| Last Breaking Final News Story of 2009: James Dobson Back From Retirement Just ’cause this is on a post with cartoons, doesn’t mean we’re making it up. “Focus on the Family founder James Dobson announced that he will host a new daily radio show with his son Ryan in 2010.” More commentary on this in the new year; in the meantime read the story on The Church Report. |
…of 2009
Today’s cartoon is a T-shirt available in adult and baby sizes from Zazzle.comA couple of days ago I linked to a piece my wife wrote which is clearly worthy of more readers than the number who clicked on it. So I’m reprinting it here in full.
There’s been some discussion around here (at my house and on the ‘net in general) about the hugely popular “shoebox” giving program.
If you’re not familiar with this, the system is that a charity organization distributes thousands upon thousands of cardboard “shoeboxes” to schools, churches and other groups. Members of those groups fill the boxes with small gifts, selected for a boy or girl in a particular age group. The boxes get collected and shipped to other parts of the world where needs are great, and handed out to children there.
The program is promoted by slick and very moving videos and glossy ads. Some critics point out the difference between “charity giving” and “the pursuit of justice” and question the relative value and importance of each.
I’m not going to get into the whole debate here, but on one of the church based websites engaging the discussion I found this:
It’s an interesting side by side comparison. “Charity” is limited, short-sighted. “Justice” is broad-scoped and forward looking.
And the title is provocative. “Moving from… to…”. Obviously, to the author, one is inferior to the other. One is where we are, the other is where we want to be.
Charity bad, justice good.
But what strikes me about this chart is its incompleteness. Something’s missing. (more…)
One of the things about Andy Stanley’s church that impresses me is a study that they did using a Fortune 500 company where they conducted interviews with people in their services who had been in attendance for five weeks or less.
Let me pause and say that this speaks huge volumes about their church when they have enough people passing through on a regular basis that it’s worthwhile to employ a company to survey those who have been there only a very, very short time.
What they found was that many of these people were already interested in “discerning next steps.” They wanted to jump in with both feet and get involved; they wanted to get their hands dirty. (Okay, technically, that would be jumping in with both hands.)
I was reminded of this in a church yesterday when I looked at their bulletin which runs a recurring promotional paragraph about their men’s ministry, and it talks about a couple of social events their group holds a few times each year. I couldn’t help but think, “Okay, but what else do you do?”
I should say that this group does in fact offer some optional missiony things throughout the year — like that word? I just made it up — but they don’t advertise them much. I think people are looking for a cause. I think people who haven’t even crossed the line of faith yet are spiritually savvy enough to realize that Christians, if they are going to bear that name at all, should be about changing the world.
And then, in the evening I came across the Faith In Action site. This California-based organization partners churches with projects. Frankly, I’m not so sure that there ought to be any church in any part of the U.S. that has to engage an outside agency to point them in the direction of need. But what the heck, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt; there are many churches out in the American suburban hinterland that may be a tad isolated from what’s goin’ on down in the ‘hood. Or even what the church down the block is up to, which is another partnership service Faith in Action offers.
Faith in Action will also provide you with additional promotional materials to support your project. Banners. T-Shirts. Postcards. Doorhangers. (Ouch! I just bit my tongue.)
They’re also promoting a Faith in Action Sunday on 10/10/10. Nice numeric optics. But people in the inner city, people in need of jobs, people in need of food on their table, people in need of housing, people in need of justice, people in need of medical help, people in need of freedom from addictions, people in need of love, etc.; these people all need help NOW. Not on 10/10/10. It scares me to think a church could be aware of need but decide to hold back until that Sunday. I hope instead that 10/10 is actually the day they do THE REALLY BIG PROJECT.
But I do like their T-shirts. Don’t Go To Church, Be The Church.
Like, a big Amen to that.
It is with a mix of gratitude and humility that I realize that anybody should want to read my thoughts and opinions on anything enough to provide the readership base that this blog now enjoys. Though it’s small in comparison to the “biggies” in the world of Christian blogging, some of you — including some people in the worldwide Christian community whom I greatly respect — have even bothered to subscribe to this particular online voice.
