Blogging Again

Hi All (if anyone's left),

I'm back and blogging again. I have three more installments on the 6 part series I start half a year ago. Blogospheric Hubris.

I'm going to leave it unfinished for now, though I still like the way it reads. I've been to Antarctica and back since then and, even though I'm home, I'm in a different place. I have a blog to share with all who didn't know about it. I created it for my daughter's kindergarten class. Please check it out. I worked hard on it and it was a hit with her class. I've got reams more material for it, so I might make a few more entries in it. It is for five year olds, so keep that in mind. Lots of fun stuff on Antarctica.

www.montgomerykindergarten.blogspot.com

Things We Ignore, Part 3

3) "Creation Care" or whatever you want to call it, no matter how much you object to it, has definite Biblical warrant. Pollution is not Christian. It never has been. God cares about His Creation. His first charge to us in Genesis was to assist Him in this.

It's taking me forever to post this series. Funny to read earlier how I was thinking of making this a daily blog. This is something I want to do, but I'm not there yet, am I? Here's the strange thing: the following is a testimony to God's timing on such things.

So, let me just pause here to say that if you're reading this, you're getting some advance information about me. The pastors and session of the church know the following, and have for a little while, and now you do. Just days from now, I'll be telling the church, so it's not that much of a scoop, still...

Anyway, I'm going to the South Pole. Yep. I'm going to be deployed by the Air Force to Antarctica for 50-55 days from late September to mid November of this year! I'm going in support of Operation Deep Freeze, a military mission of the Air National Guard and the Navy supporting the National Science Foundation in the nearly inhospitable climate of Antarctica. Now there's a lot I can write about concerning this, but let me here focus on what the scientists will be doing. For the most part they are researching the state of our planet and life itself. So, many weeks ago when I proposed this blog series, I had no idea that I would definitely have more to write about it in the coming months. My ministry will be to a community of scientists, contractors, and military support personnel that can grow up to a thousand people. I'll even have a chapel, the southernmost church building in the world. I'll be alone as chaplain and counselor except on weekends I'm told, when Catholic priests from New Zealand will join me to offer their services.

I thought I was just going to talk about Genesis 1-2 here, affirm Creationism, affirm the subsequent Creation Care Theology that necessarily flows from it, and leave it at that. How typical of God to bring His Word to life in a tailor-made way. I, of course, know that I will, for this comparably short deployment miss my home and church more than anyone at my home and church will miss me. God will use my absence to bless the church. I know that sounds funny, but I've been watching Him do that since I became pastor in 1998. I've always been both a chaplain and a pastor. Goodwill, especially her leaders, have always supported and sent me. It's helped our church. Now, maybe God is calling us to help others on a greater scale. A few of us have felt the tug to do a special work at Goodwill concerning hunger. Battling hunger involves working with Creation. The world's food supplies are one of the pressing issues of the 21st century. This is above political or ideological preferences. Our world is all tied together and Christians are called to be first in line to help.

Someone at our church said it best: "Creation Care means caring for people too..."

Pray for me as I learn more about Creation and caring for people this fall, in a place just about as far away from home as one can get and still be on the planet.

Things We Ignore, Part 2

2) God's radical, undeniable choice of the Jewish people tells us much about Him, as He has designed it to.

This last weekend I was honored to be part of a memorial get-together. It was a Jewish tradition with some adaptation due to time having passed. The idea of the event was to remember someone special who passed away. It was not a funeral. It was not heavy with grief. The time for this was behind us. This was a time for remembering. There were many people. There was great food. There was heart and spirit. I was surprised by the event, since I had never attended anything like it. It has a name in Hebrew that I can't remember.

Christians regularly find themselves feeling strangely sentimental and at home in Jewish contexts. This is no accident. Many theories exist concerning the fate of Jews from a Christian viewpoint, but it is hard to deny God in their presence or in their practices. The aroma of Messiah is inescapable. Being exposed to Jewish things and traditions almost always makes me feel ignorant about my own faith. "Oh, that's what that means," I find myself saying or thinking.

