Stuck in high gear

While studying for a message about our need to make room for God in our busy lives I couldn't help but remember this classic ballad. May it be a reminder of what is most important. This video tells a little of the back story to the song.

Road Trip Pictures

Yes, it has been a long time since I've added a blog entry. Facebook is not the same, but it seems to be what's working for me these days. Several have asked if they could see pictures from our Sabbatical road trip this summer so I'm adding a few of my favorites here. I posted several albums on my Facebook sight so you can check them out there.

Good Friday

A song for Good Friday by Tammy Trent.

Who Stole My Church?

For church leaders who want to bring change and church members who wish things were the way they used to be, Who Stole My Church? is a fictional (yet very common) story about the difficult process a church goes through to reinvent itself in order to meet the challenges of ministry in a rapidly changing culture.

Gordon MacDonald tells a compelling tale complete with recognizable characters while at the same time imparting invaluable lessons for both change leaders and change resisters.

Gordon MacDonald has been a pastor for more 40 years and he understands the bitterness and heartbreak that older members feel when the church they spent their lives building seems to be taken from them by eager leaders. He also understands why change is so necessary if a church is to be effective.

At first the story seemed a bit corny but as the plot unfolded I eagerly anticipated each chapter. I highly recommend it to pastors, church leaders and seasoned saints.

Inaugural Prayers

Our new president gave an inspiring speech on Tuesday, but my favorite "speeches" were the prayers given by Rick Warren for the invocation and Joseph Lowery for the benediction. The Bible tells us to pray for our leaders, whether or not we agree with all of their policies. Here are two pastors whose prayers were heard around the world.

Rick Warren's invocation:



Almighty God -- our Father. Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us, ‘Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.’ And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge-point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King, and a great cloud of witnesses, are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice-President Biden, the cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom, and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes -- even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation, and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day, all nations and all people will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president, and his wife Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life -- Yeshua, Isa, Jesús, Jesus -- who taught us to pray:

Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

Amen.

Joseph Lowery's benediction:

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand -- true to thee, O God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day. We pray now, O Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration. He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national and, indeed, the global fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hand, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations. Our faith does not shrink, though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you're able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor or the least of these and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to achieve a more perfect union. And while we have sown the seeds of greed -- the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little, angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together, children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone, with your hands of power and your heart of love.

Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: Say amen --

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: -- and amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen! (Cheers, applause.)

END.

Happy New Year!

Turning the calendar to a new year provokes some reflective thought. When I woke up this morning I thought of how fortunate I am to have my family and friends to share life's ups and downs with. I hope you feel the same.

Today we welcome the New Year as if we are welcoming a stranger who has been knocking on our door. We hope the stranger is bringing us good news or offering something of value to us, but the stranger could also be a bearer of sadness or someone searching for a safe place. I hope and pray 2009 will be all good, but I know that it will also include those who bear sadness and seek safety.

Jesus said, "I was a stranger and you invited me in." (Mt. 25:35)

2009, come on in, I welcome you.

Advent Calendar

I found this online Advent Calendar at Christianity Today. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I am.

The sport of politics and the nobility of public service.

The two heavy-weight contenders boxed it out 'til the bitter end. Round by round the punches flew. Along the way their respective "corners" repaired the damage and patched their boxer so he could keep fighting on. When the final bell rang the exhausted and bloody fighters came out of their corners one last time for the victor to be declared. And then... what did they do? They hugged! They claimed to be friends! They promised to work together for the good of others. How strange is that?

Politics is sport. Campaigns are a game. The politicians know that. Unfortunately, many others are not as quick to forgive and forget as are the players in the game, especially since the flames of division continue to be fueled by those who profit from controversy and debate.

This week I had the opportunity to attend a forum in Washington D.C. with government and faith-based leaders to discuss ways to collaborate for the common good of the poor and suffering. I've come away with a new appreciation for the many brilliant people of faith in both parties and throughout government agencies who are working together behind the scenes to address real human needs. Politics is sport, but true public service is a noble endeavor. I pray for people to raise above the fray and find ways to work together to preserve life, care for the suffering, reduce poverty, prevent injustice and strengthen families.

The game is over, now it is time to come together. The challenges before us will demand that we put our faith into action by sacrificing for the sake of others. Government can't do it alone, the church can't do it alone, private enterprise can't do it alone, and all three can't do it together without God's help. It truly is time to humble ourselves and pray, and turn from our destructive selfish ways, and seek the heart of God for others.

