The paradox, the surprise, and the wonder are that the clock was invented by men who wanted to devote themselves more rigorously to God; it ended as the technology of the greatest use to men who wished to devote themselves to the accumulation of money.
Sometimes, the Lord gives me bits of wisdom that may not particularly fit in a sermon or may be more appropriate as a short devotional. That's what this blog is for. I hope you enjoy it.
A few years ago I read TECHNOPOLY - The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman and PROPHETIC UNTIMELINESS - A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance by Os Guinness. Both have challenged me. It amazes me that these two books were written eleven years apart while their messages are so complementary. They provide the insights I share with you now with some of my own thoughts blended in.
Os Guinness writes, "Who would have imagined whose interests and what worldview would be ultimately advanced by the invention of this particular machine? It was pivotal to the rise of the modern world and therefore to modern consciousness and the impact of the modern world on the rest of the world. Not only is it infinitely more influential than often-cited carriers of globalization such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's and MTV. But it is the catalyst—or culprit—behind the pressures of modern time on us, and on our views of the present and the future. What invention am I speaking of? The clock."
The rock group Chicago sang a song asking, "Does anybody really know what time it is?" I would alter the question to ask, "Does anybody really know what time is for?"
Neil Postman offers this brief history of the clock. "It had its origin in the Benedictine monasteries of the 12th & 13th centuries. The impetus behind the invention was to provide a more or less precise regularity to the routines of the monasteries, which required, among other things, seven periods of devotion during the course of the day (e.g., Psalm 119:164). The bells of the monastery were to be rung to signal the sanctioned hours.
The paradox, the surprise, and the wonder are that the clock was invented by men who wanted to devote themselves more rigorously to God; it ended as the technology of the greatest use to men who wished to devote themselves to the accumulation of money. In the eternal struggle between God and Money, the clock quite unpredictably favored the latter.
Filipinos say, "Westerners are people with gods on their wrists." Kenyans say, "Westerners have watches but no time." Americans say, “Africans have time but no watches."
The Apostle Paul tells us "to redeem the time, for the days are evil" (Eph. 5:16, KJV). What does that mean? Other translations offer some help: "Making the most of your time (NASB)… make the most of every chance you get (MsgB)…making the most of every opportunity (NIV)." Paul says elsewhere, "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time" (1 Tim. 2:5-6, NASB-U). Thank God for seizing "the proper time" and "making the most of it."
Chicago sang, "Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care…about time?" Christ did. He knew what time is for. Christians should too (consider John 1:23).
In his enigmatically titled book, Under the Unpredictable Plant, Eugene Peterson discerningly states, “While everyone has a hunger for God, deep and insatiable, none of us has any great desire for him.” I compare this to the classic remark that parents make to their children – “There’s a significant distinction between what you want and what you actually need.”
Do any of us—parent or child, Christian leader or layman—recognize the difference between our wants and needs or understand the distinction between our hunger for God and our desire for him? Moses was taken aback when he discovered that Aaron had capitulated to the people’s expressed want and hunger for a god to worship by crafting a golden calf for them. Moses asked Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought a great sin upon them?” (Exod. 32:21).
The answer is as simple as it is disturbing – he gave the people exactly what they asked for! Is the church in America any different from Aaron in this respect? Are we not guilty of catering to people’s hunger commonly referred to as their “felt needs” (aka, “wants”) while failing to get them to identify their deepest desire, that is their real needs?
Peterson says, “What we really want is to be our own gods and to have whatever other gods that are around to help us in this work…it is serious apostasy when we pastors/Christian leaders go along.”
Larry Crabb goes further in his assessment in his most demanding book Real Church: Does it Exist? Can I Find It? He writes, “A church that advertises itself as a place to go to make your life better is not a church I want to go to. I don’t even think it’s a church.” And then he penetratingly asks, “Does going to church help people want to know God more or use God more?”
In February 2008, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life identified an increasing restlessness in America’s religious yearnings. Their point is we’ve become church shoppers more than truth seekers. As James Twitchell points out in his book Shopping for God, “Successful churches have one thing in common: they are entertaining.”
Crabb writes, “Our message, that coming to church can give you a better life, is drawing crowds and shrinking Christians.” I find this disconcerting and difficult to refute in regards to the churches with which I’m familiar.
Here’s the message Jesus offered to his contemporaries. Mark 8:34-37 (MSG) Calling the crowd to join his disciples, Jesus said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. 35 Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. 36 What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? 37 What could you ever trade your soul for?”
