PEAK EXISTENCE

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."

So said Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I think he nailed it.

And I think this is why Jesus' announcement of the arrival of the Kingdom of God is such good news. I think, deep down inside, we all want to be useful. 

And to be useful to God Himself, the King of Kings? Well, there's no higher aspiration for a human being. 

Maybe Jesus was saying something profound when He said that it is better to give than to receive. 

Like ... it's better for our psyche, our self-image, our soul, to live like God, giving ourselves away. 

When we are useful, we are leaning into the very purpose for which we were created. 

And THAT is peak existence.

TIME ON THE DECK WITH SAMUEL

This isn't really a post. It's an explanation of why I didn't post tonight.

With Melissa and Sarah in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a dance competition this week, Samuel and I have been the only ones around the house. He was fighting a nasty head cold earlier this week and I have been trying to get ahead on some of my work tasks so that I won't have to work over our time in Scotland next week.

So we haven't really spent any time together this week. Heck, we really haven't just hung out since he returned home in May.

I was planning to work some more after dinner tonight, but then I grilled some hamburgers and Samuel suggested that we watch something while we ate. He wanted to introduce me to a show he thought was funny.

One episode turned into two. Then we started talking about music.

I recently switched my phone from a Samsung to iPhone and he's been eager to show me all the new capabilities at my fingertips.

Anyway, I found an old Scottish band called Runrig I was introduced to 35 years ago. We sat out on the back deck and listened to some Runrig on Apple Music and then I remembered another Scottish band I hadn't thought about in decades, The Battlefield Band, and I took Samuel down my memory lane with some of their songs, playing through his Bluetooth speaker.

We talked about how technology has changed so much - for better or worse. How my parents used to watch The Lawrence Welk Show religiously each week. (You can find hundreds of episodes now on YouTube!) How we had CBS, NBC, and ABC and people actually gathered around their TVs to watch their favorite shows. And how, if you missed it, you had to wait months for the reruns to air over the summer. 

During lulls in the conversation, we listened to the music and took turns throwing the dog's rubber bone toward the yard for her to fetch.

It was a truly pleasant evening together and worth every minute of whatever work I might have to make up tomorrow! 

FREE WILL?

I wasted some time this evening arguing with a Calvinist in the comment section of a YouTube video. 

Upon seeing I was a non-Calvinist, he asked this:

"I want to ask a genuine question, do you pray for the non believers? If you do, why? In your world view God can not violate the mighty will of man? This is a genuine question."

I have heard Calvinist say things like this - that indicate they believe their theological opponents hold that man's free will is of such a nature that it cannot ever be overridden by God. I don't know why they believe this. 

It would be a complete non sequitur to say, "Man has free will, therefore God is incapable of ever imposing His own will upon human beings." 

So I wrote back:

Excellent question. I'm glad you asked it because maybe I can clear up a common misunderstanding. Just because we say that man has free will it does not follow that we believe God can never "violate" man's free will. Why would it? 

I don't know if you have children or not but I think of it in terms of a father with his children. The father is both free and "sovereign" while the kids have free will but are not sovereign. 

The father is not micromanaging the kids' every move. They have plenty of choice as to what they play and how they spend their time. The father can say, "It's time to clean up" and the kids can even then decide to disobey. But the father is in charge and is the final authority. So when he says, "If you don't clean up, there will be consequences", the kids need to be prepared to suffer the consequences of their actions or inactions.

Of course, the father is also at liberty to bring unexpected blessings into the lives of his children: "Hey, kids, we're going to the amusement park tomorrow!"

When I pray for non-believers, I pray that God will put people and events and ideas into the pathway of that person that will wake him or her up to God's reality and goodness. God reaches people in a million different ways, so I don't presume to dictate the means in my prayers as if I would be better equipped to reach that person than their Creator is. 

What does the Calvinist pray for the non-believer? And why?

WE ARE YOUNG!

Melissa, Sarah, Samuel, and I joined some friends last night to enjoy some of the local fireworks from the roof of their house. 

Some of the best seats in the city.

As we were waiting for the show to start, I was doing the math in my head and realized that next year will be the 250th birthday of the nation. 

And then I felt old because I remember the bicentennial! I was 8.

And while I suddenly felt old, it also reminded me that our nation is quite young! Afterall, I've been alive for over a fifth of our history since the founding and I'm not exactly an old-timer myself. 

When I visited Scotland in 1988, one of the first moments that made a huge impression on me was walking into my first castle and looking at an ornate wooden bed with a little plaque nearby claiming the piece of furniture was over 400 years old! 

These days, a lot of people are talking like America's best days are behind her, but we are so, so young still. 

Who knows what some national maturity might bring?

Happy Independence Day!

THE GOSPEL IS BIGGER

We have reduced the gospel to "even though you are a sinner, Jesus died for you, and if you ask Him into your heart, you will be granted entrance to heaven when you die".

And it's so firmly ingrained in the church's mindset, that even the scholars with doctorates don't question it.

But the New Testament presents a much bigger gospel: God's Kingdom has been reestablished on earth, Jesus is the saving King, and He will one day return to earth to fully actualize His authority as King.

The first time the word "gospel" is used in the New Testament is at the advent of Jesus' earthly ministry:

(Mat 4:23) And Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

"The gospel of the kingdom"! This is His message 3 years before His death.

And then look at Luke 9:

1 And Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet has a testimony against them.” 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

Here again, the gospel is clearly equated with Jesus' proclamation that the kingdom of God had arrived.

And, considering the disciples would later be completely caught off guard by Jesus' death and resurrection, they obviously were not proclaiming the same message that we today call "the gospel"! 

