You may not think that Christianity has an image problem. I wish that I could agree with you, but I don’t.

It’s far too easy to find people who have been bashed, thrashed and trashed by “good church-going people.”  It’s also too easy to find people…especially in their teens, twenties, and thirties… who are desperately seeking that certain something that gives meaning and focus to the stuff of life and hope for the future who dismiss the Christian church as a possible place to find it…

You may think that people see us (those who claim to follow Jesus) only at our best. They don’t. They see us and remember us best the same way the see and remember their cell-phone provider: at our worst.

Seth Godin (marketing adviser, author of several books, including Linchpin ) wrote in his blog today about worst moments as best opportunity. His conclusion is that worst moments are “…a great opportunity to tell the story you’d like us to hear about you.”

What’s Christianity’s image problem?

We reflect too much of our image and not enough of the Image of Christ… especially when stressed, distressed, angry, hurt, challenged about the truth of our Faith, and in a myriad of other “bad” situations. We’re telling the story of how we remain the same, not the story of our transformation as students of Jesus.

That’s an image problem too large to ignore.

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn. 13:35, NIV) …and your enemies …and those who use you …even in the worst of times.

How can you help solve Christianity’s image problem?

It’s simple. Reflect the Image of Christ, especially when circumstances are at their worst.

(I know… being transformed into the Image of Christ is a topic too large for one post and too God-dependent to just “make it happen.”  I guess we’ll have to attend to our own discipleship more and cultivating our image less if we’re to be a part of a long-term solution.)Similar Posts:

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That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom… (Luke 4:28-30 MSG)

Jesus walks into a synagogue in his home town and narrowly escapes the ire of a mob composed of people who have know him his entire life. Aren’t we glad that the preachers in most of our churches are more… docile?

Foundations for Proclamation

Before discussing the particulars of Jesus’s preaching, we should say a few words about proclamation in the community of faith and what distinguishes it from any other speech.

Quorum

In order to have a congregation, there had to be ten adult Jewish males in attendance, called a minyan. Adult in this context means having completed the bar mitzvah. It is in this assembly that the call to worship is issued and the scrolls read.

Breath

To native English speakers, Hebrew is a strange language. It flows “backward” (right to left) on the page and all of the letters are consonants. As written, the words have no meaning because several different words can share the same consonant patterns. It is only when spoken that the meaning of the word becomes clear.

So it is for the reading of the Law, the Writings and the Prophets. They have no “meaning” as the Word of the Lord until breathed in the midst of the congregation. It’s in the oral proclamation that the words are inspired or breathed…hopefully by the breath of God. That’s the term used in Gen. 1:2 and translated “the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.”

Laying the Foundation

Thus it is that the foundation for inspired proclamation rests on these two stones:

• The presence of a quorum (congregation), and
• The reading aloud (or breathing) of the Scriptures.

Coming Home

It’s in the context of the congregation that Jesus appears in Nazareth in Luke 4:14-30 to breathe the Scriptures. He might have been just another guest lecturer had he not gone there…

While this is not meant to be an explication of Luke 4, it’s interesting to note that verse 14 says:

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. Lk 4:14,TNIV)

Our class discussion keyed on the words in the power of the Spirit as the differentiating factor between Jesus’s home town synagogue debut and what people in Galilee were accustomed to hear.

Questions to Ponder

• How have you experienced public proclamation in your church?
• Does the Holy Spirit seem more or less present?
• How does that presence vary (from time to time, pastor to pastor, etc.)?

Implications for Preaching Today

Today, we’re apt to think of a preacher as a person with such an inordinate desire to please, with so highly developed verbal skills that he or she is an expert in saying nothing in such a way that it sounds like a sweet something. (Willimon, p. 51)

I’ve already posed a few questions about the context of preaching where you worship. Here’s another:

Does your pastor seem like one proclaiming good news or presenting a good oration?

As someone who has asked that question about myself, I think it’s worth considering. Don’t use it to be harsh. Use your answer to that question

• to understand those who preach in your community,
• to talk with them about their foundations for preaching, and
• to help them grow in the faith. (Yes, pastors still NEED faith mentors!)

5 Characteristics of Spirit-led Preaching

While I’ll leave much of the material in the chapter for you to read on your own, the five characteristics of Spirit-led preaching that Willimon lays out are worth mentioning here. These are drawn from his interaction with Luke 4.

1. The preacher speaks under the power of the Holy Spirit.

I’ve already posed some questions about your own experience of preaching in your faith community. Here’s another:

How can you help the proclamation in your context be more Spirit-filled?

2. The sermon is based upon Scripture.

While an “appeal to authority” is considered a logical fallacy by philosophers and is out of favor in our post-modern culture, that’s exactly what Jesus does.

How is the Bible treated in your church? Is it idolized, respected or marginalized?

3. Jesus clearly believes that these ancient writings provide an accurate clue to what is going on in the present.

Jesus reads from the Isaiah scroll and says that the words are true and they are about him.

Whether you are preacher or hearer, how do the text and the Holy Spirit invade the rest of your experience?

4. All hell breaks loosed in response to the sermon.

…Jesus had to stand up to a more totalitarian and potentially violent adversary [than Elijah or Elisha did]: people like us. (p.50)

• As you read Jesus’s sermon in Luke 4, what is it that most angers the people?
• How does Jesus’s approach and motive seem similar and different than what you experience in your faith community?
• If you could say anything to your pastor in response to your reading of this chapter, what would it be?

5. Jesus’s sermon is about God.

• How many times are we content to let proclamation devolve into three points, an altar call and lunch?
• How do you and I encourage those we confirm as called to preach / pastor to make the story about us and our needs?
• How can you encourage those with whom you worship to focus on the fact that the central actor of the Biblical tale is God?

Words Aren’t Enough

Words, alone, are insufficient to be proclamation. Willimon seems to be drawing us toward the conclusion that our churches need something…

That something he seems to be saying that we are so often missing is the essential element in Jesus’s preaching: the presence of God.

Funny thing is… I thought we already had that.

Don’t we?Similar Posts:

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In this video from the Duke Faith and Leadership initiative, Dean L. Gregory Jones challenges Christian leaders (lay and clergy) to consider whether they are cultivators of healthy culture or merely caretakers of what exists. He also addresses the question, “What’s Christian about Christian Leadership?”

It’s an hour long, but well worth the viewing.

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Lex orandi est lex credendi.

That translates as “the rule of prayer is the rule of belief.”

