Is Attendance Enough?

 

At the outset, I need to tell you that I received much of the inspiration for this thought from something written by Joshua Hartswigsen, minister of the 151^st Street Church of Christ in Olathe, Kansas.  On this the last day of 2020, many of us in Christian ministry look back on the year with frustration, and look ahead to 2021 with concern.  Why frustration?  Why concern? 

The frustration comes from being unable, due to safety and health restrictions, to have normal congregate worship services, classes, fellowships, small groups, and so on.  These kinds of activities are planned specifically to provide opportunity for the church family to gather together, renew friendships, develop relationships, and strengthen each other. 

The concern comes from the fact that when meeting restrictions are lifted, we know we will lose a good percentage of those who had been regular participants in these activities.  There will be many who will have found something else to occupy their time and energy during the times that normally had been set aside for group meetings of the church family. 

Barna research did a study on this very issue.  I won’t go into a lot of the detail on how they conducted the research.  The results were that about 30% of those who consider themselves to be practicing Christians and who agree strongly that faith is very important in their lives, did not attend services if their church continued to hold services, and furthermore did not take advantage of any church services that were on the Internet, either from their own congregation or from another.  They essentially “dropped out” of church during the time of COVID in 2020.  Now, what Barna did not know was whether or not these families conducted their own worship services at home or with other families.  It’s entirely possible that some did. 

But is attendance or viewing services on line a good measure of the faithfulness of a Christian?  We know the Bible has a clear message about the importance of corporate worship and meeting together.  I wonder, though, if we need to take a better look at the assumptions and beliefs we have about what it means to be a Christian. 

Does being a Christian consist of regular church attendance, participation in Bible classes and small groups, and the occasional fellowship meal?  Have we reduced what it means to be a Christian to a set of activities or boxes to be checked off? 

Being a Christian is much more than checking off attendance and participation boxes.  To be a Christian is to commit oneself to a lifestyle that mirrors the life of Jesus Christ.  To be a Christian is to first love the Lord God with all of one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Further, Christian living embraces discipleship, humility, grace, forgiveness, patience, temperance, kindness, joy, hope, fellowship…in other words, puts to practice loving one’s neighbor as one loves oneself. 

Perhaps we as church leaders have failed to properly teach and lead by example those in our charge.  Perhaps all too often, we have emphasized checking off participation boxes rather than encouraging our members to emulate Jesus Christ.  After all, it’s easier to check things off of a list than it is to do the hard work of living as Jesus lived. 

While we in church leadership are rightly frustrated by the restrictions of the pandemic, and while we also are concerned about those who have dropped out of any church experience this year, we also need to take a good look at how we have presented the idea of “church” to our flocks.  Do we present attendance and participation as the end-all and be-all of what it means to be a Christian?  Or do we, without diminishing the importance of fellowship and participation, teach, practice, and exemplify love for God and love for one-another? 

2021, hopefully, will be a year of renewal for the church, and an encouragement for Christians everywhere to mirror the life of Jesus as we navigate the unknown future.  Yes, by all means attend services if you can.  Participate in classes, gatherings, and other activities once the restrictions are lifted.  But above all, be a man or woman of grace, humility, and kindness…one who loves the Lord God with all of your being and loves others as you love yourself.

Christmas Eve Thoughts

 

Today’s thought comes on Christmas Eve, 2020.  I don’t know what your situation is right now, and I don’t know how well you have fared during this extraordinary year.  Perhaps you have been pretty much untouched by the viral pandemic, still have your income, and all is well with you.  On the other hand, you may have had a loved one succumb to the virus, have lost your source of income, are six months behind on your rent, and are wondering whether you will have enough to eat tomorrow.  Or you could find yourself anywhere in between those two scenarios.

My words to you would be different, depending on where you fall on the lifeline.  However, one thing remains the same for everyone, regardless.

This holiday, different from all of the others we celebrate, offers us something that we all desperately need…hope.  Even if you are comfortable now with good health, good income, and good friends, just the fact that you’re human means you also long for some intangibles…things that you can’t see, buy, or touch.  Hope is one of those things.  Not hope in the sense of, “I hope it won’t snow tomorrow,” but hope in the sense of the perception of something greater than oneself that carries with it the promise of a better tomorrow.  For those of us who are Christians, that hope is found in Jesus the Christ.

Greater than ourselves…in fact the very God of the Universe, Jesus Christ embodies the hope that we all so desperately crave.  The promise of forgiveness…renewal…acceptance…love…belonging…assurance…inheritance.  Those things and more, all intangible, but very, very real, are part of the hope that we find in the one whose birth we celebrate during this holiday season.

So, as we gather together at this time in a kind of enforced, distanced way, our thoughts need to be pointed toward the hope of something better…something lasting…something eternally good.  Yes, let’s all hope that 2021 will be a far better year than 2020.  Yes, let’s all pray that healing will come quickly and that those who are in authority make good decisions.  Let’s all pray that civility, humility, and generosity will prevail.  But perhaps the best prayer of all is the one found in one of the last verses of the last book in the Bible…”Amen, come Lord Jesus.”

Successes and Limitations

 Good morning, and welcome to Thursday.  A couple of days ago, the morning at the office began with seeing news reports of the first person in Great Britain to receive the COVID virus vaccine, heralding the beginning of what hopefully will be a slowdown of the spread of this insidious illness.  The day then was punctuated by a shaking and jarring of the office by an earthquake…the epicenter of which was just a few miles away.  Now, I hesitate to make any kind of connection with these two events, and in any case, any connection I might make would be pretty much a figment of my imagination…but let’s pursue this for just a moment.

In what was surely a huge leap forward in the fight against Corona, the human race is beginning the vaccination process that will, in all probability, greatly reduce the chances of contracting this illness.  And even though multiple thousands of people have already received the vaccine, those have all been volunteers in clinical studies to determine the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.  The fact that someone in the general public received the vaccine outside of a clinical study, and that many more will be vaccinated just today, and even more in future days, bodes well for humanity.  It also is a shout-out to those scientists, doctors, and others who have worked tirelessly this past year to bring a safe and effective product to the human race.

