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Worrisome

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Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:27)

This morning we’re going to begin looking at passages that echo the sentiments of our theme verse for the year: “His divine power has given us everything we need.” (2 Peter 1:3). And we’ll start with these words from Jesus that are quoted above.

As I was reading for today, I came across a meditation on worry and thought I would share it with you.

“In some parts of my lawn, the grass is thick and green. In other areas, it's sparse and dry. There are even a few places where the grass is missing entirely. When I mow the lawn, I notice that where the grass is healthy, there are no weeds. Where the lawn is sparse, there are a few. Where there's no grass, the weeds flourish.

Every time I notice the weedy spots, I think, I really need to pull those things. So I do, but within a few weeks they're back—and I'm pulling them again. One day it hit me: I don't have to pull weeds where the grass is thick. Instead of spending all my time pulling weeds, maybe I [need] to invest time making the grass as healthy as possible. The more grass I had, the fewer weeds I'd have to pull.

The same applies to worry. Worry is like the weeds. God's peace is the grass. Instead of just focusing on eliminating my worries, I [need] to cultivate God's peace.” (Mike Bechtle, in an article for Discipleship Journal; quoted in the October 21, 2008, entry of Men of Integrity)

Bechtle gets to the heart of the real problem with worry. The problem is that, like the weeds, worry can consume so much time and energy that would be better spent elsewhere. As you’ll see, Jesus says the same thing in the passage from Matthew 6. Both would say that worrying is the opposite of doing something. Worrying is stationary, not active. Worrying puts us in a position of helplessness. I’ve found that, when I’m worrying, I’m usually not focusing on the true problem at hand.

This morning we’re going to be focusing on the weeds of worry. But my hope is that you will leave here wanting to pay more attention to the lawn of your life. I hope you will want to concern yourself, not with what might happen in the future, but what is happening in the present.

Perhaps the serenity prayer is in order here: “God grant us the courage to change the things that we can, the serenity to accept the things that we cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Worry is what happens when we fail to know the difference. May God grant us the courage to stop worrying and to turn to him today.

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Keep Celebrating

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I hope that Easter has stayed with you this week.  I wish that I was one of those who could say that they celebrate Easter every week.  But I can't.  Perhaps I will grow closer to that ideal.  But for now, I am blessed to have reminders.  Church signs that declare: "He is risen."  Crosses draped in white or covered in flowers.  It is good to celebrate.  I'm reminded of NT Wright's suggestion that, for the week of Easter, morning prayers should be preceded by champagne. Here's a celebration poem by John Updike called "Seven Stanzas at Easter," from his collection, Telephone Poles and Other Poems.  Updike takes on our tendency to make a parable or myth out of Jesus' resurrection.  His point is that the strength of the Easter story is that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead-hence the warning, "Let us not mock God with metaphor." He is at his most powerful in reminding us that our deaths are not a metaphor (stanza 5).  They are all too real.  And they require a real resurrection.  Like the one that God performed for Jesus and will perform for us. So if your Easter hope has faded some.  I hope it will be renewed today.  Happy Easter everyone.

Seven Stanzas at Easter

Make no mistake: if He rose at all it was as His body; if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers, each soft Spring recurrent; it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the eleven apostles; it was as His Flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes, the same valved heart that - pierced - died, withered, paused, and then regathered out of enduring Might new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor, analogy, sidestepping transcendence; making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded credulity of earlier ages: let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache, not a stone in a story, but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of time will eclipse for each of us the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb, make it a real angel, weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous, for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty, lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed by the miracle, and crushed by remonstrance.

