A “confession:” I say “Happy Holidays!” to people throughout November and December.It has nothing to do with whether or not Jesus is or should be included in our culture’s celebration, it is just that the week after Thanksgiving is way too early to “Merry Christmas” someone.And what about this week – the week between Christmas and New Years?It’s too late for “Merry Christmas,” and “Happy New Year” doesn’t mention Jesus either, so I say Happy Holidays this week, too.
Another “confession:” I usually spell Christmas “Xmas.”Not x-ing out Christ, but taking a short-cut.X is basically the first letter of “Christ” in its Greek spelling.I guess I could write “Cmas,” but I spent about $4,000 and 2½ years in seminary studying Greek (the language in which the New Testament was originally written), so I choose the X over the C.
What I’ve noticed: A good number of Christian people, a good number of people from CBC, are being very intentional to mention Christ during December.They are sending out CHRISTmas cards and wishing people Merry CHRISTmas at stores and having CHRISTmas parties.I like it.It is a great reminder of who and why we are celebrating!
Let me encourage 2 things to accompany our emphasis: 1) Christ-like behavior in public.Kindness to the store clerk, gentleness with tired children, eagerness to serve others – the kinds of things to which Jesus would want to be connected.2) Capitalizing Christ in private.Writing His name in capital letters on our hearts, our schedules, our checkbooks, etc.
It’s show & tell… show Christ to others as we tell about Him… and CBC does it well!
Our house sits on almost 2 acres and it was built close to the back of our lot, so we have a huge front yard. In the middle of our front yard is a flower garden. We refer to it as our “English” garden because, in years past, it was pretty wild and untamed. But this spring we decided to tame it. We spent hours pulling weeds and cutting back and digging out spreading perennials. We created some open space in the middle of the garden to add some new plants. We chose Knockout Roses.
We carefully positioned and planted our new rose bushes. They were already beautiful… they were blooming when we bought them… it was just what we wanted.
The local deer herd never even left a thank-you note. It took them 2 days to find our new rose bushes, and they ate every bloom and blossom. We tried garlic, dirty socks, and garlic & dirty socks, but our deer love rose petals more than they hate garlic and dirty socks.
So, we moved the rose bushes. We dug them up, hauled them across the yard, planted them in different dirt and an entirely new flower bed… the flower bed that is right off our front porch, close to the house where the deer are afraid to come… and now they are blooming again! That change was hard for our rosebushes, but it had a good result.
I firmly believe that God is the author of change in my life. He has written the story of my life and He will direct every step and every change along the way. Some of the changes I’ve experienced have been hard. I don’t like hard… I prefer easy.
And then I pull into our driveway each day, see that empty spot in the “English” garden, and then walk past our blooming Knockout Roses on my way to the front door. I see our thriving roses and I am reminded that change – especially the hard kind of change – is something God uses to (eventually) bring about a good result. And I will wait for that.
At a recent pastor's conference, one of the keynote speakers was mentioning several common issues pastors have to deal with in the church. My ears perked up as he talked about the "older members" of the congregation being frustrated by some of the things the church does to reach younger people and families - particularly, choosing music aimed at the younger crowd for corporate worship.
Many years ago, someone identified the arguments over musical preferences of the different generations in the church as "worship wars." People in churches have literally gone to war over which style of music was best/appropriate/preferred in a worship service.
I've only heard about these worship wars. I've never seen one. I've never seen one because the churches I grew up in were, and still are, very traditional. They are very clear that their style is fixed and the younger generations in those churches know that nothing more "contemporary" is coming. The churches I have served in as a pastor have wisely refused to participate in the worship wars. Their strong, godly leaders led the church away from arguments and contention, and, they provided opportunities for people with differing music tastes to worship in their preferred style through multiple services and blended worship. So, I've never seen a worship war.
