A Nation Worth Leaving Behind

It is that time again.  Political signs have been on the street corners for months.  News stations have been fueling the fires daily, repeatedly, unceasingly.  Friends on Facebook have been clearly taking their stand and emails have been filling our inboxes with woes and warnings.  I’m ready for the election to arrive and our lives to get back on track. 

I am glad we are a democratic nation, one where we the people are allowed and even encouraged to join in the conversation when it pertains to our government.  I guess what I don’t like is the tone and the propaganda.  As Americans, we used to be able to have conversations about our political ideals, share our thoughts, and actually hear the other person’s thoughts all at the same time.  It’s almost as though we have forgotten why we became democratic in the first place.  One view government was not something we wanted to retain. 

I honestly hope we can return to our roots before we pull them all up and they die.  I know when I pull up a plant to replant it elsewhere, depending on the weather, I can get away with a few days or even a week before replanting… but that is really pushing it.  The roots need to be deeply embedded in the soil in order to not dry out, to be protected from harm, and to put all their effort into providing what the plant needs.  If we pull our roots as a nation and leave them exposed too long, I’m afraid those roots will dry up, as well.  We will be America, but not the America we were founded on. 

As a Christian, I have to always begin with Christ’s life and teaching.  So I do my best to line up issues and proposals to scripture.  And if scripture doesn’t address that particular issue, then I try to see underlying Christian principles that may apply.  I also try hard to listen to other views.  The reality is, I just might learn something… something that could help me make my decision more wisely.  I also lean on the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament.  For instance, when I get an email that is claiming something awful about a candidate or an issue, the first thing I do is Google it and run it through fact checkers like snopes.com.  If it is filled with false statements and has rearranged truths in order to produce a specific emotional outcome, I stamp it as it should be: propaganda.  And then I delete it.  That whole “Do not give false testimony” command is a real one. 

Ultimately, I cannot pretend to understand all the intricacies of any given election.  I’m not in politics for a reason.  I wouldn’t want any of their jobs.  Rarely is an issue black or white and the grays affect so many, I cannot imagine the burden these office holders carry.  Maybe what we could do more than anything these next few days before the election is this: listen more and talk less.  Pray every time we hear an argument, whether on social media, television, radio, or in our local diner, and ask God to give us all wisdom...  and then be quiet and just listen for God to answer.  No matter who wins this election, we’re going to need wisdom if we are serious about getting back to our roots and leaving a nation for our children’s children that they, and Christ, can be proud of.  

And don’t worry.  I won’t disdain you, make statements about you not being a Christian, or claim that you are being unpatriotic, no matter who you vote for.  It’s not who I am.  I hope it’s not who you are too.  See you in line on Election Day!  Our nation is counting on us. 

The Dance

Courageous. We don’t use that word much anymore.  We use it when we are talking about our men and women in the military.  We use it when people are fighting cancer.  But that’s about it. We just started a teaching series at Concord United Methodist Church called “Courageous” that is based on a film of the same name. 

The film is about four men who serve as police officers.  They are also friends and hang out in each other’s backyards on their days off.  They are courageous with villains, but not necessarily with their own loved ones.   And then something happens.  A tragedy hits home and something has to change. 

Isn’t that the way it usually goes?  Tragedy has to hit before many of us are willing to stand up and make something happen that should have happened long ago, but we were never quite at a crossroads that forced the change.  The sad thing is all that we miss prior to the change, prior to the tragedy.  Earlier in the film, one of the officers has an opportunity to dance with his young daughter. She hears a song and is filled with joy and silliness and just wants to express it with dance.  She asks her dad to join her but he is not interested.   She begs him but he seems embarrassed even at the thought. So he misses the opportunity… and eventually we find out he misses out on a lot more. 

I remember watching this moment in the film and thinking “been there, done that”.  My father left for another woman when I was two and my brother was three.  He had been in prison for several years when I was a bit older and wrote me a couple of times, but that was it.  When I was 13 and overdosed on alcohol before first hour had even let out, my mom called him and thought maybe I’d get my life back on track if he was around more often.  He came once and promised much, but then I never saw him again until more than 10 years later when he found out he had grandchildren.  We would see each other once a year or so after that for a few years… and then my divorce, and eventually a second chance at love and life, when I married my husband Darryl. 