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Christos Anesti

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--May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…(Galatians 6:14) --"Jesus, keep me near the Cross...let me live from day to day with it shadow 'oer me." (Traditional hymn) I've been seeing increasing reports of the theft of metals like steel, aluminum and copper. In a market like ours it's a good way to make some quick money. That's must be what was going through the minds of the thieves who stole a cross from Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas several years back. They cut the cross off at its base and hauled it away in a truck. Then they cut it into manageable pieces and sold the metal off for scrap. Police later discovered that the thieves probably made a total of $450 on the 900 pounds of metal that they got from the cross. It's hard to know what the true value of the cross was. But it had been installed in 1930 at a cost of $10,000. These thieves got less than 5% of the original price of the cross. But then, I suppose that's $450 more than what they had spent on it. I think there are some striking parallels at work here, especially in the value that we place on the cross. How precious is the cross to us? How much value do we place on it? It's often easy for me to undervalue it. Why? Perhaps because it has become too commonplace. There are crosses everywhere. To put it in economic terms, our market is saturated with crosses, so it becomes hard to appreciate the value of one. Or maybe it's that I forget the price that was paid at the cross. The thieves were willing to take $450 dollars for their cross, because they hadn't really sacrificed a great deal to get it. It's easy for us to forget that, in order for the cross to be a symbol of hope worthy of boasting, a great price had to be paid. An innocent man was wrongly executed. The Son of God experienced separation from the Father. Had this great price never been paid, the cross would have no more value to us than the guillotine or the electric chair. This morning, Easter Sunday, we'll remember the value of the cross. Not because of what it was, but because the person who was placed upon it. And because of what God did for him (and for us) through it. I hope you'll celebrate with me today. Christ has been raised!

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Ritual

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Growing up in the CofC, most people would tell you that we don’t have a lot of ritual in our services. I think that’s kind of true. More likely, we should say that we don’t call it ritual. But really, from the way we prayed, to the way that we sang, to the way that the preacher talked. There was plenty of ritual. The fancy word for what I’m talking about is liturgy. It’s the way that “church” was (is) done. And we have our own liturgy at NCOC, we just might not say it that way.

And yet two rituals have stood out in the life of our church in this last week. The first was the “installation” of Mike Dossett as an elder. What a strange turn of phrase it is to say that we are “installing” someone. It’s like we were expecting a crew from Best Buy to show up and permanently fasten Mike to the wall like a set of speakers. Do we say that because we don’t want to say that he was “ordained”?

Anyhow. I heard more than one person comment (all in a positive way) on the reading that was used. The language was formal and kind of high-falutin’. It was a lot like a wedding ceremony. But it fit the occasion didn’t it? This is an important moment in the life of the church and (to borrow more nuptial language) “not to be entered into lightly.”

The other was last night’s Passover ceremony. [Thanks, BTW, to everyone who took care of business so we could participate in the ceremony. I hope that, if we do it again next year, we can make sure that those who were teaching our kids last night will be able to participate.] While last night could have been much more formal (I omitted the responsive readings) it was still a very ritualized event with all of the eating together and prayer and remembering.

Not something we typically “low church” informal CofC’ers do. But I think that both rituals were appropriate. Both provided a chance to experience something as a group.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on either of these events. Can anyone guess where the script for Mike’s ordination (There! I said it!) came from? Did you like it? Was it strange? How do you respond to formal ritual in a worship service? What about the Passover service last night? What was it like to take part in such a choreographed event?

I’d like to hear from those of you who grew up in the CoC and those of you who didn’t. Or maybe I should say those who grew up in High Church and Low Church traditions. My guess is that you’ll bring different perspectives.

Where else (if anywhere) might rituals like that be beneficial to the church?

On another note, for those of you who are into the whole “religious calendar” thing, let me remind you that tomorrow is Good Friday. I hope you’ll be aware of that throughout your day. We will celebrate on Sunday, but our celebration does not come cheaply.

Perhaps I could spend some time with this reflection on Good Friday from last year.

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This Is a Test

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Given the current state of things, who knows what Google’s current hiring practices are? But back in the heady days of 2004, this millionaire-making tech company was aggressively searching for the best tech minds around. And it was employing some very “Google-like” ingenuity in finding them. They placed ads with publications such as Mensa, MIT’s Technology Review and Physics Today. In these ads they included questions designed to separate the wheat from the chaff. Questions such as, “How many different ways can you color an icosahedron with one of three colors on each face?” and “On an infinite, two-dimensional rectangular lattice of 1-ohm resistors, what is the resistance between two nodes that are a knight’s move away?” Some of their questions were more creative: “Write a haiku describing possible methods for predicting search traffic seasonality. Other than the haiku one, if any of you can even explain these questions to me, I’d love to hear from you after church, because I have no idea what they’re talking about. Perhaps their most creative ploy was to place billboards around Silicone Valley and Harvard Square that simply read: “(first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e).com.” Whoever solved the math problem was taken to a Google recruiting site. Of course, as a “for-profit” company, Google’s goal is to get the cream to float to the top. Their hope is to have only the smartest and best working for them, hence the rigorous elimination process. Fortunately for me, this is not the case in the Kingdom of God. Jesus repeatedly offers his invitation to anyone who will hear and respond–anyone who will answer the door when he knocks. It is not hard to get into God’s Kingdom. This morning we’re going to be looking at a verse that tells us to keep testing ourselves to make sure that our salvation is sure–keep administering exams. But don’t be afraid, the entrance exams aren’t hard. They don’t require Spiritual Geniuses. They just require that we pay a little bit of attention. I hope you’re ready to pay attention to your walk with God today. He stands by, ready to help.

