Memorial Day – Mourning Our “Enemies” Deaths

So with love firmly rooted within us, what if we used the same selfless bravery to save ‘enemy’ lives instead of taking them? And not just during wartime. What if we used our extra resources to help rebuild the hospitals that have been bombed as a result of war? What if we took our vocations overseas and helped bring education to children who have never seen a school, nor know what one is? What if we invited international students into our homes for holidays? What if we made a lifestyle of welcoming others (neighbors, near and far) in? What if we determined to find more commonalities than differences with those we label as enemies? What if everyone committed to loving and getting to know the foreigners on their block? Then, when wars break out or resume, we no longer see ‘enemies’ but we see our neighbors’ families and friends struggling to keep their families safe.

Memorial Day and the Sacrificed

Still I find myself drawing back when I hear some politician declare that those who died in war “sacrificed their lives for freedom” or democracy or whatever. They didn’t sacrifice themselves. They didn’t lay down on an altar and plunge a knife in their own heart. Not only was it not their intention to kill themselves in sacrifice, it was not their intention to place themselves in someone else’s hands to be killed. No, they didn’t sacrifice themselves.
They were sacrificed. Someone else did the deed. Even before they faced that final encounter with a bullet or bomb’s blast, a head of state or group of politicians decided to sacrifice the soldiers who ended up dead. They were the ones who determined that a certain cause was worth the lives of the soldiers who would eventually die.

To Be More…

We are made to be… more… Aren’t we?
More than accountants. More than teachers. More than even missionaries or ministers. More. We are more than our professions might dictate.

Apple Worship?

Who can look at an apple and not worship God? Who can look at an Apple and not worship God?
Yes, the simplest natural product and the most sophisticated digital product both provoke and promote worship. As we’re more used to the idea of nature inciting us to worship God, let me give you five ways technology can help us to worship Him.

The ABC’s of Being ‘One Another’

Agree with One Another (1 Cor. 1:10)
Bear with One Another (Eph. 4:2)
Comfort One Another (2 Cor. 13:11)
Devour not One Another (Gal. 5:15)

Some Canadians claim new currency smells like maple syrup

To some, the allure of money is irresistible. But even the most frugal spender may be drawn to Canada’s new plastic bills if the rumors are true: a significant number of Canadians claim the new currency smells like maple syrup.

Censorious or pastoral?

TTS: Man, what’s the matter with you?
MLJ: Well, it’s all very well to make these criticisms of the liberals, but he doesn’t help me spiritually.
TTS: Surely you are helped by the way he makes mincemeat of the liberals.
MLJ: No, I am not. You can make mincemeat of the liberals and still be in trouble in your own soul.

Lessons for Preachers Searching for a Job, Part 1

I’ve never been in fulltime ministry. For that matter, I’ve not searched for a job since, well, ever.
I practice for a law firm that’s a successor to a firm I clerked for while in law school.
So I’m hardly an expert on how a minister (or anyone else) should go about searching for a job. But I’ve been involved in many, many minister searches. I know something about that process, and so maybe these few observations will be of help, even though surely very incomplete.

Borrowing Wisdom

Through the past few weeks of ongoing grief at losing Angi one capability at a time, I’ve been blessed by words of wisdom from many people, when I could not muster any wisdom of my own.

Training Volunteers for Immigration Detention Programs

“For decades, there has been widespread and genuine ignorance of the U.S. government’s practice of detaining asylum seekers, victims of human trafficking, and other immigrants with longstanding community ties,” said Christina Fialho, co-executive director of CIVIC. “But if each visitor volunteer could recruit just one more person to the movement, our immigration detention facilities would no longer be invisible to the community.”

Why Do We Hate the Suburbs?

I am prepared to say the unthinkable: suburbs are good. Stay with me now. While suburbs have suffered decades of derogatory propaganda, there is still much to be commended. In fact, I wonder if the only reason we think suburbs are bad is because we were told they were bad and we believed it.

Report: Mom has son arrested for stealing her Pop-Tarts

When officers arrived around 6:15 p.m. Monday night, the 37-year-old woman told officers to arrest her juvenile son.
According to the report, the boy “stole Pop-Tarts belonging to his mother at their home.”

