Sit at the feet of Jesus

Truth be told, during the past month or so my reading of God's Word has not been very consistent (You may have picked up hints of this in my blogs about the "Shred.")  It's not that I haven't spent some time in the Word of God or wasn't listening when my pastor opened the Word and explained it.  But it has not been a daily occurrence for me recently.

Today is my required Personal Retreat Day.  I decided that rather than reading through the entire Bible by the end of the year or some other discipline, I would, for a season, read Romans.  After slowly reading the first four chapters of Romans, I decided to also read some comments from others on the text. I glanced up at my bookshelf and there, on the shelf, was a devotional commentary by John G. Mitchell, one of the founders of Multnomah School of the Bible, the finest Bible college in the world.  Normally I don't read the introduction to a commentary, let alone a "Tribute," but today I did. The tribute was to Dr. Mitchell by Dick Bohrer, editor of the commentary and long time friend of Dr. Mitchell. In his tribute, Dick relates a conversation in Dr. Mitchell's office at Multnomah (which I was privileged to be in a time or two while at Multnomah) in which Dick wanted to know more about pastoral ministry.  The tribute is full of Dr. Mitchell's gems of wisdom for pastors, church leaders and those who follow Jesus regardless of their designated role in the local church.  (I was reminded how much my view of pastoral ministry was shaped by Dr. Mitchell.  One of the great joys of our early days as a couple was living in Dr. Mitchell's house the summer after we were married.  In fact, John and Mary lived there with us for a short time before they went fishing in Canada as they did each summer. We shared a few meals together.  Like Dick Bohrer, I was able to ask Dr. Mitchell questions about this life and vocation I was entering. But I digress.)

On the last page of the tribute was the gem that rocked my world and will, I pray, move me off center.  One sentence put my negligence back into context.  

Dick Bohrer asked Dr. Mitchell if he had any word just for him.  Dr. Mitchell placed his hand on Dick's and replied, "Some years ago, a friend of mine was on his way to a mission field in southeast Asia.  He had all his belongings on the ship and, just before departure, he called me and asked if I had a word to give him for China.  Let me give you that same word today.  I said to him, 'Sit at the feet of Jesus--and tell people what you see.' "

Day 24

I've lost 8 pounds (and regained 3 on my recent road trip) and, yes, there are some ab muscles beneath the flab.  I'm not where I fantasized I'd be, but I am more flexible, more toned and more exhausted than I was on Day 1.  So, I guess it goes to show.  If you stick with a discipline, it will make a difference eventually.  And, in case you missed the spiritual analogy, whatever time I spend developing my relationship with God Almighty is not wasted time.  It does make a difference.  

Oh, and by the way, I'm looking forward to Day 30 so that the day after I can go back to sitting around on the couch eating bon bons.  Or as a friend said, "The only exercise I get is raising the spoon of ice cream to my mouth while watching "The Biggest Loser."

Shredded

This is the part where I admit that I am getting up at 5:30 (ish) each morning to work out with my wife for 20 minutes using Jillian Michaels' "30 Day Shred." My complaint is that this morning was Day 13. Those who know me know how weak my math skills are, but even I can figure out that's almost half way through the 30 days and more than 1/3 of the way through the 30 days. Here's my question: Why are my abs not almost half, or at least somewhat more than 1/3, of the way toward looking like the pictures on the advertising? I mean, seriously, I spent $9 for this video. I expect results. I'm giving up sleep. I'm cutting back on dessert. I was so sore on the second day that I couldn't raise my arms in church without serious pain.

What's the point of doing this if I don't see immediate results? I'm an American. In fact, I'm an American Christian. In fact, I'm an American Evangelical Christian. We don't do "long view." We do 4 spiritual laws (Did you ever wonder if there might be 5?). We do "How to have a happy and meaningful life." We do "7 Keys to Improving Your Life Everyday."

