Lake Louise Church of the Nazarene

I am not interested in a timid life. I’m not interested in playing it safe or keeping the boat steady. I refuse to accept the belief that this world is the way it is and there is nothing I can do about it. I want to challenge the perceptions of what is okay and what isn’t. Injustice, selfishness, greed, pride, hatred and bitterness are part of life, but that doesn’t mean they are acceptable. They must be confronted and challenged and changed. If I am timid, I am pretty sure change will not occur.

Change will take courage. I do not want to die with more left to give because I was afraid of trying, of getting hurt, of losing. People tell me that I am not facing reality when I talk about the redemption of the world. The world is the way it is and we are just waiting for Jesus to come back and make everything right again. That kind of thinking makes it is easy to want to take care of myself and make sure my future is certain. It is easy to make not doing anything at all sound spiritual and right when all I am doing is hiding my fear. It is easy to want to play it safe and not try to make a difference. I want every moment of my life spent in the worthy pursuit of proclaiming the message of hope and redemption Christ offers. I do not want to spend it living in fear. I would rather fail in great ways than not try at all. I would rather be laughed at for trying than to sit on the sidelines wishing for the courage to try.

Change also requires a willingness to love sacrificially. To love people means to risk rejection and to be misunderstood. I do not want to be afraid of love just because it hurts when it’s lost. Believe me; trying to redeem this world will hurt. Your heart and mine will be broken a thousand times if we decide that the people of this world deserve better that what they are currently getting. I want to face the challenges of this life, and of this world, knowing that I will have my heart broken time and time again. In fact, I want to love so deeply that it feels like a truck has been dropped on my chest when I lose that love. Because that kind of sorrow is only found in the deepest, most intimate of relationships. If avoiding sorrow would cheat me of that kind of love, I will not do it.

Since loving risks so much I can be tempted to protect my heart; however, there is a dangerous door that is opened with an unbroken heart. While keeping my heart from breaking, I risk becoming less compassionate, less caring, and less human. When I avoid the suffering and sorrow of this life, I avoid the things that make me human. I am also unwittingly avoiding the things that make me more like Jesus. Every time I rationalize not going to the dark places of sorrow and despair because it is just so sad and hopeless, I cheat myself of meeting with Jesus. Every time I rationalize not going to these places, I cheat others of experiencing the proof of Jesus’ love. Protecting my heart makes me less human and the world a darker place.

When I die I want to know that there was nothing held back, nothing left to give, and no reserve. I want to know that I used every ounce of love, grace, and mercy Jesus empowered me with to change the world. I want to have given all I have to bringing the hope and love of the risen savior into a desperate world. I want to be totally spent in living my life to the fullest capacity God has given me. I do not want to stroll into heaven and run to meet Jesus. I want to be so tired that all I can do is drag my body toward that pearly gate, unable to stand for lack of strength. And, when my hope is realized in seeing Jesus, I want to hear him say, “You look tired. Well done!”

When you think about it, the resurrection of Jesus is a pretty unbelievable story. A lot of my friends told me about their Easter services and about what their preachers preached. One I liked was about doubting your doubts. This is pretty true when it comes to the resurrection. It doesn’t appear that anyone believed Jesus was alive on that early morning. The report was that Jesus body was gone and no one knew where it was taken.

After the initial shock, Jesus appears to Mary. She runs to tell the others about it. Mark 16.12 says that they didn’t believe her. The Bible says that even when the disciples finally see him, some doubted (Matthew 28.17). Even seeing Jesus was not enough to make them change their minds. This is an unbelievable story. It was unbelievable then, it is unbelievable now. But it happened.

We spend a lot to time trying to convince people about the reality of the resurrection. We try to use logic, the Bible, and other historical witnesses to get people to believe that the resurrection happened. I don’t know that this really works.

This is a lot like the story of “Horton Hears a Who!” Horton is an elephant that hears some voices coming from a speck of dust. He actually hears their voices. The problem is that he is the only one that can hear it. Everyone else thinks Horton is crazy. And yet, Horton hears them and knows that he knows that he knows they are real. Horton tells the Whos that they are in danger and they need to make themselves known to the animals in Horton’s world. Every Who starts yelling, “We’re here! We’re here! We’re here!” Every voice is important to make the animals in Horton’s world hear the Whos.