Repentant thief leaves money and apology note for years of stolen beers

The Cincinnati Enquirer explains that the note explained that the longtime beer thief had recently found religion and wanted to make things right.
“Dear homeowner,” the note read. “Enclosed is a sum of cash that my friends and I owe you and your family to repay you for all of the times we have stolen from your poolside fridge/bar over the past few years.”
“I hope you will accept my most sincere apology for trespassing as well as feeling entitled to take what was not mine,” the note continues. “The amount is a rough estimate, and I realize no amount will completely satisfy the anger you may have.”

The Pledge of Allegiance: 2 Reasons Why Christians Should Not Say It

We can’t give our loyalty to two masters and be pleasing to both. Whether the choice is between God and money, God and man, God and a government or nation, the choice is always the same, one or the other. It seems that Jesus is saying ‘you can’t have your cake and eat it too’. In light of this it just doesn’t seem possible to me to give my loyalty to God, and then try and give it to a government at the same time.

Why the Rising Social Awareness in the Church Should Encourage Us

Social action is an opportunity for Christian churches to take the gospel to those who are most in need, provide an alternative community centered on Jesus (the church) to the marginalized and oppressed, and show the transformative power of the gospel to the watching world. Moreover, responding to oppression and social injustice in our world and our communities is a way the church can practice the charge of Jeremiah 29 for God’s people to seek the welfare of the cities where God has placed us, and to obey the call of James to practice “pure religion” (James 1:27) by caring for the most vulnerable.

I do think we can show up — and speak up — during tragedies

So here are the four most common stories I tell in the midst of disaster and tragedy. I have sometimes told only one, and sometimes over time have told all four. I have preached these in seminars and assemblies.
And I am confident these are God words because they are his stories.

Pride Antidotes

So here are some antidotes to the attack of pride.
In his excellent book Humilitas Australian minister and academic John Dickson proposes several means of cultivating humility in our lives. I’ll share a couple of those and then throw in a few suggestions of my own.

Misreading the New Testament

But obeying the two great commands and living by the Spirit is one thing, it is quite another matter to turn the New Testament into a legal code that prescribes how every local church must worship, organize itself, and regulate its practice of ministry.

Man finds comic book worth $100,000 being used as wall insulation

“It’s so hard for anyone to fathom that, in this day and age, you could still discover a comic book that nobody has known about because this book was in a wall of a house for more than 70 years,” Zurzolo said. “It’s pretty miraculous that it even survived and it’s only had one owner.

This 23-Ton, 5.3-Million-Brick X-Wing Is the Biggest Lego Model Ever

The model of the classic Star Wars fighter being unveiled in Times Square has a wingspan of 44 feet and comes complete with R2-D2 and a full range of sound effects. It’s a super-duper-sized version of Star Wars Lego starfighter set #9493 and was made with 5,335,200 Lego bricks. That, according to Lego, makes it the largest model ever built, eclipsing the Lego robot at the Mall of America by some 2 million bricks. This replica of the Rebel Alliance dogfighter is 42 times the size of the Lego version we’ve all built and a bit bigger than a real X-Wing. (Yes, yes, we know they’re not real. Just go with it.) The X-Wing Luke Skywalker and his fellow rebels flew was about 41 feet long, 2 feet shorter than this Lego masterpiece.

Christian leaders seek to overcome polarization

As religious leaders, they agreed, they are called to move politicians, congregants and Americans in general to understand that mean-spirited debate makes it all the harder to solve the nation’s problems.
Sometimes, they said, that may mean calling out people — including themselves — who debate disrespectfully through name-calling or by questioning the motives of their political opponents.

What the Church Could Learn from Google CEO Larry Page

Last week Google CEO Larry Page took the stage at the I/O keynote and shared some personal insights as well as a powerful quote that you may have already seen floating around the web:
“We should be building great things that don’t exist.”
Isn’t that amazing?
Go ahead and read it again and let it soak in.

Eight Rules for Beginners Reading the Bible

Not everything in the Bible is written for the same reason. Some writings are poetic and some are laws. Some are for instruction and others are general good advice. Not everything in the Bible is a command from God.