Are we sharing the same message? Is this what we truly desire? It’s certainly and unequivocally what we really need. Do we have the desire and see the need to get back to Jesus’ message? I hope so.
C. Neil Strait appropriately remarked, “Take from a man his wealth, and you hinder him; take from him his purpose, and you slow him down. But take from man his hope, and you stop him. He can go on without wealth, and even without purpose, for awhile. But he will not go on without hope.”
Hopelessness is at the root of many of today’s psychological disorders manifested in the growing frequency of random killings and suicides. But it doesn’t have to go to those extremes to signify it exists. We see it in people who feel alone, individuals who are afraid and people who are paralyzed into inaction. They can’t make decisions or bring themselves to do things.
When someone is held in the vice grip of hopelessness their sense of self-worth dissolves into self-doubt, self-distrust and self-dislike; confidence is swallowed up in despair. They find themselves in a tunnel that has no light at the end of it, only deeper darkness and eventually a blank wall.
In Romans 15:4 (NJB) the apostle Paul instructs us, “All these things which were written so long ago were written so that we, learning perseverance and the encouragement which the scriptures give, should have hope.”
Here’s the way the Lord has impressed this upon me: Hank, you think you have hope but the truth is hope has you. You think you’re holding on to hope when in reality hope is holding on to you!
The song Heaven in the Real World (by Steven Curtis Chapman) ends with this bridge and chorus:
It happened one night with a tiny baby's birth
God heard creation crying and He sent heaven to earth.
He is the hope, He is the peace
That will make this life complete
For every man, woman, boy and girl
Looking for heaven in the real world.
Again, Paul encourages us in Romans 15:13 (NASB) “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Good hoping to you—or as some say, here’s hoping!—hoping as a way of life, hoping as a source of strength and hoping as a fountain of joy in the heart from which praise and prayer will flow out continually.
There are a lot of “ism’s” infecting the church today (aka, “family of God”). Perhaps the oldest are the inseparable twins of cynicism and skepticism. There’s the classic middle child of nationalism (“God bless America and no one else.”) And there are the two youngest children of individualism and consumerism that have ADHD (attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder). Every member of this family also carries the virus of narcissism. With a family like this who needs enemies?
The Advent Conspiracy asks, “Can Christmas still change the world?” If we return the focus upon Jesus it can. Someone said the church is suffering from “JDD—Jesus Deficit Disorder.” Proximity doesn’t necessarily determine closeness, but it sure does help. As we approach Advent—the Christmas season—“What are the unnecessary and cumbersome aspects of our church that could be stripped away?” For us to truly comprehend the Christmas story we need to rediscover the hope God sent into this world through his son, Jesus. Immanuel – God with us.
We need to turn our hearts, minds, and eyes on Jesus. In America, we have replaced the gift of presence with material presents. And yet, the greatest resource in the Biblical account of the Christmas story is the presence of Christ. And Scripture teaches us that the greatest resource in life is the presence of Christ within us.
The Advent Conspiracy offers this challenge and incentive: “Entering this story is harder than you think, more meaningful than you dare to dream, and one of the most beautiful encounters with Jesus that many of you will ever experience. We refuse to be defined by our culture. Instead, emboldened by the Spirit, we are re-creating culture in the name of the good, the true, and the beautiful Jesus Christ.” We are returning the focus of Christmas back upon Jesus (Luke 2:8-12).
At Christmas, God isn’t offering you information He’s inviting you into intimacy. This Christmas learn to see every aspect of life within the context of God’s presence. The Christian life is not about arrival, but about learning to journey with God and becoming increasingly united with him. Remember, man does not possess God; he meets Him.
Let’s worship Him fully this Christmas. Worship is nothing less than offering our whole lives back to God through Jesus.” Go to www.adventconspiracy.org to discover a teaching resource that will enable you and your family to experience a Christmas that can still change lives and change the world.
James K. A. Smith wrote, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation. One of the fundamental questions he poses in the book is in the form of a thought experiment: “What if education wasn’t first and foremost about what we know, but about what we love?”
I remember an adage I was taught in Seminary, “We don’t preach and teach for information but for transformation.” Paul wrote in Colossians, “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me” (1:29). He labors, strives, and struggles for the purpose of seeing Christ formed in each person (1:27) and to be able to present each person “complete in Christ” (1:28). It should be our desire to do the same today. Ministry is hard work. It’s tedious, laborious, and has gotten the best of many men and women.