One thing I have tried to do is stay focused on faith issues, religious news and devotional concepts. I don’t talk about tech, or gear, or blogging itself, and I’ve tried to leave my wife and family out of this, but still give the blog enough ‘personality’ that it represents my heart, and isn’t just an exercise in Christian news journalism. That said however, there have been a few stories that I thought were significant that other bloggers didn’t pick up, and so I’ve tried to be faithful to importing some things from news pages into these blog pages that people might have otherwise missed.
I’ve also tried not to rant, though that can be difficult. (I have two other blogs for that very purpose!) There are times when it’s just too easy to complain about that which isn’t ideal, but I’ve tried to make those comments enlightening and constructive.
In a way, writing — whether it’s correspondence or keeping a journal (or weblog) — is very much what separates us from the animals in general and is rooted in Christian tradition in particular. “Bring me the scrolls;” the Apostle Paul asks, “and especially the parchments.” Much earlier, Solomon notes, “There is no end to the writing of books.” And to think that was before the printing press or any other kind of “mass” distribution of the written word, let alone print-on-demand which as of now releases more titles than conventional book publishing.
Which means there are so many voices competing for your attention that I am, as I said at the outset, thankful and humbled that you should happen to stop here.
I once wrote the biography for a Christian musician’s press kit. He described the early part of his life this way, “I had a message, I just couldn’t carry a message.”
It’s easy for me to sit at the keyboard and have a daily message for my readers. But I have to be the kind of person who is a spiritually viable carrier for the message I want to bring. I need to be able to carry the message, and like all of us, I am learning as I go.
I’m the last person you want to whom you want to give tickets to a sports event. Seriously. It’s not that I can’t appreciate baseball, football, basketball or hockey; it’s just that when one team actually scores, I’m usually focused on something else happening on the sidelines, or watching the TV crew, or checking the printed program.
Of course I am fully aware of the aftermath of the home run, touchdown, basket or goal in question, and I cheer along with everyone else, but secretly I wish I was watching the televised game where I could at least catch the replay.
Or worse, I’m one of those people who turns to his friends and asks, “What just happened?”
I did it again last week, only I probably will never in this lifetime get a chance to catch what I missed.
The 2010 Winter Olympics are being held in Canada this year, and so the Olympic torch relay is now in progress, making its way from one end of this very large country to the other; and, as it turned out, passing right by my workplace on a day I was working and free to venture outside to watch.
I stood there with a guy who works in our building. He was to my left. The runner was approaching in the distance and then ran in front. He passed by the guy to my left, and then passed by me on the right. I watched for a few seconds more, and then turned to the guy on my left and started a conversation.
I can’t help it. I’m a people person. I like to talk.
By now, I would expect that the runner was a considerable distance down the block, but my building neighbor was continuing to point is camera to my right, and at one point got rather animated about something — like, oh, I don’t know, some idiot gabbing away about nothing in particular — and I turned back to see that the runner had only advanced a few more inches since I’d looked away, and had just passed the torch to another runner just a few steps from where I was standing.
And I’d missed it.
That’s why they call it a relay. Seeing the Olympic flame pass from runner to runner is a big deal It’s history. And I missed it. (And I think I kinda wrecked his video of the whole thing…)
I wonder sometimes if we are guilty of ‘missing the moment’ in our spiritual journey? You can be ‘right there’ and it can be happening ‘close by’ but you don’t catch it because you’re distracted with other concerns.
You can be a member of your church’s board, or a worship leader, or maybe you even have a Christian blog; but God is busy making history right nearby and you’re not seeing what he is doing. Maybe because you’re looking at — or doing — something else.
Matt left a comment on a Francis Chan book review here which linked his site where he blogs through the book and poses this question on a December 26th post:
If you read your own biography or heard a speech at your funeral, how much of it would be about what you’ve accomplished as opposed to what God’s accomplished in and through you?