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Dirty Jobs: Classical Edition

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"...and he was transfigured before them. 3And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them." (Mark 9:2-3, KJV) File this under “random gross Bible trivia.” A while back, during one of our dinners at LIFEgroup, someone made the mistake of wondering out loud how ancient people cleaned their clothes. Then I made the mistake of telling them…at the dinner table. While I don’t know how the ancient Israelites cleaned their clothes, I do know how the Romans went about it. There’s a particularly interesting description of the process in a book I got for Christmas called Working IX to V: Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns, and Other Prized Professions of the Ancient World by Vicki León. One of the “prized professions” that León describes is that of fuller—the classical equivalent to our dry cleaners. Fullers cleaned garments by soaking them in a giant vat of cleaning solution and then transferring them to another container to stomp them clean. They would then ring out the clothes—a job that might take two people, depending on the size of the garment. Perhaps you’re wondering why this should make for less than germane dinner conversation. I haven’t told you about the cleaning solution. The Romans hadn’t yet adopted the use of soap. Ironically, the German “barbarians” of the day were using it, but not the Romans. Instead, the Romans used a mixture of potash and urine. Yes, urine. Since it is rich in ammonia, it actually has cleaning properties. According to León, the fuller would place chamber pots at various street corners. (Although I guess it’s not really a “chamber” pot if it’s not in a chamber--more of an extremely portable potty.) Throughout the day, various citizens would provide the vital ingredient, and the fuller would then retrieve the pots. The stomping process was called the saltus fullonicus, or “fuller’s dance.” It’s believed that managers even kept their fullers moving with live music. Yup. Just another reason to be glad that we live in 21st Century America. I trust you’ll breath a sigh of relief the next time you load up a dishwasher and add a cap full of something that’s not urine. I wonder if Mike Rowe would take this job.

Area Wide Fellowship

Please join us with our sister congregations for an afternoon of worship and fellowship on Sunday, April 5th. It starts at 2:30 p.m. at Bayside Church of Christ.
  • Congregational singing and prayer led by brothers from the area churches.
  • A time of sharing what God is doing in the churches and our ministries.
  • Singing performance groups from Bayside
  • a time of light refreshments and visiting in fellowship.
For more information visit Bayside Church of Christ.

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If Then - Part 2: The Stick

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Just a warning: this article's not for the squeamish.  And now that I have your attention: According to a recent AP story, a construction worker from Colorado received quite a surprise when the source of his toothache was finally identified.  Patrick Lawler had been suffering from pain in his mouth and blurry vision for a week when he finally decided to do something about it.  He went to a dentist office where his wife works and asked them to investigate. The mystery was quickly solved by an X-ray of Lawler's mouth.  There was a nail in his head.  That's right, a...nail...in...his...head.  A few days before, he had been working with a nail gun at a construction site when it backfired.  The gun sent a nail flying into a nearby piece of wood.  But what Lawler didn't know was that a second nail had been fired.  This one had struck Lawler, lodging itself in the roof of his mouth. Lawler's wife, Katerina, thought her boss was joking.  She couldn't believe that her husband had been eating ice cream to take care of the pain caused by a nail that was embedded in his head. After being transported to a nearby hospital Lawler underwent a four hour operation to remove the 4½ inch nail.  It had entered his brain and had just missed his right eye (hence the blurry vision). But wait, there's more.  One of the neurosurgeons on staff at the hospital said that it was the second time they had removed a nail that had been unknowingly fired into a patient's skull.  At the time of the story's publication, Lawler was expected to make a full recovery. I hope the irony isn't lost on you.  The man was hoping to take care of a nail in his head by eating ice cream and taking pain killers.  Of course, you can't fix the symptoms if you don't address the cause.  Until then, you're just working blind. In today's verse we're going to hear a warning from Peter.  If we don't address the root of our problems, we, too, will be blind and unable to fix it.  He says that a failure to grow spiritually can lead to spiritual blindness and an inability to do anything about it. I would ask you if you are blind this morning, but I don't' know if it would do any good.  The problem with spiritual blindness is that we don't usually know we've been afflicted.  We need someone else to tell us. So, instead, this morning, I would ask you to do the same thing that Lawler did.  Allow yourself to be examined by the Spirit of God.  Let God point out the causes of your pain.  And then give him an opportunity to fix them.