On another front, there was an earthquake in the Wichita area a couple of days ago.  Tuesday, just a few minutes before 10am, there was a deep-throated rumbling, accompanied by just a few seconds of minor shaking.  It was over pretty much before anyone had time to process what had happened.  At first, I thought there was an accident at the intersection nearby, or maybe a truck, crane, or some other large equipment had done something unexpected.  But it didn’t take long to realize that it was really a minor earthquake.

Those things have been coming on a rather regular basis for the past few weeks in this area.  I’m not sure of the cause, but they always seem to be over in the eastern part of the county.  And although there was some minor shaking and rumbling, other than a sort of eerie feeling, things quickly got back to normal.

However, there is, I think, a lesson here, and it’s connected with the vaccination of the English lady.  There may be some things we as the human race do well in terms of making life better for us all.  The COVID vaccine, along with many other vaccines, have made it possible to live longer lives in better health than at any time in history.  We have conquered smallpox.  We are working to eradicate other diseases, and our children no longer have to go through the childhood illnesses of mumps, measles, and the like.  Iron lungs are history.

Yet, there are some things over which we have no control, and which remind us of our limitations and inability to control every aspect of life and living.  The earthquake, although minor in nature, was that reminder.  We cannot yet forecast them with any kind of accuracy.  We cannot make them less destructive when they do occur, except to harden our buildings and structures against them.  We have no way to generally prevent them, although we have found that we can reduce their occurrence by limiting our injection of wastes into the earth.  Each earthquake is a sobering reminder that humanity has a long way to go before it can claim to have tamed its environment.  And even if we do manage to learn how to forecast and prevent earthquakes, there will always be something over which we have no control and just have to live with and deal with as it comes.

So, while you are celebrating the coming of the COVID vaccine to the general population, don’t get the smug head thinking that humankind has conquered all.  The moving of the foundations of the earth itself should bring you back into the reality of the fragility of life and our dependence upon a God of mercy and grace…a God who told Job,

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?  Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!  Who stretched a measuring line across it?  On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb?  Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,

“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?

Have the gates of death been shown to you?  Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?  Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?  “What is the way to the abode of light?  And where does darkness reside?

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?  What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?   Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?  Can you loosen Orion’s belt?  Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?   Do you know the laws of the heavens?   Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?

So, as we cheer humanity’s successes, let us also understand humanity’s limitations, and give God the

Go your way today and be blessed in the knowledge of God’s providential love and grace.

 

Anne Lamott — Advent

 

Anne Lamott, an American novelist and non-fiction writer, posts an article on Facebook that she wrote several years ago regarding Advent.  She tells of her quest to find within herself the hope of renewal that Advent promises.  She talks of the belief that if we have enough hope and kindness, that will lead to a better world, one person at a time.  And that even though times may be tough and disappointing, in her words, “We stay awake and watch, holding to the belief that God is with us, is close and present, and that we will be healed.”

 She then says that she wants that kind of belief, hope, and patience to wait expectantly.  But that hasn't happened in her life.  She then says, only half-jokingly, “It’s not that I don’t have a lot of faith.  It’s just that I also have a lot of mental problems.  And I want to fix them all, and I want to do that now, or at least by tomorrow afternoon, right after lunch.”

 She says that she then called several pastors and religious people, asking them for the secret to that kind of hope, but found their answers unsatisfactory, to say the least.  Then, somewhat in desperation, she called a Jesuit alcoholic friend of hers, sober now for over 30 years, and said to him, “Tell me a story about Advent. Tell me about people getting well.”  Her friend, Tom, agreed, and told her this story from his early sobriety period that she recounts here.  There are a couple of places in the story where the language is a bit rough, but bear with me and take it all in.  Here's the story.

 In 1976, when he first got sober, Tom was living in the People’s Republic of Berkeley, California, going to the very hip AA meetings there, where there were no fluorescent lights and not too much clapping — or that yahoo-cowboy-hat-in-the-air enthusiasm that you get in L.A., according to sober friends.  And everything was more or less all right in early sobriety, except that Tom felt utterly insane all the time, filled with hostility and fear and self-contempt.  But other than that everything was OK.  Then he got transferred to Los Angeles in the winter, and he did not know a soul.  “It was a nightmare,” he says.  “I was afraid to go into entire areas of L.A., because the only places I knew were the bars.  So I called the cardinal and asked him for the name of anyone he knew in town who was in AA.  And he told me to call this guy Terry.”

Terry, as it turned out, had been sober for five years at that point, so Tom thought he was God.  They made arrangements to go to a place Terry knew of where alcoholic men gathered that night in the back of the Episcopal Cathedral, right in the heart of downtown L.A. It was Terry’s favorite gathering, full of low-bottom drunks and junkies — people from nearby halfway houses, bikers, jazz musicians. “Plus it’s a men’s stag meeting,” says Tom. “So already I’ve got issues.”

“There I am on my first date with this new friend Terry, who turns out to not be real chatty. He’s clumsy and ill at ease, an introvert with no social skills, but the cardinal has heard that he’s also good with newly sober people.  He asks me how I am, and after a long moment, I say, ‘I’m just scared,’ and he nods and says gently, ‘That’s right.’

“I don’t know a thing about him, Tom says.  I don’t what sort of things he thinks about or who he votes for, but he takes me to this place near skid row, where all these awful looking alkies are hanging out in the yard, waiting for something to start.  I’m tense, I’m just staring.  It’s a whole bunch of strangers, all of them clearly very damaged — working their way back slowly, but not yet real attractive.  The sober people I've met back in Berkeley all seem like David Niven in comparison, and I’m thinking, Who are these people?  Why am I here?  All my scanners are out. It’s all I can do not to bolt.

“Ten minutes before we began, Terry directs me to a long flight of stairs heading up to a windowless, airless room.  I started walking up the stairs, with my jaws clenched, muttering to myself tensely just like the guy in front of me, this guy my own age who was stumbling and numb and maybe not yet quite on his first day of sobriety.