RE-ENCHANTMENT

I keep coming across this word: enchantment. 

It comes from the same roots as incantation - the placing of a magic spell on something or someone.

I hear people speaking of our need to recapture the enchantment of life. And everything in me screams "Amen!" 

It feels like we are all vaguely aware that some of the magic of existence has disappeared. Or perhaps it has simply been crowded out.

In this high-tech age where gadgets and AI and doomscrolling dominate what little is left of our individual imaginations, we are less likely than ever to stop and smell the roses. 

Depression and loneliness are common. And deadly - if not to the body, then quite often to the soul. You don't run into too many optimists these days. 

Re-enchantment isn't a luxury. It's a necessity. 

Perhaps the church should lead the way. Afterall, we have not been immune to this general disenchantment.

So often our practice of faith, prayer, and worship are routine. Dried out and stale. And Scripture holds no wonder or mystery.

Where are the psalmists who can remind us of the magnificent magic of God and reality?

The church would make for an appropriate launch site for a renewal of hope and wonder. 

How do we recover the enchantment?

God willing, two weeks from now, Melissa and I will be stepping off a plane in Edinburgh, Scotland. I haven't visited Scotland since I spent my junior year at the University of Aberdeen in 1988/89. I am looking forward to touring castles, drinking some whisky, and eating a ton of fish and chips. 

But what I find myself truly excited about is simply the pervasive magic of Scotland. There is something enchanted about the entire country and I feel like I NEED to experience it again. 

OPTIMISM KICKS IN

I think of myself as a generally optimistic person. 

BUT, I have a tendency to fixate on how anything I am directly involved in could go wrong.

And I realized something kind of weird about myself this weekend: I swing from pessimism to optimism as the due date approaches.

Our church was open to switching up our approach to VBS this summer and doing a neighborhood festival instead. It was still aimed at kids, but we weren't doing any explicit Bible lessons during our time together. It was more about simply having a positive interaction with our neighbors.

Anyway, after spending the last four weeks imagining all that could go wrong - even to the point of experiencing stress dreams at night - the Freedom Festival arrived today. 

And this morning my attitude flipped 180 degrees. Here's what went through my mind all day today:

• What's the worst that could happen? 
• Even if the event flops, God is capable of bringing something good out of it.
• God is in control.
• This is a grand experiment and we will undoubtedly learn a lot. 

And guess what.

We got rained on. Hard. And only a few kids showed up.

But the kids and adults who did show up? They thought it was great to see the church doing something for the neighborhood. 

And it was. 

Not only that, but even with a lot of church members out of town this weekend, many others showed up and worked hard. There's is no question how much these people care for those outside our fellowship.

I can't wrap up without giving a huge shout out to Melissa. She did a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make sure the festival was the best it could be. 

And it all paid off. I can't wait to see what God does with our efforts from today.

In the future, I should be more consistently optimistic. Less anxious. 

(P.S. If I wasn't so wiped out, I would post some pictures. Sorry.)

THE MIST

"A mist in the pulpit will result in a fog in the pew." 

This truism, attributed to Charles Spurgeon (among others), is why I don't think I would have made a very good preacher even 5 years ago. 

Now, one of the great blessings of my position as pastor at Sardinia Baptist Church is the opportunity week by week to blow away the mist in my own understanding of the Christian faith.

It gets me excited every time. 

And I'm not talking about Bible trivia - it's big picture stuff. And how everything fits together. 

I'm coming to see that over the years I've swallowed a whole lot of "biblical doctrines" without examining the Scriptural basis for myself. And then I wondered why my beliefs felt so disjointed. 

I was not alone in this. I think this is a great weakness of the modern church in general. If the pastors and teachers have never applied critical thinking skills to their own presuppositions, the congregation is going to be left in a fog.

And if a congregation is in the fog, there's not going to be a lot of forward movement for that church. 

The average church doesn't need to be berated as much as it needs to be educated.

But there's too much mist up front. 

PUDDLES AND LEAKS

“Are you dealing with a leak or a puddle?”

If you are facing a problem in your life -

(And who among us isn’t?)

- You might find the following distinction from author James Clear useful.

He says there are 2 basic types of problems:

• ‘A “Muddy Puddle” problem, if left unbothered, becomes clearer over time and resolves itself. The best approach might be to take a walk, pray about it, and get it out of your head for a while.

• A “Leaky Ceiling” problem, on the other hand, if left unattended, worsens and brings disaster. The best approach is to stop procrastinating on take the first step toward resolving it.

It’s important to know which kind of problem you’ve got on your plate!

If you want to read Clear’s explanation for yourself, you can find it HERE accompanied by a “sketchplanation” by artist Jono Hey. The little visual helps to make Clear’s point stick. 

CASE CLOSED

When I was younger, I was impressed by any Biblical "expert" who could rattle off a dozen verses proving their particular viewpoint on Scripture. I assumed it meant that teacher really knew their Bible inside and out. 

Now I know that this is called proof texting - and, when it comes to defending a "Biblical doctrine", I consider it a practice which is suspect at best.

There was a (brief) time when Calvinism actually appealed to me. This was about 15 years ago when I was invited to a Together for the Gospel conference without knowing it was organized by Calvinists to promote Calvinism.

The two qualities which drew me in at that time were these:

1. It was presented as a "hard teaching that you just had to accept if you take the Bible seriously".
2. Several well-known pastors gave talks on all the Calvinist distinctives - based on plenty of verses from the Old and New Testaments.

At the time I didn't understand the inevitable damage done to a verse when it is isolated from its context. I was simply impressed that these men (always men!) could cite so much evidence for their hard teachings. 

