Renewing My Mind and Redeeming My Time

I haven't written much to post lately, largely because I've been preaching more than usual. So, just incase you're interested, here are videos (and audio is available here): [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/15407408 w=400&h=300] The Me I Want to Be: Changing Your Mind (CWS) from First United Methodist Church on Vimeo.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/15411493 w=400&h=300] The Me I Want to Be: The Energizing Impact of Scripture from First United Methodist Church on Vimeo.

Advice to Christians from the World's Leading Hindu

E. Stanley Jones was a widely respected Methodist missionary of the last century (and, I am proud to say, a fellow alumnus of Asbury College, although he graduated ninety-three years before I did). During his ministry, he had influence all around the world, from counseling American presidents to being an evangelist in Japan, but most of his efforts were focused on India. He even came to have the reputation as “the Billy Graham of India” because of how deeply he impacted the country.

During his time in India, he became a friend of Mahatma Gandhi. Jones’ autobiography, A Song of Ascents, recounts stories of their interactions with one another. Jones says that once, while holding a series of lectures with a group of students, it came to his attention that Gandhi was nearby and that he had been invited to visit. During their conversation, Jones wanted to ask Gandhi, at that time the nation’s leading Hindu, what he believed Christians should do to contribute to India’s uplift and redemption. Gandhi immediately replied:

“I would suggest four things: First, that all you Christians, missionaries and all, must begin to live more like Jesus Christ. Second, that you practice your religion without adulterating it or toning it down. Third, that you emphasize love and make it your working force, for love is central in Christianity. Fourth, that you study the non-Christian religions more sympathetically to find the good in them, to have a more sympathetic approach to the people.”

Jones goes on to talk about why, despite Gandhi’s tremendous admiration for Jesus, he never became a Christian: while living in South Africa, Gandhi saw Christians do horrible things in their religiously backed support of apartheid. In other words, although he had a great deal of respect for Jesus, he could never see the value of the Christian religion because he saw so little of Jesus’ character in the lives of many who claimed to be followers of Jesus.

Even though we are now so far removed from this conversation between Jones and Gandhi, both in time and culture, we would still do very well to heed his advice. If we are going to always seek to show God’s love to others in practical ways, people must be able to see Jesus’ character in us. We must begin to live more like Jesus Christ, practice our religion without toning it down, and emphasize love in all that we do. Imagine the impact it could have if even just ten percent of the people in your community resolutely decided to live this way. The impact would be staggering. If we continue seeking to find ways, big and small, to let others know that they are loved by God, while seeking to pattern our entire lives after Jesus, life as we know it would be radically different. Our families and friends would change, our communities would change, and we would never know the extent of how far around the world the ripples of such a commitment would reach.

We are sure to find that as we try this, God is there helping us. It is the life God wants for us, and grace to strengthen us is abundantly available along the way.

I'm Just Here for the Food

Dr. Roy Lauter was a professor at Asbury College while I was a student there. He grew up in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, spoke with a thick mountain accent, and loves to tell stories (some of them true- others just because he's a good preacher) about the life he knew growing up there.

One of his stories had to do with a cousin, Rembrandt Tacket. Rembrandt was not his real name, but that is how he came to be known to family and friends because he was an enormously talented painter. Although he never had any desire to give up his hillbilly lifestyle, he became known as one of the most talented folk artists in Kentucky.
A wealthy horse farm owner from Lexington became familiar with Rembrandt’s paintings, and wanted to hire him for a project. So she drove out into the mountains one day and tracked him down, finding him sitting in his yard in his overalls. She introduced herself and explained that she would like to hire him to paint a portrait of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples.
Rembrandt began to protest, saying that he wasn’t much of a religious guy, but when the wealthy woman mentioned that she was prepared to pay $25,000 for the work, he agreed and said he would have it ready in a week.
The week passed, and the wealthy woman returned to see what Rembrandt had been able to do. He unveiled the painting, and it was beautiful. She had trouble believing that an artist with no training and so little education could produce such a wonderful piece. As she studied the painting, however, she noticed something wrong. She double-checked to make sure, “1,2,3,4,…13! Mr. Tackett, there are 13 disciples with Jesus in your painting!”
“Is that a problem?” Rembrandt responded.
“Yes, it’s a problem. I’m not paying you $25,000 for a picture of the Last Supper that has 13 disciples!”
“Don’t worry, ma’am. I can fix it. Just come back tomorrow, and I’ll have your painting with 12 disciples.”
She left and returned the next day. What was Rembrandt’s solution? He had taken the extra man in the painting, and added a sign hung around his neck that said, “I’m not a disciple. I just came for the food.”
The author of the book of Hebrews gives us a similar image to encourage his readers to go on to maturity in Christ:
Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. (Hebrews 6:7-8)

