Moral Capitalism

Check out this well-written editorial at CT on-line about the financial crisis and our responsibility as Christians:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/december/17.22.html

What do you know about Christmas?

This is a pretty entertaining quiz on the history of our Christmas celebration at CT. What did CS Lewis say about Christmas? Who was St. Nick? (and some other interesting facts). You can take the quiz by following the link below:


http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/quiz/?id=RUQWP

The Language of Christmas

Certain words catch one’s attention. During a brief online surf of U.S.
news I found a rare word expressed in two separate articles. The first article chronicled a juvenile correction center in Florida that violently punished young boys back in the 60’s. The second article came from the opposite corner of the nation, Washington, where a woman has been sent to jail for smuggling a monkey on a flight from Thailand to Los Angeles. She sedated the primate, hid him under her shirt, and posed as an expectant mother. These are two very different scenarios, but contain a common word:
egregious.

I don’t believe I have ever used the word “egregious.” I know I have heard it, for the pronunciation is as familiar as the word is rare: egg-ree-juss.
Prior to my present reading I could not have defined the word for anyone.
The context, however, helps us know its function. Based on these two articles I would surmise this word connotes a kind of naive misconduct, an arrogant carelessness, and a foolish flippancy. Egregious must mean one demonstrates disrespect toward others and expresses it in self-condemning behavior. Perhaps one may, also, find the word in an article on Illinois’s Governor.

Now, I’ll check the dictionary…(jeopardy music playing)

(Two minutes later) Okay, so maybe I was a little too specific…Webster’s Dictionary simply defines as “outstandingly bad.” However, Webster’s Thesaurus does support much of my impression: “conspicuous, enormous, extraordinary, flagrant, great, gross, huge, monstrous, outrageous, prodigious, remarkable, tremendous.”

The point of all this is: We learn what words mean by the contexts in which they are used. Hear a word one time and you can kind of make it out. Hear it a second time and it becomes a little clearer. With every new situation in which the word is spoken its meaning becomes more distinct, because the appearances of the term allow for intersections among stories. And intersections give definition. You may even start using the word…as in – “King Herod was an egregious old man, who protected his throne by killing powerless infants!”

We learn what words mean by the contexts in which they are used.
Therefore…be outrageously generous with your Advent language. Connect the Christmas story with the rest of your discipleship life, and learn to articulate it. There are many who hear of Christ every year at Christmas, but have no other intersections. No other stories give definition for understanding why this baby arrived. For the church, it’s obvious…the story is enriched with hope for a redeemed humanity, goodwill toward all men, community gatherings of worship and adoration, finding needs in others then sacrificially giving in love. We even do such audacious things (like last
Sunday) as share Communion during Advent – so necessary for understanding God-with-us in our world.

But what about those who do not yet know the rest of Christ’s story? And what about our kids? Do we want them to forever think Christmas is about circling everything one fancies in a toy catalog? We want to teach them to give, yes, but we, also, want them to learn to receive rightly. All these nuances of Christmas – they are filled full as they are held in tension with the rest of Jesus’ life, and the mighty acts of God in Scripture.

The Word has come but for some remains ambiguous. Be generous with your Advent language. Allow it to intersect with your daily discipleship that does not end when we throw the wrapping paper away Dec 26th. Just think…those curled up little baby fingers will one day straighten the legs of a cripple. Those eyes that fail to focus on his own mother will one day pierce the heart of a rich, young ruler. Allow the story of this powerless baby to intersect with what He has done in your life. Then tell it. It is a great thing to be called by His name, and we discover the richness by which we have been defined as our lives intersect at the manger.

- Chet Bush

Celebrate Christmas by Giving Generously

This is a fantastic NOOMA by Rob Bell that should put our lifestyle in perspective. Keep this in mind as you decide what to do with your resources over this advent season...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZFFxDcSfeA

A Great Story Teller

Excellent article on one of my favorite musicians at Christianity Today... Bill Mallonee was named by Paste Magazine as one of the top 100 songwriters of all time...

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/october/39.78.html

The Advent Consipiracy

To stay in tune with our recent posts - this is an excellent piece on The Advent Conspiracy - a great idea from Rick McKinley at Imago Dei in Portland... it will make you change the way your family "does" Christmas...
http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/259/1/

Reflection on the Advent Season

Great thoughts from the Wallis blog on Christmas:

http://www.sojo.net/blog/godspolitics/?p=4368

Cracking at the Seams

One of the best pieces I have ever read at Relevant - the author's raw honesty and transparency remind me of the Jesus who is working to invade our lives...

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7579

Temperature of the Truth

It’s cold outside. If you are like me, you can feel the chill even indoors, warmed by heated space. It just feels cold on the other side of the walls – like we have thermometric antennae transmitting temperature to our bloodstream. Sometimes when we near a window that is cold to the touch we can feel a waft of frigid air.

There is a Weather Channel option on my computer that depicts the outdoor temperature. Just next to the wi-fi strength signal on the lower tool bar, a Fahrenheit digit affirms that what I am feeling is not just an illusion – it is reality. I’m not just feeling things. It really is cold.

It’s funny how we need a thermometer to legitimize what we are experiencing.
Sometimes our bodies aren’t accurate, though, and we need a standard. There are other times when the same temp can be cold to some and hot to others.
Just try setting a thermostat for a room of more than a few people. No matter what the temperature reads, some are uncomfortable.