Back in the Bible we see God choosing a people for no reason in them. He chooses because He chooses. He chooses because He loves. His choice can't be erased, not even by the denial of the ones He's chosen.

As Christian believers, we are adopted into this family. I know about adoption. Its beauty and power grows with each examination. Adopted! To think of this is a good way to start the day. I'm adopted by God through faith in Christ. Hallelujah. Adopted children are chosen as well.

Things We Ignore, Part 1

Sorry for the delay! Here's part 1 of ... Things We Ignore in the Bible...

But before I get started, if you are somehow mired by Judgment Day date setting, stop right now and go to your Bible and read Matthew 24. This is what I did today. Read the whole thing slowly and thoughtfully. Notice these words of Jesus...

Matthew 24:36 (ESV)
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only."

Matthew 24:42 (ESV)
"Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming."

Matthew 24:44 (ESV)
"Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

Another thing in the Bible ignored by some, apparently. How can we "not expect" Him if a billboard is broadcasting exactly when He's coming and the world's media is covering the announcement of this (even if it is as a novelty)? The key thing for Christians is to stay aware of and spiritually charged by Christ's soon return. Be absolutely sure of it. Be absolutely ready for it. Be absolutely desirous of it. If He tarries, then be on fire for it on May 22nd and every day afterwards we have left! Make no mistake, He is returning some day!

OK, back to our regular blog programming. I wrote,

"We ignore some things in the Bible. Here's an incomplete list...

1) God makes sure that many wicked people get what's coming to them (and I don't mean a second chance). The Bible, for many in it, is not a book of second chances, but a book of no more chances."

Start with Cain. Go to Pharaoh. Review the list of conquered kings in Joshua. See Judas. On and on it goes. But the most in danger of "getting what's coming to them" are people who worship idols or other gods. This is true throughout the Bible. If we don't worship the true God, then we worship an idol, to take the Bible at face value. Idols are dead, even those animated by evil spirits. What we become is based on what we worship. If we worship death, we get it. It turns out that the one thing religion isn't is personal. Your religion affects everyone in your life, everyone you touch. The Bible offers life to believers, and - consider this carefully - it offers death to unbelievers. It is good news and bad news. More accurately, it is good news or bad news. If for me it is not good news, then for me it is bad news. No third alternative is offered, although only believers feel both the good and the bad news. A real unbeliever doesn't care and loses no sleep over any of this. It is not a human being passing judgment here, at least not according to the Bible, it is God. This is a sobering thought. If you read the Scriptures entirely through, it is a thought you cannot escape. As a believer, you realize just how gracious God is. He doesn't have to be. He just is. Far from passing judgment on others, this sobering truth compels all who submit to it to the greatest depths of compassion and prayer.

Never accept the unbelief of another. If you do, you might accept your own some day. Quietly, forcefully, continually pray. Expect and prepare for an opportunity to speak the gospel.

We ignore the righteous wrath of God because our hearts are cold and our faith is small. Why was there a cross anyway? Does the cross permit us to ignore its cause? Hardly. Again, it's back to His Grace, back to His Word, back to The Cross, back to Jesus.

Things We Ignore in the Bible, Introduction

We ignore some things in the Bible. Here's an incomplete list...

1) God makes sure that many wicked people get what's coming to them (and I don't mean a second chance). The Bible, for many in it, is not a book of second chances, but a book of no more chances.
2) God's radical, undeniable choice of the Jewish people tells us much about Him, as He has designed it to.
3) "Creation Care" or whatever you want to call it, no matter how much you object to it, has definite Biblical warrant. Pollution is not Christian. It never has been. God cares about His Creation. His first charge to us in Genesis was to assist Him in this.
4) Redemption is not a key to success in this life. It is medicine for all who fail in this life. The second part of this is that all are promised to fail eventually in this life. Another way of putting this is that there are no success stories in the Bible, only faithfulness stories. True success is fully enjoyed in eternity.
5) God is passionately ordered and prepared. He respects time and process. He is the enemy of hurry. He is the God of harvest. Sowing and reaping are His ideas. He never "wings it" or improvises. His Word reveals Him to be found in predictable (from His perspective) structure far more than ecstatic experience.
6) God rarely tolerates people who present themselves as experts in Him in order to have power over others.

