A Few Bad Apples
A few bad apples ruin the bunch.
Isn’t that the truth? You find a few and it’s easy to assume the whole bunch is like that. We tend to define people by the lowest common denominator. Instead of looking to the best and the brightest as examples of a group of people, we tend to take the worst of them and then lump them all together. Think of the stereotypes that define you. Male, female. Young, old. White, Asian, Hispanic, African. Gay, straight. There are tons of them out there. I don’t know about you, but I cringe every time I see a bad Asian driver. There’s a stereotype out there that we’re all horrible on the road, so who needs another guy to mess that up? The truth is Asians are among the country’s best drivers! According to a study by the American Council on Science and Health, Asians had the lowest number of fatal car crashes by far compared to other ethnicities. White people had a rate of about 12 car deaths per 100,000 while Blacks had a rate of about 13 and Native Americans had the worst rate at 17. Asians on the other hand only had 5 deaths per 100,000.[1] How do you like them apples? But the stereotypes get perpetuated by what we choose to notice rather than what is real. You know who else are really good drivers? Women. The fatality rate of men and women in car accidents favors women over two to one.[2]
After 9/11 there was hatred in the air toward anyone who even LOOKED Arabic.
Even though the attacks were brought about by a small, militant, terrorist group of jihadists from across the globe, suddenly anyone of Middle Eastern heritage was suspect. I can’t even say Muslim, because the prejudice went beyond that. If you wore a hijab and looked Arabic, people would suddenly become nervous around you. You were the target of law enforcement all over the country. People of Arab decent were pulled aside in airport security lines routinely and inspected. There were even suggestions of “rounding up all of the Arabs” and locking them behind barbed wire fences “for their own safety.” Nightmare flashbacks to the internment of the Japanese population sprang immediately to mind. It’s sad to think that in all of these intervening years, in all of the speeches, movies, shows, and educational programs we’ve had about the internment, there are still people who haven’t learned that a person’s gender, faith, or ethnicity does not define who they are. Even today violence and discrimination against people of the Islamic faith continues. In 2023, the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported the highest number of hate crimes against Muslim people with over 8,000 incidents.[3] So that distrust and rage hasn’t gone away over time. But we allow ourselves to be convinced that every Muslim person is suddenly suspect, even though the Islamic faith has been in existence for centuries, even though there were mosques before 9/11. It’s as if we suddenly took notice and in an awful way. We allowed our perception of Muslims be tainted by a few bad apples.
I can understand that fear.
I can understand why we revert to a protectionist mode when we feel endangered or when our loved ones are in danger. And it’s easy to let that fear grow into blind hatred, but if it means anything to be Christian, we can’t allow ourselves to do that. We have to step up and embrace with love even those who might be our enemies – real or imagined. Because we are called upon by God to do more. This is from Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth. He may have written many more, but this is the second of the letters we have collected in the Bible and in this particular passage, he’s writing to the church about how Christ’s death and resurrection has changed how we look at the world and here he defines that for us.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
We are Christ’s ambassadors.
And Paul tells us that we aren’t just trying to convince people for our own sake. We’re trying to bring them to Christ “as though God were making his appeal through us.” Paul tries to convince us that just as we see the world differently because of Christ in our lives, we also have to act differently. Not because God is forcing us to, but because if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can’t help but be transformed by his life-giving message. We can’t help but be motivated to show others the love of Jesus. And in one line, Paul makes it abundantly clear what Christ expects of us: “he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” We must do whatever we can to heal the rift between humanity and God. And that means we need to bridge the gap between us. We are called to make the first step, to make the first move, to be the ones to show humility and love before anyone asks us to. That is our role as Christians, to show the abundant love of God to others..
This is the role we are meant to play, not only with our Muslim friends but all of humanity.
To be certain there are wide differences between us – between Christians and Muslims, but there are many similarities as well. Both consider Abraham as one of the fathers of our faith. In fact each religion traces it’s roots back to Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael and Isaac – Ishmael is considered to be the ancestor of Mohammed and Isaac the ancestor of Jesus. And contrary to some popular belief, we worship the same God. Muslims refer to God as Allah, but that difference is in name only. Just as French use the word Dieu to refer to God or Japanese say kami-sama or people who speak Spanish say Dios people who speak Arabic refer to God as Allah. Allah is to Arabic as God is to English. Both faiths believe that salvation comes by submitting to God. In our Western culture, we tend to downplay the role of submission in our faith, but we shouldn’t. It’s that unwillingness to submit that brings pride, arrogance, and self-reliance upon us and makes it difficult for us to fully rely on God. In Islam, submission is at the heart of their faith. In fact, it’s even part of their very name. The root word “slm” means “to submit.” So the word Islam is roughly translated as “submission to Allah.” And a Muslim person is defined as “one who submits to the will of God.” A Muslim person is “one who submits to the will of God.”
There are differences to be sure. Differences that cannot be overlooked.
In the Islamic faith, Jesus, while thought to be a great prophet, second only to Mohammed himself, is not considered divine. He is not the Son of God, but merely a man favored by God. He did not die on the cross and was not resurrected, and these are essential elements of our faith. We believe Jesus is the savior precisely because he DID die on the cross and in that act of sacrifice covered the stain of sin on our lives so we could be reconciled to God. In his resurrection, we know that he truly is God because only God could conquer both death and sin. In Islam, they confirm the life of Christ and even the virgin birth, but deny that Jesus sacrificed his life on the cross. They also believe that the Quran is the final revelation of God. Unlike the Bible which was written by human hands that we believe was inspired by God, the words in the Quran are thought to actually be God’s words. In fact, they are written as if God is speaking. Mohammed’s followers would in fact write down the visions God revealed to him using the first-person vocabulary. As Hamilton wrote in his book, for them the Quran is the equivalent of Jesus because it is thought to be his final word. As we worship Jesus, God made flesh, they worship the Quran as God himself being revealed through Mohammed. It is also why to followers of Islam that the Quran is only to be read in Arabic because it is the language through which God revealed himself to Mohammed.
But what does that mean for us as Christians?
It’s true we have our differences, differences which divide us from being able to agree, but how is that any different than being fans of the Dodgers or Giants? UCLA or USC? Chocolate or vanilla? Does that mean we have to hate one another? God calls us to be ambassadors for Christ, but who are we being an ambassador to? Christ himself said, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that (Matthew 5:46-47)?” We need to reach out to people who are not like us. We have to show people the love of Jesus through our actions. Not by beating them over the head with Bible verses but turning the other cheek, giving to those in need, welcoming those who are different. In the beginning of the Christian movement, people didn’t come to Christ because of what we taught, but because of how we acted. People were astonished by the loving kindness of this group of people who called themselves the followers of the Way. And they saw a love and peace about them that convinced them to give their lives to Christ. Application comes before education. Showing others the love of Christ can lead them to seek out Christ. And it must be so again. Challenge yourself to exhibit this radical love Christ had for others be they Muslim or Jewish or Buddhist or Hindu or even atheist. Let the love of Christ shine within you by your actions. Show kindness and even interest in others’ beliefs. Be willing to talk to them about their understanding of God and show respect for them even if you disagree. Make new friends. Keep reaching out to old ones. But always remember that you are an ambassador for Christ. Don’t let the few bad apples convince you otherwise.
[1] https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/08/10/most-dangerous-drivers-ranked-state-age-race-and-sex-13300
[2] Ibid. Women’s fatality rate is 6.6 per 100,000 while men are an alarming 16.8!
