Lent ??? Blog 36: Jesus Part 1

Part 1 of my Easter Sermon, give or take a few words, sentences, paragraphs.

In the Beginning: the Creator; In the Beginning: the Word

Where do you begin thinking about Jesus? For John, the gospel writer, you begin at the beginning. The Bible begins with God and the spirit hovering over the waters and humanity created in 'our' image, so naturally John places Jesus within the context of the beginning.

After the fall: the first promise, the snake would be defeated

Which begs the next question, when was Jesus first promised to the creation? We still begin at the beginning, this time in the story of the fall, when humanity chooses to be in communication with a snake (?) that is not God. We listen to voices we shouldn't and then choose actions that we shouldn't. In response God promises that the offspring of the woman would destroy the serpent. Our response? To blame the serpent for everything that we do, even though one could argue that Jesus has already crushed that little serpents head.

2020 years ago: a promise fulfilled

So we move from the dawn of time, to the dawn of disobedience to an angel and a young girl and a pregnancy and a God-man or rather God-baby. Think about that for just a second, the God who created the mountains and rivers, the stars and the sun [which is also a star], the roses and the lions, the planet and the you decides to come in human flesh as a cute/smelly baby. If your mind isn't blown right now, there just may be something wrong with you.

Age 12: Jesus is in his Father’s house, yet obeys his Earthly parents

So, Jesus is miraculously born and is visited by angels and shepherds and wisemen/kings. And then he disappears. Which is strange. But he shows up again some 10 years later [since technically the wisemen/kings wouldn't have shown up till Jesus was approximately 2] and he proceeds to get lost. His family and friends traveled to Jerusalem and then leave and after some amount of distance along on their journey home they realize they left Kevin back home while they went to Paris...ummm, I mean Jesus back in Jerusalem while they went home. They frantically go back and search for Jesus and find him in the temple, listening to the teachers and asking them questions. Jesus proceeds to tell them that they should have known all along where he was, duh, but he obediently goes with them. And disappears yet again.

Age 30: Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan and then fasts for 40 days and is tempted

He shows up 18 years later and gets dunked in a river. At this point, if you were reading a novel you might begin to question the author's talent for character development. But as it is Jesus is baptized by his cousin and a voice from heaven breaks through the firmament saying 'This is my son, in whom I am well pleased' or the Hebrew/Aramaic equivalent. And then Jesus goes into the desert and decides to not eat for 40 days, because that is the type of thing one does.

Temptation 1: base need of food; Temptation 2: make your name great; Temptation 3: safe from harm

After not eating for 40 days that pesky serpent shows up again and proceeds to tempt Jesus. First, Satan tells Jesus to turn the stones into bread and feed himself. Second, Satan says that he will make Jesus' name great if he would but worship Satan. Third, Satan teleports Jesus to a high point and tells him to jump because angels would catch him. Each time Jesus uses scripture to stand up against the scripture that Satan used. Yes, in essence the temptations are a Bible quiz game, but more than that we are beginning to understand the character of this God-man, a character that is deep within him, a character that is driving him forward.

The Beginnings: Luke from Isaiah ‘preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

For good measure I am going to repeat that: 'preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.' It is not a coincidence that Jesus read this particular piece of Isaiah, because everything Jesus does after this point has this passage wrapped around it. Every word, every action, every tear comes from and points to this purpose. And the truth of the matter is that Jesus is still in this very same business to this day, releasing prisoners, giving sight, speaking good news and proclaiming the Lord's favor.

To Be Continued...

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Lent Blog 35: Blood/Love

Sometimes, I lay awake, at night, and dream, of days long past.
Of a man so good and true and right put to death, on a cross of pain.
And as I sit and watch this death, I sing a song of praise.
For on that cross, was paid my debt, so death no longer reigns.

And as the time passes, onward, still he looks down at me
and asks why I dream of this, so morbid and dismayed
I stand in awe of recognition, I stand in awe of him
and I look up into his eyes, say it's your blood, saves me

He looks at me, eyes piercing, and so true
he looks at me, as tears, begin, to grow
He opens his mouth, a quiver exudes, why, why, oh why
Why do you fixate on my death and forget the days of my life?

I once was lost but now am found, says I, to him
You once were blind but now you see?, a question on his lips
He looks away as tears stream down, his bloody serene face
He looks again and says “sorry, you missed the point of me”

“It's not my blood that saves you, but my love that saves you
how could you ever disagree?
I told stories of coins and lambs and wayward sons
and of seeking shepherds and fathers that run, where did you miss the boat”

I wake from this dream, so unsettling, yet move away from truth
He was mistaken a dream, not real, not taken
and sing my song anew, of a really good man, who lived to die
so I may live later.