Pray Your Plan?

The concept of a “rule” worked it’s way into Christian practice as a training aid. Have you ever watched a training video or bought an exercise book? That’s a rule…or a pedagogical method (which is simply a particular way of teaching).

Like many of us, people in the Greco-Roman world were enamored with athletic contests. Whether it was the Olympics or the gladiatorial contests, games were huge! They were so common that Paul and other New Testament writers use athletic metaphors to talk about faith and about the discipline required to walk the Way of Jesus. In one passage he writes about

• “running to win,”
• athletes working hard,
• having a goal, and
• training (disciplining) the body.

Paul ties all of that to his faith and his work. (1 Corinthians 9:24 , ff.)

Eat Right, Exercise…

The same writer who penned “you were saved by faith in God” (Ephesians 2:8) also suggests that following the Way is hard work!

My suggestion is NOT that you can work your way to salvation.  That wasn’t Paul’s point, either. The benefits of dedicated and purposeful work are indirect. (See the article “The With God Life” by Dallas Willard, et al., in the Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible.)

Think of it this way…

Face Time

If you want to get to know someone…really get to know that person… then you have to put yourself in the position to interact with that person. If your approach is welcomed, then you will eventually have a new friend. If your approach is unwelcome, well, then, you’re a stalker. :-0

Your effort to approach that person doesn’t make you their friend, yet the effort is necessary if you are ever to have a close relationship. Fortunately, God issued the invitation to you.  You can’t “stalk” God!  Your intentional, purposeful, frequent presence is desired, whether planned or unplanned.

The Point

That’s the point of a rule or a plan or a discipline. The plan gets us out of bed early or out of the office for a few minutes at lunch and into the gym, except this gym doesn’t have weights, treadmills or saunas. It’s equipped with you and what you need or want to say and a God who wants to listen.

Trust

The end result of all that interaction is trust.

It’s belief.

It’s I know you’re there even when I don’t sense you.

It’s I know you’re not “doing this to me” when bad things happen.

Remember, the way you pray (or don’t) says volumes about what you believe (or don’t)…and about the kind of relationship in which you’re willing to participate.

Now…is that important enough to plan?Similar Posts:

• We Don’t Need No Rules, Do We?
• How Worthy Do You Have to Be?
• Book Review: What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do
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Lex orandi est lex credendi.

That translates as “the rule of prayer is the rule of belief.”

No Rules?!?

For some, the idea of linking a rule (Lex = law) to prayer will be offensive. If that’s your position,

• Do you make it a point to pray?
• Do you have a preferred place in which to pray?
• Do you have a preferred time (or times) of day at which to pray?
• Even if you insist on spontaneous prayer only, do you wind up praying in similar patterns?

If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, you might have a prayer plan. Plan = rule.

There are many ways to follow a plan for prayer. It’s differs little from the plan you use to guide your physical training. You plan that, don’t you?

This rule thing might not be evil after all….

In the next post in this series, “As We Pray,” I’ll approach the metaphor of athletic training and faith practice.

You do workout 5 days a week, right?Similar Posts:

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I have been told by a number of people whose faith and practice formed in the early to mid-20th century that their greatest faith testimony is two-fold:

1. They’ve never smoked, and
2. They’ve never tasted alcohol.

Really? Not even a nip of the vanilla extract?

In our church?

These same persons made impassioned pleas for me to evict Alcoholics Anonymous from the church basement because they smoked! (No.  I’m not making that up.  Same folks weren’t keen on the Girls Scouts using the church, either. )

Now, I may be youngish as of this writing, but I can read.  What I read are crazy exhortations to “be like Jesus.” (Whose name really wasn’t Jesus…but that’s another story.)

At dinner?

Funny thing…  Jesus made the wine for the wedding in Cana. He was also hanging out with all sorts of people, even sharing a meal with them. You know which people… Those people!

Another interesting note: sharing a meal in Southwest Asian cultures means something very different than it does in Western European culture. To share a meal in Sidon or Cairo or Haifa is to proclaim a family bond. If I invite you to a meal, I invite you to be my brother…  No joke. No caveats. No addenda.  It’s the same today as it was 2000 years ago.

(Put that among your Communion Table misconceptions and let it simmer. The fact that the Bread and Cup were shared at a dinner table and are stilled served at the Lord’s Table are not coincidental. )

Holiness?

What’s your reaction to that word?

We use it in several contexts in the Christian Way.  Some of them are as follows:

• Personal Holiness
• Social Holiness
• The Holiness Movement

Work through it

Take a moment to get a pen and paper.  Once you have that, write down your answers (or best guesses) to the questions below.

1. What comes to mind when you think of the word “holiness”?
2. List some denominations or groups within the “holiness movement.”
3. Who is credited with starting the current “holiness movement” in Christianity?
4. What does “personal holiness” mean to you?
5. What does “social holiness” mean to you?

Read Chapter 4, “Party Person” of Why Jesus? and address the following questions.

1. How did Jesus respond to the moral (“holy”) code of his day?
2. Through what actions, if any, did he support it?
3. Through what actions, if any, did he thwart it?
4. What conclusions about Jesus do you draw from his association with the “party crowd”?
5. What lessons stand out for your own journey to follow Jesus?

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Some invitations are humbling.  No.  Really humbling. Such is the invitation that has me reading Why Jesus? by Bishop Will Willimon.

I once preached on Luke 8:22-25.  It’s the story of Jesus and the Disciples crossing a lake in a storm.  The Disciples were afraid. Jesus fixed it and accused them of lacking faith. My illustration was a story from my childhood.  I had been on a lake in Southern Oklahoma with my father and grandfather in an aluminum boat when a thunderstorm suddenly developed.  Of course, the outboard motor wouldn’t start.  The image I recall is my grandfather and I (about 7 years old) paddling while my father tried to start the engine. After the service, I learned about humility… Real humility.

As I stood at the door of the church, a gentleman in his late 80s stopped and said, “Michael, I have a story for you about a boat in a storm.”

“Tell it!” I said.

“It’s was D plus 3,…”  Mr. Jackson began.

He had begun his story with a date reference. “D plus 3″ meant 9 June 1944. That’s the date on which he crossed the English Channel headed to France in an LST (Landing Ship: Tank) to begin his trek across Europe as part of the Allied invasion.

Humility.