Thermometers are fairly oblivious to our concerns. They do not read “comfortable”, or assure Goldilocks’ ascription of “just right.” Rather, a thermometer states fact: “It’s 39 degrees outside – deal with it.” It simply tells truth. Thermostats, on the other hand, aren’t primarily for reading the temperature, but for adjusting it. (And thank goodness for that
technology!)
A temptation in our homes is to walk in a room and adjust the thermostat to our comfort. Is it possible this convenience creeps into other aspects of life? Are we so used to our personal settings (power seats, tilt steering, lots of channels) that we arrange truth to our preferences, too? We don’t like the Sermon on the Mount so we adjust it a few degrees to our liking…

One of the things Scripture does for the church is it tells truth. It is often uncomfortable. There are times when we do not wish to weather the storms of reality. The Bible states it like it is. Other times we’re not sure if our feelings are legitimate until the Standard affirms what is. The function of Scripture in our lives is to tell the truth. This is what is.

So, the stories – even when they are ugly and expose the human inclination to perversion – are accurate. And the hope, expressed in humanity’s restoration to God in Christ, is sure. And the reality expressed in this God/man relationship is trustworthy. Scripture is sure. It is not a tool for us to adjust the atmosphere to our comfort. It is more like a thermometer than a thermostat. The adjustments are made inside us, not outside.

Gratitude in the right places.

What are you thankful for?

God is not merely teaching us to be grateful. Rather, we are learning what to be thankful for. This is a crucial distinction in discipleship.
Gratitude can be as ambiguous as a mass credit mailer. It’s when we name and identify that which is worthy of the kingdom of heaven that we grow in the Image of God.

There’s no question everyone on earth is thankful; some for food and shelter, others for health and wellness. Still others have what we might call “gratitude distortion”: another drink for the alcoholic, more credit when our spending lifestyle has not changed, a relational advantage over someone we can wield power…sometimes we’re thankful just because we get what we want, or think we need. The condition of our hearts is revealed by the direction of our gratitude.

Discerning what to be grateful for is as important, or more, than the measure of our gratitude. It’s possible this season could open our eyes to uncomfortable blessings: a broken heart that led you into a closet of prayer, the argument that prompts two persons to talk about their relationship more thoughtfully, an embarrassing situation that teaches humility and meekness. We reveal who our God is by our gratitude.

Troubled Times

One of my favorite writers recently encouraged me to go back and study Israel's journey through the wilderness in the Old Testament. For forty years every need that they had was met by God, sustenance in the form of manna literally fell from the sky and water came from rocks. The story even tells us that their clothes didn't wear out! Forget Under Armor - can you imagine clothes that would last forty years under those extreme conditions?
Open your web-browser to any news site - these are uncertain times. The headlines today scream about the instability of the world we live in: the crashing market, the government bail-out plan, Pakistan attacks U.S. troops, Obama calls for change...
The story of Israel's journey through the wilderness speaks directly to our hearts in these anxious times. Israel's primary form of sustenance was "manna" - there is no real scientific explanation matching the biblical description of manna - but the idea is one worth meditating on.
God provided manna for Israel every morning, it would be gathered and used, but could not be stored. The people had to rely completely on God for "their daily bread" and could do nothing by their own power to protect themselves from the possibility of going hungry the very next day. This promise speaks directly into modern day American headlines, it is not a promise of prosperity, not even a promise that we won't go hungry. God doesn't guarantee your 401k, your mortgage, protection from acts of terror, or even your job... but He does guarantee that whatever challenges we find in this wilderness of life - He will sustain us.

"Re-Walk"

41 year-old Radi Kaiof, an Israeli veteran, is paralyzed from an accident in1988. The paratrooper has not walked in twenty years. On Monday of this week he took his first steps since the accident. Strapped to an apparatus called the “Rewalk” – a battery powered exoskeleton – the soldier experienced life upright again. The Rewalk gives the user control with a remote attached at the wrist.Crutches aid with balance as the paralytic leans forward. The contraption helps a person of paralysis stand, walk, and climb stairs. Muscle and lung activity in the upright position strengthen the user’s overall health. However, “It’s not just about health, it’s also about dignity,” assures the inventor of the Rewalk, Emit Goffer. Radi agreed: “Only when standing up can I feel how tall I really am and speak to people eye to eye, not from below.”While the invention is Goffer’s brainchild, he doesn’t know what it is like to walk with it. He, himself, is a paraplegic but still does not have enough mobility in his arms or hands to control the instrument panel! (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26391953/)
There are times in our lives when we are forced to function by the support of external mobility. We do not have it in our power to coordinate activity for our own good. We must learn to trust, to lean into, the proper support systems. We are braced by intentional motion and accountable direction. Love the church. She is present in your life, not for the sake of adding burden to your back, but mobility to your limbs. Be accountable to Christian fellowship. Yield to the practices. Trust the disciplines. Render yourself to the directions of Christian history that strengthen spiritual health and stamina: read scripture, pray, meditate, memorize, give, serve, show compassion…take up your cross - this is the framework of mobility our Lord has taught us to share.
- Tob Adams

