Mark Jackson
The "e-thing" was the e-newsletter of the church @ hickory hollow and an excellent opportunity for me to write in my own voice about the vision of the church and God's plans for our lives. In the process, I wrote a good bit about my past, my experiences, and things that caught my attention. What follows is a number of those articles... they are in chronological order, with an index provided to let you browse them on your own.
And you ask (and rightly so), "Mark, what in the world are you talking about? This is more cryptic than one of your messages!!!" :-)
OK, let me explain. We (I) have a tendency to compartmentalize our lives/relationships. In my case:
- church
- boardgaming
- college friends
- extended family
(This, frankly, is less compartments than I used to have... my list 10 years ago was MUCH longer.) Most of the time, those worlds don't overlap... or if they do, they overlap in carefully proscribed ways.
But then there are those moments when everything intersects... like at Shari's graduation from college, when our good friends from outside our church AND our friends from our church AND my parents AND Shari's parents were all there at the same time... and every mask you've ever tried to wear to please someone stares you in the face. There are too many different audiences in one place and you have to get down to what/who is really you. (Note: as nasty as this sounds, it's not a bad thing... just a painful one.)
You know what? If we're going to be deadly honest, I need to add one more compartment to my list:
- God
I act like He intersects my life once in a blue moon... when the reality is He intersects my life 24/7. So, if I'm going to experience God, I've got to acknowledge this reality - God doesn't fit neatly into a compartment. He will not allow Himself to be boxed up and put in the attic. He loves us too much.
Separate, compartmentalized lives... if you plan to take God seriously, plan to see your compartments mix & match like Garanimals (another cheap 80's reference)... here's a better analogy: all of your carefully built corners of your life will run together like a watercolor painting in the rain.
Scary? Heck, yes. Necessary, if we want to really experience God's presence? You bet.
This is a true story.
I laughed OUT LOUD when I read this the first time... the picture of tipsy rats ganging up on felines while singing drunken sailor songs popped into my head.
Then another picture appeared... I mean, I'm a pastor. It's hard for me NOT to get allegorical.
Isn't the church a little like those rats? Yet, instead of being drunk on high octane 'shine, we are filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18) And we have some BIG cats to gang up on... a world that's grown cold to the power and love and grace of Jesus Christ.
Alcohol used to be called "Dutch courage"... a way to falsely build up your will in order to do something difficult. The Spirit of God is "real courage"... trusting in Someone bigger than you to tackle every thing in our lives: addictions, marriages, dreams, hopes, nightmares, debts, emptiness, direction... whatever!
That's what the church @ hickory hollow is all about... not only being a safe place for non-believers and believers to explore the dangerous truth of God, but a HEALING place where they can experience God invading in their lives and making them into what they were always intended to be - His children. That's worth getting fired up about.
What Does All This Mean?If you guessed "words Mark uses when discussing games", you are correct. (If you went to FX service on Tuesday night, you already know that, but we won't count it against you.)
Pretty much unintelligible, eh? Not to me... I live & breathe this gaming stuff, so the language seems natural.
It's the same with our "church-y" language a lot of us have picked up: my walk, in the 'Word', bless you, washed in the blood, I covet your prayers, let's just worship, quiet time, saved, born again.
It's pretty much unintelligible to people without church background... yeah, it makes us feel comfortable but it's still not right! If we want people to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we've got to use language they understand.
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6 (NIV)
So, that's your homework for the week... listen to your own conversation for "church-y" phraseology and figure out how to say it in "non-church-y" language. It'll be a gift to the people around who don't know God.
Tim tells me now that he wondered what kind of idiot would take a picture of someone he hardly knew. I just kept thinking that I could get the roll developed quicker if I used up the film. So, I've got this odd picture of a guy standing against his Firebird in a parking lot with a very quizzical look on face... as if to say, "Hurry up and take your stupid picture... I want to start driving home."
Fast forward to June of 1990... on the platform of Shady Oaks Baptist Church where I'm waiting in my tux for Shari to appear. Standing next to me is that same guy - Tim Formby, my best man.
Fast forward again to October of 1996... in a hotel room in Forrest City, Arkansas. After a night of boardgaming, Tim and I stay up late discussing the ideas & dreams that will become the church @ hickory hollow.
And I've still got that crazy picture of him... and it reminds me that none of us know what role people will end up playing in our lives. We don't have a clue. (And that ought to cause us to think twice about how live out what we believe in front of 'strangers'... hmmm.)
I think that's true of churches, too. Most of us didn't have a clue about what we'd find here at the church @ hickory hollow... maybe your "first picture" of us was a little odd. Maybe it still is.
Well, that's what our Big Picture meeting is about this Sunday night. Not just a chance to talk about membership, but also a chance to get a clearer picture of who we are and where we're going. See the notes below for directions and details.
Of course, I've got to belabor my point for just a moment... every person you meet is an "eternal being" (in other words, they will live forever, either with God or without Him). Simply put: you have never met an "average" person... each one of us matters to God. It's about time we started living like it... waiters, checkers, the guy in the next cubicle, friends, the girl who drives like a maniac... all of them... an eternal being. Wow.
The sport called the "luge," which is the Norwegian word for "yikes," works this way: competitors wearing Spider-Man costumes hurtle down a steep, ice-covered track at about 2,000 miles per hour lying on their backs on a sled the size of a Snickers bar. Why do they do something so dangerous? They do it for the honor of representing their nation at the Olympics; also, they are completely unconscious. Their coaches sneak into their dormitory rooms at 4 A.M., whack them on the head with blunt instruments, carry them up the hill, and shove them down the track. Often they do not regain consciousness until the Olympic medals are placed around their necks.
OK, I'm back now. Believe it or not, this little blurb from my Dave Barry One-A-Day calendar got my brain churning.
