I have to admit to having a mi-life crisis of sorts lately.  Last fall I made some important choices about life.  I finally made the choice to lose some weight.  After carrying around 100 plus pounds for far too long, I have now lost that 100 pounds and am on track to reach my goal quite soon.  There was quite a bit at stake.  I made a public confession of my own problem in worship in October.  Let’s be honest, it was not revelatory!  One look at my 335 pound mass would have told you everything.  The change involved my long love-affair with food to come to an end…at least in that incarnation (literally).  It required that I practice a new form of humility that, to be honest, was like wearing clothes that were too small!  It was at that same time I saw a documentary about U2 celebrating the 20th anniversary of Achtung Baby! back in 1991.  The film is called From the Sky Down.  Most of my friends know that I have been seasoned U2 fan since high school.  Bono and Co. are right up there with people that I aspire to imitate.  The point here is something that Bono said in the middle of the film:

“You have to reject one expression of the band first, before you get to the next expression.  In between, you have nothing.  You have to risk it all.”

For me, I was required to reject one expression of myself in order to move into a new expression of myself.  Bono was right…in between there was nothing.  Nothing but soul searching, prayerful waiting, cautious optimism and, at times, starvation in every sense of the word.  I did not know when I started that I would be risking it all.  Now that I am on the other side, I can see that I did.  With the change in my attitudes about myself, food, relationships and my life’s mission I have discovered a new expression of who I am and must be.  When I look in a mirror, I am reborn on the outside and on the inside.  I do feel like I risked it all.  Thanks be to God!

This short text from Acts 8 is about the very same thing.  Growing pains.  The church had to make a shift from its strict Jewish roots toward a more inclusive sense of who and what it needed to be.  When Philip arrived in Samaria he was rejecting one expression of the church in favor of a new one.  It was so radical that Peter and John had to come see it for themselves!  The whole world shifted for the early church in Acts 8.  In that moment, the church did what the Jews and Samaritans could not…bridge the divide.  I can only imagine Philip’s waiting game while he awaited the arrival of Peter and John.  Nothing.  He risked it all.

What are you risking today?  What new day are you willing to see dawn in your life?  Are you ready to leave the safety and security of your old systems, structures and habits?  Are you ready to envision a new possibility in God?  Like Bono says, will you “risk it all”?

It has been said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  While not being my favorite quote it does (negatively) reveal a truth about the absence of action.  While we all have times when we intend to do something good in this life, it would seem that the actions associated with these words is sometimes elusive.  Churches are no different.  While we have a cadre of ministries and programs to help people grow spiritually we still lack opportunities to actually apply what we are attempting to grow in people.  The attempt is focused on deploying people for service and ministry in the world.  For some reason, our church, like many peters out when it comes to the actual application.  It would seem that the dynamic is no different in our personal lives.

What continues to drive me is the thought that we are all called to be “ministers of reconciliation” according to Paul.  That is, we are to be about the work of reconciling the world to God.  For many, this is an enterprise that is rooted in dogma and “belief”.  While it could possibly be this, I suppose to think that God is looking for something a bit more concrete.  After all, our God seems to be presupposed to “concrete” actions of which the ultimate act is the incarnation of Christ himself!  Could we consider a reconciliation that bridges gaps, reaches to the margins and aligns us closer to the world God designed from the beginning?  Does this mean faith in God?  Yes!  But it is not faith in the abstract.  Rather, it is a faith that seamlessly translates itself into action.  The ministry of reconciliation is a requisite set of concrete actions that reveals the love of mercy of God in Jesus Christ.

I am ready for more churches and more Christians to make this kind of a commitment than ever before.  I believe our mission is made manifest in our actions of reconciliation.  I just hope at some point we will get there.

I served a church at the very beginning of my career as a youth director.  In that small church the women would have a retreat on an annual basis.  The weekend get-a-way usually was uplifting and helpful to all the of women.  It is not a practice at all uncommon to most churches today.  There are retreats for all ages and groups it seems.  We even have a retreat for our staff on an annual basis.  But in this first church I served there was a particular woman who refused to attend a retreat.  She was very involved and engaged.  Aside from being deeply spiritual, she was a proven leader.  The reason she abstained from attending the women’s retreat is because she was always more interested in making an “advance” rather than a “retreat”.  Getting away did not make much sense to her at all.