What if, what if, is my refrain, what if it's love not blood
should the world fall down, or the church erupt
from such a simple claim, but I sit in silence and let others speak
as I go about my life, we buy crowns of thorns, and crosses of light
to remember a death, not a life

So hold on to the metaphor, hold on to the words
forget the life remember the death, or so I am told
but what if, what if it's a matter of love, not a matter of blood

Peace and Love,

Pastor K 

Lent Blog 34: To Each Their Own

I have come to a conclusion today, I am not going to hit 40 blogs during Lent. Part of me feels bad about that, and part of me just doesn't care. This time around it has been a lot harder coming up with blogs, partly because of life changes and partly for a whole host of reasons. To you out there that has consistently shown up and read each blog I do want to apologize for not hitting the 40 mark, but if you continue reading post Easter we'll get there sooner or later.

N-E-Way, let's get on with it.

Tonight I would like to just take a little bit of time and talk about Spiritual disciplines. I don't really want to get too deep into various disciplines, but rather just want to mention that we are all wired differently. Why do I mention that? To say this, if we are all wired differently why do we consistently act like we are all wired the same way when it comes to things like Spiritual disciplines? I may commune with God by taking a walk in the woods, but you may find contemplative prayer extremely rewarding. If I stay in prayer for too long, I start to fall asleep. Another person may love to just read and reread the same passage of scripture over and over again, while it may bore you to death.

All I'm saying is let us not check our personalities and learning styles at the door. Be who you were made to be. Be who you have become. If reading is your thing, read. If prayer, pray. If you love to starve yourself, perhaps fasting is your thing. If you are the life of the party find God in celebrations. If you want to continually give of your self, do it in service to something great. If you are getting a little to prideful, perhaps it is time to confess or submit. If you say yes to much, hold back. If you say yes on rare occasions, say yes more often.

Spiritual disciplines are not about doing x, y, or z because that is what your pastor, spouse, Sunday school teacher tells you to do. Spiritual disciplines are an attempt to include the divine into the daily, weekly, monthly, yearly of your life, to say this time I give to you, it isn't like everyone else's gift, but it is my gift.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Lent Blog 33: From Jesus or from Myself

"If your spirituality doesn't rid you of guilt and shame, it's based in lies." Donald Miller

I am a fan of Donald Miller the writer, or at least a few of his books. I especially like Blue Like Jazz, To Own a Dragon [now titled Father Fiction], and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Donald Miller as a person I like a little less so. Mainly this is because he sometimes acts like an expert in certain areas of life that he doesn't seem to excel at in his own life. But in truth, the same could probably be said of myself. That said I do still follow him on Facebook.

The reason I still do follow Donald is because sometimes Donald will post something very profound. I am still trying to decide if this is one of those times or not. At first glance I agree with the statement, but the more I think about it I'm not sure. Now, if it was worded like so, "If your spirituality gives you guilt and shame, it's based in lies' I could completely get behind it. I do believe that the point of spirituality, whether it be my own brand [Christianity] or any other brand [Buddhist, Judaism, Islamic, etc.] is nothing if it is not meant to set us free. We have quite enough shackles in our lives without adding to them with a shackle of spirituality.

So, if you are a follower of a spirituality/religious belief that attempts to bring you further down, please do yourself a favor and get rid of it, or at the very least reexamine it. I myself had to do that once upon a time, because the Jesus I was being sold wasn't the Jesus I was reading about. The Jesus that shows up in the black and white [and possibly red] in the Bible is a Jesus hellbent on setting captives free, giving sight to the blind, and declaring the year of the Lord's favor [Luke 4:18-19 via Isaiah 61:1-2]. This is not a Jesus that wants to grow our load, but rather one that wants to lighten it.

My beliefs do not give me guilt and shame, more so I would say that one of the benefits of it is that it attempts to take away my guilt and shame. But there is the rub, it attempts, and I stop it. You see I am full of guilt and shame, not because Jesus gives it to me and not because Jesus wants me to have it, but rather because I find it so hard to put it down and 'let it go'. That is not Jesus' fault, it lies squarely at my feet, in my hands, on my heart, and stuck down deep in my brain.