Harrison Bergeron and Meditation: A Healthy Dose of Quiet

Kurt Vonnegut has a great little science fiction story titled "Harrison Burgeron" where the characters wear ear-pieces that essentially keep them from thinking about anything for too long. "Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some type of sharp noise to keep people like George (father of the main character) from taking unfair advantage of their brains." While Vonnegut's theme is a little different, the details of the story and his social commentary spoke to me on a spiritual level.
I am working through The Celebration of Discipline right now by Richard Foster with some friends and have spent a great deal of time focusing on his chapter on meditation. Speaking on Christian meditation in general he says, "Inward fellowship of this kind transforms the inner personality. We cannot burn the eternal flame of the inner sanctuary and remain the same, for the Divine Fire will consume everything that is impure." I have been encouraged to hear that some of those in my group have experienced the "Divine Fire" through meditation. One friend commented that his meditation on Scripture before prayer had progressed in a way that had lead to some humbling moments before God. Many of us though are experiencing the struggles of the discipline, the challenges presented by all the noise in our lives. The radio, the television, my latest iPod purchase, and my precious cell phone leave little time for quiet reflection.

The genius of the vision in Vonnegut's short story is found in the idea that noise and distraction are so prevalent that they "handicap" us. The wall of sound and distraction is so large in 2008 that I cant imagine what it will be like in 2081 (the setting of his story). I am realizing a process that began in my search to find the discipline to meditate, has also illustrated the spiritual and holistic need for silence in my everyday life (beyond the time set aside for prayer and meditation). I am working to use the 'off' button a little more these days and infuse a healthy dose of quiet into my daily routine...

- Matt Litton

A Meandering Path

In Ashley Falls, Massachusetts, a woman named Maria Nation has received suchnotoriety for her 8-acre garden that a popular magazine published a 10-page spread complete with an interview, colorful pictures and aerial designs of her estate. “Meandering paths, dotted with beds overflowing incolor and texture, abound in the gardens at Good Dogs Farm.” (CottageLiving, Tom Christopher, July / August, 2008. pp. 92-101.)
When friends askher to design a garden for their property, she declines on the basis that gardening is a form of self-expression. “A garden is a diary. We justwalked through years of my life out there,” she told editors. Approaching this Independence Day we consider our history and we ponder our emerging culture. A lot of change has occurred in the last few years, some good and some not so good. This is the mark of a free country. Change isn’t something new to our nation, but has been the mainstay since its inception. We are still under fifty years being 50 United States (Alaska &Hawaii, 1959). Terms like “melting pot” and “tapestry” describe the plurality that constitute our country. The authors of “Religion in America”describe this as an “evolving nation.” I had a history professor in seminary repeat on several occasions, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” If there is one thing we can count on, it is acculturation. Believe it or not, the church is not the caboose of most change in our nation’s history…it is the engine. I hope we can remember that God-driven directions are empowered by the Holy Spirit. As the church we are responsible to an evolving culture. We are to be Christlike. We are called to be set apart in Jesus’ purposes. We are equipped to pray the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. As a pastor, my role is to remind you…when you pray for our country your primary obligation is to welcome the rule of God. I once heard a wise man describe life in the church as walking through a garden. Those who welcome the Kingdom are already living in that Garden. See God’s provision. Explore the beauty of his mercy and grace. It is a meandering path, abounding in color and texture.

- Tob Adams

Holding back the Mississippi

Up and down the Mississippi River, towns have girded banks and bolstered levees with sandbags. The rain and storms are like fuel on fire, feeding the monster that has been appropriately labeled The Big River. There is history of this winding, curvy Leviathan swelling up in wrath-like proportions. This summer we are again reminded that the coursing of this vein demonstrates a life in itself.In his ode to the river, “Life on the Mississippi,” Mark Twain regards the personality of this great, fluid beast. He notes that it “is always changing its habitat bodily,” and documents one community’s experience: “At Hard Times, Louisiana, the river is two miles west of the region it used to occupy. As a result, the original site of that settlement is not now in Louisiana at all, but on the other side of the river, in the state of Mississippi.” And this is not just one span of its length. “Nearly the whole of that one thousand three hundred miles of old Mississippi River which La Salle floated down in his canoes, two hundred years ago, is good solid dry ground now. The river lies to the right of it, in places, and to the left of it in other places.”It seems an ironic twist that the very material, which is so susceptible to being washed away, is now the greatest defense of many communities being…well, washed away. Sand bags, while cumbersome and time consuming, seem to be the most trustworthy and available resource to this point. While there are several alternatives probing the market, the sandbag remains to be the icon of flood defense.The character of sand is strangely similar enough to the water that, when contained, it does its job. Sand seals holes because it is fluid. Just like the water that alters its course, sand is willing to be malleable, too.The test seems to be if the human community can adjust as discerningly as the water and earth.We are a lot like the river – and the sand for that matter. Left alone, we are susceptible to wash out emotionally, spiritually, and physically. In community, however, we have purpose and direction. Our limits become our strength. Containers are not for inhibiting, but for channeling. I believe an important reason sandbags are the icon of flood defense is because every able body has power to help. The chief accomplishment of a town’s victory against a rising river is more than a physical victory. It is the moral accomplishment of joining together for a common purpose. Every person is essential. Every granule of sand is significant. Every drop of water has potential.

- Tob Adams

Springtime Reflections

We’re spending more time outside, now, sprucing up our yards and tending our flowerbeds. I planted a tree in our front yard last week and have been closely inspecting the buds on the others. This year I purchased some fertilizer stakes that are driven into the ground around trees to nourish.
Since I have never used these I read the instructions.