I asked my father to walk me down the aisle.  He wasn’t around the first time so I had asked my brother that time.  But I had an opportunity to have my dad this time so I asked and he agreed.  He came and he did what I asked… but no more.  He never said a word about how I looked, he didn’t have any father/daughter moment with me prior to the service, and most memorable to me, he didn’t stick around for the dance. You know the one.  There is a dance at every wedding where the new bride dances with her daddy… seemingly for the last time before being handed off to dance all the rest of her life with her new husband.  Well, I hadn’t even had my first dance with my daddy, let alone my last.  But when it was time, he could not be found.  No explanations, no goodbyes.  He was just gone.  And so was any hope of a dance. 

He was courageous while serving his country in Vietnam at age 16, even lying about his age to get in.  He was courageous in prison, paying his dues before returning to the rest of civilization to live differently.  He was even courageous unto death as he battled a horrendous disease that eventually took his jaw, tongue, cheekbones, and eventually is brain stem.  But he never was courageous with me, his very daughter.  We never danced.  And seemingly never will.   Rise up O men of God.  Be courageous at home.  Don’t miss your son’s track meet or dancing with your daughter.  Trust me.  They’ll never stop hoping you will.  

Nice Helmet...

A good friend asked me this week, “What the heck is going on at your church?!”  Good question.  We’ve been ministering to a lot of people in need lately.  We’ve always helped people with gas and utilities when we are able, and the past couple of years we’ve helped people repair their homes when they haven’t had the income to do it themselves.  Those are the more visible ways a church helps those in their community, I suppose. 

Needs recently have shifted from the tangible to the spiritual: from the helpless and the hungry to the hopeless and the hurting.  Families are falling apart.  Divorces are being filed.  Addictions are being fought.  And along the way, people are finding that they can’t do it alone.  Most have tried.  They’ve pushed through in the past as they have stood back up and brushed off their bottoms.  But here they are again… or still.  Not only are their bottoms in the mud, but hands, faces, and heart, as well.  Some have fallen hard to temptation through lust.  Others didn’t pay attention to the warning signs and stepped over the fence to water the grass of another.  Some, especially our men, have falsely listened to the burgeoning dark industry of pornography and thought looking at a few images or watching a few videos wasn’t doing anyone any harm.  Such lies. 

But each has one thing in common: they lost sight of the One who can strengthen them for fights like these.  Paul or one of his followers wrote a letter to the early Christians in Ephesus, what would today be considered modern day Turkey.  Within that letter is a wonderful, tangible description of a very spiritual reality.  We call it the “Armor of God.”  It goes like this: “Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and his powerful strength. Put on God’s armor so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil. We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens. Therefore, pick up the full armor of God so that you can stand your ground on the evil day and after you have done everything possible to still stand.  So stand with the belt of truth around your waist, justice as your breastplate, and put shoes on your feet so that you are ready to spread the good news of peace.  Above all, carry the shield of faith so that you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word.  Offer prayers and petitions in the Spirit all the time. Stay alert by hanging in there and praying for all believers. (Ephesians 6.11-18, CEB)” 

It’s a great reminder that so many of the struggles we face today are not human in nature; they are spiritual.  When we break a covenant with a spouse in order to satisfy a longing that isn’t being met otherwise, we are looking in all the wrong directions for that longing to be filled.  When we take that next drink, pop that next pill, or shoot up that next fix, we are searching for our next high in all the wrong places.  And when we are tantalized by one more XXX-rated image in order to feel intimacy with someone else, then we really don’t know what intimacy is all about.  It’s time to pick up our armor, the only armor that can do a thing to protect us.

So yes, there is a lot going on in our church… and probably yours too.  So when I see you on the streets or at a potluck or on the bleachers of the next home game, don’t be surprised if a bunch of us are wearing some new, yet ancient, accessories.  Holiness can’t be picked up from time to time.  It has to be worn from the moment we wake each day until we crawl safely back in bed at night.  If we are to remain a people who are set apart from the evils of this world, then we’re going to have to do it together.  By the way, nice helmet…

Then Go Take A Nap

I love the sense of accomplishment I get when a huge task is done… and done well.  Three months ago we closed on our retirement farm and ever since we’ve been busting butt trying to get what my husband calls “Phase One” done.  Because of the type of mortgage we were able to get, we were given a list of items that had to be corrected, repaired, or replaced within six months of closing.  Some we expected.  Some we did not.  Replace the roof: yep.  No brainer on that one.  It was raining indoors with areas as large as 6’ x 4’ rotted straight through the roof.  We had planned on taking off the new and replacing it with a metal roof immediately upon closing. 

