The Trees and The Power Lines
The last few weeks the city of Berrien Springs has been doing some updating. Not necessarily the kind of updating that most people think when thinking of a city that is doing some updating. They aren't repaving any of the rough streets, they aren't renovating city hall. No, they're doing something different. They are cutting down trees.
Trees are important to our world. They supply the oxygen that is so important to our lives. Without trees all of us would have more difficulty breathing. There would be more Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, and, well, you get the idea.
In my backyard we have a forest of trees. Now, it isn't a big forest, but a couple of acres of trees shared among neighbors is a good and healthy stretch of forest. A couple days ago I awoke to the sound of chainsaws roaring to life. I had seen the city cutting trees all over town and had been hoping and praying they would skip the trees in our backyard. Unfortunately this was not the case.
After the mayhem my wife and I went to look at the carnage. I stood there stunned at what had once been a beautiful place full of trees, now desolate, only stumps and stacks of logs left where trees had once been. I said under my breath, "Our forest has been desecrated." My wife corrected me, "You mean decimated right?" I think I meant both. Now I must mention that not all the trees were cut down, just the ones closest to the power lines. However, that was quite a few trees and our forest looks significantly different.
Now I understand the importance of keeping trees out of power lines. We have pretty good storms here in Berrien Springs, and trees tend to fall on power lines quite a bit, but it's still sad to see these trees, many of them as old as the town, be chopped down just because they are in the way of innovation, in the way of change.
Which made me think of the church. How many times do we as new upcoming Christians tend to quickly chop down the those who are in the way of change? Why do we see the need to make sure that we decimate them, chop them down and ignore them? Why can't we just see what they have to offer and treat them with the same respect and importance that we wish they'd do for us?
Maybe we need to find a way to keep both the trees and the power lines in the church. Instead of chopping down the trees, or keeping change away, we should find a compromise. We are all Christians, all Christ followers. We just need to find a way to keep everyone together on this journey. If that means that we as change agents must be a little less change oriented, so be it. If that means that we as those who are afraid or hesitant for big change need to be a little more open minded, so be it.
Paul says in Romans 12:5, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We are the body of Christ, all brothers and sisters, family. Maybe it's time we start acting that way.
What Goes Wrong…
Have you ever noticed something go wrong in a church service? You probably have on multiple occasions. It is something that happens quite frequently in a situation that deals with many people up front without much rehearsal as to how they will interact with each other. It is always amazing to see how a church responds to that thing that goes awry in the worship service.
I caught a church off guard one Sabbath during my undergraduate years at Walla Walla University. As the visiting speaker for the day I was expected to fill the role of their regular pastor in the worship service. That meant prayer during the invocation, the sermon, and the benediction. The head elder and I had just stepped onto the platform and knelt for the time of contemplation when I belted a prayer out of nowhere. In my nervousness I had forgotten that the prayer of invocation was after the short announcement period.
The response? Nothing. The church just rolled with the punch. However, I'm sure inwardly the head elder was cringing that this young theology major would mess with their church service so irreverently. No one ever mentioned it to me afterwards. But, it made me look more closely at the order of service at each church I visited and am involved in.
But what really got me thinking about this as a miscommunication that happened this last week at church. Since I was the elder for the day, I was on the platform, and had a front row seat to what happened after the opening song. As the offering was being called for, two violinists approached the platform with violins and music in hand. They were set up to play while the offering was collected when suddenly the organ began to play a Bach Concerto (I looked over to the music stand that the organist was playing from).
The two violinists looked fairly confused and shocked. They had no clue what to do next. They had prepared a piece of music and now were up on the platform not knowing what to do. They decided that they would quietly slip out the side door when the worship leader of the day started waving at them to stay there and began motioning to the organist to finish playing quickly. The organist found a suitable area to stop, and then violinists began to play.
Now, for most of the congregation, they may not have noticed the dynamics of what had just happened. For them, it may have seemed that the organist and the violinists had planned this little episode. Yet, they didn't.
So what does this have to do with us as Christians. Many times in our lives we make plans. We have plans for how we are going to live our lives, how we will spend our money, how many children we will have, etc...etc...etc... Yet things happen. Something gets in the way. A car breaks down, a leak appears in the roof, a tornado rips through the neighborhood. Stuff happens. And even though our plans may seem ruined, one things is sure, that the plan that God has for you will take place.
God says in Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Whatever life throws at you, remember that God has a plan for your life. It may not be evident what that plan is, but just have faith that God will reveal it to you when the time is right.