I never stopped to consider that the flaws in proof texting make it as useful in promoting some obvious heresy like the Prosperity Gospel as it is for Calvinism.

If you aren't familiar with the dangers of proof texting yourself, consider one of the Prosperity Gospel preachers' favorite teachings from the Apostle Paul:

2 Corinthians 8:9 - "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." 

Or these words from Jesus Himself in Mark 11:22-24 - “Have faith in God,” Jesus said to them. “Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

And a little Old Testament for good measure, in Malachi 3:10 - "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure."

How many more verses do you need to see the Bible's clear teaching that God's desire is to bless you with great riches ... as long as you tithe?

The case is settled. Right?

PERHAPS

"15 Perhaps the reason [Onesimus] was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for ever – 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord." Philemon 15-16

As he is writing to Philemon about receiving back his slave, Onesimus, the Apostle Paul is engaging in some conjecture about what God was doing behind the scenes in this whole scenario. 

Many people assume that Onesimus was a runaway slave, but there's nothing in the letter to confirm this as the backstory. It's just as likely that Philemon sent Onesimus to Paul for a short time in order to care for Paul's needs while he was imprisoned. 

Regardless of how Onesimus came in contact with Paul, he seems to have given his life to Christ during his time away from home and Paul now loves him like a son. 

Now, as he sends Onesimus back to his earthly master, Paul speculates that this round trip wasn't just about bringing aid and comfort to Paul.

Perhaps it was because the Lord knew that Paul would persuasively share the gospel with Onesimus, leading to a new birth. 

And THEN - even better - Onesimus would return to Philemon, not to help with household chores, but to function as a co-worker, a brother, in spreading the gospel.

I love the fact that Paul uses that word "perhaps". Even as Spirit-led as the Apostle is, he still only gets glimpses of what the Lord is up to as He guides His children this way and that. 

THE DONKEY

There is a fable about human nature I don't want to forget.

Here it is as retold by Sahil Bloom:

A man and his son were bringing their donkey to the market.

As they were walking along the path, a man passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

So the man put the boy on the donkey and continued. They passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself. They passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

So the man took his boy up with him on the donkey. People began to jeer: "Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey?"

So the man and boy got off and carried the donkey on their shoulders. As they crossed a bridge, it kicked loose, fell over the side, and drowned.

Viewed from the perspective of the man and his son, the traditional moral goes something like this: "Please all, and you will please none."

But I too easily identify with the critics along the road and so I read it as a fable about how inclined we are to sit in judgement of others, even when we know next to nothing about their situation. 

So I might state the moral along these lines: "Those who are being judged simply cannot win."

YOUR OWN SYSTEMATIC

The Church would be much healthier if we ditched the system where each generation two or three persons develop a systematic theology to be shared with millions, in favor of ....

Millions of believers developing their own systematic theology and each sharing their ideas with two or three other believers. 

Wouldn't that be something?

No longer would we blindly swallow what we've been taught by other well-meaning Christians - who have never questioned anything they themselves were taught.

In a way, my unofficial theological project since stepping into the role of pastor has been to develop my own systematic understanding of what is taught in Scripture. I am making good progress but still far from being finished. 

I don't necessarily assume I will finish in my lifetime. 

One of my goals is to make sure there are no blatant contradictions in my faith.

And I think developing your own "systematic" theology would be an incredibly edifying process for any believer serious about his or her faith, not just pastors. 

ALLEGIANCE

Once you start to notice the misalignment of the American gospel with the biblical gospel, it's hard to ignore. 

I am reading Salvation by Allegiance Alone by Dr. Matthew Bates and giving a hearty "Amen!" with every page. The subtitle is Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King.

Here's the book's argument, "reduced to its simplest terms":

1) The true climax of the gospel - Jesus's enthronement - has generally been deemphasized or omitted from the gospel.

2) Consequently, pistis has been misaimed and inappropriately nuanced with respect to the gospel. It is regarded as "trust" in Jesus's righteousness alone or "faith" that Jesus's death covers my sins rather than "allegiance" to Jesus as King.

3) Final salvation is not about attainment of heaven but about embodied participation in the new creation. When the true goal of salvation is recognized, terms such as "faith," "works," "righteousness," and "the gospel" can be more accurately reframed.

4) Once it is agreed that salvation is by allegiance alone, matters that have traditionally divided Catholics and Protestants - the essence of the gospel, faith alone versus works, declared righteousness versus infused righteousness - are reconfigured in ways that may prove helpful for reconciliation.  (p.9)

Not surprisingly, Bates briefly points backward to the era where the church started to get off track and it is the life and writings of one man: Saint Augustine. 

(Someday I would love to do a deep dive into Augustine - he seems like a fascinating individual and to say he had an outsized influence on the church would be the greatest understatement of all time.) 

I wholeheartedly echo this line from Bates: "I hope that the correct identification of the high point of the gospel as Jesus's kingship and a retargeting of "faith" as allegiance will reinvigorate the life and mission of the church today." (p.9)

In fact, this sentiment is what motivates my dissertation work. 

WEDDING WEEKEND IN PHOTOS

It was quite the weekend for our family. We had a perfectly timed beginning on Friday: I picked Caleb up at the airport and returned to the house about 3:30 pm, just two minutes before Melissa and Hannah pulled up after driving from Myrtle Beach. 

From there it was a whirlwind of activities as we attempted to maximize our short time together. The photos below are in no particular order and that seems fitting: 

A WEDDING MESSAGE

We had a fantastic weekend - all 4 kids were home together and today we celebrated the wedding of a family friend.