Wait! Maybe it's not about getting quick results. Maybe it's about the process as much as the product. Maybe those ripped abs that are hiding behind my still-too-large belly are working their way out where I can see them, but it's going to take far more than 30 mornings because of all the years of NOT exercising. Maybe those 20 minute "devotions" really do make a difference over the long haul. Maybe I've spent so much of my time not exercising my relationship with God that it will take far more time to get "in shape". In fact, maybe it's a life-long process of daily "working out my salvation" that gets me in shape and helps keep me there. Maybe this life of faith is a marathon (or at least a half marathon) instead of a sprint. Maybe I can't ignore my spiritual life for long periods and then expect to do a 30 day Bible study (or even 40 days of Purpose) and see dramatic results.

Nah!

Excluded from the Conversation

In this morning's Orange County Register was the following letter to the editor. It was entitled, God Isn't a Factor and was written by Carey Strombotne of Laguna Beach, California.

"Our American principles include a separation of church and state. If church and state are separate, why then do religious people have the right to weigh in on the issue of Proposition 8? God shouldn't be a factor in this argument at all.

"If these God-fearing people can't separate the doctrines of their churches from state issues, they should be excluded from this conversation altogether. They have no right to take away basic human rights from others."

Now there are many points of her letter that I could address, such as the fallacy that "separation of church and state" is even an American principle. The phrase occurs nowhere in the founding documents, but was part of a letter sent by Thomas Jefferson to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut. It is clear from his letter that the concern was to separate the state from the church, not the church (or the opinions and values of those who attend church) from the state.

Another point I could address is the supposition that only those without religion should be able to "weigh in" on state issues. Ms. Strombotne certainly has opinions on state matters, Proposition 8 in particular. Just because her opinions were not formed in the context of religion, does that make them any less a reflection of values? And if her opinions reflect values, are hers the only values that should be considered when matters of state are discussed? Or at least, only those values which have no religious underpinning whatsoever?

Yet a third point would be the fact that if religious people were "excluded from the conversation," this would be a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution, which is certainly a document that articulates our "American principles." The First Amendment states clearly that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

What I did write in response to her editorial turned out to be about twice as long as the OC Register allows. Here it is, regardless of whether it's ever published or not:

"Carey Strombotne appears to misunderstand the First Amendment in her letter to the editor of March 9. In it she suggests that "God-fearing" people should be excluded from conversations about Prop 8 (or any other state issue) because of the separation of church and state. The First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The restriction in the First Amendment is on Congress, not churches, individuals or the press. The First Amendment which guarantees Ms. Strombotne’s freedom of speech also guarantees our freedom of religion. If there is no wall of separation between the press and State, then there is certainly no wall of separation between the church and State. The First Amendment protects the letter-to-the-editor writer and the church member. The First Amendment was written because the founders did not believe government has all the answers. They believed government would function best when individuals and institutions were free to bring their influence on the government. Freedom of speech, press and religion were established to ensure the government would always have individuals and groups calling them to accountability, integrity and justice. What the First Amendment guarantees is freedom to speak one’s mind and vote one’s conscience whether you are religious or not. Every person votes on the basis of their values, regardless of where those values are derived. The person of faith has the constitutional right, and privilege, to be involved in public discourse, political activities and vote their values without fear of being censored or censured."

...it is by means of repeating ordinary rituals and routines that we enhance the relationships that nourish and sustain us

In her latest book, Acedia & Me, Kathleen Norris writes about marriage in the chapter entitled, "The Quotidian Mysteries." She captures, for me, the things that I've discovered after almost 35 years of marriage. What she writes applies, also, to deep friendships. Here are a few highlights from the chapter to stimulate your thinking. (Quotidian, by the way, means "everyday, commonplace, ordinary.")

"The very nature of marriage means saying yes before you know what it will cost. Though you may say the 'I do' of the wedding ritual in all sincerity, it is the testing of that vow over time that makes you married...

In the give-and-take of married life, as each person learns from the other, both become, individually, and as a couple, much more than they could ever be on their own...

Over time we found that the accumulation of shared experiences provided a storehouse of memory that helped us bear the worst of circumstances. Our situation might be bad in the present, but it had not always been so...

