Dear Family,
A popular song, by Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles, is titled, "Who Says you Can't go Back," wrestles with the question of whether or not we can return to our places of origin, the places where we grew up, the places where our narratives began. The song makes it clear that one can go back, in fact it is good to go back, because only in the genesis of our story do people really know us and embrace us as "one of their own." But i challenge that. I dont think we can, nor do i think we should, go back.
Why?
Because the same people who have helped author our narratives, at least the early chapters, have a hard time seeing past those chapters. If we are a good kid, or the son or daughter of someone significant in the community, we will always be that person. Regardless of how far we have grown from that little boy or girl. Not that being good is a bad thing, but living in the shadow of a parent or sibling can not only limit our development as whole persons; it can handcuff our effectiveness as an adult. Going back always brings back those labels, those memories, and those stories.
And that's if the stories are positive. What happens if you are the dark sheep, the lost boy or girl? How hard is it to shake that reputation? How easily do people "forget" what you have done in the past? If you were a trouble maker in high school, even though you go away and change the world for the greater good, when you come "home" often times the people still see the high school kid they had to keep their children away from, and not the saint that has done so much.
That is the danger of going back, and that is the reason Jesus says, "Only in his hometown is a prophet not accepted."
Our hometowns are full of good people with great intentions, but memories are long and hard to erase, which often boxes in young people, for good. Once a saint, always a saint. Once a sinner, well you know.
So why go home? Why go home at all? That's a pressing question and one i dont have an answer to, not now. I can't go back to McPherson and expect the call to pastor; the people know my story too well, and they would never get past the wild eyed 19, 20, or 21 year old who like so many at that age, explored and embraced life. The people, as good and godly and loving as they are, at the McPherson Church of the Brethren, would not embrace me. They know my story, and that story will always remain in the forefronts of their memory, limiting my ability to minister or lead.
This is why people have a hard time going home.
Who cares? Right? Just never go home, right? That's the answer. Or is it? Perhaps the question shouldn't be raised to the leader but the people in the church or hometown. Perhaps it is time to reflect on our inability to forget the stories of persons, especially ones that are dark or disturbing, because our refusal to forget will injure whoever it is we hold the memory of. If we are unable to give all persons, regardless of their past, a clean slate every time they come into our presence, we, like all the other hometowns in the Bible, limit the power of God.
However, if we can, unlike what is normative and acceptable, can erase their past from our memories and help them rewrite a new narrative with us, well then we have emerged from the darkness and stand in the light. And it is in the light, only in the light, that the miraculous power of Jesus is unleashed for all to experience.
In the light or not? Forget the past or not? These are our choices. God is waiting to hear our answers before He sends us His prophets... Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
Friday, February 25, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Harvest time?
Dear sisters and brothers,
I am not a patient man. More and more i am realizing that i am far from being patient, at all. I find that i, in fact, am impatient. I want results now. And if/when i do not experience/see those results, i find that i often give up or move on. For example, in 2007, after witnessing the results of not caring for our bodies while a chaplain at Grandview Hospital, i chose to get busy working out. I ran. I elipticalled. I biked. And i lifted. I did this from August to December, expecting to be ready to wow all the people with the huge biceps and chiseled six pack i had for a stomach.
It didn't play out like that. Though i had lost weight, nearly twenty pounds, i still had a long ways to go. After our vacation in January, i quit. I think, in my mind, i told myself if i hadnt seen the results already, i would never see them, so i quit. And guess what? The weight and gut returned. Note to all who actually read this: I went from a keg for a stomach to a pony keg, which is a good move, but i desired a six pack, which as stated above, i never experienced. So i quit.
Now every six months or so, i return to the ymca for a few months, promising to stick it out. After a few months, with little results, i find other things to do. The idea of waiting seems foreign and unlikely for me.
And yet, as i read Jesus' words in Matthew 13, i get the sense that is exactly what i should be doing. I should persevere and keep working hard, and eventually, EVENTUALLY, the fruit will come to bear, and i will experience the goals i seek. But if i continue to give up and continue to seek instant results, well i can expect to never get close to where i want and need to be.