“The only things getting me up the stairs are Terry, behind me, pushing me forward every so often, and this conviction I have that this is as bad as it’s ever going to be — that if I can get through this, I can get through anything.  Well.  All of a sudden, the man in front of me soils himself.  I guess his sphincter just relaxes.  Feces runs down onto his shoes, but he keeps walking.  He doesn’t seem to notice.

However, I do.

I clapped a hand over my mouth and nose, and my eyes bugged out but I couldn’t get out of line because of the crush behind me.  And so, holding my breath, I walk into the windowless, airless room.

“Now, this meeting has a person who stands at the door saying hello.  And this one is a biker with a shaved head, a huge gut and a Volga boatman mustache.  He gets one whiff of the man with feces on his shoes and throws up all over everything.

“You’ve seen the Edvard Munch painting of the guy on the bridge screaming, right?  That’s me.  That’s what I look like.  But Terry enters the room right behind me.  And there’s total pandemonium, no one knows what to do.  The man who had soiled himself stumbles forward and plops down in a chair.  A fan blows the terrible smells of feces and vomit around the windowless room,  and people start smoking just to fill in the spaces in the air.  Finally Terry reaches out to the greeter, who had thrown up.  He puts his hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Wow,” he says. “Looks like you got caught by surprise.”  And they both laugh.  Right?  Terry asks a couple of guys to go with him down the hall to the men’s room, and help this guy get cleaned up.  There are towels there, and kitty litter, to absorb various effluvia, because this is a meeting where people show up routinely in pretty bad shape.  So while they’re helping the greeter get cleaned up, other people start cleaning up the meeting room. Then Terry approaches the other man.

“My friend,” he says gently, “it looks like you have trouble here.”

The man just nods.

“We’re going to give you a hand,” says Terry.

“So three men from the recovery house next door help him to his feet, walk him to the halfway house and put him in the shower.  They wash his clothes and shoes and give him their things to wear while he waits.  They give him coffee and dinner, and they give him respect.  I talked to these other men later, and even though they had very little sobriety, they did not cast this other guy off for not being well enough to be there.  Somehow this broken guy was treated like one of them, because they could see that he was one of them.  No one was pretending he wasn’t covered with feces, but there was a real sense of kinship.  And that is what we mean when we talk about grace.

“Back at the meeting at the Episcopal Cathedral, Tom said, I was just totally amazed by what I had seen.  And I had a little shred of hope.  I couldn’t have put it into words, but until that meeting, I had thought that I would recover with men and women like myself; which is to say, overeducated, fun to be with and housebroken.  And that this would happen quickly and efficiently.  But I was wrong.  So I’ll tell you, Anne, what the promise of Advent is:  It is that God has set up a tent among us and will help us work together on our stuff. And this will only happen over time.

This is Jay again.  In the Advent story, WE are the ones who have thrown up all over ourselves.  WE are the stumbling ones covered in feces.  And God is the one who, like Terry, reaches out to us, loves us, touches us, cleans us up, and adopts us into His family.

 And, according to Linus of the Peanuts gang, "That's what Christmas is all about."

Thanksgiving Day

 I'm going to start posting the text of my Facebook weekly Thursday videos here.  I should  have been doing this all along, but of course I never saved the texts...just the videos.  Here's the one for Thanksgiving Day.

This week, I’ll not regale you with my thoughts on a particular subject as I normally do.  Instead, I’ll leave you with encouragement to truly take stock of life and living, with the idea of concentrating on those things for which you are grateful.

It is said that the more things and resources we have, the more we tend to gripe and complain about those things we don’t have.  And that some of the most grateful and thankful people are those who have very little in the way of things and resources.

If you have a place inside to sleep at night; if you are relatively warm in the winter; if you have food to eat; if you have people in your life who you call friends or better yet, loved ones…you really have no reason to complain or gripe.

Enjoy this time of the year when we give thanks not only for the temporal and material, but also for the eternal and spiritual.  God is.  God lives.  And God loves…you.  Blessings.

A Drive In the "Country"

Today is a day off for me. And, as I sometimes wish to do, I went for a drive out into the county (I hesitate to say “country” anywhere in Sedgwick County...for me, “the country” would be southwestern Logan County or similar.) to see what was going on away from the city. I thought I would give you a few observations off the cuff.

1. The road I chose, 215^th West, is one NICE paved road...all the way from Goddard to Highway 96. The county has done a really nice job with this and other roads outside of the cities.
2. There were more sheep and goats in pastures along the way than I would ever have thought would be in South Central Kansas. I don't know if they are being used as simply livestock, as are cattle, or if they are for 4-H or some other purpose. And I suppose that goats could be kept for their value as milk producers. Goat milk in the stores is rather expensive.
3. The alfalfa is about ready to cut again. It''s blooming, and I expect the mowers and balers to be busy shortly.
4. Several farmers (or else one super-big farmer) have baled straw this year in those big round bales. I'm not sure where that is going, but there's a lot of it that has been baled.
5. Those guys who got their corn planted early were able to take advantage of the spring rains. Their corn crop looks good, and some is even tassling now. The guys who were unable to plant until recently will have to rely either on irrigation or the spotty and sporadic rains that come in the hot months of summer.
   And I saw one guy re-planting some beans in an area of his field that looked to be rather poorly populated with bean plants. That may be kind of a crapshoot this fall on getting a crop on the re-plant, if we have an early cold snap or two.
6. There are some really nice homes in that area. Many probably are owned by “gentleman” farmers or city people who have moved to the county. And there are a few enclaves of home clusters in that area as well.
7. Colwich is a larger community than I had originally thought. I'm not sure of the population, but it's a nice town. And if there was a church other than the Catholic church there, I didn't see it.
8. The antenna “farm” that has been part of the landscape in that area since the 1950's is still there and very much a part of the country side. An antenna farm is an area where several radio and television towers are placed in proximity to each other.
9. People will still wave at you using the steering wheel wave in the country. I think it's not so much as they think they know you as it is an acknowledgment of your presence along with a “thank you” for hugging the side of the road as you pass.
10. The railroad that cuts through that area is alive and well. They've replaced a lot of ties, dumped new ballast down, and have upgraded crossings. Looks like the K & O is in this for the long haul.