All around us God is trying to make himself known. The Godhead is announcing “We’re here! We’re here! We’re here!” We catch a whisper of it when we serve others. We hear a whisper when we feed the hungry and clothe the naked. We can hear it faintly when we see a sunset or hear a baby laughing. We hear it when we see people in love. But they are only whispers. It’s not loud enough for the world to hear.

What we need to make the resurrection real to people is to live like people who believe it is real. Every voice is important. Every voice is needed. What would happen if we all decided to put our petty differences aside and actually serve the people around us? What would happen if the world around us saw all of our churches serving our communities out of love, with no expectations of getting anything back? What would happen? They would hear heaven shouting, “You are loved! You are loved! You are loved!”

I think the people would begin to hear the truth of the resurrection. They would begin to hear, “He’s alive! He’s alive! He’s alive!” We, all of us, the Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Lutherans, Nazarenes, Brethren, Presbyterians, Assemblies of God, Episcopalians, and everyone else need to work together to announce the reality of the resurrection. If we would do that, amazing things would happen. 

All of the sudden, out of nowhere, the world would hear in our loving actions that Jesus is indeed alive. He is risen! He is alive! He is here! Will you join me in announcing the unbelievable? Will you help me make the resurrection real by loving everyone and everything like Jesus loves? None of us can do it alone. It will take all of us to make the voice of heaven heard. I can’t wait to hear it, can you?

Have you ever used a public restroom? They can be amazingly dirty places. I have cleaned more than my share of bathrooms from schools to restaurants. I used to be shocked with what people do in a restroom. There were times when I stood flabbergasted and would ask questions about how these bathrooms got so trashed. Questions like “How far were you standing from the urinal?” “Was the seat stuck and you couldn’t put it up?” “How could you miss?” And, in all of my experience, I have come to believe that people don’t treat their own bathrooms like public bathrooms.

A friend of mine owns some rental properties. One of the houses was abandoned by the renter and it was trashed. They used a claw hammer on the walls, and it was adorned with crayon drawings on every wall. I wonder if the renters would have treated that house differently if they owned it.

For the most part, we treat things differently if we own them or are borrowing them. These things are not ours so we are a little less careful than we would be otherwise. I don’t know that it is universal, but public bathrooms make me wonder.

What does this have to do with God or Christianity? A lot actually. “This world is not my home, I’m just passin’ through,” is a common phrase in Christian circles. And the Apostle Peter refers to the believers as strangers in the world. These words give a person the sense that we are not here for the long haul. We are just visiting because this isn’t really our home. We are just renting, not buying.

But what if we have misunderstood what the biblical writers are talking about? What if we have been treating this world like a rental, and it is actually ours to keep? I know, I know, I can hear some of you getting ready to call me a heretic. But give me a minute.

If we are just passing through and going on to a better place, it is easy to look at the problems of this world and think they are someone else’s responsibility. But Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6.9). We are supposed to pray for God’s kingdom to come here on earth. We are called to be representatives of God’s kingdom on earth.

“In John 18 and 19,” theologian N.T. Wright says, “we find Jesus himself standing before Caesar’s representative, speaking of a kingdom which is not from this world but which is decidedly for this world, speaking of a truth which will blow Caesar’s kingdom right out of the water, speaking of power which comes from God and because of which the earthly wielders of power are to be called to account.”

We are called to confront the problems of this world. We are not only called, but we are given power to challenge the authorities of this world. We are called to fight injustice. We are called to confront hunger, discrimination, hatred and prejudice. We are not called to pray that God deals with these problems while giving us an airlift to heaven. We are called to make a difference in this world for the kingdom of God. If we keep thinking that we are escaping this world we can have a tendency to treat it like it is a rental. It isn’t a rental; it is a place we have to redeem.

Let me go back to the restroom idea. If we think of the earth as some place we are going to escape, we will likely treat it like a public restroom. We go into a bathroom because we have to. We need to use it. We look around at how dirty and disgusting it is and think that someone should really come in and clean it. We would be right, someone should clean it up. That someone is us!

