out of step with what even in our own sinful perceptions is just, and yet, how much more might be accomplished if we would dare to seek the will of God in bringing his love to the world in daily witness of his grace, his mercy, and his truth. We are not so much in the dark as we are unwilling to come to the light. That light is Jesus. Consider learning from him. Consider following him. Consider knowing that he is the way, the truth, and the life.

Ministry Opportunities

Countless persons have discovered the joys of volunteering and the subsequent pleasure of doing things that they derive genuine pleasure in being a part of. One of the most significant traits of this movement lies in the sense of accomplishment that comes with doing. One person once said to me after an extensive eat and meet gathering that they would rather clean toilets than just sit and once more hear about what others were doing. If you are among those itching to “do” in light of God’s gifts and abilities given to you, I challenge you to consider those things that allow you to serve in the name of Christ those near you. If some suggestions would be in order, let me share a few thoughts.
Volunteer to serve at a local food kitchen, or to stock shelves for a food pantry, or coordinate purchases for a local food bank assisting others in distributing food to needy families.
Volunteer at a local school to assist students who need extra help with establishing reading skills, or as a volunteer in a classroom that allows you to assist the teacher with any number of classroom activities. With budget crises in schools, assistants are often in short supply.
Volunteer to work with a local scouting organization sponsored by your church.
Work to coordinate with church ministries to enhance rather than detract from church ministries. Engage with church leaders in opportunities to offer scouts opportunity to explore and grow in their faith.
Volunteer to teach a bible study class at a local nursing home as a ministry of your church. Your consistent presence and interest in those who are in a facility would allow you to minister to them in countless ways and to serve as a liason for other church ministry groups.
If your time is limited, but flexible, consider offering your assistance with practical aspects of church ministry often needed at special times of emphasis in the life of the church. Offer special assistance with church history preservation efforts, recording of historical interviews, filing church documents for long term preservation, to name a few.
Church evangelistic efforts may include assisting with special mailings or calling efforts. Bible School always can utilize volunteers with a love for children and a patient spirit to teach and instruct. Church libraries often need those with skills in cataloging new materials and preparing them for circulation. Others can assist with shelving books, assisting with checking out books and even acting as a one person committee to take books to interested readers. Those with interest in assisting those with visual impairment might assist them in initial use of resources from the library for the blind.
Hospital volunteers are often utilized in gift shops, information desks, and flower delivery and mail delivery capacities. Chaplains often appreciate church volunteers offering their time and resources to their ministries.
Those working with foster children and many denominational children’s homes have need of assistance with special projects and coordinating such endeavors for members of your congregation to participate in is a great way to encourage doing by others as well.
Churches often have landscaping needs beyond the routine lawn and hedge cutting. Those who can assist with watering flowers, delittering parking lots, or replacing outdoor lightbulbs can be of great help.
Churches often need help tastefully decorating for special events. Preparing bulletin boards relating to ministry needs and church focus can often make great impacts on the cooperative endeavors of the congregation. Offering educational materials relating to Mission emphases and highlighting special events can go far to encourage others to be a part. Talk with your minister about becoming the “Bulletin Board Designer” if you have skills in that area.
Consider volunteering with a Habitat for Humanity building project. Volunteers often are needed to coordinate and serve meals for workers. Others do carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work as they have abilities. Others simply offer their skills at the level of ability they have to offer. What matters in willingness. What matters is helping others in Jesus’ name. What matters is finding your gifts and using them in service to God and his body, the church.
Yes, there likely are toilets that need cleaning….packages that need wrapping…bible lessons to be taught….conversations that need to be shared…visits that need to be made…prisoners and soldiers that need encouragement and prayer…missionaries that need support and assistance…neighbors who need your time and your Christian witness. Do what you can, where you can, as often as you can….
The blessings of being “doers of the word” and not “hearers only” will be quickly apparent in your life. There is joy in serving others in Jesus’ name. It makes a difference. Remember…do what you do, not for personal praise, but for the glory of God. That is what brings a satisfaction and joy beyond measure.

When We Last Spoke

Conversations these days are often truncated by the media we use to communicate. Phone conversations often become brief text messages utilizing abbreviations and symbols. General vocabulary in use by newspapers and magazines has continuously been “dumbed down” in this past decade to accommodate the lack of vocabulary understood by the general population of readers. In other words, your grandmother likely could understand more of the words in the encyclopedia than you could. Large percentages of adults now rarely open books, including the bible.
Conversations likewise are stymied by the over utilization of observed media. In other words, we spend our time listening to programmed material, to the neglect of human to human conversation. It is harder than ever for husbands and wives to communicate, not just because he’s from Mars and she’s from Venus.
Consider the needs we might meet by a reinvestment in human-to-human conversation. Whether by phone or in person, to take advantage of the opportunity to hear one another directly would be a positive step. Newer forms of media connections, with video, may enhance even long distance communication, allowing for some “face to face” time, even with the limits of distance. That fact continues to challenge our generation to find a balance between communication with electronic “filters” and communication that is authentically “present” and allows human contact and engagement of personalities. It is becoming challenging for many people to even have conversations when they have lost the “fine art” of verbal communication. Written communication, via letters and personal notes, is likewise becoming compromised by a preponderance of limited expression.
Facebook, at its best allows individuals to “find” others that they once knew. But overall it is a group conversation of still physically isolated persons. At its worst, it becomes a kind of voyeuristic observation of persons without clear motives or personal investments of time, energy, or relationship. It also can be a dangerous place for children and adolescents with naivety in regard to the threats and dangers of some personalities that might be encountered. The internets new realities of our “observing” being “observed” by technical tracking programs with salespersons seeking markets brings yet another level of contact that aims to exploit rather than relate.
Do you really want to be instant messaging your friend about your interest in buying a car and then to be bombarded automatically by sales information about new vehicles, just because it was a part of your conversation? Do you want to receive an email from the last business where you purchased shoes every month for the next three years? Do your shoes wear out that fast? Do you want to spend your time anonymously relating to a glowing screen, or would you like the opportunity to engage in a person-to-person time of sharing with an individual or group of persons that allows for interactive learning and multiple expressions?
People are hungry for human contact. Isolation has become the norm for too many. Consider the place of the church in building community. It allows us to come together to share in ways that encourage and bless and build up one another in faith and knowledge of God. Such aims are worthy of our best pattern of presenting ourselves in person to be a part of this community of faith. Invest yourself in sharing your thoughts and understanding with others. Give of yourself in the power of your personality to be engaging and welcoming and listening and learning.