For every two inches of diameter, drive three fertilizer stakes into the ground equal distance from one another at the “drip line.” For those unfamiliar with the description “drip line” a rough sketch depicted the spread of a tree’s branches and dotted a line from the trunk of the tree to the tips of the leaves. The “drip line” is the outermost circumference of leaf life; where the rain and dew drip from the edges of the tree.

This simple principle yields great lessons for the relationship between outer growth and inner growth. The roots directly source the foliage of a tree, and the spreading branches sustain the roots. I thought I was simply providing nutrient to the roots, but I was actually inserting a third party of nutrition into the already symbiotic relationship of branches and roots.
Each depends on the other for maturation.

The inner growth (below ground) and outer growth (above ground) of a tree are often compared to the inner and outer spiritual life of a person. I have heard it said that a person must grow deep roots to bear fruit. On the other hand, our outer foliage is essential to our inner development, too.
Roots need relationship with fruit-bearing branches. It’s not enough to have an inner life…one also must cultivate an outer life of bearing fruit.
The outward life is not just the result; it is essential to the inward life.

Sometimes our prayer life dries up. At times devotions can seem empty. We feed our inner life with God by expressing an outer life of devotion. Find ways to be of service. Look for opportunity to spread your branches, to be fruitful in life. Your prayer life will be encouraged and stimulated.

A strong relationship between the inner and outer spiritual life grows deep roots in prayer and an expanding drip line of service.

April Fools

April Fool’s Day is one holiday we never want to fall victim. As harmless as the tricks generally are, to be caught a fool is to mean someone else is more clever than you. I’m not sure why we have the innate in-ability to laugh at ourselves...it has to be practiced and accepted for most of us. Usually, if we are the butt of a joke, it makes us angry. We don’t like to think someone else knows something we don’t—even if it is as trivial as what’s under that hat.
TV shows have created entire themes around laughing at one another. America’s Funniest Home Videos is all about catching someone in the midst of an unfortunate accident, or how someone has pulled the wool over another’s eyes. Ever notice those who get the angriest are usually the proudest when the prank turns into prize money?
Foolishness is never an endeavor though it is often a liability, and sometimes closer to us than we’d like. Paul reminds us the context in which God demonstrated His greatest act of love and self-revelation, the cross. “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God….God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are…” (I Cor 1:18, 27-28).
I don’t like being considered a fool. While one of my greatest temptations is to present the Gospel in terms that are credible to society, I also find that I can’t understand the world in terms other than that defined by Christ. For Christians, Truth is defined by the cross & resurrection. Our starting point for wisdom is other than the world’s. As the Proverb says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (1:7, NRSV).
- Tob Adams

The Story...

We are bombarded by news bytes and tidbits throughout the day. We live in the information age. Just checking email, or logging into “whatever-your-space-might-be” yields headline after headline. This morning ’s titles demonstrate the plethora of themes: “Big Oil Company Backs Off ‘Green’ Push,” “Vogue Cover Draws Criticism,” “Is It Time To Sell That Gold?” “Dozens Killed As Iraq Clashes Widen.” Articles are punctuated by advertisements for spring vacations or improving our credit scores. The sacrosanct and the superfluous share the same page, the terrible and the trite.

Amidst the clamor for attention and concern God’s Word seeks a hearing. We have just come through the most significant event in history - the identity forming, faith validating vengeance of Jesus the Victor. He beat death. It’
s not a sports column, not a fashion statement, not an investment strategy.
It is a faith confession.

Faith confessions bear significant prowess in our lives. It’s more than a belief – it is a life-story. Someone could ask us, “Do you believe Stephen Curry is the major force behind Davidson College’s success in the NCAA Tournament?” We could resoundingly say, “Yes, I do!” But we wouldn’t order our lives around the event. The Resurrection is no Cinderella story. It is an existential reality.

Consider the ramifications in us of Christ’s achievement. During Lent we journeyed toward the cross. Thank God, it’s Easter.
Are you like me? It’s easy to allow the story to fade with yesterday’s news – to drop it in the recycle box with last evening’s paper. (Not that it will go away, mind
you.) This is a story that continues to shape whether I let it shape me or not. This is an event of consequence. There is more of the same to come – and Jesus says the more-to-come I will experience on a personal level.

It’s a season for pondering The Victory. Here are some voices that resonate through the ages on the Subject:

“In Christ’s death, death died. Life dead slew death; the fullness of life swallowed up death; death was absorbed in the body of Christ” ~ St.
Augustine**

“For by it [resurrection] righteousness is obtained for us (Rom. 4:24); it is a sure pledge of our future immortality (1Cor. 15); and even now by its virtue we are raised to newness of life, that we may obey God’s will by pure and holy living (Rom. 6:4)” ~ John Calvin**

- Tob Adams

The Wounded Redeemer

Twenty yards out the back door of our house lay three small, blue-speckled eggs. Nestled alone amidst rock and rubble the eggs rest in the elements on the ground. We never would have noticed them had it not been for the mother who persevered through last week’s storms roosted on her gravelly nest. She persisted through the rains and standing water.

Each day our kids checked to see if she had stayed. She had. Then one day, the eggs were alone. About ten yards away, the mother poked around with a watchful eye. Leah and Levi wanted to see the eggs. Each time they approached the stony bed, mother bird began limping about with a cock-eyed wing in the air. She squawked and hollered, creating a diversion from her nest of babies.