This Lenten season, will you join me in considering what it means to be representatives of God’s kingdom on earth? Will you join me in making a difference and bringing heaven here on earth? I don’t want to talk to Jesus one day and find out I treated his prized possession like a rental or a restroom, do you?

1. Why don’t people go to church?
2. Can a Christian be a Christian and not go to church?
3. Is it still church if people struggle and don’t always agree?
4. What makes a church a church?
5. Is the church about here and now or there and later?

Church is messy because it is filled with people. These people have ideas, opinions and preferences about how things should and shouldn’t be. Sometimes people don’t get their way and they leave a church body. They don’t have fellowship with other Christians and are at risk of dying spiritually.

As I struggle with some friends about how a new church would look in our community, we are asking some of these questions. People leave, people fight, people disagree. Is it still church? because if it is, we need to change our concept of what it means to be the Church.

Want to be part of the process, send me your thoughts and ideas.

     What am I going to write regarding New Years that you would even remotely care about? Seriously, it has all been done before. Each year they trot out the “Ten Best…” of whatever. We are told how to make and keep New Year’s Resolutions and how to pick ourselves up after we have failed to keep our resolutions. We will be bombarded with advice and tips and tricks for all of this. So, here we are…another New Year…one more “Top Ten” list…another resolution to make.

All of this thinking got me thinking. What if I could give you one thing you could do this year that might just make everything else easier? This idea is really simple, but not at all easy to do. This idea will require you to unlearn some of the things you already know and replace it with different information. But, if you can get past that, it may just change all of the other stuff you are doing. For example, (I cannot believe I am doing this!) here is a list of the “Top Ten Resolutions”: More time with family, get in shape, lose weight, quit smoking, enjoy life more, quit drinking, get out of debt, help others and get organized. You probably fit in there somewhere, right? I know I do.

     What is that one thing that will make it easier? Accepting how much God loves you. Wait, don’t quit reading. How many of us are defined by the job we do? Lots of us think we are what we do. We are identified by our job or profession. We get our sense of worth and value as a human being by the pats on the back and the praise of customers, bosses or parishioners. We struggle and strive to do a good job and it is never enough. There are lots of us who get our identity from the things we own. We have a great house, cool car, take great vacations all because that is how we measure our worth and value. Some of us work so hard for things that we think will make our lives more enjoyable that we don’t enjoy them because we are working so hard at getting these things. Some feel the pressure of all of it and drink and eat or just veg out. Bleak, eh?

     I can hear you ask, “What’s love got to do with it?” Love has everything to do with it. It isn’t a second hand emotion…sorry. God loves you with an everlasting love. It is unshakable. God doesn’t love you only when you do the right things. God’s love is steadfast and true. The Apostle Paul has a great description of God’s love: It is patient and kind, not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs.

     If we truly understand God’s love, we don’t need stuff to make us feel better. We don’t need booze or food or sex or money or a title or anything to make us feel better. All of those things are temporary. When we recognize and accept the love God has for us, we are free from what anyone else thinks about us. We don’t need things to make us anyone because we are already someone in God’s eyes. We are already loved perfectly and completely by God. And, since God is unchanging, we don’t have to worry about God changing God’s mind.

     Since we don’t have to work so hard for things to make us feel better about ourselves, we are free to enjoy life and spend more time with the family. We can get out of debt because we don’t need to keep up with Joneses. We can help others because we know that God will take care of us. We can do almost everything on the list (I am still waiting to get organized!) when we fall in love with God like God is in love with us. There are a lot of great churches to help you on your journey to better understand God’s love for you. Why not start the New Year off right and fall in love with God? It will change your life, I promise.

The sheer madness of life is stultifying. While I write this, crimes, deaths, abuse, sickness and accidents will take and maim lives. Children will be born and children will die. Other people will be determining where to take a family vacation. Life marches on and does not skip a beat regardless of life or death, sickness or healing. It is into this maddening monotony that we minister.