So, stay tuned for these installments. May they prod you to think about Scripture in fresh ways.

Reading Forward

Perhaps I'm writing only to myself today. If you have a problem in life, if you feel stuck, the best remedy of all may be reading. Therapy, rest, counseling, time off, coaching, and the like all come second sometimes to simply reading. We can change our lives by reading a book. Most people don't read. Few people ever finish a book. Just by reading a good book from cover to cover, you set yourself apart. Anyone can do this. There are still libraries too, where you can borrow great books at no cost. Through books you can be mentored, coached, counseled by the best and brightest minds in history. Books can bring you inside the minds of the most influential people in the world.

Oh, and the Word of God is a book. You can read it too. Anytime. All its power and truth can be put in your mind and heart. What can stop you? Reading is, perhaps, the key determinant for greatness and significance in life. You are what you read far more than you are what you eat! What a gift. Read forward.

New Bibles, No Drama

At our church, I've been attempting to provoke sharp (fun) controversy over what our new English translation of the Scriptures would be. The NIV 1984 edition will shortly be out of print. Its replacement, the NIV 2011, won't suit our needs as a church, so we have been plunged into the morass of competing translations of God's Word. You can hear the clashing of swords, the gasp of the shocked, the shriek of the terrified. Actually, nothing of the sort whatsoever. It's not even generated enough energy for a child's yawn. People just want to know and get on with things. "Just tell us Pastor John." A few hundred years ago people were literally burned at the stake for daring to translate the Bible into their own language. Now we're bored (and a little confused) in the section of the book store where we have dozens of competing Bible translation product lines to choose from. We're bored at the store rather than burned at the stake.

OK, I'm putting you to sleep just making you read about it. We picked the ESV (2007 text edition). It was a close contest between it and the NASB95. Both are essentially literal as opposed to dynamic equivalent translations. They are word-for-word instead of thought-for-thought translations. For the best Bible study support get both, keeping a King James handy for tradition's sake and maybe an old copy of the NIV 1984 for what probably was the best translation of its kind from the last century.

A Royal Witness?

To link to the article from "the Telegraph" referred to below go to...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8481434/Paul-Mealor-The-royal-wedding-composer.html

You can read what's below in the link made above.

Little-known 35 year old Welsh composer Paul Mealor was chosen to provide a sizeable portion of the royal wedding music at the behest of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Why they chose him remains open to debate; it’s believed that Mealor’s most famous work, Ubi caritas, which premiered last Autumn at St Andrew’s University (where the young royal couple met) held some sway and, in a further twist, the composer also hails from Anglesey where the couple currently reside.
The entire wedding ceremony, including Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est (Where charity and love are, God is there), will be recorded and made available digitally the same day, with physical copies going on sale from 4 May.

I heard Mealor's Ubi caritas live very early this morning, while sipping my coffee, in awe of the overtly Christian teachings, prayers, hymns, music, and message peppering the Royal Wedding. I think a lot of us were caught off guard by this. For me, a composer of no note, to hear Paul Mealor's incredible piece along with two billion other people, was overwhelming. Beautiful things can still happen in this world. Listen to it. Listen to the little interview found at the link above.

Simply amazing...

Distinguishing People Pressure from God's Will

I'm involved in many things as a leader that put me in the crosshairs of people who have influence and an agenda. I make the mistake more often than I would like of misjudging both. I'm not the only one. Many of us both over-estimate the power of other people and over-accommodate their agendas. Undiscerning Christian spirituality mixes with this to leave many of us further confused. Is this powerful person's agenda really God's will? The answer is always "no!" Get that straight. Being pushed by a person -- and some people have an amazing, subtle ability to push -- is never the same as being drawn by God. You seek God's will by seeking God, not by seeking to please a person whose pleasure you believe will be to your advantage. If you're being pushed by a human being, it may be a sign that your walk with Christ has taken on a limp. Whenever I'm not praying, not in the Word, not "living with" other believers regularly, I'm vulnerable to lesser gods. Yes, that's where this points. If we're not with God, then someone lesser will take His place in our conscience. This is so dangerous. In the end, it's never the bully's fault. We can't be bullied without our cooperation.