[3] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-anti-muslim-incidents-hit-record-high-2023-due-israel-gaza-war-2024-04-02/
All About Me
Let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time, there was a prince who was sheltered all his life from the outside world. His father the King sought to protect him from the suffering and pain he might encounter, hoping that would be enough to insure his son would inherit his throne. Prophets had come to him and predicted that the young prince would either one day become a great king or a great spiritual leader and the king wanted his son to follow him on the throne. So he gave his son everything any man would want and more. But the son became more and more curious about what was on the other side of the wall and one day he decided to go and explore. He took his charioteer, Channa, with him and together they rode through the countryside. As they were riding, they encountered an old man. The prince was shocked, having never seen an elderly person before and he asked his charioteer, “Is this the fate of all people?” “Yes,” Channa replied. “All people suffer from aging.” The prince had much to think about. On their second journey, they encountered a man who was ill and sickly. The prince asked his charioteer again, “Is this the fate of all people?” “Yes,” Channa replied. “All people suffer illness.” And again, the prince had much to think about. On their third journey, the prince saw a funeral procession. It was the first time he had looked upon the body of a person who had died and he asked his charioteer, “Is this the fate of all people?” And Channa replied, “Yes, all people eventually suffer from death.” This created a lot of angst in the prince and he began contemplating the meaning of all this suffering. He went out once more with his charioteer and on the way they encountered an ascetic monk who seemed quite at peace with the world and it gave the young prince hope. He decided to leave his life of luxury and pursue the answers that would bring him the peace he saw in this monk and eventually became the great spiritual leader the prophets had predicted.
It sounds like a fairy tale, but this is the traditional story of how the Buddha began his quest.
Siddhartha Gautama was a great spiritual leader born about 500 years before Christ. He was the son of a wealthy man. Most say he was a king or at the very least a tribal leader. But in the caste system of his day, Siddhartha was born into the warrior class, ranked just below the priests and holy men and in comparison he indeed led a life of luxury. However, after venturing out among the people, Siddhartha was disturbed by the suffering he saw and felt compelled to find the answers to some of the questions we still seek today. Why is there suffering in the world? What purpose does it serve if any? And so on the night of his son’s birth, he gave his newborn the name Rahula (which means “fettered”) and left his family for his spiritual quest. He named him Rahula because he felt his son would become an attachment that would prevent him from understanding suffering. Those journeys in the story that propelled him on his quest are called the Four Sights[1] and they were the beginning of what would eventually become Buddhism. One common misconception is that the Buddha is worshipped by Buddhists. He is not. He is revered for his work and for his insight and he is thought to be a spiritual model for his followers, but he is not worshipped. Buddhists do not worship anyone or anything. It’s part of the centrality of their belief system. Buddhism is the only major religion that is non-theistic meaning they neither confirm or deny the existence of God. Buddhism is the only major religion that is non-theistic meaning they neither confirm or deny the existence of God. Whether or not God exists is outside the scope of Buddhism because in the Buddhist scheme of things God doesn’t matter. There may be a God, there may not be a God, but God has nothing to do with enlightenment. Enlightenment comes from within one’s self.
Despite their differences, Buddhism and Christianity share a lot in common.[2]
The Buddhist way of life is very similar to the Christian way of life. They believe you shouldn’t lie, cheat, or steal; you shouldn’t covet what someone else has; and you shouldn’t take a life. They believe you should be compassionate and kind. That you should think before you speak to avoid saying something you would regret. They believe human beings become too attached to the things of this world – money, fame, power, objects – and that by ridding ourselves of these things we can become the persons we were meant to be. But there are some very big fundamental differences as well as we will see in our passage this morning. If you have a Bible or a Bible app on your phone, would you please go to Matthew 19 beginning with verse 21. Matthew 19:21. This is the story of the rich man who comes to Jesus and asks him, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” And Jesus responds by saying he must keep the commandments. And the man says, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” And then Jesus responds with what we hear in our passage today.
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[e] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. – Matthew 19:21-30
“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
This is the key phrase for us this morning and it’s what differentiates us the most from our Buddhist friends. Humanity is not able to save itself. We rely on the grace of God through the actions of Jesus Christ. Buddhists believe that by meditation, following a series of precepts and paths, you can attain enlightenment by yourself and be free of the eternal cycle of samsara – life, death, and rebirth. Christianity focuses on “He” and Buddhism focuses on “me.” Christianity focuses on “He” and Buddhism focuses on “me.” In this passage, there is much that both religions would agree on. Jesus tells the man to sell his possessions and give it to the poor. He implies that it is his attachment to these material things that is holding him back and the Buddha would agree. The Buddha would say that it is the attachment to things – all things – that holds us back. When Jesus says that everyone who has left houses, family, and fields for the sake of Christ will receive a hundred times as much, the Buddha would agree, again saying that our attachments are what get in the way. But in the way of what? For us as Christians, the material things of this world keep us from really understanding God, and we see this as an essential part of our faith lives. We believe as we grow closer to God, we are better able to live to our potential and be the kind of people God hoped for. It’s not that God wants us to abandon our family and friends. On the contrary, God calls us to live in community. But in this passage, God is warning us that there will be many obstacles in life as we journey in faith and if we are unwilling to leave them behind, we’ll never receive the full reward that God has in store for us. Not as punishment, but simply because there will always be a part of us that relies on something other than God. For the Buddhist, the things of this world, ALL things including family and friends, can be impediments to our journey toward enlightenment. Our fallacy, according to the Buddhist tradition, is that our faith on anything is false because all things are transient. God. The world. Even the concept of “you.” “You” do not exist. “You” are simply a consciousness residing in a body that has experienced the world in a certain way based on your previous life experience. But there is no real “you” out there. Enlightenment comes from learning these things and accepting them as part of life. Christians and Buddhists hold something in common. We are both searching for the truth. We are both searching for the Truth. But we see truth very differently. Buddhists believe that the only truth is impermanence. Impermanence. That nothing lasts forever. But isn’t a belief in the permanence of impermanence itself a contradiction? Christians, however, believe truth lies in Jesus Christ who is the “same yesterday, today, and forever.” We believe God is eternal. Many people believe Christianity and Buddhism are very much alike, but our concepts of the world are very different. Buddhists believe in self-reliance. Christians believe in reliance on God.
Maybe part of the appeal of Buddhism, especially in America is the idea we can do it ourselves.
There’s an element of control that you are the master of your own destiny, which appeals to people. We like to feel in control. We like to feel like we determine what happens to us despite the changes that occur in everyday life. We have a hard time giving that up, to let go and to accept the fact that a great many things are out of our control. We struggle with change. We don’t like to rely on others. And it’s hard for many of us to admit that we need help or that we cannot do it alone. Think about all of the idioms we use in our lives. “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” “Look out for #1.” “To the victor goes the spoils.” And the erroneous, “God helps those who help themselves.” But we in fact believe the opposite. We believe Christ came to save those who needed it the most. He came for the lost, the sinners, and the hopeless. And we thank God everyday for that. Because we are those people. We are the ones who need God. And knowing God is in control and God has a plan for our lives gives us a peace and joy that can only come from Him.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_sights – this is only one of many websites with the retelling of this ages old story. A version of it appears in Adam Hamilton’s book Christianity and World Religions.
[2] Other than Adam Hamilton’s book Christianity and World Religions some websites that have produced useful background information are www.buddha101.com, www.buddhanet.net, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha
Holy Cows
Could Robin the Boy Wonder have been Hindu?
Holy Eastern Religions, Batman! Robin used to call EVERYTHING holy. Holy cow, holy guacamole, holy hole in a doughnut, and my favorite – Holy Haberdashery! In fact, Burt Ward who played Robin on TV said he used the “Holy” phrase about 378 times which came out to around three times per episode.[1] And the belief that everything is holy or has part of the divine essence of God within it, is consistent with Hinduism. Like Christianity, Hinduism believes there is only one God. They call God, Brahman and Brahman to a Hindu person is manifest in every aspect of creation while Christians believe God is separate from creation. On TV and in the popular media, people joke about the Hindu worship of cows as gods, but that misrepresents the complexity of the Hindu religion. It would be like saying Christians are cannibals because we feast on the body and blood of Christ. It reduces something holy to be a mockery of those beliefs. Knowing what others believe helps us to become more understanding, more accepting, and more loving toward people of other faiths. And at the same time, it helps us better understand why our own faith is important to us.
Call it the Progressive Insurance Method of Christianity.