Perhaps Donald Miller would say that my spirituality is failing me, but I would say that I am failing my spirituality. Which, if I'm honest, is the way it normally works. I try to lift high the name of Jesus but then people, including myself, realize that I am the one lifting high the name of Jesus and they begin to question that name. Now I am forgiven for my sins and set free to be a new creation, but the old soul still clings to me sometimes, the old man doesn't want to let go.

I'm trying a little more each day to give him his walking papers, but I'm not there yet. But, with Jesus' help I'll get there.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Lent Blog 32: A Prayer for Continuing

Broken

Beaten Down

Forgetting Everything

I Know

Broken

Beaten Down

Misplacing Everything

I Own

Broken

Beaten Down

Losing...

the Grip,

the Feeling,

the Path,

the One

Holding...

On, for one last

moment,

breath,

heartbeat,

life,

Holding...

On

To

You

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Lent Blog 31: Trying to Shrink the Almighty

My sermon series on Revelation is over, it ended last week. It may or may not resurface later on due to demand or lack there of. For the next three weeks I am going to be preaching a series titled 'Belief Basics'. Two years ago I preached on the mystery of the trinity, and covered it on this blog in God of Answers and Mystery which can be found here:

http://pastorkslifelook.blogspot.com/2012/06/god-of-answersand-mystery.html

And in the next three weeks I plan on doing the same thing, but this time week one is God week two is Jesus and week three is the Holy Spirit (Ghost). I came to this decision in part because I didn't want to be preaching through Revelation on Easter Sunday morning. So tomorrow I am tackling God.

I don't know if you realize this, but God is a fairly large topic and I am trying to fit in 30 minutes give or take. This has not been the easiest task, as I have been sitting here off and on today for 8 hours so far and I am still just staring at a blank page. And the strangest thing is that I am staring at a blank screen not because I don't know what to say, but rather because I don't know what not to say.

It's a weird circumstance to be in. There is a Bible full of thoughts on God and there are an untold amount of books and movies and songs and poems and paintings and sculptures and musings and whisperings about God. But what is the basics? What is God's most important attributes, actions, movements, words? Do I try to encompass the thousands and thousands of years of human history into a quick movement? Maybe if I had the budget of the Cosmos I could show how God moved through the universal calender year, but I don't have a big screen or a projector or a budget really to speak of.

Wish me luck.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Lent Blog 30: A Few Facebook Pointers

I have been sick this week, which means, among other things, that I have spent a lot of my time as a lump on the couch or in bed. While this has hindered my ability to be the spectacular father that I normally am it has enhanced my time on Facebook. Because of this I have been a little more interconnected to the lives of others this past week and have been privy to some of the issues that you all seem to be having. To that end I would like to submit four suggestions to you.

1) If you air your issues on Facebook don't be overly surprises when people comment on them

This may not come as a surprise to many of you, but if you post something socially than anyone in your social network can then comment on it. This means that you will get a ridiculously large amount of Happy Birthday wishes and likes on baby pictures, but it also means that when you moan or complain or take personal matters and broadcast them there is a contingency of people you know that will comment on them. Some of these people will take your side of the rant or argument or opinion, but there are others who will disagree with you, and a few who will belittle you for saying it in the first place. This happens because you have say 300 Facebook friends, most of which you hardly know in real life and all of which do not see the world through your viewpoint.

It is your social networking right to post whatever you want, just don't be surprised when your friends bite the hand that's feeding them.

2) there is a CAPS Lock button, learn how to use it, or rather how not to

Somewhere on the left hand side of your laptop or keyboard there is located a rectangular button that reads 'Caps Lock' or 'CAPS Lock' or perhaps just 'CAPS.' Go ahead and take a second and look down at your keyboard. Do you see it? Now a lot of computers will give you some kind of signal that this button is activated. Sometimes you will have a little padlock light that comes on, sometimes a big padlock with a capital 'A' will show up on screen. In truth, even if your computer doesn't have a way to let you know it is specifically activated there is one other way to know BECAUSE EVERYTHING YOU TYPE WILL BE CAPITALIZED LIKE SO. The point of the button is, well I don't really know to be honest, the only time I ever use it is to make signs or if I want to YELL AT SOMEONE [typed with one finger on the 'shift' button which will also capitalize a letter, in case you didn't know] on line.

UNFORTUNATELY THERE ARE SOME OF YOU OUT THERE THAT JUST LEAVE IT ON ALL THE TIME AND EVERYTHING YOU TYPE COMES OUT LOOKING LIKE YOUR ARE TRYING TO OVER EMPHASIZE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY. LIKE YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO GET THE POINT ACROSS THAT WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAT WHAT EVERYONE ELSE HAD TO SAY ON THE MATTER.