I had the honor of officiating the wedding and got positive feedback on what I said to the couple, so here it is:

Matthew and Elizabeth, you two are about to embark on a great adventure. Unlike anything either of you have experienced up until now. And everyone gathered here this afternoon is rooting for both of you. 

My wife, Melissa, and I today are exactly one month shy of our 25th anniversary and so I feel like I know a little bit about marriage. And I can say this with 100% confidence: marriage has changed me profoundly – for the better. And it will change you. And “change” is THE key word I want to focus on for just a moment because I want to make a case for change being the whole point of marriage. 

Now I don’t want anybody here to think that I am advocating some process where you create a list of all the things that need to be changed about your spouse and then go to work. You don’t set out to force change on your partner. That’s a bad idea. 

There’s a story about a bride on her wedding day suffering a terrible case of butterflies. Minutes before the ceremony is supposed to start, she confides in the pastor saying, “I’m so nervous, I’m afraid I will pass out before I can say ‘I do’!”

The pastor gives her some advice: “Focus on one thing at a time. First, as you walk into the sanctuary, just look down and focus on the AISLE. Put all your attention on the aisle. Once you approach the front of the church, focus on the ALTAR. All your attention on the altar. And then once you step into place, just put all your focus on the groom. All your attention on HIM. You’ll do just fine.”

The bride thinks this is good advice but she’s afraid she will forget, so she starts repeating it to herself. When the processional starts and the bride makes her way entry, the crowd grows very concerned that the marriage is doomed from the beginning because the bride is staring at the floor as she walks and muttering to herself, “Aisle. Altar. Him. Aisle. Altar. Him.”

And, yes, it is a bad idea to approach marriage as a grand opportunity to fix your spouse.  But the truth is, your spouse does need fixing. At least as much as you do!

Reality is that none of us are living up to our God-given potential. We all stumble over our own selfishness, our angers, our desires, and a thousand temptations which leave us less than we want to be. 

Fortunately, God has sent a person who sees something special in you. Who has told you that you are worthy of love. More than that – Who has SHOWN you that you are worthy of love. A person who is willing to lay down what their own life could have been otherwise and come alongside you and promise to never leave you – for richer or poorer, for better or for worse. A person who is already functioning in your life much like Jesus does.

The Bible has 1,189 chapters in total. It mentions marriage in Chapter 2 when Adam is created and then God notes that it is not good for Adam to be alone so He creates Eve. And in the very last chapter, Revelation 22, when God’s people are called His Bride, it becomes clear that the Lord did not invent marriage simply as a cure for loneliness, but as something much greater: a miniature model of His own relationship with humanity. His desire for us, His love for us. 

And that love is meant to transform us – to shape us into the people He always intended us to be. 

When Adam and Eve went astray in the Garden of Eden, they ended up estranged from each other and from God, but God did not give up on them. All of human history since that day is a testament to how sin separates us from God and brings strife, suffering, shame, and death into our lives. AND to how God continues to pursue us.

When Jesus came, He came to show us what God is really like. And it turns out that God is all of those things that Anna and Megan just read about: He’s compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, and patient towards us. And above all else, He is LOVE and He invites us into a relationship with Him. 

If you asked most people on the street, “What is the goal of the Christian life?” I think most would say something like, “Getting your sins forgiven so that you can go to heaven someday.” But that’s so narrow as to miss the actual bullseye. The true goal of the Christian life is not heaven sometime in the future but it is being reshaped in the image of Christ right now. God wants to change us from the inside out. If we will let Him – if we accept His proposal, He wants to remake us into the people we were always meant to be. 

A Christian marriage has the same goal: change - transformation into the people we were meant to be. 

Marriage then, is both a blessing and a challenge because it is the proving grounds for both parties to practice the kind of radical, self-giving, self-sacrificing kind of love that Jesus has demonstrated toward them.

A successful marriage is one where the quality of the love being practiced day in and day out is an imitation of God’s own love for us in Jesus Christ. With Jesus as your example, practice that kind of love at home daily and, over time, each of you individually and the two of you together will be transformed in remarkable ways, to the glory of God. And this world will be the better for the union which begins here today.

God bless you and the home you will create. 

[Maybe tomorrow I will post some photos from the weekend.]

PAUL'S MESSAGE EMBODIED

The American Church sure could use some men like Paul lists in the closing of his letter to the Colossians.

In the final verses, the Apostle sends greetings from Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, and Epaphras, among others. 

Look at the descriptors Paul chooses for some of these men:

• Tychicus: Beloved Brother, Faithful Minister, and Fellow Servant in the Lord 
• Onesimus: Our faithful and Beloved Brother 
• Aristarchus: My Fellow Prisoner 
• Epaphras: A Servant of Christ 

You get the impression these are a true band of brothers, facing true hardship for the cause of Christ - yet standing firmly beside each other.

And then take a look at what Paul says his brothers have been doing or will do:

• Tychicus: Encouraging the hearts of his fellow believers
• Onesimus: Trusted with relaying important information: “They (he and Tychicus) will tell you of everything that has taken place here.”
• Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus: Comforting Paul
• Epaphras: Always struggling on the church's behalf in his prayers

These are men who embody all that Paul has written as instruction to the believers at Colossae. 

His last command of the letter is a command within a command, directed to the members of the church: "Say to Archippus, 'See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord'.” 

Men, there's much to be done. 

Fulfill the ministry God has given you!

#2,000

Behind the scenes here on Blogspot there is a counter which keeps track of the number of posts you have drafted and the number which have been published. 

That's how I know today's post marks an important and fairly unbelievable milestone: I have now published 2,000 individual pieces here.