Someone defined calling as “what you’re willing to have your heart broken over and still do.” Paul knew this firsthand as did his followers (1 Thess. 2:7-13). A lot has been written in the last two decades about a biblical worldview. But I wonder if the focus has been heavy on information and light on transformation; too much accumulation and not enough application. We may know more but do we live more like Christ as a result?
Mr. Smith asks a pointed question: “Could it be the case that learning a Christian perspective doesn’t actually touch my desire and that while I might be able to think about the world from a Christian perspective, at the end of the day I love not the kingdom of God but rather the kingdom of the market?”
Paul’s desire was to see Christ formed in others; to be able to present each and every person as “mature and complete in Christ.” Others could block this from happening by refusing to listen, believe, obey, etc. However, Paul’s goal was to teach as thoroughly and effectively as possible even if it meant personal hardships, heartaches, disappointment, and rejection. Why would he be willing to endure such things? Why should we?
Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” Expecting him to choose from a list of over six hundred the Pharisee’s thought they had him backed into a corner. Jesus simplified. He named two! Simply stated, “Love God, love people.” That’s true in the life of every person who desires to see God’s “kingdom come, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Even at great personal cost and heartache (1 Thess. 2:17-20).
John Piper writes, “We have become far too passive in our pursuit of change, wholeness, and peace. . . we tend to slip into a passive way of thinking about change—that change may simply happen to me one of these days as I talk through my problems.”
“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2). “Enemies of the cross,” Paul says, “set their minds on earthly things” (Philippians 3:18-19). “Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh” (Romans. 8:5).
Piper comments, “Our emotions are governed in large measure by what we ‘consider’—what we dwell on with our minds. The mind is the window of the heart. If we let our minds constantly dwell on the dark, the heart will feel dark. If we open the window of our mind to the light, the heart will feel light.”
Philippians 4:8; Hebrews 3:1; 12:3, would be worth our minds attention. This is the path toward change. Piper concludes, “It is when we focus our minds on the glory of Christ that we are transformed from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). Take this moment to resolve that you will be intentional about what your mind considers. It will dwell on something and what it dwells on it becomes like.”
We are free to think about whatever we choose. Here are some “thought bites” (like sound bites) for you to read at your own risk.
“There is not an inch of any sphere of life over which Jesus Christ does not say, ‘Mine’ ”
-Os Guinness.
“No local church can afford to go without the encouragement and nourishment
that will come to it by sending away its best people”
-David Penman.
“In America the most important thing is that people have freedom.
In restricted countries the most important things is what people do with freedom”
-George Otis.
“Jesus will judge us not only for what we did,
but also for what we could have done and didn’t”
-George Otis.
“Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God”
-William Carey.
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”
April was jazz appreciation month. So I’m a month late. And yet, I appreciate jazz every month. I became familiar with jazz growing up as my parents played their LPs on the record player (turntable). I heard the likes of Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey and many more. Later, in high school, I became part of the jazz band. I’m a drummer. A fellow drummer introduced me to the likes of Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke, and countless others. I was hooked on jazz.
I learned the three basic concepts of jazz are: syncopation, improvisation, and call-and-response. I’m now trying to integrate these concepts with my faith. It’s not as big of a leap as you might think.
Jesus understood jazz! I know you’ve probably never picked that up from reading the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John but before we’re done today I hope to give you a glimpse of this reality. Jesus wrote and lived the gospel of jazz!
He had a way of improvising in the moment like a good jazz musician. He was able to turn the upbeat into the downbeat so everyone could “get it.” A great example is found in John 8 when the Scribes and Pharisees bring a woman whom they allege was “caught” in adultery. They pointed out that in the Law Moses said she should be stoned (so should the man, by the way).
Jesus paused to stoop down and write in the sand considering their challenge to entrap him. He realized they weren’t primarily concerned with the woman. They were really after him. They had the melody of the Law for their soundtrack.
Jesus stood up and improvised, “That’s fine. Whoever has not sinned go ahead and throw the first stone.” He knelt back down and resumed writing in the sand. They left, beginning with the oldest the text says.
Jesus had fully embraced the truth of the Law—she should be stoned, and the truth that she had sinned. What he did was offer a third way. What we should understand as the kingdom way. He improvised and changed the syncopation. And they all dropped their rocks and went home.
You’ve got to love jazz! It allows the dissonance to enter and then manages to resolve it in ways we haven’t seen or imagined. As someone said, “Jazz is the sound of surprise.” The Scribes, Pharisees, and the woman were all surprised indeed. “Go and sin no more,” Jesus concluded.