It's annoying, please stop.

3) auto-correct does knot always work in you're favor

There are a few of my friends out there in Facebook world who seem to be the worst spellers on the planet. Now, I do think that one of my friends literally is one of the worst spellers on the planet, but as for the rest of you I think you merely fall victim to our friend Mr. Auto-Correct. In case you didn't know the majority of phones and tablets and computers these days come with a tiny little guy inside who will help decide what the word is that you are currently typing and will sometimes change that word to what he believes you want to say as opposed to what you type.

Now, I will be the first to admit that this kind little guy is often correct in his assumptions about our words, but there are times when he, like most of us are, is a little lax at his job and puts in the wrong word. That's when it lands, once again, in our hands to correct his auto-correcting ways. The problem becomes when we are too dependent on his brain and less dependent on our own. In those moments we just go on typing assuming [and we all know what that does] that our little friend is on the top of his game and our sentences can look like the one in bold that precedes this section.

So please, rely on your little friend, but, reread before you push 'share.'

4) Facebook is the great equalizer, you are usually treated the way you treat others

This may be hard for you to hear, may be hard for me to hear, but oftentimes the people in your Facebook sphere of influence will treat you like you have previously treated them. Which means if you are kind people will generally be kind to you, and if you are a criticizer you will be criticized, and if you are gossip you will be gossiped about, and if you laugh at someone's pain your pain will be laughed at. There is no simple solution to this, we make the beds that we lay in. What you can do is start to be nicer and more gracious to people and sooner or later they will return the favor.

I hope that these four pointers help you out, or at least help you to laugh at the people who don't happen to heed the advice.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Lent Day 29: On Hatred, Racism and Equality

The 46th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination was four days ago. From what I hear today is the day that the average woman made as much money from January 2013 to now as the average man made from January 2013 to December 2013. [if you extrapolate it out it gets even worse because in theory it would take from tomorrow through August of 2015 in order for a woman to make what a man will make this year alone] It seems that our government has been arguing about what to do about illegal immigration for just about forever. In addition there are several bills floating around the house/senates of several states attempting to discriminate against Homosexuals under the guise of religious freedom. And it makes me wonder...

I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that never delineated between the color of our skin and the color of anyone else's. I also grew up in a family where both parents worked, and my mother's job was not seen as less than. Because of my religious/political beliefs I look around me and I see human beings, all created in the image of a loving creator, and all desired by said creator. I don't mind that we are different, because I tend to think that our individual pictures make up a beautiful mosaic. But not everyone thinks that way...

There are people who still judge others by the color of their skin, or by their reproductive organs, or where they were born, or what religion they believe in, or who they choose to love. Maybe you are one of these people. If you are I would ask you to lay aside your preconceived notions and leave your stereotypes at the door, and go out and find someone you consider less than yourself and say hello. I know that will be extremely difficult for you, it always is for everyone, but it just may be extremely worthwhile as well.

Might this just be my liberal leanings coming out to chat? Perhaps so, I do not deny that I am liberal, but I wasn't always a liberal, I used to have major issues with certain people that were different than me. I have never thought that a black man was less than me or that a woman should be paid less, but I did once hold the belief that all illegal immigrants should be kicked out of the country, and I once thought that 'don't ask, don't tell' was a good policy, not just for the military but in everyday life. When the towers fell I wanted us to take out whoever was responsible, and when it turned out to be Muslim extremists I was not surprised. But I changed, thank God I changed.

It happened slowly at first, I started to rethink my views on Jesus, then I started to rethink my views on war. In truth, once the first domino fell the rest, mostly, followed quickly after. There were a few that took quite a bit longer, those I held on to tooth and nail, but I believe that, in the end, Jesus gets the changes that he wants. There are not a few people who don't understand how I can be both a Christian, let alone a pastor, and label myself a liberal, but there are more of us than you might think. 

I have seen hatred, on picket signs and on billboards. Splattered across the evening news and celebrated in movies. Spoken from microphones, and lecterns, and pulpits. I have read of the sins of the many and the few, of the church and the secular, of the powerful and the the weak. 

But I have also heard whispers of love attempting to break through the ether. I have seen blacks forgive whites, Muslims forgive Christians, victims forgive murderers, the wronged forgive those who have wronged them. I have seen prisoners set free and run the country that imprisoned them. I have seen people tear down the wall of division. I have seen the poor smile and the rich weep. I have seen Jesus everywhere, and that gives me hope.