This holds true for the church as well. We have to extend Jesus' love to any and all who grace our presence, without the expectation that the reaching out will produce instant fruit. The seeds of love we share and plant today will, eventually, produce fruit. We might not experience it, but who cares? We aren't in the business of collecting trophies; we are in the ministry of touching lives, healing souls, and loving the broken, unlovable, and forgotten. It is a thankless job, at first site, but seventeen years down the road someone might come up to us and say, "You know that one day when you just showered me with love, when you gave me that coat from your clothes closet, when you allowed me to collect food from your pantry, when you repaired my house, or when you visited me in the slums, remember that?"
We will say yes.
Their response, "well that huge act of love helped me get where i am today: a minister building churches and ending poverty in the name of Jesus, all because you did what you didn't have to. You cared for me. I am eternally thankful."
That is the wheat we seek, and it takes time. Something i am still learning, and something i hope we can continue to learn, together. Instant results are shallow and often whither away like the tree that sprouts in our gutters. But seeds planted that are given time and love to nurture, grow, and mature, well they turn into that strong oak we let our kids, grandkids, and great grandkids climb. So lets build trees and let future generations enjoy the fruit of our ministry. Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
I am not a patient man. More and more i am realizing that i am far from being patient, at all. I find that i, in fact, am impatient. I want results now. And if/when i do not experience/see those results, i find that i often give up or move on. For example, in 2007, after witnessing the results of not caring for our bodies while a chaplain at Grandview Hospital, i chose to get busy working out. I ran. I elipticalled. I biked. And i lifted. I did this from August to December, expecting to be ready to wow all the people with the huge biceps and chiseled six pack i had for a stomach.
It didn't play out like that. Though i had lost weight, nearly twenty pounds, i still had a long ways to go. After our vacation in January, i quit. I think, in my mind, i told myself if i hadnt seen the results already, i would never see them, so i quit. And guess what? The weight and gut returned. Note to all who actually read this: I went from a keg for a stomach to a pony keg, which is a good move, but i desired a six pack, which as stated above, i never experienced. So i quit.
Now every six months or so, i return to the ymca for a few months, promising to stick it out. After a few months, with little results, i find other things to do. The idea of waiting seems foreign and unlikely for me.
And yet, as i read Jesus' words in Matthew 13, i get the sense that is exactly what i should be doing. I should persevere and keep working hard, and eventually, EVENTUALLY, the fruit will come to bear, and i will experience the goals i seek. But if i continue to give up and continue to seek instant results, well i can expect to never get close to where i want and need to be.
This holds true for the church as well. We have to extend Jesus' love to any and all who grace our presence, without the expectation that the reaching out will produce instant fruit. The seeds of love we share and plant today will, eventually, produce fruit. We might not experience it, but who cares? We aren't in the business of collecting trophies; we are in the ministry of touching lives, healing souls, and loving the broken, unlovable, and forgotten. It is a thankless job, at first site, but seventeen years down the road someone might come up to us and say, "You know that one day when you just showered me with love, when you gave me that coat from your clothes closet, when you allowed me to collect food from your pantry, when you repaired my house, or when you visited me in the slums, remember that?"
We will say yes.
Their response, "well that huge act of love helped me get where i am today: a minister building churches and ending poverty in the name of Jesus, all because you did what you didn't have to. You cared for me. I am eternally thankful."
That is the wheat we seek, and it takes time. Something i am still learning, and something i hope we can continue to learn, together. Instant results are shallow and often whither away like the tree that sprouts in our gutters. But seeds planted that are given time and love to nurture, grow, and mature, well they turn into that strong oak we let our kids, grandkids, and great grandkids climb. So lets build trees and let future generations enjoy the fruit of our ministry. Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Is Jesus Relevant?
Folks,
Even though i am not preaching on Sunday, i am wrestling with an incredibly tough question, and i am sure i have wrestled with it before in previous blogs, but since i dont seem to have an adequate answer, my sense is that i will continue to struggle with this question. What is this nagging question? Is Jesus relevant?
I know we all love Jesus, at least we profess to loving Jesus, we proclaim our devotion to Jesus, and we adamantly defend our Jesus as our Savior. But does that make Jesus relevant or just popular? Some things can be outdated, and we relegate those items to the antique store or the throw back jersey or the retro room. We rarely bring those items forward, expecting and demanding they reveal some truth or power out of their own context. So again, i ask, is Jesus relevant?
