Joy is Serious Business

I remember hearing Garrison Keillor one lazy Saturday afternoon tell a story as only he can of a time when he was a boy on the family farm. He and a couple of friends had wandered over to where the hog pen and were throwing small stones at the fat old hogs trying to get them to move. It was just something to do if you’re a bored 10 year old boy looking for something to amuse you.

Well his father scolded him real good. He said, “Don’t you ever do that. Those hogs aren’t here for sport.”

About a week later, his father and the hired men slaughtered those hogs and put the meat up for the winter. Garrison couldn’t quite understand it. What’s worse? Throwing pebbles at a hog or slaughtering it? Killing time or killing the hog? It didn’t make any sense.

But later as a grown man, thinking back, he remembered the look on the faces of those men as they slaughtered those hogs. They were serious and silent. It was a very sober business. It was meat that would feed the whole family for the upcoming long, harsh Minnesota winter. There was a lot at stake.

As I reflected upon that story, it struck me that expressing joy at the birth of Jesus at Christmas is serious business. All the commercialization … all the sappy sentimentality … all the artificial substitutes for the heart of Christmas joy is like throwing pebbles at hogs. It’s sport. It’s something to do when you don’t really know the purpose or value of something.

But the birth of Jesus is full of purpose and lasting importance. This is eternal light and everlasting life coming into a world of darkness and death. It’s not meant for sport or to be trivialized. And expressing our joy over it sends a serious message to a world that behaves like bored 10 year old boys looking for something to distract or amuse them. Our joy says this Gift of God is meant to get us through a life that has a lot of long and harsh winters in it.

Joy to the world is serious business. This Christmas, let’s be about our business.

...just thinkling

Fall ... at last!

You gotta love the Fall! Fall is kind of a “guy” season. Football starts up. Hockey starts up. Baseball playoffs and the World Series. Basketball is coming up quick. What’s not to like about that!?

But there is more to like about the Fall than sports. The return of Fall means a return to order and routine. All the “life as not-usual” is over. Vacations are done. Kids head back to school. Life at work is more focused. The rhythms of life get re-organized. The tune of life marches to a steadier, more orderly beat.

When God created this world, in the opening words of Genesis we read that the before He did, the world was formless and void (Gen. 1:2). The Hebrew words are “tohu” and “bohu”. (I wonder if that is where tofu comes from ‘cause it looks formless and is void of taste!) But while you can have fun rhyming those words, they basically mean this place was a whole lot of random, chaotic, emptiness. Like your kid’s bedroom. No order. No structure. You could never make sense of it.

Kinda like how summer feels to me a times. Not enough order. Not enough structure. No clear routines. No simple rhythms. Life sort of gets out of synch and kids get out of sort as schedules and disciplines break down. Early in the summer, we are all “dying for a break” we say. But by the time Fall rolls around, we are so ready for the order and structure that routine brings.

So could it be that the need for order in life is a quiet witness to our hearts of God’s design for what life in this world was meant to be? He brought order out of chaos and called it life. So maybe that is why we long for Fall. God wired us for it. We were made to live in order. Even your kid’s. Even when their room looks all tohu and bohu.

…just thinkling

On Getting Old

I am reading a good book by Paul Tournier called "Learn to Grow Old". It's a fascinating read for a guy as young as me. Ahem, ahem!!

Truth is, it's best value is for 40 somethings and the occasional 50 something. He has a lot of valuable stuff to say about preparing for the season of old age than about simply offering a 'how to' about living in that season.

But in it he quotes a psychologist who says in effect, if you don't learn to to live a meaningful life now, you won't be able to organize yourself in old age to do so. Who you are now is what you are becoming. What you will be then is only what you are writ large. Old age will only be more of the same.

Does it have to be that way? So bleak and empty? Not at all. But the time for addressing it is now, not then. Now is the season to reflect on the things that give your life meaning. And if they are not sustainable in old age, it would be good to ask yourself, what meaningful pursuit can I start now that will endure and enrich that season to come?
I'm looking forward to getting old. I'm going to retire and sit around and complain about the government full time. What's your plan?

...just thinkling

Get a haircut!

Get a haircut!

How many times did I hear that as a teenage kid growing up?! Too many!! But I’ve got a good reason for you to get out and get yours cut.

The place I get my hair cut is owned by a single mom. Her business partner skipped town as it were and left her with a $4,500 problem. It puts her in a really tough spot. And the court said she is out of luck if she thinks she can get it back.

In conversation with her about it, I had to tell her that I can’t do much about that. But then I thought, I should just tell the people I know to get a hair cut. I mean, I head over there regularly. But you who know me well, know I’ve only got so much hair to cut.

So “GET A HAIRCUT, WILL YA!?!” The place is called Haute Couture in Nicholasville (859) 881-0603. Tell ‘em that Pastor Steve sent you and they’ll put extra crème rinse in your hair…or something.

…just thinkling

How many ____'s does it take to change a lightbulb?

