Rethinking Spring Cleaning

I have a two car garage that only holds one car. What does that tell you? Right! I’ve got a garage full of junk. I made a promise to myself this winter, that when Spring came, I would ruthlessly clean the garage. I’m going to throw out all the clutter of life I’ve been collecting for no real reason.

Still, every year, when I try to throw out the junk we’ve collected over time, I can’t bring my self to do it. You know the stuff. Souvenirs from vacations. Tourist trap trinkets. Old car parts, old collectibles, old stereo equipment, and plain, old stuff. I’m a tourist in life: I collect stuff along the way that really should never have been picked up in the first place.

So what do I do with all my junk? I re-arrange it. Stack it differently. Hide it behind something. I promise myself, I’m going to be unsentimental this year but every year the clutter of life just seems to grow. The evidence of being a tourist in life is never more in view it seems, than when I clean my garage.
The Psalmist says, “Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.” (Ps. 84:5)

Ps. 84 calls us to the Biblical tradition of being pilgrims and not tourists. And there is a difference...and it’s a big one. A tourist goes through life collecting the kind of stuff that fills the garage. A pilgrim realizes they are on a journey, and the things they collect along the way are more baggage than blessing. Pilgrims travel light because the destination is more important than the sights along the way.

So here comes Spring. It’s time to keep my promise to myself and clean the garage. And maybe its time to approach it like a pilgrim and not like a tourist. Maybe its time to approach all of life that way.

...just thinkling.

Our Prayer for Haiti

Our Prayer for Haiti

Kind Father, God and Creator of all things,
we have been stunned once again by an event
which seems so unnatural
and yet is called "natural disaster."

We have no words to answer the "why" which we feel…
No wisdom to explain away
these unexplainable areas of life.

Keep us from attributing this event
to an assumption of Divine judgment or Heavenly reprimand.
Keep our hearts from the hubris or the smugness
that imagines we alone know or understand
what really cannot be understood.

Keep us from spiritual pride
that tempts us to form definitive opinions
and speak assuredly for God when God has not spoken.
We, who are so distant from the scene
of such tragic sorrow,
move us from opinions to true compassion.

Kind Father of this bent and broken world,
Give us hearts filled with kindness and gentleness
to be servants to those in need.
Remind us of your gracious love in the midst of sorrow,
and your ability to work miracles when all hope is faint.

We pray for those who suffer in Haiti even now
and for those who await rescue.
For relatives, for the children,
for mothers and fathers,
sisters and brothers,
grandparents, aunts and cousins.

For the survivors who question
what more they might have done.
And for those who must keep on keeping on,
in spite of it all.

For the leaders,
for those who bring aid
and those who await news…
strengthen and encourage them we pray.

Now unto you, O God,
we take the burdens of this hour
and place them in your divine care.
For all you do and are doing,
seen and unseen,
we give thee thanks,
Eternal God of All Creation,
we wait on you.
Amen

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!