God puts it clearly to begin His Ten Commandments:

"You shall have no other Gods before Me." Exodus 20:3

Amen.

PS - Thanks for the feedback on the blog. We'll see. I think I'll at least blog more; this may evolve into a daily or close to daily blog. It's worth doing if it makes a difference for someone, like anything else.

To blog or not to blog (on a daily basis)

OK, I'm back here. I hope you followed my Lenten blog. Either way, though, thanks for reading here. I have a question. Should I blog on a daily basis? And should I consolidate all my blogs? This would mean using one, this one I guess, even for the seasonal devotions. It would mean focusing and plowing through. Maybe I would take weekends off.

If you think I should, why?

One congregation member with some IT savvy thinks I and the church are too spread out and unfocused in terms of the internet. Maybe he's right. What do you think?

It's Easter Monday. What was that Monday like? When they woke up this morning after having had some interesting conversations with the formerly dead Jesus, do you think it took them a moment to update their files? Did they stare straight ahead after being awake long enough to recount the events of the day before? Did they still make their coffee and go for a 5 mile run? (Isn't that what everyone does every morning?) What did they eat, wear, or do today? Do you just go back to work? When people ask you how your weekend was, what do you say? Uplifting? Eye-opening? Do you tell people, or do you wait? They'll think you're crazy, right?

Easter Monday is the authentic Christian life. We do the things we do, but those of us who believe never shake off the astonishment. All Christians are a little dreamy. Many who are not might find us irritating. We don't dance to the same music anymore. Anger, fear, despair, and the flesh are all popped balloons now. He is risen indeed!

Seriously, let me know if you think I should do this on a daily basis. Thanks!

Trying

In Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda is famous for teaching Luke, after he complained that he was trying his best, "Do or do not...there is no try." I got his point, but these days I think he's wrong. There is a try. Trying is sometimes the exact best thing to do. I've been trying new things for the last few weeks, and it has paid off dramatically. Here are several "try" verses in Scripture (NIV) from the apostle Paul that argue with Yoda as well as with much that we teach each other in churches these days.

1st Corinthians 10:13 "...I TRY to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved."

1st Corinthians 14:12 "Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, TRY to excel in gifts that build up the church."

2nd Corinthians 5:11 "Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we TRY to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience."

1st Thessalonians 5:15 "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always TRY to be kind to each other and to everyone else."

Titus 2:9 "Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to TRY to please them, not to talk back to them..."

Two verses on trying to please people seem to be especially out of sync with modern teachings. With God's help, I will TRY to understand them.

Love Sets Leaders Apart

I've spent the day with leaders. Anyone who cares about the church should want to see their pastors write such a sentence. I'm inspired. How could it be otherwise? These people are the beating heart of the God's church. When God grows people and grants them an opportunity to serve Him like I've seen Him do in the lives of these people, it's clear to me that He is on the move. He is doing what only He can do; He is lighting up hearts with love. It is love that sets leaders apart. This is the end of the issue. Christ defines love. Once we place our faith in His work on the cross, then comes love. We impute our sin to Him; He imputes His righteous to us. By faith in Him, Jesus Christ, we are declared righteous, not wicked, at the final judgment. Every day before is a day of love. How can it be otherwise? Leaders get this. Leaders give this. God is good. I've spent the day with leaders.

A Future Provocative Protagonist

Provocative means to provoke. If you look at "pro" and then "vocative," it sounds like voicing forth. Someone who is provocative causes strong irritation. A protagonist is a lead character in a drama. In studying the leadership styles of the Psalms, Ronald Reagan before he was president, Theodore Roosevelt, the apostle Paul, and Jesus Christ, I see a consistent trend. They were all provocative protagonists. They did not hold back. I am always holding back. It is almost an unwritten job requirement for a pastor: do not say what you mean. Instead, I listen and nod. Here are eleven things I have thought at least once, but not said...