...it is by means of repeating ordinary rituals and routines that we enhance the relationships that nourish and sustain us. A recent study that monitored the daily habits of couples in order to determine what produced good and stable marriages revealed that only one activity made a consistent difference, and that was the embracing of one's spouse at the beginning and end of each day...

Whatever you do repeatedly has the power to make you over into a different person--even if you're not totally 'engaged' in every minute...

It is all for the glory of God, and how we perform those often dispiriting duties, from the changing of a baby's diaper to the bathing of an aged parent, reveals what kind of God we worship."

To All the Volunteers I've Loved Before...

To all the volunteers I've loved before
Who travelled in and out my church door
I'm glad they came along
I dedicate this song
To all the volunteers I've loved before

(On a slightly ironic note, the B side of the original Julio Iglesias/Willie Nelson record was ALSO written by Albert Hammond of "It Never Rains in Southern California" fame. But I digress.)

Like you, I attend a local church and, like you, I volunteer my time to help the ministries of the church function effectively and with impact. Unlike most of you, I'm not used to doing this as a volunteer. As I sat with my pastor this morning, talking over some ideas I have for adult Sunday School and Life Groups, I realized again how little time I can give to this ministry that is so important. My pastor is not pressuring me to do more, thank God, but my own internal wiring and awareness of the needs and some of what I could do to help meet those needs, makes we wish I had more time to give. It also makes me feel like I'm not doing enough. I found myself apologizing for not doing more. (Again, this was not coming from him, it was coming from me.)

As I walked back to my District Office to put on my other "hat" as a Director of Credentialing I thought about the literally hundreds of volunteers I've been privileged to work with over the past 35 years in local church ministries. I've heard them, too, wish aloud that they had more time and energy to give to the cause of Christ. I remember reacting, as my own pastor did, by reminding them that we were grateful for whatever time and energy they did have to give and that, because of having other obligations, it was always going to be this way. Wanting to do more, but not having the resources.

We all know objectively that every part of our life is ministry. (The key question for each of us is how well we are doing our ministry.) But we all also know that organized ministry in the local church has its own challenges and its own rewards. We are all called to be ministers in all that we do throughout the day, but we are also called to minister in the context of the Body of Christ. Both/and. Not either/or.

So on this Monday afternoon I want to publicly thank all those alongside whom I have been privileged to serve. I now know by experience that extra tug on time, energy and focus that the local church calls you to and I now know by experience what it's like to want to give more, but you can't. I also now know by experience how God takes the little things and uses them for His glory even when you don't get a paycheck for it. And that's a good thing.

Let Not Man Put Asunder

Some years ago, Christianity Today published the following poem by Eugene Peterson. Having just enjoyed the Valentine's Day reminder of my love for Sharon and the incredible journey we've been on for almost 35 years (31 of them happily), I pass this along. (And yes, I had to look up the definition of fissiparous, billet doux and pas de deux.)

Committed by command and habit to fidelity
I'm snug in the double bed and board of marriage:
spontaneity's built-in
to the covenantal dance,
everyday routines arranged
by the floor plan of the manse.

This unlikely fissiparous alliance
embraces and releases daily surprises.
The ego strength we'd carefully hoarded
in certain safe-deposit boxes
we've now dispersed, unlamented,
in dozens of delicate paradoxes.

A thousand domestic intimacies are straw
for making bricks resistant to erosion:
with such uncomely stuff we've built
our lives on ordinary sod
and grow, finally, old. My love is
not a goddess nor I a god.

"Asunder" is the one unpronounceable word in the world
of the wed, "one flesh" the mortal miracle.
What started out quite tentatively
with clumsy scrawls in a billet doux
has now become the intricacy
of bold marriage's pas de deux.

The Power of Grace

Friday, November 2, 2040

I had coffee this morning with a long-time friend who is only slightly older than I am. We swapped stories about ourselves, our wives and our children. We shared pearls of wisdom gathered from life and ministry over the more than 30 years we've known each other. We've exchanged Christmas letters over the years, but we haven't been in the same room with each other for probably 10 years. Yet the conversation flowed as if we'd just been together last week. I love those kind of friendships.

