I was watching Attack of the Show last night. (That is G4's geek news, for those not familiar with it.) They had on a doctor that was talking about how our brain works and how it learns. The host asked about multi-tasking. Dr. Soussa (Sp?) said that a human brain CANNOT multi-task. It is not capable of focusing on more than one thing at a time. So when you are multi-tasking what you are really doing is switching your focus between things really fast. When you do that you always miss something. So when you are multi-tasking you can get things done, but they will not be as high a quality as if you had given it your full attention. He suggested that if you focus on one thing at a time it will NOT take you longer than multi-tasking and your efforts will be of higher quality. Even scarier: ten to twenty years ago our brains were able to hold seven or eight full thought processes at a time. Today the average human brain can only hold three to four at a time, and they believe it is because we spend so much time trying to multi-task.
So what does this have to do with our faith? Well, how do we give our best to God. In my first church I was not only a general associate pastor who had to preach, etc... I was also the Christian Educator, the Youth Pastor, and the Choir Director. (Yes, I was young and stupid and truly believed that I could do that much multi-tasking.) Whenever one of those areas had something big the others would suffer. When I had to preach, the choir, my Sunday school lesson, and youth group got less preparation and attention then they deserved. The same was true when the choir had a big program, or Vacation Bible School rolled around, or the youth had a lock-in. Nothing ever got my best. Because I had too many hats. My ministry wound up being OK, but not great. God never got my best.
Maybe that is why God gave us the Sabbath. God wants us to take one day a week to focus entirely on our faith and our relationship with God. It is hard to do. When we are in church often we are thinking of a project at work, or a homework assignment, or even where to go for lunch. It doesn't bother us that much because we are used to multi-tasking, right? We can focus on worship or the Sunday School lesson and still have plenty of brain power left for whatever else we need to think about. Well according to Dr. Soussa that is wrong! Divided attention never gives your best to anything.
God wants our best. That means trying to focus entirely on God for an hour or two on Sunday morning. Sound tough? Try taking a whole day of Sabbath. In my first seminary internship my mentor made me take a whole day of Sabbath each week. From 9 to 5 I had to unplug the phone and leave the TV off. I could listen to music if it was religious and meant to help with my faith growth. I could read, pray, sing, even walk in nature, but the whole 8 hours had to be spent in quality time with God. It was really hard. I maybe manage this type of devotion once a year now, when I am on study leave at a Christian conference. But it is really good for my soul. All the tension of the world goes away.
I am not saying that you should jump right in and unplug to spend 8 hours with God, but how about for an hour or two on Sunday morning. Turn off your cell phone and set aside thoughts of what is due tomorrow and what you plan to do that afternoon. Turn your whole focus on the Bible study in Sunday School or the music and prayers in the worship service. Give God an hour or two of your undivided attention and you might find that it is easier to give God your best!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Keeping Our Promises
We have a baptism this Sunday! Baptisms always make me happy. For those who are not Presbyterian we believe that God reaches out to us in love and grace before we are even able to respond. Therefore, we baptize babies as a symbol of that unconditional love and we all promise to bring that child up to come to confess Christ as their Lord and Savior. We all make promises, not just the parents, to that child as it is adopted into God's family.
That is important because parents today need help. Kids face temptation and danger every day. Most families need both parents working to make ends meet. Parents need all the help they can get! So in the church when we make that promise we become foster Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents. We PROMISE to help raise that child.
People complain that the children are absent from church, or when they are there they complain that they are disruptive. One proven statistic from my generation (that is mostly missing from the church) is that those that stayed in the church to adulthood could ALL point to an adult friend in the church that helped with their faith journey. It is not all on the shoulders of their parents. We bear a responsibility too!
In every church I have served I have tried to start an adult/youth prayer partner program to connect the children and the adults. (Look out DeSoto... it is coming...) The kids need relationships with adults to help their faith mature. Try talking to the kids on Sunday morning and see what happens. I am not talking about, "Don't run in the church!" or "You need to be quiet in worship." Ask them about school or what they are doing for summer vacation. Take an interest in their lives. Invite them to sit with you in worship. If you want them to learn how to behave properly in worship, try modeling it for them! You should see the difference that the adults in the choir have made in Martin's life by just taking and interest!