Just when you think you’ve heard the last “change a light bulb joke” a new one surfaces. Like this one:

Q: How many computer technical writers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 100. One to do it, and 99 to write document number GC7500439-0001, “Multitasking Incandescent Source System Facilitation”, of which 10% of the pages state only, ``This page intentionally left blank,'' and 20% of the definitions are of the form ``A <...> consists of sequences of non-blank characters separated by blanks.''

(How can you tell that my computer is down and I am being held hostage this week by slow I.T. guys and this is my revenge!?)

But actually, the newest light bulb joke is:
Q: How many church board meetings board meetings does it take to get a light bulb changed?
A: "This topic was resumed from last week's discussion, but is incomplete pending resolution of some action additional items related to the heating bill from the Winter of ‘08. It was tabled and will be taken up again at next month’s meeting." :/<

We like to make fun of meetings and committees. And there are times when they really do live up to all the criticism they invite.

But in church life I believe in helping people find their voice in speaking into the life of the church family. All those voices together can make the kind of change possible that reflects what God is saying to us as a church and not just to one person.

Our annual meeting on May 17th will create the chance again for those voices to be heard and folks to be elected who will lead in the positive changes we keep looking for in church life. Empowering change has been the work of the Spirit of God since the birth of the church. Join with the rest of the church family and with Him as He empowers change for us on May 17th.

Q: How many pastors does it take to change a light bulb?
A: ________________________________________
Send us your answer to the church web site link here and we’ll find out on May 17th. The prize for the best answer?! Come and see!

Socrates, Freud and Lent

Socrates said: Know yourself. Freud said: Be yourself. Jesus said: Give yourself. And at Easter He shows us what that looks like. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt. 20:28)

Knowing yourself is a valuable thing. How can address your need to grow as a person if you don’t know where to begin? Knowing yourself leads to confidence and self assurance.

Being yourself is a valuable thing. How can you find your way in this world if you are always pretending to be who you are not? Being yourself leads to finding your real place in this real world.

But giving yourself … living out of self giving love … is the only way to impact this world with muscular love. Because it’s not self focused but other focused. Its not about knowing myself or being myself. Imagine: its not about my self at all.

As Lent walks us toward Easter, our eyes come off our self and onto the One who gave himself for others. And we learn in new ways what the self giving love that changes the world really looks like.

It’s not that Socrates and Freud are wrong or have nothing meaningful to say. It’s just that they do not say enough. Only self giving love is enough. So think about it: who do you know that needs to be loved more than they need the advice of Socrates or the insight of Freud?

And we thought Christmas was the season of giving.

…just thinkling

Eight more sleeps!

Eight more sleeps …

Do you remember counting up the sleeps to some important event in your life? Christmas. Birthdays. Vacation. Finally getting out of school!!

Well … in our house we are counting the days down to February 11th , the day that Marilyn and I leave for Florida to do a four day retreat for pastors and their spouses. Did you catch that? It’s in Florida! We have a lot of work to do down there but it’s down there! In Florida!!

The only problem is living in the days that are between now and then: staying focused, doing good work, attending to life, etc. When you have some big thing you are looking forward to … if you are not careful … you can wish away the days in between and literally waste them.

And all of us only get so many days, don’t we? There is an unseen clock of life that keeps ticking even if we ignore it. To waste any days is to waste life. We don’t get those days back to live over.

So the Bible tells us “to number our days” for a reason. God wants us to get the most out of life by wasting the very least of it. And He wants us to make use of it wisely, productively, and redemptively in a world that could use some wisdom, some productivity and some redemption.

So even if you’re not going to Florida next week number your days and redeem the time. And if I can remember, I’ll bring you back a shell and a handful of sunshine! (How many more sleeps is that now!?)

…just thinkling

It is winter. Really winter!

Man is it cold this week?! Where I come from we have 21 different words for “cold”. Stupid cold, dumb cold, mean cold, awful cold, real cold, etc, etc. But in the Frozen North you come to expect winter to be cold. Up there you have the clothes and coats and hats and gloves required to handle it. In fact, when I lived up there I thought long underwear ought to be tax deductable as a real necessity for survival!

But down here in balmy Kentucky really cold weather just doesn’t seem right. I mean, 5 degrees Fahrenheit is just wrong, don’t you think?!

Yet my friend Sam Strader told me when I came here years ago that Kentucky has all four seasons, including winter. A real winter. A lot shorter than what I was used to, but nevertheless, complete with snow and freezing rain and cold. Real cold. So thanks to his advice I brought my long underwear with me when I moved here. And my winter gloves, my coat and all my warm winter woolies. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

A lot of what it takes to cope with all that life brings our way is simply to be prepared. Assuming or denying that it’s never going to get cold doesn’t help. Nor does the whining, even though I am very good at it myself. And to be prepared you have to be willing to take advice.

So in life, I think what really helps is listening to the voice of experience: the people who know what things life tends to bring along that we might not be prepared for. It’s a good lesson for all of us to look up the road a bit and identify the folks who can speak into our lives with seasoned wisdom. Even about the season of winter.

Now if only someone would bring me a cup of hot chocolate…

…just thinkling