This bird is called a “killdeer.” They are known for their protective behavior. When a predator approaches her nest, the bird performs a “broken-wing dance” to divert attention away from the babies. Luring the danger toward herself she risks the possibility of escape in order to save her children. The killdeer expresses the concept of a wounded redeemer.
Amazing!

In Scripture there is a model of redemption associated with a scapegoat. As described in Leviticus 16, the priest shall place both hands on the ascribed animal, confess over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the people, and then send it away into the wilderness. The animal, then, carries the infirmities of the community away from the camp. Deliverance comes by removal.

How should I think about this? A model of redemption is being acted out in my backyard by a wild bird! Granted, the eggs themselves have not procured any guilt on themselves…perhaps, though, they demonstrate for us the innocence of the newly redeemed.

The wounded Redeemer is very near to us.

This is Holy Week. This is the time in which we consider the efficacious suffering of our Lord. Hear the Prophet Isaiah:

“Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases…. he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. (53:4-5)”
Then, “the righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. (53:11)”

The Wounded Redeemer opens broken wings for you.
- Tob Adams

Its the direction, not the paint job...

Traveling south on Highway 37 I followed a minivan for a few miles yesterday afternoon. Before long, I could see that it was once involved in a major accident. It was not an old van, there were no dents, and the paint job still looked great. But a hard impact evidently had slammed the front driver’s side fender, throwing the entire frame out. The body was trying to pull west, but the wheels just kept traveling south. It looked almost as if it was driving sideways down the road.

Driving behind someone gives me the eye of my Dad in a hardware store checking for warped two-by-fours. Hold it up to your eye, examine it close and you can see every bend. We want the straight ones, not the warped ones.

Sideways-headed automobiles remind me of people. He’s been hit hard or she has a major impact in her history. Maybe his body doesn’t show it. Maybe she’s not really that old. Facing the right direction is important…but it’s not everything. What is ultimately important is the direction one actually travels. Some may look like they are headed west, but their feet still endure to travel north. That’s perseverance – and I commend those who press on despite the adversities of their past.

In time, that old minivan’s suffering will compound. If it goes untreated, the out-of-whack frame will wear out the tires, which will create all sorts of vibration that will damage what’s under the hood. With people, too, there is a fundamental framework on which the directions of our life depend. Even though we are pressing on in the right direction, the pull of our lives will wear out the longevity of our journey.

Discerning a need in another’s life is a challenge we should approach cautiously. Some just want the bodywork to look good. Slap some paint on or replace some chrome and hit the road. Rather, God works in our heart – inside our frame. Christ renders our heart pure as it is in alliance with God’s will.
This is the framework befitting life’s journey.
- Tob Adams

Love and Winter Weather

A couple weeks ago I wrote about the barrenness of the land during the winter months and its resemblance to a curvaceous grizzly. The shape of the earth reminds us of other living things. Now that the trees are empty and the shrubbery lean, we more easily recognize what has been hidden there in months of warmth and coverage.

I’ve noticed another feature in the absence of foliage.
Take a look at how much is revealed about our human habitats during the winter months. In the summer, trees and bushes, shrubs and brush, plants and flowers fill the landscape. We enjoy shade from the sun. We live under cover. Now that the leaves are gone, our yards are exposed and our buildings are bare. Things like random bricks, pots, and tools rest against sheds, visible to the public. During winter, things are laid barren and naked. Life is much more exposed in these lean months.

Our personalities seem to share this same pattern. Don't we all experience winter at times in our spiritual, personal or family life? When good times are scarce, and means are stretched thin…when life is less than fruitful…our extraneous personality quirks begin to show. We are more exposed in the winter months.
Our eccentricities surface. Consider the metaphors we use: “she wears her heart on her sleeve,” or “he has a chip on his shoulder.” Perhaps when someone’s quirkiness, irritability, or discontent shows it is simply because they are experiencing winter - an emotional, bitter cold.

So the exhortation, here, is not to learn how to hide better…it’s to learn how to love people better in the midst of their peculiarity. We never know what is going on in someone’s life.

I remember a community association that met in our church. A lady attended the meeting for the first time and wanted the association to slap the hands of her neighbors who had failed to keep their yard mowed. The community leader shocked me with her discernment when she carefully, yet pointedly, confronted the disgruntled woman: “This neighborhood association’s purpose is to build relationships, not police one another. Have you ever talked to your neighbor? Do you even know their names?”

Lack of relationship manifests itself in all sorts of dysfunction. “Love your neighbor.”
- Tob Adams

Tipping the world toward Christ

“Keep tipping the world toward Christ.”

My favorite book from my 2007 reading list was The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.
Gladwell presents a fascinating idea, “the best way to understand the emergence of fashion trends, the ebb and flow of crime waves... the transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth, or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do" (Gladwell 7).

He goes on to share about the critical transition between random events and movements of epidemic proportion. The most important principle of the book is that this transition can be boiled down to one dramatic moment he calls "the Tipping Point." The majority of the book explores various waves of thought and behavior, then traces each development to the defining minute it “tipped.”