Well, there it is...observations from one guy who took an hour and a half or so drive to see what he could see out in the “wilds” of N.W. Sedgwick County.

One. Blessing.. At. A. Time.

Good afternoon.  It certainly has been an interesting couple of weeks.  Of course, I could probably say that about pretty much any two-week period of time these last months.  So much has been said about the state of our society, its faults and failures and our need to eliminate racial bias, poverty, despair, and hopelessness.  I sometimes look at all of the problems and issues we are having; then I sigh and relegate myself to the ranks of those millions who see so much problem that they admit defeat before they begin to fight the battles.

Some years ago, I trained to be an EMT…Emergency Medical Technician.  Those are the ones who help staff ambulance services, especially in the more rural areas of the country.  During our training on mass casualties, the thing that was drilled into us more than anything else was the fact that our first response upon arriving at a mass-casualty incident would be to freeze and do nothing because there is so much need we wouldn’t know where to begin.  We learned to begin by performing triage to determine who is most in need, who may be beyond need, and who can wait.  Then we concentrate on one person at a time, and once we begin to attend to that one person, we don’t leave them unless we hand them off to another medically-trained person for further attention.

May I suggest much the same for those of you who long to help in some way, but are unsure where to begin due to the great need that you see?  You first need to understand that you can’t fix everything…you can’t do everything…but you CAN do something.  You can put your energies and resources into something that will make a difference.  And by many of us doing the same thing, we can effect genuine and heartfelt change.

Jennifer White started ICT S.O.S. some ten years ago after learning about human trafficking in Wichita…looking at her own then 13 year old daughter…and determining that she would do what she could to fight that scourge.  She is the founder and Executive Director of an organization that now reaches into all parts of that issue…law enforcement, mental health, prevention, education, physical health, prosecution…and has been the driving force behind much of the progress that has been made in this area.

You may see, as you travel the streets of Wichita, Paxton’s Blessing Boxes installed here and there.  Paxton and his mom began that project four years ago when Paxton was six years old.  Today, there are over 70 blessing boxes in multiple states of the US, many of which are in the Wichita area.  As their web site says, “Everyone involved can make a positive change in a person’s life, ONE. BLESSING. AT. A. TIME.”

There are many, many other organizations, individuals, and groups who have seen the need, decided on one approach to meet that need, and have given time, energy, and resources to help meet that need… ONE. BLESSING. AT. A. TIME.”

You too can provide that one blessing for one person just like Jennifer, Paxton, and a host of people who are even now making a difference.  Rather than expending your energy on Facebook and Twitter posts where you are regurgitating and propagating some meme of dubious value…rather than using the blessing of free speech to divide, judge, and cast yourself as somehow superior, why not actually do something that will make a positive difference?  You don’t have to start a non-profit to do that.  Nor do you have to put food boxes together and stock them.  But you can volunteer for one already established.  And you can check in with your church for opportunities to serve the underserved.

You can put food into a Paxton’s Blessing Box.  You can help Jennifer and her volunteers sort donated goods and re-pack them for fresh-start bags.  You can pick up trash along the river or in a park.  You can volunteer at Botanica, the zoo, The Lord’s Diner, Kansas Food Bank, or some other such place.

Try being kind to those you encounter…the check-out people in the stores, wait staff in a restaurant, your barber or salon worker, the postal employee who sells stamps.  Give them an extra amount of appreciation for what they do.  Tip them well, if tips are allowed.

Shop local businesses as much as you can.  Let them know you appreciate their business and their desire to serve you.  Be willing to pay a little more to buy it from a local business than from Amazon.

Donate to the Homeless Outreach Team of the Wichita Police Department.  They have expenses not covered by city funds.  Find a local charity and support it with your time and resources.

Visit a long term care center when they open again.  Visit with those who live there and establish a relationship with them.  Volunteer at your school when they open again.  They could always use the help.  Or, you can volunteer with Senior Services of Wichita or one of any number of organizations…call 211 and ask for some suggestions of where you might be able to serve.

The opportunities are endless.  You can and will change hearts and lives.  You may never see it in your lifetime, but you can be assured that your compassion and generosity will never go to waste.  Find your niche…and fill it.

No Answers

Good morning.  I trust you have at least a measure of wellness within you, not only physical wellness, but mental, spiritual, and emotional as well.  We can’t be 100% well in any of those areas because we are human and live in an imperfect creation.  However, we also struggle to improve the wellness-factor for ourselves…and for others as well…as much as we possibly can.  And that brings me to my thoughts for this week.

If you’ve been cognizant of the news this week, you know of the death of an African-American who was being arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  That event has sparked days of protests and sometimes unlawful conduct not only in that city, but in other parts of the nation as well.

You also celebrated, in some way, Memorial Day this past Monday.  Many of us took time to remember those who have gone on before, and we especially were mindful of those who gave their lives in service to the nation.

As far as my world is concerned, there are several things going on that I would rather were not reality.

I am concerned about at least three of my friends who are battling cancer of some kind right now.  The prognosis is uncertain, and I am concerned for their welfare.

There are those in my family who are dealing with unemployment, illness, and other issues of life and living.  They are trying the best they can, but the times aren’t conducive to a quick fix for much of what is happening with them.

I’m thinking of one of my long-ago classmates who has been battling MS for over 20 years now, and slips a little more each week, it seems, into a state of disability and need.

And I’m mourning along with a friend who lost her baby five years ago this week in a miscarriage.  She and the family are having a difficult time this week, remembering the child who is not with them.

And, of course, I am concerned for the COVID 19 pandemic.  We are continuing to move as a world and a nation into uncharted waters, desperately hoping that medical science can find an answer sooner rather than later, and meanwhile are still wearing masks and social distancing.

So, what do we make of all of this?  And especially for the Christian, how do we reconcile what happens in life with what we believe about a loving and compassionate God?