What parts of my life would I rather somebody give me a concussion so I could just waltz through them oblivious to reality? Sadly enough, I've treated big chunks of my life this way... blissfully ignoring the real and pretending I didn't have any control. ("Somebody just pushed me into this...")
Unfortunately, it's easy to spiritualize those attitudes... to go from seeing the spiritual reality of a situation (God being in control) to abdicating any personal responsibility (if God's in control, then what I do doesn't matter). Sounds good, eh? But it just isn't Biblical!
Some people get weirded out that there are so many instructions on how to live life in the Bible - we just spent 9 weeks going over the fruit of the Spirit - and we've only scratched the surface. I like to take a positive slant on all those instructions... it means that my choices MATTER and God wants me to make the best possible choices. I'm not simply riding the 'snickers bar of life' in a semi- or unconscious state... I can choose where I go... and, conversely, I can go majorly off-course.
That shows God to be someone who values us... but it also means we're responsible for our actions. And that brings us right back around to needing Jesus and His forgiveness, as we are sinful people, prone to drive our sled right up over the edge of the course into the crowd. Thank God He forgives and heals us... and those we hurt when we go off course.
Hey, that's pretty heavy thinking for starting with a Dave Barry column!
And you're thinking, does this have ANY point or has our pastor simply decided to ramble 'just because he can'?!
Well, it's time we came up with traditions that have meaning... in the case of St. Patrick's Day, drinking green beer and wearing buttons that say "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" just don't cut it. At it's heart, we're celebrating a guy who loved God so much that he was willing to go back to the land he'd escaped from, the people who had held him in slavery, in order for them to know Jesus.
If there's any tradition we ought to start, it's a willingness to love the people who mis-use us so much that we'd still treat them with honor, respect... and an understanding that they are creations of God that He dearly loves.
That's our question... not doing a post-mortem on the lives of the broken people around us and among us... but asking "What now?" and knowing that the love & hope & grace of Jesus Christ is the answer.
And, if it's really the answer, and we're *really* Christians (or, to sort of translate, "people who follow Jesus' example"), THEN we are the vehicles for the love & hope & grace that people so desperately need.
Maybe you're one of them... maybe you have been longing for someone to realize how broken and screwed-up you are really are... someone who can offer hope. Well, we here at the church @ hickory hollow LONG to do that... but we're pretty screwed-up sometimes ourselves. Let us know your hurts and your needs... take a chance and see God work through the community He built, His church. Really.
Cuz if you're "one of them" (the messed-up people)... you're one of us. All of us have "fallen short of the glory of God" (which is the Bible way of saying that the good & right life that we were created for remains far out of reach because of our abysmal way of living our lives.) So, you're in good company. We're not going to laugh at you, or call you names, or find ways to marginalize you at social gatherings. Jesus liked to hang out with messed-up people and show them truth and hope... so do we.
When we don't, when we fall back into wearing masks of "everything's ok" and putting you off with less-than-authentic lines we're mouthing like a badly dubbed movie... call us on it. Tell us where we've gone wrong. Our dream and desire is to act as a channel for Christ's love... so if something's clogging up the delivery spout, show us and we'll clean it out together.
Harry Potter, Satire & Red HerringsThis week, it's Harry Potter. Thanks to an internet-based satirical 'magazine' entitled THE ONION, I'm now getting questions about the Harry Potter books and their possible Satanic influence. (For those of you who haven't been on the planet long, Harry Potter is a publishing phenomenon. This series of books about a young boy who finds out he is a wizard and is sent to wizarding school - where he tangles with Lord Voldemort, a VERY bad guy - has so dominated the best-seller lists that publishers have chosen to delay releases by other authors because they were afraid they couldn't knock Harry Potter off the top... and has even prompted calls for a separate best-seller list for children's books to clear Harry Potter out of the way!)
For the record, I've enjoyed the Harry Potter series... I'll get to my recommendations as far as kids go in a little bit, but it's basically a brilliantly written fantasy story with a fully developed "world" and a strong sense of right & wrong. (It completely ignores the spiritual components of magic & life... probably the biggest issue for those reading the books... but hardly a viewpoint limited to Harry Potter. Try to remember the last NORMAL religious character you've read about or seen in a movie or book... [mine is the two lead characters in John Grisham's THE TESTAMENT].)
Back to THE ONION... one forward I received quoted referred to it as "an independently owned local Denver newspaper." Well, no. Like I said before, it's a web-based work of SATIRE (like Saturday Night Live or The National Lampoon). All of the forwards I've received have assumed that this article (entitled "Harry Potter Sparks A Rise In Satanism Among Children") was authentic... and didn't realize that was a sarcastic exaggeration in order to make fun of a "wacky" point of view.
In the case of the Potter books, they are taking a shot at some of the more conservative Christian reactions to Harry Potter... which include some alarmist talk about the series influencing kids to choose the occult. So, they blow those fears WAY out of proportion to be 'funny'.
So, if you're still reading this far in, here's the actual link to the original "article" from The Onion
[Please be warned... what others consider "funny" is rude, crude, and probably blasphemous.] For those of you who don't want to read it, it essentially makes up quotes from children denouncing God and embracing Satan because of Harry Potter... along with supposed quotes from Satanic leaders & an especially offensive 'interview' with the author of the books. Again, all of this is FAKE for a supposedly 'humorous' effect.
The ACTUAL Christian response to the Harry Potter books has been mixed. Two excellent articles available on the web are:
- Christianity Today gave the series a very positive response
- Focus on the Family was pretty guarded but well thought out
Earlier, I said I'd offer my opinion... for me, the Potter books read like the Chronicles of Narnia (by C.S. Lewis) or A Wrinkle in Time (by Madeline L'Engle) without any Christian influence. They are pretty "moral" stories (good, evil, sacrifice, friendship, sportsmanship, etc.) but there are some good questions to be answered about the spiritual side of the stories. (Magical power is not tied to any particular spiritual force... it's more like gravity or a learned skill.)