During the course of the conversation, my friend mentioned a man he knows who calculated the day of his death. (There are web sites that will do that for you based on BMI, age, general health, etc.) He then purchased a large jar and one marble for each week leading up to that date. Each Sunday he takes out one marble as a reminder of the passing of time. As the jar empties, he gets a visual reminder that every day matters. If, Lord willing, he should live to see the jar empty, his plan is to put a marble back in the jar each Sunday to remind him that each day is a gift from God.

I don't think I'll buy a jar and marbles, but just as the rain last week reminded me of the importance of leaving room for the rain, my friend's story has graphically illustrated three major truths about life:
1) Every day matters.
2) You only get one day at a time.
3) You never get them back.

Since there are no do-overs, I guess we need to count today and make today count.

Deo Volente

I had one of those "aha!" moments last Thursday evening when I realized that, unless I wanted to get soaking wet, I would not be able to walk to pick up my rental car on Friday morning. That doesn't sound like a paradigm shifting moment, but it came close. The "aha" was how much I assume that tomorrow will be pretty much like today. I rent a car once or twice a month since moving to So Cal because it is cheaper for the ministry I work with to rent a car and pay the gas than it is to reimburse me at the current rates. For almost two years I have walked about a mile to pick up my rental car. I am in a rhythm. I walk over to the rental car place, pick up my car, drive home. I drop the rental car off and walk home. The weather is always such that it is certainly no problem for me to walk.

Until last week. Contrary to Albert Hammond's chart-topping 1972 song, it really does rain in Southern California. I had walked the route so often in non-rainy weather that I assumed I would do so once more. Au contraire! And it got me thinking about how much I make the assumption that the plans I had for yesterday and today will, automatically, be good plans for tomorrow. But God calls us to live each day with "Lord willing" as the underpinning of our life and decision making. An acknowledgement of God's sovereign prerogative in our lives. That is, as God tells us in the letter of James and other portions of Scripture, we are to leave room for God, in His providence, to change the details of our life. We leave room for the Holy Spirit. We leave room for rain.

And I Would Walk 500 Miles...

Yesterday, Sunday, February 1, Sharon and I walked 13.1 miles in just under 4 hours, which was our goal. The actual time was 3:56:15. Sharon's sister, Anita, came in just behind us, also under 4 hours. It was Anita who first asked Sharon if she'd like to walk this half marathon. Sharon, in turn, asked if I would join them so we could do this together. Early in the process it was clear that my long legs would be a decided advantage. About the second week, Sharon sent me on ahead to join those who could walk at a quicker pace. Not wanting to have the discussion at that moment, I went on ahead. Later that day I reiterated my commitment. I had no real desire to get up early each Saturday morning to walk for several hours. What I did have a desire for was time with my wife where we could share an experience that benefits us physically but would also provide a venue for those leisurely conversations out of which we often discover things about ourselves and each other. The walk would not be leisurely, but the dialogue would be.

Late last week, Sharon and Anita asked if I wanted to walk at my own pace (about half a mile an hour faster than they walk) the day of the race. I once again emphasized that I didn't sign up to compete, I signed up to converse. As we neared the finish line, Sharon and I were about a half a block ahead of Anita several times and slowed down to allow her to catch up. Anita encouraged us to go ahead. Sharon turned and said, "We started this together. We'll finish it together." And we did.

Once again life meets truth. My life verse is found in the section in Ephesians 4 where Paul basically says, "If everyone ain't mature, ain't none of you mature." That goes so counter to our individualistic society, but it is at the core of the Kingdom society. It doesn't mean that some will not have advantages over others in certain areas. It means we are all in this together (go ahead, break into the chorus from High School Musical). That will mean that some may have to slow down while others may have to go faster than they otherwise would have. Anita is a great source of encouragement and training ideas. Sharon and I benefited greatly from having her on our team. And Anita benefited from our setting a faster pace. Together we trained and together we reached our goal of finishing under 4 hours. Could I have gone faster? Yep. But it wouldn't have been nearly as satisfying or fun.

