Out the Door

Ascending to the Mountaintop

A United Methodist blogger knows that he/she has made it to the top of the blogging mountain when John over at Locust and Honey chooses to name one of your postings The Best of the Methodist Blogosphere as part of his weekly review of UM blogs.  Lo and behold, John picked my thoughts on "Teens Value their Religion" to receive this prestigious recognition.  Color me proud!

Seriously, John's weekly review is something I never miss.  Plus he's got some of the funniest stuff anywhere in Methodist Blogosphere.  If you haven't checked him out.  It's well worth the time.

Senator Brunkhorst responds to call for tougher child abuse sentences

Last Friday I wrote about the proposed changes in Iowa's child sexual abuse sentencing guidelines.  In that posting I asked Iowans to write their state senators and representatives encouraging them to support these tougher standards.

I received the following reply from Senator Bob Brunkhorst (R), Waverly, who I have had the pleasure of meeting on several occasions.

Thanks John,
Yes, this bill will be pushed really hard and should win approval in the next month or so.  This is very good step in protecting innocent children from pedophiles.
Bob 

I appreciate Senator Brunkhorst's leadership within the Iowa Senate.  I hope that a majority of Senators will follow his lead and pass this important legislation.

Sermon: Looking Out for Those Who Are Weak

The freedom Christians have in Christ is not to be used for their benefit only.  Christians must not only ask themselves "Is this helpful for me?" but also, "Is this helpful for those who are weak?"

Listen or Download "Looking Out for Those Who Are Weak"

Why it's not always wise to listen to your mentor

One of the danger I've found in blogging is the tendency to get negative and cynical.  I feel I've demonstrated too much of that each lately, so I decided that today I'd share one of my favorite jokes.

There was a single pastor who was seeing a couple of young ladies.  Sara was a real beauty, with a model's figure and the face of an angel.  However, she didn't have any readily apparent talents.  Gwennie on the other hand was rather plain looking but could sing like a nightingale and could play both the piano and organ.

The pastor was thinking that he needed to settle down and take wife, but he was having trouble deciding between the two women.  So he went to older pastor who had served as his mentor for a number of year.  After explaining the situation to him, his mentor told him, "Marry the one with all the talent, she'll be a great help in your ministry."  He took that advise and soon found himself wed.

On his wedding night, he lay in bed waiting for his bride to come out of the bathroom.  The door swung open and she stepped out her hair rolled up in curlers, night cream covering her face and wear a long flannel nightgown.  The young pastor looked at his new wife and said, "Sing, Gwennie, sing."

Iowa Republicans propose tough sex abuse sentences

Jeff Lamberti, Co-president of the Iowa Senate (He's co-president because the Iowa Senate is equally split 50 Republicans & 50 Democrats) has proposed new sentencing guidelines for those who sexually abuse children.  Under his plan, first time offenders would receive a minimum of 25 years in prison and could be sentenced to life by the judge.

The Des Moines Register reported that Lamberti said, "The message it sends is that the state of Iowa is going to have a zero-tolerance policy for people who prey on young children.  We ought not to be giving these people a second chance to abuse children."

This is exactly what I was saying needed to be done especially after the travesty of justice we've recently seen in Vermont.  The sexual abuse of children has been tolerated for too long.  It has been treated more like a mental illness rather than the horrendous crime it is. 

I hope all Iowans will join me in writing to their state Senators and Representatives and encouraging them to support this new legistation.  Senators; Representatives

Vermont Judge changes sex abusers sentence

Much to my surprise, Judge Cashman has upped Mark Hulett's sentence for repeatedly raping a young girl from 60 days to 3 to 10 years. (Fox News)  I really didn't think he would change his mind.  Perhaps to the 20,000 emails Vermont's governor received from all over the nation protesting the original sentence had something to do with it.  Perhaps Judge Cashman wanted to make a point about the need for therapy for sex abusers in Vermont's prison system and having accomplished that, he revisited his decision.  Whatever caused him to up the sentence, I'm glad it happened.

Still serving 3 years in prison for repeatedly raping a child over a period of 4 years seems like a pretty light sentence to me.  I have no sympathy for child molesters.  I have seen way too often the scars that those who were abused carry throughout their lives.  When will we as a society decide that our children are worthy of our protection and say that those who victimize children should go away for a very long time?