Peace and Love,

Pastor K

Lent Day 28: To be anywhere else but behind a pulpit

Here it is 11:35 at night and I have no clue what to write about. I usually encounter this problem Sunday night, I assume it is because I am intellectually wore out from my morning sermon, but that might just be a cop-out. So, here I sit and I begin to type hoping something of worth will come out, which incidentally is roughly the same thing I do for my sermons. At least with the sermon I have an outline of where I want it to go, but I do have this fear that sooner or later the words will just fail me some morning. This fear may be becoming increasingly irrational since for two years now I have never not had something to say, but the fear still remains.

It's funny in a way because I seem to be getting more compliments on my sermons. One lady told me that I have come a long way, which I think she meant as a compliment, though it does make me wonder what she thought of my sermons 2 and a half years ago. Another lady told me that I keep getting better, perhaps because I am more seasoned. Then her daughter pointed out that seasoned could also mean that I am old, which I had already thought of but decided to not think about. Mary agrees that I am consistently becoming a better preacher, she thinks it is because I am more confident. If she only knew, if they all only knew.

You see, each week I first try to come up with something to say at all. My next step is to hope that what I have to say isn't boring. Then I consider if any of it is heretical, and if any of it, I bat that down a little, or at least conceal it behind more generically agreed upon thought. My friend Steve would call this the Sunday School answers, "Jesus, the Bible, Pray a Lot." Then after several hours spent trying to come up with somewhere between three sentences and a page full of paragraphs I stop for the day. Then I go to sleep, or at least try to, it is usually only a fitful sleep.

When I wake up the next morning at 7 I sometimes shave, usually shower, then put on my clothes and gather my 'preaching shoes' [as opposed to my driving shoes] my binder with the sermon and bulletins and my Bible. Then I go downstairs and usually we all get in the car. At this point I start rethinking almost everything about the service, including song selection and the content of my sermon. I try to take my mind off of such things by singing along to the radio. During this time I usually think that it would be much better for my ulcer, which I may not have but I am sure is growing right this second, if I was the pastor of the church down the street as opposed to the other side of the state, if for no other reason that the drive of worry would be shorter.

We arrive at church a little over 2 hours after we left home and I turn lights on and get ready for church. I lead the singing and the prayers and the readings and the offering and by and large I am fretting over the coming sermon. Typically I have two minutes or so between a song and the sermon while our pianist goes and sits down, which I use to pray to God that this isn't the time I screw everything up. Somewhere between 15 and 40 minutes later, I have no clue how long it really is, but I'm pretty sure it is longer than 15 and shorter than 40, I say a prayer and lead the final song and give the benediction and thank the Lord that I made it through another week.

Confidence? Hardly any.

Come along way? If you say so.

Keeps getting better? I highly doubt it.

That is me.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Lent Day 27: A Prayer In Between

There was a day when it all began

And there is a coming a day to say goodbye

But we stand in the space

Between

The beginning and the end

Between

The start of light and the ultimate light

Between

Believing and Knowing

Between

Following and walking beside

We stand between two trees

We stand between

Because

Between is where we are

Until the day

That is coming

When we are not

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Lent Day 26: CHOG's Napoleon Complex

Well, a few days ago I said that this blog was coming, and here it is.

Many, many years ago there was a man named Daniel Sydney Warner, who preferred to go by his initial D.S. thus causing a lot of people to go by their initials as well. [H.M. Riggle, E.E. Byrum, and F.G. Smith to just scratch the surface] This man got angry at the church around him and decided to 'come out' and begin again. This lead to the founding of the Church of God Reformation Movement. [as opposed to a Church of God denomination, which we are not going to get into right now]

Well this group of initialed people came to several conclusions about the world and the church and the Bible. Specifically, at least for today's conversation, they came to the conclusion that the way to interpret the book of Revelation was through a Historicist viewpoint, i.e. Revelation is the grand story of the church from the apostles through the end of the age.

Basically the conclusion they came to was that Revelation foretold Catholicism, Protestantism and disregarded them both as perversions of the truth. We, the Church of God were the evening light, the only ones who actually understood what God wanted the church to be. I was told a story just the other day about this particular belief and how it affected the relationship between a mother and a future son-in-law because he came from a different church.