I found it after having spoken in the presence of one far wiser than me. In reading Why Jesus? with the Wesley Seekers class at First United Methodist Church in Wagoner, Oklahoma, I find it quite frequently. I am grateful for the opportunity to walk through these pages with them and hope some of what I share from that journey will be of benefit to you, as well.

To get the complete story, you’ll have to buy a copy of Why Jesus? What I will include here are study and discussion guides that I have used with the class.

Sessions

• Intro: Story versus History
• Vagabond
• Peacemaker
• Storyteller
• Party Person
• Preacher

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Shortly after God made us in God’s own image, we returned the compliment, trying to make God more palatable, someone who looked suspiciously like us.
~ Will Willimon
( in Why Jesus?)

As your routine – work, school, children – kicks in this morning, take these questions with you:

> How have I ( we ) changed Jesus to make his message less radical?

> How have I ( we ) ignored pieces of his message to make our desires seem more acceptable to him?

> How can you invest one or two minutes out of every quarter hour thinking about who Jesus says he is AND who he says you are to him?

Stay in his shadow…Similar Posts:

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Tonight is the fourth installment of BRANDED at Wagoner First United Methodist Church!  Our topic is what it means to be NURTURED by God.  That is, we look at living what Renovare terms the “with-God life” or the “Immanuel Principle” through the life of Joseph.

Hope to see you there!  If not, feel free to comment here, on this site!Similar Posts:

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A Topeka, KS, area church says it will demonstrate at the funerals of those killed in the January 8, 2011 shooting aimed at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), including the funeral of a 9-year-old girl killed that day.

That seems to me to be a hate-filled action…or at least one that doesn’t express what I think God expresses about God…and what God calls those who follow the Way of Christ to do (John 15:12).

Tonight’s the second in my series with the Branded UMY at First United Methodist Church of Wagoner, OK. Our topic is “Who does God see when God Looks at me?”  My second answer is,  “one who is Redeem ( -ed, -able).”

What do you think? Are those who claim the name of Christ who do seemingly hate-filled things “redeemed”?  Are they “redeemable”?

Perhaps we could extend the question to include last week’s topic: Does God love people who claim Christ and still do bad things?

What do you think?

Blessings,

MichaelSimilar Posts:

• Who Does God See When God Looks at Me?
• BRANDED part 4: Nurtured
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I had the wonderful opportunity to speak to the BRANDED UMY at First United Methodist Church of Wagoner, OK, last night.  Thanks to Shyloe, Summer and everyone who was there!

Last night was the first of a seven-part series which deals with the question of “Who Does God See When God Looks at Me?”  Each topic will be a partial answer to that question.  The topics are

• Beloved (01/05/2011)
• Redeemed (Redeemable) (01/12/2011)
• Adopted (01/19/2011)
• Nurtured (01/26/2011)
• Desired (02/02/2011)
• Entrusted, and (02/09/2011)
• Discipled.  (02/16/2011)

Look for additional posts dealing with each topic in the coming weeks!

Blessings,

MichaelSimilar Posts:

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Complexity.

Complexity isn’t just for holiday plans, anymore.  Everyday life is getting more crowded, more intense, more overwhelming.  It used to be that we only “thrashed” during the holidays.  Now, every day is a struggle to juggle more commitments than we can count. One recent study compared the self-reported stress level of teens in the late 1930s in the United  States and in the first decade of the 21st century.  The results were alarming.  Stress levels were reported to be dramatically higher in the Information Age than it was in the in the Great Depression!

Bandwidth overload?

When do you find yourself overwhelmed?  More importantly, who gets ignored?

Something has to give. Do you drop something…or let everything suffer?

Relationships require attention to build and to grow.  It doesn’t matter if that relationship is with God, friends, family or your self. So…do you just give superficial attention to many relationship, or really focus on a few?

The Forgettable or the Important?

When life gets busy, what commitments get tossed? We all do it.  We all break commitments when we’ve over-promised.  Can we do that less by committing to the important and forgetting the forgettable?

There’s a saying among time-management coaches: “Say no to the rest so you can say ‘Yes’ to the best.”

What Should You Cut?

I can’t answer that question for you.  What I can do is encourage you to really think about what you value.  What relationships are important?  What relationships (people) are you ignoring for activities that will someday not seem so important?

Oh…about those teen stress levels: people with healthy relationships have lower stress levels than there peers.

A Place to Start

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Mt. 22:39 )

Don’t start with your neighbor. Start improving your relationships by loving yourself.

That may seem like strange advice, at first. Try it. Commit to one month of taking care of yourself in these ways:

• Physically
• Emotionally
• Spiritually

Oh…and rank your commitments…and cut all but the most important.  Then you’ll have time

• to take care of yourself,
• to love yourself, and
• to invest in your most important relationships.

Talk back!

Be sure to leave a comment!  How have you ranked your commitments? How have you chosen to pare them down? How have you chosen to invest in your relationships by loving yourself?Similar Posts:

• Who Taught You How God Loves You?
• 3 Rules for Loving Your VIP
• What on Earth is God up to?
• How Worthy Do You Have to Be?
• How Expensive are Your Values?

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If I had eyes to see

as God sees,

Who would I be?

What would I see?

When,

with God’s eyes,

I turned

to look

at

Me?

© 2010 J. Michael ThurmanSimilar Posts:

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I’ll soon start presenting my reflections on Faith + Life in public for the first time in almost eighteen months. As I’ve been working on those presentations, I’ve come up with a list of verbs that I think describe some of “What on Earth is God up to?”

Look at the list and leave a comment with your reflections!

• Creating
• Forgiving
• Redeeming
• Reconciling
• Healing
• Moving in us
• Moving in the World through us
• Loving
• Engaging
• Pursuing
• Forming
• Building
• Nurturing
• Teaching
• Waiting
• Giving
• Trusting
• Entrusting
• Calling
• Equipping

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In the next few weeks I want to discuss a famous bit of the Bible with you.  Before we do that, I want you to read it for yourself in as many versions and revisions as you need to…

While you do that… Think about this list of sayings as they impact our relationships with God, self, and others.  The passage is Matthew 5:1-12.  Here it is from the NIV:

¹Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ²and he began to teach them saying:
³“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
⁵Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
⁷Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I’m looking forward to the conversation and to better relationships in my life and yours!

Blessings,

MichaelSimilar Posts:

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Take a moment to compose a scene in your head of the most horrifying, gruesome, inhumane torture possible.

Got it?

Play the scene again.  You need to remember it.