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A Little Perspective

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Back in January, I traveled to Dallas with Rachel (as moral support) so she could take her final exam for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. This was a grueling 3 hr. oral exam in which Rachel had to demonstrate that she was a physician deserving of certification. On the night before she had to take the exam, Rachel just wanted to go out to dinner and a movie in order to keep her mind off the test. I wanted to find a “feel-good” movie that would serve as a nice distraction. We went to see Slumdog Millionaire. Let’s just say it wasn’t exactly the light-hearted Bollywood romp I thought it would be. But it was an amazing film, entirely worthy of its “Best Picture” Oscar. (Not as worthy as Dark Knight, but I’ll spare you that rant.) As we were leaving the theater and deciding what trendy Dallas restaurant we were going to eat at for dinner, Rachel talked about how well Slumdog provided some perspective. As nervous as she was about the exam, even if she failed it, we would be fine. Our family would be fine. It would be a big nuisance to have to fork out the cash and spend the time taking the exam again, but that’s all that would happen. It kind of pales in comparison to growing up in the slums of Mumbai. With that in mind, I hope you’ll click here and read this “Letter to an Affluent Church,” featured in the latest issue of Relevant Magazine. It also puts things into perspective. H/t to Brandi for reminding me about it. As skittish as we might be, we are not the ones who stand to suffer the most in this global economic meltdown. I hope we can all dwell on this and then redouble our efforts to support At My Gate, our local church’s chance to alleviate some suffering. BTW, Rach passed her exam. She is now a Fellow of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. I dare say I’m the only male preacher in the Churches of Christ who’s married to a “fellow.” (Rimshot! “Thanks folks, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal and don’t forget to tip your server.”)

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Kings, part 2

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Aland left a comment following my last entry about the NBC show Kings. He makes a good case for why it’s NOT worth watching. Take a moment and read it. Aland’s frustration makes sense. Kings co-opts the biblical account and twists it to its own ends. It turns the story into a reflection of 21st Century moral values and abandons those that are inconvenient or uncool. If I’m not misreading, I think Aland is lamenting a very real truth: Film and TV don’t understand evangelical Christianity. (There are possible exceptions to this--Walden Media and the “Tyler Perry Empire” among them.) I’ll be watching with interest to see what they do with the “Jack” character. It’s possible that they’re not going to bother making him anything like the biblical Jonathan. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see what looks like a rivalry turn into a friendship between David and Jack. Characters develop. Here’s why I’m going to keep watching Kings: It’s entertaining. It would be disingenuous of me not to acknowledge that it’s just fun. It’s beautifully filmed. It’s dramatic. And there are some great cast members (Ian McShane as King Silas and Susanna Thompson as Queen Rose). I continue to love the scenes with the prophet, Reverend Samuel. After watching episode 2, I’m actually thinking it’s more like Shakespeare than anything else--complete with two palace guards for clowns and a very King Lear-like scene where Silas stands on the palace roof while the rain pours down. It’s (somewhat) biblical. While it will pick and choose, Kings does reflect some of the Bible’s ethics. The most prominent is the issue of power and what it does to us humans. The story of Silas/Saul is of a man who is corrupted by power. He takes what he wants by any means necessary. And once he has ascended to power, he will do anything to maintain his position. He refuses to acknowledge his dependence on God. He acts as though everything he has, he has gotten on his own. And, therefore, he is not to be bothered with what is right or wrong. I’m assuming the same thing will happen with David Shepherd on the TV show. At least that’s what happens to the biblical David. He is just as good at abusing power as Saul is. The Bathsheba incident is the most prominent example. In addition, his family becomes a train wreck. Even his final words are of vengeance rather than of devotion to God. In the TV show there's this quote from David Shepherd's mother that I love. She's explaining to the King's daughter why she hopes that David doesn't stay in Shiloh. She says that she knows that David has a destiny. Then she says:
“People with destinies, things don't go well for them. They die old and unhappy, or young and unfinished."
There is good evidence that the David of the Bible dies old and unhappy. I have to say, I’m no longer sure that David is supposed to be a role model for us--at least not in any carte blanche way. I love how his relationship with God endures his flaws. I love his honesty in confession. I love his ability to maintain his respect for a corrupt king. But let’s be honest, the guy can be a real stinker. I actually love him less as a hero and more as a reminder of myself. Maybe we make too much of this “man after God’s own heart” idea. Unless I’m missing some other example, this statement is made about David early on in his life and only as a comparison to the corruption of Saul. I wonder if the same thing can be said about him at the end of his life. It seems like, if you do, you have to qualify it significantly. Which is what ends up happening. After all, he may be a “man after God’s own heart,” but he’s not fit to build the temple, a house for that same God. Whenever David is mentioned in the Christian scriptures, he is mentioned off-handedly as the author of a Psalm, or to make Jesus’ identity legitimate to the Jewish people, or (most importantly) as a foil for Jesus. The most common statement about him goes something like: “David was fine and everything, but he’s just rotting away in a tomb right now. Now let us show you how a real man/real King does it.” And then they point to Jesus. It’s worth repeating. The true hero of scripture is God. All the rest have feet of clay. But that’s why I like Kings. Hopefully (at least until NBC drops it), we’ll get to see our own humanity reflected back to us, for better and for worse. And, hopefully, they’ll continue to do it in a quality way. What do you think? Leave a comment.