You’ve seen those commercials on TV where Progressive Insurance offers you quotes from other insurance companies. The person in the commercial always looks on in disbelief, as if Progressive Insurance is crazy for showing you what other companies offer. But they are so confident in what they have to offer, they are not afraid of the others. In a way, that’s what this is. We are exploring different faiths to come to a better understanding of our own, and through that understanding build a solid foundation for our own faith to rest upon (Matthew 7:24-29). Our faith is strengthened when we understand what others believe. Bad theology begins by an incomplete understanding of OUR faith, not the faith of others. Hopefully, our exploration of other faiths will help us grow even closer to God. Today, we’re going to explore the Hindu faith.
I need to preface this by saying I am not an expert on Hinduism.
These are some of the very raw basics about the Hindu faith and we need to realize there are many different variations in Hinduism just as there are different variations of Christianity. As the basis for our study together, we’re looking at Adam Hamilton’s Christianity and World Religions. In it Hamilton tells us that there are three fundamental characteristics of understanding the Hindu faith – dharma, karma, and samsara. Dharma, karma, and samsara. Dharma is the idea that good works coupled with spiritual knowledge sets us free. Hinduism teaches that dharma or “duty” is needed to be done to build up good karma. At the end of our lives if we have built up more good karma than bad, then we will be better off in the next life. If not, then we will be worse off and we will suffer more for it. Suffering, however, is not seen necessarily as punishment, but a tool to help us gain spiritual knowledge so we can obtain a state of self that frees us from this cycle of life, death, and rebirth. This cycle is called samsara. Samsara. And we are not free from this cycle until we have emptied ourselves of bad karma. When we do, we reach nirvana. But nirvana is not a place. It’s not like the heaven we often imagine in our Christian faith. Rather it is the condition of the divine within us rejoining with Brahman. We become part of the divine once again.
These concepts are part of what separates us from one another in our faith.
We’re going to take a look at a reading from Scripture that helps us better define our own faith. This passage captures the essence of our ideas of salvation and how we obtain it. When you read it, think about how our view of salvation is very different from the view Hinduism shares with us and think even about how our definition of what salvation is is very different from theirs.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:1-10
As Christians, we believe we are sinners.
It defines who we are. It is the building block from which we understand our relationship to God. A fundamental aspect of who we are is that we are sinners seeking redemption. From Adam and Eve to the modern day, every aspect of our lives as Christians is to seek this redemption in the eyes of God. And we believe this is only accomplished by the life, death, and resurrection of one man – Jesus Christ. Not in the cycle of life, death, and reincarnation of all men, but by the life-giving actions of the Son of God. We don’t believe Jesus was just another human who was more in touch with his divine self. We believe that Jesus and only Jesus was fully human and fully divine. He truly embodies the name Immanuel – God with us. And only by the grace of a loving God are we offered salvation, “not by works, so that no one can boast.” We are saved by God’s grace alone.
This is one of the fundamental differences between Christianity and Hinduism.
We cannot save ourselves. There is no amount of “good karma” we can earn that will help us obtain salvation, because we believe humanity is inclined to sin. In Hinduism, we are not seeking redemption but awareness – awareness of the divine within us. In the Hindu faith, spiritual knowledge and karma help us obtain that awareness. But it is propelled by the individual. It is through the individual’s actions they break the cycle of samsara. As Christians, we need the grace of God – not the divine god within us, but the one who created us. We believe human beings are a separate creation from God, that each of us is unique. And while we do believe the Holy Spirit resides within us to guide us and journey with us, we are not the Holy Spirit ourselves. Our relationship to God is like our children’s relationship to us. Part of who we are goes into making them and we feel an instant connection to them because a part of us is within them, but they are not us. They are distinct, unique, wonderful creations separate from us. And when we die, we believe there is a place we go to be with God. We don’t believe we actually join with God. Instead, we get to ENJOY being in the presence of God.
There are a great many valuable teachings in the Hindu faith.
Most people who follow Hinduism are good, loving, interesting people who are out to make the world a better place. They have families they love and strive to take care of. They worship earnestly the revelation of God in their lives. But for us as Christians, what God has revealed to us through Scripture, the prophets, and ultimately through Jesus Christ himself, is at times at odds with the tents of the Hindu faith. This does not make us enemies. This does not mean they don’t earnestly seek God. It simply means our understanding of God is different. We believe that we are God’s creation, that we are his children. We are not part of the divine, but we live in a state of sin. We need the grace of God for our redemption and that is only possible because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We do not believe we can save ourselves or that any amount of good work can redeem us. We seek redemption through resurrection, not release through reincarnation. Those differences are why we view the world from a different perspective.
Something Hamilton wrote in his book made me think deeply.
He talked about how different it would be to approach a family with these two different faith backgrounds and as a pastor what you would say. In our faith tradition, we have hope for the life that comes after because of Jesus and the promise he shares of a home in Heaven. We can feel comforted knowing that our Creator waits for us with loving, open arms, and those we have cherished in this life who have gone before us will be there when we arrive. It wouldn’t be much comfort to me to think we simply come back over and over again, throughout time, hoping to do a little better each pass through this life. After centuries and millennia of existence, I can see why Hinduism looks at the ultimate goal of life not as a new beginning but as an ending. I can see the appeal of a release from suffering if you think you had to return to the grind and the pain of being in the world until you got it right. As Christians, we believe God is our Creator. That he is knowable. That he loves each and every one of us. And that in the end, we are saved because of the grace and mercy of our savior and for that we can truly be grateful. We are a people who live in hope for a brighter tomorrow. See you next week. Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel.
[1] https://www.cinemablend.com/television/1580210/the-crazy-number-of-times-robin-said-holy-something-in-the-original-batman-series
Tomorrowland
The Land That Time Forgot
That’s what they should call Tomorrowland, because it stopped being about tomorrow a long time ago. If you’ve been to Disneyland in the past ten years, you know what I mean. Take Autopia for instance. I used to love Autopia. As a kid, it was one of the rides I always wanted to go on, but even then, it seemed kind of odd to be in Tomorrowland. Now when Disneyland opened back in 1955, Autopia was cutting edge. At the time, there was no such thing as an interstate highway system.[1] Hard to believe but true. People didn’t drive on multi-lane highways that stretched across the country. This idea was so new to America that it made Autopia a natural fit in the land of the future. Today it makes no sense. In fact most of the rides in Tomorrowland make no sense. The monorail is an early predecessor of trams used in airports all over the world. Submersible vehicles are used by both the military and private owners. And the Orbitron is basically a carousel version of Space X. Over the years, Tomorrowland has become more and more obsolete, and while they have added new attractions like Star Tours, they’ve also let many things become outdated or simply disappear. The Peoplemover track lies empty and has for almost 30 years. The Magic Eye Theater which once housed state-of-the-art movies in 3D with actual physical special effects is now completely empty. And the Autopia? It’s still driving cars on highways from 1955.
The problem is Tomorrowland stopped being about tomorrow.
Walt always wanted to keep this area on the cutting edge of innovation, to give guests a glimpse into the future. But instead, you have gas-powered cars instead of solar cars, electric cars, or self-driving vehicles on the Autopia track. It’s fun, but they drifted away from Walt’s vision because it was “good enough.” People enjoyed it; they continued to make money from it; so they just stopped trying to make it better. But that is so short-sighted. If we simply wait for a need to arise, then by the time we can fix it we are already too far behind. Either someone else has met the need or we have to spend much more time, effort, and money to catch up. “Good enough” shouldn’t be our standard. Like Walt’s original vision for Tomorrowland, we need to constantly strive toward a better future, so we are prepared for what comes ahead. The writer in Hebrews said it so well that’s what we are going to read from this morning. If you have a Bible or a Bible app on your phone, find the letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament, chapter 11 beginning with verse 8. Hebrews 11:8. It is important to be future-oriented. Looking forward keeps us focused on how we can make the world a better place. It also keeps us from being complacent. And it drives innovation and creativity. When Walt Disney wanted to put in a Christmas parade at Disneyland, his financial advisors told him not to spend the money; that it would cost too much; that nobody would complain because they wouldn’t be expecting it and he said to them, “That’s just the point…We should do the parade precisely because no one’s expecting it. Our goal at Disneyland is to always give the people more than they expect. As long as we keep surprising them, they’ll keep coming back. But if they ever stop coming, it’ll cost us ten times that much to get them to come back.”[2] Give people more than they expect. Don’t just focus on what’s needed now, but plan ahead for the future. And he was right. Don’t settle for “good enough.” Figure out how we can do it better, even when (and maybe especially when) it’s going good.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. – Hebrews 11:8-16
They were longing for a better country.