We can be so busy — even busy doing “the Lord’s work,” but we can miss some fantastic moments where God is working out something far better than the deal we have cooking. Something where we could be the one making history.
I grew up in a family that celebrated the milestone moments when car odometers roll over to a significant number. Two summers ago, we had a couple of cars roll over to the 100,000 (km) mark, but while I knew both were coming up, I got distracted both times and missed the moment. (Tomorrow’s roll over to blog post 1,000 reminded me of this, but alas, there’s no odometer equivalent.)
I think that distraction is the enemy of spiritual awareness. And busy-ness is just another form of distraction. (If the devil can’t get you to watch pornography online, then he might get you addicted to blogging!)
Don’t be so busy that you ‘miss the moment’ spiritually speaking.
Don’t be so distracted by the TV crew, or the program, or the sidelines that you miss the game play.
While there are other days and other games, some things, like the Olympic runner passing right by your front door, only happen once in a lifetime.
God is working. Lives are being changed. You can have a part in a great adventure.
Don’t miss out.
…No, not that President; Ronald Regan in 1981. The blog One Man’s Thoughts reminds us what life was like 28 years ago. Though you still have to go a long way to match Charles Schulz scripting the speech Linus gives in the first Peanuts Christmas special.
The scary thing about the woman who attacked the Pope on Christmas Eve isn’t that she tried the same thing the year before, but that she was wearing the same outfit. Especially when you think she could have been doing something creative, like the Bowen Beer Bottle Band did. Then again, when it comes to Christmas and beer bottles, it would be hard to beat this Chinese project.
A more nobler project however, is the kind Nashville pastor Pete Wilson heard about while watching the news last week, only to discover the people showing kindness were from his own church!
But when it comes to doing good, it’s easy to not see the big picture, have wrong motives, or misplaced priorities. Jumping into the Shoebox debate with what I believe is one of her best blog posts ever, Ruth Wilkinson (who may be related) discusses charity vs. justice and introduces a third possibility — presence — into the mix.
Sadly though, sometimes those who give themselves to the service of others pay the ultimate price. Pray for the family of Little Rock, Arkansas Salvation Army Major Philip Wise who was shot and killed — in front of his three young children — in a Christmas Eve robbery.
And while you’re praying remember blogger Michael Spencer, the Internet Monk, and proprietor of Boars Head Tavern –two of the most popular Christian blogs — as he faces some uncertain health challenges; blogger and pastor Matt Chandler facing a battle with cancer; Canadian blogger and former sports chaplain David Fisher; and Stephen Weber, writer of the Daily Encouragement devotional site recovering from hernia surgery.
See ya back here in 24 hours, Lord willing.
Christmas play for the thousandth time
A store bought doll lying in the straw
Bed-sheeted shepherds walk down the main aisle
Following a cardboard star
But just when we think we’ve seen it all
Our callous hearts are caught be surprised
We look all around for people have found
The expectation in the children’s eyes…
Another family get-together
Shortbread, pudding, Christmas cake
Sleigh rides, parties, singing carols
Shopping done before it’s too late
The fireplace glow, the people we know
And those who just each year are seen
The babies, the old, the stories are told
While snow reflects the lights of red and green…
The stockings are hung, the “Twelve Days” are sung
The Christmas cards were mailed last week
The presents are wrapped, our energy’s sapped
The turkey’s served, we’ll pray and then we’ll eat…
The preacher reads the words from the gospel
Then Isaiah, chapter nine
The baby will become a King
And reign until the end of time
The manger, the desert, the temple, the cross
Five thousand fed, calmed angry seas
Wonderful counselor, mighty God
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace!
~Paul Wilkinson
Art Linkletter was famous for doing something on TV, but I can't remember what
You’ll never know unless you click on these links, right Art?