If Jesus means anything to us, at all, then how do we show it? If Jesus is real and authoritative, then how do we surrender our lives, our wishes, and our beings to Him? If Jesus is relevant how is He impacting the culture today? If we say no to his impact, if we suggest that our lives do not reveal Jesus' authority in our lives, and if we do not live in such a way that illuminates how important Jesus is to us, then Jesus has become irrelevant. Simply has.
Many will jump all over this statement and proclaim, proudly, Jesus is my LORD and Savior, and i am going to heaven because He died for me, and He rose again. GREAT! That's awesome. I'm happy for you. But in the existence we call life, does looking to heaven really do any good? Arent Christians supposed to do something about this world, now? Arent we supposed to usher in God's Kingdom, in the here and in the now? Aren't we supposed to live in such a way that people will know we are Christians, and no folks not by the moral purity we exude, but by the power of love that we share. If we only look to the heavens; Jesus is not only irrelevant, but He becomes impotent.
However, if we choose to live in such a way that honors Jesus' story and His teaching, we rescue Jesus from the oppressive past and transform Him from a memory to a powerful reality. We must do this. We must act and live in such a way that Jesus comes first, second, and last. Our relationships anchored in Jesus. How we treat those in our Church Communities must show Jesus' hand in our lives. Reaching out to minister to those outside the doors of the church will reveal Jesus' heart in us. And our ability to go against the grain to welcome the other, stand up for the oppressed, struggle for justice, throw off the shackles of prejudice will illumine Jesus real presense in our being. We cannot follow and believe and claim to love Jesus if we do not live as He did.
Jesus is more than a cross and an empty tomb; He is the footsteps planted in soil of broken hearts and souls, creating spaces for healing and restoration. And in His physical absence, Jesus' disciples, which we claim to be, take up the cross and do all that He did. This alone will make Jesus relevant and real again. And this alone will usher in a new day, a new dawn for the church. We will go from a dead instituion to a living, breathing, vibrant community full of God's Amazing Spirit, and the walls WILL come tumbling down. Amen..
Shalom,
Salaam,
Peace,
jerry
Even though i am not preaching on Sunday, i am wrestling with an incredibly tough question, and i am sure i have wrestled with it before in previous blogs, but since i dont seem to have an adequate answer, my sense is that i will continue to struggle with this question. What is this nagging question? Is Jesus relevant?
I know we all love Jesus, at least we profess to loving Jesus, we proclaim our devotion to Jesus, and we adamantly defend our Jesus as our Savior. But does that make Jesus relevant or just popular? Some things can be outdated, and we relegate those items to the antique store or the throw back jersey or the retro room. We rarely bring those items forward, expecting and demanding they reveal some truth or power out of their own context. So again, i ask, is Jesus relevant?
If Jesus means anything to us, at all, then how do we show it? If Jesus is real and authoritative, then how do we surrender our lives, our wishes, and our beings to Him? If Jesus is relevant how is He impacting the culture today? If we say no to his impact, if we suggest that our lives do not reveal Jesus' authority in our lives, and if we do not live in such a way that illuminates how important Jesus is to us, then Jesus has become irrelevant. Simply has.
Many will jump all over this statement and proclaim, proudly, Jesus is my LORD and Savior, and i am going to heaven because He died for me, and He rose again. GREAT! That's awesome. I'm happy for you. But in the existence we call life, does looking to heaven really do any good? Arent Christians supposed to do something about this world, now? Arent we supposed to usher in God's Kingdom, in the here and in the now? Aren't we supposed to live in such a way that people will know we are Christians, and no folks not by the moral purity we exude, but by the power of love that we share. If we only look to the heavens; Jesus is not only irrelevant, but He becomes impotent.
However, if we choose to live in such a way that honors Jesus' story and His teaching, we rescue Jesus from the oppressive past and transform Him from a memory to a powerful reality. We must do this. We must act and live in such a way that Jesus comes first, second, and last. Our relationships anchored in Jesus. How we treat those in our Church Communities must show Jesus' hand in our lives. Reaching out to minister to those outside the doors of the church will reveal Jesus' heart in us. And our ability to go against the grain to welcome the other, stand up for the oppressed, struggle for justice, throw off the shackles of prejudice will illumine Jesus real presense in our being. We cannot follow and believe and claim to love Jesus if we do not live as He did.