To make a very long story short we came to the realization that neither the world nor the Book of Revelation revolve around us. We came to understand that we were one spoke in the wheel that is Christianity, and that those people in other denominations were our brothers and sisters as opposed to the wayward lost.

I would imagine that if Dr. Merle Strege is reading this he may just be shaking his head that I boiled down several chapters in his book to just a few paragraphs, believe me when I say that Dr. Strege does a much better job explaining the church's history. I take my shortcut path for several reasons:

1. I doubt any of you are very interested in reading the amount of material that could be written on this subject

2. I neither have the time nor the inclination to write that larger amount.

3. This is enough to get the point across.

4. That point is that you change and I change and the church has changed.

You see the church changed its viewpoint when it was presented with new/old evidence and new/old arguments. What if we all did the same?

Peace and Love,

Pastor K

p.s. for more history on the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana)  check these links out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_God_(Anderson,_Indiana)

http://chog.org/node/7

or do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of I Saw the Church by Dr. Strege

Lent Day 25: And now for something completely different

Mary tells me that my blog has been too serious as of late. I can't disagree, I remember several weeks ago when I wrote a funny blog about the damage that toddlers do to their parents and it was funny and a lot of people liked it. At that point in time I was planning on doing a funny blog every Monday. The problem with that is that I am only funny in the moment, planned funny isn't so much my thing. But Mary told me I needed something a little lighthearted, so here we go.

Way back when, in 1998, I was a student at Anderson University, and for the briefest of time, about a semester, I was a Pre-med major. I had excelled at Science in Junior High and High School and when I took Anatomy and Physiology my Senior Year I was neck and neck for the highest grade. I loved everything about the particulars of the human body that I was learning about. I sliced and diced my dead cat with precision and glee.

While I came to AU with the idea of going into politics [I never wanted to be king, but being a kingmaker did appeal to my young ego] I had moved on to other, previous, pursuits. So I found myself taking Chemistry and Biology in Hartung Hall. Down one of the hallways there were several animal cages and among them was a bearded dragon that was named Charlie.

Charlie became my confidant, I would often find myself in Hartung at odd hours when classes didn't seem to be going on and I would chat with my little dragon friend. In case you were wondering, no Charlie did not talk back, the conversations were decidedly one-sided [much like my sermons]. Now, to be honest while I loved Anatomy and Physiology and was pretty decent in Chemistry I have never been much of a Natural Biology kind of guy. All the memorization and classification just isn't my thing, and to this day I have no idea why you have to now the inner workings of an earthworm in order to fix a human heart or prescribe insulin, but whatever. It was a tough semester in Biology and Charlie helped me through some hard times and some hard decisions.

What seems to be remembered as a short time later, but was actually two years, I had moved on from Pre-med to History and Philosophy, because that is where people in the midst of an existential crisis go; and getting a minor in Christian Ministries, mainly because I had taken so many side CMIN [sound that out for a laugh] classes that I only needed one more for a minor, when lo and behold I found myself once again on the high floors of Hartung Hall. One day following a class where we had two guests who spoke about their brother having Alzheimer's I decided it was high time to visit Charlie again. I walked down the stairs and started to move toward Charlie's home, when to my horror I learned that Charlie was no longer a guest of Anderson University.

I don't know what happened to my bearded friend, I like to think that he broke out and is roaming the Florida swamp lands or the Arizona desert [I am not quite sure which habitat Charlie would have liked, I told you I wasn't very good at natural Biology]. I went back to my dorm that afternoon and wrote the following song about my friend. I hope that somehow he might be able to Google me and locate this blog and know that the once skinny kid still remembers him.

Charlie

Charlie
Why do you sit there
Doing nothing but staring back at me
Charlie
Why do you eat that bug
That is crawling around on the ground

Charlie
Your life is so simple sometimes
Sometimes I envy you

Charlie
Why do you sit there
Wagging your tail back and forth
Charlie
Why do you stare at me
With those eyes bugging out at me

Charlie
In the scheme of things
I wish that I could be you

Charlie
Do you ever think about me
And the way the world works
Charlie
Do you ever wonder
Why we all walk back and forth

Charlie
Can you understand
The awe you inspire in me

Cause I can see clearly now
With you sitting there
I can see clearly now
With the light bearing down on you
I can see clearly now
Can you see clearly too?

Peace and Love,

Pastor K

Lent Day 24: We're worthless, unless we're not

First a quick apology: while I started this Lenten blog series on fire right out of the gate I have recently hit a few roadblocks which have led to this blog being recently sporadic, for that I am sorry. Hopefully, we can get back on track and finish as strong as we began.