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If Then - Part 1: The Carrot

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In one of his sermons, author and preacher John Ortberg recalls a time when his wife surprised him with a getaway to Napa Valley wine country.  And as he's driving through the beautiful country, he begins to reflect on all of the work that went into preparing these vineyards. Then he remembers Proverbs 24 where the writer comments on a vineyard that has gone to ruin.  Ortberg notes that the significant tragedy of a wasted vineyard comes in the value of having land that could be put to use. He rightfully goes on to point out that, in the Ancient Near East, only the wealthiest of people owned land.  Farmable land was a precious, once in a century opportunity.  That's what made the writer of the proverb so disappointed.  Ortberg goes on to make an insightful comparison: "Everybody gets a vineyard. When you were born, you got a vineyard. You got your body, your mind, your will, and some relationships. You got financial resources and the chance to do some good work. You got a soul. Everybody gets a vineyard, and that vineyard is your one and only shot on this planet. It's the opportunity of a lifetime, and you don't even have to care for it on your own. God will partner with you. Nonetheless, God never forces anybody to take action and care for their vineyard. The writer of this Proverb says, "I was walking past a vineyard, and I thought of what it might have been." He sees that the vineyard could have been a thing of beauty. It could have been a source of pride, joy, and income to the owner. It could have been a blessing to everybody around it...But the vineyard the writer observed wasn't any of those things. It fell tragically short of what it might have been. The writer wonders why: Was there some catastrophe? ... No. It was just sheer negligence on the part of the owner of the vineyard. He had no idea what he had. He was throwing away the opportunity of a lifetime." That is precisely the point of Peter's admonition as well.  If you can add the virtues that we talked about last Sunday to your life, you will avoid being a wasted vineyard.  You will be used to bless yourself and bless others. I want you to know that God has a plan for you.  This morning I hope you will be encouraged to partner with Him in making that plan a reality.  We have been tremendously blessed with the "opportunity of a lifetime."  May God help us make the most of it.