Another important feature he examines is contagiousness – that is, something that catches on. He jokes with a trite metaphor: “Yawning is a surprisingly powerful act. Just because you read the word ‘yawning’ in the previous sentence – and the two additional ‘yawns’ in this sentence – a good number of you will probably yawn within the next few minutes. Even as I’m writing this, I’ve yawned twice. (Me, too) If you’re reading this in a public place, and you’ve just yawned, chances are that a good proportion of everyone who saw you yawn is now yawning too, and a good proportion of the people watching the people who watched you yawn are now yawning as well, and on and on, in an ever-widening, yawning circle" (10).

As a Christian – one who believes in the power of the Holy Spirit to be at work in my life and in the life of each person I meet – I believe there are critical moments for expressing Christ’s Kingdom. I believe this Kingdom is dramatic and contagious to a hungry world. Do I, by my intention and behavior, offer sway toward this Kingdom? Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Notice how we are not led to pray, Thy kingdom come and whisk me away from this God-forsaken place.

Our mission – or, co-mission, one might say – is to spread the Good News.
This is the Jesus story. To echo St. Francis of Assissi, we are to preach the Gospel at all times…if necessary, using words. You see, we are all adding support to something or any number of things, just as a sympathetic droplet of water contributes to a powerful, crushing wave (Dallas Willard).

I want my activity to agree with the activity of the Holy Spirit. Christ longs for our activity to agree with His Holy Spirit, hence agreeing with one another. Let’s tip things the Jesus way. Let’s add energy to the things of God. Let’s tip the world toward Christ.

- Tob Adams

Green for the Lenten Season

These days the contours of the land upon which we live are more exposed than at any other time throughout the year. Skeletal trees lay bare hills and valleys, swells and ravines. Often I find myself envisioning shoulder flanks and round rumps covered in brown fur. Even after the rain, the shape of the land resembles a big, brown grizzly just emerged from the mountain river resting in a heap. It is as if at anytime the monstrous animal could roll over sending us tumbling and scrambling. And we are reminded this thing upon which we live is living itself, practically heaving with breaths, in and out.

It is a beautiful place this earth, this Hebrew “adamah”. It’s funny…we tend to forget with all our technology that we are essentially of this stuff, graced with divine breath. We, Adams, have been shaped and formed from the Adamah. We earthlings were fashioned from the ground beneath our feet. The Lenten Season invites us to remember our mortality, and hence our dependence on the Creator: “Remember. You are dust and to dust you will return.”

Where do I end, and where does the earth begin? I suppose if I had the patience I could plant my feet in the dirt and eventually we would merge right back together. This is actually what happens just between death and Resurrection. We return to the ground, ashes to ashes dust to dust. Rather than call into question the perimeters of the self, though, this affirmation causes me to consider the responsibilities of the self in light of my solidarity with the rest of God’s creation.

I was pleased to see the city I reside in make an official request that its citizens plant more trees.
We Christians should champion all efforts to practice the mandate God impressed upon the first Adam: “to till and to keep” the land; quite literally, to serve and preserve. Just as my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, the rest of creation is blessed by the presence of God and deserves my nurture.

Paul says all creation awaits the glory to be revealed in us. “for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:20-21)”

No agenda, no specific charge…just a spirit of gratitude and reverence for the space where God has placed us. It is good to care for the earth. It is good to remember how God wished things had remained. It is good to seek redemption in the present world.
- Tob Adams

"Yes We Can"

I usually avoid anything political; it tends to be devisive and usually does nothing for our unity of focus (or unity of purpose) as Believers. Politicians can't save the world.

Put your Red and Blue associations aside for just a moment...

By now most of you have at least heard clips of Barak Obama's "Yes We Can" speech. You have probably diagnosed it, disected it, or just loved on it, depending on your perspective or politcal persuasion. I ask you to take a minute and watch this presentation as a follower of Jesus. Ask yourself what could happen if your church, not your political party, not your presidential candidate, but the people you worship with took up this matra and marched out into the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

It was inspiriational to me - I hope you enjoyed it too...
- Matt

Divine Erasure

Nowhere am I so blank as at my desk of creativity. I sense a sort of divine erasing going on… not the erasure of deity, but the divine erasure of me. Like Thoreau, who once said, “I’ve always wished I was as wise as the day I was born,” I find myself wishing I was as articulate – with age has come my babbling. But something is happening that I recognize, an erasing of sorts. Not that I am left empty or void of all meaningful events in my life prior to now, there is just not as much to say about them as there once was. The memory is still present, the commentary has left me and, therefore, silent is the narration that tells me purpose has filled my life.
It is a struggle, but maybe I detect grace to this quiescence. Perhaps God is quieting me for His purposes. It is expectant, really. Like a blank chalkboard with which the teacher starts class. Prior to beginning he swipes clear the extraneous markings from the day before. (Though all can clearly see the film of yesterday’s notes clinging to the board.) This clarity must – I need it to – bring expectancy for new words, new writings, and markings and scribbles that connect dots for the student and bring sight to deaf ears.
Like my daughter said while randomly strumming a guitar yesterday, “That sounds like a rainbow!” There are those who hear when they see, and there are those who see when they hear. Well, I am quiet. Quiet and blank. So, the board has been swiped clean for a fresh word, lest the board itself be erased, too. What shall He say today?
- Tob Adams

God is not "safe"...

I have the opportunity to teach the writings of CS Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in a public high school. It has been a fantastic learning experience for me and my students.
As I prepared for the class last year I picked up the Lewis classic The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and poured through it to create discussion questions. Lewis's characterizations of Jesus in parts of this novel struck me in a way they hadn't before.