Others we didn’t see coming until the list was placed in our hands, like paint several of the barns.  Really??  You would have to see these barns but it would be like putting on a brand new high gloss paint job on a car that was rusted through and needed Bondo first… a lot of Bondo first.  Just seemed crazy.  And then there were the three porches that needed to be scraped and painted.  Really?? I know I must have asked that same question far more times than the inspector had planned on answering.  Porches.  They were a priority.  On a farm.  Just made no sense to me whatsoever.  But hey, what the inspector wants the inspector gets.  (I learned that one from my husband.) 

We also expected to find on the list that one of the bathroom faucets needed to be replaced (leaking profusely) and an old stove pipe hole in one of the upper bedrooms needed to be covered, filled, or otherwise repaired.  No biggies for either of these.  One that continued to force my proverbial question was the requirement to paint the entire interior of the house.  This is not a small house, though we both thought our retirement home would be one of the little box homes you find in the halls of IKEA.  Instead, we fell in love with a five bedroom, two bath, over 2000 square foot home complete with a formal dining room, oversize living room, country kitchen and mudroom to boot.  Paint it all?  Now??  Really??  We honestly had planned on spending the next fifteen to twenty years painting a room here and a room there as we could afford to buy another can of paint and fit in the time to do it.  Nope. That was on the list too so it had to be done, all of it, along with the roof and the barns and the porches and and and…  Did I mention we also needed to pull out all the ceilings on the upper floor because they were water damaged from the roof leaking?  Yep.  That too.  So new drywall and ceiling insulation were also on the list. 

Oh, the list.  It’s at times like this you enlist all your friends, family, and even your faith family… and we did.  God bless each and every one of them.  We surely couldn’t have done it without them.  Now you might think six months to complete all this work really isn’t that bad.  Maybe.  But cut that in half.  Yes.  Half.  Come to find out, in order to get a mortgage that allows you to use some of the mortgage funds to complete initial work on the house (which we needed), you get two disbursements of funds, half when you begin and the remainder after final inspection.  That means you have to carry the second half of expenses, both materials and labor, on your own back until the job is done.  Really? Yep.  Really. 

So six months quickly was compressed into three and the race was on.  We finished this week.  We hit the finish line and received our ribbon.  Perfect inspection.  The barns had been scraped, primed and painted.  The porches the same.  The old roof was removed and the new was installed, along with new insulation in both the rafters and attic floor.  The rotted drywall was removed from the entire upper floor ceiling and new was installed, taped, mudded, sanded, primed, and painted.  Every wall in the entire house was mudded, sanded, primed and then painted… twice.  The faucet was replaced and the hole was filled.  And at 1 am before the 9 am we expected our inspector to arrive, we were done.  [sigh] Sometimes we don’t know what we are really capable of until we do it. 

What huge task do you have hovering over your head?  Don’t give up.  You’ll reach your finish line as well, if you just keep at it… and at it… and at it.  But I have to tell you, when you see the finish line and the ribbon is being dangled out in front of you like a carrot in front of a horse’s nose, just reach out your hand and grab it!  And then go take a nap.  

Destination Ahead!!

I work with a lot of people whose lives have fallen off the tracks.  Often they’ve been on a journey and some obstacle has fallen their way and knocked them off the tracks, now sitting in the ditch next to the tracks, but no longer moving down the road.  After we begin talking about the obstacle, what life road block knocked them down, I always ask where they were headed in the first place.  I am always amazed how many don’t have an answer for that question. 

I share with each off them it is like going on a trip without a clue of your destination.  How do you know what to pack?  How do you know what to bring?  How do you know what to set your GPS to??  That’s hard for a planner like me to understand.  Before I leave for a trip, I plan.  I make a list and I check it twice… okay… three times.  I list what I will need to wear (after checking the weather ahead, of course). I list what I will want to accessorize my outfits, and surely I will list which shoes would be best.  I will also list any food I might need to take along, any books or paperwork I may need, and I can’t forget things like phone recharge plugs, a laptop, or my MP3 player. 

