Out the Door

Merry Christmas!

This will be my last posting for 2005.  There's lots of last minute Christmas things that have to be finished up and then we're off to visit family for a week.  But before I signed off for the year, I want to wish each one a very Merry Christmas and blessed New Year.  See you in a couple of weeks.  John

"Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city a David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."   

My First Podcast

  Thanks to some help from Gavin, I've been able to create my first podcast sermon.  I still need to do some more work on my audio editing skills, but it's up and running.

The message is based on Romans 16:25-26 and seeks to answer the question, "What does it mean to be strong in faith and how is that related to the coming of Jesus?"  As you will find out, being strong in faith has little to do with the world's idea of strength.  I hope you will be blessed as you listen. 

"A Secret No Longer"

The Old Man's still got it

Josh, our 19 year old son arrived home over the weekend after completing his first semester of college.  At the Sunday dinner table, he challenged me to a game of Trivial Pursuit.  He was feeling pretty high and mighty.  It didn't take long to put him back in his place.  On my first roll, I earned a pie.  On my second turn, I put in another one.  Guess who was feeling pretty cocky then?

As the game progressed, however, the die and the questions just weren't falling in place for me.  Josh went ahead six pies to three.  Lucky, the Trivial gods turned against him and he wasn't able to put me away.  I made a brilliant come back and claimed the victory!

I remember when Josh was little and we'd wrestle on the living room floor and I'd let him pin me once in a while.  He'd leap up and let out a mighty roar, in his mind he was the champion of the world.  As he grew older, I wasn't as easy of an opponent, but still I'd let him win on occasion.  Then there came the time, when it was no longer a matter of "letting" him win, he was faster, had more endurance and was more agile and who would win was a toss up.  It was about that time that I quit wrestling with him.

I have always believed that healthy competition is a good thing.  And while I won't consider take on Josh in a wrestling match today, he'd whip up on me, at least until we play Trivial again, this old man's can claim he's still got.  Now if it just wasn't true, that pride comes before the fall.

Keeping Up with Technology

At my annual interview with the DS, she commented that about how I was using cutting edge of technology in ministry.  I corrected her knowing full well that I'm well behind where technology is at and going.  I mean, my cell phone doesn't even have a camera built into it, let alone able to surf the web. 

Technology is evolving so rapidly, it's impossible to keep pace.  Because of that many throw their hands up in defeat and say "What's the use?  Since it's not possible to keep up, why bother even trying?"  My sister-in-law was complaining the other day, because she had been working on a Christmas program and wanted her pastor's input, but since he didn't have email she couldn't easily get it to him. 

While sometimes I feel like I'm beating my head against a brick wall when I'm learning some new technology, I still believe that if the church is to be relevant we must use all the tools at our disposal.   My latest endeavor into new technology is podcasting.  I want to be able to make my sermons available for download from our church website.  But as I have investigated this, it means learning new software and new languages, RSS & XML.  I'm pretty comfortable with HTML though it took many hours of study to get where I'm at.  Now that's not good enough and I'm playing caught up again.  It seems like a never ending cycle with no end in sight. 

I guess each of us must decide which is best, to keep running and trying to do the best one can, or assume an Amish-like attitude that says, "This is as far as I will follow the technological curve."

Unheralded Bravery

The flu bug caught up with me and I spent yesterday laying around the house.

For a couple of hours in the morning I watched the History Channel.  The program was focused on the D-Day invasion.  In typical History Channel style, the show was a combination of historical film footage, modern reinactment and personal interviews.  One gentleman's remembrance stuck with me.  He told what happened when his Higgin's Landingcraft came ashore at Omaha and they encountered heavy German machine gun fire.  Of the 33 men on board, he was the only survivor.

I have long been in awe of those who fought for freedom.  I can't understand what motivates a person to run onto a beach where bullets flying all around and bombs are raining down.  Everyone who was interviewed by the History Channel spoke of duty.  They had a job to do and they did it.

I don't suppose I'll every really understand.  I do hope we who live in the shadow of their sacrfice never forget.

Great Endorsement for Narnia

There's been a lot written lately about today's release of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."  The best endorsement of the film I've read thus far is by Polly Toynbe of The Guardian.  The lead line for her article is "Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion."

Toynbe rips the film up one side and down the other.  She can't say enough bad things about it and the way C.S. Lewis tries to share the gospel message through his writings. She writes,

"The story makes sense. The lion exchanging his life for Edmund's is the sort of thing Arthurian legends are made of. Parfait knights and heroes in prisoner-of-war camps do it all the time. But what's this? After a long, dark night of the soul and women's weeping, the lion is suddenly alive again. Why? How?, my children used to ask. Well, it is hard to say why. It does not make any more sense in CS Lewis's tale than in the gospels. Ah, Aslan explains, it is the "deep magic", where pure sacrifice alone vanquishes death.  Of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls."