As far as kids go, the books fall somewhere between G and PG... each one is getting a bit darker as the stakes in the war against Evil grow bigger & bigger. I wouldn't recommend these books for kids under 5th grade, but think they'd be GREAT books for parents to read *with* kids to both enjoy the stories and discuss the questions that get raised.
So What?!?
So, why am I taking up precious bandwidth talking about Harry Potter?
1. There are so many REAL issues we need to deal with in our world, I hate to spend our energy and time on something that doesn't exist. (This is where the 'red herring' reference in the title comes from... in mystery novels, a 'red herring' is a clue that serves to distract you from the real criminal. The article from The Onion is a red herring for us in Christian circles.)
1a. For example, hunger or justice for oppressed peoples or our temper... Harry Potter is a much easier target than stuff like this. For years, churches have majored on minors (i.e., "Christians can't dance" or "Christians can't play cards") rather than majoring on majors (i.e., "Christians need to serve others" or "Christians have to deal with anger in a Christ-like way"). At least around here, I want us to major in what's important.
1b. I'm NOT saying Satanism isn't a real issue... I'm saying "Harry Potter = Satanism" isn't a real issue.
2. Circulating stuff like this gives the Church a bad name... we become known for tilting against a non-existent 'windmill' rather than living out our faith.
2a. We've got to work hard to check the sources of things... to ask questions before embarking on crusades. (Kudos to the folks who forwarded this stuff to me, asking for my opinion and questioning whether it was for real... that's one way that can help us sort the real thing from the false!)
2b. If there isn't a way to reference the original article, start asking questions. Two of the three forwards I received were quotes from the article without any way to find it.
2c. See if there is an address/title/name on the ORIGINAL e-mail. (Fakes often don't have this... in fact, one of the best clues to figure out something is an urban legend is the "I heard this from a friend of a friend" introduction.)
Hey, honest discussion of any issue is welcome... what we've got to watch is trusting the wrong sources for information.
As usual, I'm open to questions, comments, various kinds of internet-based rock-throwing, etc.! :-)
So, some of you are asking by now, why in the world did you choose to become a pastor? (It certainly wasn't the easy hours and/or the chance to get rich quick...) I mean, you're gonna have to preach, right?
Yes, and that's the problem... cuz if I preach/teach, then I've got to say something meaningful and (hopefully) helpful for dealing with life... something that brings the reality of God to bear on our everyday world. And when I do that...
...I end up nailing myself to the wall.
For example, this last Sunday we started a new series on spending "An Ordinary Day With Jesus". I spoke about living our lives with the "realized presence of Jesus" 24/7... and how important that was... how it would affect every decision we make... how it would affect the way we treat every person we run into...
...and then the mower quit running.
Shari decided late yesterday afternoon (in a blur of post-Titans loss energy) to do yardwork chores... and I, being a wise & thoughtful husband, decided to join her. :-)
The mower inexplicably quit after she finished about 1/2 the backyard... and no amount of yanking, pulling, sweating, and/or kicking it would get it to start. Plenty of gas, choke set on fast, nothing obstructing the blade... but nada, zilch, zero in the start department.
I stood there on our porch, feeling my anger rise up... the desire to cuss out the mower or be snippy with my wife or BOTH growing second by second. It's a dangerously warm feeling - a self-righteous urge to let loose because "you're entitled to it" and "I deserve better"...
...then what I'd said not 8 hours earlier kicked in. "Is this worth it? What does this have to do with honoring Christ and being aware of His presence?"
Shoot... I was just getting ready to enjoy my anger and let it boil over like a pot of Minute Rice. No more...
I guess I don't really hate preaching... it's probably more that I want to run my own life and God uses everything, including my job as a pastor, to remind me how much I need Him.
What about you?
Nathan Alexander FormbyThat's all well & good, but their son is alive & well in... Siberia. (For those of you not up on your Russian geography, that's the really cold place north of China & Mongolia.) As you've probably guessed by now, Tim & Kim are adopting Nathan...
I continue to be stunned at the mountain of paperwork & red tape that they've had to climb to get this far... and the obstacles that still are in front of them. (You can be praying for safety for Tim & Kim and for Nathan, as the next couple of months involve much more paperwork and at least one/possibly two trips to the former Soviet Union.)
This morning, as Tim & I talked on the phone, I was struck by his willingness to undergo all kinds of craziness in order to adopt his son. And that got me going in another direction.
We are loved by a God who was willing to undergo all kinds of craziness to adopt us as His children. He sent Jesus to die for our sins, He raised Him from the grave... and He established the church so we can learn to live in His love in the context of community. Just like Tim & Kim, God was willing to sacrifice & bleed in order to make us His own.
Let that truth roll over you today - you are so loved by God that he'd go to Siberia (a barren wasteland) for you - heck, He'd come to earth as a baby for you.
Close behind that is: "You're not what I'm looking for." Or, it's job interview form: "You're not what we're looking for." (Amazing how close job stress & dating stress can be, eh?!)
At times, life can seem like a long parade of these kind of statements... the words hardly finish in the mouth of an ex-girlfriend when we hear them from a H.R. rep at the company we want to work for.
The one person who will NEVER give you that line - "You're not what I'm looking for" - is God. In the person of Jesus Christ, He proved once and for all that He was looking for us, warts and all. He wasn't checking out our resume, seeing what we'd accomplished. He wasn't interested in who our friends were or our earning potential or how good looking we were.
Jesus was simply interested in making us His... "God demonstrated his love for us in this - while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) We are EXACTLY what He is looking for.
Good news, eh?
[Credit where credit is due: this 'thing to chew on' comes to you courtesy of Michelle Mattox, one of our Leadership Team members. As part of our small group time, she began talking about this and really got me thinking about the love of God. Very cool.]