While I often find myself using the word “retreat” to describe the act of setting aside time for building community and gaining some sense of spiritual renewal, the above problem with the word “retreat” has always rang true for me.  This word “retreat” seems to not describe best what its purpose is.  Retreat, at least in terms of engaging in conflict, practically means to capitulate.  Why is that a great-sounding idea?  Couldn’t we call it a “regrouping” or “concentrated huddle”?  I suppose it might sound like I am parsing all this a bit too much much, but consider the truth of how we are called to advance God’s Kingdom and yet we describe one of preparation mechanisms as a retreat.  These things we call a retreat have great value.  I can think of a number of these occasions when I was challenged and enriched by a retreat.  My call to ministry was confirmed at a retreat.  I learned my spiritual gifts at a retreat.  I made deep and lasting friendships at a retreat.

As I consider this short text from 1 Kings 17, I hear the story of Elijah’s retreat of sorts.  Called away from Israel, Elijah engages in a sojourn into non-Jewish territory.  While there, the greatest of all miracles occurs.  He raises a young boy from the dead.  Sounds like a great retreat.  It really is more of an advance.  Elijah’s faithfulness advances the work and mission of God.  His time away bore a fruitful and faithful result.  One could say that the value of any retreat is how well it advances the cause of God in the world.

The next time you consider your future getaway.  Ask yourself…how will this retreat advance God’s purpose for my life?  Without this question, I think we all should be questioning what we are retreating from, don’t you?

Today marks some special events.  The greatest of these is that we celebrate David’s 16th birthday today.  What an eventful day that was 16 years ago at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.  Now a sophomore at Mission Viejo High School, David continues to bring great joy and love into the lives of both me and Bettina.  So…to all who read my little posts, be sure to wish David a happy birthday.

This morning I also stepped on the scale.  I have not shared this with many outside the my own congregation, who all know about it, but I started a campaign to loose weight on October 17, 2011.  That was about 4 1/2 months ago.  On that date I weighed in at a hefty 334 pounds.  The lightest I have weighed since graduating high school was back in 1989 when training for a 5K race.  At that time I tipped the scale at 254.  I passed the 200 mark when I was a freshman in high school.  A long and sordid battle with being overweight.  

This morning I weighed in at 251.8 pounds.  It is my lowest weight since being in high school (class of ‘86)  and have now passed the low water mark set in 1989.  That brings the total weight loss over the last several months to a little over 82 pounds.  The goal of 220 is in sight.  By the time Pascha arrives, I should be at or near 240-230 pounds.    So…thanks to everyone for the encouragement and support.  What I am thankful for the most is that I am well on my way to celebrating more of David’s birthdays than I would have before!  Thanks be to God.

One of the chief complaints that I hear leveled at the Christian Community is that we often behave like hypocrites.  I cannot say that the charge is without its merit.  All too often folks who claim some form of religion are caught in moral quandaries and nuanced settings that can make looking like a person of faith practically impossible.  A simple look at the religious landscape (as well as how this bleeds into the political landscape) reveals that those who set themselves on pedestals often fall from them.  For many, the magic of religious manipulation is concealing the disconnect between public statements and private behavior.  Success can be measured by the capacity to conceal the real presence of hypocrisy.

This all sounds quite cynical and jaded, but it is how people of faith are all too easily perceived.  What if we embraced a model that placed right practice in the spot currently occupied by right preaching?  While I realize that there is a role for right preaching and rhetoric, the value of aright practice far outweighs it but it also fosters the actual outcome!  Preaching and rhetoric are only effective if they move people to engage in right practice.  What if we simply went about the right practice to begin with and let the preaching catch up?

In reading this short passage from the Book of Acts, we read little about how the apostles proclaimed the need to care for the entire community of believers.  As a matter of fact, all they said is that they should not forsake their duties to serve tables.  The made the choice of not just telling the community what to do.  They just did it.  As I look at all religious organizations, not just Christians, more energy should be spent actually practicing the faith rather than telling people to practice the faith.

Rooted in experience rather than rhetoric, the church can be perceived as a true life-transforming place..because we see lives transformed!  Honestly, do we need to explain a transformation that is perfectly obvious?  Less instruct, more imitate please!

I was listening to the radio this morning on the way home from the gym.  The commercial that I heard spoke of how the post office was likely going to be closing a number of its offices.  Therefore, lines would be longer at the remaining post offices.  All the more reason to buy your stamps at stamps.com.  End commercial.  While this sound byte passed in and out of my ears (and my head) for that matter, it later caused me to think about convenience.  The emotional theory of the commercial is to threaten you with the inconvenience of longer lines that actually have not even happened yet.  The post office is still open.  The lines are just as long as they have always been.  In some aspects the commercial is selling its product based on a perceived fear of a possible longer line.  How many decisions do we make each day on the basis of what is convenient for us?  At times we even make decisions based on what will be convenient in the future even if the present is not inconvenient yet!  While technology and other advances make our life more convenient they also lull us into the rationale of the convenient, that is; convenience is usually a self-centered enterprise.  What works best for me.