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Kings

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He asked, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know." Ezekiel 37:3 Can this Blog live? We’ll see. It’s worth taking another crack at it. And what could possibly cause me to break my silence? What else but television! Yay, television! Anybody else catch the season premiere of Kings last Sunday? If the over all numbers are any indication, it’s not likely. I’m sure NBC was pretty disappointed. Which, in this age of network impatience, means the show probably won’t be around for long. If you’re going to, you’d better catch it while you can. You can watch it at the NBC website or on Hulu. For those of you who have read your Bible, it’s more than worth it. Kings is a modern day take on the stories found in 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. It’s the story of David and Goliath, King Saul, Jonathan, Michal, and the prophet Samuel. Besides, anything with Ian McShane (King Silas) is worth consideration. The story is set in Shiloh, a booming metropolis and the capital of King Silas’ domain. Young David Shepherd (get it, “shepherd”?) is discovered on a remote farm by the Reverend Samuel, who anoints him by giving him a watch that’s engraved with the royal seal. Cut to a battlefield where David singlehandedly destroys a tank (called a Goliath) and rescues the King’s son, Jack, from behind enemy lines. David returns to Shiloh as a national hero and is given a reputable position in the King’s court. There are numerous parallels to the Biblical account. Too many to name here. My favorite scenes involve the Rev. Samuel, especially the scene in which he comes to King Silas to inform him that the Lord’s favor no longer rests with him and that another king will be taking his place. There are also places where the show differs from the Biblical narrative. (One such example involves the King's son, Jack.) Some critics are calling it a soap opera. Others are calling it Shakespearean. Both descriptions are accurate. For my part, I’d just call it Biblical. It’s not for the kids. But, technically, neither are the stories of the Old Testament--at least not the uncensored versions. The characters are appropriately sketchy, as were the people of Ancient Israel. Remember, the only real hero in scripture is God. The rest are prone to weaknesses of all kinds: violence, lust, fear, jealousy, deceit. It’s all there in the Bible, and it makes for pretty good drama. I doubt it will be around for long, which is a shame, because I’d really like to see the drama unfold. Most intriguing [and tragic] would be getting to watch David, the young, charismatic farm boy, become the deeply flawed king. Equally amazing would be the opportunity to see his redemption. There’s enough source material to keep this thing going for a long time. There just doesn’t seem to be enough viewers. Oh well, I guess I could just read my Bible.

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Adding On

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In his sermon, "You Don't Have to Be Good to Come to Christ," John Claypool tells about a woman from an Italian village who once found herself face to face with a monk from the monastery perched on the hill overlooking the village.  It was rare to see any of the monastery's residents outside of its confines, and the woman wanted to make the most of a rare opportunity. "Father," she said, "I've always wanted to ask somebody what you men of God do up there on the top of the mountain that looks to me to be so close to heaven. I've always wondered about the life of holiness that you lead up there." To which the monk responds, "What do we men of God do up there on the holy mountain? I'll tell you, my dear. We fall down; we get up. We fall down; we get up. We fall down; we get up." Claypool continues: "That is the way of all Christian growth. It doesn't happen all at once. But it does happen when we glimpse what we have not yet achieved, and we want that so badly that we honestly say, "Here's where I am. I'm not going to try to get myself together and then ask God to move me to the goal." I love the old monk's response because it brings to light two great truths that Christians do well to acknowledge.  The first is that "we fall down."  Followers of Christ have lost too much credibility throughout the ages because of their unwillingness to own up to this basic truth.  We must no longer act as though we don't fall down.  We must no longer act as if the Christian walk is a steady, unerring ascent toward great holiness.  I have encountered my share of setbacks.  I will encounter more. But the other great truth must also be honored.  It is just as important.  We must also remember that to be a Christian means that "we get back up."  While the Christian life is not an unhindered march toward perfection, it is still a march in that direction.  We are not expected to be perfect in our progress, but we will seek to progress. Falling down is not a reason for despair, because we know that God grants us the chance, (he ALWAYS grants us the chance) to pick ourselves up again.  In fact he doesn't just invite us to get back up every time, it's his arms that are pulling us to our feet.  "His mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning." This morning we will see what Peter has to say to his audience about Christian growth.  I hope you'll hear God calling to you to keep moving toward him today.

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God-Like

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I recently read an amazing article about Saddam Hussein written back in 2002 and entitled, “Tales of the Tyrant.” It contains interviews of many former Iraqi citizens—newspaper publishers, artists, soldiers, high ranking officials—who have left Iraq and are able to speak openly about what Saddam was really like. In addition to these interviews there are a number of anecdotes about Hussein. These stories cast light on the mind of a dictator. It is amazing to think about all of the things that he did to maintain his hold on power. Like most dictators, Saddam stayed in a different palace every night. But every palace maintained the same schedule even if he wasn’t there. They cooked dinner every night. The household staff kept busy. All to give the impression that Hussein might actually be in any of his palaces. He maintained a detail of ruthless bodyguards who would go before him to ensure that any place was safe. You know, the usual stuff. What I found most fascinating was all of the work that he did to create a public image. Hussein’s propaganda machine was always working to make him appear larger than life. There were the notorious statues and paintings of him all over Iraq. Every night, Iraqi television featured a segment of poems and songs that extolled the virtues of the “Great Uncle” of the Iraqi people. He had a false genealogy created that traced his lineage all the way back to Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed. All Iraqi officials were required to read his 19 volume (!) autobiography. He hired a former Hollywood director to edit a film about his life called The Long Days. So much of what Hussein did was designed to make him appear larger than life—godlike, even. Once, during an award ceremony for military officers, he went down the aisle presenting awards and saying, “I will give you more, if you will only thank me.” But you and I have a different model for what it means to be “God-like.” And a different understanding of all that it entails. So when Peter reminds us of the chance we have been given to “share in the divine nature,” I would hope that none of you are thinking about statues of yourself or tribute poems. I hope you’ll get a better idea of what it looks like this morning.