I started this blog on November 7, 2010, back when we were first feeling called to serve God in Haiti. In the beginning, it was a way to document my process of downsizing in preparation for moving the family to the mission field.

Back then, I determined that each day I would find some item around the house to either sell, give away, or toss - and then I would document those decisions daily. 

I remember the experience as fun and liberating on the whole. 

(Which surprised me then but wouldn't now.)

These days I keep writing in order to process my thoughts on a myriad of topics - whatever has captured my attention on any particular day. 

Plus, it serves as a place to record all of them. If they don't get written down, they simply evaporate.

And what good is an idea if it disappears before it's even fully formed?

Hitting the 2,000-post milestone might just inspire me to follow through on a vague desire lodged in the back of my mind for many years now: to write my own book. 

Afterall, if this is an average post - and it's over 200 words - then I've likely written and edited over 400,000 words here.

That's equivalent (in word count at least) to 10 average-sized non-fiction books. 

Little by little.

So what would keep me from writing a book the same way?

WORTHY OF THE TOP TEN?

“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” Exodus 20:7

Many folks - believers and non-believers alike - are taught the 3rd commandment is a prohibition against cussing, especially any angry outburst using the words “God” or “Jesus Christ”.

This might leave you wondering: Why did this command make God’s Top Ten list, right alongside murder and adultery?

It turns out there is a major problem with this assumed interpretation:

The Hebrew word translated as “take” has nothing to do with speech.

It means to bear or to carry.

So it seems the commandment’s concept of “taking God’s name” is more like what we mean when we say a woman has “taken” her new husband’s name: She has chosen to identify herself with him in a very public and long-term way.

Some reflection, then, as to what God means when He warns of taking His name in vain, might make it clear why it’s worthy of the Top Ten!

DAY 3 OF FASTING

I attended a local conference today, kicking off at 8:30 am and not ending until 4:00 pm. With breakfast and lunch both on the schedule, I had worried that it would be awkward for me to continue fasting. Or that I would be tempted to end my fast earlier than I intended. 

But the breakfast was "continental" and nothing too tempting and plenty of people were eating very little or only drinking coffee. No awkwardness at all. 

There were "box" lunches provided later and I'm sure they were good, but I resolved not to end my fast just because I have trouble passing up free food.

I sat down next to a couple of men I had chatted with throughout the morning and when they asked why I wasn't eating lunch, I told them. 

It sparked a great conversation, actually. One of the guys was into monthly fasting himself. 

I went straight from the conference to my English class. Those three hours were tough - my energy was really lagging by then. 

One of my students brought me a snack cake from Mexico as a gift tonight. It looked REALLY good and I was sorely tempted. But I resisted.

Originally, I planned to fast until Melissa and Hannah and Caleb all returned on Friday. We will go as a family for an early dinner out.

But that might not be wise. I am likely to eat too much and that could cause problems. So maybe tomorrow I will start eating some fruits and veggies to ease back into routine.

I am hopeful that my routine eating will prove to be healthier and more measured as a result of these three days. 

Time will tell. 

(I do plan to continue avoiding coffee in the coming weeks. I suspect it's not my friend.)

WHILE MY WIFE IS AWAY...

I have taken an extended break from my daily writing - not intentionally and not for any reason beyond the busyness of life. But when I don't write, I miss it. It's been a useful practice for me. 

I thought this week might be a good time to restart - Melissa is away for a few days and so my evenings are a bit more open. And, I've been thinking "the sooner, the better" to restart, since I want to be fully back in the habit of writing daily before we travel to Scotland next month. 

For tonight's post, I've got fasting on my mind again. With Melissa flying to Myrtle Beach yesterday in order to help Hannah drive back home on Friday for a family friend's wedding this coming weekend - and with plenty of leftovers in the fridge for Samuel and Sarah to survive on for a few days - I thought it would be a good week for a longer fast.

It's more of a health fast than a spiritual fast. My weight keeps creeping upward and I experience a lot of sleep issues at night and brain fog during the day. Maybe my present reality is simply the aging process, but I suspect at least some, if not all, of these issues are exacerbated by my diet and eating habits. 

So, for the past 48 hours, I have consumed nothing but water and a single cup of coffee. 

(And the coffee was a mistake. I brewed it Monday morning out of habit, forgetting that I intended to break from caffeine during this fast.) 

As always, the experience of fasting is fascinating to me. 

There are hunger pangs, but they fade. There were a few headaches yesterday and this morning, but I wonder if those are caffeine withdrawals. I feel a little tired on a long walk, but I had the strength to do more pushups than ever this morning. And, at least tonight, my thinking feels clearer. I have been able to get some reading done without it putting me to sleep. 

But my biggest takeaway so far is the realization that I do not eat to survive, nor to nourish my body, nor to ease hunger. 

I eat to combat boredom. 

I've been trying to figure out why I snack constantly - even when I am not at all hungry - and I have now concluded that it is my main method of entertaining myself. 

That strikes me as weird and unhealthy. 

By "weird" I don't mean that nobody else does this. I mean it is not how God designed us to function in relation to food.

And by "unhealthy" I don't just mean that eating as escape from boredom is bound to add pounds to my midsection. I mean it points to some deeper problem in how I relate to this life that God has blessed me with.

So, unhealthy for body AND spirit.

Just as "doom scrollers" spend hours watching other people's accomplishments via online videos and never get off the couch to accomplish something meaningful in their own lives, perhaps the excitement and variety I seek in the snack drawer is blinding me to my need to find more meaningful engagement in life as a whole. 

And so I guess this HAS become a spiritual fast. 