Isn't that great?!?  If the film can get an unbeliever like Toynbe this worked up, there must be something there.  Remember what St. Paul wrote, "We preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."

Is that way cool or what?  It's like seeing the words of scripture come to life right before your eyes.  God is going to do some great things because of this film.  Aren't you glad you're alive to see it?   

I'm a Wesleyan

I don't know who comes up with these on-line quizes.  I've taken several just for the fun of it and never take them to seriously.  Here's one that PROVES what I've believed of myself for years, that my theology arises out of an evangelical Wesleyan worldview.  (Thanks to Bruce Alderman for pointing me to this quiz.)

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What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

I'm proud to be a Wesleyan.  Father John teachings, particularly his understanding of grace, more than anything else is why I'm a UM pastor.  No other explanation for how God operates in the world comes closer to the truth than the doctrines of prevenient, justifying, sanctifying and glorifying grace.  Without God's grace, every person would be trapped in the mire of sin with no hope of getting out.  Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, we are provided with a way to freedom.  And once we are set free, God continues to work in and through us transforming us into the very likeness of His Son, increasing our faith as we serve others.  Then on the glorious day of Christ's return, we will be raised from the day, or meet Him in the sky and we will receive a glorified body, "for we will be like him, for we will see him as he is." 

Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus!

Dante's Inferno

Julie & I had supper with Josh yesterday.  He's reading Dante's Inferno as part of his Humanities class.  It was freaking him out.  He had just finished the fourth level of Hell.  It's the place where the unfaithful pastors reside for eternity, among others. 

I always thought that I should read this classic work of literature and even started reading it once,  but I just couldn't get through it.  Now I've discovered a way to descent into the depths of the Pit, without going to the effort of picking up the book.  A Kentucky company has come up with a board game version of Inferno.  According to their website, the object of the game is: to rescue enough sinners (resources) to gain entry to the 9th Circle of Hell and defeat Lucifer while preventing the other players from doing so first.  The game comes with various colored "Dantes" and an assortment of demons.

I'm intrigued by this game, though I'm not likely to pay the $29.99 pricetag to get a closer look.  While it might provide some entertainment, it's based on bad theology.  Once a person has died their eternal destiny is set.  There's no rescuing sinners from the bowels of Hell.  If a person does not decide to be a followers of Jesus Christ during her time on earth, it's too late.  Maybe this is what was so upsetting to Josh.  Dante gives us a vivid glimpse into what eternal damnation really entails and it's not pretty, and Josh know that not all his friends are Christians.

It seems to me that one of the reasons many Christians fail to witness to their family and friends is because they have a deluded veiw of Hell.  While they may not claim to be universalists, in practice they tend toward universalism.  The thinking is that if a person has lived a pretty good life, then God will overlook his shortcomings and receive him gladly into Heaven.  That's much more comforting than to imagine those we love suffering the torments of the Inferno.  However, it's not Biblical Christianity.  Only those who confess with their lips that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead and who back their faith up with good works will be saved (Romans 10:9, James 2:17). 

The Sky is Falling!

Chicken Little's warning, "The sky is falling" at first caused panic among the village folk.  Soon their panic turned to contempt and Chicken Little was ridiculed and ostracized.  Even his own father refused to believe him and tried to shut him up.  Fortunately for Chicken Little, he had two friends, both outcasts themselves, who didn't turn against him.  Of course, in typical Disney style, the "hero" is in the end vindicated and everyone lives happily ever after.

Chicken Little perceived something no one else did, a piece of the sky fell.  God often uses one person who perceives a unique movement of the Spirit to announce that something new is happening.  Every year on the second Sunday of Advent, the gospel lectionary reading tells the story of John the Baptist.  John's pronouncement that God was about to do something new was first met with panic.  People from whole region flocked to hear him.  But those who were a part of the establishment, the scribes and pharisees, looked upon John with disdain.  Eventually, when John refused to shut up, Herod had him killed.

It seems to be a near universal truth that those who would do new things are inevitably met with resistance and even persecution.  The question every person must ask him or herself is, "Do I believe in what I have perceived enough to face criticism?"  Many wonderful ideas have died because people have said no to that question. 

I want to encourage those who feel God is calling them to some new thing not to let the voices of the crowd dissuade you.  And though I can't promise you that in the end you'll live happily ever after, (you might lose our life or some part of it), perceiving and doing God's will is the greatest adventure a human being can embark upon.