What do you do if a friend of yours misses church several Sundays in a row? You call them to make sure everything is OK. Have you ever thought of doing that for a child. Call them to see why they aren't here. Tell them that you miss them when they are gone! Some of these kids have parents who have to work some Sunday mornings. You could offer to pick them up! Take them to breakfast.
They say it takes a village to raise a child. To raise a mature Christian Adult it takes a church. The whole church should be involved in the nurture of a child. They should think of the church as the place where they see their adult friends. They should think of the church as part of their family.
That is important because parents today need help. Kids face temptation and danger every day. Most families need both parents working to make ends meet. Parents need all the help they can get! So in the church when we make that promise we become foster Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents. We PROMISE to help raise that child.
People complain that the children are absent from church, or when they are there they complain that they are disruptive. One proven statistic from my generation (that is mostly missing from the church) is that those that stayed in the church to adulthood could ALL point to an adult friend in the church that helped with their faith journey. It is not all on the shoulders of their parents. We bear a responsibility too!
In every church I have served I have tried to start an adult/youth prayer partner program to connect the children and the adults. (Look out DeSoto... it is coming...) The kids need relationships with adults to help their faith mature. Try talking to the kids on Sunday morning and see what happens. I am not talking about, "Don't run in the church!" or "You need to be quiet in worship." Ask them about school or what they are doing for summer vacation. Take an interest in their lives. Invite them to sit with you in worship. If you want them to learn how to behave properly in worship, try modeling it for them! You should see the difference that the adults in the choir have made in Martin's life by just taking and interest!
What do you do if a friend of yours misses church several Sundays in a row? You call them to make sure everything is OK. Have you ever thought of doing that for a child. Call them to see why they aren't here. Tell them that you miss them when they are gone! Some of these kids have parents who have to work some Sunday mornings. You could offer to pick them up! Take them to breakfast.
They say it takes a village to raise a child. To raise a mature Christian Adult it takes a church. The whole church should be involved in the nurture of a child. They should think of the church as the place where they see their adult friends. They should think of the church as part of their family.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Come as You Are
In the past few months I have had three separate people come to me worried about whether their clothes were appropriate for worship or not. Most of the congregation were dressed dressier than they were and with the economy as it is they couldn't afford to buy a new wardrobe just for church.
My answer; You are fine just as you are. God doesn't care what is on the outside. God cares what is in your heart.
"It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles." Matthew 15:11
This is actually about clean hands, but I think it still fits. Here are a couple illustrations of how I think that scripture applies here.
A church worked hard at evangelizing the neighborhood children. The children who lived around the church were from the families of blue collar factory workers. Their parents were not Christian and did not really appreciate their kids coming to church, but they came faithfully anyway. They sat in the front row so that they could take notes on the sermon. Then they would bring their notes and their questions up to the pastor afterward. It was nothing short of a miracle. But within a month or two a motion was brought before the session. "Those children must be told how to dress properly for church or be asked to leave." The youth pastor argued vehemently that their families couldn't afford to buy them fancy clothes, and that the parents would use the request as a reason to tell them that they couldn't come."
Who was doing the defiling in this story???
A church formed a praise band and started a contemporary service with the specific intent of attracting college students and the unchurched 20 somethings in the neighborhood. With that in mind they specifically decided to dress casually; shorts, jeans, t-shirts, tennis shoes, and sandals. They wanted to dress like those they were trying to attract. It was working, slowly but surely. Then, they were told that their attire was inappropriate. It reflected poorly on the church and the congregation. They were told that if they wanted to keep their service that they must at least wear khakis, and polo shirts; no jeans, shorts, t-shirts, tennis shoes, and the men could definitely not wear sandals...
Ummmm, what kind of foot wear did Jesus and the disciples wear? They wore sandals!
My current congregation decided to have a Pentecost picnic and invite all of the neighbors. For a whole month we explained that we wanted everyone to come in picnic clothes; jeans or shorts. We want the neighbors to feel welcome and comfortable. Not everyone in the congregation was comfortable with that decision, but I still feel that it is the right one.
So many people are leaving or being turned away from Jesus because the church only looks at what is on the outside. Jesus cares about what is on the inside. He reached out to the poor, to the common worker, to the woman at the well. He came for those in society where God's word was most needed. Jesus was accused of being unwashed and inappropriate too.