1) No.
2) Stop talking about God's role in this. You did it to yourself.
3) Stop blaming him/her. Blame yourself.
4) The devil did not lift a finger here. You did this to yourself.
5) The truth hurts because you do not want it.
6) The image you project of God is ugly.
7) Your viewpoint is only that.
8) People are not your personal vending machines.
9) You do not want help. Stop asking for it.
10) Your whacked behavior defies your Christian explanation for it.
11) Telling people you love them does not make it okay for you to hurt them.

So, there you go. Someday...

Egypt!

It is exciting to watch the news tonight. It has been an education for me to witness, via the media, the last 18 days of unrest in Egypt. For instance, I didn't know the details of how Mubarak came into power. He was present at Sadat's assassination, and, as the head of Egypt's Air Force then, he took temporary control of the government of Egypt. This temporary control is what he kept for 30 years. Amazing, eh? There is much I don't know, but I do know that the world is changing before our eyes. I also know that these are days to pray for Egypt.

2-Hour Delay

As a kid, I remember well the 2-Hour Delay. We have one today. Preschool, therefore, is cancelled. I can still recall the wash of blessing and relief I felt as a 13-year old when I - awake like Christmas morning - heard it on the radio. Now I could sleep in! It wasn't a snow day, but it was the next best thing. Sleeping in was unabated joy, even if it consisted of two hours of unbroken wide-eyed staring over the pillow at the clock.

Now having everyone else in the house sleep in is my preference. Alone I sit in a rightly quiet house. Coffee, there will be coffee in heaven. The hazardous snow on the ground measures roughly the thickness of two slices of American cheese, wrappers removed. The sun will do my shoveling for me. It feels like the best way to start a day sometimes, is to delay it.

It's funny, however, that almost everyone I know loves to be told, at the beginning of a day, "your day is delayed or cancelled." Days are all we have, yet the way many of us live makes us love to shorten or skip them.

Cheesehead Nation

I don't think I've enjoyed a Super Bowl more. As a Vikings fan, I find it easy to like Green Bay today, for some reason. Congratulations Cheeseheads!

What's the spiritual application? The good guys win, eventually.

LATER NOTE:
I was kidding with the "good guys" thought, but now that I've heard and seen some of "the good" in the Packers' stories, I'm amazed. I've written it here before: sports, whether you like them or not, are a testing ground for character. Many players on every NFL team are giving men of faith. So, it turns out, all kidding aside, that the most watched TV program in all of history can, in fact, be mined for lessons and insight about life. Go figure. :)

The poor musical performances (anthem and halftime) also made the news. Those of us who are musicians can feel for them. Remember, it was the most watched TV program in history.

Snow Day

It's been a while since I've written here. This blog has floated away from my day-to-day awareness like driftwood. Returning to it stirs the sentimental in me. I remember the first several entries made one summer from my covered back deck every morning. Coffee, a bible and books, and this laptop combined to produce sentences and paragraphs. I had readers right away. Now I'm not sure anyone will read this. Snow on top of snow with the potential for ice knocking out our power is the reality today. I write this blog from my basement with a thick robe and ski hat. Still I see coffee, bibles and books, and this laptop. The passing of time is more certain than change. Some change is cosmetic. Snow teaches this. I built an igloo for Kelsie yesterday. It has a door. She fits in there nicely, but protests any Eskimo's opinion of the warmth of such a shelter. Schools are closed from here to Texas. Travel and commerce for over a third of the United States shows little potential for occurring today, tomorrow, or the next day. Snow seems in every way a transformation of reality, yet it is only snow. It is only a covering. All that was before it arrived still is. Earth (and life in the eastern half of America) is only covered and paused temporarily.

Stray thoughts:

- Yes, He (Jesus) makes our sins as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). Remember that the whiteness of the snow is an illustration. The prophet calls his hearers to reason with God, to think. The snowy picture is a jump-start to thinking about God's forgiveness. The work of Jesus Christ is never cosmetic, personally or historically. What He covers changes status forever, unlike snow.

- Potential power outages are our problem this week. Power outages are always a problem. Welcome to the 19th century. Be careful with fire. Sometimes physical power outages cause a renewal of spiritual, emotional, and relational power. If we have to have one, let's pray to have the other.