One lady was enterprising. She thought, I can render a service to people in the city and save them money. She placed an ad in the newspaper that said, "When your pet dies, I will come and take care of the carcass for you for $25." This lady would go to the local Salvation Army and buy an old suitcase for two dollars. Then when someone would call about his or her pet, she would go to the home and put the deceased pet in the suitcase.
She would then take a ride on the subway, where there are thieves. She would set the suitcase down, and she would act like she wasn't watching. A thief would come by and steal her suitcase. She'd look up and say, "Wait. Stop. Thief." The people who stole those suitcases got a real surprise when they got home.
a true story from Scott Wenig
Here's the deal: too darn many of us are subway thieves. We are willing to do just about anything to grab happiness - sleep around, drink or snort or pop something, lie, cheat, steal, gossip, hedge, fake it, shade the truth, fold, cave in, forget on purpose to do what's right - and not lose much sleep about it. Unfortunately, we're spending a chunk of time and moral energy on $2 suitcases filled with dead cats.
It's time to re-examine the way we live... yesterday. And one of the best flashlights we can use to shine a light into the dark corners of our lives is the Bible. Take some time this Memorial Day weekend to read one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John - the first four books in the New Testament) and see what a real life looks like.
Anticipation...Well, that's where Shari & I are as we wait for our first child to be born. As of this morning, Shari will be induced on Tuesday the 5th if we don't have the baby beforehand. (This is your cue to pray for a safe delivery and a healthy baby!)
It's the same place that we live as Christians... we live in anticipation of something bigger & better than the goodness that is life here on earth.
In Hebrews 11:13-16, the author of the letter says that "All these people [the heroes of the Old Testament stories] were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things [who admit they "don't belong here"] show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."
The waiting (for heaven, for the power of God to irrevocably change the world, for having a perfected awareness of the presence of God 24/7) is made easier by the realization that the way it is right now (living on earth, living with a world that is royally screwed up, having a difficult time sensing/experiencing God) is NOT the way we were intended to live. We really are "aliens & strangers" - anticipating the home we've never been to...
Right now, Shari and I know that Moriah OR Braeden (girl or boy - we don't know yet) will be here soon... it could be tonight or it could be Wednesday (if labor goes long - ANOTHER place for you guys to be praying... that the baby would make a QUICK entrance!). Either way, we know our baby's on the way.
Jesus may come back tonight... or He may wait another 1,000 years. You could live to the ripe old age of 100, cruising around a retirement community on your electric scooter chair... or you could die tonight. The only thing you know for sure is that there IS a "better country"... and that those of us who have surrendered our lives to Christ will get there.
Styrofoam, among it's many other wonderful properties, makes the most satisfying "crack" when you break it. Heck, it sounds like something large just splintered under high pressure. You can't imagine how therapeutic it is to "work out" your anger by beating big sticks of Styrofoam against trash cans and brick-o-block walls and hearing a cacophony of shattering noise.
The best part? No one gets hurt when you break Styrofoam - including you! You don't have to pay to fix what you've broken, either (remind me to tell y'all sometime about putting my fist through the drywall at our first home in Nashville.)
Here's the problem - the vast majority of us work out our anger on non-Styrofoam items: dishes, papers, drywall (sigh), people... yep, people. In fact, I'd hazard a guess that *most* of our anger management involves trying to break & splinter other people.
Now, it's not usually a physical thing... but our words can shatter against another human being as effectively as those Styrofoam boxes. And the damage we do with our verbal beatings can leave lasting scars on the emotional landscape.
So, what do we do? Heck, what do *I* do? What do *you do? How do we follow the teaching of the Bible and "in our anger, do not sin"? (In other words, when we're angry, don't hurt ourselves or others.)
Here's my first step - I have to start with God. Every time I'm tempted to put my fist through a stretch of drywall or blow off an lazy service employee or gesture angrily at a Nashville driver, I've got to go to God. I've got to say, "Here's the reality of my anger... help me." I've got to focus on the character of God: loving, kind, truthful... rather than on the thing that made me ticked off.
It's not that I end up "OK" with the situation or person - "God took all my anger away!" It's that I can say - "I can look beyond this situation/person and attempt to follow Christ's example... even as I fully acknowledge the anger & frustration I feel."
Easy? No. It'd be simpler to whack away at a trashcan with pieces of Styrofoam... but it would be a whole lot less likely to help us become more like Jesus.
A Provocative E-mail
And then I got this e-mail from an atheist friend. He'd sent me a link to a story about the statements made by Jerry Falwell & Pat Robertson on the 700 Club a couple of days after the terrorist attacks... and he'd added the following comment.
My first reaction was to send this to my secular friends as an example of "Christian Love". And then, instead, I decided to forward it to somewhere it might do some good - to a pastor whom I have great respect for. I hope that within your church, and through your greater church organization, you will denounce and distinguish yourself from these officers of the Western version of the Taliban. These snakes must be censured by Christians if the religion is to be kept clean, just as we expect Islamic Americans to denounce the violence done in the name of their religion.
And so, challenged by his 'faith' in me and sickened myself by the remarks that had been made, I attempted to respond.
I wish Disney Corporation would build a REAL new amusement park in the States (like the almost-open Tokyo DisneySeas) rather than the cheap "good enough for Six Flags" California Adventure. I wish all of the games on my search list (held by Manu) would be found and shipped to me. I wish someone would give me enough money to pay off my mortgage and buy a new car. I have a lot of wishes.
I wish people who should know better would learn to keep their mouths shut... to follow the teachings of Scripture and be "slow to speak, quick to listen, slow to anger". But, over time, I've come to expect little more than this from the vast majority of tele-evangelists and Christian media types... Neil Postman was DEAD ON in his incredible book, Amusing Ourselves To Death, when he suggested that religion is profoundly changed by being broadcast on TV.