I know I don’t have the answers to these kinds of questions.  I’ve wrestled with them myself for many years and have heard countless Christians give their thoughts on the subject.  Nothing seems to quite gel, however, and I am always left with a feeling of incompleteness and a longing for a better explanation.

Perhaps the best answer that I’ve heard came from the mouth of Ravi Zacharias, recently deceased.  Ravi was a Christian apologist and founder of RZIM Ministries, which is carrying on with the work of Christian apologetics.

"Through the process of suffering, you realize how finite you are and how desperately you need the very presence of God to carry you through,” he said.

This is Jay again.  I know that isn’t a full and complete explanation that many of us would like to have.  Even reading and understanding the book of Job in the Old Testament, where Job dealt with incredible suffering, questioned God about it, and received the answer that has resonated down through the ages…even that doesn’t fully answer the question.  For you see, God’s answer to Job basically was (short version), “I’m God and you aren’t.  Why are you questioning me?”

May we realize just how finite we are.  May we understand how desperately we need God to carry us through the suffering we experience.  May we extend compassion to those we know who are suffering.  And may we continue to praise the God of the universe for His marvelous love, even in the face of the greatest tragedies.

Conspiracy Poll

The publisher “The Atlantic” ran a poll of 2,023 Americans in mid-March asking them whether they believed one or more of 22 listed conspiracy theories. The results are interesting to say the least.

Only 9 percent of respondents didn’t express some level of agreement with any of the 22. Here are several other results:

Percentage	Conspiracy Believed
54%	The “one percent” of the wealthiest Americans secretly control the government.
50%	Jeffrey Epstein was murdered to conceal his activities.
45%	Genetically modified food dangers are being hidden from the public.
43%	An extra-judicial deep state is secretly embedded in the government.
37%	Mr. Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election and is a Russian asset.
28%	Hillary Clinton provided nuclear material to Russia
20%	Mr. Obama faked his American citizenship.
29%	The threat of COVID 19 is being exaggerated to hurt Mr. Trump's chances at re-election.
31%	The COVID 19 virus was created and spread on purpose.
15%	School shootings are “fake news.”
15%	The number of Jews killed in the holocaust has been exaggerated.
30%	The dangers of vaccines have been concealed.
26%	The dangers of 5G technology have been concealed.

An Old Hymn

I happened to listen to the old hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” yesterday on-line.  The tune was familiar; however, the first verse was different than what we sing in our fellowship, and was the same as what we used to sing in the Old Mennonite tradition, as I recall.

This morning, I started in on some research to the words of the song, wanting to find the original text.  I found out that the song has been modified many times from the original by several different people, and has at least five verses.  We usually only sing three, and two of those three verses are changed from the original.

I’m not going to put all five original verses in this post.  If you want to see them, see the Wikipedia article on the song.  I will post the first verse, however, along with the verse that we sing in our tradition so you can see the very substantial change in the tone of the entire song, just from the change in the words of the first verse.

Our version:

Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me ever to adore Thee; may I still Thy goodness prove,

While the hope of endless glory fills my heart with joy and love.

Original version:

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love.

I don’t know why the words were changed, and the “melodious sonnet” and “flaming tongues above” were deleted from our version.  I suspect that someone thought that the original words were too fanciful, or perhaps too figurative.  However, in my estimation, the entire message of the song is reduced by the substitution of words.

I see the hymn-writer coming into such a state of thanksgiving and praise in that first verse…thanksgiving and praise for the grace that floods in streams never-ceasing, that he longs to break out in a heavenly song known to the angels of heaven.  And I might even use the word “ecstatic” to describe his feelings at the time he sings this verse.

The altered first verse, however, quickly brings one back down from the “streams of mercy” thought to one of something more down-to-earth and practical.  And while I indeed am filled “with joy and love,” there’s nothing ecstatic or supernatural about my experience.  It’s…well…practical.

You may well have different thoughts about these verses than I have.  The words in this post are my own.  And that’s OK.  You may not be able to relate well to “flaming tongues” and “sonnets.”  But you need to know that the original writer of the song had specific thoughts and ideas in mind…and someone else has modified those thoughts and ideas to suit his or her own taste and belief.  That’s not, unfortunately, an unusual occurrence with older hymns.  Many have suffered the indignity of having words, thoughts, and entire verses altered, removed, or added because of someone’s personal belief and preference.  Obviously, you can detect my bias here toward singing the hymns as written.

In any event, know that we don’t sing the “old songs” just because they’re old.  We sing them because they’re good, powerful, grateful reminders of God and His relationship with His creation.  Don’t dismiss the old songs just because they’re old and traditional.  Use them.  Use them in your worship, thanksgiving, and adoration of God the Father and Jesus Christ our redeemer.

Two Good Men

Last evening, I watched a KPTS (our local public televisions station) program called “One-On-One.” It is an interview show where the host interviews a person from the area. That person may be a politician, business person, volunteer, media personality, and the like. It is usually one who is fairly well-known in the Wichita area.

The edition that I watched last night was an interview with Merril Teller, retired chief meterologist for KWCH, the CBS affiliate in Wichita. Many of you will remember Merril. He's doing fine in retirement, and seems to enjoy being able to “go and do” without the burden of work.

Teller has been with KWCH since 1981. He has seen huge changes in both the television media as well as the way weather is presented on the air. His 38 years of work at the same station (although it has changed hands several times and call letters as well), is seldom equaled anywhere in the broadcasting industry.

The host asked Teller a question that took him back to the early years of his career when KWCH was dead last in the Wichita market. It was not a good time for the station. It was a time of old, outdated equipment, large turnover of employees and talent, and generally not a good place to work.

Merril reminisced that the turnaround came when a couple of guys from Hays, Kansas purchased the station, poured a lot of cash into it, brought in new management, and made the station much of what it is today...number one in the market. Those two guys were Ross Beach and Bob Schmidt, who at that time owned the Hays and Goodland television stations as well as several radio stations and cable television franchises.

Merril hasn't been the only one who has credited Beach and Schmidt for the turnaround at the station. Several of the personalities who have since retired from there have credited them with bringing the station back from the brink.