These forefathers of faith trusted in the vision that God had presented to them and did what they knew to be right. And even though they never lived long enough to see it all come to fruition, they trusted that their efforts led them toward a brighter future.[3] The Scripture says to us, “they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.” The things God promised to the people of Israel and by extension to all of us was not something they could tangibly touch or experience, but they honored God with their efforts even though they didn’t know how it would all work out and that pleased God. God is future-oriented. Think about it. It was the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament. God promised Abraham that his people would spread throughout the Earth and even though as long as Abraham lived he didn’t see it, that promise came true. God promised Moses that he would lead his people to the promised land and even though Moses didn’t live to see it, that promise came true. Jesus promised when he returned to Heaven, he would send the Holy Spirit to be with us and guides us, and that promise also came true. God is always looking ahead to the future. Jesus trained up his disciples because he knew one day he would no longer be there, and he wanted to be sure the movement would continue long after he was gone. He pulled them aside and taught them. He explained the parables to them, knowing that eventually the lessons would sink in. And he had them do the work in the field. Jesus was constantly working toward a future he wouldn’t be alive to see.
As a parent, that makes sense to me.
Since Emma was born, I wanted to help build a foundation to support her in life. I want to support her dreams. I want to support her hopes. I want her to know she is loved. And I hope to help her be grounded in faith. I try to teach her the practical things that will help her out in day-to-day life. And although I hope and pray I’m here for a long time to come, I certainly hope I leave this planet before she does and that when that time comes she has what she needs to have a long and happy life. My actions now will hopefully lead to a brighter tomorrow. That’s why it is so important to keep striving to make things better. A better tomorrow. Human beings love the path of least resistance, so it’s tempting to stop when things are just the way we like it. After all, most of have seen what happens when people mess with a good thing. Sometimes it turns out disastrous. Like New Coke. That fear of failure prevents us from doing something amazing. We tend to look at failure as a waste instead of a learning opportunity. But failure is the greatest teacher there is. It’s only when we refuse to learn from the past that we truly fail. But when we succeed! We can make an impact that lasts for generations.
But what happens when we don’t?
What happens when we choose to stay still; when we choose the path of least resistance? When we stop looking to the future, we start looking to the finish line instead. We go into survival mode. We constantly try to extend the time we have, and we give up on the future. But that only delays the inevitable. It’s like a sinking boat. If we only concentrate on bailing out the water, we’ll stop from sinking for a while, but eventually the hole will get bigger and the water will overwhelm us. But if we let in a little water while we fix the boat, we can keep going for untold distances into the future. Keep focused on the future and always have hope for a brighter tomorrow. Will we always get there? Maybe not, but if we never try we surely won’t.
Jesus was a futurist.
Walt Disney was a futurist. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a futurist. Most of the great leaders and innovators of our nation and our world were futurists. They were always looking ahead to what was possible and trying to work toward THAT. How can we do anything different? As Robert Kennedy once said (paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw), “Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?”[4] What is your why not? What is something you have held back from daring to dream? What is something you would like to accomplish but haven’t done so? Now ask yourself, why not? The Autopia is great. But it’ll never be more than it is unless someone does the work to make it better. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopia
[2] http://grumpymickey.com/tag/plussing-it/
[3] This section was inspired by Thom Rainer’s book Autopsy of A Deceased Church, Chapter 3.
[4] https://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/RFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Robert-F-Kennedy-at-the-University-of-Kansas-March-18-1968.aspx
The Meaning of Christmas
Christmas is a big letdown.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love pretty much everything about Christmas. It’s my favorite holiday of the year. Singing “A Christmas Carol.” Telling “A Christmas Story.” Buying gifts at “The Shop Around the Corner.” My favorite part of the holiday is a new tradition we started after moving to California. Cassie knows how much time, energy, and effort goes into being a pastor at Christmas, so she started cooking Christmas dinner every year. And I don’t mean just any old dinner, but Christmas dinner with all the fixings and I don’t have to do anything other than pick out the menu and buy some of the groceries. It’s truly a Christmas gift I look forward to, and I don’t take it for granted. If she ever wanted to stop, I would totally understand. So, I just cherish it as long as she wants to do it. “It’s A Wonderful Life” at Christmas. And then…it’s over. That’s the letdown. It all comes to a screeching halt. You wake up the next day and realize it’s time to put away the decorations, take down the lights, and throw away the trash. Two months of being inundated with music and lights and commercials and TV specials and toys and gift-giving and parties and suddenly…it’s…over.
But does it have to be?
Does it have to be over? Why can’t Christmas last all year? Maybe not the lights or the music or the weather; I mean I’m a pretty big fan of summer and a person can only take so much peppermint. But why can’t we hold on to that Christmas spirit all year long? It certainly seems to be Biblical. This evening, we’re going to read a favorite passage of mine from Paul’s letter to the Colossians. What I love about this letter is that it typifies God’s work in the world. As we heard in reading 1 Corinthians, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are.” According to a commentary, the house church at Colossae was “the least important church to which any epistle of St. Paul is addressed.”[1] Yet, this letter has become one of the most important and influential for us today. In the passage we’re going to hear tonight, Paul makes it clear how we should treat one another.
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. – Colossians 3:12-17
This is the life we are meant to live every day. A Christmas life.
A life that reminds us of who Christ was and what he believed in. It’s why Paul tells us to embrace compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. These are all qualities Jesus showed us during his time on Earth. They are also qualities we find in abundance during the Christmas season, and exactly the qualities Christ wants us to show one another. To bear with each other, forgive each other, and love each other are the ways we are supposed to behave all the time. We don’t need to wait until after Halloween to show this kind of “love. Actually,” we should be doing it every day. If every Sunday is a mini-Easter, then every other day should be a mini-Christmas. Because when we act as God wants us to, it not only benefits the world, but benefits us as well. Showing kindness through volunteer work can lower your likelihood of dying by 44%![2] People who express humility tend to be smarter and more successful.[3] Patient leaders increase creativity, collaboration, and productivity in the workplace.[4] And the list goes on and on. Embracing the Christmas spirit, improves our lives in both tangible and intangible ways and as Paul notes can bring about a peace to our soul we cannot get otherwise.
Sounds great but doing it every day isn’t easy.
But it can be done. It’s not about being perfect, because God knows none of us are. It’s about returning over and over to this life in Christ that leads us to a transformation of our inner being. It’s about becoming someone new by practicing over and over the kind of person we want to be until we become it. That’s what Paul means when he tells us to clothe ourselves in these things. Paul loved the metaphor of putting on clothes. To the church in Ephesus, he talked about putting on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6) and here he talks about clothing ourselves in these qualities. Because every day we must CHOOSE to be like Christ. We choose to be humble. We choose to be kind. We choose to be patient. These are things we have to make the conscious choice to do. Like getting dressed every day. And that’s why we can choose to lead a Christmas life. This Christmas spirit that seems to magically come around every year is something we can choose to continue even after tomorrow when it’s time to put away the lights and decorations. It’s a matter of making the choice to do it. Don’t let the Christmas spirit “die. Hard” to do, but it’s a choice we make every day.
The things we do during the season are what keep us grounded in its spirit.
So instead of waiting ten more months to do it again, let us continue to live as if every day was Christmas. Randomly send gifts to people simply to brighten their day. Send someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time a card and do it for no reason other than wanting to make contact. Don’t wait for their birthday, but simply drop them a note. Be randomly generous. Give an extra-large tip to your server at the restaurant. Leave something extra for the person who does your hair. Pay for the dinner of the person behind you in the drive-thru window of your favorite fast-food place. These are the kinds of things we find natural to do at Christmas. Why not make them part of simply who we are? The point is simply this: We are called to live a Christmas life. Not just during the month of December but all year round. We are often called an Easter people. Maybe we can be a Christmas people, too.