Demographically, the growth of the prosperity gospel tracks fairly closely to the pattern of foreclosure hot spots. Both spread in two particular kinds of communities—the exurban middle class and the urban poor. Many newer prosperity churches popped up around fringe suburban developments built in the 1990s and 2000s,…precisely the kinds of neighborhoods that have been decimated by foreclosures… Zooming out a bit,…most new prosperity-gospel churches were built along the Sun Belt, particularly in California, Florida, and Arizona—all areas that were hard-hit by the mortgage crisis. … “financial empowerment” seminars that are common at prosperity churches…pay lip service to “sound financial practices,” but overall they would send the opposite message: posters advertising the seminars featured big houses in the background, and the parking spots closest to the church were reserved for luxury cars.
HT: Pomplamoose at Zach’s.
Today’s cartoon is another from Jon Birch at ASBO Jesus. Click the image to link the site.
I never thought Frank Sinatra lyrics were cool until a youth ministry friend of ours decided to open each session of a retreat weekend with “Regrets? I have a few.” I can’t remember how he related this to the topic, but as 2009 draws to a close, I know that I have regrets, and it would be nice to live regret-free in 2010. How about you? Anything from this year you’d like to be able to do over? Rewind the tape and play out a particular scene differently?
I don’t spend a lot of time in the self-help section of bookstores. (I can just hear my acquaintances saying, “Ah! That explains it…”) I haven’t read Boundaries and my bookmark is still firmly set somewhere in the middle of Purpose Driven Life. But I was drawn to the title of Stephen Arterburn’s Regret Free Living.
My only previous experience with Arterburn’s writing was a very cursory reading of Every Man’s Battle, which was — typical of books in the broader psychology genre — very much based on anecdotal accounts. Regret Free uses stories as well, but I felt that these were used as a springboard for a larger discussion, and I can’t think of a better word than ‘discussion’ to describe the nature and tone of this book.
While we all struggle in different areas of relational dynamics — some of us more than others — the book’s forté has to do with the interpersonal dynamics of marriage and family life. I’m not sure however that a single person would find as much benefit, or someone thinking the book might deal with the relational dynamics in the workplace, or even regrets caused by poor decision making.
The more I read, the more I realized how foreign this type of Christian prose is to my reading experience. Still there were some things that really stood out. Here’s a snapshot:
When you’re thinking about regrets, just remember: You’re guilty and not guilty. Guilty for making whatever bad decision you did, not guilty for the factors that influenced you to make that bad decision.
And never forget that, in the final analysis, you don’t have to feel guilty at all. None of us ever does, once we’ve been completely forgiven — and Jesus Christ offers full forgiveness to any and all who come to him with a truly repentant heart. (p. 175)
As this passage suggests, the book is solidly aimed at the Christian market or those who are investigating the Christian faith. Each chapter contains relevant scripture citations that could make this easily the basis for a 13-week small group study. Small group questions are not provided however, nor are there any footnotes or bibliographic notes; copyright info on any quotations are embedded right in the text. I think that’s an attempt to make the book less intimidating.
Some of the ideas that stuck with me from the later chapters included the idea of having a “Life Check” which would work like “Spell Check” on your computer. (Sounds good. Where do I sign up for that?) Or introducing the different aspects to what we call “time;” chronos and kairos. (You know the first one every time you check the time in the corner of the computer you’re reading this on. You want to get to know the second better; the experience of being in the moment.)
However, I’ve got to say that at times I felt like the book was a little slow in moving on to the next point. Like maybe someone handed in a 40,000 word essay but the professor demanded 10,000 words more, so they filled it out. I think part of that may be my fault, because I wasn’t reading the book out of direct need, but merely as a book to review. For someone going through the pain of regret, some of the counsel of this book may be just what the doctor ordered.
Regrets? I have a few. I read books like this one and always remember that there will always be someone for whom this will be the first Christian book they have ever read. I then try to assess the book on that basis, and in this case, the joining of recognizable stories, logical analysis, solid advice and related scriptures passes that first book test with flying colors.
The full title is Regret Free Living: Hope for Past Mistakes and Freedom from Unhealthy Patterns by Stephen Arterburn with John Shore. (Bethany House Publishers, 2009; 231 pages, hardcover $17.99 US) Also available on Oasis Audio CDs read by the author ($25.99 US).