I still get chills thinking about the dinner conversation at the Beaver's house. Mr. Beaver explained to the children that Aslan is actually a lion, and the sisters Susan and Lucy question the safety of meeting a lion...

"Then he isn't safe?" asked Lucy
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver..."Who said anything about safe?"
"Course he isn't safe. But he's good."

"Course he isn't safe." Sometimes I wonder where that idea is in my own theology. It seems that we have made our Christianity very safe. Jesus seems to be a safe enough guy. After all, people who follow Jesus are ... well, really nice.

I love taking my boys to the zoo. Our local zoo has nice lions and my crew loves to walk over to see them on every visit. These nice lions seem little like Aslan. They are lethargic, blue, like a Counting Crows tune, and yet, I still imagine them glancing over at me and my family through their sleepy eyes with looks that seem to say, "you know who would be the king if I weren't trapped in here."
I am eternally amazed at their beauty but extremely thankful for the cage, the moat, and everything else that keeps me safe from them - and they are a very far cry from the wild, powerful creatures we see roam and hunt through Africa on the Animal Planet. I can't imagine how it would feel to witness them up-close outside of captivity.

At times I work very hard to pretend the "lion" of the New Testament is more like the one at the zoo - passive and caged.

I know better.

Yes, sometimes it is good for my theology to realize that this Jesus I am always talking about is dangerous.

He can't be placed in a cage safely out of reach, used as a ladder, put in a box, systematized, or chained down with bureaucracy... He is love - wild, ferocious, untamed, unpredictable...

I wonder what would happen to my heart, my worldview, my church, and my family if I ventured close (but not too close) to the "Lion of Judah."

- Matt Litton

God's Timing is Perfect

One of my good friends told me a funny story the other evening. She went to church with her son and his family on Christmas Eve. At their church, communion is a tradition of the holiday. When it came time to take communion, she leaned over to her son and whispered that she was going to take the four- year-old grandson down to the altar with her so he could partake. She assured him that she would explain everything ,so that the little boy would understand.
At the altar they knelt. When served, they both took a portion of wine and bread. My friend explained to the little boy that the bread represented the broken body of Jesus and the wine was just like the blood of Jesus. She instructed him to dip the bread into the wine and eat it. He protested, rather loudly, after cupping his hand over his mouth dramatically, “No, that’s gross. I don’t want to eat that Grammy!”
After returning discreetly to the pew, the whole family proceeded to participate in the candle lighting ceremony. Her son lit his wife’s candle. She lit her son’s. The little boy lit the candle held by his grandmother. As they sang a carol, he whispered, “The water is dripping.” His grandmother admonished him, “That’s not water. It is candle wax. Be careful. If it touches you, it might burn.”Immediately the boy handed his grandmother the dripping candle declaring, “I don’t like the candle or the blood.”
My friend said she became so tickled that she could hardly restrain herself. However, when she regained control, she realized that the young child just wasn’t ready for all of this church symbolism.The meaning was lost on him and probably would be for a couple of more years.
Her story made me think about the many times in my life when I have faced painful situations.Well meaning Christian friends have shared scripture, stories, and personal wisdom with me. Their intentions were honorable. They wanted to help me survive victoriously….to see God’s lesson for me in the experience. I think specifically about the death of my daughter three years ago. So many friends and family have tried to console me, inspire me, and raise me up. I know that they look at me now in my grief and think impatiently, “It should be over, she should be healed, it shouldn't take this long.”
I am not condemning them for their efforts. Truly, they are heroic. But human love involves some impatience because of our preoccupation with time limits. God has taught me much through this experience. But there are lessons yet to be learned, God has given me no deadlines. My friends and family don’t quite understand this. They just want to do whatever they can to stop the hurt and bring healing.
Isn’t this the way it always is with spiritual lessons and growth. We cannot understand why it is taking so long for ourselves or someone else to heal emotionally, to kick a bad habit, or to see the light. We must recognize that God cannot do the work in us until we are ready, and only He knows when that time arrives. His spirit bears witness with ours, and we sometimes inch forward and sometimes leap forward. My friend so wanted her grandson to experience the meaning and joy of communion, but she kindly recognized that he wasn’t there yet. St. Augustine said, “Patience is the companion of wisdom.” For that reason, let us be patient with one another. Let’s not worry over the quick fix. According to the scriptures, “Love is patient…” May we offer our love and compassion to others and ourselves over and over and over again with no limitations or set time table.
- P. Elzey

What does it take to build community?

There is a lot of talk in the circles I run in of what it really means to live "in community" with other Christians. To most people I think community means getting together for Sunday school, maybe having lunch at O'Charleys after church, and sitting in the same pew around the same people on Wednesday nights. There is nothing wrong with all that, but I think community means a bit more - I believe when we begin to wrestle with what it means to live "in community" - we are wrestling with what it would look like to be honest, vulnerable, and transparent with other believers. To be really honest, as much as I hope for that type of community and work towards it - sometimes the idea scares the hell out of me...