My scene has involved lots of things over the years.  Pliers and finger nails.  Flogging.  Flaying.  Scalding oil or water.  Cuts filled with salt and vinegar.  Electrocution.  Drowning.  Bankruptcy.

Remember your scene?  Good.  Play it again…

Now answer this question:  Of all the people you know, for whom would you endure everything you just imagined?

How many names are on your list?

Now…say just one name that’s on that list.   Keep that person’s face in front of you.

Would you endure the pain and horror you just imagined AND give up everything that is most precious to you…for that person?

Hang on to that answer. We’ll get back to it.

Remember your scene of horror?  Play it one more time.   This time you’re not experiencing it, you’re watching it.   This time the person experiencing your most horrific torture looks up at you and says…

I’m doing this for you.

Every year Christians, even marginally observant ones, celebrate Easter, Passover, or Pascha…  We use images of light breaking into the darkness at sunrise.  We use lots of pretty pastel colors.  We celebrate the coming of Spring and new life.   Pastors preach about Crucifixion and Resurrection.   Families gather and feast.  We use images of crucifixion and resurrection, but the eggs and bunnies and chocolates are what really capture our imagination.

Remember your scene of horrors?  Play it again.

Remember the face of the person for whom you’d endure that agony?  Say that person’s name.

Now… Say that person’s name again and add…

“I value you and our relationship so much that I’m enduring this for you.”

Now… Imagine God saying to you:  “[say your name], I love you and value our relationship so much that I’m enduring this for you!”

I’m not worthy!

No, you’re not…neither am I…nor anyone else.   We’ve got it in our heads that we have to earn love.  We have to earn love from our families.  We have to earn love from our friends.  We have to earn rewards at work and on our credit cards.

Earn, earn, earn!

Even when hear the church saying the words, we think “earn” or “repay.”

Here’s the good news:  Even when it sounds like the church is say “earn” or “repay,” God says “no, that’s not what I want.”

Trust God.

Let him love you.  Let him live in you.  Let the relationship change you.

There are many theological and philosophical complexities in Christianity.  Start here:

For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  Jn. 3:16 (NLT)

Until you’re relationship with God grows to the point where you know that God loves you…and that Passover/Easter is about his desire to know you, forget the rest.

Remember the story you came up with earlier?

Jesus went through his horror story for you.  Talk to him about it…even if all you can say is “thank you.”

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It was a really uncomfortable feeling.  My wife and I worshipped on Sunday with a new gathering and….  Well… Some of the things we experienced there were really great.   I can say that, as a group, the people gathered there love God, each other and strangers (who won’t be strangers for long).  What could be uncomfortable about that?

Some of the expressions around us didn’t fit into our box.  That is, the box in which we have been cultured to believe things should fit.

Whose problem is that?

My background is in a stream of Christianity that is, well, reserved in its expressions.   Personal façades (masks) tend to match church building façades: impressive and impenetrable.  One’s soul is a fortress.  God might get in, but you wouldn’t tell anybody.  (Anybody else see an ENORMOUS problem with that?)  Frankly, entire congregations wind up wearing a collective mask.

Wow.  The problem might not be with the guy holding his hands up or the girl who seems about to jump into the mosh pit.  Maybe…the problem is with me?

Who’s in my box?

Perhaps a better question is, “whom will I permit in my box?”

WHOA!!!!!

I have just demonstrated one of the many foundational cultural problems that infect Christians: judgemental-ism.

We can proclaim “For God so loved the world…” and pronounce judgement because you don’t fit in our box in the very same breath.

If Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and the Way…then we have a problem.  At least, those of us who claim Jesus’ name and pass judgement on those whom Jesus claims he came to redeem have a problem.

Breaking my box…

My reflections on a Sunday morning spent with friends and strangers is this:  I have to let God break my boxes…  All of them.  Not just the boxes for people who express joy in different ways than I do.  No, I have got to let him crush every last one of those boxes.

How many do I have?  I don’t know.

How many do you have?  Who do you put in them?  Yourself? God? Others?

Box-burning Party?

After you’ve considered your boxes, would you share with the rest of us your conclusions?   It’d be nice to know how many of us struggle with this desire to make others fit into our neat little world. If you’re not comfortable commenting here, won’t you send me a message using this site’s contact page?

Peace,
Michael

Similar Posts:

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We usually read this text to see how Jesus was tempted and how he responded. Let’s do that again, together, but with a goal of seeing what’s missing from the temptation experience.

Jesus was hungry, thirsty and tired. Stop for a moment and think about your own hunger. How do you act toward food when hungry? What about thirst? On a hot summer day or during a ball game or a workout, how do you react to thirst? What about fatigue? How do you act when tired?

Hunger, thirst and fatigue are basic human appetites. They are strong desires for basic life needs. None of us function as well hungry, thirsty or tired as we do when these appetites are satisfied.

The temptations Satan threw in front of Jesus were all about appetite.

The first temptation was about prestige and hunger… (Matthew 4:3 ). IF you are the son of God…satisfy your hunger!

The second temptation was all about prestige (Matthew 4:6-6 ). IF you are the son of God…. Is there a stronger appetite than the desire for recognition?

The third temptation ( Matthew 4:8-9 ) is about prestige and greed. The devil says, “Here’s all this stuff I control… If you’ll esteem me higher than God, you can have it all!”

In the end…the temptations were all about appetites…desires. What are they NOT about?

Jesus wasn’t tempted (at least in this episode) based on his purpose or his goals. His vision statement wasn’t challenged. His mission statement wasn’t criticized. The temptations were all aimed at the building blocks of human nature: appetites.

Developing belief statements and list of values is a good exercise. We need to know what we believe and what that calls upon us to do. We need to understand our purpose, as much as we can, in God’s universe. We should have vision ( Proverbs 29:18 ). We have a mission ( Matthew 28:19-20 ). These are all necessary for us to get things done. Jesus knew his. He just wasn’t tempted based on them.

The temptation to indulge the appetites at the expense of beliefs, values, vision, mission, and goals is a real danger. It was a danger for Jesus. It was a problem for Esau. It was a temptation for Joseph. It’s a problem for me. It’s trouble for you.

What appetites give you the most grief?
Where do you seem to do well…only to give in?
In times of failing, what/who is your focus?
In time of success, what/who is your focus?
What/who can you focus on to help put your appetites in perspective?

Got more questions? Answers? Observations?

I’d love to here from you.

