Living Unfiltered for God

  Today marks the beginning of what we call Holy Week.   It’s Palm Sunday and hopefully today you’ve already had a chance to attend – in person or virtually – a worship service. It’s important that we celebrate Jesus’s “triumphant entry” as it is referred. His riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. The Jews and others of His day thought He was doing so to attend the Passover Feast. They weren’t wrong, but they were only partially right. He was also going so that He would be in position to perform the single most meaningful, unselfish and world transforming act in history: Voluntarily going to the cross and being put to death, not for what the Jews accused Him of, but rather, for all our sins. Your sins. My sins. All of them. It had to be that way. No one understood it. Many still don’t. But on the third day, when He rose, He did so so that we no longer had – or have – to be slaves to those sins ever again. Last night I had a very interesting dream. I’ve been having a lot of them...

This is not going to be the typical type of piece that I share. It’s a little longer (please be patient and humor me, and read all the way through) and maybe a little more “preachy” (again, please be patient…)  I was inspired to write this toward the very end of our church service this morning. It has taken me a while to sort out what exactly is supposed to be conveyed in and by these words – I pray that I get it right. It is no surprise to anyone that our world is in a strange kind of place these days. I can honestly say that they are unlike any of my previous fifty-plus years on this earth. For most of the last four months, this has been deeply concerning to me. But recently (and even more-so in the moments as I type this), I have started to have a little bit of a different take… Maybe, just maybe, all that we have been experiencing is not really about “them” taking away “our” freedoms, or “those people” not doing what “they” should have done years ago or “us” finally getting...

In recent years, there has been a lot of controversy about whether we should say, “Merry Christmas” or, “Happy Holidays” this time of year. Unfortunately, like so many things these days, it has become a divisive, political issue. Let me say from the outset, I’m solidly in the “Merry Christmas” camp. That said, I recognize that, at least from a purely religious standpoint, it does not apply to everyone. I have Jewish friends for whom, “Happy Hanukkah” would be more appropriate. But, also non-believing friends who, while they may not be followers of Jesus, still celebrate Christmas in its secular form (if that can really be a thing.) And of course, many others that fall across the spectrum. I’d like to offer here, though, a different way to think about all of this. Will you give me a few more minutes? Sitting in church this morning, as our Pastor was talking about Jesus being the fulfillment of certain Old Testament prophecies, I was struck with the following thought, “ Don’t just s...

What is your favorite day of the week? Is it Friday? The end of the work week (for many), time to get ready for the weekend! Or maybe Saturday? You can sleep in perhaps. Spend the day with your family and maybe get some things down around the house. What about Sunday? You get to go to church in the morning and perhaps have a day of rest before the new week starts. Or, if you're a little different, Thursday is your favorite day. The whole weekend is still in front of you. There's a spring in your step on Friday, then Saturday and Sunday have all the benefits and goodness about them that I mentioned above. The best time of the week for me is actually Thursday night. I love looking forward to things so Thursday night puts me right at the precipice of all these good things to come. Given this is Easter weekend, though, I've been thinking a little differently about this. During Holy Week, Thursday night was rough, to say the least. That was when Jesus was betrayed with a ki...

Here we are, eight days away from Christmas. The last full weekend before the holiday. There will no doubt be much shopping done in the next couple of days. Lots of other holiday activities, as well. Even in our household, my wife and I will be off in different directions this morning, participating in some of those activities. My prayer this morning though, is that with all of the hustle and bustle, we remember why we're celebrating. I'm probably thinking along these lines because I've found that I've lost sight of it myself, at times, over the last couple of weeks. One quick example... Our family has a cookie decorating party every year. Over the years it has grown to become our big Christmas get-together before the holiday itself. Family and friends gather, we share a meal and then get to the serious (yes, to some it is!) business of decorating Christmas cookies. The party was last Saturday. On Sunday afternoon I went into the Grocery store and I had this strang...

We are almost done with walking through the Peace Prayer of St. Francis and dissecting what it would look like if we truly walked out its message. As we've already seen, each component thus far has been much more easily spoken than lived out. And to live it out, you have to approach life in a much different manner than what the world would accept as typical or appropriate. So... let's look at the next two lines: where there is darkness, (sow) light; where there is sadness, joy.  This may be the easiest of the admonitions we've looked at so far. I say "easy" though, only in comparison to the what we've already looked at and also in the sense that it is easier to be a generally "happy" person than to be one that is quick to forgive, for example.  Many people who have been trying to live the Christian life for any time at all have probably heard the expression, "be a light in a dark place." I think it's interesting tha...

Here I am writing... or trying to. It's been a long time. Too long, I know. As with so many things, I seem to always try to wait for the perfect conditions. That's not necessarily a good thing. Even this morning, I stopped at my favorite coffee shop - with the intention of sitting down to write - but I left right away as soon as I saw that it was packed and bustling with activity. "I can't write here!" So I moved on to my second choice. Still not perfect conditions, but I started thinking that the enemy may be trying to stop me from doing this. So here I sit, sipping my coffee, listening to Bethel Music's Synesthesia (drowning out distraction s) and literally putting pen to paper like this for the first time in months. These last few months have been a time of stretching. We had a little illustration in church yesterday that involved rubber bands. "A rubber band is worthless if it's not stretched", our Pastor said. Implication being that fo...

Christmas is just about upon us! In fact , as I post this,  if you happen to be reading this in New Zealand it's already Christmas morning! As this will be my final Advent post, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about something that will probably be a big part of your Christmas Day... giving and receiving. It's important to have our hearts in the right place when it comes to giving. As Paul tells us,  " Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. " ( 2 Cor 9:7 ) This verse is often used in churches when it comes time for offerings and pledges. At Christmas, though, I think it is appropriate to remind ourselves of this as we exchange presents. I remember as a child, we would take turns opening gifts. We would each open one present at a time. It was hard to stay focused when one of my sisters was opening something. I was more concerned with what my next gift ...

When do you start listening to Christmas music in your house? That's usually a question that has a definite answer. in our home, it's typically the Friday after Thanksgiving - that's the day that we usually break out the Christmas music and start. I must confess though, this year I started a little earlier. I had a CD or two in my car going before Thanksgiving. For some reason, I was anxious to get an early start! One of the great things about Christmas music, especially if you are Christian, is that singing about Christ becomes "mainstream"! Sure there are lots of Christmas carols that really have nothing to do with Christ, but many of them do. And in regards to those that do, I have a couple a couple of questions for you... Do you really listen to the words? Do you really think about the lyrics that you are singing? Have you thought about the power of what we are proclaiming when we sing some of these songs? One of my favorites is "O Holy Night...

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2014!  I've always loved this time of year - reflecting on the previous 12 months and looking ahead to what the next year may bring. It's like starting out with a clean slate - a blank canvas of opportunity. I think the Holy Spirit uses this time to remind us that we have a God of new beginnings - One who forgives us and lets us start fresh and new! And not just once a year, but every day and even multiple times a day, if necessary!  Paul tells us that, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come!" ( 2 Corinthians 5:17 ) Sounds like how we approach each new year, does it not? We must remember that, as Christians, we are that new creation. At the dawning of a new year it is a good time to think and pray about what God wants to do with us, in us and through us. What is it that, through our obedience to Him, God wants to do this coming year?  While some reflecting on the past to help with this is g...