Jesus is more than a cross and an empty tomb; He is the footsteps planted in soil of broken hearts and souls, creating spaces for healing and restoration. And in His physical absence, Jesus' disciples, which we claim to be, take up the cross and do all that He did. This alone will make Jesus relevant and real again. And this alone will usher in a new day, a new dawn for the church. We will go from a dead instituion to a living, breathing, vibrant community full of God's Amazing Spirit, and the walls WILL come tumbling down. Amen..
Shalom,
Salaam,
Peace,
jerry
Friday, January 28, 2011
Family Ties
Dear sisters and brothers,
How often do we hear that blood is thicker than water? What does this cliche mean? Of course literally blood is thicker than water, it carries a lot of our biological story in it, so it is more than just two parts hydrogen one part oxygen, it would be thicker. (Although with all the stuff we put in our water now adays, who knows if it still is thinner than blood, but this isn't an ecological blog. For one i am not at all qualified to talk about the environment and two i have my hands full trying to explain and grasp God...)
Anyway. Blood is thicker than water, why do we say that? Because we assume that the bondage between sister, brother, mother, or father, (plus extended family), supercedes the sometimes shallow and thin relationships between friends, colleagues, associates, etc. Right? Our familial ties stand strong, no matter what, in most cases.
But is that the way of God? When told about his family being outside waiting and wanting to see Him, Jesus replied, "Who are my sisters and brothers and mother?" And in essence Jesus ignores His own blood. He leaves them outside, looking in. I dont know about anyone else, but i have a strong sense if i did that, my mother would string me up and make sure i realized to never do that again. Not so with Jesus.
Instead Jesus points to the people standing with Him, gathered around Him, and Jesus says, these are my sisters, my brothers, and my mother. Then Jesus adds a footnote, and whoever does the will of my Father is also my sister or brother or mother. What does this mean?
I see at least two dimensions/ responses to this statement.
A. If we do what Jesus did, and if we have no idea what that is, we need to read the Gospels more. Anyway. If we do what Jesus did, if we live as He lived, if we love as He loved, if we serve as He served, and if we heal as He healed, then we will be part of this amazing family anchored in Jesus. He will point to us and say there is my sister. He will point to us and say there is my brother. And He will point to us and say, over there, feeding that hungry person, yeah that's my mother. If we do and act and exist as Jesus; we will be His family.
B. If we dont? Well I see it as an either or kind of thing. Either we are in or we are out. If living like Jesus, following His teachings, loving the unlovable, forgiving our enemies, praying for those that persecute you, if these things get us into the Jesus family tree, then it seems to stand that not doing these things will keep the door shut on us. What do you think?
Perhaps an example is needed. In Ohio there is a public high school that dominates high school wrestling, not just in Ohio, but nationally: Graham High School. When/if you go to a wrestling tournament, where Graham is present, you can tell Graham kids by a lot than the singlet they wear. Their style of wrestling. Their confidence. Their ascension to the top. And their tenacity to win. But also by the cheers when they win or lose. You see Graham wrestling has a way of polarizing wrestling fans. Either you sit in awe of their amazing accomplishments, where i find myself, or you boo them because they are simply dominating and will continue to do so. Either way you know Graham kids when you see them. They are part and parcel of the extended Graham wrestling tree, and they carry that tradition on, just like we are to be anchored in the tree of Jesus and carry on His tradition.
Are we? Does our tree bear fruit? Is the public, those hurting specifically, flocking to us seeking answers, healing, acceptance, and God? These are the markers of sisters, brothers, and mothers of Jesus. Which are we? Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
How often do we hear that blood is thicker than water? What does this cliche mean? Of course literally blood is thicker than water, it carries a lot of our biological story in it, so it is more than just two parts hydrogen one part oxygen, it would be thicker. (Although with all the stuff we put in our water now adays, who knows if it still is thinner than blood, but this isn't an ecological blog. For one i am not at all qualified to talk about the environment and two i have my hands full trying to explain and grasp God...)
Anyway. Blood is thicker than water, why do we say that? Because we assume that the bondage between sister, brother, mother, or father, (plus extended family), supercedes the sometimes shallow and thin relationships between friends, colleagues, associates, etc. Right? Our familial ties stand strong, no matter what, in most cases.