But again, I can’t begin to make my list, I can’t begin to decide which clothes to wear, until I know my destination.  If I’m heading north to Kalkaska and it is late fall, then I had better bring along some long underwear, some fuzzy sweaters, and a pair of mittens.  But if I’m heading to the shores of Virginia Beach, I will pack a few sun dresses, some sarong or two, and at least two bathing suits. I can’t stand to put on a wet one.  Then I must finish my ensembles, depending on what we’ll be doing once we arrive.  No sense in bringing along some cute bracelets and matching beaded necklaces if I’ll be spending my time in the woods, walking trails, sleeping in a tent, or hanging around the campfire at night.  And surely if we are heading to the beach, some dangly earrings are a must and a comfy pair of worn-in flip flops would be on the list. 

Yet, how do you pack when you have no clue of the destination?  And how do you prepare? Are we going to kick back and rest? Then I’ll be sure to pack my e-reader with a few good books attached.  But if it’s a work trip, if we have a full itinerary and the day will already be packed with a list of To Do’s, then I wouldn’t waste my time packing additional items that will never be used.  I drive my husband nuts every time I begin the process of creating my packing list, but surely he reaps the benefits of my thoughtful planning, just as I do.  He is always the first to ask “Did you pack the whatever?” and of course I did.  He would be pretty bummed if I hadn’t. 

When people head out toward any destination, a plan is needed.  It’s one thing to get derailed; an unexpected divorce, a death of a loved one, a job lost… but it’s a whole other problem if you don’t know where you were headed in the first place! We all need to take time once in a while to ask the question, “Where am I headed?” and then begin creating a packing list to get there.  Most destinations have several routes of arrival, but who wants to be heading to Kansas when you planned on hitting the East Coast?  If your plan in life is to be whole, healthy, and happy, then your packing list may want to include things that will help you get there.  If your plan includes getting debt free and helping others, then buying stuff you really don’t need isn’t helping you get there.  Take some time this week to ask yourself some good questions: “Where am I headed?” and then “What do I need to be doing or not doing, obtaining or getting rid of, to get there?”  May our train tracks continue to cross paths as each of us continue our journeys to our destinations ahead.  

... and Who Is My Neighbor??

I’m preaching a new series this month: Radicals & Rebels.  It’s all about being radically hospitable.  Most will agree that the Great Commandment to “love God and love your neighbor as yourself” is a tall order. But is it so tall we pass it by altogether? 

Jesus gives us so many examples of what this radical hospitality and love look like. The Good Samaritan parable in Luke 10.25-37 is one of the classics.  Jesus is asked what one must do to gain eternal life.  After Jesus responds with a couple of questions of his own, the man replies that the Law of Moses says “you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus agrees that he answered the question right and told the man to live that way and he will truly live. 

But the man couldn’t leave well enough alone.  He goes on, “… and who is my neighbor?”  Jesus always knows when it’s time for a parable; a story with a lesson.  So he begins the story of a man who is beaten, stripped of his clothes, robbed, and left for dead along the roadside.  After a priest (a servant of the Lord God Almighty) walks on by crossing to the other side of the road, and a Levite (a servant of the Temple, God’s house) does the same, the battered and desperate man is left to die in his own misery…

… until Radical Hospitality comes meandering by.  And then everything changes.  The man is not ignored.  He is not made to feel an outcast.  He no longer feels invisible because people walk right on by while saying/doing nothing.  In fact, the man’s life will be forever changed… and that’s not even in the story.  But how could he not be? 