In this short story from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus talks about a man who stumbled upon a great treasure in a field.  Rather than just picking up the treasure and leaving (convenient), he hides it in the same field and then sets off to buying the field so that he can have the treasure the field now contains.  If there was ever an inconvenient process, this would be it.  Besides arguing the merits of simply taking the treasure, the story (called a parable) teaches us about something far more important than convenience.  Jesus is telling us that what God is doing in the world (the Kingdom) is far more COMPELLING than it is CONVENIENT.

Convenient means easier, simpler and faster.

Compelling means costly, sacrificial and arduous.

Convenience and the Kingdom rarely intersect.

Compelling is a word that always describes the Kingdom.

How often do we engage in the work of God and the worship of God based on what is most convenient to us?  Worship times, formats and formulas often appeal to our convenience.  Is not the work of God and the worship of God to be something that is more compelling than convenient?  Which describes your life?  One centered around convenience or one centered around the compelling work of God?  Would you take the treasure or buy the field?

This last week I had a great experience serving on a mission trip to Mexico.  During our time in Ensenada, Mexico we constructed two homes for families in desperate need.  We also led a children’s ministry in partnership with our “sister” congregation in Mexico.  Lives were changed, not the least of which were our own.  Since the responsibility fell to me to handle the registrations and finances for the trip, I was keenly aware of all the little ways people made a contribution toward this mission.  Of course, those who attended surrendered the weekend and the costs of registration.  However, many more in our congregation donated money, items and supplies used in support of the mission.  There were numerous donations of $10 and $20 along with gifts and other children’s ministries supplies.  Some could afford to write large checks while others gave small things that amounted to large sacrifices.

The end result?

While packing to return home on Monday morning, rain made a muddy mess out of our departure.  Bags were left behind, items were packed poorly and many in our group were beyond frustrated.  Yet…two families slept underneath dry roofs!  Many children were fed well during our weekend and had supplies remaining. In the midst of our frustration due to rain, there were those we left in a better place.  Most inspiring is the fact that after Sunday worship the pastor of our sister church told us that four families gave their lives to Christ.  Not only did we make a tangible difference, we made an eternal one.  The Kingdom of God made an advancement through the small efforts of many in our church.

In a society that continues to be dazzled by that which is larger, bigger and better, it is good to know that God’s Kingdom is built through small choices and small actions that have a great effect.  One does not need much to profoundly change the world for God.  Our mistake is when we think that we have to do something great.  All we must do is give what we have and God will make it great.  Do we trust in this truth of God’s world or are we better off left to our own efforts?  With God, bigger is rarely better.

In an age when it seems that talk is cheapened by the endless stream-of-consciousness of modern media, finding anyone who is speechless is a real find!  It may be hard to hear from a pastor who makes a living by talking, but the reality of being over-talked is alive and well.  The ratings for talk-radio and talk-shows continues to climb.  We consume webpage after webpage of communication…just like this one.  Never before have we had the tools to communicate like we do today.  While this is liberating and freeing, there comes an unwritten obligation about how we interact in this world.  Back in the “olden” days, when someone called you on the phone and left a message, it might take a day to get the message and then call that person back.  Today, when someone leaves a voicemail or sends a text message, should we not respond in mere minutes we are regarded as neglectful.  The need to communicate and the need to be communicated with are in the red-zone.  Hardly anyone is speechless or dumbfounded any more.  Even if they were, we would never know about it!

Enter Zechariah from the Gospel of Luke.  Only Luke tells us of his frightful encounter with angel in the Temple.  While performing his priestly duties in Jerusalem he has a vision in which he is told that his aging wife and he will soon have a son.  Incredulous, Zechariah responds with a curious question, “How will I KNOW this…”  Ah…the communication problem we all face.  As if an angelic epiphany is not enough to persuade him, Zechariah wants more evidence that this is going to happen.  ”More communication, please.” is Zechariah’s request.  As the story unfolds, Zechariah is smitten mute until his son, John the Baptist, is born.  Ironic, yes?  It is all part of Luke’s masterful telling of the story.

Nothing stalls our faith journey like the following:

-The search for certainty.

-The need for over communication.

-The disbelief that God hears and answers prayer.

-The neglect of silence and contemplation.

In a time where I spend too much time responding to email, phone calls and other means of communication, I find myself hungry for a dumbfounding moment in life.  Perhaps it would do all of our lives some good to be simply speechless now and again.  In doing so, we can forsake our need for certainty and embrace a true life a faith that has God as the only certainty we need to know.