I knew Mr. Beach and Mr. Schmidt. I worked for them for several years at both Hays and Goodland. They were great to work for. They cared for their employees, gave us everything we needed to succeed, and kept the stations in good equipment. They were personable, approachable, and well-respected in the community. The culture in their world was one of honesty, integrity, ambition, drive, and compassion. In later years, they engaged in several philanthropic endeavors, including a revamping of the Hays-located Sternberg Museum and the establishment of the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center on the campus of Fort Hays State University. It is no accident that their purchase of KWCH brought about change that resulted in hurtling that station to number one in the market.

This post, unlike most, has nothing to do with religion...but rather is one that looks at two good men who were able to effect profound change for the better wherever they were, through the timeless principles of honesty, fairness, integrity, and compassion. Those principles, contrary to what we see much of nowadays, are not outdated or passe. They continue to work whenever and wherever they are invoked. Use them. Believe in them. Let them guide you in your daily life.

Freedom Is Calling. So Is the Cage.

Last weekend I read an article in the latest issue of Christianity Today titled, “Freedom Is Calling.  So Is the Birdcage.”  Sandra McCracken, the author of the article, talks of driving down a highway recently, and seeing a truck that was carrying poultry in open-air cages.  No doubt they were going to some kind of poultry processing facility.  She then said that on some days, she feels like one of the birds on the poultry truck…caged in the confining circumstances of daily living, barreling down the highway of life on an open-air truck to who-knows-where.

We Christians often find ourselves in the same place as Ms McCracken.  We don’t wish to be like the poultry in the cages, but sometimes we find ourselves there due to life circumstances.  Overwhelming sadness, uncertainty of the future, unrelenting workload, the breakdown of normal living, and sometimes our own stubbornness can keep us caged up like the birds on the truck.  And sometimes we wake up in the morning and have no clue how we got to that point in life.

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.”  Paul reminds us of the truth of the freedom in Christ in Galatians.  In that same letter, he says, “It is for freedom Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, therefore, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Our freedom in Christ doesn’t depend on the uncertainty of life and the breakdown of normal life and living.  These past couple of months have certainly been a time of sadness, uncertainty, and life that certainly isn’t normal.  We may feel like we are somehow caged up in the circumstances of the day, unable to function as we would like.  Our emotions may be on a kind of roller coaster, especially if we are temporarily out of work, if we aren’t sure if the place where we work will open again, or if we are having difficulty maintaining some kind of family normalcy.

Those emotions…those ups and downs…those experiences are normal in a situation such as the one we are in right now.  However, as Christians, let us also remember that we have a freedom that transcends the freedom of not having to stay at home or not being able to patronize a local business.  We have a freedom that helps temper the emotional roller coaster and the experiences of day to day living.  We have a freedom that cannot be taken away by a virus, a government order, or the loss of a job.

Our experiences may fluctuate from day to day…and that’s normal.  Our true freedom, however, remains secure in Jesus Christ.  He is the key.  He is the open gate.  He is the one that calls us out of the cage and into the freedom of eternal life…both now and forevermore.

Is God Taking Us To a New Place?

A few days ago, I happened upon a testimonial-type sermon given by Sandi Patty.  Patty, as many of you know, is a gospel singer who began her career about 40 years ago.  Since then, she has accumulated a closet full of awards…multiple Grammy and Dove awards, and many other accolades.  She is known in gospel circles simply as “The Voice.”  Her vocal range of over three octaves, and her command of her voice is on par with the greatest of singers.

As you may also know, Patty went through a very tragic and public failure in the late 1980’s.  She has admitted to an affair with a married man while married to another, and  has endured the disappointment and displeasure of many in the Christian music world.  She is now married to that man, and has been for the past 25 or so years.  They have a blended family.

In her sermon, Patty talks about that time, the tragic aftermath, the sorrow, repentance, and restoration that has taken place since then.  She uses as Scripture for her story, the story of Noah and the Flood.

Now, you might think that to be an unlikely portion of Scripture to use in such a sermon.  However, her point was two-fold.  In Genesis 8:1, the verse starts out, “But God remembered Noah…”  When the Bible talks about God “remembering” someone, it is more than just a recalling of that person.  The sense of the Hebrew is looking upon someone with concern and favor.  Patty believes that God remembered her and her family in the way that the Hebrew states.

Second, when the ark finally came to rest, and God told Noah to depart the ark, Noah most certainly wasn’t in the same place as he left.  God had taken Noah to a new place.  In the same way, Patty believes that God took her and her family to “a new place.”

Actually, this is a normal thing for God.  If you recall, God took Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Israel, the prophets, the twelve disciples, Paul, and many others to “a new place.”  And in that new place many of these people settled down, had families, and served God where they were.  Some, such as Paul, never did really settle down after God had taken him to a new place.  But they served the Lord as they were capable and able in the place where God had brought them, just as Noah fulfilled the command of God to be fruitful and multiply in the new place where God had brought him.

As I listened to her message, I had to bring her points up to the present day with the COVID 19 virus pandemic.  The thing perhaps on your mind right now, given the circumstance of the day, may be, does God “remember” us during this pandemic?  Is God looking upon us with concern and favor?  I believe He is.  I believe God is well-aware of our individual situations and circumstance, and “remembers” us through this trial.

Second, is God taking us to “a new place” through the COVID 19 epidemic?  Is He moving us out of our old place of comfort, our place of security, our place of normalcy, the “ruts” that we find so comforting, and into a new place of some sort?  Now, I’m not saying that God is CAUSING the epidemic.  But I have to wonder if He somehow is using it to reach His people in some way that will eventually result in a revival, in some of us anyway, of love for God, service to others, and developing a closer walk with Jesus Christ.

I don’t know the answers.  I am barely able to formulate questions.  But I do know that God is never-changing, ever-trustworthy, and love that never fails or disappoints.  Be assured that He remembers you, loves you, and in taking you to a new place will ever watch over you.