[1] https://bible.org/seriespage/background-colossians
[2] https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/the-science-of-kindness
[3] https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/science-shows-humility-makes-you-smarter-more-successful-here-are-8-types-to-cultivate.html
[4] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-of-the-manager/202303/patience-brings-tangible-benefits-to-management
And A Little Child Shall Lead Them
Close your eyes and picture in your mind the moment of Christ’s birth.
If you are like most people, you probably picture a stable with a wooden manger. In the manger atop a bale of hay is the baby Jesus. And surrounding Jesus are Mary, Joseph, a group of shepherds, and three wise men or kings – Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Around the open stable are horses, sheep, camels, and goats. And atop the stable shines a star so bright it led the wise men to this place surrounded by angels. It’s peaceful and calm and maybe you can hear the gentle cooing of the baby Jesus. This is the traditional Christmas picture we’ve been fed since we were little. You see it in books, on television, in movies. Almost assuredly, you’ll pass by someone’s house with a recreation of the birth of Jesus on their lawn with all of these things – right next to an inflatable Frosty the Snowman who was apparently ALSO present at the birth of Christ. The truth is, most of these images have very little to do with what really happened that night. We are going to be picking up the Christmas story after the angels proclaim the good news of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds in the fields nearby. But before that happens, many other powerful aspects of the Christmas story come into play. Perhaps the strongest of these images is the denial of Joseph and Mary at a local inn.
“There was no room at the inn.”
It’s hard to believe that some cold-hearted innkeeper wouldn’t make room for an obviously expecting woman! But what if we got it wrong? What if there wasn’t a cold-hearted innkeeper AND his wife (see, we’re just going to make the story even worse now, right?)? What if instead the Bible didn’t say “there was no room at the inn” and instead said “there was no guest room available for them?” Could that change the context by which we judge these people? Today, most versions (but not all) of the Bible have the word kataluma more accurately translated to “guest room.” And as Adam Hamilton pointed out in the book The Journey it made more sense that Joseph would have gone to a relative’s house to have the birth of their child, especially as they probably had little money to pay for a room at an inn.[1] Since he and Mary were returning to Joseph’s home town, he likely had friends and relatives living there he could have gone to stay with. But that only changes things slightly, maybe makes it worse! His own family and friends would send them out to a barn? The thing that’s missing here is context. For one, it was likely that every home would have had limited space since the census forced everyone to return. Every home would have been challenged for space as friends and family returned. But more than that, according to Jewish custom, a pregnant woman was considered ceremonially unclean, which made anyone or anything she touched unclean as well. Not just the people, but anything Mary touched, the walls, the floors, the bed would all be considered unclean. In those days, being unclean couldn’t be resolved simply by washing your hands. It took rituals and ceremonies and time spent in preparation. Cleansing a body or a house took a lot of effort and until you did it you couldn’t go to the temple. It might have been the only place their relatives could put them up was in a place outside the home. So there they are, Mary, Joseph, and little baby Jesus lying in a manger. And this is what happens next.
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. – Luke 1:15-21
What is interesting to me about this story is as much what WASN’T said as what WAS said.
There was no reference to a brightly shining star. There was no reference to the appearance of three wise men or three kings or anyone other than the shepherds. The stable, which we generally imagine to be a wooden barn, is never described in detail. And there definitely wasn’t a little drummer boy present, at least not in the Biblical story. Today, we know it was just as likely, perhaps more so, that Jesus was born in a cave. During those times, it was common for animals to be kept in caves for shelter from the weather which would have provided better protection than a wooden barn. We also know that wise men, and not likely kings, eventually did come to visit Jesus, but Bible experts say it could have been as late as two years later![2] A far cry from the miraculous appearance of three kings with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh on the night of Jesus’ birth. Most people believe we got the image of three kings based on the number of gifts that were presented to Mary and Joseph, but if you notice, it never says in the Bible how many people were there. The word used to describe the visitors is magoi or magician which could have meant they were priests of another religion or astrologers but not likely to be kings.
But the story as it is in the Bible is a richer story without these things.
A richer story by far than one we may have thought about before. In fact, when we look at Jesus’ birth as it is told in the Gospels, we find out God is counter-cultural. We find out that God is counter-cultural. He never did things the way people expected. God would flip expectations on their head and then exceed the imaginations of what people thought they wanted and did something even more amazing instead. This was the birth of the most powerful, most holy person in the universe, and yet look at the details of his story. They were not details you would expect of someone like Jesus. He was born to a father who wasn’t wealthy and didn’t hold a position of power. He wasn’t a holy man or spiritual leader but a carpenter. His parents were from the tiny town of Nazareth. And when I say tiny, I mean TINY. Hamilton said in his book the town was so small it wasn’t even mentioned among the 63 other villages associated with Galilee in the Hebrew Talmud or the 45 mentioned by the historian Josephus.[3] In fact, there were likely only 100 to 400 people in his entire town. 100 to 400 people. That’s it. You’d be lucky if they had a gas station and a grocery store if that town were around today. In fact, it was such a tiny little town Nathanael insults it when Phillip tells him about Jesus. He says in John 1:46, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” To which Phillip told him to “Come and see.” Three verses later, Nathanael sees the light and exclaims, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
In the passage we read today, God didn’t announce the arrival of Jesus as we would expect.
The angels of Heaven, who did not likely float around in white robes with wings, came first to the shepherds to proclaim the birth of Christ. Shepherds! We just accept that as part of the story of Jesus today, but back then it would have been mind blowing! Shepherds were considered among the lower-class in Jewish society. They were located toward the bottom of the socio-economic ladder because they were “typically uneducated, usually poor,… and smelled like dirty sheep.”[4] They were often looked down upon because of this but also because they would often have their animals graze on other people’s land. Imagine how upset we get today when the neighbors’ dog or cat roams freely around our yard. Now multiple that by the number of sheep in a flock and you get the picture. So why on earth would God reveal himself first to the shepherds? Why not to King Herod or to the Jewish leaders or to the high priest? To us that would make more sense. People would have believed right away had the high priest of the temple proclaimed the birth of the savior!
Yet we see throughout the Bible God uses the meek and not the mighty, the lowly and not the luxurious.
God doesn’t go to the rich and the powerful. He goes to the weak and disenfranchised. But he also uses those who are most open, most willing, and most receptive to his message to share the good news. The high priest would likely have cast doubt about the authenticity of the birth of Christ and we already know how King Herod reacted – with fear, trepidation, anger and resentment. No, God went to the shepherds, to Mary, to Joseph, to a tiny town called Nazareth, and to a cave for a reason. If you look at 1 Cornithians 1:26-31 we hear the words of Paul who sums it up so nicely. “26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’” As we leave here this morning, let us take the time to reflect on the miracle of the Christmas story. Not just the grace and mercy of a God who humbled himself to be amongst us. Not just the astounding and incredible circumstances of Jesus’ birth to a virgin named Mary. But how God comes into our lives in ways we least expect it. God uses our weakness, our faults, and our imperfect selves to share his message of love to a broken world that seeks him. Our story of hope rests not just in the power of God almighty, but that God chooses to use us with all our imperfections and faults and mistakes to share his Word of Love. God knows it is within us to do this work, because after all, he created us in His image. How will you share His story, now and everyday?
[1] Adam Hamilton, The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem, pp. 96-100.
[2] Stephen Miller, The Jesus of the Bible, p. 59.
[3] Hamilton, p. 15.
[4] Hamilton, p. 113.
The Sound of Music
To sing or not to sing – that is the question.