We have a calling on our lives to make a difference in the name of Jesus. We have been called and empowered by the Spirit of God to go forth and proclaim God’s favor to all the people. We have a heightened sense of the cruelty, injustice, bitterness and rage in the world. We see things that are wrong and desire to fix them because we carry within us the Spirit of the Living God. We know that we can make a difference with a word, a prayer or the laying on of hands. Yet, despite our fervent and sincere prayers, the parade of life marches on without a moment’s hesitation.

It must be me. My faith is fragile and weak. I need more of everything. Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick and on and on. We are supposed to do greater things than he did. So, I try harder. I jump in front of the parade and extend my hand in authority and command it to stop. No one flinches. No one stops. I am unable to stop the insanity to which I have been called to minister. I have failed, no matter the effort. In defeat, I sit and watch the parade.

The cure to my torment is the calming voice of Jesus. He beckons me to come to him for rest. Yes, life will continue to march on. I recognize that life went on when Jesus died. It marched along when we thought the world should stand still. My hope is to find my reality, meaning, identity and strength in Jesus Christ. He is gentle and humble in heart and will give me rest. I will burn out if I forget that the light I cast in this world marks my place with a shadow. In Jesus, however, my place is marked with blood in the Book of Life for all of eternity.

I am thankful for Jesus.

     Love is not for sissies. I was sitting with my uncle in his den. His wife of 65 years had just died. He was, and is, in a lot of emotional pain. A darkness has fallen in his world that seems to defy any glimmer of light. Love is not for sissies, because when you lose it, it hurts – a lot. It takes courage to love.

     Because the pain of losing love is so great, we may be tempted to protect ourselves from it. While life without love may be free of pain, it is also a life free from living. Life without love is cold and gray. A life that risks nothing ultimately gains nothing. It is not really life. It is some cold facsimile of life. It is no more than a statute or portrait of something real.

     Maybe that is what evangelism is so cold and static these days. If I were to love my enemies, to wish the best for them and pray that they find peace and happiness in their lives, I risk so much pain when they choose another path. Caring about someone’s life that does not care about his or her own life is frustrating. It opens us to so many disappointments. It can crush our emotions.

     It is gut wrenching to care about someone’s eternal soul. Caring, loving, healing and helping people all take their toll in our lives because we risk rejection. To see someone throw their life away on drugs, alcohol or cheap sex is horrifying. Moreover, when we try to help, we risk people questioning our motives. We risk pain while trying to ease someone else’s pain. Love is not for sissies.

     When Jesus said that he had come to give us an abundant life, we need to understand all that entails. An abundant life involves just as much pain as it does pleasure. It involves as much losing as gaining. It involves sorrow as much as joy. An abundant life may seem to require a lot, but it offers so much in the living.

     When love prevails…there is no greater joy, no greater satisfaction. We experience a joy that overshadows the deepest sorrow. It brings a peace when all we knew was chaos. When love prevails, we have strength to face another day. We know that the mountain can move and love can succeed. The benefits of a prevailing love far outweigh the losses. Love is not for sissies.
     
Jesus risked everything for us. He risked rejection for the hope of a real relationship with us. His love for us cost him everything. He mourned for Jerusalem’s rejection. He was devastated when many of his disciples left him. He even wondered if his small band would leave him like everyone else. Christ’s love for us caused him much pain and sorrow.

     When Jesus rose from the grave, we saw true love prevail. We saw the end of death and the beginning of real life. We can finally understand that while we will have trouble in this world, Jesus has overcome the world. We finally understand that while love risks great disappointment and pain, it promises great joy and pleasure.
     Thankfully, Jesus was not a sissy.

Dave

It is one of the first things I learned when I became a Christian. I have used them repeatedly. I don’t think they are wrong. It’s just that I am not sure what to do with them. They are the ‘Magic Words’ of evangelism.You know them I am sure. You may have heard of them as the “Four Spiritual Laws”. You may know them as the “ABCs of Salvation”. The “Roman Road” comes to mind. But they are almost all magic words.Let me explain.