Location, location, location

Once again Eugene Peterson puts his finger on a rich, wonderful, challenging aspect of being involved in ministry as a vocation.  His observation works in every context where people want to impact others for Christ.  In his book, "The Contemplative Pastor" he writes,

"...one of the genius aspects of pastoral work is locality. The pastor's question is, 'Who are these particular people, and how can I be with them in such a way that they can become what God is making them?'  My job is simply  to be there, teaching, preaching Scripture as well as I can, and being honest with them, not doing anything to interfere with what the Spirit is shaping in them.  Could God be doing something that I never even thought of?  Am I willing to be quiet for a day, a week, a year?  Like Wendell Berry, [farmer and poet] am I willing to spend fifty years reclaiming this land?  With these people?

"Christian spirituality means living in the mature wholeness of the gospel.  It means taking all the elements of your life--children, spouse, job, weather, possessions, relationships--and experiencing them as an act of faith.  God wants all the material of our lives."

Tired, but Deeply Satisfied

Well, last weekend my only son married the love of his life. It was a wonderful wedding with personal touches that made it special and God-honoring, not flippant. It was a joy to be part of the service and I only almost lost it when I looked at Jon look at Ellie when she entered the sanctuary. He is so smitten I'd have to say he's in deep smit.

Monday and Tuesday I took time off to recover physically and emotionally from this much-anticipated and deeply satisfying experience. Jon and Ellie are one of those couples where you know they chose carefully and are committed to making a marriage, not just having a wedding. May God bless them both.

When Marriage is Dying

Readers of this blog know how much I love and respect my adult children.  On Saturday my youngest will make the most profound promise he’ll ever make.  And he doesn’t take it lightly.  (And we think he’s chosen a gem.)  In light of the upcoming wedding, I am sharing,with permission, in its entirety, an article from the December 2001 edition of Touchstone Magazine.  The article is entitled, “When Marriage Is Dying.”  Sharon and I share this article with every couple we are privileged to work with in preparing them for marriage.

When Marriage is Dying
Peter J. Leithart on the Meaning of Christian Marriage

Marriage is dying. That has been a recurrent theme of cultural conservatives for several decades. Recent census figures indicate that the number of single-parent families increased by 25 percent in the past decade. The 1990 census found 3.1 million unmarried couples living together, and that number had risen to 5.4 million by 2000. Nearly a third of American children are being raised without two parents.

Surveying this and other data, some commentators go further, and pronounce what amounts to a postmortem. Several years ago, Maggie Gallagher published a book on The Abolition of Marriage, and the Weekly Standard announced the "end of marriage" after the Vermont Supreme Court decided to extend marital rights to homosexual couples.

A number of factors have conspired to produce this crisis. Relaxation of divorce laws has led, unsurprisingly, to an alarming rise in divorce. Gay rights groups are trying to expand the legal meaning of marriage to include "same-sex unions." More recently, detailed attention has been given to the effects of divorce on children, and the links between divorce, crime, educational decline, and other social pathologies have been documented.

Cultural shifts since the 1960s and 1970s have led to radical changes in the way many Americans view marriage and family. Instead of being viewed as a lifetime commitment, sealed with an oath before God, marriage has come to be viewed as a temporary alliance that either party can leave without fault. This instinctive view of marriage was upheld by American institutions; in 1885, the US Supreme Court decision in Murphy v. Ramsey stated that nothing was more important than that the law give support to "the idea of the family, as consisting in and springing from the union for life of one man and one woman in the holy estate of matrimony."

Something More Fundamental

All this is no doubt true, and legal efforts to fix the problem must be explored. But something more fundamental has happened: Marriage is dying because we have forgotten that marriage is always about dying. When a man and woman appear for the marriage ceremony, they have usually spent the better part of their lives under the oversight of their parents. Parents have provided them with physical necessities, loved and cared for them, instructed them, and set an example for them in ways that no one can fully understand. At the wedding, that world dies. And when that world dies, the couple dies too.