Peace and Love
Pastor K

OK, now onto other things.

I am a big fan of the TV show Arrow. For the uninitiated out there Arrow follows the origin of the comic book character Oliver Queen, more famously known as Green Arrow. I never really followed Green Arrow in comic form, though he occasionally intersected comics I did follow, such as Batman, and he has been a member of the Justice League in different incarnations. So my knowledge of Oliver mostly comes from another TV show that I used to follow, Smallville, and while Arrow follows on the heels of Smallville their perspective Oliver Queen's are quite different people with very different stories.

I tell you that to tell you the following. Last week two of the characters, who incidentally are sisters, spoke and believed the following line "Once you let the darkness in, it never comes out." For some reason that line lodged itself in my head this evening. I was taking the trash out at work this evening and I kept thinking about the line and thinking that you can never really go back to the person you used to be once you start down the wrong road.

I began to think of sin and how it stains us in ways that we can and can't even see. I began to think about how fallen I am, how fallen you are. I began to think that maybe those 'doom and gloom' people may have a point, maybe we are just trash, just waste, just worthless.

I've never been that guy. When people/preachers start speaking about our evil nature, our darkness, our human condition, I am the guy who says, "Well we're worthless, but Jesus died for us, which makes me think that God found something of worth within us. In your eyes I may be a sinner in the hands of an angry god, but in God's eyes, I'm a child who has wandered, and God sets out to find me and lead me back home."

But tonight, I started to become that guy. I started thinking about the happy go lucky guy I used to be, about the joy that used to reside just behind my eyes and I started to think, 'maybe, just maybe I've been wrong and they are right.' Maybe I am the mess that I am and I will never be the follower of Jesus I used to be. Maybe I'm on the way to Hell, maybe we all are. Maybe Hell is right around the corner and gaining fast. Maybe I am nothing and will never be anything.

And then a song came on.

Come broken and weary

Come battered and bruised

My Jesus makes all things new

All things new

Come lost and abandoned

Come blown by the wind

He’ll bring you back home again

Home again

Rise up, O you sleeper, awake

The dawn is upon you

Rise up, O you sleeper, awake

He makes all things new

All things new

Come burning with shame

Come frozen with guilt

My Jesus, he loves you still

Loves you still

Rise up, O you sleeper, awake

The dawn is upon you

Rise up, O you sleeper, awake

He makes all things new

He makes all things new

The world was good

The world is fallen

The world will be redeemed

So hold on to the promise

The stories are true

That Jesus makes all things new

(The dawn is upon you)

I love Andrew Peterson. But, more than that I love his Jesus, because he is my Jesus, and he is your Jesus. The Bible begins with 'In the beginning' and then comes the fall, the point in time where we choose our own way instead of God's way [I believe that the fall comes to us each individually, we all have our own original sin] and then there is the story of the Bible, and of the world and then in Revelation 21 we see a new heaven and a new earth and then this is spoken, "Behold I am making all things new."

ALL. THINGS. NEW.

The 'doom and gloom' people out there forget to read the end of the book. You see Revelation is not about the end of the world, it is about the worlds next beginning. It will be he day when everything that has been broken will once again be put back together. The day when the sick will all be healed. The day when the pain will all be wiped away. The day when all of our tears will be tears of joy. The day when we meet Jesus face to face and meet each other all over again.

The world was good

The world is fallen

The world will be redeemed

Do yourself a favor right now and replace the word world in that passage. Replace it with your name, and then replace it with the names of your family members. After that replace it with the names of your friends, and then the names of your enemies. Replace it with America or Germany or the Netherlands or New Zealand or wherever else you happen to be. Replace it with the name of the places in your life that have caused you pain. Replace it with Cancer, or Diabetes, or Heart Disease, replace it with death. Replace it with everything you've ever lost. Replace it with everything you've ever been. Replace it with every failure. Replace it with your hometown, your home church, your address. Replace it with anything that comes to mind and it will continue to be true.

We are living in the meantime, the space between two trees, between Heaven and Hell, but one day all of it will be redeemed and we will finally understand how much we have meant to God the entire time.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Lent Day 23: The Bible Wasn't Written in English

The other day I found myself in Half Price Books, it was the day before my birthday and I had a coupon for 50% off any one item, so I was perusing for my one item. I had walked the majority of the store several times over because a book/cd/blu-ray/comic/video game would pop in my head and I would set off to search for it. Time and time again I came up empty, I love Half Price, but people don't seem to get rid of the stuff I want as often as I would like.