NBC cancels "The Book of Daniel"

Did NBC really think it could produce a TV program, "The Book of Daniel," that slaps the face of every Christian in American and have it come out a success?  According to the American Family Association, over 675,000 individuals sent emails to NBC protesting the show.  Thousands of others, contacted their local affiliates to express their outrage.

I won't go into details as to why the show had so many people up in arms, there's been plenty written about that elsewhere.  What interests me, is how quickly NBC buckled under the pressure.  Were the executives at NBC so naive that they thought they could get by airing such an anti-Christian show with no repercussions?  Either they are very stupid, or they thought Christians have totally lost any influence over culture issues, or they knew all along that it won't fly but they simply wanted to spitefully produce an in-your-face program to antagonize Christians and demean Jesus Christ.  I think any of those three are a real possibility.

It's good to know that businesses still recognize the power of the Christian consumer, even if they don't respect our religion or our values.

Teens Value Their Religion

The Washington Times reported last week, (hat tip to Steve Beard)

    An interfaith survey of 1,153 teens released yesterday by B'nai Brith reveals nearly 70 percent of all teenagers value religion in their lives and say they would like to connect better with their religion.
    But 43 percent of them don't know how to do so, according to the B'nai Brith Youth Organization, a Jewish group that commissioned the study to find better ways of keeping Jewish youths faithful.
    "The issue's not how to get teens interested in religion, because they already are," said Matthew Grossman, executive director of BBYO. "The issue is how to use more clever ways to connect them."

That's good news.  It repudiates the idea that young people “just aren’t interested in religion.”  This survey shows it's not the lack of interest that is why young people aren’t showing up at church. 

However, I don’t believe that the answer lies in some clever plan to trick them into becoming involved.  The deeper purpose behind many of these clever youth ministries is to get the kids through the doors where they can be reshaped to fit into congregation’s culture.

For instance, there is one high schooler (I’ll call him Mike, not pictured) who attends our congregation occasionally with his parents.  Mike is a moderate goth.  By that I mean, he doesn’t wear makeup, have tattoos, or is pierced.  He does wear goth clothing with lots of chains, paint his fingernails black, and sports a rather wild hairdo.  It’s obvious that he doesn’t expect to be accepted or welcomed by the vast majority of church folk.  He knows he doesn’t fit in with the “respectable” kids, though he has a close circle of other goth friends.

What does our congregation, indeed most congregations, have to offer Mike and his friends?  Sadly, the answer is not much.  We are totally unprepared to address the spiritual longings of young people like him, because he not about to change to fit into anyone’s mold.

It seems to me, the answer lies in changing our understanding of what it means to be a Christian.  It’s not about how one dresses, or what type of music one listens to, or the social group one hangs out with.  It’s about a sincere desire to know God through Jesus Christ.  In order to communicate that to youth involves a whole lot more than just some clever scheme; it involves a wholesale change in our attitude.  And therein lies the reason most congregations will continue to fail to satisfy the spiritually hungry youth in their communities, because it’s a whole lot easier to devise clever plans than it is to change people’s attitudes.

Sermon: Hold All Things Lightly

Every person's time on earth is limited.  Being conscious of this reality impacts the way relationships, emotions and possessions are dealt with.  Based on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, learn why it's important to hold all things lightly.  Listen or download "Hold All Thing Lightly."

Neighbor's Death Ruled a Homicide

One of my next door neighbors died last week in what the police called, "suspicious circumstances."  They have since concluded that it is a case of homicide and have taken in the man's teenage son into custody.  The word is that the boy had a history of drug use and violent behavior.  I had heard father and son loudly arguing on several occasions, but I would never have thought it would come to this.  After all, things like this don't happen in our little town where we leave our house doors unlocked and the car running when we run into the grocery store.  How naive we are? 

Someone once pointed out that it is no mere coincidence that Paul in his letter to the Ephesians spoke about the relationship between husband and wives, and parents and children just prior to penning his discourse on spiritual warfare and the need to put on the armor of God.  It seems that the arena where Satan consistently chooses to attack is within families.  Stories of family members at war with one another are an everyday experience.  Is it any wonder than that Paul tells us:

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything thing, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of  truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition, to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  Ephesians 6:11-18 (NIV)