At the conference, I was thankful for and proud of CBC. We've not participated in the worship wars, either, for an exemplary reason... the "older" members of our church would rather reach the younger generations than have their own preferences satisfied. To say it another way - they have put others ahead of themselves. I've only been here 3 years, but I have never heard one of our "older" members complain about anything CBC does to reach younger generations for Christ. Instead, I hear them being excited about our crowded children's ministry space, glad to have all those kids underfoot, and willing to look a little longer for a parking spot...and happy to turn off their hearing aids, put cotton in their ears, or look for a section of the worship center where the sound is a little muted.
So, while I appreciate what the keynote speaker was talking about, I'm thankful that the "older" generation at CBC helps all of us pursue that next group of people who need Christ and will someday call CBC their church home.
I saw Gran Torino, the new Clint Eastwood movie, several weeks ago. It is rated R. It is violent. It is racist. It is rough. And it teaches a great lesson on what it means to be a man. So, I am not recommending this movie for you to see, but, for all the negative elements, this movie makes some very good statements.
Since the day I saw this movie, I have been thinking about these 3 things that are important to being a man:
1. A real man protects others. This is what we would expect from Clint Eastwood... tough guy standing up to the neighborhood gang... guns, violence, blood - all that kind of stuff. And I bought my ticket to this movie because I wanted to see the story of a tough guy standing up to the neighborhood gang. But unlike previous Eastwood tough guys, Walt's strength is controlled - he meets the danger head on, turns it back, and let's it go. He protects without destroying.
2. A real man invests in the life of a younger man. I was surprised that racist Walt Kowalski (Eastwood's character) got so deeply involved in the life of his Asian neighbor, Thao. He helped him learn what it means to be a man - important things like how to work, and how to get and hold down a job, and how to have a respectful and respectable relationship with a young lady (a very different message than the rest of our culture sends to young men). Boys need help becoming good men, and a real man helps launch others into manhood.
3. A real man sacrifices for others. This is where the movie fooled me. In the final scenes, Walt is headed to the house where the neighborhood gang members live. The gang had treated Thao and Thao's family very badly, and Walt, the real man, was headed to protect others - to make sure nothing like this happened again. I expected him to use a hand grenade. That seemed to be the most logical way to kill a whole gang all at once - this is Clint Eastwood, after all. Walt pulled up to the gang house, stepped out of his truck, onto their yard, and made himself known. He began a conversation with them... and then the gang gunned him down. In the closing moments of the movie, we learn that Walt had gone to the house unarmed, knowing that he would be killed, knowing that the gang members would be arrested and jailed, knowing that his sacrifice would deliver his friends.
Our culture tells us that real men cuss, drink a lot of beer, fight, and use women for their own enjoyment. If this movie had sent that same message, we would have all left the theatre just as the credits started rolling. But we didn't. The theatre was full, and we all sat quietly several minutes into the credits processing what we had just experienced. And what I take away from the audience's reaction to this movie is that a real man's life impacts other people.
And I don't want to be just like Clint Eastwood or Walt Kowalski, but I do appreciate being reminded of some important things about being a real man.
I just finished a great book – The Same Kind of Different as Me, written by Ron Hall & Denver Moore. This book was handed to Marie as a “possible read” for her book club. I was bored & out of things to read, so I took a chance – picking up what might turn out to be a “chick book.” Instead, I was treated to a great story, a true story about a wealthy couple and a homeless man, about the surprising way God wove their lives together and the impact of that friendship in their own lives and their community.
The heart of this story revolves around one woman’s desire for a deeper spiritual experience, a desire to know God and experience God in a deeper and more meaningful way.
I’m surrounded by Christian people who share her desire. I speak with men and women every week who are looking for something more, something deeper in their spiritual life… many of these people have been searching for quite some time and they are mostly frustrated because they cannot find it. They have tried another, or a different, Bible study. They have read a new devotional book. They are listening to another sermon on the radio or watching another pastor on TV. And they do not find something more, something deeper… because they are looking in the wrong place.
I was struck by these words at the beginning of chapter 26: “a new spiritual dimension, a level of service more fearless, more sacrificial…”
That deeper experience so many of us desire comes from more fearless, more sacrificial service.
“…so [Jesus] got up from the evening meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around his waist… When he had finished washing their feet… he asked them ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?… I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you… now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” John 13