MEMORIES OF MY HOME CHURCH

I contributed the following recollections for the upcoming 200th anniversary of First United Methodist Church of Shelbyville:

First United Methodist Church of Shelbyville was the classroom for much of my earliest spiritual and social development.

Reverend Bill Clayton was the first pastor I had any personal connection to. He was not only the pastor at FUMC but he and his wife were friends of my parents and their son James was a friend of my brother Spencer.

(We engaged in some prolonged and violent pillow fights with James during those years!)

I had just finished the third grade when the Claytons were assigned to a different church. During a Sunday morning that June, after worship, the congregation gathered in the basement Fellowship Hall to welcome Reverend Jack Haskins along with his wife and their two kids.

Standing in the back of the crowd of onlookers next to me, my mom nudged my shoulder and said, “Look, Steve, they have a little boy your age. You should go and say hi.”

I didn’t. I was painfully shy as a child and shrugged off my mom’s suggestion as being completely unrealistic.

But God intervened in the coming weeks and Peter Haskins became my best friend. I spent a lot of time at the parsonage there on Broadway and Pete spent a lot of time at my house. In the 6^th grade we went through Confirmation together and it was special to have Rev. Haskins as our teacher for the year. In 7^th grade Pete and I would meet up each school morning to walk to the junior high together.

Unfortunately, the Haskins family transferred before my 8^th grade year and suffice it to say here that the succeeding pastors and youth pastors had little positive direct impact on my life, but my parents were involved in the youth group and they made sure the program stayed active and spiritually grounded.

In those years we took trips to Florida on “God’s Nightcrawler” – a bus with seating that served also as bunk beds so groups could travel overnight. Also memorable were the Halloweens with the youth would create a haunted house in the church basement as a fundraiser.

While I was in high school, the church put a basketball goal in the attic and framed in a nice little classroom for Sunday school. We had some good teachers along the way, but none were as impactful on my life as Tom and Marcia Kuhn.

The Kuhns challenged me and my classmates to begin a habit of reading a chapter of the Bible each day. Always hungry for greater depth in my spiritual life, I took them up on that challenge.

It changed my life.

It’s not a coincidence that, at the age of 57, I am currently working toward my Doctor of Ministry degree and my focus is on how to help believers develop a habit of personal study of Scripture.

For a while after college, I didn’t have as much contact with FUMC except on occasional visits home.

Then, in 1995, I felt a call to begin studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Not too long into my time there, my parents called to tell me that their current pastor, Alan Rumble, was taking the youth to hike in the Smoky Mountains and wondered if maybe I could come back to Shelbyville that Sunday to fill the pulpit for him.

I thought, “I would rather go hiking with them in the Smokies!”

I called Rev. Rumble to see if he could use extra help supervising the trip and he gladly invited me to come along. I joined them in Tennessee and, as a result, FUMC once again became prominent in my life – this time professionally.

As we hiked up a mountain, one of the teens had told me that the youth group had become pretty weak. He wondered if I would consider becoming their youth pastor.

So the late 90s found me making the 3-hour trip from Asbury each weekend to stay with my parents and serve as the youth pastor of FUMC. Those were good times (overall!) and I enjoyed reconnecting with the church and getting to know the families with teens.

Although I have no musical ability myself, I was grateful to play a part in pulling together FUMC’s first “contemporary” worship service. Several of the teens played musical instruments, others sang, and we installed the church’s first video projector – a giant beast that we bought used from Asbury when the school updated classroom technology.

I could go on with memories of FUMC, but this recollection would become a small book. There’s too much to say. When I got married in 2000, Melissa and I held our reception in the basement of the church, where we were the recipients of so much love and generosity.

Even though it’s been 25 years now since the church was a regular part of my life, so many individuals and families there are still near and dear to my heart.

I am so grateful to have been a part of First United Methodist’s long record of serving the Kingdom of God. My prayer on this special anniversary is that FUMC’s best days are still ahead!

I thank God for FUMC and Christ’s body there over the years. The best is yet to be!

THE MOST DANGEROUS IGNORANCE

Hosea 4:6a - 

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;

because you have rejected knowledge,

I reject you from being a priest to me.

I am slowly coming to understand how often the nation of Israel screwed up throughout history. In fact, the majority of the record seems devoted to them getting up to one sort of evil or another. 

Israel's behavior is like a man who is more interested in a series of one-night stands than in a faithful, longstanding marriage to a loving woman - no matter how perfect she is. He never knows what he's missing.

The writings of the Old Testament prophets were, in the words of one Bible teacher, "minority reports". God's message ran starkly contrary to the nation's behavior. Most of the Israelites had little time or patience for the persistent calls to repentance.

Still, the prophets risked their lives to call their countrymen back to the God who had chosen them as His own from among all the other peoples of the earth.

And the Lord stood ready to reveal Himself to the ones He loved - but they would have none of Him.

In Hosea's day, he saw a willful ignorance of God and His ways as the heart of Israel's ongoing troubles. 

The Hebrew word translated "knowledge" here, da.at, means discernment, understanding, or wisdom. 

Would Hosea be able to say the something similar to American believers today? 

"My Church is destroyed for lack of knowledge"? 

SLOW DAWNING

It's funny how slowly my life's "big picture" sinks in to me sometimes. 

For instance, at the end of my weeklong introductory trip to Haiti, our small mission team sat in a circle and gave each other affirmations - which is somehow both highly cheesy and deeply moving. When tasked with describing each of our teammates with a single word, one man said his word for me was "teacher". 

I thought, "Really? I have never thought of myself as a teacher." 

This was about 7 years into my stint of teaching high school English!

These days, I recognize teaching is at the very core of my being. It's a major part of what God created me for.