Blessings,
MichaelSimilar Posts:

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Innocent.  Those big blue eyes are filled with it.  Not a sin or an hateful thought anywhere around.  Pure.  Clean.

Innocent.  That’s the best word I can think of to describe what I see in my infant (3 weeks old) son’s eyes.  Pure.  Clean.

Yes, I am well aware of the doctrine of Original Sin.  Yes, I know that Jesus’ atonement and God’s grace must be the foundation of my little boy’s future.

Why?

So he can be as he is: innocent.

I don’t know what your experience with churches / fellowships that claim the name Christian has been, but… between my wife and I, we have seen the good, the bad and the really ugly.   It’s enough to make you sick…to make you angry with God…and to be a wonderful place to experience God.  While God moves in many of those assemblies and wants to transform all of them into communities of healing and nurture, the Church is not God.

Read that again: the Church is not God.  The people in those communities aren’t God.  They aren’t Jesus, per se, although they are supposed to be allowing God to transform them into people who reflect Jesus into the world.  Sometimes they are a nurturing community.  At other times, they are more broken than some who don’t know that they need God.

For all the times you’ve been frustrated or demeaned or hurt by someone acting in or claiming Jesus’ name, consider this concept put forward by Bill Thrall, et al., in True Faced.  I think it will help you see that the Church is not God.

There are two possible paths within Christianity:

• Pleasing God, and
• Trusting God.

If you choose the path to pleasing God, you have to earn God’s favor.  Your belief framework must be perfect.  You have to call God by the right name.  You have to know more about God to get God’s “ok.”   It’s the same trap as trying to earn anyone else’s love.  At some point, you will fail. What do you do then?

If you choose the path to trusting God, you don’t have to earn God’s favor.  Your belief about God and holidays in his honor can be flawed.  You don’t even have to utter the right words.  A simple plaintive cry and God knows your talking to him.  You don’t have to know more to get him to love you.  He just does…love you.  He forgives you.  He considers that you are like my 3-week-old son: innocent.

At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, “Who gets the highest rank in God’s kingdom?”  For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. ~Mt. 18:1-4, MSG

Innocent.  That’s how God wants to make you.  He wants to see in you the innocence I see in my son’s eyes.  He wants to love you as if you’d never done anything wrong.

Even though…we all know…that we all have.

God wants you to trust him.  Then, and only then, can you work together with him on the pleasing part. ‘

Trust…and let God look as if you were as innocent as a little child.

Oh…and those people who want to pop your balloons…to make you feel bad or guilty or like you’ve done too much that’s wrong…  Say a prayer for them. It’s hard to listen to them when you’re talking!

Talkback!

I look forward to hearing from you.  Either leave a comment below or use the “Contact” page!

How have you experienced the failure of the “pleasing” path?

How do you struggle with the “trust” path?

___________

True Faced is published by Navpress.  You can find our more about the True Faced approach by clicking here.

Scripture quoted from The Message (MSG),Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. PetersonSimilar Posts:

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Christianity isn’t free.

That’s not a financial statement.  It’s an assessment of the state of the movement started almost 2000 years ago by Jesus and how it seems to have been turned on its head. Christianity is no longer about freedom.

Brian Tome, pastor of Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, doesn’t like it one bit.  He doesn’t like the “un-free” version of of Christianity, that is.   He doesn’t think that Jesus likes it, either.  In place of what was meant to be he sees a religion of fear, guilt, legalism and oppression masquerading as Jesus’ teachings.  He takes on the way things are in Free Book.

Tome works to clear up the misconceptions as he explores a Jesus-centered path that leads to freedom based on what God does for us, not what we do for God.  This path is solely about our response to the gift of a new identity made possible by forgiveness.

Lest you think that Tome’s position is “can’t we all just love God and each other,” he explores the struggles that are common to many who are committed to the path of freedom.  Yes…struggle is a part of that journey.  As Tome coins the phrase, there are “blahs, blues, breaks and blessings.”   That’s an interesting expression of the tension between Grace and Truth.  Yep, he takes on that seemingly oil-water mix.

You may not enjoy Tome’s un-helmeted motorcycle rides, brash attitude and unpolished grammar.  This book is not written or edited well, nor is it polite.  In spite of its rough edges, unless you enjoy judgmentalism-as-sport during Sunday school or in small group, this book has something important for you…a fresh look at freedom.

_____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. – Gen. 1:2b, ESV

Inspire. What’s that mean…literally? It means “to breathe into…” If I give you CPR, I inspire you in a very concrete way.

A friend of mine who is an orthodox rabbi tells me that God’s speech in creating is God breathing, for there can be no speech without breath. He continues to explain that the Hebrew text lacks vowels because it isn’t the word of the LORD until spoken… breathed… in community.

Oh…and the “Spirit of God” is literally the “Breath of God”… The transliterated Hebrew is Ruach HaKodesh, IIRC.

Application:

1. How & Where is God giving you CPR … that is, breathing LIFE into you?
2. How & where are you exhaling God’s breath? Who benefits? (Remember…exhaling is a subtle thing… not necessarily breaking your favorite guitar over someone’s head! ) Are you giving away what you’ve been given?
3. Part of the principle that the text is just a dusty old book until read in community leads us to the fact that the Bible is a Community story. It should be discussed, understood, and lived in a community that includes you, God, and others. (It doesn’t have to be a church, btw…) How are you including the Bible in your community (family, friends, etc)? How are you at trusting God to breathe into your community an understanding of how he interacted with others and will interact with you?

Join the conversation!

I look forward to hearing from you about how this one sentence weaves its way through your experience.

Blessings.
/jmtSimilar Posts:

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YouVersion.com is a feature-dense and benefit-rich Bible study community site. After you watch this review, be sure to leave a comment about your impression of YouVersion.com.

Enjoy!

To view a larger HD version, click here.

_________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have no material connection to YouVersion.com or to LifeChurch.tv as of the publication of this review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”Similar Posts:

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There she is.  She’s just down the aisle.

There’s that familiar feeling, too…

Did she see me?

I hope not.

I really don’t want to talk to her today… or ever.

If you only knew the things she’s said about me…and the children! You’d understand why I can’t stand her. Wouldn’t you?

Just thinking about her… I already feel…

Wrong Aisle?

Not the aisle you expected?

Even if you were thinking of a different aisle, that’s a situation you’ve probably experienced. You turned a corner and found yourself in front of her or him.

How did you react?

Telling Response?

How do you feel when you turn a corner to come face to face with some one who has done you wrong?

