Christians and Christmas Gifts

What am I supposed to do for Christmas?  Should I buy my wife and children presents?  Should I remember the vast majority of the world lives on under $2 per day and, therefore, give money away instead of buying presents for my family?  Should I save up and do both?  The stories which will be shared and published will be the ones where a family foregoes Christmas presents in order to help a third world family.  Is this what I ought to do?

Surely, as a follower of Jesus, my way of life is to be marked by sacrifice and suffering for my fellow men & women.  I wonder, though, if during this time of year it’s appropriate for me to withhold giving gifts to my wife, children, and family in order to give gifts to other families.

And The Crowd Went Wild

You could hear the buzz of the microphone; that current of electricity just waiting to be used, humming to get attention.  The camera panned the crowd as they murmured to containing themselves as they awaited resolution and justice.  When one of the main characters finally walked forward with the microphone, I couldn’t help but wonder what substance his words would have.  I was confused then, when he deferred a speech and passed the microphone off to a peripheral character.  “I am not the hero here, someone else is.”  

And the crowd went wild.

Calling

I am a college pastor and I love my job.  It shows.  I took a personality test a few years back that recommend 9 different jobs I would love;  8 of those I get to do as an extension of my current position (the other one was archaeology and I have no clue how to incorporate it into my job, but I’m working on it).  I love this job.  But is it my calling?

Where Doubt Comes In

Control, I have noticed, is a myth.  I’ve been told as much from very early on, but in typical ignorance I have felt the need to discover this truth on my own.  I suppose it is because of this I have found Larry Crabb’s notion of “manly men” so intriguing.  Crabb notes, in The Silence of Adam, that men will often enter chaotic and vague situations in the natural course of life.  He suggests that very few times will men know exactly what to do, and even if they do, will rarely be able to do it.  Instead, he says God has empowered men to know who to be in every situation through the person and teachings of Jesus.  In my experience, I have discovered the truth of this.  I may often be able to cry out, “I just don’t know what to do right now!”  But it is rare that I feel powerless as to who I am to be.  I am thankful for this.

Maybe it’s because of this that doubt

What Youth Are Being Sold

It’s been widely discussed that the young adults of America are one of the most overtly entitled generations in our history.  While I think that most of our strengths and weaknesses as individuals and societies find their strongest roots in our families of origin, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the impact of advertising for the 18-25 year olds in America.  I want to briefly highlight two things about our culture of advertising and how they effect worldview.

The Little Things

Think of how much art is about something small.  How much of what we appreciate is a zoom – a close up on the littlest things around us?

The detail of the cuticles on the Statue of David.

The uneven eyes on the Mona Lisa.

The “kind of morning that lasts all afternoon” in the John Mayer song.

Why are we drawn to such minute details?

The Importance of Unity

It is no coincidence that in all things God, a nation of divided churches and broken marriage and individuality struggles most with the belief that God could love them.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”  ~John 17

This has been everywhere lately. 

What Was God Thinking?! (a conversation about sex)

On October 20, 2010 I led a seminar about sex for students of The House.  I was impressed by how much we’ve been “told” not to have sex but have never been “taught” why this is so from a Biblical perspective.  I tried to approach this with an open mind as I searched the Scriptures…as if I didn’t know anything about sex culturally, and wanted to just see what the Bible taught regarding sex.  After that, I expounded upon some cultural reflections that drive home the point.  Below are the links to the seminar.

Audio | http://www.thehouseutc.org/talks/2010-10-20-sexseminar.mp3

Video | http://www.thehouseutc.org/talks/2010-10-20-sexseminar.mp4

Represent

All growing up I’ve heard about how bad Christians are at representing Christ.  I’ve heard people quote time and again people like Ghandi saying something like, “If it weren’t for Christians I would follow Christ.” (or something to that affect)

I had this experience the other day that left me shaking my head and laughing.  I ran into someone I had never met and helped them out.  At one point in the middle of our conversation the guy stops and asks, “Are you a Christian?  You must be a Christian because no one has ever been this nice to me before.”

Jewels in my crown aside, I found myself thankful that what this guy did know about Jesus and His followers allowed him to associated a gracious act with Jesus Christ.

I agree that Christ represents Himself far better than I do, far better than churches do and far better than Christians do.  But sometimes I wonder if isn’t a couple of bad experiences that get honed in on and begin to represent the whole in our cultural conversations.

I mean, if we really believe God is sending His Spirit to make people more like Jesus, shouldn’t we actually see Christians representing Christ better and better as they walk with Him?  Shouldn’t the norm be Christians actually living like Jesus?  I think this is happening far more than we talk about and I’m thankful for it.

I know Christians aren’t perfect, but we should be getting closer all the time as we follow Jesus.  And this is a good thing for our world when we consider that perfected humans love and live like Christ.

Where I Am (musings on Heaven)

(Much of my thinking on this needs to be credited to CS Lewis’ The Great Divorce, The Problem of Pain and The Last Battle and Randy Alcorn’s amazing book, Heaven.  If you haven’t read these, do so.  Alcorn also had a great series of interviews in Donald Miller’s Convergence Series.)

In order to tell you where I am, odds are I need to couch it somewhere between where I’m from and where I’m going.  Think about it.

For example, I’m in Tennessee right now.  You might wonder, “How did you I get here?”  “Is this where I’m from.” You might continue with, “Do you plan on staying?”

This is natural for us.

It happens with far more than physical locations too.  It happens with our emotions (“Why do you feel that way?”). It happens with our finances (“How did you get into this mess and how are you getting out of it?”) It happens with our relationships, with our social status, with our ambitions, etc etc.

In order for us to communicate where we are, it’s necessary to explore where we’ve come from and where we’re going.