The Door of My Lips

I try to regularly read one or more of the Psalms, usually in the morning hours before things get busy.  I don’t always get there, but it’s a goal.  Today, I happened upon Psalm 141.  In that Psalm, the writer is asking God to keep him from doing evil.  Verse 3 of that passage sort of jumped off of the page toward me.  Here’s what it says out of the Christian Standard Bible translation:  “LORD, set up a guard for my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.”

Do you see what the writer is saying?  The literal vision of this is of God Himself being the guard posted at the door of his lips…the door representing the passageway through which the words are spoken.  The writer is asking God to not let anything “through the door” of his lips that is not appropriate or proper.

That literal vision may not be as far-fetched as one might think.  If we are Christians…if we are children of God…God Himself dwells in us by his Holy Spirit.  We are vessels, so to speak, for God’s Spirit.  And if that indeed is true, then it would not be a stretch to imagine God’s Spirit at the door, or opening of our mouth, allowing nothing unwholesome to come from it.

In fact, Paul talks about this “unwholesomeness,” and connects it with the Spirit of God in Ephesians 4, starting with verse 29.  Listen to what he says.

“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.  Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

Grieving the Holy Spirit of God is right in the middle of a paragraph about wholesome speech, kindness and compassion.  As Christians, we need God’s Spirit at the (almost) literal doorway of our speech.  And we need that same Spirit guarding what we type in social media or otherwise write.  It is so easy to speak or write before we think.  It is such an easy thing to say something that, once said can never be recalled.  And with social media, what we write there is out there permanently for the whole world to see from now on.

I had never before thought about God being a guard stationed at the “door” of my lips.  I must say that when I think of it that way, it is much easier to just keep quiet if I can’t say something beneficial, and it is much easier to think about what I am about to say before those words get past my lips.

We’ve all been guilty of saying or typing something we later wished we could recall.  Having God at the “door” of our lips means that we won’t have to worry about that anymore…that if we let Him vet our speech, we will say or write nothing that is inappropriate or unkind.  It’s only when we tell Him that we no longer need Him that we tend to get into trouble with our speech.

As we continue in this self-isolation of the COVID 19 pandemic, let us be doubly careful that we allow God to guard the door of our lips…that we indeed be kind to one-another and forgive as God has forgiven us.  To do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.

Blessings…

In the Storm

It has been said by many that we're all in the same boat, regarding the Corona virus, social distancing, staying at home, etc. It has also been pointed out by many that we may be in the same storm, but not all of us are in the same boat. Some of us are in boats that are sturdy and safe. Others of us are in boats that are sinking and there is no lifeline or repairs that are available.

Depending on your intent and your point of view, both of these statements are correct. We ARE all in the same boat...the Corona virus boat. But we also have differing experiences in this boat, which makes the “same boat” analogy insufficient to say the least.

My guess is that many of those who are relatively secure during this time are looking a the pandemic as a “same boat” kind of thing. They are looking at their own experiences, and are extrapolating those experiences to everyone else. They err in that they fail to see beyond their own experience and into the lives of others who might not be so blessed.

Then there are many of those whose lives are really precarious right now, with insufficient food, insufficient funds, and insufficient toilet paper see the pandemic as a storm with different boats trying to ride it out...some boats are weathering it well, and others are quickly disappearing out of sight into the deep. These are the ones the “same boat” people fail to see. These are the ones who are struggling each day to just get through the day with kids at home, home schooling, finding food, hoping the landlord understands, and trying to make it through until the next sliver of money somehow comes their way.

I've used the “same boat” analogy in the recent past myself. I no longer will do that, because I now see that many don't have the safe and secure boat...instead, they have the sinking, floundering boat. My family has been blessed with continued work, even if stay-at-home work, monthly pension and government checks, and money in the bank. We have a freezer full of meat, enough toilet paper for the next year (we did NOT hoard...we've had an abundance for many, many months), and the means to purchase what we need in the way of veggies, fruit, milk, bread, etc...even if at higher prices.

If I am in a “safe and secure” boat, and I see someone in the same storm as I, floundering in a sinking boat, what should be my natural inclination? Look the other way? Belittle them for having a sinking boat? Send words of encouragement in a note in a bottle? Or throw a lifeline to them? Well, I think you know the answer. I shouldn't have to spell it out for you. If your boat can safely hold 4 more people, find 4 people who are floundering and invite them into your boat.

And if you're one who is floundering, don't pretend it's all OK. Those in the secure boats can't always tell if you're sinking. You might have to reach out to them and let them know you need help. It's no crime to need help from time to time.

I once was told by a wise man that yes, God loves a cheerful giver. But in order for there to be cheerful givers, there must also be gracious recipients. Can you be a cheerful giver during this time? Or do you need to be a gracious recipient? Either way, we are all in this storm together. Let's help each other ride it out to the end.

Welcome to Another World

It’s several weeks into the Corona Virus pandemic, and life continues on down a bumpy and uncertain path with no defined end in sight.  We may think that to be a strange and unfamiliar way to live life, but we have to understand that our lives are lived that way all of the time.  Oh, we may well fool ourselves into thinking that we’ve made the path straight and smooth, and we think we have placed a well-defined destination at the end, but the reality is that all of that is illusion, and we really have no clue what our path holds in the future and not the slightest concept of what lies at the end.

We delude ourselves into thinking that we have control of our lives.  We plan ahead.  We think ahead.  We work hard to smooth things out for the future.  We many times even go to the extremes of scheming and finagling in order to make things look like we want them to look.  But as we are quickly finding, all of that can be for naught when something like the Corona Virus comes calling on the world.

Our financial plans go into the pits.  Our health is in peril.  Jobs go away.  Resources dry up.  Shortages appear.  Even human interaction is limited.  Our money is worthless if there is nothing on the store shelf to purchase.  The paths of our lives suddenly are filled with bumps and potholes that nothing can fill or smooth away.  We begin to think just a day or week ahead instead of a year or decade ahead.  Our world shrinks markedly as we shelter in place and become concerned for basic necessities in the next day or two.  All because of an unseen speck of genetic material that invades our bodies and spreads rapidly through societies around the globe.