I believe that Jesus would say to us all, "come as you are."
My answer; You are fine just as you are. God doesn't care what is on the outside. God cares what is in your heart.
"It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles." Matthew 15:11
This is actually about clean hands, but I think it still fits. Here are a couple illustrations of how I think that scripture applies here.
A church worked hard at evangelizing the neighborhood children. The children who lived around the church were from the families of blue collar factory workers. Their parents were not Christian and did not really appreciate their kids coming to church, but they came faithfully anyway. They sat in the front row so that they could take notes on the sermon. Then they would bring their notes and their questions up to the pastor afterward. It was nothing short of a miracle. But within a month or two a motion was brought before the session. "Those children must be told how to dress properly for church or be asked to leave." The youth pastor argued vehemently that their families couldn't afford to buy them fancy clothes, and that the parents would use the request as a reason to tell them that they couldn't come."
Who was doing the defiling in this story???
A church formed a praise band and started a contemporary service with the specific intent of attracting college students and the unchurched 20 somethings in the neighborhood. With that in mind they specifically decided to dress casually; shorts, jeans, t-shirts, tennis shoes, and sandals. They wanted to dress like those they were trying to attract. It was working, slowly but surely. Then, they were told that their attire was inappropriate. It reflected poorly on the church and the congregation. They were told that if they wanted to keep their service that they must at least wear khakis, and polo shirts; no jeans, shorts, t-shirts, tennis shoes, and the men could definitely not wear sandals...
Ummmm, what kind of foot wear did Jesus and the disciples wear? They wore sandals!
My current congregation decided to have a Pentecost picnic and invite all of the neighbors. For a whole month we explained that we wanted everyone to come in picnic clothes; jeans or shorts. We want the neighbors to feel welcome and comfortable. Not everyone in the congregation was comfortable with that decision, but I still feel that it is the right one.
So many people are leaving or being turned away from Jesus because the church only looks at what is on the outside. Jesus cares about what is on the inside. He reached out to the poor, to the common worker, to the woman at the well. He came for those in society where God's word was most needed. Jesus was accused of being unwashed and inappropriate too.
I believe that Jesus would say to us all, "come as you are."
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Knowledge or Wisdom
A friend of mine posted a cute saying the other day, that I thought was worth sharing. It said, "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing NOT to use it in a fruit salad." It occurs to me that there is a bit of a problem in differentiating between knowledge and wisdom in the church today.
As we work our way through the lectionary, we are coming to the end of the king David stories and approaching the King Solomon stories. When God asked what he could give Solomon, he didn't ask for money or power. He asked for the wisdom to be a good ruler. Which to me shows he was already pretty wise to begin with. How many politicians today if they were told that God would grant them anything, would ask for the wisdom to be a good ruler? I would hope some would, but I would not hold my breath.
In the New Testament stories the Pharisees studies the Bible backwards and forwards. They were probably the most knowledgeable people around, but they had a lot of trouble with Jesus. They lacked the wisdom to see that Jesus was the Messiah that the scripture pointed to. They could tell you that scripture said that our God was a God of love, compassion, and grace, but could not make the leap to see that meant that we should show love and compassion, too.
They would sit there and complain that the disciples didn't wash their hands before eating (when they were out in the middle of a field somewhere with no running water). They didn't see that the disciples were serving the people and doing God's will. They complained when Jesus healed on the Sabbath, completely blind to the fact that it was God doing the healing.
Today we are often just as bad as the Pharisees. We sit here arguing over the translation of one tiny phrase in the Bible or worse yet in the Book of Order and completely ignore the ministry we should be doing. We are sure that our "knowledge" is correct and that means that we are wise. If you look at the Bible through the lens of Jesus' life it is clear that God would rather the 5000 get fed, even if they were served with unwashed hands. God would rather that the sick be healed even if it meant working on the Sabbath. The Bible clearly tells us that God's wisdom is foolishness to the world.
Yes, Jesus did teach us what to do. He did tell people to go and sin no more. Jesus knew his scripture as well as any Pharisee. But Jesus always fell on the side of compassion, not on the side of rule mongering. The Pharisees hated him for it. Do we? Would we rather uphold the rules with no regard for who we step on or hurt, or do we err on the side of compassion.