I think it was last year, or maybe the year before, there was a lot of debate among worship leaders online concerning “the carols.” (Quotation marks intentional.) Some worship leaders were caught up in doing the “latest hot worship song” and didn’t want to interrupt that just because December 25th was looming large on the calendar.
But this year, the church Mrs. W. and I attended for Christmas Sunday did nothing but the classics. A rhythmic change here. An extra bridge there. But there was something missing. It just didn’t show any imagination when it came to selecting the actual worship material. It left my heart longing for more.
So at 11:30 that night, I found myself heading over to Fred McKinnon’s blog and clicking whatever it is you click on there to actually open the Sunday Setlist link options and see what others had experienced that day. (Since that page has the links, you can catch them all there, or this will take me forever to post.)
Turned out a lot of worship leaders were fairly worn out after a long and busy day, and at first not many had posted their weekly list. But a few had posted some things worthy of mention:
David Goodwin, from down under, had access to “His Glory Appears,” from Hillsongs, which as far as I can tell, hasn’t been released here yetHallelujah! The Lord of life has come
to reconcile the nations to our God
Hallelujah! He’s coming back again
to finish what began in Bethlehem …
I didn’t list everything posted on Sunday Setlists, and there were probably some great songs done the week before (December 13) as there will be the week after Christmas (December 27); but I hope you can see that there’s a lot of creativity out there, and there are many songs to choose from which will cause people to lift up their hearts in an attitude of worship.
The classic carols are great, but sometimes are heart longs to sing a new song. (Isaiah 42:10)
Check out the Sunday setlists weekly at Fred McKinnon.com and this week in particular at this link.
BONUS ITEM:
Every once in awhile you run across a blog whose title makes a statement. This is Doug Thorsvik's. Click on the image to link.
PHOTO
The image at the top of the page is from the East Wall of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in West Bend, Wisconsin, USA
“My hope is built
on nothing less
than Scofield’s notes
and Scripture Press.”
~popular evangelical hymn parody
I’m trying to decide if I have time to squeeze in one more book before Christmas. Based on the introduction, this one looks promising, despite the publisher’s attempt to give it as drab a cover as humanly possible.
Oxford University Press was one of the original two printing companies that held a monopoly — okay, technically it was duopoly — on the 1611 King James Bible, and it was a company not known for taking chances.
But it broke new ground in Bible publishing when it committed to print something completely different: A study Bible by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield. Like the NIV Study Bible that’s probably on your shelf right now, The Scofield Reference Bible had text at the top of the page and notes at the bottom.
Only two revisions have been made to original 1909 edition; a minor revision in 1917 and a more thorough reworking in 1967.
Only two biographies have been written about the man himself, and both are biased. One was written in 1920 by an unabashed fan. The other was published in 1988 by someone attempting to discredit him and his work. (My goodness! Why does that sound so familiar?)
And to think I got all that from the first ten pages.
There’s so much more here, including graphs and charts analyzing the work in ways I’ve never seen a study Bible analyzed. Needless to say, larger chapters are devoted to Scofield’s dispensational and eschatalogical views.
So many books; so little time. But if I got all that just from the introduction, maybe I would enjoy making time for the rest of this. The Scofield Bible: Its History and Impact On The Evangelical Church (2009, Paternoster) is by R. Todd Mangum and Mark Sweetnam and available in North America and the UK.
Thinking Out Loud — The blog that dares to review books I haven’t read yet!
Although my kids have outgrown Veggie Tales, I picked up a copy of the latest Christmas release to see how everybody’s favorite talking cucumber and tomato would handle the tension that exists between the story of the real Saint Nicholas and the more popular Western (mostly North American) myth of Santa Claus.
I guess I was mostly concerned at looking this hypothetically from the point of view of a parent of children for whom the Santa Claus thing is — rightly or wrongly — quite ingrained. Do the Veggie people just tell the truth and leave the kids crying?