Anxious?

Angry?

Vengeful?

Any negative response indicates that you have work to do… IF you want to live in healthier and happier patterns.

First Steps

How badly do you want to walk down that aisle and be cheerful and friendly… just because you know it will drive her nuts?

Revenge… even polite revenge… is still revenge.

Killing her with kindness is still a psychological assault.

What kind of healthy first step is that?

Healthy first steps aren’t about her.

Healthy first steps are about you.

A Healthy Response

A healthy response begins long before you turn the corner and run into her.

A healthy response frees you from the clutches of your past.

A healthy response starts a journey out of slavery to the lingering effects of

• hurtful situations
• harmful people, and
• negative emotions.

It’s a journey toward freedom, hope and new beginnings. A major step on the way is forgiving the person at the other end of the aisle.

7 Reasons to Forgive

Forgiveness is hard. It seems…wasted.

It’s wasted on people who don’t reciprocate, don’t deserve it and who won’t care.

Forgiveness isn’t about them. Really. It has very little to do with the other person.

Forgiveness is about your health.

Why shouldn’t you make the effort?

1. Forgiving dilutes your anger.
2. Forgiving reclaims your responsibility for your emotions.
3. Forgiving reclaims your control of your actions.
4. Forgiving rebuilds your character.
5. Forgiving renews your ability to receive forgiveness.
6. Forgiving renews your connection with others.
7. Forgiving restores your connection with God.

Walk that Aisle!

The next time you get that familiar feeling, be certain that she saw you. Make sure that she knows you have forgiven her. Forgiving isn’t about letting her get away with harmful words or actions. Forgiving is about ridding yourself of an infection of the soul.

Walk down that aisle! Start forgiving and start healing.  Each forgiving step is a new beginning.

Talk Back!

Tell me about your “wrong aisle” experience?

How have you noticed a lack of forgiveness affecting you?

When you did finally forgive, what was the result?

Blessings,

/jmt

___________

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vicfan/ / CC BY-SA 2.0Similar Posts:

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Everyone who influences someone else is a leader. Whether you lead at home, at work, at church, or in another community organization you are a leader.

In Lead Like Jesus Ken Blanchard (coauthor of the One Minute Manager®) and Phil Hodges argue that Jesus is “the perfect One to follow as you seek to lead others.” (xi)

Who & Why?

“Who benefits from your leadership?” Blanchard and Hodges want you to know. That question is a key to understanding Jesus as leadership model. If you only want to increase your own personal power and prestige you can stop reading. If you want to lead others for their benefit, this may be a book for you.

The Exam

Lead Like Jesus challenges you to examine your leadership based on context, motivation and rationale. You’ll examine how you lead yourself and others. You’ll examine how you use your heart, head, hands, and habits as you discover the Four Domains of leadership. You’ll also learn why you should prefer a servant-leader model and why Jesus is the one you should choose.

2 Arguments

The authors make a good argument for modeling your leadership after Jesus’s life. The follow-on argument is equally well made: if Jesus is the role model for your life, then servant-leadership is the only available path. That is…if you are already a Jesus follower.

Impressions

Rationale

Lead Like Jesus has a weak rationale for the non-Christian reader. I would like to have seen a broader argument for Jesus as a life model and leadership model that would appeal to both the Christian and non-Christian reader. I think Jesus’s appeal as a servant leader can serve as tool for beginning conversations across the spectrum of belief. (Hint: way to introduce people to Jesus.)

Disciplines

I found the discussion of spiritual disciplines to have an identifiable flavor. The discussion will at once be familiar to many North American evangelical Protestants. They aren’t “wrong” or “harmful,” just presented in a way that may not engage some readers. I would like to see a somewhat broader flavor put forward. Spiritual disciplines are far too valuable in making room for God to work in our lives to be presented in limiting ways.

No Primer on Salvation

Some criticize the “live just like Jesus” perspective citing confusion between salvation and the transformation process in the life of a Jesus follower. Lead Like Jesus is not a primer on salvation. It is about the positive impact that you can have in your leadership spheres if you model your approach on Jesus’s life. It won’t make you “more saved,” but it will help you lead with greater integrity and build deeper relationships.

Rating

My rating: 4 stars +

Community

If you you liked the book, you might also be interested Lead Like Jesus training and resources available at leadlikejesus.com
_______
Disclosure: While I do review books which Thomas Nelson Publishers provide to me at no cost, I bought this book just like you can from a major bookseller.Similar Posts:

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Values are fine things to have until you have to use them. That’s when you find out how expensive they are. That’s also when you find out if you’re willing to live them.

As Aubrey Malphurs suggested in his book Values Based Leadership, you should make sure all of your sacred cows really are sacred, and not just cows.

Just a few days ago, I published my values on this blog.  A few days later I tweeted about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   Not much.  Just a few quotes.

Then this week’s circumstances hit.

My wife is ill and very pregnant. I work forty-five minutes away. Friends can help…and they have! (THANK YOU!) But…there are some things ya just gotta be there for…

The Conflict

This month’s fight is a multi-round bout between Value #2 and my fears about consequences at Work. I know you’ve seen that fight before.

Here’s the card:

Value #2: People Matter

vs.

Missing Work… a lot of it.

Rubber Meets Road

I’ve spent much of my adult life comforting people with sick and dying family/friends. I always tell them that People Matter. I tell them that the Relationships are the essence of why we’re here. Oh…and “at the end of life, you’ll never wish you’d gone to work more…”

I’ve a newly minted appreciation for what I encouraged those people to do…to give up, potentially.

Three days’ leave for the death of an immediate family member is generous? It seems to be a common practice.

Getting fired because you’re child is ill and in a hospital 100 miles from home is unjust.

Worrying that there are consequences for taking care of your spouse / child / parent / sibling is debilitating.

Everyone who has lost a job because they were doing the right thing…and then lost more…financially …they deserve a crown.

Then I think of those who gave so much more to live their values:

• Dr. King
• Mother Teresa
• Gandhi
• Jesus
• Maybe someone you know?

If it works in ink….

Never come lightly to the page.

That’s advice from Stephen King about writing. I echo that here and embellish a bit regarding values:

Never approach a values statement lightly. If it works in ink, make sure it works in blood.

…and in sweat and tears, too.

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
(Jn. 15.13 NLT)

Talk Back!

Where have you experienced conflict with your values?

