Stunned!

I'm in a state of absolute shock. Our Arizona Cardinals beat...yes, pick yourself up off the computer board...beat the Pittsburg Steelers. There is a God!

Wednesday Musings

I've been working on my sermon for Sunday. We're in a series called, Get in the Game. It's built around our mission statement of following Jesus on the bold, daring, reckless adventure of bringing grace to the world. To be more honest, the series is based on Jesus' call to us to live missionally--to see our daily lives as moments in which we serve Jesus. This Sunday we're looking at The Great Commission--to make disciples of all nations--and how the Great Commandment--to love God and neighbors--helps us carry out the Great Commission. It's an exciting series in that living missionally, seeing our jobs/lives as sacred callings, is really where the rubber meets the road for Christians. It's a simple concept, really. But hard to live out in the moment by moment rhythm of life.

The upside of such a series is the thrill of seeing our lives through new lenses--to see how living in "Jesus' name" can re-focus and re-energize everything we do. The downside for me is that I'm not a real person. I live in the church world. I don't spend most of my work day in the "secular" marketplace, in the mission field, so to speak. So I'm learning along with our community of faith what this following Jesus Monday-Saturday really looks like.

It's been great biking weather the last few mornings! Finally!

The new TV season has started. So far we've checked out The Big Bang, Chuck, and Heroes. I really enjoyed all three. We got hooked on Heroes last year.

Sunday Musings

I just finished watching the AZ Cardinals. I dvr'd it and fast-forwarded through the game. I saw an entire 3 hour game in less than an hour. Only problem--just after the Cards tied the game the dvr shut off. With reckless optimism I ran to the computer to check out the final score, hoping I wouldn't see what I expected to see but saw it anyway: another loss. Should've been could've been with those guys!

Oh well--there's always next year.

Matters that Matter

I've always been a fan of BBC News. This past week I made a commitment to watch at least 30 minutes of the BBC World News regularly, daily if possible. It was an interesting experience this week. The BBC this week spent time leading with and focusing on the devastating flooding in Ghana and Kenya and what it's going to take to get those who live there food. Fox, CNN, and MSNBC? All of them led with the OJ Simpson story. It really left me speechless. A world away people are dying of starvation from flooding and disease and our news channels are obsessed with OJ's latest capers and Britney's latest meltdowns.

My point here isn't to stand up on a moral soapbox and call out the US for its shallowness. It's simply a reminder to me and perhaps to you, too, that there is a bigger world out there--a world beyond OJ, Britney, Paris Hilton, and Lindsey Lohan --a world desperate for the Kingdom of God's grace to break through. (By the way, I do understand that OJ and Britney, etc, need an in-breaking of God's grace, as well!)

As I sat in my massage chair in my upper middle class house in my upper middle class neighborhood watching one of our TVs (we have more than one), seeing the devastation in Ghana, I was moved, as I often am, to ask the question--What really matters? How can I live in such opulence and not somehow respond to the overwhelming need around me? To whom much is given, much is expected.

These aren't the ravings of guilt, but passionate mission questions.

To be honest, I'm not sure I know the answer at this point. But I do know one answer is not to do nothing.

More to come.

Kathy Griffin at the Emmy Awards

If you didn't watch the Emmy Awards on Sunday then perhaps you did not catch Emmy Award winner Kathy Griffin's acceptance speech in which she made some disparaging remarks about Jesus. The silence you hear from Hollywood goes back to my post of a few days ago, Questions. Why is it OK to speak of Jesus that way publicly with no uproar? You can bet that if she had said the same thing about Allah she'd have been blacklisted. Hollywood has no tolerance for the intolerant (see Mel Gibson, Isaiah Washington, Michael Richards, and Don Imus as prime examples) unless that intolerance is vented at Christians. And then, when Christians stand up and say anything about it, we are treated with contempt. It's Ok for "politically correct" groups to express outrage, but not Christians. We simply have to take it.

But Jesus is used to that. He took it on the cross. And he responded not with outrage, but forgiveness.

Perhaps we who follow him should follow that example, too.

It's probably asking too much of Hollywood to be consistent and side with anyone whose race, or sexual orientation, or religion is held up for ridicule, but one can always hope.

But for those of us who follow Jesus, cheek-turning seems to be making a return in the 21st Century.

Forgiveness or a Free Pass

This past week the NFL and NFL-loving sports fans were rocked by a scandal surrounding the 3-time Super Bowl Champs--the New England Patriots. Their coach, Bill Belichick, had authorized the illegal video taping of the opposing team. Belichick received a stiff fine and the team will lose a top draft pick next year. Clearly what he did was not only illegal, but unethical. (Sometimes something can be legal but unethical and even, at times, ethical but illegal). Belichick did very little to express any kind of remorse.

Last night the Patriots took on the San Diego Chargers in New England. Apparently, special mention was made of Coach Belichick before the home crowd to which the crowd responded with a long ovation. After the game the owner of the club apparently awarded the game ball to Belichick.

Let's face it. If it had been any other coach doing what Belichick did, if, say, the Chargers had been caught videotaping the Patriots, the Patriots fans would have demanded the coach's head on a platter. But since it was their own coach, all is forgiven. No harm, no foul.

It raises the question of what forgiveness really is. Forgiveness is not a free pass. Looking the other way is not forgiveness. Letting a person off the hook because "he's your guy" when you'd demand vengeance if someone else did the same thing is not forgiveness.

Forgiveness is transformational. Forgiveness digs deep into the wrong committed and seeks to remove it so that the wrong is not done again. Forgiveness seeks not simply to give people a free pass but to set them free so that they don't hurt themselves or others again. Jesus didn't say to the woman caught in adultery--hey, it's ok. You're only human. He said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more." The power of forgiveness gives us a fresh start and the power to live out that fresh start.

When a wrong has been done forgiveness gives us the power to apologize for it. It gives us the power to own up to the wrong and rectify it if possible.

A free pass does no one no good. It simply empowers them to continue on in their behavior because they got away with it. Forgiveness, on the other hand, cleanses and transforms us from the inside out so that we live, not as those who got away with something, but as those who have been truly, deeply, washed clean.

Real forgiveness comes only through a cross.

Humor?

Pastor-types like me (or is it like I?) tend to use our blogs to help let our congregations and other interested readers into our souls and hearts. These blogs give us a chance to talk about some of the things God seems to be stirring in our guts concerning our communities of faith. The result is that these blogs can sometimes be a bit heavy.

So, to lighten things up a bit, here's a story Dave Wahl shared with our men's group today (re-crafted to protected the innocent.)

Did you hear the one about the Pastor who committed to memorizing the capitals of all 50 states? He asked one of his church members to quiz him. So the parishioner said, "Rhode Island." To which the Pastor responded, "R and I."