But is that the way of God? When told about his family being outside waiting and wanting to see Him, Jesus replied, "Who are my sisters and brothers and mother?" And in essence Jesus ignores His own blood. He leaves them outside, looking in. I dont know about anyone else, but i have a strong sense if i did that, my mother would string me up and make sure i realized to never do that again. Not so with Jesus.
Instead Jesus points to the people standing with Him, gathered around Him, and Jesus says, these are my sisters, my brothers, and my mother. Then Jesus adds a footnote, and whoever does the will of my Father is also my sister or brother or mother. What does this mean?
I see at least two dimensions/ responses to this statement.
A. If we do what Jesus did, and if we have no idea what that is, we need to read the Gospels more. Anyway. If we do what Jesus did, if we live as He lived, if we love as He loved, if we serve as He served, and if we heal as He healed, then we will be part of this amazing family anchored in Jesus. He will point to us and say there is my sister. He will point to us and say there is my brother. And He will point to us and say, over there, feeding that hungry person, yeah that's my mother. If we do and act and exist as Jesus; we will be His family.
B. If we dont? Well I see it as an either or kind of thing. Either we are in or we are out. If living like Jesus, following His teachings, loving the unlovable, forgiving our enemies, praying for those that persecute you, if these things get us into the Jesus family tree, then it seems to stand that not doing these things will keep the door shut on us. What do you think?
Perhaps an example is needed. In Ohio there is a public high school that dominates high school wrestling, not just in Ohio, but nationally: Graham High School. When/if you go to a wrestling tournament, where Graham is present, you can tell Graham kids by a lot than the singlet they wear. Their style of wrestling. Their confidence. Their ascension to the top. And their tenacity to win. But also by the cheers when they win or lose. You see Graham wrestling has a way of polarizing wrestling fans. Either you sit in awe of their amazing accomplishments, where i find myself, or you boo them because they are simply dominating and will continue to do so. Either way you know Graham kids when you see them. They are part and parcel of the extended Graham wrestling tree, and they carry that tradition on, just like we are to be anchored in the tree of Jesus and carry on His tradition.
Are we? Does our tree bear fruit? Is the public, those hurting specifically, flocking to us seeking answers, healing, acceptance, and God? These are the markers of sisters, brothers, and mothers of Jesus. Which are we? Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
Friday, January 21, 2011
Are we empty?
Dear Family...
Daniel loves stickers. In fact he loves them so much that the time will come when we hope to use stickers as a motivation tool to make good choices; i will let you know, i am sure, how that works out for us. But he loves stickers. LOVES THEM!
So i bought him a sticker book, by the way it took me a long time to find this sticker book, but i was as giddy as a kid opening gifts on Christmas when i found it. It is an ocean book full of the fish and mammals one finds in the oceans, and you stick the picture of the animal on the appropriate page; it helped him learn a lot about sea life. I was glowing watching him tear through the book, putting down the stickers, and laughing hysterically through it all. Daniel was happy, and i was proud of him.
But then he came to an empty page. It should be said that there were only a limited number of stickers, just enough to accentuate the books literary pages, but when Daniel found the empty page, he began ripping the stickers off and pasting them on the blank sheet. I didn't want to stop him, because he was creating something artistic, at least in his mind. But as i sat there and watched him empty the page of stickers and overwhelming a blank sheet, i realized something. We don't like emptiness.
We have an empty room; we clutter it with junk. We have a blank wall; we decorate it with pictures, paitings, or whatever we can find to turn what we deem boring into colorful and life-giving. Its not only visual, though, is it? How many of us are ok with silence? What do we do when we sit with someone, and there is nothing but complete silence? Who breaks the awkward feelings first? Who cuts through the veil of silence with a song, a word, or a joke? Someone will, because we have to clutter our lives, whether visually or audibly.
But it is more than that too. Jesus tells the parable of the man who was freed from a demon, only to have that demon return, finding the house empty, and completely destroying the man, making the man worse off than what he had been before the exorcism. Why? The man's house was clean. In order. And he had found a way to be at peace with the emptiness, so how did the demons get the will to destroy him?
