Lake Louise Church of the Nazarene

My wife and I just celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary with a trip to Traverse City. It was the annual Cherry Festival and we participated in one of my favorite pastimes – people watching. There were all sorts of people walking up and down the streets. There were kids on skateboards, folks riding motorcycles, people on scooters, and some funky golf cart looking things. People were walking up and down the streets until late at night. But one thing stood out to me as we watched all of the people enjoying the festival; there were a lot of kids holding their parents hands.

I know it sounds silly, but my daughter is 20 and doesn’t hold my hand anymore. I remember walking down the street with her little hand in mine. I remember picking her up and carrying her when she was too tired to walk anymore. I remember her sitting on my lap and me reading a story to her. I remembered all of those times while I watched these moms and dads with their sons and daughters.

I don’t know when Lindsay stopped holding my hand. I miss her reaching out and taking my hand when she wanted to show me something she had found. I miss her taking my hand when she was nervous in a crowd. I don’t know when she stopped holding my hand; I do know that I miss it.

Let’s be honest. Our children will grow up. They will get older and they will become more and more independent. That is how it works. That is the way it is supposed to work at least. But sometimes with that independence comes an uncomfortable distance. I know from my experience I don’t call my mom and dad as much as I should. What makes me think that my mom and dad miss me hold their hands any less than I miss holding my daughters hand? I know I have grown up. Now, instead of running to my dad when I am scared, I am the one that must put on a brave face and tell my daughter everything is going to be okay. Actually, she doesn’t even need me for that much anymore. I sure miss those days.

That got me thinking about God. When I first became a Christian, God was so close. I ran to God for every little thing. I ran to God with every decision, every question, and every worry or doubt. As I grew up I started to understand more of what God liked and didn’t like. I was better able to make decisions based on what I was learning from God. I was growing up. And I think that is okay. We are supposed to grow up and mature. We are supposed to be able to make decisions based on what we have learned and are learning. This is the way it is supposed to be. Eventually I let go of God’s hand. But with that came an uncomfortable distance. I didn’t talk to God much. I didn’t spend much time with God at all.

Maybe that’s you. You used to be really close to God and walked hand in hand with God every day. Maybe something happened in your life that hurt you and in anger you lashed out at God and stopped talking. Maybe you just grew up and let the relationship slip to the sidelines of your life. I don’t know when you stopped holding God’s hand, but I know God misses it.

Wherever you are, whatever you have done, no matter how far you feel you are from God, there is a hand waiting to be held. Reconnect with God this week. Reach out and remember what it is like to be loved and have joy. You might just want to pray a little prayer and get caught up with God on what’s happening in your life. Love is waiting to be held if you will just reach out your hand and let love’s firm grasp find you. While you’re at it, if your parents are still around, give them a call. It will make their day and yours. I promise.

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!”

I am not interested in a timid life. I do not want to die with more left to give because I was afraid of trying, of getting hurt, of losing. I want every moment spent on life and living, not 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.

I want to know the pain of a broken heart because that will mean that I loved much and loved deeply. I do not want to be afraid of love just because it hurts when it is lost. I want to love so deeply that it feels like a truck has been dropped on my chest. 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.

When I die I want to know that there was nothing held back, nothing left to give, and no reserve. I want to be totally spent in living my life to the fullest capacity God has given me, and when I see Jesus, he will 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?

What difference would it make if we knew that whatever happened to us, God could bring something awesome out of it?

What difference would it make if we knew that no matter how hard or painful our life situation was, God walked with us and would give us the strength to make it through?

What difference would it make if you knew that no matter how hard the battle or how fierce the foe, you could not lose?

Life will beat us up. Life will try to steal what joy we have. Life will hurt. And, at the end of our lives we will bear the scars of a thousand battles. We will have wounds that show the ferocity of those battles.

We will look back with tears and shake at the terrors we have faced.

We will have fought the good fight.

We will have given everything we had to living this life.

We will have no regrets.

We will stand on the other side of life victorious.

What difference would it make if this is what you believed?

Here is a podcast link. What do you think?

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?

I like classical music. I know there are many types of music; rap, rock, blues, jazz and classical to name a few. And of all the music out there, the music I don’t get is Avant-garde. It is music that is full of discordant, non-existent rhythm or form. There are long sections of discord and few brief interludes of harmony. The harmony is welcome and all too brief. It’s almost as if you could pick the ‘song’ up anywhere and there would be no difference. Avant-garde is musical chaos. A symphony on the other hand is full of rhythm and harmony. Yes, there are moments of discord but they quickly or ultimately end in beauty.

Our lives without Christ are avant-garde. It is full of discord and disharmony. The brief moments of harmony are all too short and quickly resolve into nerve jarring and ear shattering noise.

With Christ our lives take on a dynamic that is full of challenge and change. It is full of beauty and harmony. The rhythm of our lives, just like a symphony and its many movements, will change. There will moments of slowing and moments of increasing tempo. There will quiet and imperceptible changes and subtle harmonies that will often go unnoticed. There will be passages that the volume will increase to the point of shear loudness but will resolve into tranquility and peace.

In the symphony of life our discordant notes are not the rule but moments or measures of our life where we feel the need for harmony most keenly. And the conductor of life will ultimately resolve those measures in beauty.

Our lives are sometimes the melody. We play our notes and there is a comfort in these notes, a familiarity. Sometimes our lives are harmony. We don’t understand the part we play. There is something vaguely familiar, but it escapes us. Sometimes our lives are the discordant note that is harsh, unlikable and unappealing. We play our notes and wince at the volume and tone. And those not playing the same tune will look at us like we are nuts. It is not until we play our notes in the company of others that the true wonder of the composers work is fully appreciated.

It is in a life with Christ that each of our parts come together and makes sense. But it is also in the playing the parts to the end. There are unfinished symphonies, there are unfinished lives. God has not written an unfinished work. There are movements, transitions, and different musical journeys and feelings. It is in the completion of the piece that one finds resolution to the conflicts introduced. You cannot listen to a symphony and stop at a conflict. It must be finished to understand why it was there. It must be played completely through in order to understand and see what the conductor’s ultimate goal was in the writing.

Each one of us has been given an instrument and notes to play. Each one of us has a part. Alone we may find the parts boring, tedious or too difficult. Alone we find our instrument lacks importance. In an orchestra, however, each part and note brings a splendor we hoped for. In an orchestra our single note takes on consequence. It means something. It is important. In the orchestra of life we shout that our notes and instruments matter.

While I believe that a child with a $5 toy piano could write an avant-garde piece of music, it takes a master’s touch to write a true masterpiece. I have heard different orchestras play the same composition of music and each had a slightly different interpretation, even though the music was the same. It was played with excellence and it pointed to the skill of the conductor and the skill of the composer.

Our symphonic lives bring glory to God, the Creator of our lives, and Jesus Christ the author and finisher of our faith. Your instrument matters, your note or notes matter. Play. Play with all that you have been given. Seek the orchestra and play. You will find beauty. You will find you matter. You will find that God knows what He is doing. And you will find purpose. I promise.

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.