__________

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/people/modomatic/

Scripture quote from Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.Similar Posts:

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What to Do... is about finding a way through life’s troubles, not “warm religious feelings,” “positive thinking” ⁱ or getting out of problems ⁱⁱ.

What to Do… isn’t filled with anecdotes. The few anecdotes used illustrate central themes such as the futility of becoming good enough to get God’s attention. Trusting God is the key element of the authors’ approach.  Learn to forgive God, yourself and others. Learn to trust God, yourself and others. Set boundaries when others prove untrustworthy.  Sound like work?

It should sound like work.  There are plenty of things for you to do in this book. You must deal with your baggage, ⁱⁱⁱ take responsibility for your life, ^iv and own your good and bad actions.^v This book is not a wish for a better life.  It’s a plan for rebuilding relationships with God, yourself and others.

I expect short books to be either simplistic or syrupy and theologically questionable. This book is neither.   Whether your bent is toward contemplation, relationships or actions, the authors have considered your style. They ask you to trust God with your life and your problems. They ask you to accept that God loves you where you are and in the condition you are, even if “his people” appear not to…. They ask you to work with God.

What to Do… is a good primer on a mainstream Christian approach to navigating life’s challenges. I rate it “4-stars +.”

_______________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

NOTES:

i Cloud, Henry and John Townsend. What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do: 8 principles for finding God’s way. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006, 2009. p. 2.

ii Ibid. p. 55.

iii Ibid. p. 30.

iv Ibid. p. 44.

v Ibid. p. 45.Similar Posts:

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Bills.  Family.  Job.  Boss.  Friends.  Dreams.

Go ahead.  You know you want to add to that list. Go on… make it longer…

You and I have lives of obligation. We are tied to money and things and then, maybe, to each other.

At least, that’s how it seems to be.

Add in holidays, health concerns and religious obligations and that list just gets

Burdensome.

Hectic.

Out of focus.

In spite of teaching people and organizations how to dig out of the mire, I found myself feeling

Over-burdened.

Hectic.

Out of focus.

I kept asking myself one question:

Why?

I was asking

• why me?
• why now?

I was looking for the answer to the wrong version of that question.

Fortunately, I was jolted into that realization by an old friend.

Prayer of Purpose

In my faith tradition there’s a covenant prayer — a prayer of commitment.

This prayer is dusted off sometime in January most years. We say it. Some of us really mean. Most of us, I think, get overwhelmed by life and forget it.  That’s why we’ll have to pray it together next January.

It goes like this:

I am no longer my own, but thine.

…

Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

…

Frankly, as I recited that prayer, I winced.

I had let so many other concerns cloud my vision. I was asking the why question all wrong.

The 4th Question

Ken Blanchard (One Minute Manger, Lead Like Jesus ) writes that most people ask why only after they know what.

Why was shown to be the fourth question people asked when confronted with change.

Pity.

The What doesn’t have any meaning without the Why.

The why question should be about purpose.

• Why am I doing any of this?
• Why am I here?

As that covenant prayer reminded me, I’m doing this and I’m here for reasons beyond my reach…

Whoa!

I do it, too.  Do you?

I start projects by spending time, energy and resources on the what before I’ve figured out the why.

By the time I slow down long enough to ask about why, I’m knee deep in something that I didn’t envision.

For example, this blog.  It started as a part of a church web site.

Why?

I could add content on a variety of topics and it would help with SEO.

Good idea. Bad rationale.

Fast forward to late 2009.  I started asking the why question more and more frequently. I started asking it with more passion.

So far, I’ve gotten great results.

Answering THE One Question

My answer to THE One Question that you (and I) must answer didn’t really surprise me.

Answering it did take a lot of work.

It will take even more work to live by its guidance.

Q: why are you writing this blog?

A: To enter into conversations and relationships in order to encourage a more complete RE-connection with God and us and between each other.

It is in that RE-connection that we may journey together and celebrate the transformation that takes place in each other.

It is in that RE-connection that we may journey together and, when we stumble, help each other to regain balance and focus.

It is in that RE-connection that we may journey together and enjoy being connected.

Danger Zone

Wow! Talk about focus!

Now, when somebody says, “Hey, do you have a blog?”

I can say, “Yeah, I’ve got a blog.”

“What’s it about?”

“It’s about RE-connecting — building relationships with God and with each other.”

The dangers, as I see them, are these:

1. Lots of ideas will stay in my notebook.
2. I will be forced to stay reasonably on-topic.
3. You will know exactly what this blog is about.
4. You will tell your friends who might be interested.
5. All the traffic will crash my server… ‘-D  (Okay… I can dream.)

Your Turn!

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review suggested that the most successful people and businesses had one sentence to describe their why.

Do you?

What’s your why?

What’s your vision for living it?

___________

Photo credits: Pink Sherbet Photography, D. Sharon Pruitt;Similar Posts:

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Naked.

That’s how I feel. I just published a new page that lists my core values.

Talk about stepping into the light.

I’ve done About pages and landing pages.  I’ve written about some very personal topics.  Yet, nothing, has been as personal and as transparent… as scary …as listing my values for all to see.

Even though I feel exposed and vulnerable, it is a good thing… to have published my values.

You know a little more about me…about that for which I stand… and I’m a little closer to precisely defining exactly what it is that I want to say.

By the way, those values are

1. Faith matters
2. People matter
3. Character matters
4. RE-connection matters

How do you feel about values?

What are your core values…you know…those cows that really are sacred cows?

If you have defined your values, how was that process important to your spiritual formation?

If you didn’t find it to be a spiritually important process, why not?

What is your reaction to my values?

Best,

/jmt

_______________

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seier/3122721913/

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The evangelical movement threatened the most heavily defended bastions of white male rule, especially his home.

A Review of Christine Leigh Heyrman, Southern Cross: the Beginnings of the Bible Belt, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998.

Southern Cross is a valuable work in the study of the Old South. The manner in which Dr. Heyrman ushers the reader into the cabins, parlors and camp meetings is amazing for its clarity and presence. Certainly this work deserved the 1998 Bancroft Prize¹ for its contribution to the understanding of the Baptist and Methodist move across the South.