First, let me apologize to you for those who share my basic faith (in the need for a personal relationship with God through the sacrificial death & resurrection of Jesus Christ) yet still manage to make mincemeat of the truth when you point a camera at them. While I agree that certain behaviors and worldviews attacked by these two are not biblical, I would quickly point out that God could just as easily "lift the curtain of protection" (sigh) for religious hypocrisy or profiteering off faith as abortion or pagan religious beliefs. (Jesus saved his most blistering attacks for those who abused their spiritual leadership.)
Second, I need to point out that the views you've heard expressed by these two (and are being expressed by others) are not necessarily the Christian mainstream, any more than the Taliban or the terrorist organizations speak for all of Islam. In a peculiar blending of scriptural interpretation and "my country - right or wrong" patriotism, they have assumed the promises given to the Jewish people in the Old Testament directly apply to the United States because of it's "Christian" origins. [Never mind that: a. the Jewish people took it in the teeth a number of times in the O.T. even with those promises in place, and b. that America's origins may have some routes in Christian belief, but also include healthy doses of Deism, rationalism, and pure, unadulterated greed.] As you can probably guess, I don't share their viewpoint.
Third, I hope you'll be heartened to know that my sermon/teaching tomorrow morning will be focusing on the scriptural concepts of "overcoming evil with good", "in your anger, do not sin", and "in Christ, there is no Jew or Greek" - as I attempt to lay out some solidly 'Christian' reactions to the horror of these attacks. One of my greatest fears right now is not lousy theology (there always seems to be plenty of that around) but racism in the name of patriotism.
Fourth, there have already been a number of folks in Christendom who've taken Robertson & Falwell to task for their grandstanding during this time of crisis. I had actually read of their remarks on Christianity Today's website Friday, who took a decidedly dim view of their tomfoolery.
Fifth, I take issue with your equating two televangelists with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. While they are irritating and often maddening, they have not recently taken over a country and instituted Sha'riah (sp?) law. (Yes, I understand that many of the legal changes they would like to see would be stifling... but what they long for is an idealized view of the 1950's in the suburbs/South as much as a "Christian" nation.) I understand your anger - but think your metaphor is inflated.
Sixth, thank you for paying me the compliment of forwarding this story to me. As always, I appreciate your friendship and the intellectual challenge of our conversations. If you would not mind, I'd like to use your original note to me and my response as a base for my e-mail newsletter to my church this next week.
yours in Christ,
mark
Within 24 hours, he answered... with permission to do this article and a couple of other interesting comments.
ME: "I need to point out that the views you've heard expressed by these two (and are being expressed by others) are not necessarily the Christian mainstream..."
Well, this is an interesting distinction. Unmistakably they do not speak for all Christians. However, through their visibility, they can easily come across, rightly or wrongly, as representing the mainstream. I truly don't know what goes on out there, and unfortunately, much of my knowledge of American Christianity (as a practice, not as a theology) comes from the media, which is to say, from those who speak the loudest. So I imagine it must be an especial burden for someone like yourself to see your religion so profoundly misrepresented.And that was that... except that the news went a different direction in the days that followed and one of my friend's comments became even more interesting in light of it.And this is why I believe it is so important for you to *actively* distance yourself, and for more Christian churches to come down hard against these people. If the Falwells of the world are the ones who put a face on Christianity, then this is the face that people will see.
Additionally, I am sure that many in your congregation listen to these shows. If someone like yourself does not take a stand, then there will be those in your congregation who come to believe that the ideas expressed by Falwell do indeed represent Christianity.
The Rest of the Story
In the next couple of days, both Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson issued statements.
Pat Robertson first supported the remarks made by Falwell (both on the telecast with comments like "I totally concur" & "Amen" and in statements issued to AP: "In no way has any guest on my program suggested that anyone other than the Middle East terrorists were responsible for the tragic events that took place on Tuesday Š I again emphasize that there are organizations within the United States which have labored unceasingly to strip religious values from our public square, and in the process, to take away the mantle of divine protection which our nation has enjoyed ever since the days of its founding."
And then, there was an about-face. In his final press release on the comments, he castigated Falwell for uttering "a political statement of blame directed at certain segments of the population that was severe and harsh in tone, and, frankly, not fully understood by the three hosts of The 700 Club who were watching Rev. Falwell on a monitor." He then told Fox News that he considered the remarks "totally inappropriate."
Meanwhile, Jerry Falwell was doing some back-pedaling of his own. His first statement was as follows: "I sincerely regret that comments I made during a theological discussion on a Christian television program were taken out of their context and reported, and that my thoughts‹reduced to sound bites‹have detracted from the spirit of this time of mourning... My mistake on the 700 Club was doing this at the time I did it, on television, where a secular media and audience were also listening. And as I enumerated the sins of an unbelieving culture, because of very limited time on the 700 Club, I failed to point the finger at a sleeping, prayerless and carnal church. We believers must also acknowledge our sins, repent, and fast and pray for national revival."
I can't pretend to know what happened next or what motivated Falwell's actions... but this is where things got really interesting from a Christian perspective. Jerry Falwell issued a second statement a day later. What follows is part of the AP News story.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Rev. Jerry Falwell apologized Monday for saying God had allowed terrorists to attack America because of the work of civil liberties groups, abortion rights supporters and feminists. Falwell said his comments were ill-timed, insensitive and divisive at a time of national mourning. President Bush had called the minister's statement inappropriate.So?"In the midst of the shock and mourning of a dark week for America, I made a statement that I should not have made and which I sincerely regret,'' Falwell said. "I want to apologize to every American, including those I named. When I talked about God lifting the curtain of protection on our nation, I should have made it very clear that no one on this earth knows whether or not that occurred or did not occur." He said if the destruction was a judgment from God it was a judgment on all sinners, including himself.