Earlier that morning in church I found myself stumbling over some of my scripture reading. You see, the Bible I was using I purchased very early in my seminary education and while I can read it just fine when my eyes do not leave the page, I find that the writing is a little smaller than I would like for Sunday morning reading, when my eyes look out into the congregation, partly to connect with them, partly to make sure they are still awake. You can say that I am getting old, and maybe that's true, but I blame the head bobbing anyway, so there.

Because of this earlier stumbling I decided that I would look at the Bibles in hopes of finding a 'new' one that would have larger type so that my eyes could find my place a bit easier. Unfortunately my search was once again in vain, well that is a mostly true statement. I actually did find too Bibles that would have worked just fine, they both had a soft leather cover, which I prefer for holding, but they were both engraved. I just didn't feel comfortable buying a Bible that was specifically given to someone; I don't know, maybe they died, maybe they turned from the faith, maybe they got a better Bible, maybe they just didn't want one in the first place, whatever the case may be I do not particularly want to go the rest of the time having to answer why someone else's name is on my Bible.

In reality the fact that I didn't find a Bible has very little to do with the subject of this particular post. Why this post is about is a short conversation I had while I was looking for said 'new' Bible. In case you were curious I was looking for an NIV [New International Version] and while I picked up one Bible after another a man next to me asked,

"Are you looking for a new version?"

"No," I replied, "I am just needing one with larger text for reading for church."

"I'm getting a new one because of the controversy of ????, have you heard about that?" He said/asked.

[no he did not put in four question marks, I just don't remember the year he said]

 "Yes" [though I had not] I said lyingly.

"I just can't believe that they changed words and took words out. I have been reading an NASB [New American Standard] for 22 years, I have never been so upset." He replied angrily.

"Yeah." I replied in hopes that the conversation would end.

He continued on for a few minutes about how he was now going to be reading the correct one, the KVJ [King James Version]. He picked out one that met his criteria and said his goodbyes.

I waited a moment and then looked behind me to make sure he was out of eyesight, and proceeded to shake my head.

Did you know that the King James is the correct Bible translation? I did, well, I knew that there are people in our world who think that. In Anderson there are several vehicles that state as much through their ginormous magnetic signs plastered on their trunks and doors and hoods and roofs and any other place big enough to hold said signs. You see, the problem with this belief is that the Bible wasn't written in English. Why is that a problem? Keep Reading.

According to Muslim tradition the only true/holy Korans are ones that are written in the original Arabic. Why? Because Muslims realize that once you translate something from one language into another you lose things. I can't tell you how many movies I have seen where this happens as a plot device. One person will say something in one language and someone else will translate it to another language and often they will say something like this, "there isn't a word to adequately explain what you mean" and so they try to explain it the best way they can. That is what happens in EVERY Bible translation, and by EVERY I include the KJV.

I know people who will use various translations but they you get into what is called a paraphrase [the Message, or the Voice according to some] and these very same people get all up in arms. In each case the author or authors is attempting to get the Bible's meaning across to the people who will read it. Why is that bad? Isn't it the same thing that Pastors, like me, attempt every Sunday morning? Yes and no.

The difference as I see it is that we in the church have this tendency to worship the Bible. And folks, that is not what we are supposed to be doing. We are supposed to worship the God of the Bible, not the collection of 66 books itself. Love the Bible, sure. Find truth and meaning, you bet. But praise and worship, nope, that's treating it like an idol, and I'm pretty sure it has something to say about that.

My suggestion to you is read the Bible that speaks to you. If you are a scholar pick a scholarly version. If you prefer a plain spoke one pick a plain spoken. If you want the Bible in language that you would use everyday pick a paraphrase. If you really like thees and thous and thithers read the King James. But whichever one you decide to choose please, please, please do not get bogged down in which one is best, rise above and reach out to God, because God may just be reaching down to you through whichever Bible you happen to have in your hands at the time.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

p.s. in case you are curious I own: 2 NIV [a 1984 and a 2011], 2 NKJV [New King James], 1 KJV, 2 NRSV [New Revised Standard] 1 normal and 1 containing the New Testament in chronological order by date written, 1 NLT [New Living], 1 the Message, 1 the Voice, a Bible Commentary set that contains the NIV and NRSV, and a copy of Thomas Jefferson's Bible [which he cut and pasted from Greek, Latin, French and English versions]