Heyrman takes the reader on a journey to a  “South” that was not a synonym for evangelical Protestant Christianity. The news is that evangelicals struggled for decades to prosper among whites in the South. The cultural hearth of evangelicalism in the  United States wasn’t always so friendly. It takes effort for me to imagine a past that was so radically different  “It was a time when a diverse, contentious spiritual culture seemed unlikely ever to become the ‘Bible belt’…” writes Heyrman²

Personal stories to tell the story of the beginnings of the Bible Belt. A few are worthy of note even in a short review. The book starts with a woman named Mary MacDonald in South Carolina in 1814. She was so concerned about her twelve year-old daughter’s soul that she described the horror of being unsaved quite graphically.³ From emotionally provocative Christian language, the reader is ushered onward in the journey to deal with the “obnoxious” Baptists and Methodists as they torment their Anglican neighbors⁴ with the inadequacy of the rites of the Church and the need for conversion. Such confrontations follow throughout the narrative and are bolstered in the fight against evangelicalism by confrontations with the Devil himself, as experienced by the Methodist preacher William Glendinining,⁵ and with the Masters of Southern culture and economy.

Two problems that seem to plague evangelicals throughout this work are their literalism and their cultural subversiveness. Just as Brother Glendinning believed himself to be literally facing the Devil in mortal combat, so did many others in the evangelical movement. Heyrman details how some imagery and language were used to frighten the unconvinced. Some were driven to experience anxiety induced physical symptoms. These factors led to a largely emotional movement that appealed to women and slaves more than Southern white men. This element of evangelicalism, Heyrman holds, was both its masterful way of moving throughout the South and the key cause of resistance. That resistance came mostly from white men.

The evangelical movement threatened the most heavily defended bastions of white male rule. The assault on the family included the itinerant preacher’s influence upon the mistress and other women of the household. One intrusion was the traveling preacher insistence on preaching and praying within the family home. Another intrusion was his insistence on enforcing church discipline upon the household. At times, even romantic notions seemed to appear between the preacher and the women of the house. Additionally, the itinerant was seen as less than manly by cultural norms. His influence in the home added to the conflict.

The meddling continued to the slave quarters. Blacks became frequent evangelical converts. They even became preachers which further eroded the white man’s mastery of his domain. Now, Christianity was imposing a higher standard of care upon his actions toward his slaves. There was also the fear that preachers, white or black, might serve to incite revolt.

Throughout the descriptive sections this work is really quite well done. The sense of being out of place when reading about familiar places and about familiar people like the Methodists was strong enough to feel.

This book deserves to be read by anyone interested in the American South or in Christianity. Even though the work was not a “page turner,” it is a work of great value.

There is one unfulfilled expectation. It’s established by the sub-title: the Beginnings of the Bible Belt. I expected a work that more closely traced the transformation of the Christian movement in the South. There is a large gap between the book and what I recognize as Southern religion.

Heyrman does approach evangelical transformation. She discusses changes in church discipline in the family to give fewer affronts to Southern white men. She discusses the evangelical church’s reversal on slavery from a position absolutely opposing it to a position that encouraged slave compliance. She even discusses the transformation of the clergy from somewhat odd, ill-educated, and effeminate itinerants to a model that allowed clergymen to more easily integrate into Southern society as the peers of the Masters.

This work easily earns a place in my library of religious history. Its value is enormous. It is only in its ending that the strings seem to unravel.

The author did not receive any financial or material consideration for this review from any party.

____________________

heyrman, southern cross, book review, bible belt, christian history, history of the american south, old south

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Here’s the Christmas story as only the Peanuts gang can tell it.

May you see the miracles in front of you and the real gift of Christmas past, present, and future.

Blessings,

/jmt

¹ At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. ² (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. ⁴ And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. ⁵ He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant.

⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. ⁷ She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

⁸ That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. ⁹ Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, ¹⁰ but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. ¹¹ The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! ¹² And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

(NLT, Luke 2:1-14)

___________

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.Similar Posts:

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What could be more jolly than a fat man in a read suit?

His eyes are filled with laughter. The air rings with his joyous voice.

He embodies all that is safe and warm and inviting in our lives.

It’s easy to imagine that, if God looked like us, that he’d look like Santa Claus!

Just like Santa Claus…

Here’s my thesis: For our children, and perhaps for us, our image of God is tied to our image of Santa Claus.

Ahem.

Forgive me for a moment while I ask a series of silly questions.

That we learn best we learn by singing.  Oral history is usually transmitted across the generations as songs or poems.

Why?

It’s easy to remember.

What we remember about stuff like God and Santa Claus sticks with us best if we sing it.

Hey, ask me to recite one of my sermons to you.

I can’t do it without some review.

Now…can you sing “Amazing Grace”?

What about “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”?

That’s what I thought…..

Here’s what you know about Santa Claus:

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
He’s making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town

I think that song is as much fun as you do. I catch myself singing it all the time!

Here’s the question:

Do our children know the difference between Santa and God?

No…do they really know and experience a difference…

or…

Do they think that God loves them the same way that Santa Claus does?

and…

Do they think that we love them in that same way?

Santa’s love is about “making a list and checking it twice.”

God’s love is about “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16)

As parents, is our love Santa’s conditional love…

or…

God’s unconditional love?

and…

Do our children know the difference?

Talk back!

Don’t forget to talk back! I’d love to continue the conversation with you!

Blessings…

and

Merry Christmas!

/jmt

_______________

Photo credits:

1. Ho, Ho, Ho! Santa e-card picture created by Grzegorz Łobiński for  EcardSphere.com.

2. Library of Congress

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She may be taller than her mother, but she’s still a child. Well, a ‘tween, actually. I couldn’t help but think, “My God! Mary wasn’t much older than this when Gabriel spoke to her.”

My step-daughter walked into the kitchen still bearing a sleepy expression.  As she and my wife talked about plans for the

day in the light of the Christmas tree, my head kept screaming:

She was just a child!

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

Good morning!
You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.

She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.

He will be great,
be called ‘Son of the Highest.’
The Lord God will give him
the throne of his father David;
He will rule Jacob’s house forever—
no end, ever, to his kingdom.”

Mary said to the angel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”

The angel answered,

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
the power of the Highest hover over you;
Therefore, the child you bring to birth
will be called Holy, Son of God.

(Luke 1:26-35, The Message)

Some of the questions that arise are:

It would be startling to see an angel as an adult. How did she feel…what did she think?

What was it like to be told that she would have a child?

What about her engagement?

What about the laws against adultery?

What about her parents response?

What about the promise made by the angel for the child’s future?

What is your response to Mary’s situation?

Talkback!

Leave your thoughts a reactions as a comment!  I’d love to read them.

Blessings,

/jmt

__________________

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

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