Election Thoughts

I have been trying to think of a way to respond to people's questions about the election and then I saw this blog post by my friend and colleague Jeff Leake, pastor of Allison Park Church. I can't say it any better, so I here is how I wish I had said it first...

As Election Day approaches, I am being asked this question from a growing number of people. What do you think? McCain? Obama? Who should a Christian vote for? Now, I know in just listing this question on the blog, there is the potential for a flurry of comments for or against candidates and issues. Can I ask for you to guard your words in leaving comments? Please don't use the comment section as a plea for one or another of the candidates.

First, my hope for the future of the USA does not rest in this election. I believe in voting. I also believe that good leadership is critical to any nation, church, family, or business. But I believe that God is big enough to work in and through whatever happens on Nov 4th and beyond.

Second, my primary concern is with the Kingdom of God and not with the United States of America...

Read the rest of his blog post by clicking here.

Reason for Hope

Are bad times good for us? Apparently so. That's what author Andy Crouch writes about in a recent article in Christianity Today. It's a long article, but if you have the time I recommend it to you.

Thanks, Don, for pointing me to this.

Silver Linings

It's been a while since I've made a blog entry, but with all the scary rhetoric about the economy and the election I feel the need to think out loud. I don't pretend to have the answers to the economic crises nor do I think that either of the presidential candidates are the magic solution to these or other major problems facing our nation. But I'm the kind of person who likes to see the silver lining within these clouds of despair.

Regarding the economy I share the anger and fear that everyone is feeling. But the silver lining is that we are collectively learning some hard lessons about the dangers of unchecked greed, unmanageable debt, and the vanity of money as our source of security. Check out what the Pope said about this. Could it be that our generation will learn the hard way what our parents and grandparents generations learned the hard way in the 1930's? Will there be a spiritual awakening as a result of all this material shaking? I hope there will be.

Regarding the election I find it more difficult to see the silver lining. The politics of fear and hate coming from both parties, the spin-meisters, and the crazy internet character assassins creates an uneasy atmosphere among friends, families, co-workers, and even fellow believers. I am a peacemaker at heart and it grieves me to see the damage this is all causing. Politics is a blood-sport and I am ready for this election to be over. I don't know why anyone would want to go through this process in order to be elected. But one silver lining is that many Christians are becoming more focused on the reality of an eternal kingdom that is not limited by national boundaries and dependent on any one political party or candidate. Here is an interesting opinion article that a friend sent me about the ways many evangelicals are returning to the "good news" roots of evangelicalism.

More and more I am falling in love with and looking to Jesus as the source for my hope, my security and my inspiration on how to live a meaningful life.

What other silver linings might there be in the clouds of despair out there? I'd really like to hear your thoughts. I'm sure if we look we can find many more.

May God Bless You

At the conclusion of his message at the Willow Creek Leadership Conference last week, Craig Groeschel read the following Fransciscan Benediction. Thanks to Don Greb who was there and shared it with the rest of us during our staff devotions this week.

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

May we all be so blessed.

The Peace of Wild Things

There are times when I wake at night and my mind fills with concerns about the issues of the day -- problems my children are facing, struggles weighing heavily on people in the church, or fear of things that could go wrong. It doesn't help matters when I've had a cup of coffee too late in the day.

It was nice to pull away from things around here and have my family together for a few days in Cape Cod last month. It was our first time there but hopefully it won't be our last. The natural beauty and peaceful surroundings made it a special time for all of us. I even found a new appreciation for bird watching. I confess, though, the whale watching was a little more exciting.

One evening before our meal my daughter Bethany read the following from a book of poems she had been reading:

The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendel Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds,
I come into the peace of wild things
Who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

I hope you have a place where you can go to escape and, as Jesus said, "observe the birds of the air and the flowers of the field." I find rest from my worries when I remember that the God who cares for them cares even more for the things that bring me anxiety. Maybe that is why I slept a whole lot easier when I was on vacation.

Creeds

"Who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:16)

In order to pass the faith from culture to culture and generation to generation, the early church formulated "rules of faith." These summaries of the Apostle's teachings helped to preserve and define the faith as it was being tested by Judaism, gnosticism and other Egyptian and Persian religions before the canon of scripture was affirmed as authoritative by the Council of Carthage in A.D. 457. The Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed, and Chalcedon Creed arose out of the debates and discussions over competing interpretations of scripture and apostolic teachings.