Falwell told The Associated Press that no one from the evangelical community or the White House pressured him to apologize. However, he said a White House representative called him Friday while he was driving to the National Cathedral memorial service in Washington, and told him the president disapproved. Falwell said he told the White House that he also felt he had misspoken.
For me, it's my friend's comment:
If the Falwells of the world are the ones who put a face on Christianity, then this is the face that people will see.
I agreed with him completely that Saturday night as my outrage against anyone claiming to speak for God ("THIS is the reason 4,000 people died" - blech!) burned white-hot.
And I agree with him now, as I've watched a very public religious figure, a lightening rod for controversy and ridicule, very publicly apologize for what he said. While I don't always agree with Jerry Falwell, I'm thankful that a major part of this story is his saying "I was wrong." In doing that, he's putting "a face on Christianity" that shows humility, teachability, and an absence of pride.
There's a number of ways to still be cynical about this: "He just did it to get people off his back" or "He didn't mean it" or... well, the list could go on and on. Honestly, the spirit of his apology and what it means is for Jerry to take up with God - as people who claim to follow Jesus, we can simply accept it at face value and move on.
What About Pat?
I'll let you make your own decisions about Pat Robertson's "point the finger" defense. For me, it just offers a sickening counterpoint to Jerry Falwell's apology.
What About Responding?
Was it OK to respond with righteous indignation to the reports of their remarks on the 700 Club? In short, yes.
In long, yes... as long as our legitimate anger at mishandling the Truth didn't bleed over into cynicism and name-calling. It's all too easy to end up in the same place, claiming to speak for God when accusing of others of being unable to speak for God. Sigh.
What About Me?
In light of all this, ask yourself a couple of questions:
1. Who do I need to apologize to? (Take a cue from Jerry and offer an apology without finger-pointing. Chances are you've left someone in your wake in the last 48 hours that deserves your humble plea for forgiveness.)
2. Will you let this go? Will you forgive Jerry Falwell? Granted, he's made himself the target of barbs & criticisms (some of them justly deserved). But when we place him in the category of 'Christian buffoons' and refuse to extend grace to him, we set ourselves up for a fall.
Jesus: "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)
Let those roll around in your heart & mind today...
Thanks For Reading...
...and thanks again to J.D. for letting me quote him and turn some of what he said into a teachable moment.
Anyhoooo...
I had a reason for talking about Crouching Tiger... the fight scenes in it were spell-binding in their speed and grace. Blocking one blow after another, deflecting kicks & lunges & punches, parrying with spears & swords & whatever else they can find... all at a lightning pace.
But, of course, someone has to win, so one opponent would surprise the other and deliver an incredible blow. Stunning not only in its physical power but also in the raw shock of being hit.
Feels a little like life, huh? Blocking one thing after another from hurting you and your family, fending off creditors & bosses & people bent on irritating you for no good reason, parrying the verbal thrusts of gossip, lies & anger...
...and then someone/something blind-sides you. Hits you with incredible force, knocking you off your balance, setting you up to be hit again... and again... and again...
Why? Well, I'm not sure I have the be-all and end-all answer to this one... but I do know what's meant the most to me the past few days. Shari told me about it following her quiet time (read: time spent praying & studying the Bible) earlier this week... it's a quote from Beth Moore:
"The enemy can't squelch the power of God so he tries to disable the people of God."
And the verse she quotes is from one of Paul's letter (2nd Corinthians 1):
"We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."
Paul was, in the language of martial arts & schoolyard brawls, getting the poop kicked out of him. Read it... "great pressure", "far beyond our ability to endure", "despaired even of life", "felt the sentence of death". That's not just a bad hair day.
But the issue for Paul was so he could rely on God... and the issue Beth Moore raises parallels that: Satan would LOVE for us to believe that our lousy circumstances & the below-the-belt punches of life mean that God is gone and/or doesn't care... so we might as well give up.
For me, this week... that's been about our move to Saturday nights. I've felt like one thing after another has imploded or exploded on me... and the temptation to sit down & give up has been huge. But I still believe God is doing something special here in our authentic Biblical community, and that letting myself be disabled in the process means I'll miss out on it. I'm not going there.
Don't you go there.
BTW, anyone want to watch "Enter the Dragon" with me? :-)
Anyway, the fines piled up and I stopped going to the library out of embarrassment. Not the best way to fix the problem, eh?
Around Christmas, I finally paid off my fines and started checking stuff out again! Back to piles of nonfiction books - focusing on history & social sciences. (Shari has given me no end of grief for reading a book entitled "Salt: A World History" with comments like, "What next? Pepper?")
Insomnia
Stress & exhaustion tend to conspire to give me LESS rest... I have difficulty falling asleep. My usual solutions:
a. play board games via computer with people on the West Coast
b. read a particularly weighty book (most recently, _The Plug-In Drug_)
c. watch TV
If I choose to watch late-night TV, I end up splitting time between re-runs of Law & Order and the History Channel.
Taking History Seriously
So with a steady diet of History Channel & nonfiction library books, it's not surprising that I think that history is pretty darn important. "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it" - at least, that's how I remember the quote (meaning it's probably not quite right).
Since I've already paraphrased it once, I'll do it again to make my point(s):
"Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past."
or...
"Those who ignore the Bible are doomed to repeat the mistakes chronicled in the Bible."
or...
"Those who ignore their own sins/screw-ups are doomed to repeat their sins/screw-ups."
Ignorance is NOT bliss - it's a round trip ticket to the same ugly destinations we've seen before.
Ignore the history of racism and we'll end up with ethnic cleansing & more incidents like the razing of Rosewood, FL, and the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, OK.
Ignore the history of war and we'll end up with continent-shattering mistakes like the 100 Year's War, the multiple wars in Vietnam, or tragedies of Somalia.
