Do you remember the first time you felt shame? What about the first time that you thought people might make fun of you?

Most people don’t willing submit themselves to shame… or being made fun of… but it seems to be a natural part of life. Some people let the fear of being made fun of (I’m sure it has some awesome technical –phobia name… which of course I don’t know… bummer) control how they live. And this goes way past childhood; many people are still caught in this trap.

Who are we trying to impress? Does it really matter that they might think we are silly? God asks a similar question in Genesis 3:11.  But I’ll let Jon Acuff tell this part from his book “Stuff Christians Like”. Continue reading

I remember it well… It was the first Sunday morning after I was baptized. The excitement must have been killing me. You see, now that I was “born again” I would be allowed to do one of the most sacred forms of service in the church worship service… No, it wasn’t saying a prayer, leading singing, or even giving a lesson. I had already checked these off of my spiritual growth chart, but there was one part of the service that I was missing… serving the Lord’s Supper.

As a kid I may not have understand why you had to be baptized to serve communion… it must have been a law written in Leviticus or maybe Lamentations (2 books of the Bible I didn’t have much exposure to). But what I did understand was that this act of service was different. While I could bound up the stairs to the pulpit to say a prayer… smile while I was leading singing (maybe even bounce a little)… or even tell a joke as part of a lesson, serving communion was devoid of these acts of “happiness”. Continue reading

A man called a store asking if they had a snow-blower. The answer came quickly… “No”. The man asked why not, and proceeded to let the worker know why they should carry them, and then hangs up. Some time goes by, and the man calls back, asking if they have a snow-blower now. The answer is still no, and the worker begins to explain that there is not a market for many snow-blowers in Texas… but this does not stop the man from explaining why they should carry them at this store. Again he hangs up, just to call back a little bit later with the same question, to which the worker finally replies… “Sir, I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.”

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You can hear it in most any prayer prayed in the assemblies or in prayers for the sick… There is a clause that is almost as natural to prayers as ending with “in Jesus name… Amen.” The clause is manifested in the phrase “if it be Your will.”

Usually this phrase is used after making a request of God… “Lord, please remove the cancer from so-and-so… if it be Your will.” or “Lord, help us reach this community with the Gospel… if it be Your will.” Sometimes it sounds like we don’t think God really wants people to get well… or even things to go favorably for his followers.

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This past week I was at the Austin Grad Sermon Seminar. There I was surrounded by a bunch of preachers, listening to some great presentations and then out of nowhere a thought hits me across the face… “Why can’t I prepare presentations like Rodney Ashlock… or study like Mark Hamilton… or speak like Eddie Sharp.” (3 of our presenters) And I’m sure that this never happens to you, but I then start comparing myself to them (and the many other preachers I am sitting among).

I then remembered this story told in Dan Miller’s “48 Days to the Work you Love“…

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In the late 80s, REM released a song on their “Document” album called “It’s the End of the World as we know it (and I feel fine)”. Over the past 2 decades, the song has been used in multiple arenas (my favorite of which is when it was played after the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004). But it has never been something we have taken seriously.

We have heard many predictions that we are in the “end times”. In the song, it even mentions 4 different apocalyptic references.

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Well, I have made it through a full year of preaching (in fact 13 months). We have adjusted to our new home/town/church/life. In fact, I would say we are pretty well settled where we are. And as good as that sounds to “be settled” I am scared of one thing… Settling.

Have you ever been on a float of some sorts in a pool? There are different kinds of floats, but think about the big long ones… the ones you can lay down on the water and just relax. That’s the main point of these floats, right… to relax. And the biggest problem you might have when you are relaxing on your little piece of paradise is kids jumping in the pool. They are getting you wet and making waves… Not good.

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In 1990, the A-cappella group AVB put CD called “What’s Your Tag Say“. The album was drenched with Christian satire. Songs like “Growing Up with King James”, “Legalistic Tendencies”, and “What’s Your Tag Say” were fun, up-beat songs meant to make light of some of the issues within Christianity at the time. But one of my favorite songs from this album would have to be “You Can’t Go to Church.” I believe it brought to light a truth that many people just don’t think about too often.

The lyrics to the chorus are as follows… “You can’t go to church, as some people say. The common terminology we use everyday. You can go to a building, that is something you can do. But you can’t go to church, ’cause the church is you.”

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Often times there is an easy way to get something done… and a hard way. Call me crazy, but I believe most people at first glance want the easy way. It’s exactly like it sounds… easy. But sometimes the easy way creates more problems, or results we didn’t quite expect. (Much like these Suddenlink commercials)

When it comes to change, I think we as people naturally resist it. And as a church, we don’t just resist it, we label it, and sometimes burn it at the stake as a heretic. And even when we know change needs to happen, we are often scared more of the process. We want the end result, but we’re not too excited about the 10,000 steps to get there.

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What does it mean to be a Christian? Do we really know? We seem to live in a world where everyone is a Christian, but no one knows what a Christian is anymore.

Many times we think that Christianity is a name we wear on a t-shirt. If we quote enough verses on our Facebook status, or have a “Jesus fish” on our car, or wear a cross around our neck… then… we are real Christians.

In all reality Christianity has become (for many) an adjective describing one aspect of our lives. (I’m a banker, I’m a golfer, I’m a fisherman, and oh yeah… I’m a Christian) Maybe it should be a noun describing every aspect of my life; the filter in which everything in our lives passes through.

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