Whether ‘tis nobler to wait until Christmas
Or to dive headlong into temptation’s arms
Do we sing songs only of Advent subjects
Or do we dare to sing songs about Christmas? – inspired by Hamlet
That argument has been an ongoing question in churches all across America. Maybe all over the world. When do we sing Christmas songs? Outside the church, as soon as Halloween ends. You start hearing the first trickle of it in stores right as November rolls around. I mean, you have to play Christmas songs for all those pre-Black Friday sales, right? I’m old enough to remember when Black Friday WAS on the Friday after Thanksgiving. But this year, nearly every store was having an “Early Black Friday” sale or a “Pre-Black Friday” sale or a “Black Friday Two Weeks Early” sale. Seriously. Have you seen this? The Christmas season starts so early you can’t help but hear Christmas music everywhere. But there’s one place where you often don’t hear the sounds of Christmas during this time. Church. Isn’t that weird?
Tradition dictates that Christmas songs are reserved for the Christmas season.
Which for the church STARTS on Christmas Day with the birth of Jesus and goes for two weeks up to Epiphany. Many churches hold off on singing Christmas songs until Christmas Eve. But for the rest of the world, the Christmas season IS Advent. As Pastor Tom Hobson put it, “The average person walks into church on December 28 and is not expecting to hear Christmas carols, because in their view, the season has come and gone.”[1] That feeling is true for folks who have been in church all their lives and for those who only come on holidays. People CRAVE to hear those Christmas favorites! It helps put them in the Christmas spirit and isn’t that a good thing? Encouraging people to express love, joy, hope and giving are all Christ-like traits and if hearing a few songs like “Angels We Have Heard on High” does that, then why hold back?
You certainly can’t avoid hearing Christmas songs everywhere else.
We hear them on the radio, in shopping malls, in elevators; it is such a natural part of the holiday that for many it wouldn’t be Christmas without Christmas music. But did you know churches only began singing Christmas songs as we know them within the past 150 years? It wasn’t until the late 19th century when Christmas carols moved from the streets into the walls of the church, even though Christmas carols had been around for hundreds of years before that. Perhaps the most famous example is the “Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols” that began in Cornwall, England back in 1880.[2] 1880! It’s weird to think historians could trace something like that so specifically but weirder to think that for nearly nineteen centuries nobody sang a song like “The First Noel” inside of a church. Like most music today, the best songs were sung in the streets, at festivals, at parties, but not in worship. Even then the church was behind the times. If you heard music at all during worship, it would be some kind of somber tune, usually in Latin.[3] But there was a hungering among people, just as there is now, to celebrate the life of Christ through music, and so the Christmas carols we know and love sprang to life – outside of the church.
We can’t help but sing these songs.
People are wired to lift praise and thanksgiving for their blessings and for Christians we direct that praise and thanksgiving into the hands of God and of his son Jesus Christ. So, even when the church could not get with the program in those early days, the spirit of praise and thanksgiving could not be stopped, and people wrote these songs that we love today. For anyone who casually reads the Bible, that is no surprise. The pages of the Bible are filled with people lifting praise to God in song, in prayer, and in their actions. Paul wants to encourage that kind of living and he writes this letter to the church at Ephesus where he includes this passage.
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. – Ephesians 5:15-20
Singing is central to worship.
Singing is central to worship. Not a controversial stance, I know. It’s important to note though Paul doesn’t say what kind of songs we should sing or when we should sing them. He only has one guideline. “Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord… (Verse 19)” I love that when they numbered the verses, they cut it off right there in mid-sentence. “Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.” If it comes from your heart, that is what matters. My other favorite reference to singing? “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth (Psalm 98).” Because that’s what I do. Make a joyful noise. When we sing, you don’t have to worry about being in tune or having perfect pitch. It’s about the joy in your heart. Now the people around you might appreciate it, but God is pleased with what comes from inside.
The only “right way” to sing is with this in mind.
The early church would adopt customs and traditions of the surrounding culture to better fit in and appeal to the people around them. That’s how we got Christmas in the first place. Flexibility is our approach to the Gospel is a key component to reaching others for Christ. But that doesn’t always happen. Especially as Christianity has become more dominant, many have become more stuck in their ways, believing others should bend to our will instead of the other way around. One United Methodist minister was even quoted in USA Today as saying, “You would not sing ‘Christ the Lord is Risen Today’ on Good Friday…You don’t throw in Christmas hymns for the sake of appeasing people who want to sing.”[4] But do you think Jesus would care if we sang “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” on Good Friday if it brought someone to faith? Breaking with tradition is hard for some, but we need to remember what is truly important. Bringing people to faith in Christ.
There’s nothing wrong with tradition.
Only when it gets in the way of doing the work of Jesus. Traditions are important. They help to ground us. They help us to remember all that came before. But when adhering to tradition starts to get in the way of doing Christ’s work in the world., we need to remember to be flexible. While we should never compromise the message of Christ, we can alter the delivery if it helps others to see Jesus in a way that brings them closer to God. Singing Christmas songs during this season of Advent is not a compromise of our beliefs, but today it is a way for us to more easily get in the Christmas spirit, and shouldn’t we always be doing that? Keep in mind that almost all of the Christmas traditions we hold onto so tightly are human inventions. Advent itself was one of those inventions and has changed many times throughout the history of the church. But the message of Christmas, that God came to Earth to save us and bring us closer to him, is the truth of Christmas and the only one we need to hold on to. For those who believe, every day is Christmas. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] https://pres-outlook.org/2010/11/christmas-carols-during-advent/
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_carol ; http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/carols_history.shtml
[3] Ace Collins, Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas, p. 53.
[4] http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-12-13-column13_ST_N.htm
Believing the Unbelievable
How do you tell truth from fiction?
Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes…it’s complicated. Truth can be fictionalized like we see in the movies and on television. “Based on a true story” simply means some aspect of what you are about to see happened in some way but it doesn’t mean everything you see is factual. On the other hand, fiction can be peppered with truth. The Big Bang Theory is a television show based on completely fictional characters, but the science they talk about is real.[1] When you see equations on the white board in Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment, someone has actually gone over those equations to make sure they check out. Our concepts of truth and fiction are constantly being challenged, not just in movies and television but in real life. As our knowledge expands, so does our understanding of the world and sometimes that means shattering long-held beliefs. We once thought the sun was the center of the universe. We once thought the Earth was flat. We once thought the atom was the smallest unit of matter in the universe. Now we know that an atom is about 10,000 times bigger than an electron.[2] In a world where truth and fiction are more thinly separated than we are sometimes aware, what can we believe? What is the truth?
Growing up, I wanted to be a Knight of the Round Table!
Chivalry, honor, daring deeds, fighting the good fight. These are the stuff legends are made from. And indeed King Arthur is often considered a legend, a story regarded as historical but unauthenticated or at least disputed.[3] A legend is a story regarded as historical but unauthenticated. While there are references to a King Arthur in legitimate records of history, they are few and far between and most historians question whether he really existed, let alone believe the fantastic tales that are told about him. But it’s those fantastic tales that make Arthur worth believing in! It is prophesied in the hour of Britain’s greatest need, Arthur will return. Sounds a bit like our belief in the return of Jesus Christ. So, is Jesus real or is he just a legend, too?
We can understand why people have doubts about the reality of Jesus.
Some of the stories of Jesus are so fantastic as to defy belief, one of which we are going to share this morning. Now what we are about to hear is the story of how Mary was chosen to be the mother of Jesus. But before that happens, we find out her cousin Elizabeth was also pregnant. What makes Elizabeth’s pregnancy even more remarkable is her advanced age. Yet, the angel, Gabriel, comes to deliver a message of hope to the couple. They will have a child, and this child will be the herald of the Lord, and he will be called John. We know him as John the Baptist. Six months into the pregnancy, the same angel goes to visit Mary and that’s where we pick up the Bible reading this morning.
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. – Luke 1:26-38
The virgin birth is one of the most unbelievable stories about Jesus.