We need to consider these sobering words from pastor and author, Gene Wilkes. “A follower of Jesus Christ who seeks to lead like Jesus must be willing to be treated like Jesus. Some will follow. Others will throw stones.” The disciples learned and experienced this. The Apostle Paul’s life bears testimony to the variety of trials and hardships a follower of Christ may endure (2 Cor. 6:4-5).
Another preacher and author, Lynn Anderson, adds “Getting hurt is the central means by which the best ministry gets done. If you don’t love someone deeply enough that they can hurt you, you likely don’t love them enough to do them much good” (Checkout Romans 5:6-11).
Simply put, “Love hurts.” Yes, it can help, heal, and garner hope, but we are naïve and deluded if we don’t understand this. It is impossible to love fully and well as God requires of his Kingdom people and not get hurt.
When you don’t show love to others, are you a child of God? Jesus taught, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons [and daughters] of your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:43-45a).
Simone Weil believed that although “through joy, the beauty of the world penetrates our soul,” it is only through suffering that “it penetrates our body. We could no more become friends of God through joy alone than one becomes a ship’s captain by studying books on navigation.”
We all must come to love through the cross of Jesus Christ—come to love through sin and failure rather than success and self-improvement. The fact is there are no shortcuts that allow us to bypass the cross on the Christian spiritual journey. As one man put it, “taking care of Number One (i.e. myself) takes care of no one” (Phil. 2:4).
Transformation into love is a shift from a focus on me to an awareness of the greater we. As Jesus succinctly said, “Love one another.”
David Benner reminds us “The point of God’s love is to remake us in his image of love. The point of the spiritual journey is not simply to be received back into the welcoming arms of love of the Father but to become like the Father (Read Luke 15).
One full dose of the evening news is enough to pull you into the downward vortex of despair and hopelessness. If not, go to the cable news channels and surely after an hour or more you can feel the uncertainty, insecurity, and stress of the condition of our nation and world.
We all need encouragement. During these exceptionally difficult times the need for these words to be spoken, believed and felt are greater than ever. So here’s a very short list of encouraging words.
When you are down to nothing, God is up to something!
The Psalmist says, “…Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning” (30:5).
The apostle Paul shuts down all cynics and critics with these inspiring words from First Corinthians 15:54-58 (NASB). But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 "O death , where is your victory ? O death , where is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
Are you ready to give up who you are for who you might become?
As Wendell Berry advises: “Be joyful even though you have considered all the facts.”
In Matthew 11:28-30 (from the Message Bible) Jesus offers us an invitation that cannot be refused (unless we’re stubborn to the core and arrogant to the bone!). He begins, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
The word encouragement is from the French coeur: It means to put “heart”into someone. Make it a priority this year to “put heart” into others with your words.
Every Friday my wife and I go on a date which includes regular stops at a couple of bookstores. While browsing at Barnes & Noble a book caught my eye, “The Mystery of 2012: Predictions, Prophecies, & Possibilities.” I had just seen a special on the History Channel about Nostradamus and his prophecies concerning the year 2012. So I couldn’t resist the intrigue. I bought the book and began reading it immediately.
Here are some excerpts. “[H]ighly intelligent and serious spiritual practitioners …believe that 2012 offers a ‘gateway of possibility,’ and opportunity for awakening that requires our immediate attention…If there was ever a time to investigate the possibilities of 2012 and prepare ourselves for its opportunities, that time is clearly now” (p. xii).
The publisher assures the reader: “In this book, 2012 is most often described as a choice point, a time of intensified possibility and opportunity, rather than an apocalyptic time bomb destined to explode at midnight on December 21, 2012. What these visionaries are calling us to do as we investigate 2012 is to be intensely alert, responsive, and creatively engaged with the possibilities that may be unfolding around us” (p. xiii).
One author offers this advice, “To change the way we live, we must change the way we believe” (p. 15). Well, the apostle Paul would agree with this approach. In Romans 12:2 (NLT) he writes, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think…”
Unsettling to me is an author’s admission that “The global crisis we are now facing is, at its root, a crisis of consciousness—a crisis born of the fact that we have prodigious technological powers but still remain half awake. We need to awaken to who we are and what we really want… We are, after all, our only hope” (pp. 27, 33). I hope not!
According to Scripture God has “made known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). The apostle Peter weighs in with sage advice, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit,fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).
Every day is a “choice point” for all of us. “…Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Heb. 4:7). Please read Proverbs 16:25; Deut. 30:19; Heb. 2:1-4; 6:9-12; 9:27-28.