Ignore the Bible and we'll end up indulging in the same stupid sins that plagued the people of Scripture - adultery, greed, lying, pride, etc.
Ignore our own past and we'll end up making the same mistakes over and over... end up committing the same sins.
Paying My Fine, Part II
How do we run from that kind of ignorance?
It starts with "going back to the library." I know that in my life, I spend way too much time running from my mistakes - and from anything that might remind me of them.
Like the Bible.
Anyway, just like I had to go "face the music" (and the librarian), we've got to turn to God and acknowledge that we have messed up.
The question for the week is:
What's your library? A broken relationship? A business deal you reneged on? Words that should have never been spoken? Casual disregard for faithfulness, sexual or otherwise?
The second question is:
How do you step off the cycle of ignorance? Join a small group to better study the Bible? Spend more time in Scripture on your own? Ask yourself & God some very honest questions? All of the above?
The World Cup and Other Miracles...Worse yet, we (the Americans) aren't the best in the world at soccer. This is a problem - we have a bit of a complex about not being #1. (And when I say we're not the best in the world at soccer, I'm not kidding. We were 32nd place out of 32 teams in the last World Cup.)
So, when the U.S. team is dangerously close to advancing into the second round of World Cup play (the first time since 1994) by either winning or tying the game we play against Poland tomorrow (heck, we can still advance with a loss if the right things happen in the other game in our group!), it's major.
[BTW, that game is on ESPN tomorrow morning at 6:30 am... I'm planning on setting my alarm clock and cheering on our team!]
Naturally, my mind drifts from World Cup Soccer to one of the other great themes in my life - following God. (There's a short detour in the twisted paths of my brain to "really good board games about soccer" but I won't dwell on that.)
So much of soccer - and so much of following God - is set-up. Scoring (doing something big & obvious) happens, but not all the time. Scoring is a matter of playing the WHOLE game well, of playing defense & offense, of trying again and again, of being patient & having endurance.
So is following God - a life of patience & endurance & faithfulness... even when the Big & Obvious Stuff doesn't seem to be happening.
Though the cherry trees don't blossom
and the strawberries don't ripen,
Though the apples are worm-eaten
and the wheat fields stunted,
Though the sheep pens are sheepless
and the cattle barns empty,
I'm singing joyful praise to God.
I'm turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God.
Counting on God's Rule to prevail,
I take heart and gain strength.
I run like a deer.
I feel like I'm king of the mountain!
Habakkuk 3:17-19 (The Message)
But... since South Korea beat Portugal 1-0, the United States ends up advancing to the round of 16 *anyway* and playing Mexico on Monday.
Christianity is like that - we're all losers. No matter how nice we are, no matter how good-looking, no matter how wealthy... we all sin. We all miss the mark. We all rebel against the goodness of God.
And it took Someone Else to get us in... Jesus Christ.
Have a great day. Don't forget you "got to advance" due to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
But the fact is, it was *our* pains he carried --
*our* disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him -- *our* sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole
Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
on him, on him.
Isaiah 53:9-14 (The Message)
If you're playing with a white & black ball at 6:30 am CST in Korea, I'd say soccer. Which, unfortunately (Yes, I was up early again, cheering our boys on while wearing my bathrobe.) We lost 1-0 to Germany in a hard-fought & beautifully played game. Germany advances to face either S. Korea or Spain while the U.S. goes home.
But... what if the game you're playing isn't primarily about going through to the round of 8 (nice though that would be) but about winning the respect of the world soccer community? In that case, the U.S. was successful - amazingly so. Beating Portugal & Mexico, playing Germany so close that a couple of inches would have turned an inadvertent hand ball into a tying goal... we are no longer the laughingstock of international soccer.
In our lives, the game may well seem to be:
- the most cash
- the nicest house
- the cushiest job
- the admiration of others
But, we're actually playing in a bigger game... living life in a way that reflects Christ. Success at the "obvious" game may well not translate into success at being conformed to His image - and vice versa.
Doesn't change the fact that the second 'game' is WAY more important.
[God] decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son.
Romans 8:29 (The Message)
You may well ask, "Who in the world is Larry DiPinto?" Good question: he was one of my closest friends in high school... an intelligent, funny guy with mammoth blue car from the early '60's handed down to from one of his great-aunts - complete with a plastic St. Christopher statuette Super-Glued to the dashboard.
Anyway, I vividly remember Larry complaining about having a birthday on the 5th of July: "Everybody parties the day before my birthday and then has a hangover to celebrate with me." Easy to understand his frustration when part of your birthday is spent picking up empty bottles & fireworks debris from the neighbors out of your front yard.
Today, I find myself wondering if God isn't the same kind of afterthought - if, awash in our desire to celebrate the wonderful country we live in, we forget to celebrate & enjoy the infinitely more wonderful God who loves us, forgives us, and makes us new? And I wonder if we forget that He's willing to do that regardless of what country we come from?
What if fireworks were not simply ways to blow up mailboxes & produce oooh's & aaah's, but acts of praise to God? The chemicals that make it work are His - He created the physical laws of the universe... the explosive light (and the darkness it's set against) are the first things he made. Let that roll around in your head a minute...
So, celebrate Larry's birthday today - better yet, celebrate the goodness of God. In the midst of everything else, in the tidal wave of partying, let us raise not simply a glass but our lives to Christ.
To me, it's a wonderful new beverage. (And, no, Coca-Cola is not paying me for this plug.)
It's also interesting to watch the media campaign - the catch phrase is "Indulge Your Curiosity".
An excellent suggestion, by the way, when it comes to God. All too often we think, "Hey I wonder about...", let it run through our heads for a minute or two, then click on the radio/tv/cd changer/vcr/dvd player and yet another important question about the nature of Jesus Christ slides into oblivion.