This wedding marks the end of the former man and woman. Before vows are exchanged and they are pronounced man and wife, they were a single man and a single woman. When the rites have occurred, they will no longer be single ever again. They came separately, but go out as a couple. Two become one flesh.

The wedding is only the beginning of death. A man and woman who go through the ceremony and then live as they have always lived have not really understood what their marriage requires. Death at the wedding is a call to continual dying. At their wedding, a man and woman die to singleness, to the old relation with parents, to old habits and plans, and that death has to be worked out throughout the course of the marriage. After being married only a short time, most married couples discover just how self-centered they are, and they are called to die to that self-centeredness.

Weddings are not only a call to death for the couple, but also to everyone involved, especially the parents. Attentive parents naturally get into the habit of telling their children what to do, and that is a good habit. As children mature, of course, that habit is modified and curtailed, but on the wedding day it has to die. It is no longer the parents’ place to tell their married children how to order their lives. If the children are wise, they will seek advice and counsel and honor their parents. But they will not seek advice or honor their parents as they did during their years in their parents’ home.

And that means that parents, too, must die—show restraint, hold their tongues, stand back, even if it means standing back to watch their children make foolish decisions. The wedding day is a day of death for parents, after which they will never again be parents in the same way.

Marriage is about dying because, as the Bible says, marriage is a covenant, and death is always a prominent feature of a covenant. Every time a covenant is made, an old arrangement comes to an end and a new arrangement of things comes into being. When Israel came to Sinai, they did not have the Torah, a tabernacle, a priesthood, or Yahweh dwelling in their midst. When they departed from Sinai, after entering into covenant, that old Israel was gone and a new Israel had come into being. For Christians, this is the significance of Jesus’ death, which brought an end to the order of the first covenant in order to bring a new order and a new creation. Covenant-making normally requires bloodshed because covenants always mean death.

An Oddity

Though marriage is (allegedly) dying, young people continue to get married willingly and joyfully. This oddity can be explained in various ways: Either they are simply ignorant of what is at stake, or they have some hope that the death involved in marriage does not have the final word. Getting married is either an act of supreme folly, or it is an act of faith (which may also be supreme folly).

More precisely, it is an act of faith in resurrection, in the possibility of new life, hope that a new and better life lies on the other side of this death. At this point, we see that secularism is profoundly ill-equipped to support marriage. Secularism promises that marriage will be a means of self-realization, and people are astonished to find that it demands continual self-denial. Secularism sends off the newlyweds in a shower of birdseed, without warning that together with the happiness of marriage they will face heartache and a thousand natural shocks. Secularism sends them unsuspectingly to death, and refuses to offer any hope of resurrection.

A Christian couple, by contrast, comes willingly to die at the wedding altar because they believe the gospel that says that Jesus is risen indeed. Because he is raised from the dead, Christians hope that we too will one day be raised, but we also hope that all the little dyings that we experience in life will lead to resurrections. An old world and an old self dies on the wedding day, but the gospel promises that a new self and a new world will be born. Christians can welcome the death that marriage brings, because they follow a master who said, "Whoever seeks to save his life shall lose it; but he who loses his life for my sake will find it" and "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

Nearly four decades ago, Alexander Schmemann argued that the problem with modern marriage "is not adultery or lack of ‘adjustment’ or ‘mental cruelty.’" Instead, he wrote, the problem is the "idolization of the family" that identifies "marriage with happiness" and refuses "to accept the cross in it." God’s presence as a "third party" in the marriage spells "the death of the marriage as something only ‘natural,’ and directs it to its true end of the kingdom of God.

In short, Schmemann continued, with characteristic elegance, the glory of marriage is "that of the martyr’s crown. For the way to the Kingdom is the matyria: bearing witness to Christ. And this means crucifixion and suffering. A marriage that does not constantly crucify its own selfishness and self-sufficiency, which does not ‘die to itself’ that it may point beyond itself, is not a Christian marriage."

Today the choice is even starker than it was for Fr. Schmemann. It is still true that marriage without the cross is not a Christian marriage. It has become more obvious that marriage without the cross and the open tomb can hardly be called marriage at all. 