I was sitting in my office working diligently on my sermon for the week. I was “in the zone.” My wife and I were hosting a missionary couple from Malaysia for lunch so I was transcribing the inspiration God was giving me as best I could. I received a phone call from a church member who informed me that a plane had hit one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. In my mind I imagined a single-prop plane. What was the big deal? Why did she bother to call and tell me that?
I hung up and continued working attentively on my sermon. Finally, the time arrived to take the couple to our home for lunch. They asked me if I knew what was going on. I thought I did. When we walked into my living room I turned on the TV and was stunned into silence and became petrified like a statue. My only thought was, “What in the world is going on?”
The rest is history. We’ve experienced ceaseless turmoil, uncertainty and insecurity as a result of that fateful day. Church attendance soared right after 9-11-01 but within six months it seemed to subside. George Barna said the church missed a great opportunity because, according to his surveys, church attendance had returned to pre-9/11 levels. I wholeheartedly disagreed then, and now, with his conclusion.
I know for a fact that I and all the preachers I talked with during that time immediately changed our sermon content to address the multiple issues raised by this violent act of war. We offered special prayer services. And for a while people came.
But we are a curious people. When our fears were allayed and life appeared to return to normal many decided they didn’t really need God or “church stuff” anymore. And so God was placed back on the shelf in the hall closet or back in the box and shoved under the bed until we sense that we are that desperate again.
9/11/01 was the alarm clock going off notifying us of the clarion call of Christ’s imminent return. The entire world was aroused from its slumber to respond to this “signal of transcendence” that demands, “There has got to be more to this life.” Regardless of people’s belief system, income, ethnicity, geographical location, and other distinctions our world was shaken to the core. We all woke up. The problem, however, is most people hit the snooze bar and eventually fell back asleep.
But God is relentless. Whether it’s a tsunami in Thailand, an earthquake in China, a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico named “Rita” or “Katrina”, or another terrorist attack in Mumbai, India; or an economic crisis threatening to surpass the Great Depression, he will keep sounding the alarm! God will keep sending “the signal of transcendence.” Jesus is coming back! According to John 3:16-21, the first time Jesus was sent into this world He came to save all those who would believe; when He returns for the second time He will be coming to judge the world.
I have only two questions for you: Did you hear the alarm? Are you going to wake up or keep hitting the snooze bar?
What comes to mind when you read or hear the word: December? Christmas. The Holidays. ’Tis the season. Taco Bueno has a curiously named item on their menu: B.O.B. It stands for “Big ’Ol Burrito.” It is filled with the meat of your choice along with other choice items. It is the biggest and most filling burrito they offer. December is the “B.O.B.” month on the calendar year. It’s difficult to find a month with more activities, parties, and events to attend. Maybe we should refer to December as the “no room for more” month (as in, “there’s no room at the inn”).
December also brings to mind the rapid and imminent conclusion of one year and the beginning of another. Who begins anything new the last week of the year? Apparently, God does (at least according to our calendars). On December 25th we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Now I know that isn’t his actual birthday nevertheless I find it poignant. Not since the creation of the world has there been a more significant event. The ultimate new beginning begins right at the end of our calendar year.
Joseph and Mary were tending to the items on their “to-do-lists.” Joseph had gotten the donkey serviced and loaded for the trip to Nazareth. They had to get there for a government census. One has to smile at the government’s involvement at the very inception of the holiday season. Mary had to make sure she had enough clothing and necessities for the baby’s arrival.
There was no contemporary lodging to be found. Nevertheless, a child was born in a manger. The shepherds were informed by the angelic choir, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
So, as you deal with the seemingly random “big ’ol” events and activities of December as well as the anxiety-producing impulses as you plan for the New Year take a moment and emulate the shepherds in Luke 2. After hearing from the angelic choir they said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” After their spontaneous trip they returned to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them” (v. 20). What a way to end one year and begin another: Filled to overflowing with what God has said, done, and promised us in His Son!
My step-father was battling cancer and was no longer able to provide the care my mom required. He had been valiant to a fault in caring for her. His health suffered as he put her needs before his own. So on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 my wife and I got up at 4:30 in the morning to drive to Houston to pick up my mother from the nursing home and move her up here to Dallas into a nursing home. The day was extremely emotional. That evening when we finally returned to our home we wept heavily.
Monday, August 11th, on her husband’s eighty-sixth birthday, mom died. We felt our lives turned upside down and inside out. It was an abrupt transition to go from leaving for vacation to staying and hosting the extended family for three days and planning a funeral.