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The Source

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"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." (2 Peter 1:3) It's good to be back with you this morning, but I wouldn't give up what I heard and saw last week at Winterfest for anything.  You'll get to see some of it for yourself today and in the coming weeks.  Those of us who went experienced things that will stay with us for a long time.  This morning I'll be sharing some of it with you.  It fits neatly with where we happen to be in our study of our theme verse. First, I want to remind you of a story I told just a short while back.  At least I'm pretty sure I told it.  I'm always surprised when people remember things that I say in messages or lessons, because I remember so little of it.  But I'm pretty sure I shared this with you.  It's from Donald Miller's book, Searching for God Knows What: Last year, I pulled a friend out of his closet.  His marriage was falling apart because of his inability to stop drinking. This man is a kind and brilliant human being, touched with many gifts from God, but addicted to alcohol, and being taken down in the fight. He was suicidal, we thought, and the kids had been sent away. We sat together on his back deck and talked for hours, deep into the night. I didn't think he was going to make it. I worried about him as I boarded my flight back to Portland, and he checked himself into rehab. Two months later he picked me up from the same airport, having gone several weeks without a drink. As he told me the story of the beginnings of his painful recovery process, he said a single incident was giving him the strength to continue. His father had flown in to attend a recovery meeting with him, and in the meeting my friend had to confess all his issues and weaknesses. When he finished, his father stood up to address the group of addicts. He looked at his son and said, "I have never loved my son as much as I do at this moment. I love him. I want all of you to know I love him." My friend said at that moment, for the first time in his life, he was able to believe God loved him, too. He believed if God, his father, and his wife all loved him, he could fight the addiction, and he believed he might make it. (Donald Miller, Searching for God Knows What, pg. 130-131) This morning you will hear about the two ways that we are called to love.  We are called to love God and we are called to love others.  It really is that simple.  But there's something that comes before that.  There's something that undergirds and drives our love for God and our love for others.  It's the engine that makes the love go. Before we can talk about loving God and loving others we have to start with this earth-shattering, universe creating truth: God loves us.  Without this, nothing else is worth mentioning.  I'll be mentioning it a lot today.

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Do This in Rememberance of Me

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I'm sure most of us are aware of the famous statements that were recorded during the landing of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module on July 20, 1969.  We've no doubt heard the first intentional declaration to mission control: "Houston...The Eagle has landed."  Equally famous was Neil Armstrong's declaration: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." But in a lesser known incident Buzz Aldrin took a moment to reflect on the magnitude of the event saying, "I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way." Then you know what Aldrin did?  He took communion.  As an elder in the Presbyterian Church, Aldrin brought along a communion kit provided to him by the pastor of his congregation.  Since NASA was still fighting a lawsuit brought by Madlyn Murray O'Hare over the public reading of Genesis on the Apollo 8 mission, Aldrin preferred to keep this ceremony to himself.  He hadn't even told his wife that he had taken a communion kit with him.  Only years later did Aldrin tell anyone about his personal act of worship. There are several things to be noted regarding this incident.  I'll comment on just one, because I think it fits today's message.  Aldrin took communion out of the church.  And I think that what he was trying to say is that communion with and celebration of the goodness of our God has a place outside of Sunday.  It belongs to the entirety of our lives.  Communion can be a 24/7 kind of thing. I wish I were at NCOC to hear Bob Kiser's message.  Instead, I'm travelling back from Gatlinburg with the teens.  Please say a prayer for our safe travel.  We hope to be in later tonight. This morning, Bob will be talking with you about our celebration of communion.  If I understand him right, he's going to be suggesting that we have made communion to small a thing and that "Do this in remembrance of me" is bigger than most of us imagine.  I agree.  I hope you have a big communion with our Great God this morning. I look forward to seeing you next week.

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