When we lead someone to the Lord Jesus Christ and they want to be forgiven their sins and go to heaven when they die, we run through some sort of Scripture program of what it means to be saved. We lead them in the sinner’s prayer and they are saved, Praise the Lord! Then, we tell them they need to start reading their Bible, be baptized and worship (or some variation of those things). And that’s it.

There is a question that used to sit at the back of my head is now working its way onto this page. The question is, “Is that it?” I look at Alcoholics Anonymous and they do a whole bunch more to get sober than we Christians do to get saved. An Alcoholic admits that his or her life is unmanageable and that they are powerless. We do that, too. They come to believe in a power greater than themselves that can restore them to sanity. We are still tracking. They make a decision to turn their lives over to God. Ditto.

Then something insane happens. The person in AA make a fearless moral inventory of their lives. They confess their sins to another human being. I could go on, but it is just insanity. They go beyond admitting that they are a hopeless drunk and take care of business.Sure, I know there are Christians that go farther than simply admitting they are sinners saved by grace, but not a lot. If we are to truly become like Jesus, we need to do more than just get saved. I can hear some of you thinking that is blasphemy. Is it? What would happen if we truly got our garbage out in the open and let God deal with it? What would be the result if we began to deal with our broken relationships and make restitution for the things we have done wrong? I think amazing things would happen. It is imperative that we move past the “magic words” and started to do the hard work of letting God into our lives for real change. That is a journey and not a destination.

How about an example ripped from today’s headlines (Dramatic, yes?): A young Hollywood starlet just was busted for Driving Under the Influence even though she just go out of rehab two weeks ago. She probably learned a lot about addiction and alcoholism.  I am sure she didn’t drink in rehab. Obviously, sobriety is more than not drinking. How do I know? Because she gets out and goes right back to her old habits and ends up drinking and driving, again. She needs to change some habits and become a different person, not just quit drinking. It isn’t good enough for her to admit she has a drinking problem, she needs to face lifestyle habits and personal issues for real change to take place. The same is true for us. We admit our sins, and ask Jesus to forgive us. Then, we need to change our old habits and replace them with new ones. Transformation is more important than information. Without it, we, like this young starlet, will end up right back where Jesus found us. In other words, we need more than magic words. What do you think? Let me know.

I just finished watching a couple of videos online. They were from an evangelist that uses evidence to prove beyond a doubt God’s existence. Which, as one blog wrote, negates faith. This debate was between two atheists and these two Christians. It was a horror show.

I used to like to argue with atheists. There are lots of books in my library to prove it. Now, not so much. Why? It all comes down to love. I had to decide whether I was going to argue with people or love them like Jesus did.

By focusing on love, this evangelist would say that I am representing only a part of the Gospel. He would say that I am focused too much on God’s love and not enough on God’s judgment. You can look up the video and tell me if you think the argument route is more convincing than love.

Yes, I know that love is a dynamic concept. I realize that sometimes love hurts. I get it…honest. It killed Jesus.

Jesus said that we would be know by our love for each other. We are to love people as Jesus loved us. We are to be imitators of Christ. What would happen if we witnessed to people by living the love of Christ, even atheists? What if we let the Holy Spirit do the Spirit’s job and we love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves?

We could argue with atheists, but is that the best use of our time? I know the Bible says to be prepared to give a reason for our hope in Jesus. It also says it is to be done with gentleness and respect.

So, whether it is a mind-numbing banana defense or using the Ten Commandments, I think I will stick with feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, imprisoned, and giving a drink to the thirsty. Simple, yes…and powerful.

Love…the anti-argument.

What does being Christian mean? How do we live the Christian life?

Some people might say that we obey the rules. Others may say that we are to separate ourselves from sin. Still others might say that being a Christian entails total commitment. These may have a place, but is this what Christianity is all about?

I know I have practiced each of these at times in my past. But what is the mark of the Christian life? Jesus said it is love. In fact, we cannot love God if we are not loving others.

We are being Christian when we love each other and the world as Christ Jesus loves the world. This love life seeks the best for the people with whom we come in contact. It brings wholeness and beauty.

So how do you understand love? How do you love those around you? What are your biggest challenges with loving others?

Let’s get the conversation started.

Dave G