I can’t answer that for every household, so I don’t profess to know what pieces some parents have had to pick up afterward, but in my opinion, the answer to the crying question is: No. If the kids are catching it all, then they are let down gently. The VT writers handle this remarkably well.
What did surprise me was the unmistakable Christian message in the 46-minute DVD. As stated, my kids are getting well outside the Veggie demographic, so I haven’t tracked the series lately, but my understanding was that with the wider appeal — and distribution — VT has been having, the message might be somewhat watered down.
Not so. This is still unmistakably Christian product. I also watched the interview Matthew West and Amy Grant did about the making of the song that appears on the closing credits. This song — and the whole movie — reinforces the idea for kids that it’s not about what you’re getting but about what you’re giving.
That in itself is enough to shift the focus away from the jolly fat man in the red hat.
By the way, if you want to get a good book for Christmas for a businessman (or woman) you can’t do better than VT founder Phil Visher’s Me, Myself and Bob. Excerpt from back cover: “This is a story of dreaming big and working hard, of spectacular success and breathtaking failure, of shouted questions, and, at long last, whispered answers. …From famed creator to bankrupt dreamer, Vischer shares his story of trial and ultimate triumph as God inspired him with one big idea after another.”
I was going to save this for the next link list, but it’s too good not to reprint here in full. This is from Tony Morgan Live, which you’ll have to visit anyway, because the comments are too good to miss. [Canadian readers: Target = Zellers]
‘Tis the season to shop for Christmas gifts, so I recently made a trip to Target. I love Target because I don’t have to spend a lot of money, and I avoid going to Wal-Mart.
After spending a little bit of time in the store, it struck me how different Target is from most churches I’ve visited in the past. That led me to wondering how Target would be different if it operated like the typical church. So, with that in mind, here’s my initial list:
Instead of having men’s and women’s clothing departments, they would be called clever names like Impact and Embrace that are completely meaningless to new shoppers.Hope this makes you laugh. (Emily and I did.) And, maybe it also challenges some preconceived notions. After all, churches are sort of notorious for worshiping methods and traditions whether or not they actually produce results.
What would you add to the list?
~Tony Morgan
I’ve closed off comments on this one so you can add your comments directly on Tony’s blog.
Today, Rick Apperson and I are having a blog swap. While I’m writing a post at Rick’s blog, Just a Thought, Rick is back here for a guest post:
I love science fiction. I grew up with Star Wars, the original trilogy, and have always enjoyed a good sci-fi film. One thing that has always fascinated me is the concept of time travel, going back or forward to a different place or time in history. What would it have been like if I was born in a different era? If I had the chance to make a decision over again would I do things differently? That is the question I hear people ask all the time. What if I had dated someone else? Moved when I had the chance? Taken that job when it was available?
Really, the fascination many have with time travel is that it would give us the chance to correct mistakes. The chance to right a wrong or to take the path that now looks better in hindsight. How many times have you heard someone say, “If I only knew then what I know now”? You might have said it yourself. I know I have.
Many of us live a life of regrets because we are always looking backwards. God the Father was a forward thinker. He had a plan in place even before He created the Heavens and the Earth. Notice how, when the fall happened, as recorded in Genesis 3, He immediately spoke “prophetic” words about Christ coming! (Gen. 3:14)
How about these words spoken in Jeremiah:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
Look at this longer passage from Ephesians:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:3-12)
So, God was a forward thinker. He had a plan. His plan, as set forth in Genesis, was for Christ to come at another time and another place. A perfect time and place I might add. So it was that, a little over 2000 years ago, Christ was born in a manger. He came to fulfill God’s plan. He gave up the throne room of God for a season, so that He could bring us into everlasting relationship with the Father. He restored what was lost in the fall.
This holiday season, and throughout the year, don’t look back with regrets. Lay down the “what ifs” and think about the “what is”. God is directing your life. He has a plan for you. He knows what He is doing. Trust Him.
Passionately sharing Jesus at: www.apperson.blogspot.com