The third person to come by is basically a no body, and yet he could be anybody.  He comes from Samaria, a region that is not thought of very highly. In fact, God’s people won’t even associate with Samaritans.  But God will.  In Jesus’ story, it was this outcast-labeled Samaritan who not only stays on the same side of the road as the man in need, sees the man and sees he is in great need, but he also loves the man.  He goes out his way to care for every need the man has.  Jesus says “the Samaritan saw the man lying there in great need, and was moved with compassion.”  He was moved.  He was moved to get closer to the man lying on the dirt covered in blood, not back away.  He was moved to bandage his wounds, not ignore them.  He was moved to transport the man to safety, not leave him to his own demise.  He was even moved to put up his own resources to pay for all of this, and more.  The man from Samaria gave the Inn Keeper where he stayed the night before, a full two days’ wages to continue the care that he had begun.  He also told the Inn Keeper he’d be back.  He didn’t say “if I return”, but with assurance he said “when I return”.  The man’s hospitality was not complete.  He had a responsibility to the care of this man so he committed to return.  He even offered to pay more when he returned, if more care was needed than the two days wages he was already giving. 

Now that’s radical: long term commitment to someone that others, even God’s people, ignore? …hands on nurturing? …financial support? …to a stranger??  Oh wait.  We need to remember why Jesus was telling this story: as a response to the question “who is my neighbor?”  This wasn’t a stranger.   This was a neighbor… even though they came from opposing backgrounds.  In spite of being rivals, love trumped all.  As it should.  Over the top, unbelievable, doesn’t make sense to most, but makes all the sense in the world to our Creator.  Love God and love your neighbor this week… and next.  And you will truly live

Putting the Old T-shirt Back Away

I have an old vintage faded orange t-shirt with a chest-wide yellow sunburst in the center.  In the middle of the sunburst is the phrase “School’s Out for Summer!”  If you’ve never heard it, it was a famous line in a rock anthem.  I only get to wear it for a couple of months and then it has to be put back in the closet for another year.  Well today, I had to put it back in the closet.  I heard the first school bus throw on its breaks as it picked up my neighbors’ kids.  A friend of mine told me she did a run through on her bus route last week.  It is that time.

I saw a Facebook status this morning where a mother who just saw her daughter off to college a few weeks ago was now wishing her son a wonderful first day as a freshman in high school.  I remember that year.  Whew!  Felt good to get middle school off my back.  The year before I had gotten in trouble for hanging with a group who was lighting firecrackers, smoking a cigarette behind a tree on school property, and passing out in the bathroom during first hour because I had drank enough whiskey before getting on the bus to knock a cow over.  I remember trying to fit in, trying to make friends and trying to numb any pain I had.  I also remember being grounded all but two weeks that year.   When I got to high school, I was singing a new tune.  No more firecrackers, smoking or drinking for me!

It’s easy to forget how much each child brings with them to school each day.  Some are coming from poverty so deep they are too hungry to learn.  Others come with no sleep… again… because they were up half the night listening to family members fight through the night.  Still others come with pain deeper than we can ever imagine: their mother died of cancer, their brother is incarcerated, their father is still out of work.  Some feel stupid simply because they don’t fit the system of education we use in America.  They aren’t stupid.  But they sure feel like it when they can’t pass a test or memorize a list of names and dates.  Some are just lonely.  They seemingly have all their needs met, and carry a smart phone in their pocket and the newest tablet in their backpack.  But their parents have to work more hours to pay for them both, along with the new shoes and the car in the parking lot.  Some of our students spend way too much time alone, waiting… waiting for parents to get home, for a friend to call, or stranger to care.  So many of them live online creating a whole new world there. 

As certain t-shirts are put away for another year and as backpacks get filled with everything from crayons to the latest electronic gadgets, let’s keep a few people in our prayers.  Each student needs prayers of hope and love.  There is nothing worse than losing hope and there is nothing lonelier than not feeling loved.  Each bus driver is carrying a load worth its weight in gold.  Remember to pray for each one you see drive by each day.  Their minds can be as easily distracted as any of ours.  And we certainly cannot forget the teachers… pre-school teachers wiping tears and running noses, middle school teachers helping show a better way to lost students, high school teachers inspiring our youth to new heights and a future of hope, and college professors who walk alongside students both young and old, as they search their path in this life.  And let’s not forget to pray for all the parents out there.  There is no harder job than to raise a child, and no greater joy than to see them succeed. 

Gracious and holy God, bless this school year for each student and teacher, bus driver and parent.  Walk close by and whisper sweet somethings along the way.  And when each day is done, allow them all to fall into your gracious and loving arms, so they may fully rest before a new day arises.  All honor be yours, forever and ever.  Amen.