My latest realization - as fresh as today - and dawning only after ...

• Two years putting together weekly sermons
• 1,994 blog posts on this site 
• Two marketing emails each week for Mission Resource over the past month for a major fundraising campaign along with the weekly email newsletter the previous 30 months

- Is this: 

I am a writer as well as a teacher. 

In fact, I write professionally. 

I get paid to write.

And tonight, this dawning thought - "I am a writer" - seems poised to throw new color across the landscape of my 50s.*

*Maybe I'm one of those pretentious, melodramatic writers. 

Lord, I hope not. 

WHAT THE HECK IS MEANT BY "OBSCENE TALK"?

I'm in a pickle.

This coming Sunday I will be preaching on a passage from Colossians 3 which commands believers to "put away":

• Anger
• Wrath
• Malice
• Slander
• Obscene talk from your mouth

It's the last item on that list that makes me nervous. 

I have to admit that now and then - usually for comic effect or shock value or after stubbing a toe - I let a choice four-letter word slip from my lips. I'm just being transparent here.

And I can work on it, but honestly I'm not sure I could eliminate them entirely. (Especially upon toe-stubbing.)

More to the point, I'm not sure that is what Scripture has in mind.

Does the Apostle Paul have a zero-tolerance policy on bad words?

Afterall, there is quite the continuum of cuss words. Some strike us as rather mild. And others are absolutely unspeakable. Where would Paul draw the line?

My seminary roommate once pondered breaking up with a girl when she said that she had "gotten screwed" on a test in one of her classes!

Consider, too, that the taboo level of particular words may change over time. Anyone my age or older has to admit that the F-word is much more shocking to the older generations than it is among young adults these days. 

Tolerance for the "n-word", on the other hand, has gone the opposite direction. 

(For the record, that's one I can claim complete innocence of!)

I have much study yet to do on this passage, but two thoughts for now on the "vice list" offered by the Apostle in Colossians 3:8:

1. Paul is obviously speaking of serious, ongoing patterns of behavior here.

2. At least one commentator speaks in favor of the final phrase being translated as "abusive speech" rather than "obscene talk" since "this list points to expressions of anger that prevent one from participating in the community of God's people, which is characterized by unity and love." (David Pao, p.224)

So maybe Paul has in mind something like cussing someone out in their front yard more so than screaming "Sh*t!" when you smack your thumb with a hammer. 

If so, I'm sure I can claim to be 100% free of "abusive speech" in good conscience. 

What do you think? 

Am I just finding a way to justify my own speech or is there something deeper going on with Paul's list. 

THE SHROUD OF TURIN

In recent weeks I have gone down a YouTube rabbit hole on the subject of the Shroud of Turin.

If you're not familiar with it, the Shroud is the most famous of religious relics. It is a 14-foot length of finely woven linen which has a faint full-bodied image of a man who apparently died of crucifixion. For centuries it has been promoted by the Church as the same burial cloth mentioned in all 4 Gospels. 

I remember the Shroud being in the news sometimes during my formative years, but it dropped off my radar in the 1980s when scientists carbon dated a fragment of the cloth and announced it was a forgery. 

They said it was made no earlier than the Middle Ages. 

What remained a mystery was the method of creating the image. ALL the scientists agreed that no paint was involved. And real human blood was present. Furthermore, the image appears as a highly detailed photo negative and exhibits all of the wounds associated with Jesus' death: scourging, crown of thorns, nails through wrists and feet, and a spear wound through the ribs. 

All of this was enough to keep the mystery alive - even though science had "proven" it a fake.

In the past year now, it seems the Shroud is "back in the news" - or at least there is renewed interest among podcasters.

And it turns out that the infamous carbon dating had been performed on a bit of the cloth which turned out to be a patch. The Shroud had survived a fire and someone had expertly repaired some of the burn holes with cotton thread. 

The Shroud proper is linen. The carbon dating had been done on cotton fibers.

Recent developments have gotten less press than the carbon dating of the 80s. Newer (and less destructive) dating techniques have been used lately and they all confirm the material to be around 2,000 years old.

Plus, the fabric holds microscopic bits of pollen and dust native to Jerusalem.

Plus, the image has been proven to be 3-dimensional. 

And the only working theory on what could produce such an image is this: a very brief but very intense flash of light.

Emanating from the body itself.

The Romans crucified quite a few individuals. But crowns of thorns were not standard practice. And as shameful as crucifixion was, most bodies were never claimed.

They didn't get wrapped in burial cloths. They got dumped in a mass grave.

And even if they did receive a proper burial, it would be very unusual for the dead man to be honored with a very expensive piece of cloth. (Though Joseph of Arimathea seemed to have the means.) 

One commentator said that if you put all the evidence on two tables, the pile in favor of the Shroud of Turin being the authentic burial cloth of Jesus Himself would stretch to the ceiling while the table labeling it a fake would have nothing but the faulty carbon dating tests from the 80s.

Curiously, one of the Christian podcasters I watched held her hope of the Shroud's authenticity at arm's length, saying that she didn't need it to be real to bolster her faith. All she needed was to believe the word of God.

Fine, but the biblical accounts go out of their way to offer good evidence for the resurrection as a historical reality. And Jesus Himself made sure that the original disciples SAW Him, so that they would believe. Plus, He had no issue with granting Thomas' request to put his fingers in the nail holes even. 

It's OK to have tangible, scientifically vetted evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.

Take the win. 

BEHOLD!

Matthew's account of the resurrection of Jesus and the aftermath is fairly brief, comprising only 20 verses. 