Fortunately—and as no surprise—our church family became Christ to us. Someone brought a spiral ham and a bag of rolls to make sandwiches. Beautiful cards with heartfelt words of love and comfort poured in on a daily basis. Phone calls expressing love, support, and offers to do anything, were reassuring.
The most unexpected to me and my family were the number of church members who were able to attend the funeral. We were humbled by such a turnout and grateful for their being there for us. This kind of love, care, and support has continued since then.
I read this statement the other day and it made me think of my experiences since my mother’s death. “Our greatest spiritual blessings are likely to reveal themselves not in exotic settings but in everyday tasks and trials.”
We should never underestimate or overlook the power of blessings we can share with others through the simple and small acts of kindness: writing a card for comfort and encouragement, making a phone call to do the same, or offering a ham in a family’s time of need.
The twentieth-century martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts . . . How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?” Give thanks for all things, big and small, significant and insignificant. He is Lord of all.
In her compelling book, Always On, Naomi Baron raises the legitimate concern that “if we are always together virtually, we may need to redefine the substance of meeting again face-to-face.” She convincingly argues, “Regardless of the purpose, the fact that we are always on means that we need either to drop some other activity or multitask . . . What kind of people do we become—as individuals and as family members or friends—if our thoughts and our social relationships must increasingly compete for our attention with digital media?”
I would ask, “What kind of Christians and churches do we become—before God and with one another—if our thoughts and gatherings must increasingly compete for our attention with digital media?”
We have all experienced eating lunch with someone who gets a call on their mobile phone. Some have the decency to send it to voice mail. Most take the phone call. I’ve done both, however I strive to make the answering of the call the exception rather than the rule.
Our technology makes it difficult for us to focus and pay attention to one another let alone to God. We are easily and often distracted. Attention Deficit Disorder is going to be the norm in this mobile wireless digital world (if it isn’t already). We can “communicate” with any one from any where we are to any where they might be. But does that innately make us better at cultivating and sustaining our relationships?
Pascal said that we would solve the world’s problems if we just learned to sit in our room alone. Dietrich Bonhoeffer agreed when he wrote, “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community . . . But the reverse is also true: Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.” Solitude and silence teaches us to live in the presence of God so that we can be with people in a way that helps them and does not manipulate them.
We should heed Bonhoeffer’s advice: “Silence is the simple stillness of the individual under the Word of God . . . silence before the Word leads to right hearing and thus also to right speaking of the Word of God at the right time . . . at the beginning of the day let all distraction and empty talk be silenced and let the first thought and the first word belong to him to whom our whole life belongs.” Learning to be alone with Him enables you to be there with others more competently on His behalf.
Dr. Os Guinness, of the Trinity Forum Christian think tank in Washington, spoke at one of their events way back in 1993 (15 years ago!). He said that the Church needs to get back to “the first things of the Gospel.”
Before I mention what these “first things” are, let me share what they are not. Bob Briner catalogued them quite succinctly in his compelling book, Deadly Detours: Seven Noble Causes that Keep Christians from Changing the World. He proclaimed seven deadly detours the church had taken during the 1980s and early 1990s. Here they are:
#1: Squabbling over prayer in public school.
#2: Making Jesus a Right Winger.
#3: Thwarting the Homosexual Agenda.
#4: Fighting other Christians over doctrinal purity.
#5: Shutting down the abortion clinic.
#6: Cleaning up Christian television.
#7: Fighting for family values.
The first things of the Gospel are (1) that Jesus came and (2) that his kingdom is not of this world. Bob Briner says, “When we forget either of these, when we fail to build our lives and our ministries around them, we cease to be truly evangelical, and we inevitably take deadly detours and miss heavenly highways.”
I don’t have time to address all seven detours, so let me use the first as a case in point. Think about it, it’s much easier to protest and complain about no prayer in the public school while ignoring the fact that no one has outlawed your ability or privilege to pray in your home or church, with anyone virtually anywhere, anytime.
Back in 1981, Richard Halverson, former Chaplain to the U.S. Senate, prayed, “Father in heaven . . . I pray that the people of God, for the churches, that they may accept the biblical mandate to pray for their country’s leadership and realize that criticism does not compensate for prayerlessness. Forgive the churches, O God, for demanding that Congress legislate a morality that the churches fail to produce among their members…” Can I get a heartfelt, “Amen!”
In First Timothy 2:1-4, the apostle Paul says, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