Next to the resurrection itself it is the hardest to swallow and it’s one of the reasons people have a hard time accepting Christ as Messiah. Even the famous CNN talk show host, Larry King said his fantasy interview would be with Jesus and he said, “I would ask him if he believed that he was born of virgin birth, because whatever the answer is changes or reinforces the world.”[4] Given what we know today, the virgin birth is impossible. But what do we know about the impossible? Would anyone have thought in vitro fertilization was possible until it happened? Today, Louise Brown, the first known IVF baby is 46 years old, married, and living in England with her husband and naturally born son.[5] Sarah, Isaac’s mom in the book of Genesis, was 90 years old when she conceived her first child. That seems impossible, too, but we get closer to making that a reality every day. A woman in India recently gave birth at the age of 73 breaking a record that was only set 3 years earlier.[6] Is it ethically the right thing to do? That’s a question we need to wrestle with as technology continues to advance, but the limits of what is and isn’t possible grows thinner every day. We don’t know the boundaries of the impossible.
Some believe the story of Christ is just another myth.
Other religions have stories about a miraculous birth like Jesus’. The concept of the divine entering the world is not new by any means. George Lucas used it in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace to describe Anakin’s birth, the boy who would become Darth Vader. When questioned about the identity of Anakin’s father, his mother Shmi simply said, “There was no father…I carried him, I gave him birth…I cannot explain what happened.” Many stories we consider myths talk about virgin births. Perseus in Greek mythology was born to Danae who was locked in a tower all her life specifically so she could not have children but still was impregnated by Zeus when he turned into a shower of gold that penetrated the tower walls.[7] Even in Japan, one of the legendary stories of Kintaro, the boy warrior, says that his mother Yama-uba was impregnated with a clap of thunder from a red dragon in Mount Ashigara.[8] Divine intervention in the birth of a child is a powerful symbol for divine purpose, and this theme is found not just in fiction, but in other religions as well. Both Krishna and Buddha are said to have orchestrated their own births. The deity of Vishnu from Hinduism is said to have descended into his mother’s womb much like God made flesh in Christ, and the “Great Being” from Buddhism was said to have imparted itself into a human woman to be born as the first Buddha. Neither one was necessarily a virgin birth but thought to be divine.[9] Even other historical figures are said to have been born by supernatural means – Pythagoras, Alexander the Great, even Plato.[10] With so many stories of supernatural birth out there, it would be easy for the skeptic to dismiss the story of Jesus as just another fanciful tale.
But for us, it’s more than just a story.
It’s historical fact. Yes, the story of Jesus shares elements with other supernatural births, but does that mean it isn’t true? Unlike other myths, there are multiple records of the virgin birth of Jesus. We forget the stories in the Bible were not written by one person, but by a number of people who themselves were witnesses to one of the most amazing events in history and the birth of Christ is recorded in multiple accounts. But apart from that, we also have evidence from the writings of the Qur’an and from the historian Josephus who attest to the birth, death and existence of Jesus. The Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, even goes so far as to acknowledge the virgin birth and the miraculous deeds of Christ. And unlike other myths and legends which change and shift over time, the story of Christ has remained the same for nearly 2000 years. Those are just some of the reasons why we believe the story of Jesus is more than fiction but fact, because of the evidence in favor of the story being real.
But no amount of evidence will ever convince some people.
Vaccine safety, climate change, the “deep state;” these are issues we still can’t agree on so why should religion be any different? To ask people to believe in someone as extraordinary as Jesus when they can’t even believe what they can see and experience with their own eyes is a hill too steep for some. But that does not mean we cannot reach these people? As it is written in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Or in Matthew 19:26 where Jesus tells the disciples, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” For most of us, Christ comes alive not in the pages of a book, but in our lives through the love of God. Maybe it’s our parents or grandparents who reflected God’s love in their love for us. Maybe a pastor or a teacher who was there in our time of need. Maybe just a neighbor or friend who reached out in a meaningful way. It’s not the words in a book that make Christ come alive for us but how we love one another. As it says in 1 John 3:18, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” That is when Christ moves away from just being another story to the living Gospel. It is when God becomes real in our own lives that the doubt and questions fade, and we can embrace the truth of Jesus for ourselves. Let us commit this Christmas season to live life more closely to where Christ is leading us. Let us be the candle in the darkness for those around us. And let the transformation of our lives by the presence of Jesus be the strongest proof of his existence.
[1] http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/02/17/good-question-is-the-big-bang-theory-science-real/
[2] https://people.astro.umass.edu/~arny/jatoms_tut.html and https://www.fnal.gov/pub/science/inquiring/matter/
[3] https://www.google.com/search?q=legend&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb#rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&q=legend+definition
[4] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-15-ca-2099-story.html
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Brown
[6] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/09/06/this-year-old-woman-just-gave-birth-twins/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy_over_age_50
[7] https://study.com/learn/lesson/perseus-greek-mythology.html
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintar%C5%8D
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraculous_births
[10] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-d-tabor/did-paul-invent-the-virgin-birth_b_2355278.html
Festivus for the Rest of Us
“A Festivus for the rest of us!”
George Costanza’s father shouted that line in a 1997 episode of Seinfeld. Frank Costanza, tired of the rampant commercialization of Christmas, decided to make his own holiday called Festivus. As he proclaimed, “A Festivus for the rest of us!” Instead of a Christmas tree, there was a Festivus aluminum pole completely unadorned because tinsel bothered George’s father. There was the traditional Festivus dinner, the Feats of Strength, and my personal favorite, the Airing of Grievances where you sat around the table and told everyone how they bothered you this past year. Festivus was meant to be a parody of the holiday season, but there are people today who still celebrate it as a holiday. A workplace with a very diverse group of employees decided to have a Festivus party to be inclusive of everyone’s beliefs. One guy at the office felt it was so blasphemous he tried to knock down the Festivus pole.[1] The lead organizer said, “Grievances were aired about him.” But he’s not the only one with a humbug attitude. Two groups, The Catholic League and the New York Board of Rabbis, joined together to condemn another made up holiday, Chrismukkah, saying it was “insulting” to both Jews and Christians.[2] Theologically you can make the argument the two are not compatible, but is that really the issue or is it us?
Sometimes, when we feel challenged, we become defensive.
And people can be awfully defensive about Christmas. But are we defensive for the right reasons? Christians protest when nativity scenes are taken down in public places. Some get upset when companies tell their employees to say, “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” But we don’t seem too worried there are people who can’t afford to put food on the table or are living in the streets. Instead of focusing on the things Jesus would be concerned about we act as if somehow Christianity will cease to exist if it’s not being celebrated publicly. We forget that Christmas is a completely made-up holiday. For that matter, so is Advent.
People love opening Advent calendars.
But few realize it’s much more than just a countdown to Christmas. For Christians today, it’s a season of preparation for the coming of Christ. In fact, “Advent” literally means “coming.” But originally, it wasn’t about the birth of Christ at all. Instead, it was the six-week period leading up to the Epiphany and during that time followers celebrated all the aspects of Jesus’ early life up to the first miracle at the wedding in Cana. It would be another 200 years before it focused on the coming of Christ, but instead of the birth of Jesus, it focused on his second coming.[3] It would be another thousand years before it would become what we are familiar with today. For most of recorded history, Advent wasn’t about the birth of Christ at all.
Which, by the way, didn’t happen on December 25th.
You probably know that by now, but I grew up associating December 25th with the birth of Jesus. Even friends of mine who are not Christian believe that’s what the holiday is all about. But the truth is, no one knows precisely when he was born. One book I read explained it was likely Jesus was born in the Spring since the Bible refers to shepherds who were tending their flocks at night, something they wouldn’t have done in the dead of winter. But no one ever wrote it down because to the early church it wasn’t important. The two biggest events in the church calendar were Epiphany and Easter. Christmas wasn’t even on the radar. It would take 400 years after Jesus’ actual birth before Christians started to celebrate it. Which also, by the way, wasn’t in 1 AD. Most scholars today will tell you Jesus was likely born somewhere between 2 and 7 BC, which translated from the Latin means “before Christ.” Because of an error in calculation, the guy who invented the counting of years was off. I don’t know how you miscalculate years, but there you have it. The first actual Christmas was not December 25th, 1 AD but sometime in the Spring of 2-7 BC.
But none of that really matters.