In my preparation for a message on creeds I came across a modern creed formulated by Masai Christians in Africa. It is a beautiful re-writing of the creeds using the language and imagery of their culture. Several people asked for a copy of it so I put it here for all to read. Tell me what you think. Who you YOU say that Jesus is?

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created man and wanted man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the earth. We have known this High God in darkness, and now we know him in the light. God promised in the book of his word, the bible, that he would save the world and all the nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good his promise by sending his son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left his home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, he rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through him. All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love and share the bread together in love, to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

Memorial Day

Andy Rooney remembers (after a brief commercial).

Facing the Giants

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life has taken his gifts of strategic thinking and communication to the next level. When I read his first book, The Purpose Driven Church, years ago I thought to myself, "This is so simple, why hasn't anyone else written this book?" The book truly added no new information to the existing studies of church growth, but what it did do was take the information and made it simple, practical, and doable. Likewise, he is the first to admit that the information in his mega-bestselling book The Purpose Driven Life was nothing new, yet he was able to put the information in a way that it sold more copies than nearly any other book in history.

The genius of Rick Warren is his ability to take complex problems and abstract ideas and turn them into simple and measurable action plans. This is why Riverside is embracing his vision of The P.E.A.C.E. Plan to combat the five Global Giants of our world. And, yes, we do believe it is the church's responsibility to address the giants of Spiritual Emptiness, Self-Serving Leadership, Extreme Poverty, Pandemic Disease and Rampant Illiteracy. To think that it is government's job alone to deal with these ills and the church's job is only to care about "saving souls for heaven" is to forget that Jesus healed a lot of sick people, comforted the poor and afflicted, exposed injustices, and provoked the wealthy and powerful to have compassion for the weak and helpless.

Anyone who gains such visibility and is audacious enough to create such a plan is going to be the target of criticism, and Rick Warren gets more than his share of that. But I am glad that he is using his gifts to help our generation of Christians and churches face these global giants as God enables us.

Tell me, what do you think of the P.E.A.C.E. plan?

Affluenza

This has been a record breaking year for people who have been infected with influenza. But there is another virus sweeping the country that is even more dangerous than the flu. Please read the following article to find out if you are suffering from affluenza.

"It's not your typical virus, but rather a highly contagious disease of epidemic overconsumption, and the symptoms include compulsive shopping, high debt, overwork, inability to delay gratification, a sense of entitlement, obsession with externals and "having it all," wastefulness, and stress. The disease is called afflueza... (click here to read the rest of this excellent article).

Michael Dungan is a Christian financial planner who wrote the book, "Prodigal Sons and & Material Girls: How Not to Be Your Child's ATM." He helps people to "do" money in ways that honor their values. His simple philosophy of "share, save, spend" helps adults and their children find the antidote to hyper-consumption. Here is another brief article from Physicians Money Digest that does a good job of putting Dungan's ideas into practical advice for someone suffering from affluenza. Read especially the information at the end of the article.

Jesus said where our treasure is our hearts will follow. He also said we cannot serve both God and Money. Is it possible to be a sincere Christian if one is infected with "affluenza?" Do you think it could ever be labeled a true "disease"?

Tell me what you think.

Real Financial Heroes

Sometimes humor gets the message across better than the direct approach. I laughed out loud at these videos - especially the second one! Thanks, Libby.

It all goes back in the box?

It all goes back in the box. But where does the box come from, and where does it end up?

In response to the man who asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide the inheritance, Jesus warned the man to, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." (Luke 12.15) Then Jesus went on to tell the story about the landowner who built bigger and bigger barns only to discover that his dream of a luxurious retirement was cut short. The point of the story, according to Jesus, was this is how it is for those who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God.

Do we have enough stuff? How much is enough? Is there never any end to this rat race? Do you ever wonder how we get all our stuff and where it ends up? And, why does it seem we have to keep buying more and more? The image below is a link to an interesting website that has been getting a lot of play. The brief film on the website is simplistic, but it will provoke you to think about the consequences of our consumer culture in a global economy.

He's Baaaak!

Beginning this Sunday we are starting a six-week series called, "Slaying the Monster of More." Four years ago we addressed this topic, but the monster is wreaking havoc more than ever. While we go through this series I intend to use this blog to dive deeper into the issues with those who are interested.

Pass this on to your friends and invite them to come with you. Here are a couple teaser videos.