I believe that we will be held accountable for our choices and our actions. We are all sinners. But God did the compassionate thing in sending Jesus to die for our sins. If I am going to err, I would much rather err on the side of compassion than by heartlessly following the rules. If that is wrong, well, I know that my redeemer lives and that I am forgiven.
As we work our way through the lectionary, we are coming to the end of the king David stories and approaching the King Solomon stories. When God asked what he could give Solomon, he didn't ask for money or power. He asked for the wisdom to be a good ruler. Which to me shows he was already pretty wise to begin with. How many politicians today if they were told that God would grant them anything, would ask for the wisdom to be a good ruler? I would hope some would, but I would not hold my breath.
In the New Testament stories the Pharisees studies the Bible backwards and forwards. They were probably the most knowledgeable people around, but they had a lot of trouble with Jesus. They lacked the wisdom to see that Jesus was the Messiah that the scripture pointed to. They could tell you that scripture said that our God was a God of love, compassion, and grace, but could not make the leap to see that meant that we should show love and compassion, too.
They would sit there and complain that the disciples didn't wash their hands before eating (when they were out in the middle of a field somewhere with no running water). They didn't see that the disciples were serving the people and doing God's will. They complained when Jesus healed on the Sabbath, completely blind to the fact that it was God doing the healing.
Today we are often just as bad as the Pharisees. We sit here arguing over the translation of one tiny phrase in the Bible or worse yet in the Book of Order and completely ignore the ministry we should be doing. We are sure that our "knowledge" is correct and that means that we are wise. If you look at the Bible through the lens of Jesus' life it is clear that God would rather the 5000 get fed, even if they were served with unwashed hands. God would rather that the sick be healed even if it meant working on the Sabbath. The Bible clearly tells us that God's wisdom is foolishness to the world.
Yes, Jesus did teach us what to do. He did tell people to go and sin no more. Jesus knew his scripture as well as any Pharisee. But Jesus always fell on the side of compassion, not on the side of rule mongering. The Pharisees hated him for it. Do we? Would we rather uphold the rules with no regard for who we step on or hurt, or do we err on the side of compassion.
I believe that we will be held accountable for our choices and our actions. We are all sinners. But God did the compassionate thing in sending Jesus to die for our sins. If I am going to err, I would much rather err on the side of compassion than by heartlessly following the rules. If that is wrong, well, I know that my redeemer lives and that I am forgiven.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Godly Politics
OK, it is the 4th of July; Our Independence Day! Instead of rewriting something new, I am going to recycle a part of last Sunday's sermon that I think is appropriate. God bless you and bless our nation.
Saul even though he had strayed from God’s will. God loved David
even though he had issues with coveting other men’s wives. God loves our President even if his decisions
are not always the one God would have wanted him to make.
Jesus Christ . David
reflected God’s love and grace by being sympathetic to the people’s needs, and
being respectful to Saul and Jonathan ’s memories.
We can reflect God’s grace by discussing issues with respect for our
neighbors, praying for our leaders, and treating everyone as a beloved child of
God.
God loves all of us the same. It doesn’t matter what party you belong
to. God loves both President Obama and Mitt
Romney. God loves George
W. Bush
and Bill Clinton Reagan just as much as God loves Jimmy Carter
God loved
So as
Christians it is OK to participate in the wonderful, political freedom we have
here in the US. Our freedom to elect
whom we choose, worship as we choose, and pray as we choose was won through
blood and struggle, just as Saul and David fought for God’s people to be
free. As Christians we should exercise
our freedom to vote. But remember what
our own church says. No one can bind our
conscience. Our decision is between us
and God. There will be many good
Christians, who have prayerfully looked at the issues, believe they are voting
they way that God would want them to vote, that vote the opposite way you
do. In fact, I am sure that there will
be brothers and sisters right here in our own church family that vote opposite
sides of every issue. They are still our
brothers and sisters. God loves us each
the same. God doesn’t want us hurting
each other, or even mourning over something that in the long run doesn’t
matter.
Human
politics will come and go. There will be
good leaders and bad leaders. Our
calling is to reflect the grace of
Maybe if we
are grace filled and respectful, it will catch on. Imagine a campaign season with no name
calling, only respectfully discussing the issues… It may not make as exciting television
coverage, but it would help with the love and peace that God desires.
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