What we need to focus on during the Christmas season is the “why,” not the “when.” Other than the event itself, the rest of what we think of as a traditional Christmas was created by human beings. The date, the season, the traditions, even the giving of gifts did not happen on the day Jesus was born. The only gift given that day was God’s gift to us in the form of a baby in a manger. Which is the reason we celebrate. Sometimes we forget the reason for the season and celebrate the traditions more than the event itself. For today, let us be reminded of that evening long ago that changed the world.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” – Luke 2:8-14
This is the importance of Christmas.
The birth of Christ into the world. “Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” In all the hubbub of the Christmas season, it’s good to simply share in the story of the birth of Christ and be reminded of the significance of that moment when “a great company of the heavenly host appeared” saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When I mentioned we need to focus on the “why” instead of the “when,” this is the “why” we need to focus on – why we celebrate the season. We celebrate the fact that God humbled himself to enter into the world just as we do. God became man to lead us, guide us, and share with us the good news of salvation that comes through him. The good news the angel refers to is of course the birth of Jesus and as we like to say, he is the reason for the season. Instead of getting focused on the details of Christmas or complaining about the commercialization of Christmas or worried the season is losing its meaning, we need to instead focus on the meaning ourselves. Because Christmas isn’t a date on a calendar, it’s a way of living. Jesus comes alive when we love one another. And in that way, everyday can be Christmas.
Let me tell you a story about a friend of mine named Mark Thompson.
We went to Cerritos Elementary School and had most of the same teachers all the way up through fourth grade. Mark recently had his 14th birthday. That’s right. His 14th birthday. And I don’t mean because he’s young at heart. I mean literally, his 12th birthday. If you haven’t figured it out already, Mark is a “leaper” or “leapling” as they call it. He was born on February 29th, 1968, the same year as I was born. Yet he is only 11 years old because of the way we keep time on the calendar. Since his actual birth date only occurs once every 4 years, he is only one-fourth of my age. But is he really? We’ve lived the same number of days – actually I’ve lived less of them since my birthday is after his. But Mark used to like to say that he’d live to be a lot older than me because he’s aging only a fourth as fast as I am. I hate to break it to him, but he’s not really aging slower than anybody. Just because the date of his birth only shows up on a calendar once every four years, doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s still aging like the rest of us. All of that to say that December 25th is just a number. Christmas should live in our hearts every day.
[1] Taken from a story on the CNN website back in 2009. The story has since been removed.
[2] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/2646/new-york-rabbis-join-catholic-league-to-denounce-chrismukkah
[3] https://www.up.edu/garaventa/did-you-know/meaning-advent.html – in fact, Advent does mean coming, but it’s Greek derivative is “Parousia” which refers to the second coming of Christ.
The Hidden Cost of Love
There’s a lot more that goes into something you love than meets the eye.
Take for instance my passion for Disney pins. It started innocently. We were at Disney-MGM Studios (when it was still called that) and we were just looking at souvenir pins when Emma noticed a cute one on a Cast Member’s lanyard. The nice young woman said these were for trading and if she had a pin to trade for it she could. So, after Emma looked up at me with these big, round eyes, I bought a pin for her so she could trade, and she walked away a happy camper. Pretty soon, every time we would go to the park we would buy a pin to add to our collection, but these were nice pins, and we didn’t want to trade them away so we also bought pins just for trading. Well, our collection started to grow, and we didn’t have anywhere to store them safely until I noticed they sold pin bags you could use for storage. Pretty soon, I’m going to special pin trading events and waiting in line for hours for a pin release and purchasing tickets just for the OPPORTUNITY to buy MORE pins. The pins themselves are fairly reasonably priced, but when you add in the special pin backs to secure them, the pin bags to haul them, the pin backpacks to trade with…well, you get the idea. But overall, it’s worth it. When you love something, it is worth investing in.
The same is even more true with people.
Hobbies are great and people certainly become passionate about them. But when we invest in people, the reward is so much greater and the people who mean the most to you are certainly worth investing in. They say you can’t buy love, but you can sure put a price tag on it. According to a survey of 1,500 engaged and married couples, a lifetime of love costs $192,769.19.[1] By the way, that’s just gifts, date nights, special occasions, engagement rings and wedding bands. That doesn’t include everyday expenses, family vacations, homes, or kids. $192,769.19. The first year is the most expensive, clocking in on average at $9,233.32. It gets progressively less expensive from there on out. But even dating is an investment. Want to find out if that person is worth it? It’s going to cost you up front to the tune of $196 per date.[2] Now if the date is a bomb, you might feel ripped off. But when you find someone special, the cost seems trivial because it was worth it.
Let me tell you, God thinks you’re worth it, too.
And he’s willing to pay any price for you. If you have a Bible or a Bible app on your phone please turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, beginning with verse 25. In the story from John 3, Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council seeks out Jesus, but unlike other Pharisees, he’s not trying to kill Jesus or trick him. He genuinely seeks to understand him better. This is just the first of Nicodemus’ encounters with Christ and over time he comes to believe in him as the Messiah. But here, he comes seeking to know more and Jesus reveals to him that he is indeed the Christ that was prophesized. For us, the most important lines are also the most famous of the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world the condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” That is how much God loves you. That God would sacrifice his only Son out of his love for you. When we think of what something will cost us, we often revert to money, but God tells us and shows us that love requires something more. And we see that here in the story of the Good Samaritan.
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” – Luke 10:25-37
Love means investing in what’s important.
Sometimes that’s a person like it is in this story. Sometimes, it’s an ideal or an institution. And in this story, we see it in the time, talent, gifts, service, and witness the Samaritan gives to the injured Jewish man. By the way, it isn’t a coincidence these are the same five qualities we promise to give to the church when we join. Time, talent, gifts, service, and witness. Time is probably the most obvious. He stops. The Samaritan who probably wouldn’t have been given the time of day by most Jewish people stops for this Jewish man in need. But then he uses his own possessions to dress his wounds enough so he can travel. He bandages him up using the skill he has and uses his own oil and wine to flush it out. He uses his donkey to transport the man to a local inn, also meaning he has to walk. And then he uses his own money to pay the innkeeper. Time, talent, gifts, and service were used to witness to the love Christ showed to us.
Do you invest in the things that are important?
It’s so easy for us to be like the Levite and the priest and ignore what truly matters. In this story what mattered was this injured man on the side of the road. The first two men probably assumed someone else would stop. They were too busy. Too focused on themselves. But the Samaritan took time to notice what should have been obvious to the other two and not only noticed it but did something about it. How often do you take for granted the very things that are most important to you? Sometimes it’s your family. Sometimes it’s your spouse. Sometimes it’s time itself. And sometimes it’s the things you don’t even think about, but that you would miss terribly if they were gone. Too often people become so invested in their work they ignore their families. They don’t realize there is a growing distance between them and their spouse or their kids. Eventually, their spouse gets tired of being second fiddle. Their kids lose all trust and faith in them. And soon they have a broken home with broken people.
Take the time to invest in what is important.
Your family, your health, your faith. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21. Jesus isn’t talking about just material treasures, but power, fame, recognition, and all the things that distract us from loving our families, taking care of our health, and separating us from our faith. One of my colleagues was famous for overworking himself. In a bizarre twist of fate, I served multiple churches where he also served. I’d hear about how he would work so hard he would fall asleep at the church and wake up in time for worship. Or how he would travel three hours away to visit the friend of a family member of someone in the church because he heard they were in the hospital. But the stress he put upon himself to maintain that reputation ate at his body until he was forced to go to the hospital himself. He is a wonderful guy and a terrific pastor, but he didn’t set up boundaries where they were important, and it cost him. I don’t want the same to happen to you.
In this season of Thanksgiving, take the time to reflect on all of these thoughts.
How well are you balancing family, health, and faith? Are you investing as much in these as you do other aspects of your life? If not, what steps can you take to get back in balance. Just as you invest in your hobbies, your career, and other aspects of your life, make sure you create boundaries so they don’t take over your life. Keep focused on the things that are truly important and let us give thanks to God for what we have.
[1] https://www.shaneco.com/theloupe/articles-and-news/the-cost-of-love/
Craig's Corner 