Because when it comes to our souls, our lives, our beings, we have to fill it with something or we are just shallow zombies that belong in a movie being chased around by someone who likes to double pump us. We are more than clones or shells. There is something of tangible depth in each of us, and if we find ourselves chained to an addiction or haunted by a demon, and God frees us, but we don't fill that new freedom with God, we become an empty shell, a zombie.
The danger of zombieland? Demons destroy zombies for sport. But it doesn't matter if we are recovering from an addiction or demon possession; we can inhabit zombieland when and if we do not engage God, actively, on a regular basis. We can and do get stuck in ruts of daily routines and grinds, while missing out on the vitality and beauty of God, which is all around us. When we become zombies; God becomes colorless at worse, grey at best. So when God frees us from whatever our demon might be; we have to make an intentional effort to spend our lives conversing with God, studying God's word, and loving God's children. When that happens, like Daniel decorating the blank page, God adds so much color to our lives that we become that new creation.
Being new is always better than being a zombie, besides who wants to be hunted by Woody Harrelson anyway? Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
Daniel loves stickers. In fact he loves them so much that the time will come when we hope to use stickers as a motivation tool to make good choices; i will let you know, i am sure, how that works out for us. But he loves stickers. LOVES THEM!
So i bought him a sticker book, by the way it took me a long time to find this sticker book, but i was as giddy as a kid opening gifts on Christmas when i found it. It is an ocean book full of the fish and mammals one finds in the oceans, and you stick the picture of the animal on the appropriate page; it helped him learn a lot about sea life. I was glowing watching him tear through the book, putting down the stickers, and laughing hysterically through it all. Daniel was happy, and i was proud of him.
But then he came to an empty page. It should be said that there were only a limited number of stickers, just enough to accentuate the books literary pages, but when Daniel found the empty page, he began ripping the stickers off and pasting them on the blank sheet. I didn't want to stop him, because he was creating something artistic, at least in his mind. But as i sat there and watched him empty the page of stickers and overwhelming a blank sheet, i realized something. We don't like emptiness.
We have an empty room; we clutter it with junk. We have a blank wall; we decorate it with pictures, paitings, or whatever we can find to turn what we deem boring into colorful and life-giving. Its not only visual, though, is it? How many of us are ok with silence? What do we do when we sit with someone, and there is nothing but complete silence? Who breaks the awkward feelings first? Who cuts through the veil of silence with a song, a word, or a joke? Someone will, because we have to clutter our lives, whether visually or audibly.
But it is more than that too. Jesus tells the parable of the man who was freed from a demon, only to have that demon return, finding the house empty, and completely destroying the man, making the man worse off than what he had been before the exorcism. Why? The man's house was clean. In order. And he had found a way to be at peace with the emptiness, so how did the demons get the will to destroy him?
Because when it comes to our souls, our lives, our beings, we have to fill it with something or we are just shallow zombies that belong in a movie being chased around by someone who likes to double pump us. We are more than clones or shells. There is something of tangible depth in each of us, and if we find ourselves chained to an addiction or haunted by a demon, and God frees us, but we don't fill that new freedom with God, we become an empty shell, a zombie.
The danger of zombieland? Demons destroy zombies for sport. But it doesn't matter if we are recovering from an addiction or demon possession; we can inhabit zombieland when and if we do not engage God, actively, on a regular basis. We can and do get stuck in ruts of daily routines and grinds, while missing out on the vitality and beauty of God, which is all around us. When we become zombies; God becomes colorless at worse, grey at best. So when God frees us from whatever our demon might be; we have to make an intentional effort to spend our lives conversing with God, studying God's word, and loving God's children. When that happens, like Daniel decorating the blank page, God adds so much color to our lives that we become that new creation.
Being new is always better than being a zombie, besides who wants to be hunted by Woody Harrelson anyway? Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Whose side?
Dear family,
The other day i was watching a football game, between the San Francisco 49ers and some other team. I can't remember who they were playing, because the other team quickly became insignificant. Why? Because the cameras quickly panned over the 49er's sideline where the head coach, Mike Singletary, was yelling, big time, at his quarterback, Troy Smith. It got so heated, between the two, that Smith's old friend, Ted Ginn, had to come over and throw a towel in Smith's face to defuse the confrontation. It was drama at its finest.