The Dentist
The dentist. Someone that many people dread, myself included. The simple fact that someone else has their hands in my mouth, cleaning various parts of my teeth just gives me the creeps. I have a personal bubble, which if you know me, isn't very big, but I just feel a little violated when someone is sticking their hands and various sharp metal instruments in my mouth.
I know that it's important. Good dental hygiene is something to strive for, and visiting the dentist is an important part of that good dental hygiene. So every six months or so, I cinch up my belt and drag myself to the dentist to make sure that I don't have any cavities and that my teeth get a general cleaning.
Today, unfortunately, was that day. I woke up, ate my breakfast, brushed my teeth, dropped the wife off at work, and headed...gulp...to the dentist. I walked into the office, signed in, and prepared myself for the torture that was sure to happen. I seriously thought I heard someone scream in the back.
As my name was called, I prepared for the worst. The little boy inside me started kicking and screaming as I headed to the chair. You know, the dentist chair. Little did I know however, that this visit would be one of the most enjoyable dentist visits I have ever had. The hygienist still was in my mouth, in my personal bubble, with those sharp metal instruments, but she was friendly and talkative. She seemed truly interested in my life as well as my dental hygiene.
This reminded me of a verse found in 1 Corinthians 10:31, Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. This dental hygienist made sure that I was comfortable and that I had as enjoyable an experience as possible. As Christians, our goal should be to do everything to the best of our ability and with thoughts of the other person we are serving. That is for the glory of God.
When Christ was on this earth, He spent His time serving others to the best of His ability. He never complained, never quit, and was always concerned for others. He did everything to the glory of His Father in heaven. This should be our goal. To the glory of God, for the concern of others.
Consider the Cow
A cow. Domesticated ungulate. Bovine. Four legged, milk producing, grass chewing animal. There are many ways which humans find uses for a cow. We drink the milk for healthy bones. We drink the milk to help moisten a chocolate-chip cookie. Steak, ribs, and jerky come from cows as well. The hide is used for leather products, yes, the cow is a very diversified animal.
But the thing that I want to focus on is the fact that the cow chews its cud. You may be asking at this point, what exactly does this mean? In the least gross way possible, chewing the cud means that the cow will eat the grass, chew, swallow, spit it back up, and continue chewing. This is chewing the cud. So how does this apply to us today?
As someone who claims to follow Christ and have a relationship with God, one of the things that I do is read the Bible. Yet, in order to fully understand and connect with God, I can't just do a surface reading of the text, which is what I and many other frequently do. We need to mull over what we have read in Scripture, we must chew the cud. I've been mulling over this idea for awhile and I've still had difficulty implementing it in my life.
Why is this? Maybe it's because I'm afraid of what I will find. Maybe it's because I don't want to get that close to Scripture. Or maybe I'm just lazy. All of these reasons could be arguments that any person uses, and it could be a mix of each. What is important is that we must realize our problem and do what we can to fix it.
This means in my case, purposely setting aside time each day to spend chewing the cud of Scripture, getting in elbow deep and learning what I can about the truths of God. I know that for me it will not be easy, and will take a few weeks to get into the habit. However, I know that through the grace of God, that it will be possible. Which means, it is possible for you too.
Injury and Preparation
“Affluenza”
"The spirit of James and John lingers on, especially in us who have been cusioned by affluence." -- John Stott The Cross of Christ
I read this and I immediately thought of this video on teenage affluenza. That's what this video above is about, teenage affluenza. The video is geared towards teens more than adults, but I believe that it can reach adults as well.
What Stott has been talking about is the story where James and John come up to Christ and ask for the best seats in His kingdom. Want more detail? Go open that Bible to Mark 10:35-45.
After reading what Stott says, and watching this video again, I begin to realize how good off I really have it here in the United States. I don't worry about when I'll eat next, I've got food in the fridge or a short drive to the grocery store. I don't worry about freezing at night because I can just turn a little knob and get heat. I don't worry about clean water because I have a water filter. And I don't worry about traveling long distances because I can afford a airplane ticket.
As Christians, at least here in North America, we believe we are entitled to good treatment because we are affluent, because we have wealth, because we have things. How wrong we have it. We believe that we deserve power and wealth. The problem is that Christ asks us to deny ourself. Want proof? Ok, Matthew 16: 24 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
So what self are we to deny? Do we deny everything about ourselves? No, because that would be denying the gifts that God gave us to use for Him. Christ is telling us to deny our sinful nature, those things about our personality that take us away from God. While wealth and power can be a good thing, more often than not they corrupt and take away from God.
So let's avoid affluenza as much as possible. Christ came to this earth to be a servant, not one who was served. And as our example we should follow Him and do our best to allow Him to turn us into servants.