The weekend found my wife and I burning the midnight oil with old friends from Nashville, people we have known and loved for over ten years. It was one of those evenings of ageless conversation around the kitchen table where people who have shared the same story can sit and struggle and celebrate and laugh at old jokes, new dreams, who we are, and what we want to become - with a lot of honesty and very little pretense. Everything seemed right and holy from the pints of left-over summer ale, to the laughter of our children playing in the background, to the soundtrack of college favorites smoking like incense into the mood of the room, and the graceful way each of our stories blended to affirm each others subtle transformations - our journeys toward being the people God intended us to be. It was a memorable evening...

And so with that familiar mixture of heart-ache and thankfulness, we saw our friends to the road the next day and began reflecting on the time we had spent with them. There is something powerful about that type of community experience, and it rarely happens in a church setting. We attend a rather large church that is working hard to involve its members in home-based small group meetings, I know it is something that has been a struggle for our pastoral staff. I was fixated on what it would take to experience that depth of community with a small group of people that barely know each other? Can it happen?

The people we worship with are also a part of our story, the greater story that runs timeless and deeper than we can know, one that truly defines us for who we are becoming. I find that the intimate sharing with our old friends comes from a familiarity and trust built by years of knowing - but it pales in comparison to the eternal story that we share with fellow believers. What could happen if through prayer and commitment we allowed those we worshipped with, maybe those we were starting a new small group with, that same level of trust and intimacy? I believe that is the type of transparency the Gospel is calling us to.

My prayer in this struggle to build community, is that the greater story we all share, the one that says, "In the beginning was the Word..." would be the story that draws us together, that gives us the strength to offer, the trust to be honest, the commitment necessary to build lasting community with other believers.
Intentional Christian community begins with intentional transparency.
- Matt Litton

My Thousand Anxious Desires

Somewhere between leading a bible study last night and catching a few minutes of Jay Leno’s bravery in the face of a writer’s strike, Thomas Merton nailed me and my preoccupations in one fell swoop: a “thousand anxious desires” he said. It is the result of a lack of detachment, characteristic of the agitated spirit. “In order to defend ourselves against agitation, we must be detached not only from the immediate results of our work – and this detachment is difficult and rare – but from the whole complex of aims that govern our earthly lives.” When we lack this detachment we succumb to a thousand fears corresponding to our thousand anxious desires.

My agitation – my restless spirit – exudes this angst. “No matter what our aims may be, no matter how spiritual, no matter how intent we think we are upon the glory of God and His Kingdom, greed and passion enter into our work and turn it into agitation as soon as our intention ceases to be pure.” So when I yelled at the children to get in the right building last night prior to our children’s program, my thousand anxious desires revealed a fearful knot. I was as eager to see them leave the church property, as I was to see them enter the sanctuary. “Agitation is the useless and ill-directed action of the body. It expresses the inner confusion of a soul without peace” and it is an enemy of the spirit; the precise opposite the goal of the disciplined life.

I long for this detachment, and in my longing I fear that I will cling to this detachment; hence my wrongful attachments tie me up again. Merton recognizes, “It is just as easy to become attached to an ascetic technique as to anything else under the sun.” (Merton, No Man Is An Island, Dell Publishing Co.: 1955, pp118-120.)

O Lord, in my confession, help me to seek You and Your purposes.

Coupled with the Merton reading my devotion took me to Numbers 18 where God spoke to the Aaronic priests (not to be confused with the Ironic ones…) saying, You will not receive any allotment of land among the Israelites in this claiming of the Promise. You will receive no share. “I am your share and your possession…(v.20).” I have to believe this is more than a pronouncement that their weekly paycheck will come from the tithes and not the marketplace economy. I have to believe there is something deeply reassuring about God’s saturation of the priestly purpose and meaning in life. One so deeply consuming that an entire nation of priests, who fail to identify with Aaron’s financial portion, can affirm together, “He’s all I need.”

How many times have I wished I were a carpenter, or a tradesman? Or have I longed for new areas of study? Or any one other of my thousand anxious desires?

“For you made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” We never stop confessing, do we Augustine…

Experiencing God's Presence

Happy New Year! I hope you have had a good holiday break. It is good to spend time with family and loved ones. My heart is heavy with news reports of folk whose Christmas season has been spoiled by tragedy. One family in Milwaukee lost their 4-year-old son to a fluke accident that involved a toppling television set. The father described his son as full of life and energy. He loved to run and jump, climb and watch cartoons. The description fit my own 4-year-old son.

I don’t know why we have accidents like this. There are so many times when our children fall off a step, or turn chairs over on themselves. We usually rush to the scene to help pick them up, brush them off, kiss their wounds and assure them everything will be fine. I can’t imagine the horror of discovering the incident went the other way – no fixing, no patching up, no shared kisses. How senseless…how pointless…At a time of the year when we are supposed to sit around with one another,watch each other open presents, and spend a whole lot of time just being together, we are reminded how meaningful presence is.

So born out of this holiday of non-productivity is a renewed appreciation for my loved ones; not for their performance in any way, or what they help me to achieve…just the fact that they are gifts from God to grace my life in meaningful ways. God visits us throughout our lives through other people, whether tumbling-tots or affectionate lovers, faithful friends and loyal church family. Many of our own have had troubling holidays. Some have spent their break in the hospital, others experience interior isolation none of us may ever detect.

Here is the Good News: You are not alone. God is among you. Seek Him and enjoy abundant Life.

Blessings,
Pastor Chet

“Let me hear of Your steadfast love in the morning, for in You I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul.” {Psalm143:8}