The Sensuous Christian

The sensuous Christian is one who lives by his feelings rather than through his understanding of the Word of God. The sensuous Christian cannot be moved to service, prayer or study unless he ‘feels like it.’ His Christian life is only as effective as the intensity of present feelings.

If King Solomon Gave a Commencement Address

Solomon had all the attributes we look for in a commencement speaker. He was fabulously wealthy, accomplished (his biography as well as three of his written works are included in the best-selling book of all time), worldly-wise (“I have seen everything that is done under the sun. . .”), and able to provide suitably aphoristic advice for young people (he even wrote a wildly popular advice book).

What Our Words Tell Us

Evidence from crude data sets like these are prone to confirmation bias. People see patterns they already believe in. Maybe I’ve done that here. But these gradual shifts in language reflect tectonic shifts in culture. We write less about community bonds and obligations because they’re less central to our lives.

A Declaration of Barbecue War

Texas barbecue has no peer on earth. If you happen to be reading this in Texas, you may wonder why we need to state the obvious, but there are people who contend otherwise. In Kansas City they tout paltry slices of gray beef covered in sweet ketchup; the whole thing resembles cold cuts more than barbecue, which is why their arguments generally center on sauce rather than meat. In Memphis they grill ribs over charcoal and fret about whether to hide the product under a pool of sugary sauce or cover it with flavored dust. In the Carolinas they lift their noses and say through pursed, vinegary lips that they invented barbecue. They may have a claim there, but luckily we Texans came along to perfect it.

Tweet by Preacher John Piper After Oklahoma Tornado Meets Major Backlash

Preacher and author John Piper, best known as the leader of DesiringGod and author of many best-selling Christian books, has met criticism of Internet-sized proportions after a post on Twitter yesterday.

The Pentagon’s Problem With Proselytizing

Mr. Weinstein, whom the Associated Press once quoted as saying that a Christian-themed bumper sticker on an officer’s car or a Bible on an officer’s desk can amount to “pushing this fundamentalist version of Christianity on helpless subordinates,” wants the Pentagon to court-martial officers who proselytize.

The Violence of Peacemaking

We live in a culture that associates bravery and bravado with war making and violence. I would argue that creatively living into our vocation as everyday peacemakers not only requires more bravery and bravado, it requires faithfulness and trust in the Good News of Jesus in the most real and tangible ways. My friend, Lynne Hybels says that peacemaking is the most clear form of discipleship.

10 Myths of Abuse in the Church

In both personal and professional capacities, I have been aware of and affiliated with many churches and Christian organizations that have struggled with how to respond to acts of abuse committed by staff or community members. Church leaders struggle to balance private and public information, church rules and governmental policies and laws, and personal beliefs and facts. We live in a culture in which myths of abuse abound. As a mental health professional, I have observed that many myths of sexual abuse continue to stand in the way of love and healing for survivors of abuse and the community of faith.

The other person isn’t “always” wrong

Eventually we mature and move away from childish things. We discover others’ opinions and insights are worth our attention. In disagreeable matters they might be right. Or, we might be right.

Using What If Questions to Prepare International Travelers

It starts before ever leaving home. I’m actually not too worked up over whether people should spend vast amounts of time doing pre-departure training and orientation. It can certainly be helpful. But what’s most important is some thoughtful anticipation about the cross-cultural experience and how to learn from it.

Practically Speaking: Further Thoughts On Speaking the Truth in Love

If you want to be the kind of person who actually speaks the truth in love rather than the hot-head known for advocating your opinions, badgering others who disagree with you, and generally being a the kind of person all your friends secretly wish to block on Facebook, you might want to pay attention to the 5 ingredients necessary to speak the truth in love.

Crisis and Empathy at the Border

Since January 2010, 19 people have been killed by Border Patrol agents — six on Mexican soil. Excessive use of force by agents is of increasing concern. Facing minimal accountability, the Border Patrol’s culture of abuse and impunity has resulted in militarization of the border.

Bordering on the Truth

During Congress’ current debate about immigration reform, the realities faced by immigrants and border communities are all too often misunderstood and misrepresented. What are the facts about border issues?