And as i rehearse the scene, it doesn't shock me that San Francisco is terrible. They are a terrible team. They have loads of talent, no quarterback, but they are atrocious. They horrid. Why? Im sure there are more reasons than what i can name, and since i am not a football analyst or expert, i dont want to act like i have a clue, but it seems to me that one of the core issues is they dont like each other. They aren't a team. They are fighting against one another, and if a team cant stand together; they can't win.
This is true for all team sports, but it is also true for any business, school, or church. If the people are not united, under the vision, purpose, future of the organization; the organization is doomed, period. No living, breathing, organic structure can survive when it is fighting against itself. It cannot and will not survive, thrive, or grow. It will, on the other hand, in the image of the fig tree, whither and die.
The conflicts can have many layers, because we are dealing with people, and we are a complex animal. We all have opinions, and we think that our opinions are always valid and worthy of sharing, whether they are or not. We want to be heard, and we rarely take into account the affect or impact our words might have to the larger body, and that, my friends, leads to discord, disunity, and sideline fights between leaders. The victims of the discord: everyone.
But on the other hand, a team, a business, a school, and especially a church, united together, standing arm and arm under the same umbrella, loving, caring, and ministering to one another will build a house that not even the winds of Katrina could blow away. United we can withstand the hurricanes of this world. Fighting against each other, well it doesn't even take a cool breeze to shake us.
Perhaps the most revealing truth is this: God calls us to unite, in His Name, for His glory. And if we can't do that, if we are at odds on how to do that or even if we should, what does our future hold? The good is this: the coach for the 49ers was fired, but God doesn't fire His children. He gives them ample opportunity to do what He asks of them, and when they do, no matter how long it takes, God does amazing things.
One road leads to brokenness and confusion.
One road leads to revelation, healing, and unity.
Which one sounds more attractive? Are we choosing the right road? Are we willling to do what is necessary to stay the path? Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
The other day i was watching a football game, between the San Francisco 49ers and some other team. I can't remember who they were playing, because the other team quickly became insignificant. Why? Because the cameras quickly panned over the 49er's sideline where the head coach, Mike Singletary, was yelling, big time, at his quarterback, Troy Smith. It got so heated, between the two, that Smith's old friend, Ted Ginn, had to come over and throw a towel in Smith's face to defuse the confrontation. It was drama at its finest.
And as i rehearse the scene, it doesn't shock me that San Francisco is terrible. They are a terrible team. They have loads of talent, no quarterback, but they are atrocious. They horrid. Why? Im sure there are more reasons than what i can name, and since i am not a football analyst or expert, i dont want to act like i have a clue, but it seems to me that one of the core issues is they dont like each other. They aren't a team. They are fighting against one another, and if a team cant stand together; they can't win.
This is true for all team sports, but it is also true for any business, school, or church. If the people are not united, under the vision, purpose, future of the organization; the organization is doomed, period. No living, breathing, organic structure can survive when it is fighting against itself. It cannot and will not survive, thrive, or grow. It will, on the other hand, in the image of the fig tree, whither and die.
The conflicts can have many layers, because we are dealing with people, and we are a complex animal. We all have opinions, and we think that our opinions are always valid and worthy of sharing, whether they are or not. We want to be heard, and we rarely take into account the affect or impact our words might have to the larger body, and that, my friends, leads to discord, disunity, and sideline fights between leaders. The victims of the discord: everyone.
But on the other hand, a team, a business, a school, and especially a church, united together, standing arm and arm under the same umbrella, loving, caring, and ministering to one another will build a house that not even the winds of Katrina could blow away. United we can withstand the hurricanes of this world. Fighting against each other, well it doesn't even take a cool breeze to shake us.
Perhaps the most revealing truth is this: God calls us to unite, in His Name, for His glory. And if we can't do that, if we are at odds on how to do that or even if we should, what does our future hold? The good is this: the coach for the 49ers was fired, but God doesn't fire His children. He gives them ample opportunity to do what He asks of them, and when they do, no matter how long it takes, God does amazing things.
One road leads to brokenness and confusion.
One road leads to revelation, healing, and unity.
Which one sounds more attractive? Are we choosing the right road? Are we willling to do what is necessary to stay the path? Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Are we chosen?