Peter J. Leithart is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, and teaches theology and literature at New St. Andrews College, Moscow, Idaho. He is the author of several books, including Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord’s Supper (Canon, 2000) and Ascent to Love: An Introduction to Dante’s Divine Comedy (Canon, forthcoming).

Copyright © 2001 the Fellowship of St. James. All rights reserved.

Surreal Moments

There are times in our lives when we experience what has become known as surreal moments. The dictionary defines surreal as "fantastic, dream-like, unbelievable." I had a couple of those moments (minus the unbelievability) yesterday as I heard my son preach at the church where he is privileged to serve. He clearly taught the passage, convicted me of my own lack of kingdom-mindedness and gave me steps to take in moving that direction. The surreal feeling was anchored in the fact that this is MY son who is honoring God through the use of his gifts. It is NOT that I didn't think he could or would ever do such a thing. It is that, as with all of us, there was (and is) always the very real possibility of being sidetracked from doing what God has created us to do...glorify Him in all we do. It also isn't that preaching is more important than other things a person might do. It is that he is doing what God gifted him to do in a way that honors the Giver of the gift. By the way, I get the same feeling when I attend a musical directed by my middle daughter in which adults and children sing of God's grace in Jesus or hear the stories of lives changed by those recruited by my oldest daughter to further the Kingdom by serving the children of missionaries by providing quality education in the context of Christian community.

I hope, by God's grace, to have many such surreal moments as my children continue to live out a vital relationship with Jesus. By the way, my son's sermon should be available as a podcast shortly at the Bethany Church Podcast web page. If you listen, you'll discover that it is not simply a father's pride that speaks of his ability (although there is that). He does a fine job of communicating what Jesus said in the passage and what he meant by what he said and the difference that should make in our lives as followers of Christ.

Oregano and Crabgrass

In Eugene Peterson's book, Take and Read, he writes, "All of us have impulses from time to time to live a holy life--life lived as it should be, life true and good and beautiful, life lived for and in and by means of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. And then someone telephones with an invitation to the hockey game, or we notice that the salad needs oregano, or the crabgrass in the lawn suddenly becomes a pressing priority. We are distracted by the mundane and forfeit, for yet another time, the holy. Or so we assume.

"And then we find ourselves in the company of a writer or writers who penetrate the surface pieties and show us what the holy life is really like, that it is the hockey game and the oregano and the crabgrass that provide the raw material for holiness. Holiness is not being nice. A holy life isn't a matter of men and women being polite with God, but of humans who accept and enter into God's work of shaping salvation out of the unlikely materials of sin and ignorance, our ambition and waywardness--also our loves and aspirations and nobilities, but never by smoothing over the rough edges. Holiness is not polish."

As we read through the gospel accounts of the Christmas story this season, it is once again clear that God was willing to get his hands dirty in order for us to be clean. And then he works with us to make us more like Jesus, with our messy-ness and all. What amazing grace.

Looking to the New Year

It's the way I'm wired. I enjoy coming to the end of a year and "closing the books." As a self-employed minister of the gospel I discipline myself to keep track of my time as preventative against sloth and as a corrective against what Oswald Chambers warned, " The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him." I've seen pastors who seldom talk about Jesus, but talk a lot about their ministry. I've also seen too many pastors who allowed the church to become their mistress, cheating their wife and family out of a relationship with him as husband and father.

I also keep track of books I've read through the year. This helps keep me balanced by showing me the genres I'm gravitating to. If I've read several novels in a row, I choose a non-fiction book or a book of poetry. If I've read several minisry-related books, I choose a novel or biography. If I've read several contemporary novels, I choose a novel that is at least 50 years old. (Note to my Margarita friends: While I'm not back to a book a week, I am reading a book every two weeks rather than once a month, so I must be working through the transition to southern California.)

All this to say, I am coming down the home stretch and then on January 1 I have new pages to begin filling in with hours worked and books read. I'll let you amateur psychologists figure out what this all says about me.