It’s easy in our Christian lives to settle for showing up for the food, or to be the land that drinks in the rain without ever producing the appropriate fruit. In a culture like ours, where even in financial times like we are experiencing now the large majority of us still live very comfortably and free from persecution or danger in our lives with God, it seems that the option will always be available to us to show up, enjoy the good things about being a Christian and being part of a good church, but never seriously enter into Jesus’ school of living as one of his disciples.

The author of Hebrews goes on to say that we cannot stay where we are in our relationship with God, but that we must continue pressing on, all the way to maturity in Christ. May it be so for each of us.
Imagine what it would be like if all of us decided to fully pursue the life that God has for us: if we set ourselves to learning daily from God how to live our lives through reflecting on the Scriptures, if we committed ourselves to finding ways to do good to others around us, and if we took any means necessary to rid our lives of the things that hold us back from God’s best for us.
It is wonderful to think about, and the best part is that because of God’s limitless grace given to us in Jesus, it is possible. For you, for me, and for all of us together, full and abundant life in Christ is available, at hand, and waiting to become a reality among us.
We can begin by thinking of a way that each of us can live our lives as God wants today, and then make it happen. We will all be in it together, and God is with us.

We're Not as Strong as We Think We Are

Last night, I was working late but didn't mind doing so since my wife and son were able to be with me. I was working on some final details for an experience our entire church will be going through together over the next five weeks, which I have been working on and looking forward to for the majority of the past year. What I needed to accomplish last night was to get curriculum and materials into rooms so that the groups that are studying the material will be ready to go on Sunday morning. I had a dolly (or hand truck? I'm never sure which is correct) loaded up with about 150 packets of materials and books to distribute to different classrooms, and my two year old son was following me around as a helper. He always likes it when he sees that I have the dolly out for something. He walked with me to the closet to find it, and as soon as I had it, he said, "Ride on that." So he enjoyed getting carted around for a while.

After we loaded the materials onto the dolly, I loved it that he continued walking around the church building with me, carrying my pen and pad of paper, and with some guidance was even able to stand in front of some doors to keep them open for me when I wheeled the dolly in. I really dislike working many evenings if it means not getting to see him, but we were having fun together accomplishing our task last night.

The dolly was pretty heavy with all of those materials stacked on it, and at one point he said, "push that" and reached out his hand to take over for me. (I suppose I'm so out of shape these days that my toddler thought he'd better give me a break.) I told him thanks, but that it was very heavy. I told him, "But you can help Daddy push it if you want," and I showed him where he could put his hand on the dolly's side bar. He put it there, and we kept walking to the next classroom while he carried my pen and paper in one hand and helped me push the heavy load with his other hand.

What he was doing was not insignificant in either of our minds. To him, he was helping his daddy push the heavy stuff. To me, I loved it that he wanted to be with me and be part of what I was doing rather than doing anything else.

Whenever I have the chance to pray with coworkers in ministry, I usually say something along the lines of thanking God for giving us the opportunity to be part of his work. I genuinely mean that when I say it. As frustrating as ministry can be at times, it is a privilege to be part of helping see God's kingdom come and his will be done in us and in our world. I realized two things about this as my son and I pushed that dolly last night: 1) I think God genuinely enjoys having us play a part in the process of his work in the world, and 2) in whatever kind of work we're doing, we aren't as strong as we think we are. God carries the load; we just follow alongside him with our hand on the dolly.

Even though God carries the load, it still requires some choices on our part. We have to choose to be with him rather than the myriad of other things that are constantly throwing tantrums to get our attention. Then, being with him in our work, our work can become much more his load than ours- whether we're a pastor, farmer, grocery checker, school principal, pharmacist, or nearly any other kind of work. God can accomplish good through the vast majority of professions that we have. It's just up to us to put our hand on the dolly and offer to help.

(For any of you who are fans of Rich Mullins, like I am, yes, his song of the same title came to mind and helped me realize this last night- although he was looking at our weakness and God's strength from a different angle in the song.)

P.S.: I laughed when I noticed (at the time of proofreading this) that the two Google ads at the right were for companies selling hand trucks and dollies.ind it, and as soon as I had it, he said, "Ride on that." So he enjoyed getting carted around for a while.