Dear Family,
Most of us are familiar with the story of Heifer International, right? We know that Dan West was from Pleasant Hill, Ohio, and that he was traveling through Spain, after World War I and witnessed some painful poverty; his response was to create a minister to meet the needs of the hungry, all over the world. Heifer works by giving a community/family a cow, with the education and understanding on how to utilize that cow to the fullest: milk and more cows, etc. Heifer has grown to include all livestock and grains as well, so that they can, literally, turn hunger around. And it all started because West saw a need and felt chosen to meet that need.
Did he wealth? No.
Did he have experience with starting ministries? Maybe.
Did he face hurdle after hurdle, naysayer after naysayer? Absolutely.
But in the end, because he felt such a strong conviction to do something about hunger, Heifer International, which started as a Church of the Brethren ministry, has outgrown the denominations ability to run it. One cow, one seed planted created a history of change.
Jesus seems to point to the reality that he was chosen to change lives. In Matthew 12 verses 15-21; Jesus gives His clear defense why Jesus was chosen. Listen to powerful truths, "I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations." "In his name the nations will put their hope." These are markers of how we are to know that Jesus was God's chosen Messiah. Notice there is nothing about moral purity. Law abiding obedience. Powerful army. Deep pockets/balanced budgets. Nope. According to Matthew's hearing of Jesus, the Messiah will be known by: nations having hope, justice flowing, and Jesus' work wont stop until, justice becomes victorious. Justice which could and should include peace. Hope that things are not always going to be this way. Justice says all people have value. Hope suggests that God's people will do something about it.
If this is how we are to know that Jesus is God's chosen, how are people to know that we follow Jesus? How are we proving God's love as truth? And do people who run across us suggest that our work, like Dan West, gives them hope? Brings justice? Or do we still have work to do?
Naysayers will always exist, especially in the church. They have always been here, and they will always be here. We can't let their negativity and lack of vision and faith stop us from moving forward. It is time, like Dan West did, to change the world. It is time for the West Milton Church of the Brethren to have such a powerful impact on the world that we grow beyond our walls, our district, our state, and our denomination. It is time for the people to know hope and experience justice, because we are doing what Jesus did. Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
Most of us are familiar with the story of Heifer International, right? We know that Dan West was from Pleasant Hill, Ohio, and that he was traveling through Spain, after World War I and witnessed some painful poverty; his response was to create a minister to meet the needs of the hungry, all over the world. Heifer works by giving a community/family a cow, with the education and understanding on how to utilize that cow to the fullest: milk and more cows, etc. Heifer has grown to include all livestock and grains as well, so that they can, literally, turn hunger around. And it all started because West saw a need and felt chosen to meet that need.
Did he wealth? No.
Did he have experience with starting ministries? Maybe.
Did he face hurdle after hurdle, naysayer after naysayer? Absolutely.
But in the end, because he felt such a strong conviction to do something about hunger, Heifer International, which started as a Church of the Brethren ministry, has outgrown the denominations ability to run it. One cow, one seed planted created a history of change.
Jesus seems to point to the reality that he was chosen to change lives. In Matthew 12 verses 15-21; Jesus gives His clear defense why Jesus was chosen. Listen to powerful truths, "I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations." "In his name the nations will put their hope." These are markers of how we are to know that Jesus was God's chosen Messiah. Notice there is nothing about moral purity. Law abiding obedience. Powerful army. Deep pockets/balanced budgets. Nope. According to Matthew's hearing of Jesus, the Messiah will be known by: nations having hope, justice flowing, and Jesus' work wont stop until, justice becomes victorious. Justice which could and should include peace. Hope that things are not always going to be this way. Justice says all people have value. Hope suggests that God's people will do something about it.
If this is how we are to know that Jesus is God's chosen, how are people to know that we follow Jesus? How are we proving God's love as truth? And do people who run across us suggest that our work, like Dan West, gives them hope? Brings justice? Or do we still have work to do?
Naysayers will always exist, especially in the church. They have always been here, and they will always be here. We can't let their negativity and lack of vision and faith stop us from moving forward. It is time, like Dan West did, to change the world. It is time for the West Milton Church of the Brethren to have such a powerful impact on the world that we grow beyond our walls, our district, our state, and our denomination. It is time for the people to know hope and experience justice, because we are doing what Jesus did. Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)