The first ten verses have "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary" going to "see the tomb" just before dawn on Sunday morning and there experiencing an earthquake followed by an angel descending and rolling away the stone. 

The guards tremble and "become like dead men". (Did they pass out?)

The angel addresses the two Maries, inviting them to see the place where Jesus' body had been laid and saying that Jesus would be heading to Galilee. 

As they are leaving the tomb "with fear and great joy", the two women encounter Jesus Himself. They grab his feet and worship him. Jesus tells them not to be afraid, but to go and tell the disciples they would see Jesus in Galilee.

Five of the twenty verses are then devoted to the guards being paid by the chief priests to lie about the disappearance of Jesus' body.

The final five verses tell of Jesus meeting the disciples in Galilee and giving "the Great Commission". 

Curiously, there is no mention of the Ascension. In fact, Jesus' final words recorded in Matthew's Gospel are "I am with you always"!

It is often revealing to take note of repeated words in any biblical passage. Here, the key words which get repeated are "see" and "fear" (4 times each) and "disciples" (5 times) and "behold!" (6 times). 

This was an event of heightened drama for the disciples. (That's quite an understatement, I suppose.) And it's clear from Matthew's perspective that what they SEE after Jesus' death is as important as what they are told. 

There's really no way to make sense of the Gospel accounts if you want to spiritualize Jesus' resurrection or make it metaphorical. 

AN AI PALM SUNDAY

There are only 11 or 12 events in Jesus' life recorded in all 4 gospels and Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem is one of them.

The details are a bit different across the 4 accounts, of course, but they all highlight the fact that Jesus rode into the city on the back of a donkey.

If the audience WAS confused about the nature of Jesus' Kingdom, maybe his mode of transportation should have been a major clue.

According to AI, He looked more like this:

Than this: 

I do like how AI reimagined the cross as an offensive weapon for the earthly king Jesus. 

Not sure why the horse has one leg up front and three in the back though.

Just for kicks, here are a few other Palm Sunday images from AI.

One-armed Jesus:

6-Legged Horse, armless Jesus:

2-Headed Horse:

Jesus wishing He had some reins:

Jesus coming AND going on a donkey:

Jesus leading a whole herd of donkeys and giving a thumbs up:

Jesus on something halfway between a donkey and a horse while giving 2 thumbs up:

Jesus on a horse and giving three thumbs up:

And finally, Jesus riding a majestic 2-headed horse while holding a rocket launcher with his third hand:

THE MOST REPEATED SERMON

Palm Sunday is coming - and with it comes the most predictable and oft repeated sermon of all time.

Generally, the Palm Sunday sermon is a 2-pointer:

1. The crowds wrongly assumed Jesus was about to establish an earthly, political kingdom - which they were all in favor of.

And 2. The crowds were fickle, proclaiming Jesus as king on Sunday and calling for His crucifixion by Friday ... because they wrongly assumed He had intended an earthly kingdom and was failing. 

But is that all there is to the story?

I don't recall ever hearing a sermon on the triumphal entry which considered the surrounding literary context. But that's what I am exploring this week.

And there's much more going on than I've ever suspected. 

WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

At first glance, it might not seem like a particularly profound difference. 

But contrary to what most believers have been taught, the Bible makes it clear:

You are not going to Heaven when you die. 

Heaven is coming to you.

And that makes a world of difference. 

(When you stop and think about it.)

2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It was prepared like a bride dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Now God’s presence is with people, and he will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, sadness, crying, or pain, because all the old ways are gone.” - Revelation 21

THE RIVER IS WIDE

Right in the center of my 25-minute drive to Sardinia Baptist Church the road hugs a small creek for a quarter mile. 

With all the flooding around Columbus, as I drove to worship yesterday morning, I had my doubts the road would be passable.

But I drove right past the little creek. 

It was swollen but still flowing within its banks. 

Columbus was flooding because a sizeable river, the Flatrock, cuts through its heart. Two other streams join the Flatrock near downtown. Countless others join up north before its waters ever reach Columbus. 

Maybe this is another workable metaphor for American Christianity.

For 2,000 years now, various streams of thought and philosophies - some small and others significant - have added their waters to Biblical Christianity.

These creeks and streams join forcibly and now the whole river is murky and overflowing its banks. 

And the "river" has become a mile wide and a foot deep.  

Meandering rather than flowing.

And causing damage.

Now, in the midst of the floodwaters, it's difficult to discern the path of the original river.

But you can locate it with some effort - you just have to find where the riverbed is deepest. 

TOO SERIOUSLY?

Fresh out of college I found myself living and working in LeMars, Iowa - a small town about 30 minutes north of Sioux City and known primarily for being the home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream.

I was hired to be the youth pastor for the two United Methodist Churches in LeMars and I shared an apartment with an earnest little guy named Ray who had been hired to be the youth pastor at the local Presbyterian Church.

Ray connected quickly with a core group of the teenage boys in the youth group and soon they were doing Bible studies together on a regular basis, even outside of the regular youth group schedule. Ray was excited about the deepening of these boys' faith.

But one night Ray slouched into the apartment completely dejected. I couldn't believe what had happened. The mother of one of these young men had confronted him on behalf of herself and the other moms. She wanted Ray to back off from the Bible studies and the extra time outside of church.

Why?

Because the moms had decided that their boys were starting to take their faith "too seriously"!

Ray was absolutely wrecked. 

Satan got a two for one out of that deal: he derailed any discipleship progress in those young men while also deflating the youth pastor's zeal for making disciples.

When Paul writes to the Colossians these lines in chapter 3 -

 "1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God",

- it is clear that he has no concept of a believer taking his or her relationship with Jesus too seriously.

There's simply no such thing.