What about you? What's your question(s) about God... about what He's like? Or maybe you're bamboozled by all the different religions, some claiming to be the "one true way" and other saying that "all paths lead to God." Perhaps the question of evil & suffering (why do bad things happen to good people & good things happen to bad people?) is perplexing... or maybe you're overwhelmed because a question like that (about good/evil) isn't philosophical but personal in your case.
Indulge your curiosity... start by asking God for help. It's as simple as being honest with Him about your question, and then committing to seek the answer(s) with His help. (Frankly, if you just want to ask the questions like some know-it-all college freshman trying to show up the professor without any real personal interest in working to learn the truth, you're wasting your time in this process.)
Then indulge your curiosity some more - do the work. Read the Bible... ask questions of people who are wise about spiritual matters... go to church to do more than sit (if you've got a question, ask it!) Jesus never discouraged legitimate questions - but he was merciless with those who were "showing off" with their trick questions and philosophical traps.
So come to Christ honestly... wanting to learn... indulging your God-given curiosity to seek the truth...
...then live what you learn.
I collected mainly DC Comics (home of Batman & Superman)... about 2000 of them. (Yes, many of them are still in long white boxes in our garage, bagged in plastic... and some even with acid-free backing boards! Never let it be said I don't pursue my obsessions thoroughly.)
Then Shari came along - and in the grand scheme of things, it seemed a whole lot more important to impress her than it did to make sure I was up on the latest adventures of Flash, Black Canary & the Blue Devil. (So important, in fact, that I sold some of my collection to buy our engagement ring!)
Over the years, I have toyed with selling the collection - but, in one of those "cruel twists of fate" beloved by comic book writers, it's actually gone DOWN in value over the past 5-6 years. Evidently, I didn't collect the 'right' books... ah well, I just bought what I liked.
And, everyone once in a while, I like them enough to dig them out of the garage and read through a series again. In the last month or so, it's been The Phantom ("The Ghost Who Walks") and the New Teen Titans.
I think there's something appealing about super-hero comics... something that connects with us. These are worlds where there are good guys & bad guys, where the issues are usually pretty clear-cut, where redemption is possible but so are revenge & justice. While it can be a bit messy, there are conclusions & winners & losers.
Not at all like our everyday existence, where things are confusing & you can't tell the bad guys from the good guys without a score card (and even that doesn't always help). In fact, according to the Bible, we're ALL "bad guys" (Romans 3:23) in rebellion from God and messing up the world God created with reckless abandon.
And there are few "nice, neat packages" in our lives - family members die, dreams collapse, checks bounce, friends betray, emotions threaten to overwhelm us like a tidal wave.
It's enough to make you run out and buy the latest issue of Superman.
But the Bible seems to have a lot more to say about messed-up lives than it does about superpowers. We hear the stories of Moses (who ran from God for 40 years), of Abraham (who tried - TWICE - to pass his wife off as his sister), of Jacob (who stole his brother's blessing & ran for his life), of David (who had an affair & had his lover's husband killed), of Jeremiah (who never had a receptive audience for his preaching), of Peter (who denied Jesus three times in one night), of Paul (who killed Christians in a mission to destroy the fledging religion)... no nice, neat packages here.
Instead, we find a God who loves, forgives, chastises, pushes & shoves us into His image... sometimes through means we can't fathom and don't agree with. But He won't let us go.
That's WAY better than Batman beating up on the Joker.
God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son.
Romans 8:29 (The Message)
One problem: I hadn't played Tag at Brian's house before. Which means I didn't know that the retaining wall was only 3 feet high on the backyard side, but nearly 12 feet high on the front yard side. So, as the plan was executed to perfection, I slung myself over the wall into thin air. Kind of like Wiley E. Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons.*
Over the last few months, pastoring the church @ hickory hollow has felt a bit like playing Tag at Brian's house... plans that seemed perfect in theory have been less than perfect in execution. "Sure things" have ended up crumbling like a sand castle at high tide. Wiley E. Coyote all over again.
I realize I'm not alone in this... there is a core of people who continue to make tc@hh 'happen' who've had roughly the same experience. This group of folks has been watching our dreams collapse just like me, stunned as our hopes melt in the face of reality & time.
Home Depot & Hope
Home Depot promises a whole lot more than it can deliver... if you only spend enough money on the right tools and supplies, you can do Bob Villa-like projects on your home with the greatest of ease. (Heck, they'll even sign you up for classes on how to do this stuff - surely that should make a home improvement expert.) Just wander the aisles of Home Depot one day and look how many times the words "simple" or "easy" appear on the packaging.
I'm thankful, in light of my Wiley E. Coyote-like life, that the Bible (and by extension, God) never promises more than it/He can deliver. What He promises is His presence, His strength, and His unfailing love. There's no promise that I can find that we will not experience frustration & failure - as individuals or as local church bodies.
What is promised is that He will not leave us alone... that whatever happens to our plans & dreams, our hope is too small if it is placed in anything but Him.
No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.
We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.
Psalm 33:16-22 (NIV)
Wiley E. Coyote & What Happens Now?
When the Coyote ends up shooting over the edge of the cliff, he hangs in mid-air for a moment, awaiting his doom. Sometimes, he gets enough time to whip a sign out from... well, I'm not sure where it comes from. (I don't remember coyotes having "pouches" from anything I've ever read. Anyway...)
That's kind of where we are - hanging in mid-air waiting to find out what happens next. Just remember - whatever happens, however bad the "fall" looks, we can trust in a God who loves us more than we can ever know.
If you'd like to know more about the possible decisions that we're facing as a church, you are invited to call and/or e-mail me at gamemark@bellsouth.net. As always, questions are welcomed & encouraged... and it's very easy to have questions when we've (metaphorically speaking) just shot over the edge of the cliff.
*Amazingly enough, I only managed to sprain my ankle from the fall... 12 feet into a planter full of ivy.
modified: September 12, 2002
Mark Jackson