Well, welcome to the world of most of the human population.  For most of the humans who are or ever have lived, this is their world.  They live from day to day.  Many earn just enough money at work one day in order to buy food for the next day.  And if they’re sick and can’t work, or if work isn’t available, they don’t eat the next day.  They have no savings accounts.  They have no credit cards.  They have no transportation.  They have no hope of affording medical or dental care.  If a tooth breaks off or becomes infected, they live with it.  If they become ill, they do their best to survive the illness on their own.  Next year?  They don’t even know if they’ll have the next day.

And you might think those people are congregated in third-world countries, but I tell you they are right here…on our doorstep.  They are those who, although they may or may not be homeless, do not have the resources to tap into the services most of the rest of us take for granted.  Government programs pretty much keep these people in some state of existence, but those same programs often through their regulations unwittingly (or not) keep these people from ever making any progress in life and living.

These are the ones in the Section 8-type of housing.  These are the ones living alone in a run-down house in a run-down neighborhood.  These are the disabled, the homeless, the addicts.  These are the throw-away people in our society.

And when it comes to those in third world nations, I can’t begin to understand the depth of the poverty.  I’ve been told stories by those who have been there and seen it.  I’ve seen photos and movies.  But the comprehension just isn’t there for me.  It’s a different world.  It’s a different way of thinking.  It’s survival at its basic level.  Tolerable water for the day.   Tolerable food for the day.  Stay away from predators.  Have some kind of basic shelter from the storms.  Provide some kind of protection from those who would harm.  And do it on a daily basis.

I can’t help but think that we’ll be called to account for how we think of and deal with this kind of poverty.  I can’t help but think that we have some kind of responsibility beyond feeling sad for the people in these situations.  I can’t help but think that there is an expectation that we sacrifice at least a little in order to make things better for others.

So, when you next are feeling somewhat down or depressed because the movie theaters aren’t open, you can’t go to your favorite restaurant or hang-out, and your hair is starting to show its natural color because the salons are closed, think about those who don’t even have those things in their minds, let alone are feeling sad because they can’t access those services.  Thank God for the blessings you have.  Be kind.  Share.  And walk humbly.

Another Day

Well, it's another day with stay-at-home. The daylight outside is getting longer, and the days inside are getting longer as well. We are beginning to adjust to the new normal, but that adjustment is anything but easy or quick.

We have discovered that many (not all, of course) of us can work from home and accomplish much the same work as we do when we go into an office or business. We are realizing that we can use those things in our kitchen called cooking utensils, and that we can create some good food. We are finding things to do with our time, such as cleaning the house, working on puzzles, catching up on reading, or any number of other things. Some of us are using connectivity such as Zoom and other platforms for the first time. You probably have developed your own routine during these days.

And it looks like it won't end anytime soon. Contrary to the idea that we would be over this by Easter, it looks as if we'll be in this situation through April and well into May...possibly June. We'll tire of the puzzles. The house will have been thoroughly cleaned. We'll long for the privilege of eating at Olive Garden. Our hair will have grown considerably more than we would have liked. And we'll find that our limited cooking skills have become somewhat tiresome.

But I'll tell you now, these are first world problems. Much of the world has nothing like the house we live in. They haven't a clue what a puzzle is. How do you clean a dirt floor in an open-air hut? There are no Olive Gardens in the bush. Self-care often consists of finding water for the day that is decently clean. And as for cooking...well, it doesn't take much to cook the same corn mash every day, day after day after day.

The more I see and the more I hear, I'm convinced that we are in this for the long haul. And when it's over, it won't be the same as it was. Just as 9-11 fundamentally changed the world, so this as well will fundamentally change how the world looks and works. We will have lost another measure of our innocence. No longer will we assume that medical science can save us from anything and everything. No longer will we assume that if we only have enough dollars accumulated, we are invincible. No longer will we believe that the world will continue to go merrily along day after day giving, providing, and making our lives wonderful and fulfilled.

The gods of medical science, wealth, and national pride are being cut down to size by a virus that can't be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled. Medical science started out behind, and has scrambled to catch up ever since. Our wealth is of no value when the economy has stopped. And our national pride is suffering because of government's inability to swoop in and save the day...instead, government is limiting our freedoms, throwing money it doesn't have at the problem, and displaying incompetence, lack of planning, and bureaucratic bungling in the face of an unseen enemy.

I'm not going to end this with platitudes such as, “We're all in this together,” or “Social distancing,” or some other. This will be a long, grueling slog over the next several months. And it will be years before any semblance of normal returns, if it ever does. My hope is that we will have examined ourselves, our community, and our society during this time and will have not only determined to make some fundamental changes, but will have actually begun to effect those changes. And what might those changes be? “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Patternism in the Church

I’m reading a book by John Mark Hicks, Professor of Theology at Lipscomb University, called “Searching for the Pattern- -My Journey in Interpreting the Bible.”  In the book, Hicks compares the “blueprint hermeneutic,” (command, example, and necessary inference…some would add expediency to that) that traditionally has been the pattern for churches of Christ with the “theological hermeneutic” that is, he says, the life of Jesus.  Here is what he says about that more fully.

Jesus is the pattern.  Jesus is the Word of God—our pattern, the speech of God.  And the incarnate Word of God embodies who God is and what God desires.

Disciples of Jesus follow Jesus.  The follow him into the water and are baptized.  The follow him into the wilderness and thus seek solitude with God in the midst of their trials as they discern and confess their identity as children of God.  They follow him into intimacy with other disciples, and thus week honest relationships with other believers.  They follow him to the table and thus experience relationship with others and commune with God.  They follow him into the world as missional people and thus are heralds and practitioners of the good news.  They follow him as leaders and serve rather than lord it over others.  They follow him into the assemblies of God’s people to praise God and thus gather as a community to celebrate the good news of the kingdom.  They follow him in disciple-making.  They follow him in pursuing mercy and justice and thus seek to embody a righteousness that declares that the kingdom of God has arrived.  Disciples of Jesus do not follow the church; they follow Jesus and thus become the church—an outpost of the kingdom of God in this broken world.